Missteps

Chapter 75 – Trouble in the Dark

The four members of M.A. had a pleasant enough chat with the teenaged Darnell for the better part of an hour. By the end, night had fully fallen over them.

Besides getting an overall idea of what kind of life Darnell had had in the valley, they also got the clear impression that the villagers and the Fair Folk did not get along.

It wasn't just the aforementioned fairies that posed a danger, but a variety of other creatures. From the lithe forms that inhabited ponds and trees, eager to kill or maim the unawares in their dens, to the tag team of the emerald basilisk and sky demon that Bymer had spoken to Ander of. Darnell made sure to point out that not all the creatures were on the 'Fanciful' side (the village's term for the Fair Folk). The surrounding woods held their own dangers with the usual fair of creatures; bears, wolves, and the like.

As the end of the hour drew near, the hair on the back of Lia's neck bristled. In her eyes, she could see the white strands of the ribbon begin to unravel as the charm spell neared its end. She was more than confident that he wouldn't take kindly to having been magicked by an elf.

"It's getting late," Lia announced as she stood up. She flicked her eyes towards Iados and motioned towards the teenager. "We should really get going if we hope to have an early start."

The akudaem tilted his head in confusion. "Why don't we just camp out here with Darnell?"

A hand clamped down on the former pirate's shoulder and squeezed. "Let's not crowd our new friend." Carric stood up, practically yanking the akudaem after them. The ranger turned his gaze towards Ander, but the wizard seemed to have gotten the message and was already stowing his journal away.

Lia stepped away from Darnell and towards her party members. "Thank you for the information, we'll stop by in the morning."

"Yeah," The teenager's eyes unfocused for a moment, as the final strand of the spell disappeared. He rubbed his forehead, before his body went rigid. When the hand fell away, the once sorrowful face was full of rage. "You." He spat out as he grabbed his knife and brandished it towards the elf.

Iados didn't hesitate. In two steps he'd closed the gap between him and Darnell, and with a practiced swing of his quarterstaff, knocked the blade out of the teenager's grasp. The former pirate leveled the staff at Darnell's throat.

The teen's eyes narrowed as he stared down Lia. "Should have known not to trust you, you're just like Jennavieve and those damn fairies. Using your words to twist us non-Fanciful all up so you can play with us like dolls!"

To Lia, his words hurt just as if he'd stabbed her with his blade. Shamefully, she tore away from his gaze and walked into the dark forest.

Carric came up next to Iados, and lowered his staff. "Go after her, we'll be right behind you." He whispered.

The former pirate glared once more at the teen, before he turned on his heel and bustled off silently into the dark woods.

Darnell sat down heavily back onto his log. He looked at the remaining duo with a scowl. "Why are you still here?"

Carric sat down next to the teenager. "Thought I'd give you a beat to calm down, before checking if you still want to come with us to the valley."

The teenager bit his lip and was silent for several minutes.

Across the small fire, Ander set his pack back down and settled on the log. "You know, she didn't use that spell out of malice."

Darnell rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and pigs fly across the sky backwards."

A look of confusion crossed the halfling's face, before he quickly banished the sudden mental image with a wave of his hand. "I'm serious, she more than anyone knows the harm that can come out of messing with someone's mind."

"Then why she'd do it?" The teen growled, with the anger of a lifetime behind it.

The ranger raised an eyebrow. "You were about to disembowel what's-his-name, so she stepped in and diffused the situation. Trust me, I've seen what she can do, and if she meant you real harm, we wouldn't still be talking."

Darnell sat up straight. "Is that supposed to make me trust her?"

The halfling laughed. "The way this conversation is going, I'm pretty sure it'd take some sort of divine intervention for that to happen." He hopped off the log and picked up his bag. "Listen, just take the night and consider her to be the lesser of the all the other 'Fanciful' evils waiting in that valley. You can either come with us in the morning, or find your own way and hope you stumble through that magical doorway."

"I'll swing by just after sunup and see what you've decided." Carric stated as he stood up.

Darnell didn't say anything as the two of them disappeared in the dark, he just picked up his blade, and went back to whittling.

In the woods, Lia pulled her cloak tighter against her as a cold wind blew through the night air. Whatever light the moon might have held was hidden behind the dark clouds as they moved swiftly across the air.

She knew she shouldn't have left the campsite alone, but with Darnell's words hanging around her neck like a collar all she'd wanted to do was run. In the moment that she'd cast the spell, she wasn't thinking about how he'd react to being magicked, all she thought about was how to make their life easier.

And it had been easier. He'd given them so much detail on the valley and its inhabitants, that she felt more confident in their endeavor. Of course, life was always easier when you took away someone's choice.

Unconsciously she reached up and lightly grazed the back of her neck, the area where she could now remember Himo pressing his ring time and time again. She was amazed that there wasn't a mark or a scar, at least on the surface.

A sudden rustle of leaves roused her out of her thoughts. She looked up, expecting to see the others, but instead was met with a familiar face in a grey cap.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Pinco smiled as he walked out of the shadows, a torch held aloft in his hand.

"That's alright," The elf said hesitantly. "I thought you'd gone back to the village?" The hair on the back of her neck bristled again, while her heart began to thump. Her body screamed at her that something wasn't right, and the sight of a sword at his waist confirmed it.

The man took another step closer. "I was, but then I figured why not make some money off you guys." He kept smiling. "My folk's old home is not far from here. They passed a while ago and the place is just sitting empty. For a few silver I'd be happy to let you and you friends sleep there tonight."

"That's gracious of you," Lia took a step back, and he took a step forward. She glanced out of the corner of her eye, willing the men to hurry up and get here. "Why don't you go wait there, and we'll be along shortly."

Pinco shook his head. "No, it can be hard to find in the dark, I'd better take you there myself." The man chucked the burning torch at Lia before he lunged forward and tried to grapple her.

The druid managed to dodge both him and the torch, but tripped over a rock in the process. With a curse she hit the ground, and before she could react Pinco was on her. He rolled her over onto her stomach.

"Now don't worry, we're not gonna hurt you." He whispered harshly in her ear as he wrenched her arms back and tied them together with a thin length of rope he pulled out of a belt pouch. He shoved her staff through a belt loop around his waist, pulled her pack onto his back, then tossed the elf over his shoulder, picked up his torch, and took off into the woods at a brisk pace.

In barely any time at all, the duo arrived outside a small thatch-roof farmhouse surrounded by a stone wall.

As they came up the lane, Lia struggled against her bindings. With her hands and arms bound, it would be difficult to perform any of the spells she'd prepared for the day. Of course most of the spells she'd prepared were designed to deal with difficult terrain, not people.

A sound reached her ears. When she looked back into the dark, in the black-and-white vision of the darkness her elf eyes afforded her, she saw a swiftly moving shape running towards them.

Invigorated by the thought of back-up, she twisted and kicked out with her legs. The sharp point of her knee made contact with Pinco's fleshy gut, and he dropped her in surprise.

"Why you-" The grey-capped man growled as he hugged his diaphragm. He reached for his sword.

"Stop!" A voice yelled from behind Pinco. When the kidnapper turned to see what the sound was, he was greeted by a boot to his face that knocked him back on his ass.

Blood ran down Pinco's face, and his nose was visibly dented. "You piece of sc-"

Iados didn't let him finish his thought as he whacked the side of his head sharply with his quarterstaff. The would-be kidnapper crumpled in a heap. The former pirate smiled down at his girlfriend. "Need some help?"

Screams of rage rang up from behind the stone wall, as suddenly three figures jumped over and rushed at them in the dark.

"Yes please!" Lia screamed as she tugged at her bindings. Iados knelt down and tried to help, but gave up as the frenzied trio drew closer.

"You've got magic, figure it out!" He shoved her to the side, and took up a defensive kneeling position with his staff.

Lia kept her thoughts to herself as she continued to struggle against her bonds. She watched as one of the figures, sickle in hand, peeled off from the other two and headed her way. With nothing else, she turned to her favorite plan.

A familiar tingle of magic spread out throughout her body, taking away any pain that such a transformation might bring to a normal person. Within just a few moments, the ropes snapped as the once lithe figure of an elf transformed into a large brown bear.

Not wasting any time, Bear-Lia growled and charged at her sickle-wielding foe.

Somehow in the dim light of the night, the man managed to dodge the large shape that barreled towards him. He got his bearings together swiftly, as he recovered and swung his sickle towards the bear.

Lia felt the blade cut into her leg as she tried to swipe it away. She wasn't prepared for the sudden pain in her side. With a growl she twisted to see who had attacked her.

It was a kid, probably only ten or eleven, and wielding a spear that he'd just jabbed into her side.

In that moment, rage boiled within her as she let the bear's instincts take over. She turned her gaze back to the man with the sickle, who showed no surprise at a child being present.

Back over with Iados, he was deeply regretting taking up a defensive position on the ground. Both of his attackers, adults and armed with longswords, had landed a hit on him. One of the swords had cut rather a deep gash in his arm with a two-handed strike.

"Why the hell are you doing this?" Iados said through gritted teeth as he gripped his staff tight and moved into a squatting position rather than kneel. Not bothering to wait for an answer, he forced the end of his staff straight into one of the attacker's midsection. He leapt towards the same assailant, forcing him backwards, and slammed his head into the ground. As he rolled to the side and back onto his feet, there was a burning sensation as the second assailant managed to slice into his back.

"Why don't you go ahead and give up?" The akudaem leveled his staff at the man, ready to continue the fight.

Bear-Lia roared, and they both turned their gazes to the scene. They watched as the large bear took two heavy swipes across the man's torso. With the amount of blood that pooled almost immediately around the prone body, Iados was pretty sure he was dead.

The kid, who he just noticed, let out a shrill squeak of fear as he dropped his spear, and the unmistakable smell of urine filled the air.

The former pirate reached out and poked the shocked assailant, and repeated the request.

The man immediately threw down his sword and got on his knees. "Please don't kill us!" His eyes filled with terror as he watched the bear transform into Lia. "It was all Pinco's idea! I swear!" He pointed to the grey-capped man just a few feet away who was beginning to stir.

Iados kicked the assailant near him who'd he bashed into the ground. Thankfully the man groaned. He'd have a wicked headache in the morning, but he'd be alive. His eyes darted over to the Lia, who was trying to tend to the terrified child. He watched as she surreptitiously cleaned the stains out of his pants as she spoke soothing words to him.

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The way the kid's eyes were glued to the bloody mess however, the former pirate highly doubted he was hearing anything she had to say.

The akudaem picked up the discarded longsword, and held it loosely in his hands as he knelt in front of the survivor. "What was the plan? Kill us?"

The survivor shook his head. "We were just going to rob you!" His eyes darted over to the child. "Please, don't hurt my son. The crops failed this year, and we were desperate, I swear."

Internally Iados breathed a sigh of relief that the kid hadn't watched a parent die. The former pirate stood up, and walked over to Lia's discarded pack (his was just a couple of feet away where he tossed it running into the area.) He reached into both packs and took out a few coins. Going back to the survivor, he pulled him to his feet, and forced the handful into his hand.

The survivor's eyes widened as he stared at the gold.

"This is only for the two of you, not these other bozo's." He jerked his head at the two unconscious men, before he gestured at the dead man. "Did he have a family?"

The survivor shook his head. "His folks died a few years ago, and he's not –wasn't- very popular in the village."

Iados nodded. He looked over and saw Lia giving up on any type of consolation with the kid. She took the boy and led him over towards the two of them. When the boy saw his father, the tears started fresh as he raced into his father's arms.

The akudaem scratched the back of his head. "The two of us are gonna head out now." He gestured with his head for Lia to pick up her pack. "How about we not tell anyone in the village about this? Alright?"

The survivor looked over at the corpse, and nodded. "Fadden messed with a bear, and lost." His voice was monotone as he kept to the story.

Iados didn't say anything more as he picked up his own pack and headed back into the forest with Lia. The man didn't say a word to them, not even when Iados doubled-back and took Pinco and the other's man swords.

The elf was more silent than Iados had been expecting as they retraced their steps back towards Darnell's camp.

"So, how much of this are we gonna tell the others?" The akudaem asked cautiously.

Lia stopped in her tracks. "Do we have to tell them?" She asked quietly.

He stopped. "I guess not." He pointed at the two swords on his waist. "We'll have to come up with a story for these." He grinned.

She didn't return it. With a large sigh, she walked over to a large stone and sat down heavily on it. She buried her face in her arms.

Iados scratched his head, unsure of what to do. This would usually be the point where he'd go get Elaine, and she'd have some heart-to-heart with the elf.

In her absence, he'd have to do his best. He set down his pack and weapons, and then sat on the ground in front of his girlfriend. "If you want to talk, I'm here." He announced.

She sniffled. "I don't want to talk about it."

The akudaem rolled his eyes. "I get that, but as your boyfriend I'm contractually obligated to make you feel better."

Hazel eyes peeked out from atop the crossed arms. "You know I hate it when you phrase it like that. Sounds like you're cheapening our relationship."

He grinned. "Doesn't make the sentiment any less true. Tell me, how can I make you feel better?"

The eyes disappeared again. "Unless you can go back in time, you can't."

"How far back we talking? An hour, two hours, a decade? There are a couple of powerful mages who owe me a favor." A pale hand reached out and tried to slap him. He caught it, and pulled her into his arms.

"I'm serious, I'd call in every favor I have to make you feel better." He whispered as he brought a hand to gently stroke her hair.

"Then you're part of the problem." Lia's voice was muffled as she buried her face in his chest. "How am I supposed to get stronger, if you and the others have to keep rescuing me?"

Iados's face twisted in confusion. "You're plenty strong already. So what if some guy got the jump on you? If I had a silver for every time I'd been caught with my pants down, I'd have enough to build a silver outhouse."

The druid lifted her face up. "I'm serious, how am I supposed to go up against Himo if I can't even save myself from a few bandits?"

"First of all, you don't go up against Himo alone." Iados said. "Why do you think a captain has a crew? Because there are some foes that are too big for a single person to take on alone. Even the worst bad guys in history have had help: minions, commanders, lieutenants. It doesn't matter how powerful a person is, there is always bound to be a situation that they can't tackle alone."

Lia leaned back onto her boyfriend. "What if I don't have a choice?"

The words caught in the akudaem's throat. He pulled her closer to him. "You're a part of my crew, and as long as I'm alive, you'll never have to."

"What if you're not alive?" The druid whispered.

"Then it'll be time for the rest of M.A. to step up." He kissed her forehead, and laid his head on hers.

Lia let the next question, who'd be there for her if all of M.A. wasn't around, die in her throat. She already knew the answer to that one. No one.

The two of them stayed sitting on the ground, curled up with each other. They were still like that when Ander and Carric came upon them nearly ten minutes later.

"Come on guys, it's not that cold." Ander cajoled as he watched the two of them disentangle themselves.

"It is when the two of you take your sweet time." Iados admonished as he wiped dirt off his pants.

Carric raised an eyebrow at the specks of blood on his attire, and the extra weapons. "You stay out of trouble?"

Lia plastered a smile on her face. "Yep, just waiting on you two. How was Darnell?"

"Still upset, but not murderous, I think." Ander yawned. "How about we find someplace to set up the tower and call it a night. Carric here made plans to check on Darnell at sunrise and see if he still wants to come to the valley."

Given the time, Carric didn't spend a whole lot of time looking for the perfect place to set up the tower. In fact, he called it as soon as found the first flat-ish clearing. It was a tight fit, and a few branches of nearby trees broke off when the tower came into existence, but it would work.

Ander heated up some leftover stew, and after a quick dinner they all retired to their rooms.

In the boy's room upstairs, Iados spilled the beans on what had really happened with the bandits.

Carric shook his head. "No wonder she seemed down." He turned his gaze to the shared wall with the girl's room. "Do you think she should sleep alone?"

The akudaem shrugged. "I was thinking of at least checking in on her. Honestly these beds aren't really big enough for two people."

Ander yawned and snuggled down under covers. "If you do go over, at least keep quiet so that we can get a good night's sleep. We're going to need all of our faculties if we end up having to mess with fairies tomorrow."

Iados rolled his eyes. "I'm sure a few fire spells up their butts would get the little buggers in line."

The halfling snorted. "If you want to piss them off and make your life hell, go for it. I won't stop you, just don't involve me."

"Oh, and what's your grand plan?" The former pirate snapped.

Ander held up two fingers. "Sugar water and honey. According to Shenir, fairies go crazy for the stuff."

Iados nodded. "Okay, and what about that emerald basilisk? Got a way to turn us back from a hunk of gemstone?"

"I'm still working on that." The halfling yawned again. "Let me sleep on it."

The former pirate didn't have a comeback for that. With a 'night' to Carric, the akudaem moved next door and snuggled up with his girlfriend.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast of porridge, the foursome headed out. First stop, Darnell's.

While the others waited a few yards out, hidden in the forest, Carric entered the camp alone.

The teen sat in front of the fire. He wasn't whittling this time, but he also didn't seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere.

The half-elf approached quietly and sat down across from Darnell. "You ready to go?"

Darnell shook his head. "There's nothing left for me there."

"What about your wife and kids?" Carric asked.

The teen shook his head. From beside him, he pulled out what he'd been whittling and handed it to Carric. It was a bird, very rough and basic-looking. On the bottom of it were four initials. "There are no bodies for me to bury. When we left, those who had decided to stay were making plans to burn the bodies of those who'd been ill." He sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve. "Honestly, I've just been so lonely here, so lost in what to do with my life, that when you gave me the opportunity to go back, I jumped on it."

"You still have that opportunity." The half-elf reminded him.

Darnell shook his head again as he finally looked up at the ranger. "I can't go backwards. I owe it to my girls to live the life they should have had. After all, living is the only thing we can do for the dead."

It was at the moment, that Carric saw the man in the boy. After all, it'd taken him the better part of ten years to realize that. He looked around the small campsite. Replace the leather and fabric tent with a ramshackle cabin, and he would be back in the woods himself.

"I understand." The half-elf held the hand-carved bird out to Darnell.

The teen smiled sadly, and pushed it back towards the ranger. "I want you to take it to the valley. If you can, I want you to put it on their grave, so that a part of me will be with them."

Carric nodded. He carefully stowed the bird in his pack, and stood up. "Piece of advice from someone who's been where you are, don't stay here. You'll never move forward by hiding out in the woods. You need to be around people, people who are living their lives, and who you can follow their lead. You need to learn how to live again."

Darnell nodded, and stood up. He held out a hand, and Carric shook it. It wasn't the limp handshake of a teen, but the firm shake of two men who'd been battered by life, but were determined to live nonetheless.

When Carric rejoined the group, all he said was that Darnell wasn't coming. He saw guilt flash in Lia's eyes, but didn't say anything more as he pulled out the compass and led the way.

The rest of the day was as non-eventful as one could expect. The needle bounced around a couple of times, but the course didn't change too much. Carric found a great spot to set up the tower for the night, and it passed quietly.

The trend continued the next morning and it took no time at all for them to be on the move.

It wasn't till about mid-morning that something changed. They'd been moving through a particularly thick part of the woods, with the branches so thick above them that the sunlight just barely filtered through.

Ander, who had his nose buried in his spellbook as part of his morning studies, ran into the back of Carric's legs. He fell back on his ass with an undignified oomph.

He scowled up at the ranger. "What the hell?"

Carric didn't answer, as his eyes seemed to be focused on something in front of him. Ander leaned over to see around him, but saw nothing except the forest floor and trees. He looked over his shoulder at the two behind him.

Lia's jaw was dropped and her eyes were wide. She took a few steps till she was right up with Carric. Iados looked just as confused as Ander was.

"You two want to let us in on it?" The former pirate asked as Ander scrambled to his feet and patted dirt off his spellbook.

Lia looked back over her shoulder at the two of them, confused. "Don't you see it?"

"See what? The woods? Yeah the trees are pretty, so what?" Ander grumbled as he shoved the book in his bag.

Lia and Carric shared a look of disbelief before they turned their gazes back to what it seemed only they could see.

Before them was a portal. Strands of yellow, green, and white in every hue imaginable swirled and pulsed. The portal itself was oval, standing at least ten feet tall and at least half that as wide. Vines and branches from the nearby trees and erupting out of the ground encircled the mass of light and seemed to anchor it in place.

Carric stepped to the side and held out the compass for Iados and Ander to see. The needle pointed straight at the portal. "We found the entrance."

Ander's eyes widened, both in surprise and a little disbelief.

Iados wasn't convinced. He leaned on his staff as he looked at the nothingness that held his girlfriend's attention. "You sure?"

The ranger smirked. He closed the compass and lightly tossed it to the former pirate who caught it easily enough. "Let's find out." Without another word, he stepped through the portal.

The akudaem's jaw dropped as the red-haired half-elf suddenly disappeared. Lia was the next on through, followed swiftly by Ander. The words 'time shenanigans' suddenly flashed through the former pirates mind, and he quickly ran through the same spot the others had.

As he crossed the threshold of the portal on the other side, he became aware of two things pretty quickly. The first, he was no longer under a thick canopy. The second, he was on the side of a very steep hill.

With nothing to stop him or hold onto, the akudaem fell down the embankment ass over teakettles. He felt a new bruise form every time his body came in contact with the ground. Iados tried desperately to control his descent, raking his brain for all the training the monks had given him. Eventually he managed to angle his limbs in such a way that he slowed his fall and slid the rest of the way down more gracefully.

He was met at the bottom by his teammates, who all looked just as mussed and unamused as he was.

"About time you got here." Ander helped the akudaem to his feet. He had the beginning of a bruise on his temple. "You hurt?"

Iados shook his head. He winced slightly as he felt his elbow pop, but he'd been in worse scrapes than this. Thankfully his bruises wouldn't be quite as obvious as everyone else's. He turned his attention over to Lia and Carric.

Lia seemed to be alright, a few leaves in her air, and maybe she seemed to favor her left foot a bit more than her right, but nothing immediately serious.

Carric however, was a different story. His right shoulder was obviously out of alignment, and the pain was as clear as day over his face.

The akudaem rushed over and gently took the limb in his hands. "Dislocated?"

The ranger nodded. "Figured you'd be best to help put it right."

"Sure, though to be honest I've been the patient more times than actually being the one to pop it back in." Iados admitted as he guided Carric over to a large boulder a few feet back from the end of the embankment. He motioned for Lia to take up position behind the ranger.

Once Carric was seated and his shirt was carefully removed from the shoulder, the akudaem lightly ran his hands over the injury. He knew how the shoulder was supposed to work, part of his training with the monks and with the pirates was how best to disable the joints.

He matched eyes with Lia. "You got a healing spell ready?"

She nodded.

"Good, because this is gonna hurt." Iados grimaced as he got a good handhold on Carric's arm. He hoped to hell he didn't mess this up, after all you never heard any good stories about one-armed archers. "On the count of three."

"Don't bother counting, just do it." Carric ordered through gritted teeth. He was already doing all he could not to tense up.

Without further ado, Iados pulled the limb.

Immediately he knew he'd messed up as the ranger's face went as white as the stripe in his hair and he yelled bloody murder.

As if that wasn't enough, a split second after a small figure raced out of the bushes and positioned itself between Iados and Carric.

"Are you trying to kill him?" The shrill voice of the small naked woman with blue wings yelled at the former pirate. She put two fingers in her mouth and let out a whistle so sharp that Iados winced.

Neither he nor any of the others had any time to react before a whole gaggle of small, winged, naked people zoomed out of the foliage and descended upon Carric.

Iados backed up. Next to him was Ander, looking at the scene slack-jawed.

In a flurry of wings, high-pitched voices, and some sort of twinkling dust, the fairies encircled both Carric and Lia. Within ten minutes, the ranger's shoulder was back in position, and a vine leaf sling held the arm immobile.

Even Lia's injured ankle had been wrapped up after the small bodies had applied some sort of salve to it. In fact, both of their bruises had been lightly swabbed with a salve.

"There, that's better." The main fairy announced as she secured the knot to Carric's sling.

"Thank you," Carric's eyes were as wide as dinner plates as they kept darting from one small creature to the next. After what Darnell had said about them, he'd been expecting a different kind of welcome.

The little fairy smiled. "You're welcome." She turned her gaze back over to Iados, and the smile disappeared. With supernatural speed she raced over the akudaem, landed on his head, took two large handfuls of hair, and pulled with all her might.

"Ow! What the hell?" Iados reached up and tried to swat her away, but she easily dodged the attacks, still with his hair in her hands.

"This is what you get for hurting a member of the Fair Folk!" The little voice screamed out. She yelped as suddenly the hair in her hands came out of the akudaem's head. She flipped a few times in the air before she got her bearings.

"I think he's learned his lesson." Lia intervened as the little fairy went in for a second attack.

The fairy nodded in victory, then flew back over to Lia, her small face full of concern. "You shouldn't be here, it's not safe."

"Why not?" The elf asked. She noticed that while a majority of the fairies had gone back into the foliage after they'd been treated, Carric still had one hovering in the air next to him.

A loud screech filled the air.

Fear filled both the fairies faces. The one near Carric immediately began to pull on his collar, trying to drag him back into the woods.

The female fairy in front of Lia turned her attention up to the sky, as small globules of light formed in the palms of her hands. "You need to run, now! Don't let the shadows take you!" She yelled before she flew higher up in the air.

Iados grabbed Lia's hand. "You heard the naked lady, run!" He pulled her after Carric into the woods, Ander on his heels, following the fairies.