Will noted the walls had been striped of all their decoration. He supposed the current possessors of the castle had not liked the previous arrangement.

                “Well, it seems that you all have destroyed and plundered this place. Then again, I’m not surprised. I suppose destroying and plundering is what you do best.” He said quietly. It was a useless jab, but it made him feel better. One of the guards opened his mouth angrily, but the other guard stopped him.

                “Don’t waste your breath on this scum.” He hissed to his companion. “Lord Vraido will take care of him. He won’t be so tough…” he smiled. Will shuddered inside but tried to maintain a cool and strong façade.

                “We’ll put him in here with the demon.” The guard laughed. “See how he fairs…”

                “Demon?” Will asked frowning.

                “Oooh, yes. He’ll tear your arms off.” One of the guards said laughing. “We keep him here to take care of people like you.” Again the guard laughed. Will eyed the door they had stopped at with fear.

                “H-Hey! I though you guys wanted me alive!” he cried as he was pushed into a dungeon room. The door was bolted behind him and he heard the guard moving off. The first thing Will noticed was that the walls were solid stone with one barred window, which was dark, as the sun had not risen yet. Only a faint light filtered in through the cracks in the door behind him. However, he didn’t have long to take it in, for within seconds Will found himself knocked to the ground, roughly flipped over and pinned, as an arm pushed down on his throat.

                “H-Hey!” he tried to choke out and grabbed hold of his assailant. The person bore down on him, pushing harder on his throat, making cold stars bite into Will’s mind. Something clicked. This was familiar. It had happened only once before and…Will’s eyes swung open as realization hit him.

                “Avery…?!” he cried out pushing the arm off his throat enough to utter the name. The hands froze.

                “…. W-Will?” came a soft voice from the darkness. Will gasped seeing Avery now. He would have never thought Avery could get so dirty. His pristine white robes were now stained dark brown with mud and dirt. His face was dirty and had a few cuts. His hair however, he had braided and tied around his head to keep it from becoming too terribly dirty. It was the only part of his still white, beyond his pail skin.

                “Will!” he cried seeing that it was indeed Will that lay before him. He collapsed, hugging Will’s shoulders.

                “Avery?”  Will asked, mildly surprised at having such affection given to him.

                “You don’t know how good it is to seen a familiar face, beyond… them…” he paused, regaining his composure, “I’m sorry.” he apologized, sitting up and let Will up as well.

                Are you alright?” Will asked. “Where are the princesses? Are they being held down here too?” Avery blinked and shook his head.

                “They escaped during the raid on the castle. That was one bit of good luck.” He said quietly.

                “Oh that’s a relief. We heard they were prisoners also. Are they in a safe place?” Will asked. Avery nodded.

                “I’m afraid I can’t tell you where, these rooms are bugged. They can hear everything we say, so do be careful.” Will’s eyes widened and he nodded. A slight bit of daylight was now coming through the one window on the far side and Will could see Avery more clearly. He gasped.

                “You’ve been beaten.” He said. Avery looked down, ashamed, and did not answer at first.

                “They have interrogated me, as I am sure they will do to you.” Avery said quietly.

 “No they won’t. We’re going to get out of here. Don’t worry.” Will said. But Avery shook his head.

                “No, there is no escape. I’ve tried everything… It’s useless…” the door moaned loudly as the it opened and light poured in. Avery froze as they both looked up at the two guards in the doorway.

                “So you are a little Hailian lover eh?” the guard said, scoffing. “You’ll burn for that.”

                “Shut up!” Will shouted.

                “Don’t say anything…” Avery said quietly, “It’s better just to let them have their fun…” but Will was angry now as he stared into their jeering faces.

                “Go burn something yourself.” Will said, “That seems to be all your good at. You and whatever god it is that you believe in.” The guard’s faces drained of mockery and turned to anger.

                “You insult our Lord?” one shouted.

                “You’ll regret such words.” The other said moving toward them. Avery’s eyes rounded in fright but Will stared calmly back, his eyes lit with an internal fire.

                “Hold a moment.” Called a voice. Will recoiled at it sound, but the guards stopped and turned to the speaker.

                “Let me speak with them.” Maloom Vraido said emerging from the gloom. The guards bowed silently and walked back to the entrance. Maloom entered looking down at them.

                “Have you anything to say?” he asked.

                “Your hospitality lacks.” Will spat angrily. “And that you’ve destroyed the integrity of the castle by bringing your filthy selves in here-”

                “Stop it! Don’t talk to him!” Avery cried. “He can open minds!”

                “So I’ve noticed.” Will said, thinking back to the feeling he had had when Maloom had first spoken to him upon entering the castle. Maloom smiled.

                “I live to open minds and hearts to our Lord. If that is what you mean.” He said. “However, I’ve noticed that you, Mr. Kapino are a bit hard to crack.” He laughed, seeing Will’s eyes widen at his name. “Oh yes, I’ve checked up on you. A lowly bastard Iyokian, not worth a second glance, and yet there is something very strange about you. No doubt whatever this power you seem to have comes straight from demons… But because I can’t look so easily into you, I need to ask you some questions.” Will didn’t answer but stared straight into Maloom’s black little eyes. “Mainly the whereabouts of Princess Tella. For as you know, our claim to power can not be complete without her public execution.”

                “Pity I won’t do isn’t it?” Will asked. Maloom looked compassionately into Will’s burning eyes.

                “Mr. Kapino, you misunderstand me. I do not wish harm upon you at all. I only wish that you too could share in-”

                “Shut up. You know I won’t tell you anything no matter how long you talk like that.” Will spat.

                “Very well.” Maloom said becoming serious. “We know that you know where she is. You were both seen last together riding northward, so we already have a pretty good idea where she is. You impute would make it that much easier to find here, however, and I am on a bit of a deadline.”

                “It must be horrible.” Will said glaring at him still.

                “Before you answer me, think carefully of your response, for it determines how she is… treated when we find her.” Maloom said smiling venomously. “Would you like her disgraced by one of my followers? I can have it done.” Will gasped in horror and Avery looked sick.

                “What if you don’t find her?” Will said carefully. “Northern Betamy is a pretty big place to search. And you knew that long ago and still haven’t found her.”

                “Well then Mr. Kapino,” Maloom said, “Since you seem to need extra encouragement I shall propose this.  I know threatening you will do no good, but what about the demon there? He has no value to us anymore. I can have him publicly beaten, killed, anything I wish. Would you enjoy that?”

                “Don’t listen to him!” Avery shouted. Will said nothing but trembled in anger.

                “It is your choice Mr. Kapino.” Maloom said. Will’s mouth opened, still transfixed in horror and fury.

                “No! Will don’t tell them anything!” Avery shouted desperately.

                “If you don’t tell me, those you care about shall suffer- the girl and the demon both.” Vraido prodded. Will glared at him in hatred.

                “She’s near Cedar, hiding in the woods north of town.” Will said bitterly. Maloom’s eyes peered into him, piercing through him while Will had lost the defense around his own mind. After a short pause he said,

                “Thank you Mr. Kapino. You have been very helpful to us.” Avery balled his fists up in silently fury, his body shaking. Will bit his lip and looked away from him. Maloom smiled and began to leave.

                “I’ll see you both later.” He said pleasantly as the doors were closed and bolted again, leaving them in the darkness. A few seconds passed.

                “Ah!” Will cried out as he felt pain in his cheek from a slap he hadn’t seen. Avery lowered his hand and glared furiously at Will’s form.

                “How could you?!” he shouted. “Do you know how many beating and interrogations I’ve endured to keep that from them?! They give you one bluff and you take it! You told them! You told them!!” he screamed. Will lowed his hand from his stinging cheek and gazed solemnly at Avery.

                “I-I’m sorry.” He said. “I couldn’t let him… He wasn’t bluffing. They would have killed you.”

                “Idiot! I don’t care about that! But now they’ll find Tella.” His voice wavered and cracked.

                “… Avery…” Will opened his mouth to say more but stopped.

                “Don’t speak to me…” Avery said turning away to find a corner. Will stayed silent and let a few minutes pass. It was agonizing to hear Avery’s sobs from the corner but he knew that he deserved what agony he received from them. But at the same time Will’s mind was racing to find a way to tell Avery the truth about where Tella was. But, he was frightened to. Avery had said the room was bugged.

                “Avery?” came Will’s quiet voice from the darkness.

                “Don’t-”

                “Avery, can you read thoughts?” Will asked. Avery was silent a moment.

                “That is none of your business.” he said coldly.

                “Please! Trust me. I need to know… Please?” Will pleaded.

                “I-If I choose to... Yes.” Avery replied reluctantly.

                “Listen to mine.” Will said. Avery turned from the corner to stare at him.

                “W-Why?” he asked. But Will would not answer. “Oh, very well…” Avery muttered annoyed.

                Can you hear me?

                “Yes.” Avery replied out loud, knowing that Will would not be able to hear any thoughts he projected back.                

                 Please let me explain. I’m sorry for deceiving you. I don’t know how much you knew about where we were going, but, it is true, Tella’s near Cedar, but they won’t find her.

                “Explain.” Avery said simply.

                She’s in Fairien’s scared Realm, a place that’s kind of… not a part of this world, and mortals can’t reach it normally, but I could since I was joined to Fairien at one time and I still have the talisman in me. At any rate, Tella’s safe there and they can’t get to her. Will realized that his explanation was rushed and rather disconnected, but Avery seemed to understand.

                “I see.” Avery said quietly.

                When we found out what happened back here Tella wanted to come back. She wanted to kick them out… And also she was very worried about you and her sisters. Avery looked down, smiling.

                “So you came?” he asked.

                “Yes.” Will said. 

“What I want to know is what you could have possibly said to keep Madam Tella from following you into danger.” Avery asked lightly. Will smiled.

                Actually I had to close the realm after I left. You know there isn’t anything I could have said to keep her behind. She’s going to be so angry with me. Avery laughed softly, his anger drained.

                “Thank you for coming.” He said quietly.

                “I had to.” Will said. “We couldn’t leave you here with them. I-I’m just sorry I didn’t get here sooner.” They lapsed into silence for a moment. Then Avery said,

                “So how are we getting out of here?” Will shrugged, not really certain.

                “I’m afraid I didn’t plan this far… But we’ll find a way out…” Will began to pace, looking around. Avery slowly reached into his robes and brought out a small wooden figurine.

                “Maybe this would help?” he asked. “They took my dagger, but they missed this. I’m afraid it’s a rather weak channeling object. The most I can get it to do is make noise or light…” Will knelt down, examining the wooden figurine.

                “Hmmm… How bright a light?” he asked. Avery shrugged.

                “Fairly bright I guess.” He said. Will grinned.

                “Okay. When I shout now, I want you to make that thing light up as brightly as you can. Hopefully we can blind them…”

                “B-Blind them? Will, I’m not sure-” Avery began but Will was already shouting as though he were panicked.

                “The Hailian has some kind of weapon! Help! He’s trying to kill me!” Will screamed. Avery scowled in annoyance. Quick footsteps ran up to the door and unlocked it, as the two guards ran in shouting.

                “Now!” Will shouted. Avery fumbled with the wooden figurine, not expecting this. The wood began to glow and the guards turned to him.

                “What that?” the guards said looking annoyed. “You call that trying to kill you?” Avery stood up, looking down at the figurine, trying to get it to go brighter. Instead it fizzled out. Avery cursed, and launched himself at one of the guards, who cried out in surprise. The last thing they had expected was to be physically attacked by the scrawny looking Hailian. Will blinked, shocked at Avery’s brutality as he tried to strangle one of the guards. Well, Will thought, at least for once, I’m not on the receiving side of Avery’s attacks… Coming to his senses, Will saw the other guard moving into action, his shock wearing off. Now it was Will’s turn to launch himself at this guard. The guard fell over as Will plowed into him and knocked his head against the stone floor. The guard moaned, but didn’t move after that. Will stood up and dragged Avery off the other guard who also seemed to have lost consciousness.

                “Come on, let’s go.” Will said dragging him out of the dungeon. “Jeez, you can be aggressive, can’t you?” Avery looked pail as he stumbled along.

“Occasionally.” He said, sounding embarrassed.

“For guards they sure don’t know how to fight.” Will said as they ran along the halls. “One night on the pier would finish them for good.” Avery didn’t respond so Will changed the subject.

“Do you know a way out of here?” he asked.

                “It’s built to be a labyrinth, almost impossible to get out.” Avery said.

                “I asked if you knew how to get out.”

                “Of course I do.” Avery said, a slight smugness returning to his voice. Will laughed.

                “You’re a tricky Hailian.” He said, imitating the guard’s mannerisms. Avery laughed.

                “Thank you. And you are a lowly Iyokian, not worth a second glance. Left here.” He said as they came to an intersection.

 

 

 

Avery true to his word navigated them out of the castle easily avoiding any guards. He seemed to know every secret passage in the castle and in only a few minutes they found themselves outside in the woods.

“We have to move quickly. They will search for us out here.” Avery said. “… We can’t out run them… They have Arean technology… Vehicles that fly through the woods… They’ll find us no matter what…”

“Don’t say that.” Will chided. “We’ll get out of here. I promise you. Besides, we have to. I left Tella in that realm and if I don’t get back she can’t get out.”

“Then I suppose we must hurry…” Avery said. Will frowned. It seemed like only a few minutes ago, Avery had been in high spirits, but that rush had apparently left him and now he was sinking back into a depression.

“If you’re right about them, we’ll need to find a place to hide.” Will said.

“But they’ll find us” Avery said stumbling along, nearly tripping.

“We’ll find a good hiding place then.” Will said. Avery was silent. Will bit his lip, worried. They needed to find a place to hide quickly or he suspected Avery might pass out. That one burst of energy he had displayed a few minutes earlier was taking its toll on him now. Will didn’t know what had happened to him in the dungeons but he was certain that Avery hadn’t been feed very often if at all, and it seemed he had been beaten quite a bit. Will turned his mind to the hiding place. Where could they hide? It needed to be good. He stopped and examined a tree next to him.

“What are you doing?” Avery asked almost panicked. Something had caught Will’s attention about this tree. It was hollow. Will didn’t know how he knew it, but suddenly he found himself reaching out and touching the bark. To his amazement, the roots shifted, making an opening at the base of the trunk. Will gasped stepping back, not sure what to think.

“W-What? What did you do?” Avery asked.

“I-I uh....” Will said,

“Never mind, lets get in.” Aver said, “I can hear them shouting it won’t be long before there’re out here looking for us.” Will nodded dumbly and followed Avery in. This was unreal, like a dream. Suddenly nature was responding to him, aiding him when he needed it the most. As cool as it was, it made Will feel weird. The roots moved back, closing behind him.

“Its so dark in here…” Avery said rubbing his shoulders. He pulled the small wooden figurine out of his robes again and made a weak light from it. The ball of light floated up to the top of the hollow and shone dimly down on them. The tree was a rather large one with plenty of room for two people inside it.  Avery slumped against the far wall and stared off into space.

“Hungry?” Will asked. Avery looked up and nodded, barely moving his head. Will pulled out two granola packets form his pocket and handed one to Avery. Unfortunately, he had left the rest of his food back at the stream bad, so many miles away. This was all he had on him. Avery unwrapped the package slowly and ate carefully, not spilling a crumb. Will watched him eat a moment, and looked down at his own bar.

“Here.” Will said handing it to him. Avery looked at him surprised.

“That’s yours.” He said.

“I’m not hungry. Go on.”

“N-no. That’s fine… You’ll be hungry soon.” Avery said declining. Will sighed and pushed the bar into Avery’s hands.

“I’ve had something to eat in the past week.” Will said. Avery looked up at him with pained eyes and slowly took the granola bar.

Will sat back morosely staring at the floor with a worried expression as Avery ate.

“We are going to get out of here.” Will told him quietly.

“… Of course we are.” Avery agreed weakly. Avery’s back stiffed and he sat up intent on something.

“Wha-” but Will cut off, because now he could hear it. There was a strange whooshing noise like something flying through the air.

“That’s them…” Avery whispered so softly Will could barely hear him

They won’t find us. Will thought feverishly. The whooshing sound moved off into the distance and quieted. After a few moments Will smiled.

“See? We’re okay.”

“No…” Avery said growing agitated.

“What’s wrong?” Will asked. Avery bit his lip and grabbed his ears, squeezing his eyes shut.

“They have whistles!” he gasped. “High frequency whistles….” Will’s eyes widened. He couldn’t hear them but he knew such a thing would burst Avery’s eardrums if the whistles got too close.

“Avery-” Will said, panic filling his voice. Avery opened his eyes and looked at Will reassuringly.

“It’s okay. I’ll be fine.” He said.

“No! No, you-”

“I’ll be fine Will.” Avery told him. Will blinked, staying silent. It seemed that Avery was taking back some of his prideful aloofness, yet his tone was still softer than it usually was to Will. Will slowly nodded, trusting him. He sat a few minutes, waiting. Avery, true to his word bore the pain soundlessly, even when they passed right out side their tree. Will was amazed at his will power. Finally, Avery sat back, exhausted, breathing quickly.

“Are they gone yet?” Will asked quietly.

“They must have moved on.” Avery said, lowering hands from his ears. Will was relived to see that his ears weren’t bleeding. Avery sighed. “Maybe they won’t come back by here…At least I hope they won’t… I’m just glad they don’t have a Hailian with them.” He smiled. “A Hailian could find us in a minute.”

“Because we’re talking?” Will asked.

“Hmph.” Avery looked vaguely offended. “We wouldn’t need to talk. A Hailian could find us by the sound of our heart beats if he wanted to.”

“You’re hearing is that good?” Will asked.

“If we focus it. Our ears can pick up signals more than sounds. The heart sends out a signal, just as the mind does.”

“And those whistles, those are signals?”

“Yes. Areans developed them when they were invading Hailia. It made finding Hailian’s in hiding much easier. The signals were designed to make one scream as loud as possible.”

“That’s terrible.” Will said softly.

“Tella’s tried to have them outlawed. Hailia agreed of course.”

“But Area didn’t?” Will asked.

“Area is in conflict about it. Half want it outlawed the other half want to keep the whistles and the other torture devices they developed during the war. Tella says eventually they will outlaw it but it will take time and in the meanwhile factions like this religious one, can buy such technology… Even though that’s not quite legal in itself.”

“Not like that ever stopped them.”

“No… But…” Avery sighed. “…I’m tiered… Can we talk about this later?”

“Of course. I was… I’m sorry. You’re right. We should use this time to rest.” The lay back and curled their bodies to the shape of the tree, with their backs touching the wood, facing one another. Avery let the light spell die and soft darkness over took them.

 

 

Tella wanted to destroy something. Preferably Will’s head. Her solemn mood had drained and she had regained her anger. She felt so trapped and helpless here! Everyone could be dying and what could she do? NOTHING!

“How dare he!!” She fumed kicking a tree until her foot hurt and the tree had little marks in it from her shoes. She didn’t care if these were Fairien’s sacred trees in his sacred realm. Will had locked her in this realm and left her while he went off and did something dangerous! And on her behalf. That jerk.

Well Tella, he did let you come with him to this sacred realm. She thought. That was probably more that she should have done, although if she hadn’t left to go with him, she would have been captured along with Avery and probably dead by now. Avery… She hoped he and her sisters were okay, that the faction hadn’t deemed them important enough to kill yet. Will would get them out. She knew that. But she was scared too. Will was very clever at getting out of messes, but he was even better at getting into them.  Although, Tella thought, the same could be said for me… She sat down and looked sorrowfully at the tree she had kicked and silently asked its forgiveness, before resuming her tirade.

“That idiots… he’ll have gotten into some awful mess I know it. Will should never have gone back alone!”

She stormed back into the strong hold, looking around angrily, until her eyes lit on the fountain. She blinked and decided to try it again. Maybe she could find someone to help her… she laughed evilly, as a plan began to form in her mind… If only the fountain could connect her to more… modern communication devices. She had a feeling it would work. This was after all Fairien’s. It probably operated based on how much the person wanted it to work. That would be just like Fairien. Tella dipped her staff in the water and willed the fountain into use.

 

 

Collin sighed and tried to hide his boredom. The senate was going on and on again. It was past eleven in Area and he was getting tired.

Maybe these old men can stay up half the night but I’m just a kid… Just a kid. If anyone told him was just a kid Collin would snap. He wondered if this was what it was like to go insane… Not that he hadn’t has his experience with insanity...

A little box on the screen in front of him glowed. Collin frowned and maximized it. A soldier looked back at him from the box on the screen and said in a low voice.

“So sorry senator. There is an urgent call for you on line two.” He said.

“I am in a senate meeting. You are to hold all calls for me until the meeting is adjourned. Understood?” Collin asked sharply. The man's face drained of color and he winced.

“I’m sorry sir… I told her that but… please sir…” the soldier begged. Collin raised an eyebrow at his obvious, “Please-don’t-make-me-talk-to-her-again” look. He recognized that look.

“…Who is it on the line?” he asked dreading the answer.

“Tella de Alarica.” The man said. Collin paused, looking a little sick himself.

“My God.” He muttered. “Not now.” Over the screen Collin could hear in that background the shouting of a tiny electric voice.

“Hey! You! Man! Are you listening to me? Did I not make myself clear that I wanted to speak to Senator Collin?! So put me through!!” the soldier looked helplessly at Collin, begging him with his eyes to take the call.

“Very well.” Collin nodded giving in, half out of pity for the soldier and half because he was afraid of what Tella might do if he didn’t take her call. How had she learned to use their communication systems anyway? That had always been Collin’s one blessing.

“I call to put the meeting on hold!” Collin shouted in between speakers. Most of the other senators looked at him gratefully but a few sneered at his comment.

 “I feel that continuing will only waste more time since it seems no one here can come to a decision about anything. Perhaps a brief respite will do us all a bit of good and allow certain heads to cool.”

“Here, here!” a few cried. Others again looked down on him sniffing as though they had smelled something bad. Little boy wants to go to bed… Hmph... They knew he wouldn’t make a good senator…. Collin looked coldly over the senate.

“Lets see votes!” Collin shouted. About seventy five percent immediately raised their hands in favor of adjourning for the night.

“Then we adjourn.” Collin said trying not to snarl at those that looked across at him with pushed together lips and shaded eyes. He turned and left to find his quarters and take Tella’s call.

Perhaps it had been best that when she called Collin was angry. He felt much more able to handle her. He opened the screen but only got an audio.

“Collin! Is that you? Are you alone?!” Tella’s voice demanded almost angrily.

“Yes I am alone, what do you want and why are you calling me? You interrupted a senate meeting!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Get over it kid.” Tella said sarcastically. Collin frowned. Tella was one of the only two people still left in this world that he would allow to call him, “kid”.

“Look, I have real business.” She started.

“Senate meetings are important Tella. So don’t interrupt-”

“Oh don’t be a daft idiot Collin! I know how those meetings are, a bunch of old men glaring and jawing at each other for hours and getting nothing done. Don’t you tell me about those dreadful things…” Collin had to laugh at this. She was so very right…

“Tella,” he said, “You shouldn’t have called here using your real name. Did you know that the Spiritius faction is after your blood? They’ve even asked Area to help hunt you down.”

“Oh really?  Ha. That’s interesting. So did Area agree?”

“Well no. We did make peace with you, remember?”

“Oh yes right well. So how is that evil little group enjoying my castle eh?” Tella asked angrily.

“Very well apparently.” Collin said in a disgusted voice. “I’ve tried getting action from Area, but they won’t listen to me.”

“Yeah I heard,” Tella said. “Anyway, that’s not the biggest concern right now.”

“Oh?” Collin asked.

“Yeah, What I called for is to tell you is that my sisters and Avery, you met Avery, didn’t you? Well, they didn’t make it out of the castle and well…”

“Wrong there Tella.” Collin said grinning. Tella paused.

“What?” she asked.

“I don’t know about Avery, but your sisters are in Hailia as we speak.”

“H-Hailia…?” Tella asked in surprise, “What? How?”

“Hehe, little bit of top secret info I picked up. I have several trusted Hailian spies working for me and they told me that the girls escaped, just before the castle was taken, and were put on a boat leaving Verca and headed over to the new Deocrates, where they are being kept safe.”

“Wha… Really? When did you find out about this?” Tella asked.

“Just a few hours ago actually.” Collin said smugly. “So I would gather they just got there.”

“That’s great new!” Tella said excitedly. “But what about Avery?” Collin paused and shook his head.

“I didn’t hear anything about him.” he said. Sadly he added, “And I would have, if he were on that boat.” Tella’s end was quiet.

“That doesn’t mean anything for certain, mind you.” Collin said.

“Y-Yes. I know.” Tella said. “A-Anyway, the thing I wanted to tell you is that Will went down to try and rescue Avery and my sisters.”

“W-Wha?” Collin asked, “I knew he was an idiot but…”

“Hey! Don’t talk about him like that!” Tella shouted. Collin gritted his teeth anxiously.

“Whatever, its still stupid to get involved with that crazy faction. Especially on your own like that.”

“Well, if I had had any choice in the matter I would have gone with him…”

“Now that would have been really stupid.” Collin said.

“Well what else am I supposed to do?” Tella asked angrily. “They’ve taken my country Collin!!”

“… They’ll take your life too if they find you.”

“They won’t find me.  It’s Will and Avery I’m worried about.”

“And how do you know they won’t find you?” Collin asked.

“Because they can’t alright! Just trust me on this one!”

“This is a secure line Tella.” Collin told her.

“Well you little idiot you don’t need to know anyway. Will will tell you.” Tella said. Collin blinked taken by surprise.

“Will? Why would I see him? I thought you said he was going after Avery in your castle? Are they planning on coming to Area?”

Tella smiled.

 

 

Will and Avery slept through the day, deciding they would try and run at night. As evening approached, Will awoke. Avery was across from him, still sleeping peacefully.

There was a loud noise from outside their tree. Will sat up, wide-eyed. It sounded like some kind of motor, like on the vehicles that had been searching for them that morning. Had they found them some how? Avery frowned in his sleep, but didn’t stir beyond that. Will knelt against the tree’s wall and touched it, creating a small peephole. It was risky, but he had to know if they needed to run. As he peered through the hole he gasped, surprised and happy. Outside stood Collin, dismounting some kind of Arean vehicle. He looked grumpy, as though he hadn’t slept in a week.

“Damn idiots…” he growled, looking around and pulling out a device again and glaring at it in frustration. “I can see their stupid heat patterns! It looks like I’m right on top of them, but no! All I see are trees… what is wrong with you… stupid…” he growled at the device. Will grinned.

“Over here Collin.” He called. Collin’s head shot up in surprise, as he looked around. His surprise melted quickly to be replaced with annoyance.

“Where are you? Get out here quickly. We don’t have much time.” Will slowly opened the tree and poked his head out looking up at Collin.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were a senator now and couldn’t be running off around the world anymore.” He said. Collin grimaced.

“What do you think? I’m saving your sorry butt from getting killed… I’m here on the orders of Princess Tella.” He said mockingly.

“What? She sent you?” Will asked.

“Yes. Now hurry, did you find that servant person?” Collin asked. Will frowned at this.

“His name is Avery.” He said sourly and turned back to the tree. “Avery,” he called and bent down through the opening. “Wake up. Come on we’re leaving.”

“Eh? Will?” Avery said waking. He sighed pulling himself through the tree, blinking sleepily. Spotting Collin he gave a nod of acknowledgement.

“Where did you come from?” he asked.

“Tella sent him.” Will said.

“T-Tella?” Avery asked, surprised. Will nodded.

“I’ll explain everything later, we need to get going. They’ll be out looking for you again soon when it gets dark.” He turned and showed them a strange metallic machine. “We’ll ride on this little beauty, though it will be interesting how we managed to fit three people on it…” he sighed and took up his helmet. “Sorry I don’t have helmets for you both. This is a child’s size and wouldn’t do either of you any good. Now get on.” Avery and Will warily sat down on the machine and let Collin take the front position. He pulled an iron string and brought the machine to life. It growled in anger at being woken and loudly cursed them for their added weight. Avery shivered and found he could hold on to anything except Will, so he wrapped his arms around Will’s stomach and held on for dear life. Will wasn’t too much better off. Machines had always frightened him to a slightly degree and straddling one between your legs while it roared and bucked, lifting off the ground wasn’t his idea of fun. Collin however, seemed to be enjoying himself, and the discomfort of his passengers. He grinned back at them and shouted,

“Keep your heads low, we don’t want them knocked off!”

Avery whimpered and felt like he was going to be sick as the machine jerked a last time and took off. He buried his face in Will’s back and prayed he wouldn’t throw up.

Once they were over the trees it wasn’t so bad. In fact, Will thought it was really quite beautiful. Avery didn’t seem to be doing very well. He was petrified it seemed of heights and refused to look down. Instead, he continued to bury his face in Will’s shirt and tremble.

“Alright Will, you tell me where we’re going. Tella wouldn’t tell me where she was.”

“Ha, that’s because she didn’t know.” Will said.

“What?” Collin asked.

“Just head north. I’ll tell you when to land.” Will told him. Now that he had journeyed to the realm he could fell it much better and knew he could find it easily this time.

“Look, the landscape down there is pretty tricky to navigate. You might be an ocean navigator but land is completely different.” Collin told him.

“I’m not going by the land.” Will told him and would say no more. Collin cursed lightly.

“There you go again, being all mysterious. Its getting old you know?”

“Oh shut up!” Will said cuffing him. Collin jerked the machine up and down on purpose and Avery cried out pitifully and locked his arms tighter around Will until Will had a hard time breathing. Nothing he said could coax Avery to loosen his grip until Will gave up and tried breathing only everyone once in a while and only in short little breathes.

 Surprisingly Will felt the realm growing closer and closer until they were on it. Collin’s machine for all its noise and unpleasantness sure did move quickly. They had made a journey that normal took four days on foot in less than a few hours.

“Land here Collin.” Will told him. Collin nodded and took the machine into a dive. Avery squeezed harder (Will had not thought it possible for Avery to squeeze any harder than he had been for the past few hours, but this proved him wrong.) The machine hovered gently over the ground for a moment and then touched down and shut off.

“Avery… Avery…! Let go, come on… Please…” Will coaxed trying to move his hands. Collin laughed and jumped off the machine.

“I-I’m very very sorry Will…” Avery said lifting his head from Will’s back for the first time since they took off. He was slightly green and very stiff. He unhooked his arms and bent over promptly vomiting. Collin winced.

“Not on my flyer…” he pleaded. “Aim it away, yeah like that… Thank you.” Will watched Avery straiten after he was done and stare them both in the eye. Surprisingly Will found himself thinking, That’s it, Avery has moved beyond caring about politeness or what the correct thing to do is… I think he’s so miserable he doesn’t care anymore… This of course was followed by a wave of guilt.

“A-Are you okay Avery? Ehh… I guess not… Come on. It’s not much farther. The realm is this way. Once we get there everything will be fine.” He tried to reassure Avery. Avery had gone pail after he had lost what little had been in his stomach and now, even though he was much to nauseous to even fathom the concept of eating anything he knew his body needed some kind of nourishment or he would collapse soon. His head already ached.

“What do you mean realm?” Collin asked.

“I’ll show you.” Will lifted his head and stared into space a moment and then lightly brought his hand upwards to touch the air. “… Here. Come on.” Will said, his voice taking on a eerie unconnected tone, “Follow right behind me… The realm knows me better now, so it will let you in, if I tell it too...” He walked forward without looking back to see that they were following. Avery and Collin hurriedly made their way behind Will and walked slowly in step with him until they felt something in the air change.

They were in Fairien’s Scared Realm.

 

 

 

By the way…. I’m not like anti-religion or anything, just anti- “if-you’re-not-like-us-your-going-to-burn-thing”. Hehe… Oh well.^^