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Chapter Four: The Shadow

"Oh my sweet child," said the woman, as she pulled Land along with her through the forest, "I know you don't like it but one day you will have to come to terms with your role in the plan."

Land shook his head, "I'd really rather not Mother, grand schemes and politics are so boring, social upheaval makes stealing too easy. I prefer a good challenge with my games."

"But don't you see, Land my dear, this would be the ultimate crime, undermining the royalty of Rondar has taken centuries since our last failure, and only with you can we accomplish our goal, you are the piece in the game we've been playing that will finally bring down the Rondar line," Land's mother replied, "Can't you appreciate that this is the crime that makes me happy?"

"Mother, you had your fun years ago, you played your part, I have no intention of being a tool to some overlord just so he can watch the world burn. Just let me live my life," Land said, pulling away from his mother.

Suddenly the forest around them burst into flames, the woman's face going from serene to frightful as a booming voice spoke, "Quiet Sheska, the whelp will not listen to you, but perhaps he will listen to me. Land, if you choose to forsake your part in the plan, then your life will be forfeit, don't forget, that though I may not be able to physically manipulate the realm of men, I can enter the dreams of you and any other. I will haunt you in sleep and send my followers after you, and when your soul crosses into my abyss, there will be no palace awaiting you, only the pit of torment!"

Land sat up in his bed all of a sudden, sweating heavily from his nightmare. Looking around to find himself back in the dingy room he had fallen asleep in. A motion next to him reminded Land that he wasn't alone, but he ignored the girl. It was time to go.

Pushing the thoughts of his dream from his mind, Land rolled off of the bed, the exhausted barmaid reaching after him lazily, but was too tired to take any other action. Land had approached the girl five hours earlier, and after a few smooth words had gotten her up to the room, Land had no doubt that it was an experience she would remember for the rest of her life. But Land was finished, he would forget her like all of the others, it was time to move on. The man stood up from the floor, managing to walk steadily as he pulled up his pants and pulled a shirt over his head, grabbing his coat and his pack and leaving the room and the worn out girl without a second thought.

"What took you so long up there?" asked a man as Land walked down from the stairs and into the inn's bar.

"She had a bit more stamina than the others, or I'm just losing my touch in my age," Land replied, otherwise appearing to ignore the man as he walked by, there was no need for him to talk about the dream.

The man laughed, "I thought your power was only supposed to increase with age, or is your human side beginning to manifest itself more?"

"Quiet Hood, we don't talk about that unless someone sees the horns and then only long enough to shut them up," Land said, continuing past Hood and to the door.

Hood slid off of his bar stool and ran after Land, "Yeah, yeah, I know, now let's get down to business. You know how Rhedo keeps on refusing to pay us back for that job we did him in Gilad with the naga?"

"Yeah, has he finally wised up and deigned to pay us?" Land asked.

"Actually, no. He's refused us outright and threatened us with death if we approach him again about the issue. So, what do you say we do, boss?"

Land stopped and turned to his henchman, "We give the snake his weapons back, what else?"

Hood laughed, "Good one sir, but seriously, what are we going to do?"

"I just told you," Land replied.

"You were being serious?"

"Deadly."

"Well, okay, I can't say I don't admire the artistry behind it but there are just a few little problems with that plan," Hood replied, "One, we don't even have the weapons, we gave them to Rhedo. Two, even if we had the weapons, we don't know where Rhedo is keeping the snake. Three, what's to stop the snake from killing us as soon as we give him his weapons back?"

Land smiled and continued walking, "Hood my accomplice, there's a good reason why I'm the one who does the thinking for us and you just run around as my errand boy, or man if you prefer. You see, I follow the golden rule of thievery: never trust anyone. I tailed Rhedo when he hid the weapons, and I put them in my own hiding place, so I do have the weapons. As for the location of the snake, Rhedo is a gladiator manager, so he's probably been putting him through the arenas, and where else do you go for gladiator fights during Liberation Week than Gilad? And last, if we give the weapons to the snake while Rhedo is in sight then the bastard won't care about killing us. Now, any other questions?"

Chapter Five: True Colors

Joie awoke to the sound of Lyle's voice taunting her. She couldn't make out what he ws saying, bur she knew it was him, and she knew it was condescending. She opened her eyes, and the scene before her was quite confusing.

Joie was looking up from the floor of a barn, above her she could see Lyle, a blonde headed girl at his arm she knew as Lani, as well as Beo, a dark skinned boy who was twice Lyle's size and weight, and Theld, one of the local stable boys. By the expression on their faces, Joie could tell that Beo, Lani and Lyle were laughing at her, Theld was looking down at her with a look of fear in his eyes, Beo had probably bullied him into whatever was going on. When she tried to move, Joie found that her hands and feet had been bound together.

"Ooh kitty kitty, how do you feel now that you're all bound and helpless?" Lani said, kicking Joie in the ribs, "Did you really think Lyle liked you? We were just trying to get you to come to the village during the festival. Only way we could get rid of a freak like you without the whole village noticing."

"You bastards, what the hell is-," Joie was interrupted as Beo knelt down beside her and held his hand over her mouth and a knife to her throat.

"Shut up cat-bitch, or I cut you slowly from your stomach to your neck," He said, Joie noticing that Theld's eyes widened as Beo spoke.

"Umm guys, you said you were just pulling a prank on her to get her to talk about the wizard. I didn't agree to let you do this." Theld said, grabbing Beo's shoulder.

Lani looked over to the boy and pulled his hand off of Beo before the larger teen responded, "Theld, we told you we would be getting rid of the freak, don't forget the reward you get if you keep quiet honey," She said, holding his hand to her chest and pulling him out of Joie's view.

Beo smiled as he watched Lani pull the boy away, then looked over to Lyle, "So what do you wanna do before we gut this freak?"

Lyle smiled to his friend, "I think we should have some fun, it isn't every day you get to nail a cat-girl," he said, Joie losing sight of Lyle as she was turned over. Above her she could hear Lyle unbuckle his belt, and she responded by trying to break out of her bonds.

The next thing she knew she felt a blow against the back of her head, and while she was dazed she felt her clothes tear away from her body, two hands spread her legs and a mouth against her ear, "Just because you're a freak doesn't mean you're useless."

Then out of nowhere a fifth voice spoke up, "You know, I really worked hard on making that robe for her." Joie's eyes widened as she recognized the voice, it was her master.

"Who the hell are you?" Joie heard Lyle yell as stood up from above her and turned to the new voice.

Joie saw a flash of red light and heard the muffled sounds of Lyle choking, then her master spoke again, "Please be quiet while I'm here educating you. Now as I was saying, I worked very hard making that set of robes for Joie for her date with you tonight Lyle, to tell you the truth, I put a lot of myself into it, not out of some craftsman's love of the art, but because she's been practically giddy since you offered to escort her last week and I wanted her to look nice on this night. Now imagine how I feel seeing my work torn apart and my apprentice on the floor about to be violated by a gutless pretty boy who I've only let live out of sheer apathy. I know you make a hobby raping the girls of this village, and that your father had the same hobby, and his before him, and I'm not disgusted, just surprised that you would have the sheer idiocy to attempt the same on my apprentice." Her master's voice had remained calm throughout his speech and Joie could see that the red glow had turned to one of green. Joie heard a slicing sound and then the ropes around her hands and feet fell away.

She immediately jumped up from the floor, getting a sight of Lyle and Beo cowering against the floor as a dark cloaked figure held a glowing green hand toward them. Joie ran to her master, hugging him as tears dropped from her eyes, "Thank you so much, sir, I thought-."

"Quiet Joie, I know you have a lot of gratitude right now, but I think you should stop getting my robes wet and just go back to the tower right now while I deal with these worms," He said, pushing her away from him. Joie seemed to hesitate for a bit, sniffing at his coldness, "Now Joie, go to the tower, avoid the village."

Joie nodded and bowed, "Yes master," She said, taking off into the woods, trying to hold back the torrent of tears.