Heirot

The cabin was broken down… old and decade. It had been a long time since she had come to this place. The last time she had been here she was tied inside the shed from her wrists, dangling painfully off the ground. She remembered happy memories though. Ones with her mother and father… But, those memories were few… She could only remember images and could barely remember them. She couldn’t remember what her mother or father looked like. She always had to look at the picture for that.

It was spring and the grass was growing thick. The trees were budding and the flowers blooming. The old cabin looked horrible, yet beautiful with the over grown forest that surrounded it.

She had grown in years, many years it had taken to become the adult she always wanted to be as a child. She was tall now, with a woman’s figure. She had a body of graceful curves, full and luscious. Her hair was long and curly as it got closer to the ends. It reached the small of her back and had gotten lighter over the years going from brown to brownish blond. Her eyes that had been more gray than blue had brightened to blue. She had grown into a beautiful and capable woman. It was amazing she had lived to grow at all.

She stood tall and strong with a hand braced on the hilt of the long sword at her hip. Her feet were apart and strong gusts of wind blew the many strands of silken hair around her. She could hear the whispers of ghosts in her eyes and the sound of a child laughing. Was it her when she was a child? A child long ago left behind?

Dry leaves rolled across the ground and she knew she shouldn’t linger long. She had places to go… But, as much as she wanted to, nothing could seem to tear her from looking at her old home.

But, finally she turned away and mounted the white horse that was gazing behind her.

* * *

The Quarter House Inn was probably the most lively joint on the Border. It had been rebuilt at least three times during the 1st and 2nd Queen Wars. Now it was a fairly large place filled with music, drunk men, and dancing ladies and the only reason Rai had stopped there was for a meal and a place to stay. She was sitting at a table in the corner with her legs crossed.

Rai was dressed in brown pants, high black boots, a loose white shirt that was tied at the top. On both arms she wore brass arm guards atop the sleeve of her shirt. She wore a brown cloak atop that with the hood down. She was in a comfortable lounging position with her hand absentmindedly tracing the top rim of a mug.

"Aye! After all these years the Witch Queen and her demon son have been so quiet. I didn’t expect them to be quiet much longer…” one crooned, taking another sip of his ale. Rai listened with interest, sipping her own drink quietly in her corner.

A tall man with a handsome face, a scar on his right eyebrow came and sat in front of her. Pushing her boots out of the way with a smile. “Find anything interesting around here?” he asked leaning forward and putting his arms on the table, propping his head up on his hands.

Rai stared at him with a serious expression and then her smile appeared on her face. “Not really, nothing seems to have changed. What about you? Find anything interesting?”

Steel smiled and shook his head, leaning back. “Nope, everything is pretty much boring around here. Say, when are we getting out of this joint? I think I found the emptiness of the ocean more interesting…”

“Well, you should have been around as a kid. If you think I attract trouble now, I was worst back then.” She winked, pushing back a long strand of curly brownish-blond hair.

“Lord help who ever raised you,” he said with a grin, pulling her mug to him and taking a sip. She stared at him with an astonished expression, which was strange since it was half smile… “What… You weren’t drinking it…”

“Hey! Hey! I got it! I know what she’s doin’!” The voice was loud and booming, able to capture both her and Steel’s attention. “She’s causin’ that army of hers to grow and grow… She’ll be stormin’ us over before we know what hit us!” Rai shook her head, trying not to listen to there ranting.

“Aye,” another said and held up his mug. “But, the question is when?”

“Oh, that’s easy… When ever you expect it. She likes you to know what she’s doing. She likes the challenge of having to over come you. Frankly its her only flaw…” Rai said louder than she had expected. The room grew quiet and when she looked up the ones in the inn were looking at her with blank stares. “What?”

“And just ‘ow do you know so much, little missy?” a large man… not fat… but very muscular said. He had a thick chestnut beard and a bald head that was tattooed with strange black designs. He had bright blue eyes that were rather cheerful.

Rai was quite for a long moment and shrugged, pulling her drink away from Steel. She looked at it for a moment and then stood up. “I heard it from someone,” she said and that was all. Steel narrowed his eyes, wondering why she didn’t tell the truth. Then again, would you want people to know that you were once the key to destroying the world?

Rai walked towards the door, her boots clonking against the wood floor. Steel waited a moment before he followed, dropping a few coins on the table to pay for the drink. He understood why she was leaving a hurry. He knew that the memory of her mother and father’s death still haunted her. Even though it had happened a long time ago. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she breathed and walked to a white horse, untying it from the pole. Steel walked to his own horse, eyeing her slightly as he did the same and mounted.

“Yeah, right… and your fat too…” he mumbled.

Steel was a nice looking man, muscled but not so much as he looked like a walking brick wall. He had medium length black hair that went just to his neck and deep warm brown eyes. He wore a black pants, a white shirt, black high boots, and a black cloak.

“I figure we should head south… See what’s there…” Steel said, smiling. “Maybe you could meet up with Jack again?”

Rai sent him a death glare, but there was a hint of a smile on her lips. “Yes... And maybe you could see the lovely Lillia… I think she’ll still take you as one of her clients…” Rai didn’t wait on a reply, she turned the horse around and started down the street towards the entrance to the Ashgrown Forest. Steel hurried to catch up. His eyes were narrowed and glaring at her. “What?” But, she laughed anyway.

The fire crackled lightly, casting shadows in the cramped clearing that they had stopped in for the night. Rai was curled up on her bed role, sleeping peacefully. Steel was leaning up against a tree looking around, waiting for his watch to be over. He listened to the crackling of the fire and the sounds of the night. He could hear a wolf howling some where in the distance. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, thinking.

“Want me to take over?” he heard Rai’s soft voice say and he opened his eyes to find her sitting up looking at him. He smiled and nodded, afraid he might fall a sleep if he stayed up to much longer. He stood up and walked to his own bed role and covered up. It didn’t take long for him to fall a sleep.

It was their routine. Steel would stay awake for three hours and Rai would stay awake for three hours and then they would both sleep until dawn. They both knew if they were to be attacked it would be in the middle of the night and not too close to dawn. In the morning they ate biscuits and jerky then saddled the horses and moved on. It was an aimless journey that they only pursued because neither liked staying in a place for a long period of time. The most they had spent in a town or city was a month and that was to earn money.

Rai had lost her love of staying in one place at a young age. When she was small, around five and living with Mizuki and her mother along with Soran, and the others they never seemed to be out of trouble. Every time they turned around they were running or fighting or… dying. It got into Rai’s mind then that staying in one place meant getting into more trouble.

Steel on the other hand just liked the travel. He didn’t mind staying in one place, but preferred to be on the move. He left his home when he was a teen to learn how to wield a sword in a guild just north of Lowight. Why, it wasn’t to far from there that he had met Rai. He had been taking a morning walk when he heard the sounds of clanging metal. He broke through the brush and saw her standing in the middle of a group of bandits. She was fighting hard, having already killed two, but was still out numbered. At first she was a little cold towards him, but warmed up to him after a while.

Still to that day she claims she could have handled it. Which, they always find time to pass using that argument.

The roads were quiet that day; usually they met at least three travelers before hitting the next town.

“Wonder where everyone is…” Steel said and looked around absentmindedly, patting his horse’s neck.

“They probably could smell you coming… When is the last time you took a bath, Steel?” Rai asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Steel narrowed his eyes at her, but smiled and gave an honest answer. “Not yesterday… but the other day… I think.”<br>
Rai laughed. “Why don’t we stay at an inn in the next town?” she suggested with a soft grin.

“Sure, you could use a bath yourself…”


* * *

“I smell smoke,” Rai said absentmindedly as they grew nearer to the edge of the forest and the entrance to the town.

“Well, this is a town Rai… I’m sure there are people with fire places and such,” Steel said and smirked, steering his horse out of the way of a thick limb hanging over onto the road.

“No… this is different smoke,” Rai said and looked around as they came out of the forest and rounded a pile of rocks on the side of the path heading into the town.

Normally when you go into a town you hear the laughter of children, the sounds of animals, the voices of grown men and woman conversing… But, there was nothing. No sounds of laughter or animals or conversing. Just dead silence, save the eerie crackling of some unknown burning object.

Both Rai and Steel stopped their horses at the same time, glancing around at the empty quite town before them. “What a warm welcome,” Steel muttered, easing his horse forward.

“There’s no one around…” Rai dismounted her horse and grabbed the reins to walk it forward. She looking around idly, watching for any sign of life besides their own.

“Well it can’t be totally disserted.” Steel protested, getting off his horse and walking around. He felt as if a thousand eyes were watching him. “Rai… stay close…” Steel narrowed his dark eyes and glanced around at the windows to see if he could spot anyone standing at them.

Rai nodded and covered her mouth and nose. “Gods what is that smell…” she breathed into her hand, her voice coming out muffled. “Its like…”

Steel sneered. “Burning flesh.” He had smelt it many times. Traveling a lot, way before he had met Rai, he had been to many towns where a plague or great disease had come through. He had helped burn most of the bodies after it. But… if a plague had come through here and killed everyone… who would have been left to burn the bodies. He had the bad feeling that this had nothing to do with a plague.

Crack

Rai and Steels head snapped in the same direction to the left at the sound of a loud crack. As if something was getting smacked against a wooden plank. They paused, looking around. Chills ran up Rai’s back as she uncovered her mouth. “I have a very bad feeling about this…” she muttered looking to Steel just as she felt a sharp stab to her neck as if someone had just jabbed a needle in her. She gasped and reached up, feeling at the spot and pulling away a small dart.

Rai looked up just in time to see Steel jerk and slap at his neck. He looked at her at the same time he pulled away a dart of his own. “What the…” That’s when her vision began to blur and the last thing she saw was the ground coming towards… But, it was really more like her head going towards the ground.

* * *


Rai groaned pulling her hand up to rub her head and even before her eyes were open she could tell she had shackles on her wrists. She opened her eyes slowly, her vision clearing for her to see more clearly. Her head was swimming and it felt like she had had too much to drink and had passed out. She looked down at her hands at first to find them shackled together and her feet as well. Her next move was looking around to find she was in a box like room made of wood that was about four feet wide and four feet high as well as four feet long. It was quite uncomfortable and she was sure it would still be uncomfortable even without Steels manly form in there with her.

She nudged him and he groaned and entered the same process she had started when she first woke. “Why does it feel like you got me drunk again and left me on the side of the road.”

“Why? Don’t you remember last night? It was the best night of my life,” Rai muttered jokingly leaning against the wooden crate like wall. She knew one thing the box was moving. She, however, didn’t hear any voices.

Steel rubbed his eyes and looked at her with a blank stair. “Wow, even in the face of danger you still have a since of humor.”

“What can I say, I’m talented,” Rai breathed out in a sigh and looked around for some weakness in the box. “What the hell are we doing in here?” The box jolted to the side and it sent Rai tumbling in that direction. Steel, being much bigger and heavier than Rai only reached out of the both his shackled hands and kept her in once place.

“I guess we’ll find out when the ride is over.” Rai could tell he was annoyed. She was annoyed herself. She found it strange though. Shouldn’t they be feeling some sort of fear here? Though, Steel did have a habit of thinking he was the biggest badass around. Rai on the other hand felt protected around him.

Rai sighed, leaning back against the crate wall. “Great.”

* * *

Rai was jerked awake by there crate slamming to the ground. Her head slid from its place on Steel’s shoulder and smacked against the wall on the other side. A foul curse escaped her lips as she rubbed the bump now forming on the back of her head and Steel roused from his sleep groggily. He had been up most of the night trying to listen to anything and watch encase something were to happen. Nothing had so the boredom finally caused him to fall into slumber.

“I take it we finally stopped…” He muttered and started kicking at the side of the box. “Hey you bastards, let us out of here!”

“Oi’m gettin’ real tired o’ carryin’ this thing around. Oi say we make ‘em walk!” a voice said and Rai looked to Steel who shrugged.

“Aye, pop the tops and get them out then, ye lazy bunch of half wits!” the leader said.

The sounds of whacking on the tops of the crate and dust falling through the cracks soon followed. Sunlight filled the inside of the box as one board was broken free and then another and then another until the whole top of the box was gone and peering into it was three people. A rather skinny man reached in and grabbed Rai as the two bigger ones tried to pull Steel from the box. Rai thought that if it hadn’t have been for the shackles Steel probably would have ripped them to shreds.

When Rai was out of the box she looked around to find there were other boxes and some packed fuller than her own. There were mostly women in them… but some held strong men… ones like Steel. It was all so quite, no one spoke to one another.

Rai looked to Steel. “Uum llie now lye sen?” (Do you think we can jump them) Rai spoke in elvish.

“Nae rell… Lye darn mani ron uum ento.” (To many… Let’s see what they do next.)

They punch Steel in the face. “Hey!” Rai yelled and went to jump on the little one that hit Steel, but her “pal” that had pulled her from the crate grabbed her tiny body and lifted her into the air, her feet kicking.

“Stop your talking,” the large one muttered. “Speak in tongues we understand.”

“Well, that scratches talking period…” Rai said in a grumble.

The large man turned red in the face, but said nothing and turned to walk away. “Yep, he obviously didn’t understand me…”

“Rai,” Steel said with a smirk. “Let’s not get ourselves any deeper into trouble…”
They walked them on into the night. They were getting closer to the boarder… she could tell. The snow was starting to get thicker. Rai pulled her cloak around her tighter as they walked. Finally they stopped for the night. They were ordered to gather their own wood for a fire. Rai and Steel worked together, not saying anything in common.

Steel’s half pointed ears shown through his dark hair. He was listening closely to the other conversations around them from the captors.

“Lye ras rim nesh at,” (We could run for it.) Steel whispered as he stacked more wood in his strong arms. He glanced over at Rai as she shivered, gathering sticks.

“Ent kel los gwaith? Neh,” (And leave these people? No.) she whispered in return, standing up, her arms full of wood.

“Alright you two, come on,” their guard said. Steel walked behind Rai as they walked back to the clearing, piling there wood in the center.

There were five fires in the clearing and the captives were gathered around four, while the leaders were gathered around the fifth one. Rai poked the fire. Everyone was so quite. She at least expected to be asked who she was. But, no one seemed the care and it wasn’t like it bothered her. She shivered, pulling her cloak closer to her.

It was getting on her nerves. They outnumbered them, why couldn’t they just try and take them! These people had lost family members. So what if they were almost a bunch of women. Women could fit.

“Udos shlu’ta plynn mina!” (We can take them!) Rai said, leaning towards Steel.

Steel sighed and looked at her. “Usstan zhaun, jhal udos h’or nindolen lodias…” (I know, but we can’t risk these people…)

Rai looked him in the eyes, leaning closer to him with a serious expression. “Quin dos ssinssrinil ulu sevir mina maglust xuil mindolen lodias,” (Yet you wanted to leave them alone with these people) she whispered darkly.

Steel looked at her for a moment and then turned his head away. He stared at the fire. He had his reasons.

The leader of the group rose from his seat by the fire and began to make his way through the crowed. “What a lovely pick of young women…” he said and looked around. “Should make the slavers happy.” He said and went around taking the other girls chins in his hands. He was slowly making his way towards the circle that Rai and Steel were sitting at.

“Manka ro…” (If he…) Steel said and tossed a twig into the fire.

“Neh,” (No,) Rai looked up as the leader reached her. She sighed heavily. It seemed there was going to be no avoiding it.

He stood between Steel and herself, both of them ignored him. “I wouldn’t touch her if I were you,” Steel said casually and through another twig in the fire.

“Steel…” Rai groaned.

The man smiled and looked down at Rai, then back at Steel. The slaver grabbed Rai by her hair and bent her head backwards so he could look at her. She was reaching for his wrist to break it, but Steel beat her to anything she had planned to do.

She saw a black blur and felt a slight pain at the top of her head when the hand was snatched away quickly. She turned around, her hair in her face. “Steel!”

Steel smacked the slaver against a tree, his arm pressing the slavers neck to the bark. The sounds of swords being drawn, arrows, any weapon you could imagine they had it pointed at Steel. Rai stood up. “Steel! Your only going to make matters worst! What has gotten into you?” she asked walking forward and pulling on Steel’s arm. “Let him go before you get yourself killed.”

Steel glared at the slaver, but relinquished his grip on the man. He shoved him into the tree one last time and went back to sitting by the fire. He folded his arms across his chest. What was with him? One of the slavers men came up behind Steel before she could stop him and smacked him in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. Steel fell forward, limp and unconscious.

“Steel!” Rai yelled and rolled him over so he was on his back. She put a hand behind his head and pulled it away, it wasn’t bleeding so that was a good thing.

“Stupid fool…” the slaver muttered and rubbed his neck, glaring at them before walking back to his fire.

Rai brushed Steel’s hair from his face and looked down at him. “Amada…” (Fool)

* * *


Steel groaned and rubbed his head as he came awake. He sat up, to find the light coming over the mountains. The fires were smoldering, and most of everyone was a sleep, except for the guards. He hadn’t even knew it was going to happen, but he should have expected it. He quickly looked around for Rai and found her sleeping in a curled up ball with her cloak pulled tightly around her. Her hood was pulled over her head. Most of everybody had some snow on them from the light snowing in the night.

He reached over and shook Rai gently awake. Her blond/brown hair was all in front of her face and a bit tangled. Her bright grayish blue eyes looked at him. She groaned, raising up and looking at him. He was glad to see she was alright. She looked at him as the others began to rouse and some were forced awake.

“What?” Steel asked and stood up, helping her to her feet. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” she replied and dusted the snow and dirt off her clothes. She looked at him. She walked up and stood close to him, centimeters away, so when she whispered he could hear her. “Mani naa faer llie?” (What is with you?) she whispered, arching an elegant eyebrow. “Ron ras cael ndengin llie! Nyar amin, mani naa raika…” (They could have killed you! Tell me, what is wrong…)

Steel looked down at her for a moment and then looked around as they began to march them once more. He walked close beside her and looked at the guards. “Amin sint los nostale en’ gwaith…” (I know these kind of people…) He looked at her. “Ent amin sint mani ron uum nae gwaith ve’ llie…” (And I know what they do to people like you…)

Rai looked at him and folded her arms. “Did you ever think that what you did last night could have got us both hurt? Not just knocked out…”

Steel grew quiet, only nodding and kept walking when he was shoved along. Where were they headed… and how long would it take to get there…


* * *

“Alright!” the Davian yelled for the fifth time that day. Yes, they had come to know his name well. “Let’s get moving you pieces of filth…”

“If you wouldn’t drag us through mud maybe we wouldn’t be so dirty,” Rai grumbled, her grayish blue eyes burning holes into the back of Davian’s head. He must have felt it because he turned around, his dark eyes meeting hers, but not once did she look away as if intimidated.

They had been wrapped in warm clothes, because one had died the night before from the cold. She hugged the heavy coat to her as a considerably colder wind blew. She turned, seeing Steel behind her, making sure she kept her balance on the slippery rocks that they were climbing over.

It wasn’t hard to guess that they had crossed the border into Arken… But, what had surprised Rai the most was the fact that she had yet to see one band of border patrol. She guessed lately there had been a decline in it, since it wasn’t unknown that the border guards had never worked in the first place.

She placed her boot on a boulder and grabbed the top, pushing with that foot and pulling until she managed to reach the top ledge of the bolder. Her hands were starting to grow dry and cracked, sometimes cut from jagged edges. Rai turned around and got on her knees, giving her hand to Steel, who didn’t take it and got up on his own.

“Hard headed,” Rai muttered turning around to climb the next one.

She felt hands on her waist on then she was on the next bolder. She turned around giving Steel a cold look. “I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t do that,” she told him as he scrambled up the next boulder.

“Do what?” he asked her, his eyes glancing at hers as he walked around her and climbed up the next boulder with ease.

Rai growled at him, putting her hands on the boulder and just as she was about to climb up she stopped and looked up. “Why is it we are going down the mountain, yet climbing up boulders?” Rai asked him, loud enough for Davian to hear her.

“Because,” she heard a voice say from further up. She looked up to see Davian on a boulder above Steel looking down on them. “There is a path that will be easier for us to take once we reach the top of this cliff.”

“Oh joy,” she muttered, putting her head back on the bolder and giving herself a push to the top. Steel reached down, grabbing her wrist and hauling her up with out an ounce of show of effort.

“I suggest you be more polite m’lady,” Davian said, turning away from the bolder and heading on what looked to be level ground for the first time in an hour.
Rai just rolled her eyes and sighed as she and Steel pulled themselves up and over the last boulder together. At the top she looked back and behind her at the trail of people, mostly women, and a few of there guards as they scrambled slowly over the cold stones. She looked over the area and over the landscape of Arken before her.

It was light, meaning the Queen was a sleep. Would they travel at night or wait around until day. If they waited nothing would get done, so she guessed they would be traveling at night, hinting towards the path.

By dawn… or what would have been dawn the next morning if it weren’t for the fact of the sunlight they were moving through Darkwood… and heading towards Arroes she guessed.

Arroes… the thought brought back those horrible memories of her mother and her father… Images burned into her mind that would never go away as long as she was alive. She didn’t think that amnesia could even make it go away. The image of her mother and father, so sick and dying and then there throats being slit. And she had only been six at the time.

Then came another image. Soran… standing over her with the knife. She couldn’t remember what she had been feeling. All she could remember was his words after he managed to avoid killing her, yet not avoid harming himself in the process.

“Don’t…you ever…make that stupid face again!” His green eyes on fire…

The lights of Arroes shown a head looking rather dark and gloomy against the black background. Her eyes remained on them the whole time, her mind a buzz with thought… Then her eyes fell on the tallest tower in Arroes… the palace…

“Great…” Steel muttered as he came up to stand beside her.

Rai glanced over, her eyes skimming his features for a moment. “Thinking what I’m thinking, I guess?” she asked more rhetorically than anything.

“Yea… I don’t think its such a hot idea that you need to go to Arroes… especially if the queen is there…” Steel grumbled.

“What has gotten into you?” Rai said breathlessly as if agitated. “You are getting annoying with this over protective stuff…”

Steel’s eyes narrowed and then he grumbled something under his breath. “Your just now noticing the fact I’m protective of you?”

“No…” Rai said softly. It wasn’t hard to deny that Steel and Rai had been protective of each other… He cared about her and she cared about him, but neither would ever admit there feelings for each other, for one… it could ruin there friendship and being traveling companions that was vital.

“So why is it bothering you now?” he asked her, turning his head towards her as a breeze caught strands of curly hair.

She didn’t say anything, not really knowing what to say in the first place… for one she hadn’t figured it out yet. When she did she guessed it wouldn’t bother her anymore.

* * *

The streets of Arroes were disserted and what few people that ere on the streets seemed to live there. The palace was like a tall dark creature standing over the city, guarding it from the goodness of Ighten.

Steel couldn’t help but have this horrible feeling creep up his spine. It made all the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and the closer they got to the castle the closer he got to Rai as if one of the stone gargoyles would swoop down and take her away.

He had heard about her past, she had confided some of it to him through they short years of traveling. He knew what she had been through at such a young age… and he couldn’t help but feel that the Queen would not have forgotten about her so easily.

Steel glanced at Rai. What was her problem lately? He had always been protective of her… She wasn’t just now noticing it, was she? Could she have really been that blind… No. She knew… It was something else.

Rai wasn’t as paranoid about the castle as Steel was, though she was uneasy about being so close to the place where her parents had been brutally murdered and the place where she herself had almost died.

They walked through the open gates of the Queen’s Palace…It was ached and made from ebony stones that glistened in the path of tall torches that led to the fifty something steps that went to the main door of the large tower like palace. The doors themselves were made of steel and crafted by the finest craftsman in all of Arken. Two great demon heads were fashioned in the middle of the steel doors and both spewed fire from its large open mouth, which was filled with jagged teeth.

Rai though she said one move… one look towards her as the large doors opened, creaking and groaning along. Its glowing red eyes narrowing on her… but she was sure it could have been her imagination.

The main hall had Steel in awe. It was so high and large with great black pillars along either side of them in rows heading towards this large open room that looked like, if this would have been a happier place, a grand ball room for parties. Instead the stones were black and blood marble, the pillars in the room because blood colored marble, the bases black and gold marble. The ceiling was so dark you couldn’t see how high it went, but only chandlers hung down shaped and fashioned like black gargoyles in flight, fire spewing from the mouth and candles covering its backs. Torches were placed around the room, lighting it dimly, but it was still very dark.

They were forced into a line where they had to stand still. Most of the women were cowering and crying and shaking in fear, including one poor man who looked so feminine… Steel and Rai were at the end of the line, standing with there heads held high, not at all effected by the dark palace… that is in what was visible. On the inside Rai was screaming. This place killed her…

Then two wooden doors in front of them opened in a groan and an armored guard guided a young tall crimson haired man out. He was clad in black shimmering robes that dragged the ground and covered his hands when there were down by his side. The front was open slightly revealing a muscled chest that was a bit tan as if he had spent the first years of his life in somewhere besides Arken.

He started at the beginning of the line, his cold green eyes looking at the women and men with disgust. Truly they could find better slaves to work in the palace? They were strong looking yes, but they were cowering and crying…

“Prince Edan…” one of the guards said and the crimson haired man looked to him. “We need to get to other things…”

Rai and Steel jolted. Prince! Shea had a son?! Rai couldn’t believe it… how come Ighten hadn’t heard… had Ighten spies been killed… or were they just ineffective at there job… or did Queen Sinead not want anyone to know about the new prince?

No, it couldn’t be… Shea couldn’t have had a son and he look this old… Shea was immortal and her child should age just as she did… This man looked about her age… which he should have been at least 6 years younger her years and about 16 years younger in Shea’s years.

The crimson haired prince walked down the line of people until he got to them. He stopped in front of Steel and admired him for a moment, noting he looked to be the strongest out of the bunch… and this his eyes fell on Rai. She was neither cowering in fear or sobbing uncontrollably. She was just staring at him…

Edan, Prince of Arken, came to stop in front of the girl who stared at him so daringly. She neither looked familiar to him, or resembled anyone he knew. He knew that he had never saw her before, so why did she stare at him as if he looked familiar.

“These may not go to the slave shop,” he said, his green orbs still staring Rai in the eye. “Who are you?” he asked darkly, his eyes narrowing in a dangerous way as if he could read her thoughts… read if she was lying.

“They call me Rai,” she said in an even voice. Rai had never been the type to be afraid of the bad guys… even when she was younger. She had stared them done and told them there fate, with out any thought of death or pain.

The prince neither smiled in amusement or even smirked. He looked her over and then his head snapped towards the man beside her, Steel. “Do not presume to think you can out do me, man,” he said walking towards Steel. Rai blinked, slightly confused because Steel had not said anything to him.

Then the prince smirked. “She’s your lover I take it?”

Steel blinked and his face was turning about red, whether from embarrassment or anger Rai couldn’t tail. “No, she’s my friend,” he said testily.

“Ah…” It was all the prince said. “I guess there is no need in keeping you all together then? Since your not lovers or married…” He looked to the girl. “Take her to the slave shop as well… Take him to the pit with the other men. They are to work there until they can better suit me some where else.”

Steel jumped forward. “Leave her here!” he growled in a threatening manner that caused the prince to turn back to him.

“No.”

The prince left them and the guards remained to separate them from those who would stay and those who would go. Rai was jerked away from Steel when he went to grab her, to hold on to her so they couldn’t cart her away to a place she didn’t know. “Don’t worry,” Steel called to her. “I’ll come and get you.”

Rai smiled softly, though there was a hint of worry in her eyes. She didn’t think she would ever see Steel again. “Maybe I’ll come and get you?” she said as they closed the door and dragged her down the hall and out of the palace. She could hear Steel screaming and cursing protests until she was out of the palace…

Rai was in the cargo hold with a bunch of sea sick, sad, and lonely people as the ship swayed and rocked, thunder and lightening popping outside. There were lots of sounds, moans… groans, the occasional sound of someone throwing up… But, Rai remained quiet, her eyes closed and her mind plotting. She was weighing all her options.

It was morning when the storm had past and a day later when they made it into the port at the island that was known as the Slave Shop. The island was large with a huge temple to the God of Darkness on it. But it was surrounded by markets and the largest of them all was the Slave Shop, a huge coliseum looking building where slaves were bought and sold.

They led them, chained and tired to the coliseum. Thos who owned shops gathered along the streets to view the new slaves. Some made sounds and pointed, they made bets on how quickly one will be bought and if anyone would pay money for one at all.

Rai tried to ignore the fear welling in her heart as she thought of all the possibilities of what could happen if she was bought. All the sounds around her began to fade into nothing as she was led through the door and things turned so slow as it slammed shut behind her. They were led into the open arena where thousands were seated, some cheering at the slaves and others waiting patiently.

There were hundreds of them on the arena floor, some sobbing uncontrollably, some looked as if they had done this many times before. Rai just looked shell shocked as the reality of the situation hit her. She was numb to it. Steel was off in Arken, doing only the gods knew what.

They were led away then to separate places where they were prepared to be sold, bathed and dressed in a plain white cloth and brought one by one out into the arena to be bided on.

Rai was drug from her room in the white cloth, her hair still wet and stringy. The guards took her to the middle of the arena and let her go, leaving her to stand there and look around, her arms crossed and hugging herself as she huddled together, cold and in fear of what could happen.

Her mind was numb and she couldn’t really here how much the bid was, or who was bidding. It was just happening so quickly. One moment she was standing and the next she was being carted off and shoved in the direction of an overly obese man that was bald and slimy. The man was dressed in fine brown robes. Beside him was a plump teenage boy.

The obese man tilted his head to examine her closer, taking a wad of her beautiful hair in his hands and jerking her head down to his level. Rai froze as she stared into a pair of yellow eyes. “Yes… she’ll do. What do you think, my boy?”

“She’s pretty… can I keep her?” he asked, talking about Rai as if she was a kitten.

Rai couldn’t take her eyes from the man who had her by the hair. His eyes seemed to swallow her… and she couldn’t breath. This over whelming fear that she had never felt before came to her and she couldn’t think. She hardly registered the pain on her arm until blood was running down her wrist.

“Heal her my son!” the obese man snapped and then Rai no longer felt the pain anymore.

Rai felt her knees go from under her and the world spin. “That usually doesn’t happen…” the obese man said unmoving. “I guess its because your not a man yet, boy… but it seems to have worked alright. Tom, pick her up and bring her with us… We have what we came for.”

The man known as Tom helped Rai to the ship that would take them to where ever her masters home was. Rai, could only see glimpses of everything as a foreign thing took her body over and strange feelings came to mind as if she shared another soul with someone.

Clang, clang, clang…

Steel lifted the pick again and brought it down, taking all his anger and frustration out on the wall of stone and dirt. Sweat dripped from his brow and down his back and arms. His shirt was off and he was streaked with dirt and sweat. He had been working for a while, having lost track of time in thought.

Rai… he thought as he drove the pick axe back into the dirt. I hope your okay…

A few ours later the slaves were led from the pit and into a large room with lots of pallets and blankets spread on cold stone floors. There was no window, since they were deep under the earth and sounds from torture chambers and dungeons filled the open cave like room.

Steel took a place in a corner with a bed roll and a blanket and sat there, his bare back against the gritty wall. He stared off into the dark nothingness of the ceiling, thinking. How could he get out of this? How could he possibly save Rai?

He hated himself now for not trying to nock her out and cart her off away from the group so they could have a fighting chance. He knew he probably would have got the crap beat out of him afterwards… But… It would have been worth it.

Two hours later they were woken back up for more work. Two hours later… Steel had just dozed off by then, and was awakened by cold water being splashed on him. His dark hair became matted in his face as he gasped from the shock of the cold water.

He sat up straight and then stood up as he was smacked across the head. For a few moments Steel had no idea where he was until the reality of the situation hit him and he remembered what had happened.

Steel grabbed his pick axe and went back to work, his mind continuing to plot and plan how he would get to Rai…

When night came again they were all ushered back into the small room. He noticed that a not a single woman was with him, which he guessed was good considering the conditions. But, he wondered why they would kidnap women and bring them all the way to Arroes if they were not going to do anything but take them to the Slave Shop, surely someone was making some sort of profit off there unfortunate situation.

It made Steel sick to think of Rai being sold in a slave market and given to who knew what sort of monster. He forced himself to stir away from that thought and concentrate on finding a way out.

Throughout the day he had been focusing on exits, windows, anything that he could use to make his escape and so far he could only find one way, the ladder that led to the top. No… he would have to find another way. But, he would find it. Even if it meant he had to dig his way out he would. He would get to her.

So Steel sat in his same corner, his eyes staring out into the darkness of the room.

She felt warm, and unusually comfortable. So for the first few moments before waking she had thought that it had all been a horrible nightmare and she would wake up in the clearing next to Steel and all would be alright.

They had been in a lot of situations before. They had been separated to. But, not like this. Not miles. Not countries or oceans over… It had always been just a short distance. Rai wasn’t used to facing things totally alone. She had always had someone with her, or some hope that someone would be coming soon. She had had Mizuki and Soran… or Siren… and when she grew up she had Steel.

Rai’s eyes fluttered and she opened them to find herself staring up at a white wood ceiling. Her first hope was that she was in a hospital of some sort because she had fallen off her horse and hit her head.

Once she sat up, however, it was clear she wasn’t in a hospital, but a large room that looked to belong to a very wealthy child. The child himself was a sleep in a large bed that seemed to big for one. Then she remembered the teenage boy beside the obese man. She was confused as to why she would be sleeping on a small bed in his room.

Rai sat on the edge of the bed, letting her bare feet touch the floor. She was still wearing the same white cloth that she had been wearing in the arena, which she was thankful for. She stood up walking towards the lump on the bed. He was a rather cute kid… teenager. He looked around 12... With white blond hair and rosy cheeks.

She stepped towards a window and looked out, her mouth falling open at seeing a vast nothing. Nothing but sand, miles and miles of hard dirt and sand. Some small dead trees stood, but that was it. “Where… am I?” she asked herself.

“The Ra’esh Desert,” a high pitched voice said to her. She turned around, noticing the boy was now sitting up in his bed, looking at her.

Rai didn’t know what to say… She wanted to immediately say to let her go free. But, maybe if she became friendly he wouldn’t put up a fight about her when she asked.

The boy crawled out of the bed and stood up, coming about to her waist. “You are my nanny,” he said and stared at her with cold yellow eyes. “So… that means you must do as I say.”

“That would be considered a maid,” Rai corrected him, her eyes narrowing as she got the feeling this wouldn’t be as easy as she expected. “A nanny would be giving you orders.”

The boys eyes narrowed and he tilted his head. “Bow.”

Rai snorted. “Bow?” she put her hands on her hips. “I don’t think so kid.”

The boy turned red and took a step forward. “Bow!”

Rai let out a yelp as her knees buckled and she fell into a bowing position. She felt this horribly cold feeling run through her body as she tried to force her head to look up and glare at the boy. What was this? She had heard of this… But… she couldn’t quite remember the name…

“Raith,” the boy said and Rai was finally able to look up at him. “We’re Raiths.”

Rai blinked, wondering how the boy could have possibly known what she was thinking of. A chill ran up her spine when she remembered the stories she had heard of Raiths. That they were able to enslave people through there gift of one time healing.

“Now, who is the one giving orders?” the boy asked and a wicked grin came to his lips. Rai could only kneel before him with gritted teeth and death threats wanting to spew forth from her lips.

In a dark secluded room where hardly any light filled the dark bed chamber, Prince Edan sat with his feet propped up on his desk, staring at the stars out his balcony window.

Who was that girl? he thought, his green eyes staring at one star unparticular. She looked at me as if she knew me…. Edan couldn’t bring himself to forget about her.

The image of her curly brownish blond hair and her smooth features, her small frame and sparkling blue-gray eyes still lingered. Maybe he should have kept in the palace as a maid or consort? For some reason he couldn’t think of using her in that way. There was just something about her.

What was the name the man had screamed as she and the other females were carried off? What was the name she had given him? “Rai…” he muttered, dim candle light flickered in his green eyes. A cruel smirk forming on his handsome face.

Edan rose from his seat and walked to the balcony, opening the doors and stepping out. Marcus. From the shadows a slim figure came at Edan’s beckon. He stood behind Edan, his head shrouded in a hood. “Go to the Slave Shop… see if they keep records. Find a girl by the name of Rai…”

The slim hooded form bowed and with a strange sound, much like a bird, Marcus turned into a crow and flew away into the night. For many longer moments the prince leaned against the railing, a black sky over head and twinkling stars in the distance.

Rai pulled on the slipper like shoes that when with the outfit she had been given. It was a cream cotton gown with a brown belt around the middle of it. She had sets of this type of clothing and one pair of leather brown pants and black boots. She stood up and walked towards the door quietly, wondering how long it could take her to get to the nearest town of civilization.

She stepped outside, closing the door behind her. The hot sun was rising in the east, its bright raise lighting up the dim roads as yet another day in the Raith village came to pass. Today, however, would be different.

Rai’s pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and the piece of cloth in front of her face. She walked slowly down the half disserted streets as the villagers rose from the beds to begin the morning chores. She would not work for that little hellion again. She would, even if it meant her death, brave the dessert and find her way back to Steel.

In the back of her mind she knew how idiotic it would be if she went out into the desert with out anything but water and food. She didn’t know the vastness of the desert and how long it would be before she reached another village. But, still the idea of being a slave and with one word having to obey it made the odds of dying much better than leading a life of servitude by force.

The hot desert sun blinded her as she looked towards the guarded gates. All she needed was to step out and maybe… just maybe she would have a chance. Her eyes lifted from there place on the ground and the blue-gray orbs stared at the sand as the wind tossed it. Deep in the distance a faint dark dot could be seen, and that was Arroes and the dot was the grand tower of Shea.

Rai felt this burning sensation rise to her neck and all she could to was think of the many things, if she had ever went into magic, that she could do to that woman. The woman who killed her parents. But, alas… Rai was no sorceress and surely not one of Shea’s caliber.

The stubborn girl, which was and is Rai, decided that it would be best if she got a move on… and before the brat woke up and realized that she was gone.

But, she wasn’t more than half way out the gate when she felt the cold feeling of that monster waking and felt the anger that ran through him. She had to get away, even if the feeling made her breath catch and made her freeze.

She froze just as she passed under the gates and then she forced herself to keep moving, focusing her mind on nothing but getting to the black dot before her. She wouldn’t let feelings stop her.

But, then it wasn’t just feelings. She heard someone shouting. “STOP! STOP!” But, Rai refused to listen. It’s a kid. Not a man. It’s a kid. I am a woman. I can beat this. Just keep walking! Keep walking!! She put one foot in front of the other, slowly, but the feet behind her were gaining.

And then all hope gave out when she fell flat on her face, skinning the side of her cheek on the hard dirt. She forced herself to stand up and when she turned there were lot of well armed men standing there in front of her. She wiped her lip that she had bit upon hitting the ground.

“Okay, that’s it,” she growled and lashed out, punching the nearest guy to her in the jaw, sending him stumbling into his pals. She took several steps back.

The group of males seemed very agitated, but Rai seemed a bit more ruffled than them. The father to the twerp nodded to what she figured was the village guards.

“Yea,” Rai said taking another step back. “Just come on if you think your bad enough.” The first one came at her with an unusual movement as if he were going to tackle her. His head was down and his arms out.

Rai growled and lifted her foot quickly, smacking and breaking the nose to the guard. She then looked up in time to see a fist coming towards her, she tried to move quick enough, but it smacked her head and sent her side ways. She caught herself and came around with her own hand, which the guard blocked skillfully, but wasn’t expecting the knee to his jewels. When he was over enough she brought his head down with her leg and smacked it on the ground, crushing his face into the brick like ground.

She felt a powerful blow to her belly, knocking the wind out of her and as she fell backwards to the ground she swung her leg around, catching the back of the knees and causing the man to tumble down with her. He finished her off with a knee as he fell and as she tried to breath everything turned black.

Edan brushed stands of crimson hair from his face as he entered his mothers throne room. She and his father were away, off to lead the armies to the Outer Lands to combined with Duck Phyrn and his army.

Edan had been given the task of ordering armies to the Border when the time came. So for now he could act as king. That meant having parties and such to his liking.

Edan was well known for being a womanizer. After all, he had been given the gift by both parents. Edan had a certain taste that he liked to stick with, however. Young, beautiful, innocent girls that he could easily corrupt. It was often hard to find such girls in Arken, often he visited Ongoreth and the outskirts of Ighten when he was bored with Arken women. He ask his mother to throw balls and noble women and beautiful maidens would come to the palace, even if they were poor to indulge his wishes.

It was a game to him, to seduce them and then when the party was over the girl was given treatment fit for a Queen, bathed and dressed in fine clothes. The girl usually looked confused, but awed at the same time.

In a few days time he would be having a grand feast for the generals that would be leading the army to the Border, giving them ale, and food, and women for the night.

In through the window flew a small black crow with blood red eyes. It gracefully landed and warped, growing into a six foot tall hooded figure. He knelt and bowed his head. “My lord,” he rasped.

“Tell me, have you found the girl?” Edan asked, grinning slyly.

“There was no woman by that name,” he said. “The women in that group were named, Lona, Christine, Mary, Tera, Leanne, and there was a Reana and Renaila.” he said in his raspy voice, concluding that one was this Rai.

“My lord,” a voice said, the guard peeking his head through the door. “My lord a prisoner wishes to talk to you…”

“I don’t have time to talk to filth,” Edan spat.

“He says he wants to strike a deal with you,” the guard said, opening up the door, having to push with all his might so the heavy wooden door would move. Behind him stood a shackled dark haired man with dark eyes. He was covered in dirt and sweat, his pants ragged from being in the pit for a weeks.

Edan smiled, though not visibly. He wondered if it was fate that the man had come to him. Was he not to man who had been so protective of the girl he sought? Yes, he was. So what was this deal he would strike? Did it involve her?
The guard led Steel towards the prince and kicked the back of his knees so Steel was forced into a kneeling position. Then he was kicked forward until he looked like he was groveling.

“Do not get up and look at the Prince of Arken until you are told,” the guard spat on him, splattering Steels back with spit.

“That is enough,” Edan said, glaring daggers at the manner less scum that was the guard. “Leave us now.” And so the guard obeyed, backing out of the room with his head bowed. When the door was good and closed Edan stared at Steel with his green eyes. “Rise.”

Steel, slowly, but surely, sore from the many hours of labor, rose to his feet and looked the prince in the eyes, having to use all his will power to hold himself back.

“What is it you wish to strike with me?” the prince said, a smug grin coming to his face as he began to walk a circle around Steel, his robe trailing behind him.

“The girl…” Steel began glancing towards Marcus. “The girl that you took away. I want her brought back here. I want her safe,” Steel said, his voice dark and threatening.

“And in return?” Edan asked, standing behind Steel his face glowing with malice. “You will?”

“Do anything you ask of me,” Steel said. His eyes took on a dark setting as if his soul had been taken from him then.

“You look like a strong man,” Edan said, coming back to stand in the front. “Join Arken’s army and I will get this girl. I will bring her back to this palace and make sure harm doesn’t come to her. Work for me for 10 years and I will set you both free. Good warriors are hard to come by.”

“If I die… Set her free,” Steel said, narrowing her eyes. “Are you a noble man?”

“Me? Noble?” Dark laughter filled the room. “To some extent.”

“Be noble for this. Set her free when I die.”

Edan looked Steel in the eyes and nodded. “I will,” he said and his smile grew into a demonic grin. “Now you are Soldier of Arken. Oh… one last thing. The girls name?”

Steel looked up and stared at Edan, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand up in warning. Steel was stupid and ignored them. “Renaila

Steel belted the armor onto his chest, pulled the heavy plates on his arms and the arm guards. He pulled his boots on and laced them up tight so they would not be loose in combat, should he meet it on the way. Steel’s eyes were constantly narrowed in deep concentration as he rose up, belting the his belt that held daggers and a sword, pouches for whatever it was he needed to carry.

Am I a fool? Can I actually make this work? Can I live manage to escape in battle… To try and get across the Border? His thoughts left him when the door opened and what was supposedly his commanding officer gave him the order to leave the room and to prepare to leave. He thought they would be able to stay for the feast… maybe by then Rai would be there and he could tell her the plan. But, she would have to be oblivious to it.

Even though it was a risk having her brought to the palace that her family had been murdered in, he felt it was better that he knew where she was, than not knowing at all.

Steel mounted the horse outside as the prince gave his final words to them, telling them what most evil rulers would, “Slaughter everything.”

Steel looked behind him as the city lights faded into darkness and his hope that Rai was safe carried on. It was hope. Hope he knew had little value but to keep a man sane. But, Rai had always told him that hope was what kept them living. So he decided to take her outlook on it.

If only Steel could have known what would lie ahead.

Rai washed her face off in a bowl of water, her bruises just now beginning to fade from days ago. She was tired and sore and wanted to go home, home to Mizuki and Soran, to them and there loving embrace… She missed them now more than ever.

Last night she dreamed she was a little girl again and Soran kicked down the door to save her. She knew, however, that wouldn’t happen. Steel wouldn’t be coming, so it was all up to her to save herself. Which wasn’t that hard, if it weren’t for being trapped by some power, more like a curse.

It started faint at first, but then began to grow as she heard screams come from outside the house. She turned around to open the door and was hit by it as it flew open from a large boot kicking it down. Her eyes went wide as she looked up to find a tall heavily muscled blond man standing in the door way. She shook her head to get the startled expression off her face.

Rai punched him, doing more damage to her fist than to him. The brute, just looking a bit annoyed, lifted Rai on top of his shoulders and proceeded to try and carry her through the house. He soon found it harder than expected when he felt teeth and claws and then feet in his belly, pounding away at his internal organs.

He through her to the ground and grabbed her hair, dragging her from the house and to the out doors.

“No my prince we have no slave by that name,” her masters father groveled at the foot of a black horse that was slick with sweat. Rai was kneeling on the ground her hands on her head, holding her hair in place so the blonde brute couldn’t pull it all out.

“I see.”

Rai’s eyes glided up the horse’s legs and to the person who was guiding it. They were wearing a hood and she could only see a shadowed face, but the eyes… they seemed to glow with a certain intensity. Rai’s blue gray eyes narrowed painfully, the bruises on her face.

Rai felt a cold chill as the eyes found her, kneeling on the ground. The hooded man dismounted and walked past the groveling family. Rai just now noticed the people gathered around, most of them armored soldiers.

“Who is she?” the voice came from under the hood. But, Rai felt she knew who it was coming from. But why? Why would he have come here?

“She’s mine, She can’t talk,” the boy said and glared at her. He whispered his command, that she was not to say a word.

“We’ll see,” Prince Edan said, lowering his hood to reveal his handsome face, his crimson hair falling in front of his eyes. The wind tossed it away as if he had commanded it so. “What is your name,” he said, grinning. He knew her name. Even through the bruises he could figure out who she was. She had the same eyes, the same features, the same feeling about her.

Rai looked at him confused, wondering why he would ask her such a stupid question. She opened up her mouth to speak, but nothing seemed to come out. Her hands dropped to her throat, a worried look crossing her face. She tried again and still nothing.

Edan narrowed his eyes as he realized what was going on here. “Kill the boy.” A guard nodded and walked towards the boy, his parents cowering around him, begging for the prince to spare him. Rai closed her eyes as she heard the sickening sound of skin being punctured and bones cracked.

In one wave of strange hollowness she felt the alien power gone from her body, leaving the same effect as it had when it had been given to her. She was determined not to faint this time so she held on tightly to the hand that still held her hair and concentrated on the eyes of her rescuer.

“You have been freed,” he told her, glancing behind him at the dead boy and his soon to be dead mother and father who were hysterical with grief. “Let this be a lesson to those who would choose to lie to the royal family. If you do it again, it will not just be a family that dies. It will by your village and forever will your descendants by stripped of there Raith ability.”

He was still staring her in the eyes as he made the announcement and he was still looking her in the eyes when he helped her to her feet. She was a bit numbed by the kindness from the son of Shea. It was confusing her to no end. Why was he here? Was he here for her.

She was fighting the strangeness of the effects from having the Raith power stripped from her so quickly. It made her drowsy as if it was a drug she needed to sleep off. He led her to his horse where he stopped to look at her.

“You have been placed under my protection as part of a bargain that your friend made with me. He will work for me for ten years and in exchange I keep you safe in my palace. You are Renaila Sunstrom, are you not?” he asked, looking her face over as well as other parts that made her feel uncomfortable.

“Yes,” she told him and blinked, trying to absorb it all in, though she was having a hard time for some odd reason. She couldn’t take her eyes from his.

“Then get on the horse.” He held the reins and she glanced from the horse to him. “I made a pact. Either you get on or a force you on, either way I’ll keep the pact.”

Rai grabbed the horn of the saddle and pulled herself up using the stirrup. Edan pulled himself up behind her, putting his arms on either side of her to control the reins. She looked over her shoulder at him, his face close to hers as he looked over shoulder, which wasn’t hard since she was shorter than him. “And what was Steel’s part of the bargain?”

“He would have to serve in the army for ten years,” the prince told her, smiling as his eyes wondered over her face. “You don’t look well, maybe you should rest?” he asked, a strange and unsettling kindness in his voice.

“I’m not tired,” she told him but, as she felt one of his hands brush her temple she felt heavy and weighted down. Her eyes closed and her head rolled to the side.

“They always say that,” he said, his usually dark and sadistic grin back to his face.

The road was long and harsh, the wind cold with ice biting at his cheeks. The tall man pulled the hood over his head, ducking downward to avoid shards of sharp ice that cut into his skin. It was getting darker, and the road was getting harder to see, but a light through the trees gave him hope that there was a town a head, the town he was searching for.

Odoff would be there, his brother and friend. Then, once he and Odoff were together they could head out to Jasper, and maybe Phillindos. Somewhere where good many was paid and mercenaries were welcomed and hired.

His cold blue eyes narrowed on the village as he walked calmly through the brush and into the open. The wind was hazardous this high up on the mountain, but he had faced far worst things. He had faced whole armies of demons and such, a little cold wind didn’t effect him at all.

Cyrus stepped into the warmth of the Cedar Tree Inn. The fire crackled and loud music played. A large number of warm patrons were drinking there night away and fraternizing with the waitresses. He scowled at them as his eyes peered around the room to find his brother Odoff at a table close to the back of the room, not as secluded as Cyrus would have chosen, but good enough.

“Ello brother,” Odoff said to him, grinning and Cyrus knew that his brother had been doing a fair bit of drinking before he had arrived. Odoff was a burly man with a bald head, and a thick chestnut beard. The top of his head was covered in intricate tattoo designs. He had bright cheerful blue eyes.

“Drinking I see?” Cyrus asked as he sat down in front of his brother, lowering the hood to reveal his face to the open, something he rarely liked to do.

Cyrus had the same collard chestnut hair and bright blue eyes, though his eyes liked the cheer that Odoff had, they were still beautiful and had kindness in them, though when needed they could be just as cold and cruel as the next murders. Cyrus was built a bit different from his brother, not as tall, and not as muscular. He was lean, with a good fit figure, but not as imposing as Odoff’s.

“Have you ever known me not to be?” Odoff said, laughing in his burly voice that matched the way he looked.

Cyrus sighed and propped his booted feet on the table. “I guess not,” he said and smirked. “We leave tomorrow, I don’t think you want a serious hangover while traveling? I know I don’t want to have to listen to you retching behind a bush or something.”

Odoff grinned and took another large sip of his ale. “Don’t worry, I’ll be a good boy,” he told his younger brother and continued to drink as much as he could in front of Cyrus. “The room is 14, you can go on up mommy if you wish to get an early night of rest.”
Cyrus rolled his eyes at being called mommy. So what if he was the more sensible one out of them. He knew when the right time for drinking was, and it wasn’t the day before traveling. He stood up and walked past his brother, patting him on the back of the head hard before heading up the steps to find room 14.

The room had two beds, a night stand with a water basin on it, and a small fireplace. He washed his hands off and his face off and sat on the floor in front of the fire, the light reflecting darkly in his eyes.

He stripped his shirt off and through it onto his bed, then once he was comfortable again he closed his eyes. His back was lined with long thin white scars that crossed in different directions. His chest had a few, but not many his arm had some. A tattoo twined around his upper arm that looked similar to a dragon. It was black with blood colored eyes.

Cyrus was glad that his brother was down drinking, he needed some time to do his nightly practice, and he didn’t need his brothers criticism. Cyrus closed his blue eyes and relaxed his tense muscles. He whispered two words, “Naur sinome.”

His hand came up slowly as a small ball of fire came from the fire place and rested in the palm of his open hand. Cyrus opened his eyes and…

“Still doing your black magic, Cyrus?” his brother’s voice came from behind him. Cyrus closed his hand and the fire died, no pain was felt by him.

“Its not black magic, Odoff. You don’t understand magic, therefore you choose to believe that all forms of magic are evil,” Cyrus said, standing up and walking towards his bed where he there kicked off his boots.

“I know one thing,” Odoff told him as he closed the door behind him. “You’ve been hanging around with that witch too long.”

“That witch is a very good teacher, and a very noble woman,” Cyrus spat as he glared at his brother. “Show her some respect.”

His brother gave him a dark look. “I will when she stops brainwashing you,” Odoff muttered and that was the last thing that either of them said. Both turned in for the night with out saying another word.


A/N: Do any of you remember Odoff from the beginning of the story?

Cold. So cold. And yet… the heat on his face seemed to warm his body. Heat from anger, that he had been put in this situation, no… that he had put himself in this situation.

The village was quiet… most of the lights were out. Everyone was sleeping. No one would see it coming, no one would warn them of the attack. If he did so now he would have to risk being killed.

Steel was torn between duty to Rai and duty to others. He was torn between risking his life to save others or risking the only way of saving Rai. So, Steel decided, that when the time came, he would fight for the other side… and help them try and beat back the overwhelming force that was hanging down on them.

They were hiding in the bushes, surrounding the small village. His eyes were narrowed as the order was given to attack. The forest came a live with light from torches that were suddenly lit by a mages single word. Then the sound of a thousand feet moving at once, and finally battle cries from those who could not hold there malicious thoughts any longer.

A warning bell began to sound loud and strong as the wind began to pick up once more as yet another snow storm came through that night. Steel drew his sword and stood up, running out from where he had been hiding. His thought on one things. To warn as many people as possible.

He raced a head of the others, raced a head of the scorns of demons and dark soldiers that would tear through the town in less than an hour. The leaders behind him followed him, thinking of Steel as a brave soldier craving blood more than any of them out there.

Steel ran to the tower where the warning bells were coming from. “Arken!” he shouted, but they didn’t seem to hear over the constant howling of the wind, and the ringing of the bell. “Arken has come to take your village!” But still, they did not here.

One of the soldiers that realized what he was doing came from behind. Steel growled, swinging his sword around to run the soldier through the gut. He pushed his heavy weight from his sword. Another, Steel blocked and maneuvered around to stab him in the back.

By this time doors were opening and men were running with any weapon, or form of weapon, they had to try and defend there homes. He could see that the women were leaving out the back of the houses, escaping into the forest where the mages were posted. They would die or become one of many slaves to Arken. There was no way to warn them over this weather.

Steel took out the great rage that was building in him on the nearest guards that came around, not even letting them get a single swing in. So Steel, like the rest of the villagers, fought there battle alone, some having help. Steel, however, was a lone man in a sea of enemies.

Cyrus jerked awake coughing. Smoke filled his lungs as he gasped for air. He gazed around wildly as he noticed that the room was filled with it. He jumped to his feet, pulling his shirt on, but not bothering to button it. He grabbed his sword and kicked Odoff in the back. “Get up!”

He heard the bells of warning then, and as Odoff jerked awake he looked outside to see a battle raging, with what looked to be a lone man fighting them off.

“Odoff! Get up! We have trouble,” Cyrus said, his cold blue eyes running over the outside.

Odoff stood up, coughing at the smoke. It was poring in from under the door. He touched the door knob, but found it too hot to even hold for very long. “I think we have a problem Cyrus.” He turned around to find that Cyrus had opened the window just as the building shook from the fire eating away at its supports. “Cyrus you fool you don’t expect us to jump?”

“Its either that or we die here,” Cyrus said, taking in a breath of somewhat fresh air. He climbed out of the window and stood on the roof that was over the porch to the building. The building dropped as more of the supports burned away and Cyrus lost his footing, sliding down slightly but catching himself on the wooden shingles.

Odoff found it a bit harder to climb out the window like Cyrus, since he was a far bigger man than his younger brother. He managed though, just as Cyrus forced himself to slide to the end of the roof. Odoff walked to the edge, noting that it was not as high as the thought before. He stepped off, landing in a kneeling position beside Cyrus, who was already on his feet.

It was only a second that Cyrus studied what was happening, the building burning and crumbling behind him, the snow wind blowing his chestnut hair around him. The snow was stained with blood, bodies of villagers laid limp in and half buried.

Some were still fighting. The one that caught his eye the most was a soldier dressed in Arken armor. He was fighting Arken soldiers with an admirable fierceness. Cyrus respected his skill and the fact that he was fighting against his own people for others.

With out even looking Cyrus brought his blade up to the side, impaling a soldier in the throat as he had tried to run at Cyrus with his sword held high. Cyrus looked sideways, the fire glowing on his features. It outlined his body, making his face unseen.

Odoff looked just as sinister in the fire light, but he didn’t hold the same feel as Cyrus did. Odoff was more of brute strength. Cyrus was something different, something wiser.

The two brothers charged straight into the middle of the battle field, taking down soldiers with skill brought on from many years of fighting. And they only nodded when they reached the defiant Arken soldier, who took the nod with a grin.

Steel welcomed the help, because he knew that he was tiring, and soon wouldn’t be able to hold them off. But, with the help of these two, who looked skilled enough he bet he had a chance.

Odoff knew the only reason Cyrus was helping this man was the fact that there was something that intrigued him about the rouge soldier. Cyrus only fought against something he had no right to take part in unless for money purposes if there was something that gained his respect.

This lone soldier fighting with such passion against something that didn’t affect him one way or the other was what made Cyrus respect him. Not only that, but the soldier had good skill, though it liked refining. Cyrus ducked and lunged upwards, his sword going in up to the hilt and coming back out to cut into another soldier.

Steel turned to block, he moved quickly as he was taken from surprised, the edge of the blade slicing down his arm. He spun around and sliced into the gut of the soldier.

Cyrus tried to get to him before it happened. He was swing his sword in that direction when the rouge soldier was run through. Cyrus caught the other soldier in the back, slicing deep into him as the rouge soldier hit his knees.

“Cyrus! We’re not going be able to keep this up for longer, the villagers are dead…” Odoff yelled over the window.

Cyrus growled and looked around at his options. Odoff would kill him… but it would be the only way for the moment. “Odoff! Get the soldier, he’s wounded…” Odoff killed off his opponent and lifted the rouge solder over his shoulder.

Cyrus put his sword away as the army began to form a circle around them. With in seconds they were surrounded. The chestnut haired man stepped back to his brother, his eyes darting around. Cyrus’s hand came up and just as it did the snow in the circle that the army had made flew into the air, spinning like a tornado.

The army closed their eyes as the snow beat into them, the tornado like wind expanding to form a grate swirling cyclone of snow, ice, bodies, and anything else that happened to be buried beneath the snow.

All of the soldiers were distracted by trying to keep there sight, but trying to keep shards of ice from getting in there eyes and the shards of ice biting into there skin.

The ice didn’t effect Odoff or Cyrus, they walked quickly from the center of the circle, unseen by any of the soldiers. The cyclone followed them until they were passed the mages and into the thick of the wood. That is where it died, leaving the army confused and wondering around trying to see through the fog of falling snow.

Cyrus and his brother walked for hours until they thought that it was safe to stop. The main reason they stopped was because of the rouge soldier. He was muttering under his breath, a name, it was hard to decipher between a crazed rant and the name, but it was easy to tell it was a name.

“There,” Odoff said, pointing towards a cave. “That will be a good place to go for the night.” Cyrus nodded and led the way, the cave buried deep behind trees and it would be hard to spot from far away.

Cyrus built a fire, using the magic that Odoff hated so much. Odoff never complained to him about magic when it helped them out of serious situations, but any other time he would rant to Cyrus about it being black magic.

“How is he?” Cyrus asked, coming to kneel on one side of rough soldier. His eyes were half closed, his breathing shallow. The hole was in his chest and it wouldn’t be long, from what Odoff whispered, that the young man would fade into the next world.

“Out of all the magic you could have learned you didn’t learn healing,” Odoff muttered. Odoff was staring at the man with an odd expression, trying to figure out if he had seen the man before, he looked oddly familiar.

“You don’t learn healing, you have to be born with the gift of healing,” Cyrus said coldly, shaking his head at how narrow minded his brother could be sometimes. “I guess all we can do is make him comfortable…”

“He fought well,” Odoff admitted. Still the expression of knowing the man was there. But, that man had been no soldier to Arken….

“Not… well… enough…” The voice was short, jagged with pain.

Cyrus looked down at the man surprised. He glanced up at his brother, who stared at him. “You did well,” Cyrus said, though it looked strained to have to admit it to him to his face.

“Please…” Steel began, his words catching in his throat. “A…”

“I know you…” Odoff said, his eyes narrowing.

Steel blinked as a small trickle of blood slipped from the corner of his mouth. “Please… please find…” He gasped, clutching at the ground. “Rai… palace…” His eyes closed. “Prince…” He began to mutter words about a palace, a deal, a girl named Rai…

Odoff understood what the man wanted them to do. And when he mentioned the girl Odoff then knew who he was. From the inn just south of where they were. The girl who had spoken out about the Witch Queen… and this man had been with her at the time.

“Promise…” Steel said, his hand grabbing Odoff’s hand. “Promise…”

Odoff looked into Steel’s eyes as they opened slightly. “Where is she?” Odoff asked. Odoff was a noble man. If this was to be the last wish of a dying warrior, so be it.

“Shea’s… palace,” Steel said, coughing up more blood.

Cyrus watched them, unable to speak, only able to listen to the wishes of a dying man. Cyrus was beginning to have some idea of what was about to happen. His brother was about to vow to carry out the dying wishes of a warrior. Damn his brother and his noble heart.

“Prom…issse….”

Odoff nodded, holding the hand tight. “I promise, we’ll find her…”

Steel stared at Odoff then. He stared until his eyes held no life anymore and they were empty and void. His grip loosened as breath left his body, his soul passing on to the other life. His only wish was that Rai was found and saved and it was left to the mercy of mercenaries.

The room she had found herself in was large, dark, dimly lit by candles. The bed was in the center of the room, curtains surrounded it and the covers were warm velvet. The floor was black marble. Black fur rugs laid strewn around the room. A large fireplace was on one side of the room, its mantle was thick and stone, two gargoyles on either side of the fire place held the mantle up. There mouths were open and there tongue rolled out. On the top of there tongue was a tall candle that dripped black wax.

She had been surprised at first to find herself in such a large and lavishly decorated room. She found the closet was full of clothes, fine women’s clothing that was common to Arken noble ladies. She dared not wear such things, since they hardly covered anything.

Maids came and showed her the bathing room. She asked why she was being treated in such a way, the memory of what happened in the Raith village was a bit fuzzy in her mind, but the maids told her that the prince had ordered that she be treated as a very important guest.

She was escorted to the throne room by guards, it made her a bit uncomfortable, since she was supposed to be a guest and all, but she said nothing. They opened the doors to the throne from and escorted her in.

She had expected just to see the prince and maybe his mother and father, but instead she saw the prince, and a group of nobles, along with a poor commoner cowering on the floor.

“It is illegal to steal from the Queen,” Edan said, towering over the bony looking man.

“Please, your highness, my family is hungry,” the old man said cowering at the foot of the dark prince.

“You dare defy me?” the prince said, his voice deep, dark… threatening.

Rai stood there, even though the guards ushered her in. Edan hadn’t noticed them, and if he had he wasn’t paying any attention to them. She looked on, knowing what was going to happen. She hated cruelty, especially on those who were already suffering.

“The punishment for thievery is usually a beheading…” Edan said, his piercing green eyes staring down at the old man. “But, in this case I’ll just take your hands.”

Rai’s eyes narrowed in astonishment. How could someone be so cruel. So much like there mother and father.

Edan stared down at the filth before him, a being not worthy of standing in his presence. He raised a hand and unwillingly the hands of the old man raised. He began to yell for mercy, and for Edan not to take his hands. Edan ignored his cries, they did not reach his cold heart.

He nodded to the executioner next to him who drew his sword and held it up over the old mans wrists. He raised it higher.

Rai gritted her teeth and looked around, wanting to find some way of stopping him. She just happened to glance to the side to see the shiny hilt of one of the Arken Guard’s sword.

The executioner brought his weapon down as the old man let out a shrill scream. But, the old man felt no pain from having his hands sliced off. Edan looked up from staring at where the hands should have fallen in a blood pool. His eyes were met by a pair of fierce blue gray orbs that had such hatred.

Her hands were holding the hilt of a sword, the sword having stopped the blade of the executioner. She said nothing to him, only stared with her eyes a fire with a certain passion. The passion was for life, not her own but for others.

“My lady,” Edan said, his voice taking on a different tone from the dark threatening one of before. It was smoother, deep still but smooth.

Her eyes were locked then, and for some reason she couldn’t look away from them. She shook her head and snapped out of it.

“Leave him alone,” she said standing up and moving to stand in between the prince and the old man.

“My lady, it is my duty to bring thieves to justice,” Edan said, taking a single step forward, closing the small gap between them.

Rai narrowed her eyes. “Cutting off the hands of a man trying to feed his family is justice to you?” she said, her voice raising a bit. “I always thought noblemen didn’t receive a decent education.”

Edan grinned, tilting his head slightly. “My lady,” he said, glancing around. The nobles in the room were looking at the two and whispering. “Shall we move to a more private place to argue?”

“Afraid of being embarrassed, Prince of Arken?” Rai asked, her defiance known with every word she spoke.

“Embarrassed?” Edan asked, amusement evident in his voice. “Hardly.” He sighed, glancing at the executioner. “Set the man free. As for the rest of you, leave us.”

The nobles of Arken bowed there heads and left the room, the executioner dragged the poor old man away, he was praising Rai and called her the Mistress of Mercy.

When the door was closed and the throne room was empty, all except Rai and Edan. He moved back and sat casually on the thrown, his hands on the arm rests, leaning back comfortably. Rai shifted uncomfortably, his eyes looking her over.

“What?” she asked when his eyes stopped on her face.

“Steel, the man I made the deal with, has placed you under my care until his ten years are over. That means you are protected as long as you live with in the rules. Break the rules and no matter what deal I made I will kill you,” he said, a seductive grin growing on his lips.

“Oh, that’s pleasant,” Rai muttered, lowering her gaze.

“You are welcome and aloud to go anywhere you please, but you must have guards with you at all times. This is for your own protection. There are very evil people in this castle, my lady, and someone as pretty as you will not last long at all.” Crimson strands of hair fell in front of his eyes.

Why was she clouding his mind like she was? Did she have some magic power? Or was it just her innocence and her beauty? She was a brave girl, and she was so beautiful. Her eyes were strong. She did not tremble in fear or tremble in his presence from nervousness, only when he looked her over. He had that effect on every woman though… well almost every woman.

“Steel? Will he be back soon?” Rai asked, her gray-blue eyes looking up.

“I’m not for sure… I suppose when the raid on the Border is over…” Edan said, though he knew that Steel wouldn’t be returning. He had ordered that the man be killed if he didn’t die in battle.