[Guardian]

Many things were happening all at once. The girl had fainted from the sudden sonic onslaught. The trees were forced to comply with the will of their guardian. The animal the girl was carrying had scampered to where the one sat. He too, had been stunned. The frustration of mellenia had flowed into the guardians voice at that moment. She had unleashed her voice in a way she had not had to since the last great evil had walked the world.

[Traveler]

His heightened senses were reeling. The sonic blast he had received had caused his ears to bleed. He was vaguely aware of Mara, and the kitten. He had the strong sense that there was something that needed to be done, but couldn't focus on what.

[Guardian]

She took on her human form and walked over to the girl. She bent down and whispered gently, soothing, ancient words, and she slept peaceful. Her inner healing ability suddenly sprang into action. The little beast she had been carrying turned towards the forest and hissed. She sensed the unease of the forest around them. There was a low thrumming of something happening.

The guardian walked over to the man. He had been marked. She reached down and touched him. The mark resonated and hummed. It wasn't her mark, but it was the mark of a guardian. Strange... She placed the palm of her hand over the mark, and her hand seemed to melt into his skin. She imbued him with her essence, and left her mark. He began to wake and she withdrew. The girl began to stir, also.

"I am sorry, for the pain I caused, but the time is urgent and the need is great. You must stop the darkness before it spreads any further. There is no way for you to make it on your own. Do not despair there is other ways to travel these woods."

She began to speak, with humming drumming words. There were sounds that were more felt than heard, and sounds that were too high for them to hear. There was a sudden rush of wind.

"Come, come quickly," She motioned to Traveler and Mara to follow her. "You will ride the winds."

[Traveler]

He looked at the guardian for a moment trying to decide what was really happening. When she spoke of stopping the darkness, it all came back to him in a rush.

"Mara, we must hurry. There isn't much time. We have to stop Carriac."

[Mara]

Mara was unsure what had happened. One second her senses were reeling by a loud and very strong voice, the next instant she was on the ground. The palms of her hands were sticky, with bits of dirt, grass and leaves sticking to them. Brushing the debris off, she found her own blood that had dried. Looking up with a questionable look, she noticed that they were no longer alone. She heard the woman speaking, felt no danger coming from her, yet there was something about the forest that caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. Standing slowly Mara brushed herself off, before nodding towards Traveler.

"I'm ready," she said, her demeanor suddenly shifting back to the assassin's mode. "You know, if we cannot stop him, then I will have to destroy him before he does any more harm. He will have some explaining to do also about the incident back at the wagon. He will not go unpunished for his actions."

Reaching down Mara picked the small kitten back up, brushing its fur back down as she cradled it in her arm. The kitten hissed at the forest once again before turning its head up to look at Mara.

"Fear not little one. It will be over soon...."

[Carriac]

Carriac's body stopped ten feet into the cave, just as the tunnel made its first turn. His eyes surveyed the surrounding rock and he nodded, the corners of his mouth turning up in the mockery of a grin. This would not be good.

His hands rose to touch the rough stone walls. Carriac felt the power well up inside him. He tried to hold it back, tried to dissipate the gathering energy, but Hellonicus forced it through his meager resistance. Power flowed from his fingertips into the rock and the rock responded. Great fingers of stone oozed from the ceiling and floor of the tunnel. They met in the center of the passage and fused together, forming one solid wall of rock that sealed off the cave entrance.

Carriac's thoughts reeled. He had do something! How would his friends ever know where they had gone? He watched critically as the shadow forced the wall into existence. Its touch was much too harsh - it lacked the finesse that had taken Carriac one hundred years to master.

Wait. What if he didn't fight the flow of magic? What if he just applied a bit of finesse?

Carriac slipped a tiny tendril of will into the torrent of energy Hellonicus continued to pour into stone. As he had hoped, the shadow was blind to his minute intrusion. The elf worked quickly, staying on the fringes of the shaping, using his delicate touch to tweak just a bit here and there.

In a moment, the flow of power ebbed, his hands were removed from the stone and the process stopped. The shadow's wall was complete, but Carriac had succeeded in leaving a message for his friends.

He just hoped they would understand it.

[Traveler]

There was a sudden sickening twisting feeling that felt oddly familiar. The world around him seemed to spin out of control. Before what was happening registered, it stopped, and he was in a distinctly different place. The trees had been replaced with a barren landscape, Hills rolled in the distance, Rocks jutted up at odd angles. He looked around and noticed Mara standing there entranced, holding the kitten tightly in her arms.

"Mara..." She didn't respond, "MARA!"

[Mara]

Mara marveled at the way they had moved from one place to another so quickly. Never before had she felt so free, so alive than those few seconds. Hearing Traveler, she snapped out of her trance and gave him a look before rubbing her fingers along the kittens back.

"What? Can't I just stand here for one second and enjoy life without you yelling my name?"

She started to turn away, but stopped and looked back. "I'm sorry, but I'm on edge. I can feel Carriac. He's close, but I can't seem to get a fix on his scent. To damn many rocks. And where is that pesky Gnome? You would think he would be back by now." With the kitten resting in the crook of his arm, she stepped away, trying to find any sign of Carriac, but the terrain was rough, rocky, making finding any trail difficult, if not impossible.

"Where are you Carriac? Why won't you show yourself...."

[Moiran]

He flew along the trail at the speed of thought. Scenery flashed by so quickly there was no way to be absolutely sure of his direction. This was made all the more obvious when he stopped abruptly at where he thought he had left the other two, only to find that he was all alone.

"This is not good."

Moiran tried to find some sign of where the other two had gone. It took him a moment to find their trail and then he was off. He was quite surprised when the trail ended suddenly.

"Where in the seven hells...?"

He scoured the ground in the area. There was nothing. By all appearances, his friends had simply disappeared.

What was he to do? He could go back and try to stop Carriac himself. That was almost sure to fail. Moiran was a ghost. He had little or no effect on the physical world and couldn't see a way he could prevent the shaper from doing whatever he wanted. No, the best course of action was still to find the others. They, at least, would be able to confront Carriac with physical force. Moiran put aside the thought that even should he find Mara and Traveler it would be highly unlikely they would be able to arrive at the cave in time. He would do what he could and pray it would be enough.

Moiran rose up fifty feet into the air. Then, moving in increasingly widening spirals, he flew off into the night.

[Traveler]

Suddenly he realized they were at the point of no return. They always had been. There was nothing else they could do unless they wanted to be the minions of evil. He had been down that path once, however unwittingly it was, and he didn't want to tread that way again. He looked to Mara, She was ready. The fire had begun to burn in her eyes. There was nothing else they could do. This day, either they would die, or their friend would. If they didn't kill him the world would be thrown into Chaos again.

He turned to Mara, "Any Idea where we need to go?"

[Mara]

Mara turned her head sharply, the pupils of her eyes burning brightly while she scratched the kittens ears. "He's near! Just give me a few seconds to collect my bearing. The sudden shift, being brought here has upset my balance just a bit." Eyes of flame turned back before scanning the area for any signs of Carriac. They had stopped her for a reason, she was sure of that but the rocky terrain was hampering her ability to witness any signs, any marks left behind by the elf. Walking ahead slowly, her eyes traveled everywhere, looking for a broken blade of grass, a scuffmark where Carriac had stopped to rest of fight the demon inside of him.

"I'll find you, and when I do..."

She didn't finish her sentence, startled as the small kitten suddenly shot out of her arms and landed on its feet before her. Looking back the small kitten ran off, its little tail standing straight up as it bounced and hopped from stone to stone, seeing things that even Mara couldn't.

"Get back here, you...furry little beast," she all but cursed. Chasing after the small creature she didn't notice that she had entered a small cave until she was half way in. The change of light was the first clue, the other was when she rose up, bumping her head against stone.

"What in the..." she mumbled as she turned to look out at the entrance before looking back for the kitten. "Silly creature! Carriac's not in here," as she headed deeper into the cave, finding a wall of rough stone in front of her face. But the kitten seemed to know better, meowing and scratching at the stone wall with its tiny claws as it tried to climb up. Its eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, the tiny sound of her voice crying out tugged at Mara's soul. Her assassin side slowly slipped away, bringing forth the young child that had been trapped inside since they first came across the farm.

"It's ok little one," a softer voice called out as Mara reached down and cradled the kitten back in her arms. "There's nothing here that will harm you. Don't be frightened."

But the kitten hissed and scratched Mara's arm before jumping back down. It dropped back to the dust-scattered floor before scratching at the stone once again. Looking at the four small scratches on her arm that was healing before her eyes, Mara's eyes shifted once again. Standing, she stumbled forward as a loose rock tripped her up. Bringing her hands up to catch herself she felt something smooth etched into the stone. Running her fingers along the etching, her eyes grew wide as she turned her head.

"Traveler! Get your bony ass in here! I've found something..."

What Mara had found was an etching of a Great Phoenix; its wings spread wide, its mouth breathing fire. Running her finger along the curvatures of the etching, she found no chisel marks, no imperfections, only the smoothness of stone that was naturally formed. Formed by only one man.

"Carriac..."

[Hellonicus/Bird]

"You don't have much farther. The sink hole is just around the next bend."

Hellonicus ignored the bird's incessant chatter and focused on moving the accursed elf body forward. His host was fighting hard to overcome the possession and the recent use of the elf's powers had only made Carriac's influence that much stronger. Each step was a struggle, but this was a war the shadow intended to win. So what if he had to pause every few yards to gather his strength?

"Are you stopping again? The Highlord will not be happy with your persistent delays."

"Will you shut up? Enough with your endless banter, bird! Why don't you go and watch out for the shaper's friends."

"If you hadn't noticed, oh great one, you sealed us in here. I am no more capable of flying down this corridor and out than you are."

Hellonicus swore under his breath. Then something sparked in his brain. "You're a non-corporeal being, bird. Walls mean nothing to you. Get your shadowy self back there and keep me informed!"

"It took you long enough to remember, oh exalted one. You've been stuck in that fleshy form for so long you begin to forget where you've come from."

"If I have to tell you one more time...." He stopped as his shadow senses informed him the bird had departed. "Damnable bird. When my brother is freed I shall see you rot for your impertinence."

The shadowlord moved ahead. It wouldn't be much longer, now.

[Traveler]

He watched, amused, as the kitten struggle free of Mara's grasp. He laughed to himself as Mara scampered after the little beast. He turned and began to scan the landscape for some trace of where Carriac had gone to. He was sure they were not far from him. The guardian had sent them here for a reason. She had intended them to help stop this creature.

He turned to find Mara when he realized she had disappeared. He panicked for a moment till he heard her shrill screech. He turned towards the sound and saw what appeared to be the opening of a cave hidden in the shadow of a hill. He could have looked at it all day and not seen it.

He walked towards it wary of traps. His senses heightened and he could tell Mara and the kitten were inside. They were at the back of the cave.

He walked in with his senses screaming every detail. Something within him told him this was the place. He walked towards Mara and knelt before the wall, once again making his peace before going to certain doom.

[Mara]

"See," Mara all but yelled in Travelers ear. "That's Carriac's mark! It's not a natural formation I know. He had to have done that to show us which way he went. I'll bet you whoever or whatever is controlling him didn't know he did that when he sealed the cave up. Look how the rock is formed. It's...unnatural!"

Suddenly anger flared in Mara's eyes as she started beating on the rock. Her sharp fingernails dug bits and pieces of stone away from the itching, before flames of red erupted from her fists.

"The fool thinks a bit of stone will stop us from our goal? He's sadly mistaken!"

The fire along Mara's hand grew, flowing up both arms, then flowed back in strength as they enveloped her whole body. Her eyes glowed red as she turned towards Traveler, her lips now drawn into a thin red line of flames as her long flaming hair danced behind her.

"Take the creature before me and leave this place. Do not come back in until I am finished, for I will not be judged by any damage caused by the molten rock that happen to strike you or the furry creature."

The flames around her seem to fade, before her arms came up as one. Turning towards the wall of stone she let loose two blasts of flames, all controlled by her own thoughts. They flowed into two fine points, much like a blowtorch, striking the rock, the flames dancing over them softly. The rock rejected her advances at first, but as she pored on the heat the stone started to yield. Bits and pieces broke off, cracking and shattering as they struck her skin. Soon the very rock started to melt, dripping down in small globs of liquid rock. Adjusting her arms, she soon had a large hole carved from the stone, but she could not yet see to the other side. Growing anger caused her flames to turn yellow, then blue and at last white, expanding the flames that shot from her arm each time.

"I see the other side," she called over her shoulder as the molten rock dropped away, exposing the tunnel that Carriac took. The rock soon melted faster until she had created a hole large enough to walk through. Turning up the heat around her body even more she slowly took a step forward, then another, watching while the liquid stone dripped across her body before splattering to the floor by her feet.

"I am through! Wait a bit and the stone will cool, unless you know of a spell that will cool it quicker. If you do, warn me before you cast it," as she turned her body heat down until she was once more flesh and blood. Brushing the still hot stone from her shoulders and face, she turned and started walking away.

"I will see where this cave ends..."

(to be continued...)