Chapter one: unexpected TALON Weeks have passed since the rebellion's failed escape. In his spare time Talon finds himself wondering what might have happened, if he had not come back to battle camp. And because all of his classes are easy for him, Talon has a lot of spare time to wonder. Everyday has been the same for him, all a dull shade of gray. That is, until today. ~ Talon woke up, expecting another day of easy assignments, and a battle that was easy as pie. The day certaintly felt normal, with out the rebellion's investigations to look forward to everyday was the same to Talon. Talon heard a rap on his seperator. "Come in." he called. "Hi, it's me." Rora said. "Hey." Talon replied. Then Rora walked up to him and did something completely unexpected. She kissed him. It was just a brush of the lips but Talon was perplexed, what would have posessed Rora to do that? "Rora I-" Talon began. "Just think about it." she cut in, and left. That was only the begining to Talon's wierd and surprising day. Gym was normal, and so was magic, but tactical strategies was different. Shadow jumped right into a lecture as soon as they entered class. "The enemy is different than usual today, the enemy is smart. He knows what you are going to do before you even know it yourself. He thinks like you Talon, only better." he said. Talon was surprised. He didn't know what to think, and was scared to think, because the enemy allready knew what he was thinking. "What would you do if you and your group were confronted by four enemy soldiers?" "I would begin fighting with Shorlorn, and tell Rora to try and drain the other groups powers while Luke threw his knifes." "Wrong! The enemy allready expected that, and kills Rora first, because your plan relies too much on her, and without her, you are just average." That was how tactical strategies went, impossible questions being asked, and no one being able to answer them. But this was just the second big surprise of the day. "I guess your group is just average." Shadow states. This makes sparks dance on Rora's finger tips- she was really mad. The bell rings and they are getting up to leave when Shadow says: "Just one moment." We stay where we are. "There is someone I want you to meet. Your new enemy." Four kids that Talon had never seen before walked into the room. "I'm Matthias." says the boy with ver dark brown hair and matching eyes. "I'm Mark." says the boy with bleach blond hair and gray-blue eyes. "I'm Symphoney." states the girl with red-blond-brown hair, scary topaz eyes and very white skin. "Wolf." mutters the short boy with black hair and bright green eyes. "You will fight them every battle, everyday, and don't forget; they are the enemy." Shadow reminds them. "Dismissed!" Talon walked out of the room without a word, and the rest of his group followed him. He was deep in thought, analyzing this third surprise today. Shadow had said they were the enemy, did that mean that they were smarter, and better than him, or just a new team that would be harder to beat that the rest. He could only hope for the latter.
Chapter two: Shattered shield RORA At lunch Rora could tell Talon was concentrating. He was thinking about this new group that came out of nowhere, and tactical strategies, and Rora's kiss. Rora don't really know why she kissed him, it just felt right! She was also thinking about the new group, and practically everyone else was too. They had joined them at lunch, but not the big group of tables in the middle. They were very quiet, but then again, So was everyone else. We walk to battles in scilence, wondering if we would win. In the last few weeks winning was a given, but now, who knows? "The rebellion, the enemy, onto the battlefield!" calls Shadow with a smirk. Ever since our failed escape he laughed when our name is said, knowing it's true meaning. We walk onto the field, covered so thickly with crates, so you'd have to climb on top to move, and looked at Talon expectantly. "Ok, I've got a plan. Rora, Luke, you'll squeeze through the crates to the other side and climb onto them over there. Then you'll sneak up behind them and kill them, if there are any left after me and Shorlorn get through with them." Talon commanded. Ring! Rora begins to sneak through the crates with Luke, losing sight of him every now and then, but keeping tabs on him and everyone else as best as she could with hermagic. One time she loses sight of him, and he doesn't come back in sight. She checks him in her mind and he's laying still on the ground, an arrow on the ground next to him, it had bounced off, like they always do, but it counted. She only checked on him for a few seconds, but seconds can be precious in a fight, that she knew. When she opens her eyes she sees Matthias staring at her. "Surprise." he said. Rora just had time to put up her strongest shield before he stuck. Her shield shattered like glass. But that spell had never failed her thought Rora, as she lay on the ground, never. She knew Talon didn't stand a chance now, so she waited for the inevitable 'Congratulations the enemy!'. The guys in the look out tower were probably having a good laugh at us, especially Alex's team, they've wanted to see us defeated for a long time. "Congratulations the enemy!" Said Shadow. Rora was able to move again now, and she met up with Talon on the stairs. "What happened?" asked Talon, "I kept waiting for you to come, but you didn't." "Matthias beat me." Rora says glumly. "Ah. Me too. Got me from behind. Pretty nasty spell huh?" Shorlorn comments. "Yeah, I've never seen it before, and it beat my shield! Nothing beats my shield!" Rora shouted, expressing her anger. They reached the stairs and stopped talking. They sat by the window, away from the enemy, and watched the battle. Dragon fire wins, and then faces icefire. Oh right, there are five teams now, Rora thinks. On there way to dinner Rora fumes and her hands are ignited with sparks. She barely eats anything. She says nothing. No one else talks either, but Alex moved his table by the enemies, and that says enough. Alex seems very happy. All of his group, excluding Pory, who still sits with us, seem happy. As they made there way to their room, Rora accidentally bumped into Matthias. Where his skin touched hers there was a tingling sensation so strong, she rubbed her skin. He had some serious magical power! How was he that strong? Only people who practice for years and years have that effect on her. Shadow had it, but how was Matthias that strong? She lay awake all night trying to come up with a rational conclusion, and found none.
Chapter three: a missed shot LUKE Luke could tell Rora was restless, and if sleep didn't come to her, he knew it wouldn't come to him. He got up and tried to think like Talon, and do this taclical strategies homework. Only problem was, Talons thinking didn't seem to work. Eventually he set it down, and tried to sleep. Luke wasn't looking forward to tactical strategies, or magic, or battles. So in gym he enjoyed happiness while ge could. Magic was a drag, as always, and they were studying history of magic, which made it even more boring. But, even as boring as it was, he would do it all day, if it got him out of tactical strategies. Magic wasn't all day, and Luke didn't get out of tactical strategies. When he walked into the room, his nerves spiked. There were maps everywhere, posted all over the walls, and covering Shadows desk. "Come in, and sit down." Shadow comanded. We did as we were told. He handed each of us a map, and asked us question after question, of stratagy, hiding places, and how we would launch an attack. No one ever answered correctly. "You gained zero points today, which would make you at a grand total of... zero." Shadow said. "So Talon's answers before count for nothing?" Rora asks. "You my dear would have nothing even if I did add befores questions." Strangely Rora doesn't get mad, in stead she admits: "I know, I'm terrible at tactical stratagies!" The bell rings and we leave, heading straight to lunch. As he's eating my food, Luke notices that Rora is looking over at the enemies table alot. "What are you looking at?" Luke asks. "Matthias's book." she answers. "Whats it about?" He wonder. "Ancient magic." "How did he get his hands on that!" Luke exclaimed. "I have no idea." she said. On our way to battle, no one talks, Talon is too busy thinking up battle strategies, Rora is thinking about the spell book, Shorlorn is just being Shorlorn, and Luke was too busy thinking about what everyone else thinking. "Icefire, Chaos, get ready for battle!" Our gym teacher says cheerily. Everyone else walks up the stairs and into the look out. Talon takes his usual spot by the window, Shorlorn and Luke join him. Rora sits on the ground closer to the enemy than anyone else. (not including Alex, he was practically in their lap.) Luke scoots over to her and asks: "Why don't you just ask where he got it?" "Why don't you!" she retorts. "Because I'm not into magic!" Luke says. Rora looks at him and then Matthias, then gets up and walks caustiosly over to Matthias. "Where did you... Um... Get that book?" she stutters. "It's mine." he says darkly. "Ok." she says and walks quickly back to her spot on the floor. "That went well." Rora says sarcastically. "You can say that again." Luke muttered. "That went well." That made them laugh. "I haven't laughed since the rebellion." Luke states. "Me neither." she admits. "Dragon fire, against icefire!" shouts the gym teacher. Dragon fire hurries out onto the field, and a defeated chaos joins them. It's over soon enough and they are in the field again. "Ok, this is the plan. Luke, you scout ahead and try and take out as many people as possible, especially the archer, he has wicked aim, not unlike you, so be careful. Soon after you come back Shorlorn and I will split up and scout the perimeter, Rora when we leave, follow Luke. Got it?" Got it, we all answer. Luke is off without another word, determined not to let Talon down. He travels through the maze of crates searching for the archer, or anyone else who got in his way. Out of the corner of his eye he spots him. Mark. He pulls a knife out of it's sheath and aims. Mark pull back the string of his bow. This was all so familiar. It reminded him of another battle, long ago... "Mark?" he says unsure of himself, and then he whispers, "Brother." just as the arrow hits him.
Chapter four: brother of the enemy SHORLORN Talon nodded to Shorlorn and Rora, they started to scout the area. Shorlorn took the right side, and could only see Rora occasionaly. Shorlorn saw Luke lying on the floor frozen, and stopped. Big mistake! An arrow hit him in the back and he went down. Rora came up and saw Luke and Shorlorn. Talon was now visable through a spot between crates, Shorlorn saw the light before Talon did and Talon just had time to groan before the spell took him down. Rora's hands sizzled with sparks. Matthias glided over to her and said: "Boo." Rora thrust her hands out and raw magic burst out of her hands and hit him in the stomach. He went down, frozen. Before Rora could cry out in victory, an arrow hit her in the back. Once unfrozen we made our way to the dining room. We were almost there when Rora was confronted by Matthias. "That wasn't a spell." he told her. "So?" Rora said. "It's called anger issues." Talon told Matthias. Rora laughed at the truth of it. "And also, that book you were reading is banned." Rora accused. "How would you know that, you have no-" Wolf started. "Memories?" Rora inquired when he stopped. "Think again." Talon said. Wolfs eyes got wide and he walked quickly away. "What was that all about?" asked Luke who had just caught up with the others. "Wolf thought Rora didn't remember anything, I wonder how he knew that?" Shorlorn said. "Guys, I got my memories back too." Luke whispered. "Really, how?" Talon asks, surprised. "I'll tell you back in the room." Luke says. ~ BACK IN THE ROOM: "You got your memories back how?" Rora exclaimed back in their dorm. "Well I was holding a knife to throw at Mark, and it was like I had done this before, and then they came back, just like that." "Wow, what do you remember?" "Everything. I grew up in a poor family, with my brother, my mother and my father. We were pretty happy, until my mother grew ill and died. That was when my brother decided to run away. I ran after him. He aimed an arrow at my head and I held a knife. I knew I couldn't kill, and I knew he wouldn't kill me, but I didn't want him to leave." "Wow, that is similar to what happened with Mark." Shorlorn commented. "Anyways, he loosed the arrow, and it narrowly missed my head, a warning shot. Then he began running, I tried to run after him, but I couldn't find him. I thought he was gone forever so I went back to my house to tell my father. I was intercepted by Shadows men and brought here." "So strong memories can break the wall!" Talon said. "More like breach the wall, I broke it, he breached it." Rora corrected. "Same difference." Shorlorn groans. "Guy's," Luke says, "There's one more thing. Mark is my brother."
Chapter five: The nerve of some people TALON Everyone was surprised by that interesting tidbit, but Luke claimed he was tired, and didn't want to talk about it. When he wasn't thinking about Luke and Mark, he was thinking about Rora's offer. You know, the one that started with hey, it's me; and ended with a kiss? Yeah, you could say Talon had alot on his mind. Talon climed out of bed and walked over to Rora's. He knelt down by her and stroked her long white hair. He touched his lips to her forehead and left. It technacally wasn't an answer to her request, because she was sleeping, but it was a start. The day would be a busy one, it was their day-off, and Talon was really stuggling in tactical strategies. The fact that he got a bucket load of assignments didn't help. "Talon, can you help me with this?" asks Rora. "I'm sorry Rora, I'm not quite getting if myself, but goodluck." Talon apologizes. Magic was mildly better, he actually could understand the concept, but it was the complex hand movements that he failed at. "Ok, let's go through this one more time." Rora huffed. She was as skilled at magic, as Talon was at tactical strategies. Or, used to be. After he (finally) got through magic, he went back to the impossible tactical strategies assignments, and put down his answers, which he didn't even hope would be right. He was just finishing when Luke said: "Better hurry up, or we'll be late for lunch, and we all know what Shadow thinks about tardiness." Talon grinned, and joined the rest at the door. "How's your assignment going?" asks Shorlorn. "By now I don't really try." Talon admits. "You call that not trying? You were staring at it for a hour straight!" cried Rora. "Yeah, but when it came to answering it, I just wrote the first thing off of the top of my head." "No," Luke stated, "I refuse to believe that the god Talon would just give up like that!" "Emphisis on the god." Rora added when Talon didn't answer. "Face it guys, I'm just not as good as them." Talon groaned, refering to the enemy. When they entered the dining room they took their normal spots at the lunch table, but strangely Alex and his group had joined them. "So, Talon." Alex started. This could not be good. Talon thought. "How does it feel to be beaten?" "It was a lesson I had to learn." Talon said. Cassie burst out laughing. "You got that right!" she exclaimed, between fits if laughter, "I'm just disapointed that I wasn't the one to teach you it!" "And Luke, I just can't stop wondering why you didn't take that shot at Mark. Are you getting soft?" Jasmine taunted. Luke looks at Mark, but doesn't respond. Talon, couldn't wait for battles, no matter how much he denied it, he knew he would always be striving to win, and he wasn't to happy with these comments. Battles come soon enough, and Talon's team is out first. "Ok, guys. Sneaking up on them doesn't seem to work, so let's charge in close together and then seperate when we spot them." Talon suggests. "Ok, but while we are close together, wouldn't we be easy targets for their archer?" Luke inquires. "Ummm..." Talon thinks. Ring! Without Talon's answer, they just go with his first plan. Sticking close together they charge onto their side of the field. Just as they are begining to seperate, arrows strike both Rora and Shorlorn. "No need to say told you so." Talon mutters to Luke. Luke pulls a knife out of his sheath and aims, but doesn't throw. An arrow comes flying towards him he dodges it and throws his knife. It hits Mark in the heart and he falls down frozen. Matthias launches a spell at Talon who dodges. Unfortunately it hits Luke in the back he falls down with a look of grief on his face, no doubt from defeating Mark. Both Wolf and Symphoney are coming for him now, Talon draws his sword. "No Symphoney. I want to defeat Talon, the undefeated by myself." Wolf orders. Talon smiled. Time to show my true, arogent, sarcastic colors! "I prefer the term god, but undefeated works." Talon said with a smirk. "Right. Knock yourself out." Symphoney replies to Wolf. "Oh, please do, it would save me the trouble, of knocking you out, of course." Talon grins. Wolf swings at Talon, and Talon dodges. The next swing he spins around to dodge, and ends up being stabbed in the back. "Ok, at least I'm a minor god." Talon sighs, when he was unfrozen. "I wish you would get your memories back." Rora complains to Talon. "Why?" he responds. "So I could know where you got so arogent, and how you had the nerve, and stupidity to say those things!" Rora says. "I guess it's just a natural talent." Talon shrugs. By now they were almost back to the room, and Rora stopped, Luke and Shorlorn kept going, figuring that they would catch up. "There you go again!" exclaims Rora. Talon steps closer to Rora, and kisses her, soft and sweetly on the lips. She stands there speechless. "Now that; took nerve." Talon says with a small smile.
Chapter six: 50% RORA Rora walked back to the room holding Talon's hand. She opened the door and said: "Talon, can you come over here for a moment? I would like to show you something." "Sure, Rora." Rora closed the divider. "We met three months ago, and we are allready kissing, it just doesn't make sense." Rora whispered. "We were bonded by trauma." he says instantly. Then he gets a far off look in his eyes. "Talon, are you ok?" asks Rora. "Yes, I just got a memory back!" he exclaims. "Just one?" he nods "Tell me about it!" "Well, there was this girl, and we were fighting this wild beast, we had never met before, and I don't remember why exactly I was there, but we killed it, barely. When we were done she kissed me. 'Why did you do that, we just met?' I asked her, she responded: 'But it feels like we've known each other longer doesn't it?' I say yes. 'we've been bonded by trauma.' she explains. Then I don't remember anything else." he tells Rora. "Just one memory?" she says disapointed. "Why, were you hoping to figure out why I am so sarcastic?" "Maybe a little." she admits. She kisses me once more, standing on her tip-toes to reach him. "Now go, I need my beauty sleep!" she says. "And you say I'm arrogent." Talon grins, and walks onto his sections of their dorm, sliding closed the divider. ~ Rora yawns in the morning and smiles at her reflection. She had a great night, and was so happy. Nothing could throw her off track. Except maybe this: "Good work Rora." says Shadow in tactical strategies. "Um, sir? Me, tactical strategies, good work? You're kidding, right?" Rora asks. "No I'm quite serious, you got half of the points on this assignment, best in the class!" Rora was silent. He handed her the paper she had written, I would retreat, on, and on the top there was a 50%. Talon came over and picked it up, and stared at it the rest of class, not even trying to hide it. Alex sat with us at lunch again. "So, Talon. What was with the god thing yesterday?" asked Alex. "Well it goes back a few months, and Rora started it." Talon answered. The rebellion burst out laughing. But stopped when Talon said: "That was when everything was easy." Their faces grew somber as they remembered why they were really here. To be spies and assasins for the army. And possibaly a comander. Rora could tell Talon had a plan, because on their way to battles he was really excited. "Rebellion, enemy, to the field." said Shadow. "Ok, Ive got this all planned out!" Talon exclaimed. "Rora, you will run to the back left corner and sit down. You will watch everything through your magic, and tell us what is going on in our heads." "Ok, but if I'm taken out, you are on your own." Rora reminds. Ring! Everyone spread out and searched for the enemy, and Rora sat in the corner. She chanted the spell, and instantly saw that Luke was vulnerable to Mark's arrow. 'Luke, look out!' she thought to him, but it was to late. Her warning was meaningless, and Luke went down. 'Luke's down.' she thought to everyone. Talon was fighting Wolf, and Matthias stood by, just in case. The next thing she saw was Symphoney glowing. She was using magic to locate Shorlorn. 'Expect company from behind.' she told Shorlorn. He stayed facing forward to mantian the element of surprise. Normaly this would have been a good thing, but Symphoney was so quick and silent, that she jumped onto Shorlorns back only seconds later. 'Grab for you sword!' he didn't need to be told that. But then, out of nowhere, Symphoney kissed him. Shorlon dropped his hand, surprised. 'No, no! It's a distraction!' Rora shouted into his head, but it was to late. Symphoney had slitted his throat, and he went down, frozen. Talon held out a little while longer, only to fall as well. They are coming for you. Thought Rora. Rora opened her eyes and broke the spell. They can't defeat me, if they can't catch me. Rora grinned and began to soar above their heads.
Chapter seven: the good days LUKE Luke's head is facing the perfect angle to see Rora flying, it amazing! But soon Matthias joins her. "Still chanting? I can fly free style!" Rora boasts. She is refering to the spell Matthias is chanting to keep himself aloft, it's complex, and he can't do any other magic while flying, but Rora can. Rora shoots a spell at him, and he throws up a shield, but tumbles to the ground. Uh, oh. Mark is aiming an arrow at her. "Hit me with your best shot!" Rora teases. Mark let's his arrow fly, and Rora catches it. "That's your best shot?" Rora asks. Symphoney throws her sword at Rora's leg, and Rora wobbles, trying to stay in the air. Then Wolf's sword hits her hard in the back, only it's not the tip that hits her, it's the hilt. It bruises her back and she starts to bleed. She is also frozen so there is nothing she can do. "Congratulations the enemy!" said Shadow who was racing towards Rora who was slowly sitting up. "Let me heal that for you." Shadow says. "What degree is it, two, four? I can heal it myself!" she grunts in pain. The scale of wounds is something mages use to evaluate how much power is needed to heal the wound, a one is the smallest, and needs a small amount of power, and a ten is the highest, and needs an abundace of magic. "Actually it's more like a seven." comments Shadow. Rora touches the wound and put all the magic she has into healing it, when she is done she is almost drained, and there is a nasty scar on her back. Shadow touches her scar and heals the rest of the scar tissue, and did what was called lending magic. He thrust some of his magic into Roras body to keep her awake. "Thanks Sh-" Rora begins. "Not here Rora." he reminds her. "Right." she remembers. Rora joins the rest of her team, (and sadly the enemy's) in the look out. "Are you ok?" asked Talon, concerned. "I'm fine, good as new, except a little tired." Rora insists. Luke sits down in a comfy chair by the window, but he isn't observing the war, he is watching Shorlorn. He is staring at Symphoney, who is smiling at him. Symphoney can't be falling for him, something's up. On the way to dinner, Rora and Talon notice it too. "Is Shorlorn actually talking to her?" Rora notices. "Yeah, that's wierd, especially for Shorlorn, since when does he talk?" Talon wonders. "It's not the fact that he's talking, it's who he's talking to!" Rora growls, annoyed. "I knew that, I was just playing with you." Talon admitted. "And I was just playing back." Rora grins. Wow, Talon and Rora? Luke wonders. Well, I guess it's kind of obvious, they are great friends. We sit down at dinner, and thankfully Alex didn't join us. But Symphoney did. Luke observes them as they talk strategy. "He seems really into her." Luke observes. "It's funny because you're sitting right next to him and he doesn't even respond!" Talon says loudly. "Hey guys, watch this!" says Rora. She leans closer to Shorlorn, making sure he can here. "Hey Shorlorn, guess what! I'm pregnant!" "Hmm...? Sure Rora, that's great." he responds. "Your pregnant?" Talon exclaims. "No! I was just demonstrating how oblivious guys can get when they get into something. Like you and your tactical strategies assignments." Rora explained. Luke watched as Talon sat back in his chair and thought back, wondering if Rora had ever said anything wierd to him. He was still thinking on his way back from dinner. Shorlorn was still in a daze, so it was a while before anyone talked. "Wait a minute! Rora, did you say you were pregnant?" Shorlorn asks. We laugh so hard. These were the good days.
Chapter seven: the good days LUKE Luke's head is facing the perfect angle to see Rora flying, it amazing! But soon Matthias joins her. "Still chanting? I can fly free style!" Rora boasts. She is refering to the spell Matthias is chanting to keep himself aloft, it's complex, and he can't do any other magic while flying, but Rora can. Rora shoots a spell at him, and he throws up a shield, but tumbles to the ground. Uh, oh. Mark is aiming an arrow at her. "Hit me with your best shot!" Rora teases. Mark let's his arrow fly, and Rora catches it. "That's your best shot?" Rora asks. Symphoney throws her sword at Rora's leg, and Rora wobbles, trying to stay in the air. Then Wolf's sword hits her hard in the back, only it's not the tip that hits her, it's the hilt. It bruises her back and she starts to bleed. She is also frozen so there is nothing she can do. "Congratulations the enemy!" said Shadow who was racing towards Rora who was slowly sitting up. "Let me heal that for you." Shadow says. "What degree is it, two, four? I can heal it myself!" she grunts in pain. The scale of wounds is something mages use to evaluate how much power is needed to heal the wound, a one is the smallest, and needs a small amount of power, and a ten is the highest, and needs an abundace of magic. "Actually it's more like a seven." comments Shadow. Rora touches the wound and put all the magic she has into healing it, when she is done she is almost drained, and there is a nasty scar on her back. Shadow touches her scar and heals the rest of the scar tissue, and did what was called lending magic. He thrust some of his magic into Roras body to keep her awake. "Thanks Sh-" Rora begins. "Not here Rora." he reminds her. "Right." she remembers. Rora joins the rest of her team, (and sadly the enemy's) in the look out. "Are you ok?" asked Talon, concerned. "I'm fine, good as new, except a little tired." Rora insists. Luke sits down in a comfy chair by the window, but he isn't observing the war, he is watching Shorlorn. He is staring at Symphoney, who is smiling at him. Symphoney can't be falling for him, something's up. On the way to dinner, Rora and Talon notice it too. "Is Shorlorn actually talking to her?" Rora notices. "Yeah, that's wierd, especially for Shorlorn, since when does he talk?" Talon wonders. "It's not the fact that he's talking, it's who he's talking to!" Rora growls, annoyed. "I knew that, I was just playing with you." Talon admitted. "And I was just playing back." Rora grins. Wow, Talon and Rora? Luke wonders. Well, I guess it's kind of obvious, they are great friends. We sit down at dinner, and thankfully Alex didn't join us. But Symphoney did. Luke observes them as they talk strategy. "He seems really into her." Luke observes. "It's funny because you're sitting right next to him and he doesn't even respond!" Talon says loudly. "Hey guys, watch this!" says Rora. She leans closer to Shorlorn, making sure he can here. "Hey Shorlorn, guess what! I'm pregnant!" "Hmm...? Sure Rora, that's great." he responds. "Your pregnant?" Talon exclaims. "No! I was just demonstrating how oblivious guys can get when they get into something. Like you and your tactical strategies assignments." Rora explained. Luke watched as Talon sat back in his chair and thought back, wondering if Rora had ever said anything wierd to him. He was still thinking on his way back from dinner. Shorlorn was still in a daze, so it was a while before anyone talked. "Wait a minute! Rora, did you say you were pregnant?" Shorlorn asks. We laugh so hard. These were the good days.
Chapter eight: high hopes SHORLORN We were still laughing when we heard a knock at the door. "Three guesses to who it is!" asks Shorlorn. "Shadow." guesses Talon. "Um, my magic teacher?" Luke said, and shuddered at the thought. "Symphoney!" Rora teased. "Drum roll please!" We pounded our desks. Rora dramatically opened the door. "Whats with all of this noise?" Symphoney asked. "Um, nothing! Says Shorlorn. Rora was smirking and Talon was shaking his head. "Finally! I've beaten the god Talon." Rora exclaimed. "Rora, you're hurting my feelings." Talon said, dejectedly. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she walked over to Talons bed and smacked him in the head. "I won't fall for that one!" she laughed. "You allready did!" said Talon. "What how?" "I'm not telling!" said Talon, stubbornly. "Come on, please tell me! Wait, I just fell for it! Unbaleivable!" "Is this what it's always like here?" asks Symphoney out in the hall with Shorlorn. "Pretty much." "Wow, your group is... Spireted." "Rambunctious is more like it." Shorlorn snorted. Symphoney smiled. "Well, see you at lunch." Symphoney said, and then kissed him on the cheek. Shorlorn entered the room, and was pelted with questions: "Whay did you talk about." was the most common one. "We talked about how rambunctious you guys are." Shorlorn said, creating an instant argument. Talon insisted that he was the most rambunctious, but Rora and Luke disagreed, saying he was allready god of to many things. So, Rora was crowned queen of rambunctiousness, and no more questions were asked. "G'night." Talon yawned. "Good night." we answered. ~ In the morning everyone was happy, for no apparent reason. Shorlorn was happy because he would see Symphoney again, but he didn't know about the others. Symphoney sat with them against lunch, and she laughed like everyone else. Shorlorn began to wonder if she could be the enemy. She left and went back to her own group when lunch ended, but first she kissed him on the cheek. No one noticed. Everyone was chatting excitedly on their way to battle. Talon got teased a lot, but not that much, because they all knew what it was like to be beaten. "Hello, students." Shadow greeted them. "Today, battles will go a bit differently. Today the crates will be in a maze, with several paths to the other teams 'base'. But several of the paths will also lead to dead ends. You will each get to view the maze for a few minutes to devise a plan." We all rushed up the steps to the lookout, which Shorlorn could have sworn were going to break with all of their weight on it. But miraculously, they stayed standing. Talon was near the front of the mob of people, and he saw tge maze first. But after a few moments of studying it, he backed out and called us over to a corner. "I barely saw anything!" Rora complained. "Me too." Talon said. He closed his eyes and pulled out Rora's tactical strategies assignment, which he carries practically everywhere. On the back he began drawing an exact replica of the maze. "That's amazing!" Luke exclaims. "Rora, can you duplicate this, and create copies for all of us?" Talon asks "Sure thing." she replies and got to work. Talon stared at the side of the paper that had Rora's assignment on it. "The enemy thinks like you Talon, only better." Shorlorn mocks him. "Shu-" Talon starts, "That's it!" he exclaims. "Whats it?" asks Shorlorn. "I know how to beat the enemy!" This news gave us all high hopes.
Chapter nine: and then the walls came crashing down TALON Talon had finally figured out how to beat the enemy, and his body was buzzing with anticipation. "How are we going to beat them?" asked Rora, done duplicating the maps. "I'll tell you on the field." Talon said. Unfortunately, they were not first. Everyone pleaded with Talon to know his plan, but Talon said nothing. Finally it was their turn. "Rora, what would you do in this situation?" Talon asked. "Why me!" Rora complained. "Just do it!" Talon commanded. "Um... I would retreat?" that always seemed to be Rora's answer. "Ok, Luke?" "I would go ahead and distract other team." "Shorlorn?" "I would stay and wait for them to come to me." Shorlorn said. Talon was forming a plan in his mind. "I got it! Ok, here's my reasoning: the team thinks like me, not like you, so we are going to use your ideas, to create a plan, worthy of me!" Talon told them. They looked at him like he was crazy. "So this is what we will do, Luke and I will start looking for them, but when we see them, we retreat. We will lead them back to Rora and Shorlorn, who will come up with a trap so obvious, that they won't see it coming." They still stared at him as if he had grown elephant ears. Ring! They went through with his plan, sure it would bring another failure. Talon and Luke followed the map, taking a long, tunnel-like path, hoping to see the enemy. They didn't find them. "Ok, let's head back and try a different way." suggested Talon. They tried several ways before they found them, arguing. "... Wasn't part of the plan!" shouted Wolf. "I know, but I really like him, he's nice!" Symphoney wailed. Wolf slapped her across the face, leaveing bright red marks where his hand had been. "They are the enemy! Get that straight!" Wolf growled. Talon and Luke were hidden around the corner. They almost didn't notice when Mark went right passed them. "That way is a dead end, I think we should go this way." Said Mark, motioning to where Luke and Talon were hiding. "Run!" Talon yelled. "Get them!" Shouted Wolf. Talon and Luke ran as fast as they could back the way they came. Shorlorn and Rora were no where in sight, but Talon and Luke ran until they hit the dead end. "Looks like I get to defeat you again Talon." Wolf mocked. "Come on, Rora!" Talon whispered. Wolf was getting closer, he was almost upon them. Talon drew his sword, preparing for another defeat. But then, the walls of the maze came crashing down on the enemies team, they disapeared from view.
Chapter ten: evesdropping: part one RORA Rora and Shorlorn were planning on climbing the walls of the maze and decending upon them from above. But that didn't work out when neither of them could climb. Rora freaked and pushed in the wall, telling Shorlorn to do the same. The result was a crushed enemy, and a scared Talon. "What were you thinking!" Talon shouted. "You could have hit us!" "I wasn't thinking, isn't that the point?" Rora retorted. Talon took several deep breaths to calm himself down. Then he smiled. "Your right. And that was spectacular!" Talon grinned. Shadow came down smiling. "Congratulations the rebellion!" he cheered. Rora hadn't realized how much she had missed these words. "You did an amazing job." Shadow said as he lifted the crates with magic. The enemy stormed out of there, as soon as they were moble again. "We did it Talon!" Rora laughed. "We actually did it!" Talon was congratulated, and all was back to normal. Talon was a god, telling us we were his slaves. We threw so much food at him, he was scraping it out of his hair, and we didn't get much to eat. "More victories will come, if you follow my lead." Talon said, relishing his command. "Yeah, but I thought the whole thing was our idea!" Luke retorted. "Could you have put all of those plans together to create one so obvious, that it was brilliant?" Talon asked. "No." Luke muttered. "Exactly! Now I've been thinking, Luke and I heard that Wolf was mad at Symphoney, and I want to find out why. I think we should bring the rebellion's superior evesdropping skills back to life." Talon said. "Oh yeah!" Luke supported, "Me first!" "Ok, Luke can go first." Talon agreed. "You know the drill, goodnight, see you in a few minutes."
Chapter eleven: evesdropping part two LUKE Luke walked quietly down the halls, making his way to the enemies dorm. On his way he saw Mark going the other direction. "Bathroom." they muttered at the same time. Luke didn't bother thinking to much about Mark, he was on a mission. He reached a dorm door, identical to his own and put his ear up against it. "So, Symphoney, you have learned your lesson?" asked Wolf. "Yeah." she grumbled, "I'm pretending to fall in love with Shorlorn, to get information about Talon's strategies, not actually falling in love with him." This shook Luke in his boots. Symphoney was trying to get information out of Talon! Although, it did sound as if she had disobeyed orders, so maybe she was in love with Shorlorn. Luke was just about to leave, he turned around and saw a very surprised Mark, standing at his door. "You shouldn't be here, Wolf said this wouldn't happen. I evesdrop on you, and don't get caught, that's what he said!" Mark muttered confused. These words confused Luke even more. Mark would have been smart enough to not let slip that he was evesdropping, what had happened? Then in dawned on him; magic. "I'm gonna tell!" Mark proclaimed. "Mark, I have something to tell to you, we are brothers." Luke told him. It wasn't the best distraction, but it was enough. Mark stopped in his tracks, and before he realized what was going on, Luke hit him swiftly and silently in the temple; he was out cold. Before he hit the ground, Luke caught him, and began carrying him back to his dorm. He would tell Rora about the potential mind block, and she would fix it. It wouldn't be that hard, unless it was created by Matthias, then they were screwed.
Chapter twelve: evesdropping part three SHORLORN Shorlorn lay awake in his bed silently, like everyone else. He waited patiently for Luke to come back. A few minutes later, Luke came in the dorm, setting a heavy object on the ground. Shorlorn sprung out of bed and joined the others in Talon's section of the dorm. The heavy object was a human; Mark to be specific. Now what was he doing here... Lying unconcious... In their dorm. "I think Mark has a mind block, it would explain why he doesn't remember me." Luke said. "I can check." Rora offered. "Go ahead" Luke agreed. Rora placed her finger tips on Marks forehead and got that far-off look in her eyes. "Oh there's a mind block allright!" Rora exclaimed. "It's powerful, Matthias must have put it in." "Great!" Said Talon sarcastically, "Now we'll never break it." he said serious now. "What are you talking about, it's allready gone, I demolished it." Rora told us. "How?" asked Luke. "That book that Matthias always seems to be reading is full of extremely powerful battle spells, not once does it mention a mind block. I assume that he doesn't know much about mind blocks and did a poor job createing one." "How would you know what's in that book, you said it was banned?" asked Shorlorn. Rora's cheeks got bright red, and she looked at her lap. "I've, um, read it before, a long time ago." Rora admitted. "Really?" Talon inquired. "Yes. Oh, Mark is stirring." She said to take the conversation away from herself. "Whe- where am I?" Mark asked. "Oh my god! It's all coming back! I didn't know what I was doing Luke, I swear!" "I know, it's ok." Luke said. "I remember everything! The battles, being kidnapped, forces to spy and when I refused they blocked my mind!" Mark exclaimed. "Wait, wait, wait! Back up a little bit, you were kidnapped!" said Luke, full if concern for his little brother. "They wanted you, but the scouts grabbed me accedentally." Mark tried to explain. "Where did they take you?" asked Talon. "Over the border, to Yedasriam." Both Talon and Shorlorn had blank, faces, while Luke and Rora had expressions of horror. "What?" asked Talon. "Where's Yedasriam?" "That's the country we are fighting against. The reason we are here, learning to be spies." Rora explained. Realization dawned on Talons face. "But that means the enemy is actually 'The enemy'! They are spying on us!" Shouted Talon, outraged. "But why, we are just kids." wondered Shorlorn. Mark looked at Talon, and they all understood.