Victory got back to the camp and saw Rachealla staring into the embers. Victory could tell what she was doing, he laughed inwardly. All she had to do was ask Lady Kristel to transport her and she would.
"Guardian?" Victory asked, so as not to startle her when he sat down. Rachealla didn't acknowledge his speaking in anyway, so Victory thought it must be okay to sit down. Rachealla's eyes shot open as soon as he was in front of her.
"You should be in bed!" She put her hads on her hips. Victory grinned.
"Don't order me about, underling!" He retorted. They both smiled. Rachealla waved to a log that Starrynight had felled to make a bench for them.
"How is she?" Victory asked. He knew that Rachealla would know who "she" was.
"As well as could be expected. She's used up all her strength getting us out of Southern Lands Capital, but she will recover in a few days-" Rachealla stopped abruptly. There was a rustling, Salem appeared from the bushes, loking a little bit shaken. Without saying a word he got in his bedroll and went to sleep.
Miri appeared, she too looked ruffled, but she went to the fire. She warmed herself in the fire glow. A thought passed through her mind and she changed into a salamander and she crept into the fire amd sat there, warming herself.
"A few days? She used that much power?" Victory continued. Rachealla looked towards the fire and saw that Miri was asleep. Rachealla picked her up in her hand and put her in her bedroll. It looked strange, a grown woman tucking a salamander into bed. Soon though the salamander began to change back into Miri.
"Yes, too much in my opinion. I would have stayed behind, what if we are attacked again? They have a reason now, with us taking Miri back," Rachealla said. Victory noticed the way Rachealla always said things with great care and always with an opinion.
"Maybe, but Lady Kristel will be stronger for it. The more you push your powers the more powerful you become. That's how Tami was drawn to the evil," Victory said. "That's also why we all are told to use our magic daily. Kris, she'll be stronger."
"You two really do get on well together, don't you?"
"I wouldn't be her knight if we didn't."
"You just called her Kris, no one calls her by her first name, nevermind a shortened version... Her other knights have never..."
"Well, she told me to call her that. It must make her feel so old to have people call her "my lady" all the time. She's younger than I am!" Victory said, looking into the flames. Rachealla saw a hint of red in his cheeks, that the heat of the fire had not put there.
"She has seen the rise and fall of civilisation, yet you dare claim you are older than her?" Rachealla said. Victory shrugged, he couldn't think straight. He kept on thinking about the fact that he, and he alone, could call Lady Kristel, Kris...
"Send out Pyrinas for them. Please do not say anything to them about their disappearence. I will deal with that. Thank you, Soleil, Trinity, Evangeline," Lady Kristel turned away from them. The left to get on with their orders.
Lady Kristel thought about her past. She'd changed. When she had first started the House of Dreams, she had had one thought, to help others. Now everything was so much more complicated. She knew that some may say it was simple. Destroy all that's evil and let the good live, but who decided that? Was there a Guardian of Justice? If so where was it hiding?
Lady Kristel also thought of Cingo, trapped in the Gate of Time. He would be released somehow. Maybe the key to helping him through was in her past? Lady Kristel closed her eyes...
Lady Kristel reopened her eyes in her subconscious. She searched for th part of her mind that contained her memories, her dreams, her life story. Images, emotions, talk, it all came back to her. She forced away to urge to let her mind go and wander her memories. She ordered them to sort themselves out. Suddenly it was all quiet.
Lady Kristel was in a library. She walked down to the far end and saw a little girl with the longest red hair crying. A bit too long really, because it was all knotted.
"You will read this book!" said an old man walking towards the little girl. Scholar Ramkin, thought Lady Kristel. It was pityful to see herself being scolded by her old tutor. This was important, Scholar Ramkin knew something.
Everything changed. The library slowly turned into a battle ground. There were people dying everywhere. Lady Kristel turned. She knew this place, there she was, standing tall fighting Tami, putting every ounce of effort into defeating her.
"Say goodnight, Kris," Tami said. Lady Kristel thought about the way Tami refered to her and shivered. Tami was different, she wasn't entirely like the evil that she served.
A sudden cold swept onto the battle field, and Lady Kristel began to sweat to think about what this meant. SHe watched herself fall and Tamo with her. The evil would kill it's most faithful servant to destroy the world.
Again the scene changed. This time it was not a scene from her memory that she saw. It was a place she'd been told about as a child. A place she'd pictured and often dreamed about. A place where there was no pain. A place where people went, when they died...
The scene changed one last time to a glade, where Lady Kristel spent her days in spring. It was a cherry blossom glade that she had asked Emma to plant. It was a lovely sunny day and the sun was warm against her face. She sat there reading her book peacefully.
"Whatcha doin'?" said a little grey haired kid. He sat down at her feet and laughed, obviously pleased at having the Lady's attention.
"Reading," replied the other Lady Kristel. "That's all. It is safe here to do so."
"If it wasn't I'd protect you! I'd be your knight and protect you!" said the little boy. The other Lady Kristel smiled, she was a little embarrassed, but that didn't show on her face.
"Well then. You are my knight, Sir Victory! Guard me well!" She said, conjuring a wooden sword and tapping his shoulders with it. Victory giggled and showed the gap where he was missing a tooth. Lady Kristel couldn't watch anymore and returned to her normal state...
So there was a link of some sort between her memories. Scholar Ramkin, Tami, Victory and Heaven. All were linked, in the same way. Scholar Ramkin would mean time travel, which meant that Lady Kristel needed power. She could talk to Victory easily. Heaven and Tami would be a problem...
Heaven was probably the easiest thing, between it and Tami, as an angel was employed at the House of Dreams. Also the Gods and Goddeses could communicate through the Temples.
Tami would be a problem. You couldn't trap her, she was too powerful. You couldn't talk to her, she wouldn't listen. You had to get inside her mind, and to do that you needed a mind-bond. Unfortunately this meant tanding forehead to forehead. Would Tami let her get that close?
Lady Kristel thought about this problem, and with great reluctance came to one solution.
"I became her knight when I was about five... Maybe a little older... I was in the care of the House of Dreams, and I never left her alone. I think it was something to keep me quiet, but as I grew older it became more serious. I suppose she began to realise that she needed a knight," Victory explained to Miri. They were all sitting eating breakfast. Miri and Victory had been talking about their childhood. Mraya and Jinxes had been whispering to each other. Rachealla had been up and around, flitting around, not really doing anything.
Salem sat there, staring into thin air. Thinking about what Lady Kristel would say when they got back to Dreamer's. What everyone would say... He felt a presence nearby, he couldn't say how but he knew they were Guardians. Rachealla didn't seem to notice.
"There are some Guardians heading this way," he said. Rachealla frowned. She looked at Victory, who shrugged and carried on his conversation with Miri.
"I don't sense anything," Rachealla said. Salem felt them getting nearer and nearer. He knew that they must be in range for some of the others now.
"Evangeline... Soleil... And Trinity," Salem rubbed his forehead. Rachealla looked at the sky, it had clouded over and it looked like it was going to rain. Mraya sighed, she and Jinxes went under a tree for cover. Victory and Miri carried on talking. Salem could hear the Pyrinas now.
"I can sense them now," Rachealla said, looking at Salem in wonder. Salem shrugged, Victory laughed at whatever Miri was saying. Mraya sudenly started giggling. They were all acting as if nothing had changed! But everything had, everything.
Salem wondered how they could forget that they had the world relying on them. It was a difficult thing to understand as it was. Also Salem had to come to terms with his own troubles. He never thought he'd have to face family problems, he never thought he might have a family.
Canon was going to be a tough nut to crack. Salem would have to be stronger, strong enough to kill his own brother and show no regrets. Strong enough to defeat an evil so great it has killed thousands and could destroy the world. Strong enough to take the throne, and rule a kingdom. To do this Salem was going to need everyone's help.
"Found you! At last!" Evangeline said, as she rode her Pyrina through the bracken. Miri looked up at Evangeline. Evangeline winked at her, but then thought about something for a minute and scowled at Salem.
"What did you think you were doing! You could have been dead, and then who'd save us all? Think! Lady Kristel has been so worried for you!" Evangeline said, dimounting her Pyrina.
