----Huge chapter for you. More backstory. Several introductions. Foreshadowing all over the place. I wrote all night. Let me know if I messed anything up, it was late. Octopi have minor brains in each of their limbs responsible for controlling motion, and I decided that a sufficiently intelligent one would have a very easy time learning to draw and write because of it. Clever people will now have enough information to deduce Fork's origin. I need a nap. See you later, folks.----

I woke up far too early, curled around and annoyed. I heard the loud speech of Lorence, and following, the speech of another. I woke up instantly, rousing to full wakefulness. Excitement poured through me like adrenaline. Sir Robert was awake. Lorence and I had talked about what the Sir was supposed to mean, he was an important person, but Lorence had been unable to explain what it meant to a creature with my poor vocabulary. I was learning as fast as I could manage, using all of my arm brains as well as my main brain to memorize written words more quickly. I wrote them again with each arm until each one knew and could reproduce a word at a thought, independent of my main consciousness. All of my brains strained slightly at my determined pace, but I was learning the written tongue of the humans quickly, and soon I would be proficient. Their spoken language would take longer though.

That's why when I heard Lorence shouting, something I had never heard him do before, I became worried. There had been shouting when the humans fought before. What if the humans killed each other? I liked Lorence. I wanted him to stay, so I could learn more from him. I liked our talks. They made me feel alive in a way I had never felt before. Lorence did not need to fear though, I would defend him in repayment for his tutelage.

----Lorence----

Following Robert's outburst, he made another, louder this time. "That is your precious friend! Are you crazy? The knock to your head must have rattled something free!" Robert yelled at me, sitting up and waving his arms. "We need to take you to get your head examined at the local mages guild! The damage was obviously far more severe than you realize!" He shouted, reaching up toward me, to do what, I knew not.

Suddenly, Fork had crossed the room in a single swift motion, using all eight of his arms and a jet of water from each siphon for propulsion. He wrapped Sir Robert in his 8 great arms and knocked him back into the bed of furs, pinning his arms to his sides, and choking off Robert's scream with an obviously massive pressure. I ran up and shouted at him to stop, but he looked at me with an obvious nervous pallor to his skin. He was attempting to blend in with the cave subconsciously, wanting to hide. Wanting to hide from me. I didn't know what was wrong, but I ran and grabbed the charcoaled sticks from where I had left them, and wrote "Stop" on the cave floor. We needed to talk.

----Fork----

Lorence wanted me to let Robert go, but I refused. I did not want Robert to hurt Lorence, but Lorence had shouted at me now. Were we about to fight too? Lorence could kill me. He had demonstrated great strength on many occasions. But why would Lorence kill me. I didn't want to fight. But I didn't want Lorence to die. I held on fiercely, unwilling to let go. Lorence continued to write things. "Why not stop?" He wrote. "You are killed" I wrote in reply. "Why?" He wrote again. "Robert kill you." I wrote. "Robert will not kill me. Stop." He wrote. Had I misunderstood something? There had obviously been violence in the making. I loosened my grip to be sure, and Robert began shouting again. I tightened my grip again, silencing him. "He is roaring" I wrote. I was proud of that word. I had learned it yesterday with Lorence, fascinated that they had names for the sounds creatures made. "He is fight you" I wrote. Lorence looked odd, unable to decide what to write next. Finally he wrote "We were fighting with words. There will be no blood. We were fighting about Fork. He did not want to see Fork because he was afraid of Fork. He was afraid Fork would hurt him."

I instantly felt ashamed. Lorence was fighting for me, and I had proved him wrong by intervening. I had become the scary creature Robert had believed I was, and I had proven Lorence wrong in a single motion. I wanted to run and hide. I had never felt like this before. I picked up my stick, and wrote the words "I am sorry" and leapt into the water, leaving the both of them alone in my home. I had learned those words two days ago, along with other phrases for interacting with people. Lorence had taught me those words, unaware I would dissapoint him so soon. I could think of nothing but fleeing, unsure where to go or what to do, my arms coiling and uncoiling as they misinterpreted the signals from my roiling mind.

----Lorence----

Smoothing over the situation with Robert was proving difficult. The longer we talked, the more adamant he became. "I don't care how intelligent it is, or even what its intentions were. If it tries to kill someone every time we have a misunderstanding, I don't want it around! You say we are staying in its house. Fine. Let us simply leave. I know you can support me with that earth magic of yours. Retrieve my underclothes and armor from the ceiling, and we will be out of here in an eyeblink. Why the hell is my armor hanging from the ceiling anyway?

I sighed. There would be no budging him. I didn't really want to leave, though. Not yet. "I honestly have no idea why your armor is hanging from the ceiling. I haven't asked. If you insist, I can move you into the main cavern if you are uncomfortable, but I don't want to leave just yet."

"Fine." Spat Robert. "Continue your dalliance with this creature. I will be leaving as soon as I recover and resuming my duties. I will make sure to report the diligence you've showed towards fulfilling yours."

"Robert," I said, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Don't try to deny it! You've been captivated and denying your duty. This is just like that time you shined on that Ukoshi girl. You milked her for every drop of information you could get, and she milked you dry in return. Do you remember that? You had to flee the capital! It was a huge mistake, and I told you so several times, but you still had to go off with that blue skinned wench and look what she did for you. Wanted for theft. Penniless. Running from the guards. It took me two months to get those charges cleared for you, and you said you'd pay me back. You said we could travel together, and you'd help me with my duties to the crown. Honestly, I'm beginning to think I should leave you behind!"

"Are you done?" I said.

"I think I've said everything that needs saying." Robert replied. "You'll either come to your senses or I'll go hire some other mage who actually does what they promise."

I felt stung. I didn't want to admit it, but Robert had a point. I was neglecting my duty. I had made him a promise. I had caused all of this by fighting within earshot of Fork, forgetting his relative ignorance. Fork hadn't come back yet either. He was obviously upset. I just hoped I could work things out somehow.

Despite working so hard in school, unlocking the secrets of magic, and promising myself I would never be weak again, once more I felt powerless. I bottled up that feeling within me, making a decision.  I turned to Robert, speaking softly. "Let's get you moved at least. You aren't strong enough to leave just yet." With that, I began to climb, aiming to collect his armor and weapons.

----????----

Four men met in a rickety wooden shack, their faces hidden behind wooden masks. Each was cloaked from head to foot in an intense shimmering green.

Each mask was different, extremely well crafted, and slightly disturbing. The first wore a mask that transformed his visage to a leering skull. The second wore a mask of a smiling pudgy man, the smile far too wide for a human mouth, blocky wooden teeth peering through. The third wore a mask depicting the face of a demon, great curling rams horns and a fanged mouth bearing a perpetual frown accompanying an exaggerated set of wooden features, the eyes bulging, the nose far too long. The fourth wore a completely expressionless androgynous mask with a sagging open mouth and tiny eyeholes.

The skull faced man spoke first. "The Emperor's agents escaped. The warbear may have killed two, but the female mage is on the loose, killing our soldiers."

The man wearing the visage of a demon quickly responded, his voice high and nasal. "The warbear is dead. I spent over a month making that thing. Perhaps you should let me give the next intelligence, instead of relying on a fallible guide."

"I actually agree, loath as I am to say it" spoke the fat man.

"Very well" said the skull. "Don't let it escape from your control. We can't have evidence getting free. You remember what happened last time. This time, don't fail."

"Of course." said the demon. "I have been working on improvements, and I believe I have a solution."

"Good" said the skull. "What of your men?"

The fat man replied. "They are growing restive. It is growing harder to control their minds as their fear rises, but the fire witch is at least thinning their numbers fast enough to allow me to keep control. A single rose in a field of thorns. I've lost three hundred of my original thousand. We've recovered most of their weapons, and I still have quite a few out capturing new volunteers." He finished the sentence with a sneer in his voice, emphasizing volunteers.

"Excellent." Said the skull. "How is our subject?"

This last was addressed towards the man with a blank mask, but he let the silence drag on before speaking. "He is not taking well to the changes, but I continue to work. Eventually we will have complete control, but this is very delicate work. It may be a while yet before I finish the job, but I will finish the job. I will finish the job. I will finish the job." His voice came out muffled, as if he were talking into a wad of cloth. As he repeated himself at the end, the others twitched nervously, the only outward sign of their discomfort. The blank man continued to whisper, but too softly for the others to hear.

"Well" said the skull. "I have been unable to get an exact fix on the sword. The stupid dwarf must have dropped it underground somewhere. I've got a beacon set up to alert me if it becomes visible, however. We need to clean up all the evidence, just in case, and enchanting another weapon like that would set us back too far."

The skull paused, holding still for a moment, and then spoke again, a smile in his voice.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Speak of the devil, and he doth appear"

----Fork----

My feelings roiled. I realized I was aimlessly wandering. I decided that I needed to do something to alleviate this pressure within me. I entered my temporary treasure room from the water entrance. I gathered up the sword I had stashed there, and made a decision. It was night, and I was going outside. I was leaving the lake and I was going to see the outside. Lorence had been outside all of his life, and he still lived. I would live as well. I had a sword and I was armored. There was nothing I couldn't face except perhaps Lorence's disapproval. With my decision made, I left my room full of treasures, ready to see the outside world.

----Sir Robert----

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We had to report these terrible events to my superiors. There was no way this series of events was a coincidence. We had been anticipated and prepared for, and only those who sent us knew why, and had the capacity to help. They kept me in the dark on the exact details, but I was here investigating an attack on a personal transport from the capital. The fact that we were intercepted immediately meant several things.

First, this issue was definitely not a small, isolated problem. Second, there was a leak somewhere in the chain of command. Finally, it meant we were in deep trouble. Any force that could muster so many men and cause concern for the Crown was deeply serious. This wasn't a pack of bandits. These men were all equipped with the same weapons, each a copy of the last. They hadn't made a single sound, even when they died. They had had a warbear. That meant they had a powerful mage with talents in fleshsculpting, one of the forbidden arts. It was only due to Aelina's powerful magic that we had lived at all. And apparently that damned octopus.

What the hell was wrong with Lorence? He had talent, that was sure. His priorities were definitely not in order however. I had agreed to let him accompany me to pay back his debt, but if I had known he would be such a hindrance, I'd have just let him wander off somewhere, chasing after interesting butterflies or whatever, and hired a combat mage. There was nothing particularily wrong with him, but he just didn't have the right mindset to be a warrior.

This octopus actually unnerved me. Not only had it attacked me for reasons of its own, it had felt sorry about it afterwards. After Lorence had moved me and my gear to the main cave, I had had a while to think things through. It didn't help that all of the walls, and even the floor were practically covered in writing. Lorence had written all of this with the octopus.

He had managed to teach the thing enough of our language in a week that they could talk with each other. From where I was sitting, I could read jumbled conversations about trees, about cities, about animals, and there were expertly drawn pictures everywhere. Lorence hadn't drawn those, he was a terrible artist. There had been paintings all over the walls in the cave, too, but I had been too addled to understand the implications. Lorence was right, this would be important if not for the situation brewing outside.

I promised myself to apologize to the damn octopus, or thank it, or whatever Lorence wanted, and to convince Lorence to come back after we got this situation resolved. I chewed on a smoked fish, shuddering slightly as I remembered its crushing grip, stretching to rebuild my stamina and exercising intermittently to bring myself back into fighting condition.

----Fork----

I struck the fallen tree with the sword. The sword cut easily through the wood, burying itself halfway through the trunk. This sword passed through solid things as if they were the innards of a clam. I had split a rock in two with it several minutes ago, after some fumbling as I figured out how to use it. Now I was simply wandering outside, chopping things aimlessly. I was getting a feel for this terrible engine of destruction.

I wandered, aimlessly cleaving things for almost an hour before humans showed up. These humans made no sound, but they brought dim blue lights, worn around their necks. They all held black and shiny devices in their hands and lifted them towards me in unison. Frightened, I hid behind the tree I had just been chopping moments before. I heard a loud twang and a hail of objects thudded into the tree and whistled past me. I grasped the end of one where it buried itself in the ground next to me, and pulled it free, finding it tipped with sharp metal edges like those of a sword in miniature.

These humans were not friendly. They were trying to kill me with their terrifying human weapons. I was not in the mood to lay down and perish. I quickly matched my texture and color to that of the trees bark, and rapidly climbed into the branches, sword in tow. I squeezed out of helmet in a fork in the branches and left it there, aiming for camoflage over armor. Even Sir Robert's fancy metal armor hadn't protected him, so my helmet was likely useless. Humans couldn't see well in the dark, however, and I could simply move around until they left.

----Lorence----

Fork still wasn't back. Most of the night was gone, and I was starting to worry. I paced, unsure of what to do, unsure what to say. My nerves were killing me.

----Fork----

The humans did not leave as I had thought. They followed me with a preternatural ability to find my location. I fled quickly from tree to tree and hid perfectly whenever they found me, but I never had more than a few minutes rest before they found me once more. They used their human weapons in my direction several times, but they needed to lift and point them at me first, which gave me plenty of warning to flee or hide.

I began to think I couldn't escape them, and I started planning how to kill them. There were three times as many as I had limbs, but they would likely flee after I killed a few. Lorence's words came back waited. "Humans do not eat intelligent beings." I wondered if killing them was just as bad. Lorence would never have to know. I envisioned seeing his disappointed reaction again, and knew I needed to be careful here.

I fled from tree to tree, just out of range of my pursuers, breaking up the main group and making noise to make sure they knew where I was. I then quietly looped around behind the group, lopping off several tree branches with the sword to confuse those following, and dropped from the trees above two stragglers, lopping one in half with the sword and landing on the other, crushing his head with my arms. My pursuit quickly found me again, and I raced away, looking for opportunities.

----Aelina----

I had been watching the headquarters of these mindless drones, waiting for an opportunity. I didn't yet know where the mindmage responsible for this was, but it was obvious these people had been wiped, their entire minds and personalities wiped and replaced with whatever pleased the mage. This was why we executed those who dabbled in these arts. Whoever was behind this had some skill in fleshsculpting also, since they had made a warbear. I was going to burn them alive when I caught them. I was going to burn them slow.

My anger stirred something within me. The fire bubbled in my mind, eager to escape. It didn't care why I had let it free, it only knew that I had, and that it wanted to burn. I had let it loose last week, and it had killed many with my assistance and direction. I had been killing these drones for a week now, hoping to provoke the mage into making an appearance. I had still seen nothing, so I simply watched and waited. My new strategy was to interrupt their lines of supply, and locate where the others were hiding. I knew there were others, reinforcements came occaisionally.

Whenever a group left the encampment, I tagged them all with stealthed beacons, keeping track of their whereabouts. Then I killed them when they returned and burned whatever they brought with them. Sometimes it was weapons, sometimes it was foodstuffs, and sometimes it was reinforcements. I had marked down seven places outside of this camp that had been visited now, and I was almost prepared to go visit all of them and find out which was the one where I could find the mindmage.

Suddenly, a group of drones stiffened, receiving some internal command. They headed out of the camp, arming themselves and falling into formation. I tagged them lazily as they passed, oblivious to my presence. I returned my gaze to the camp, watchful and ready.

----Fork----

Killing the humans did nothing. They did not speak and they did not waver. I used the same bait and ambush strategy again and again, but they did not learn. I was confused, but relieved. These things were not intelligent after all. Lorence wouldn't be disappointed. I had killed almost half of them when Aelina arrived.

----Aelina----

One by one, the beacons I had placed on the drones had faded and dissapeared. Either the mage was busy cleaning them off, or the soldiers were dying. I hesitated, suddenly recognizing the area the soldiers were in. It was near the cave where I had left my two companions. Hope suddenly surged within me. I gathered the winds about me and leapt into the sky, rushing towards the scene.

I arrived to see little more than half the drones still living. They were chasing something in the trees. I came closer, hardening the air into a shroud that bent light around me as I landed. I approached, creating a thin vacuum layer around my position to quiet the sounds of my movement. From time to time I paused, breaking the vacuum and refreshing my air supply. I walked close to the drones, desperate to find what they were seeking. Suddenly, a strange form dropped from the top of one of the trees, stabbing one of the drones with a sword. A sword with a familiar enchantment. That was the sword the rider had borne on the warbear. My emotions overwhelmed me. Frustration, anger, loss, confusion, disappointment and some I could not even name. I lost control, and in that moment, the fire inside me whispered 4 sweet words to me, and I grasped them, taking hold with a new zeal. I somehow knew that these words could make it all better. These words would make me whole. "Burn it all, Aelina." The fire whispered, and I did.

----Fork----

I fled through the trees as fast as I could manage. Aelina had returned and was burning everything. She threw fire in my direction a few times, but she was not really aiming at me. She seemed to be destroying everything indiscriminately. I detoured slightly and grabbed my hat before fleeing back into the safety of the cool water, lit by the dancing flames behind me.