It was an unbearable three hours.

The sanctification was probably the most important event Onyx Nanika had ever attended...something that made him important and deities knew, maybe even awe-inspiring, but somehow, during the celebration afterwards, he couldn't seem to look anybody in the eye. They either seemed to be eyeing him in mortification, or out of pity. He detested both.

Opal and Carnelian had moved to the other end of the hall, the boy Sidhe talking softly with his mother and father while Carnelian remained silent (for once), occasionally rubbing her cheek against her master's in what seemed like a comforting gesture.

He was surprised, to say the least, when Lord Jade took him aside after they had all eaten. The man looked haggard and stressed. Obviously he had not slept. He looked the troll in the eye and gritted his teeth. "If you--" Lord Jade began, his intense, fearful dark green gaze rooting Onyx to the spot. "If you dare hurt my son, in any manner at all, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth. Don't even think about hurting him. Not our Opal."

Onyx nodded solemnly, not even wondering what about the boy had inspired so much loyalty. Of course, Lord Jade, being Opal's father, had a right to be protective. Later during the celebration feast, though, more and more people took him aside to give him the same warning, starting from the captain of the palace guard, through the steward, the head groom and the Mistress of Chambermaids, not to mention the head cook and the lead huntsman, the palace falconer.... It was thoroughly annoying to Onyx, especially since they invariably interrupted his eating to give him their warnings. However, their fierce reactions all led him to the same conclusion. The boy loved his people, and that love was returned.

They set off the next day. The palace was hung with brilliantly colored silk banners. Silk streamers flew from every window. Every Elf of the palace guard was in full, freshly burnished armor, capes of purple velvet rippling in the breeze. All the inhabitants of the palace were decked out as well, the nobles and quasi-nobles in silk, velvet and lace, the rest in the finest linen, cotton or wool they could afford. Everything was set up in the most perfect splendor. But only a few young nobles, out of all the people assembled to see off the 27th child of the Dragon Clan and his betrothed, looked truly happy to see him go. The rest looked as if they were sending him off to his death.

Lord Jade, in the purple, blue and gold that were the Trevelyan colors, and Lady Turquoise on his arm, in the same colors but paler, watched them go with worried faces. The Lady looked as if she very much wanted to weep, but dared not in the presence of her people. Lord Jade's eyes were bleak.

The looks on their faces were echoed by almost all the others assembled, mostly palace servants and bondspeople. Their eyes said exactly the same thing: Opal, come back to us. Onyx could feel those eyes on him...they seemed so accusing...and he was glad to ride away from those stares. He followed Opal, who had only given his people one long sad look and a small smile of encouragement before turning his golden horse onto the manor road. They were halfway out of the manor grounds before Onyx realized he had no idea where they were going.

~

"WOW!"

Sapphire gazed adoringly up at her master Topaz, Showman and Mage Extraordinaire, as the rainbow sparkles that accompanied his spell landed on her furry black ears and dusted her face. She bounced eagerly and clapped her hands. "Do it again!"

Gods, Topaz loved this. But he grew serious as he considered the situation.

The demon had been tormenting the villagers for weeks already. It had taken that long for a messenger from the village to reach Topaz and Sapphire, and bring them back. The elf-mage had long decided that this was a relatively simple matter, that needed only a basic web spell and that was that. The bait was in the center of the carefully constructed web, designed to catch the demon and hold him fast so that Topaz could banish him.

Sapphire shook the sparkles out of her hair and watched them land on the floor. They looked to her wondering eyes like snowflakes dyed in the colors of the prism. Unlike snowflakes, however, they didn't melt unless Topaz wanted them to.

The forest path was silent now; gone were the bell-like sounds and crashing drum effects of Topaz's magic. Of course, only Sapphire could hear it. Topaz had made it that way, crafting specialized magic to put on a show for the personal enjoyment of his young pupil without risking them both.

The pooka rubbed her nose and sniffed the air. The demon was near. She told her master so.

Topaz directed the wind towards the demon's lair to carry the scent of the bait, before taking Sapphire's hand and hastily running down the path...before the demon decided that they were better tasting than the bait.

As they ran, Topaz couldn't help feeling a little smug about the thorough perfection of his plan. No one could break the wards except him, and that made it safe from any enterprising hungry animals. And they were specially crafted for the monster, attuned to its own signature magic. Which Topaz, with characteristic perfect precision, had studied in detail. The food would keep the monster busy, and the wards would then close, trapping it inside for Topaz to deal with summarily. He was the greatest mage alive so far, and he should know how to make wards impenetrable, because, of course, he was brilliant.

Sapphire giggled as Topaz scooped her into his arms and prepared to wait.

~

It had been barely a fortnight since leaving the Trevelyan manor. When he had asked Opal if he knew where they were going, the boy smiled at him and said. "I think so. I'm not sure, maybe it's a sixth sense or something, but I can feel a sort of tug. It isn't exactly a physical thing. It feels more like...longing, almost."

That Onyx could understand better than the boy knew. He too still felt the physical connection between the two of them, as surely as if they were tied together with a cord. But that was only one of the problems that he had to endure at the moment.

In fact, Onyx was afraid he was being driven insane.

The boy-Sidhe was pleasant company, intelligent and not even complaining in the slightest over where they slept, what they ate or anything they did. He seemed, in fact to be enjoying himself. Onyx realized that Sidhe, in spite of their opulent lifestyles and inbred nobility, loved nature for all it was worth, Opal more so than most. But that wasn't what bothered Onyx.

That idiot dragon and what Opal wore bothered Onyx.

Until the cold set in, the only thing that shielded Opal from prying eyes was a ridiculous outfit that seemed to be made primarily of a few straps and a loincloth. The straps held the two swords loosely at Opal's smooth hip, ready to be drawn. A dishonorable person had all the opportunity to feast his/her eyes on a beautiful young male body, lean and finely muscled, the skin just beginning to tan because of constant exposure to the sun.

Onyx was dangerously close to becoming dishonorable.

And he wanted to gag Carnelian. The scarlet dragon's annoying trills and descending and ascending laughter, which he always felt was directed at him, were not helping him in the least.

They had been walking along the lower lands somewhere near the Kyserelle River and the smaller villages that surrounded the outer parts of the clan lands, leading their horses. Daylight shone through the trees and bounced off clear streams. Onyx was feeling in a better mood, and couldn't help but smile at Opal and Carnelian as the boy bounded forward, his horse trotting eagerly beside him and the dragon coasting alongside, racing through the path. Deities, it was truly a lovely day.

He stopped suddenly; turned, as a delicious aroma floated past his nose.

Ahead of him, Opal skidded to a stop. He looked around and regarded Onyx with his brilliant blue eyes. "What's wrong?"

Onyx only shook his head as his feet began to move, his nose following the incredibly appetizing smell. Opal followed him at a distance, puzzled and a little apprehensive.

The smell led them to an open clearing, and right in the middle, placed ostentatiously on a tree stump, sat--

"FOOD!"

Onyx ran forward, his eyes set on the delicious-looking roasted thing on the plate. Behind him, Opal gasped. "Onyx, wait! You're going to run--"

Onyx reached the vicinity of the food. "Come here, you delicious chunk of m--" SMACK!

"--into a wall." Opal finished lamely. Carnelian burst into wild shrills of laughter. He ran to the troll, who lay on the ground with several dancing dragons floating around his head, all of them snickering. "Are you all right?" Opal asked anxiously. He had seen the wards, of course, though Onyx had not.

Instantly, the aforementioned wards began to dissolve. Having a creature of immensely strong but passive magic near a work of active magic had some pretty predictable results.

~

Some distance away, Topaz's head snapped up from the book he was reading to Sapphire. "Oh, no," murmured the mage. "This is not good." He glanced at his pupil, who was happily waiting for the next part of the tale. "Sapphire," he said gravely. "I think the demon melted the wards."

Her pink eyes grew round with horror.

~

Opal watched as the knight sat up, nodded when Opal asked if he was okay and . . . reached for the food.

"All right..." said Onyx.

Opal's eyes widened in disbelief. Hadn't they just eaten? "Um...Onyx, we just finished lunch...and that isn't your food," he said weakly. "And the wards you ran into probably meant it was important."

Onyx shrugged, the movement causing his long silky hair to fall over his shoulders. The one thing Opal had found out about Onyx was that he was extremely callous about food. He didn't care where it came from, or who cooked it, or whose food it was. Just as long as it went into his stomach.

Carnelian snorted and turned her scarlet head. Opal, get him away from here. The scarlet dragon paused then added offhandedly, Or maybe you should leave him here to be killed. She sounded as if she, for one, wouldn't mind that option.

"Hush," Opal said chidingly.

Onyx looked guiltily at the food, then at Opal. "But no one owns this food," he tried to explain. "It was lying there in the middle of the path, alone and sad, with no one to eat it..."

"It was meant for someone." Or something, Opal thought, his mind wandering back to the wards. They were rather strong...the person who had created them was certainly no amateur. He had no idea what they were for now...they had dissolved after all. Still, Opal had an unhappy feeling that they'd interrupted something important. Carnelian fluttered her wings anxiously and twittered.

Onyx's hand was already reaching for the food.

"STOP!" The new, desperate voice stopped Onyx dead. He raised irritated dark blue eyes .

A strange pair was running at full pelt toward them, the tall male's silver hair and odd-fitting peasant's dust-cloak flying out behind him. A small cat pooka with dark blue hair in twin ponytails, pink eyes, and black ears and tail chased after him on all fours, with rather little effort considering her size. They skidded to a halt before the two.

"What did you say?" Onyx growled, laying a hand on his new sword. No one was taking his food away from him.

The silver-haired elf didn't look intimidated at all. He looked rather angry, in fact. "Do you realize what you've done?" he demanded. The little Pooka behind him blinked at them, a worried look on her face. (Onyx was getting rather tired of that particular expression...)

"Er..." Opal stood and brushed some dirt from his legs. "I am very sorry. It was my fault. I didn't mean to dissolve your wards, they just..." He hung his head. Carnelian did the same.

The elf seemed to see him for the first time and he blinked. "Er..."

"What is it?" Opal inquired.

"You don't have an aura of magic," the gold-eyed Sidhe said flatly. "You seem to be...made of magic."

Onyx was still gazing wistfully at the food. "He is."

The mage elf slapped a hand to his forehead. "This is not convenient at all." He murmured something to the small kittenish girl next to him. She gave a nod and skipped away.

"I am Topaz." The elf announced, bowing slightly. "That was my student and adopted daughter, Sapphire."

"Opal Trevelyan." Opal returned the bow. Onyx had stood and he nodded, eyeing the mage and the food balefully.

"Onyx Nanika," he muttered.

"We must get to a safe place now," Topaz said urgently as his student returned with a small pouch of something that smelled horrible. "The wards you melted were created specifically for a powerful demon. The food was for him, to serve as bait. I am sure he has smelled it by now. I am not sure, however, whether I can build strong enough wards in so little time-"

He was cut short by a sharp roar that pierced the forest quiet, sending birds fluttering and animals scattering wildly.

Opal looked up.

Just beyond the end of the path he and Onyx had been following earlier, stood the UGLIEST thing he had ever seen. The demon smiled and howled loudly enough to make Onyx, who had particularly sensitive ears, wince.

Too late, everyone thought at the same time.

END CHAPTER 4