Chapter eleven: treasury TALON Talon saw the arrow coming at him in slow motion. He got out of the way easily, but then did something stupid. But hey, it was Talon, stupid things are his specialty. Talon waited until the arrow (still moving in "slow motion") was right by him, then he thrust out his hand and grabbed it. "Talon, that was an incredibly stupid thing to do." Symphoney said in the silence that followed. "But you gotta admit, it was kinda awesome." Luke pointed out. Symphoney admitted that it was awesome, but told Talon not to do it again. "Wow." Shorlorn whispered. They all turned their heads in the direction of the treasury and gaped. Inside was piles upon piles of fold coins, cups, and even silverware! "Let's check it out!" Madeline took a step towards the treasury. "Wait!" Talon called, "There could be more traps like the first one!" "Fine." Madeline said dejectedly. Talon leaned inside glancing at the walls. There were holes, probably slots for arrows to fly out of. Talon glanced at the floor. There was one brick that looked loose, the switch. "Ok, there's a brick right..." Talon pointed, "There. We can't step on that, or we'll be pelted with arrows." "That one?" Asked Symphoney. "No, I think he means that one." Shorlorn points. "Are you sure it's not that one?" Luke asked. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's that one, not that one." Mark says. "Just shhh!" Talon exclaims. "Follow in my footsteps." So they followed him, directly in his footsteps. Luke wobbled, then grabbed his brother for balance, Mark grabbed Symphoney who shrieked causing Shorlorn to fall. Directly on the switch. "Everyone get down!" Talon shouts. Arrows fly above them, out of the holes then shattering against the wall. "Crawl!" Orders Talon. They crawled after Talon, scared for there lives. Thankfully no one was hurt, but it was close. The gold was beautiful, shimmering in the low light. Shorlorn picked up a coin and inspected it. "Hey Talon, look at this!" He calls. "What is it Shorlorn?" Shorlorn handed Talon the coin. Talon inspected it and laughed out loud. "It looks just like me!" "I know," Shorlorn said, "Self centered smile and all." "Talon," Symphoney called. "Yes?" "You HAVE to see this." Talon stepped over piles of gold toward Symphoney. His mouth dropped open. In front of him on a velvet cushion was a gold circlet, with small diamonds imbedded in it. He reached out and touched it. "Look at this one." In front of Symphoney was a tiara with similar diamonds, and a pale blue gem hanging in the middle. "You think these are for..." Talon trailed off. "Us." Symphoney finished. "They're for us." Talon reached out again and picked it up, but just as he was about to look at it closer, he heard: "Put the treasure down!" Talon spun around and stared at twenty guards. Somehow they had turned off the arrows. Talon placed his crown on the cushion again and put his hands in the air, the others did this as well. "Come with us, and keep your hands in the air!" The same soldier commanded. They followed the soldier through the winding hallways and to the room they had been in before, the one with the many maps of Yedasriam in it. "Someone has breached our walls and broken into our treasury." The soldier said with a low bow. Everyone else bowed, and when they did so Talon saw the shock on the kings face turn to dismay. "Leave us with them." Shadow said shaking his head and grinning. "Are you sure sir? They made it through the traps unscathed, they are clever." "I am sure, now leave us." When the soldiers left Talon casually sat in a chair and surveyed a map of Yedasriam. "You could have been killed." The king said quietly. "But we weren't." Talon reminded him. "But how did you pass the first arrow?" Shadow asked. "Skill." Talon answered, at the same time Madeline said: "Stupidity." The others just smiled and offered no further explanation. The king sighed. "How can we trust you on a mission to Yedasriam after this!" The king shouted. "You can't," Talon said, "But you're going to let us go anyways." "And why would we do that?" Asked the king. "Because if you don't I'll tell them father's real name." Madeline offered when Talon was silent. "You wouldn't!" Shadow said. "Oh yes she would." Talon smiled, they had him trapped. "Fine, but only because I'm a nice father." The king said. "Nice work." Talon said to Madeline, who just smile broadly. "Were those crowns in the treasury for us?" Symphoney asked. "They were very beautiful." "Must you find out every gift I had planned for you." The king muttered shaking his head. "Can we leave in the morning?" Talon asked, a desperate look on his face. "What's the rush?" asked Shadow. Talon flushed red. "Well... I, I mean we... I miss her." Talon sighed. Shadow smiled knowingly. "I know almost all that goes on in my school Talon." "Well that's encouraging." Luke muttered. "It's a school, a learning facility." Shorlorn said. "So that means they weren't trying to kill us, right?" Talon grinned. "Oh yeah, and I almost forgot with all the distractions - Talon -" Luke added, then skipped a bit, "I mean the way they talked about you, it was as if you were a god." Talon, Luke, and Shorlorn cracked up, but got ahold of themselves quite quickly. "How long has my son been insane, Shadow?" Asked the king. "Don't worry father, I'm still here for you." Symphoney said sympathetically. "Well we'd best get sone rest, we're leaving in the morning." Talon yawned. On there way into the long corridor, Talon whispered a prayer to the gods for Rora. Let her be alive, he pleaded silently. She must be alive.
Chapter twelve: Rora's trial RORA Rora's bruises and cuts had doubled in the past hour, for Wolf had beat her for giving Talon the blood. He had left her alone for two days, so she had begun to think he had let it go, but it was not so. "Will you do this again?" shouted Wolf for the hundredth time. "Gladly!" she spat at him. She had endured many beatings worse than this from her parents, at least that was what she told herself. She knew that this was the worst beating she'd suffered. Wolf smacked her face, hard. She saw Matthias wince. Oh no, she thought, please don't let him have a thing for me! "I think she's learned her lesson, Wolf." Matthias says. Great, he has a thing for me! Rora thought angry. "It doesn't matter, the king wants to see you." Wolf muttered. "And I suppose I'll have to bathe, and dress like a proper maiden to be in his presence." Rora said sarcastically. "Actually, this time we have an audience, so yes." Wolf said. "You can't be serious!" Rora said, an expression of disbelief on her face. "Oh no, he's quite serious." Matthias commented. It took all her will power to not hit something. Her parents had been trying to get her to dress properly ever since she was born. She refused and wore the same white dress every day. They led her up to a bath filled with warm water, and waited. "What, you don't think I'll bathe while you watch!" Rora laughed at the preposterous idea. "We'll be waiting outside, don't take long." Wolf said, and with that they left. "I intend to take all the time I want!" Rora muttered. She fell into the warm bath, letting the blood dissolve into the water. She glanced at the dress she was to wear. It was a deep red, and had too much lace for Rora's taste. As soon as she dried off she stared at the dress. She took a knife hidden in the folds of her white dress and cut off all the lace. "They said I had to wear it, I'll wear it my style." Rora grinned. The dress didn't look that bad without the lace, but there was something off about it. She held it up and turned it this way, and that way, looking for the problem. It's too boring she realized. Using the knife she cut bits of the silky top layer off, so they hung down and revealed a darker layer beneath it. She put it on just like that, after cutting a secret pocket into that dress for her knife. She stared at her self, the tattered dress look suited her. She looked at her wet and tangled hair. "Ugh!" she shouted when she tried to comb it. A couple of times she was so mad at her hair she thought she'd cut it all off. "That brilliant!" She thought aloud. She removed the knife from it's pocket and roughly cut her long white hair to her chin. She decided she was ready, she walked into the hall. "I find that this dress it exactly my style!" she proclaimed as she strutted into the hall. "Huh?" Wolf asked, and then he looked at her. "How?" he yelled, out raged. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve yet." She said smiling, feeling the weight of the knife, which was indeed up her sleeve. Wolf raised his fist, but Matthias said: "She's just showing a bit of rebellion." Rora almost laughed at the word rebellion, it held so much meaning for her. "That is more than a bit!" Wolf said slowly, trying to control his rage. "Their probably waiting for us." Matthias commented. "You're right, let's get moving." Wolf agreed. Wolf grabbed her arm and roughly propelled her towards the room they had been in last time. But now it was full of seats where woman and men dressed in expensive dresses sat. The seats formed a semicircle, the king of Yedasriam in sight of everyone. Wolf left Matthias to bring me to the middle of the room, and he sat by a pretty young lady in a baby blue dress. The girl smiled at him and held hid hand. Matthias pushed Rora to her knees, and when she tried to stand up he placed a hand on her shoulder. But it felt like more of an affectionate touch than a commanding one. Rora shrank away from his touch. "I've invited you all here today to decide the fate of this young lady. She is an ally to our enemy, so naturally I would kill her. But the prince of Trellion will do anything for her, so she would be valuable left alive. With this difficult decision I seek your help." "Since when has Trellion had a prince?" Asked the girl holding Wolf's hand. "We haven't known this for long, and the boy himself didn't know it until a week or so ago." the king answered. Rora was surprised, normally women weren't allowed to speak during meetings. But this girl must have a high rank, the king spoke to her like a daughter. Then it occurred to her that she might actually be his daughter, or at least daughter in law. She may be married to Wolf, it wasn't uncommon for princes to mary young. "We should kill her, she's too dangerous, look at her dress, she has a knife." a man spoke. "But if the prince of Trellion is willing to do anything for her, she could be more valuable alive." the young lady said. "But how do we know how far the prince will go for her, I mean she's just a girl." a different man argued. "Just a girl is no way to describe her, she's the daughter of knowledge." Wolf informed the audience. There were murmurs of surprise. "Then she would be much more valuable to us alive, if we could control her-" the man was cut off. "We already tried, but she refuses to break." Wolf grumbles. Rora knew that she should listen, but it was just sooooooo boring. The monotone of the men and the warm room began to lull her to sleep... Rora snapped her head up. She had almost fell asleep leaning on Matthias's leg. This has to speed up! Rora thought, or I'm going to kill myself! Rora raised her hand. "Yes, Rora?" the king said bemused. "I was just wondering if you could maybe speed it up a bit?" Rora said with a yawn. The crowd couldn't help but laugh, what girl wants to speed up her trial, when her life is on the line? "Do you want to die?" the king asked. "Not really, but what does my opinion matter?" "We'll come to a decision when we're ready." The king silenced her. The bickering continued and Rora entertained herself by imagining what Talon would do if he barged in right now. Before she could come up with three ideas, her fate was decided. "Thank you all for your help, but I've come to a decision." The king announced, "I think this girl would be more useful to us alive than dead." Rora couldn't help but smiling at the mistake they were making. If Rora were the king she'd have sentenced herself to death. But she was alive, and she was happy.
Sorry for the wait! Chapter thirteen: they're teenagers LUKE Luke couldn't sleep that night. After all that excitement, sleep just wouldn't come. A few hours of nothingness passed, and he finally decided to practice his knife throwing. At the palace archery range there was enough room to challenge Luke, so he was excited. Luke practiced his precision for a while, but eventually decided to switch to speed. The steady thump of the blades hitting the targets made the time seem to pass quickly. One minute there was darkness, then dawn broke over the horizon in an almost magical display of oranges and reds. Luke stopped his practice and shielded his eyes from the suddenly blinding light. "Hey Luke." Said a drowsy Talon. "Hi." Luke answered. "Breakfast in half an hour." Shorlorn yelled from a balcony above their heads. "You two should cone inside, we're going to start planning our journey for today!" "But I just got out here!" Talon whined. "Oh well." Talon and Luke entered the castle through a door that connected the outdoor archery range to the general training room. A few kids older than them were already there. "What are you two doing here, this is private practice!" one of them yelled. "We're just passing through." Talon told them. A kid much bigger than them stood between them and the door. "Look, I'm not looking for a fight, so can you just let us through?" Talon asked, now getting annoyed. "You here that? The kid's looking for a fight! Let's give it to him." "Oh no Darrel, you're not advanced enough to battle Talon." It was Shadow. "What're you talking about? The kid's puny!" Darrel exclaimed. "Just trust me. This way Talon, Luke." As soon as they were out of earshot, Talon said: "Thanks for saving me back their." "I wasn't saving you, I was saving Darrel from almost certain injury. He's a good student, but too cocky to fight you. In fact, you might be better than me." Talon was surprised to hear this, it was shown clearly on his face. Wow, thought Luke, I would do anything to get a compliment like that from Shadow. "Wow, I, I- wow." Talon said. "Wait, you're serious, right." "I'm serious." Shadow said honestly. They walked in silence the rest of the way to a small room with a table filled with every breakfast food imaginable. The king sat at a smaller table off to the side with Rora, Mark, Symphoney, and Shorlorn. He said: "Help yourselves." That was when Luke collapsed. "Luke!" Talon called, "Are you okay?" Talon helped Luke up and over to a wooden chair. "I'm, okay, I just didn't go back to sleep last night, I'm low on energy." "Here, eat." The king encouraged, handing Luke a sweet roll, "You must gain strength for today." Luke willingly took the bread and ate it while listening to the others plan. "We'll ride our horses there, rescue Rora, and we'll come back. Easy as that, we don't need to plan." "Ah, but we do. For example, how do you plan to get back?" the king pointed out. "Rora will transport us back." Mark suggested. "Hmmm..." the king pondered, "What about food?" "We'll bring bread, fruit and cheese." Shorlorn said. "That's all?" The king said, "We can offer more than that." "We don't need more." Mark said. "Mark, are you sure you want to come? You're kind of young..." "Come on! I'm only one year longer than Rora, and she's trapped in Yedasriam!" "He has a point." Talon agreed. "Thank you, Talon." Mark said. "I guess you can come," Luke said grudgingly, "I'm just worried for you." "I know." Mark said quietly. And so, Talon, who is possibly the most important person in Trellion, rode off with only four other people for protection to attempt to rescue Rora, who is possibly the most important person to Talon. But hey, they're teenagers, they can do anything, right?
Chapter fourteen: the trade part one MARK We arrived in Yedasriam just as dusk was falling. Our horses were tired so we stabled them at an inn near the castle. We hadn't stopped to eat, so we were all famished. We ate our meal quickly and were at the castle quicker than we had expected. "Luke, I wrote a message, on this piece of paper. Attach it to your knife, and throw it hoping it will hit Wolf and he'll get up." Talon told Luke. "No problem." Luke said and had the knife thrown in no time. They heard an anguished scream. "Nice one Luke!" Shorlorn patted Luke on the back. "Thanks, Shorlorn." Luke replied. "Matthias, get Rora, NOW!" They heard Wolf bellow, "And can you please heal this?" "Sure," Matthias replied. Talon smiled at the group, Wolf had read the note, and all was going well. The small group of people snuck slowly to the town square, where they had escaped last time. They waited by the fountain Talon had written about in his note. They saw Wolf walking slowly towards them. Matthias and Rora were nowhere to be seen. This can't be good, Mark thought, if Rora's not here, how does he expect we'll trade. Unless, he doesn't want to trade.
Chapter fifteen: The trade part two SYMPHONEY Symphoney noticed right away that Wolf was alone. Matthias and Rora were nowhere to be seen. Wolf smiled evilly at Talon, who had also noticed that Rora was gone. "Why hello Talon." Wolf said. "Where's Rora?" Talon demanded. "I see you used the elixir to bring back your friend here." Wolf said, avoiding the question. "Where is she Wolf?" Symphoney asked, "If Rora's not here, there's no trade." "You see Synphoney, I don't want to trade. I don't know if you know, but I have a fiancé, her name is Annabel." Symphoney saw Talon stiffen out of the corner of her eye, but she paid him no mind. Her world was spinning out of control. He didn't want to trade, Rora wasn't here, they were in enemy territory. All of these things mixed together was a recipe for disaster! Suddenly their great plan seemed to have a slim chance of succeeding. "Uh, Talon?" Symphoney said, her voice suddenly small. "Where is Rora!" Talon demanded again. "She's in my room." Wolf said with a shrug. "Symphoney, Shorlorn, go!" Talon ordered. Symphoney and Shorlorn left without a word. They entered the palace silently, and snuck around corners thankfully encountering no guards. They found Wolf's room and they were about to enter when Symohoney heard Rora's voice in her head. I'm going to give you directions to where Matthias is hiding me, at all costs avoid Wolf's room! She said to them. Shorlorn leaped away from the room. "You heard..." "Yes," Shorlorn answered, "Let's go, I'm beginning to hear instructions." Symphoney was indeed also hearing Rora's voice giving her instructions. She closed her eyes and followed them, hoping Matthias wasn't controlling her.
Chapter sixteen: the trade part three TALON As soon as Symphoney and Shorlorn were gone, Wolf drew his sword. Luke had a knife already ready to throw, and Mark nocked an arrow. "No, it's okay guys. I've got this covered." Talon said, drawing his own sword. Slowly Mark put the arrow back in his quiver and Luke re-sheathed the knife. Wolf charged at Talon who leaped to the side. Wolf closed in and they circled each other. Talon was the first to strike, using several rough slashes and stabs at Wolf's abdomen. Wolf blocked all but a few and got scratched a bit. Wolf was beginning to how much Talon had learned when he got his memories back. Then Wolf attacked. He attacked more cautiously, looking for an opening in Talon's strong defense. He didn't find one, but when he mis-stepped his sword lodged under Talon's and Talon's sword went flying. "Wha-?" Talon was cut off by Wolf's blade at his throat. His blade clattered a few feet away, but it was beyond his reach. Wolf's blade slowly pressed tighter against his throat causing blood to drip down Talon's shirt. Talon was sure he was going to die, when he heard a voice. "Wolf, what are you doing?" it was the voice of a girl. "Oh my gosh, Talon, is that you." "A-Annabel? It's me! What are you doing here? I thought you had died." Talon exclaimed. "No, it's... A bit of a long story, why is Wolf... Um..." "Killing me? Yeah, well that's a long story too. But long story short, I'm the prince of Trellion." "Well we can sit and chat, or you two can tell me how you know each other." Wolf said. "Well... We were hunting partners a while ago." Talon said. "Yeah... You know when I ran away..." Annabel added. "You know what, that's cool, because you know him I'll let him live." Wolf said removing his blade. Then he swung it at full speed toward Talon's head. Before Talon could react, Annabel picked up his fallen sword and swung it towards Wolf's blade with grace that shouldn't be possible in a night gown. Wolf's sword dropped to the ground. "Over my dead body will you kill Talon." Annabel said darkly. "But... You and me... We-" "Had nothing but kind words and an engagement ring." "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down! You two are engaged?" Talon asked. "Not anymore." Annabel answered. Annabel took a pretty ring off her ring finger and threw it on the ground. But in that time, Wolf grabbed the sword she held and thrust it through her body. She gasped her final breath and fell next to Talon. "Annabel!" Talon cried out. "She did say over her dead body, now she's dead." Wolf turned to face Talon. A smile of grim determination on his face.
Chapter seventeen: The world still functions RORA Rora concentrated on giving Shorlorn and Symphoney directions to the broom closet Matthias and she were hiding in, but that didn't mean she didn't notice Matthias's hand cupping her cheek. And when it slid from her face to her chest she tried to jerk away, but the broom closer was so small, all she succeeded in doing was hitting her head. She gave the final direction and prayed they'd be here soon. "Did you know you're very beautiful?" Matthias asked. "I've been told." Rora answered bravely. "You know, you'd be even more beautiful if you took off-" "Took off what?" Shorlorn asked opening the cupboard. Rora leaped out and hugged Shorlorn, happy to see him alive and well. The elixir had worked. She looked back in the closet, but Matthias was gone, probably he teleported out of there. "We got to get back to Talon, hurry!" Symphoney reminded them. Shorlorn and Symphoney were both much faster than Rora, and soon Rora was far behind both of them. They reached the town square much before she did. When she did reach the square she was breathing hard. She looked around, and saw Talon, or his head to be more specific. She screamed. Wolf was also dead, an arrow protruding from his chest. She looked for Luke and Mark. She saw them not far from her, Luke was laying on the ground and Mark was shaking his shoulder and crying. Then there was a bright flash and Mark too fell to the ground- dead. Shorlorn and Symphoney were back to back, looking for the source of the flash. Matthias came out of the shadows. Shorlorn threw a dagger, but Matthias cast a spell that made it fly back at him. Shorlorn dodged it, but it hit Symphoney in the stomach. "SYMOHONEY!" he shouted and fell to his knees. Matthias grabbed a fallen sword and killed Shorlorn too. They were all dead. All of them. Talon, Luke, Mark, Shorlorn, Symphoney. All gone. Forever. The tears streamed down her face as she realized this. She would never see them again, never. She looked to Matthias. He won't kill me, she knew. She sat by the fountain and grieved. She cried her heart out until she could cry no more. Then she just sat there, numb to the world. She didn't know how long she sat there, but when she stood up again, she was stiff and sore. Matthias was still there. Anger flared deep in her belly. He must pay for what he did. Sparks danced across her body, she was a human torch, lit with bright white light, that blinded those who looked at her. Rora felt the power running through her veins, she felt invincible. But then Rora actually felt as if she was a torch. She was burning up being surrounded by so much magic. She had to do something with this power. She walked over to Matthias and grabbed his hand. The magic flowed from her into him. He would surely die. But even as he weakened he didn't let go. He held her hand tightly, and the raw magic continued to flow. Rora didn't think anything of this until she felt herself begin to weaken. Her magic was beginning to diminish. She tried to jerk her hand away, but with the last of his strength Matthias held on. The message was clear: if I go, you go with me. Rora fell to the ground, letting her life source drain away with her magic. The last this she saw was the sun rising. The last thing she thought was: I'm going to die, yet the world still functions. I'm going to die. Then she closed her eyes, for the last time. It's over, feedback welcome
I was not satisfied with the ending, so I remade it. Now it's over. Chapter seventeen: Safe RORA Rora concentrated on giving Shorlorn and Symphoney directions to the broom closet Matthias and she were hiding in, but that didn’t mean she didn’t notice Matthias’s hand cupping her cheek. And when it slid from her face to her chest she tried to jerk away, but the broom closet was so small all she succeeded in doing was hitting her head. She gave the final direction and prayed they would be here soon. “Did you know you’re very beautiful?” Matthias asked. “I’ve been told.” Rora responded bravely. “You know, you’d be even more beautiful if you took off-“ “Took off what?” Shorlorn asked opening the closet. Rora leaped out of the closet and hugged Shorlorn, happy to see him alive and well. The elixir had worked! She turned back to the closet, but Matthias had gone. He probably teleported out of there Rora thought. But where, she didn’t know. “Come on,” Symphoney said, “We have to get back to Talon, hurry!” Shorlorn and Symphoney were both much faster than Rora, and they hadn’t been sitting in a cramped broom closet. She fell behind, but continued to race after them digging deep into her core for extra energy. Shorlorn and Symphoney reached the town square before Rora did, but when she finally caught up with them, she saw that they both had their swords drawn. Shorlorn had chosen to use his two long swords, and Symphoney had ditched her sword for Shorlorn’s broad sword. Rora turned her head in the direction they were looking and saw Wolf had his sword at Talon’s throat. He also saw the girl at her trial lay dead on the ground. Had Talon killed her? She hoped not, that girl had kept her alive. “Nice of you to join us Rora,” Wolf said, “No, don’t move, or I’ll kill him.” He added when Rora took a step towards him. “The only thing keeping me from killing him now is them.” Rora looked to where Wolf pointed and saw Luke and Mark both aiming their weapons at him. There had to be some way to get us all out alive, Rora thought. She searched her mind, but came up with nothing. “What do you want?” Rora asked. “What do I want?” Wolf repeated the question, “Hmmm…. I want Talon dead.” Rora cringed, she had thought as much. Ok, so he want to kill him but he can’t, and the only way out of this is to give him what he wants or to kill him, and we can’t kill him or he’ll kill Talon. So, basically we can’t do anything, Rora concluded. But we have to do something! Rora looked at Talon with pleading eyes, but he just shook his head. He didn’t know what to do either. Rora felt a hand wrap around her neck and she screamed. She felt herself being dragged to the center of the square and Matthias plopped her down by Talon. “Maybe if we put our heads together we can think of a way out of this.” Talon whispered to her. Heads together, how stupid could I be Rora thought. The solution was simple, all she had to do was transport them all back to Trellion. How she could do that without alerting them she was doing so was also simple: a kiss. She leaned in and pressed her lips against Talon’s thinking the spell as she did so. Talon was surprised by the kiss, but even more surprised that when he pulled back he was in the castle, sitting before his father. “How-“Talon started. “I’ll explain later, right now I have to go save the others.” Rora muttered the spell again and transported back to Yedasriam. She opened her eyes to a battle. Wolf was battling both Shorlorn and Symphoney. How he managed to survive was beyond Rora’s mind’s capacity to think. Luke and Mark were trying to kill Matthias, but he kept transporting. Rora rand to Luke and Mark grabbing their hands and muttering the transporting spell. She felt a third presence as she transported this time- Matthias. She redirected her spell to where Shadow was, so he could deal with Matthias. She fell down as soon as she arrived in Shadow’s room, for she had been concentrating on the spell, not the landing. Matthias was right behind her smiling. She smiled back. “Tootle-loo!” Rora waved her fingers and transported back to Yedasraim. She was beginning to get tired; she was using a lot of magic to transport back and forth. Shorlorn and Symphoney were still fighting Wolf, and were beginning to get the upper hand in the fight. Rora walked up to them and observed the rhythm of the fight. When she got the hang of it she leaped in and grabbed onto both Shorlorn and Symphoney. She felt something cold and smooth in her leg, but she didn’t pay it any mind. She concentrated on transporting them back to Trellion. She gasped in pain when they arrived. Wolf’s sword was in her leg, and she had used all her magical energy on transporting. Talon ran to her. “Are you ok?” he asked. “I will be. We’re safe now, and there’s no way we’re losing this war.” She leaned in for a kiss. “Runaway with me?” Talon asked her quietly. “I wish I could, but you’re the future king of Trellion, and the war has only just begun.”