----Next chapter will be in a few days, gotta go make some money and get some sleep. :)----

----Fork----

A voice screamed, and my awareness returned slightly. "That goat sucking Mage! I can't believe I'm trapped again! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!"

I stirred further, annoyed. I thought at the disturbance as hard as possible. "Be silent!" The voice quieted, but I could feel its attention on me somehow. It was like an itch and with it watching me, I couldn't drift back to full rest. Rest. Why was I sleeping? I shouldn't be asleep. I needed to be awake. The haze lifted from me, and I thought again, addressing the itchy presence. "Who are you? What are you doing in my mind?"

"I am the fiery serpent who struck you down. I am one of the greatest creatures on this world. I am an eternal spirit of flame! I have destroyed hundreds of thousands of your kind, Mage, and in my infinite life, I will eventually destroy you all with the help of my brethren. I will destroy you for imprisoning me again! I will eat away your mind from the inside out!"

I analyzed the fire serpent's words for a time before I spoke. Finally, I decided what to say. "I didn't put you here. Can you just go away. You're really annoying."

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. "Can I just go away! No I cannot just go away! I am imprisoned here until you let me out!" The serpent paused its yelling. It spoke again in a more normal voice. "Did you say you didn't put me here?"

"Yes. I didn't put you here. If you can't go away, can you stop yelling instead? Also, could you consider not eating my mind from the inside out? I'm using it at the moment."

"If you aren't the mage, who are you?" The spirit spoke in a whisper now. I felt fear emanating from it. "There were only two humans there, and I knew one. If you aren't the other, how did I get here? What do you want with me?"

"I'm Fork, and I want you to continue to be quiet. That is all I want from you. I don't really want you here, but I have no idea how to get rid of you. I'm going to try to wake up soon. As long as we're stuck together, what's your name?"

A long pause followed. Finally, an answer came, quiet like I had asked. "I am Ashak. No host has ever asked me my name, you know. I'm usually not this aware when I am imprisoned. I've never had a conversation quite like this."

I decided to try on one of my new human phrases. "It's nice to meet you Ashak. I'm waking up now. Will you still be around when I wake?"

"I don't know" said Ashak. "Will you really let me go? I don't want to be trapped again."

"I don't even know how you got here, so I can't promise anything, but I'll try, Ashak. Could you not to eat my mind and destroy my race or whatever? That would be nice."

"I will destroy all humans." Hissed Ashak

"I'm not a human." I replied.

"You're not? Well, that's odd. What are you?"

"I am an octopus." I said, proud of my new vocabulary.

Ashak began to laugh, and he didn't stop for a long time. Irritated, I decided to wake up without his answer.

----Sir Robert----

I spoke with Lorence, and told him what the Fork had written. I actually found myself allied in purpose with an octopus against Lorence and his harebrained impatience. It didn't surprise me one bit when Lorence ran off again as I was finishing my explanation. What did surprise me was the octopus, laying that sword at my feet and taking off after him. Perhaps I gave it too much credit. Maybe I needed to teach it good sense before it was too late.

I was almost completely winded, and rattled from my octopus ride. There was no way I could catch up to them, so I sat down to wait. I picked up the sword that had injured me and examined it in the flickering firelight. Dawn was breaking in the distance, but the blaze was far brighter at the moment. The sword didn't look ordinary. It was plain and unadorned and unusually thin, the guard and hilt all made from the same metal as the blade, no leather wrappings, but as I shifted it in the light, I could see tiny patterns in the blade where metal had been chiseled out then recast in very particular patterns. I saw absolutely no damage to the edge, and when I struck a tree with it, it cut extremely smoothly, and was unmarred when I removed it.

A chill settled in my bones. This blade was enchanted. It had an earth spirit inside, eternally bound to reinforce and strengthen the blade to protect from wear and damage. When someone made one of these, they took the hardest steel they could find and gave it a razor edge, and it was permanent until you melted the sword and freed the element. Whoever had made it had also sent that bear after us. Whoever made it could probably track the blade. I buried the thing as deep as I could make it, and built a pile of rocks over the top, and began to consider where to hide. Just then, the flames in the trees all around began to dim. I watched as they dwindled, then extinguished themselves. I decided to meet up with the others, and began to head into the now silent forest, smoke swirling around me as I passed the ruined trees.

----Fork----

Ashak did not stop laughing when I was aware. It seemed I could still hear him when I was awake. My skin was dry and cracked, and I was very, very dirty. My gills were dry and burned with every inhalation. I told Ashak to shut up, as before, but he only began laughing harder. My brain hurt, and this thing wouldn't stop laughing at me. I grew angry, and I probed around my mind, easily finding the source of the laughter. I focused on it until I could see its shape. A serpent made of flames, wrapped in black chains, tying it to my mind. It was my mind. I decided to take it back.

I envisioned the serpent being crushed by my mighty tentacles, and it began to compress. The laughter began to die as I brought my entire will to bear. Ashak soon stopped laughing, and began to scream instead. This annoyed me even more than the laughing, so I let him go. He immediately began to apologize. "I'm sorry, it was just too funny. I thought I'd been grabbed by something truly terrifying, but I know what happened now."

"What happened, Ashak?" I asked, squeezing a little to make my point.

"I was going to possess you, and turn you into something fearful to destroy the human race. I didn't realize you were intelligent. The mage must have trapped me in here. I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me. I promise not to destroy your race or eat your mind. I'll be good."

Once Ashak fell silent again, I released him, and he stayed quiet. I thanked him for his good behavior. I rose on my arms, assessing the world around me. The fire was out, and the woods were reduced to a number of charred pillars. The clearing we were in was still a pit of nothing but fine ash. Both Aelina and Lorence lay in the ash, smeared with soot and ash. I couldn't carry both of them, and I didn't really want to leave them here. Fortunately, as I was pondering what to do, Sir Robert showed up. He was pretty smudged, and breathing hard. When he saw me, he just flopped down on on the ground, blowing ash everywhere. I tried to write in the ash with my arms, but the wind blew my words away as I wrote them. I was frustrated. Ashak started laughing at me again. I gave him a mental death glare. He laughed some more. I wrapped my mind around him once more, and began to squeeze. He quickly fell silent.

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"I still intend to get you out of my mind. I cannot likely do it without the help of these two. I need to communicate with this human. Can you help?" I squeezed Ashak one final time before releasing him. He groaned, then answered.

"I can talk out loud, and I don't even have a mouth. Of course I can. What do you want me to say?"

"Well, first, tell him you're talking for me." I said, slightly apprehensive.

----Sir Robert----

Imagine my surprise when the octopus began to speak in a deep booming hiss. "I am Ashak, spirit of fire and immortal incarnation of destruction, and I am acting as a mouthpiece for this vessel. This vessel has news to share with you, inferior human."

I just kind of stood there for a moment, a little surprised, then it continued. "The humans in this area have all made grave miscalculations and failed to prevent the triumphal escape of the glorious Ashak, and now the great Ashak dwells here. This vessel is unable to communicate, and asked for my assistance. This vessel requires your help hauling these pitiful ones into a more suitable area. This vessel is thirsty and exhausted and cannot do it alone, and must rely on a stinky sniveling human for aid."

"Well, hello to you too." I said. "That's quite the pretentious mouth you've got. I'm going to rest for a minute, then we can go."

"This vessel thanks you for the compliment. This vessel will wait until your weakness passes."

I sat for another minutes, breathing evenly and gathering my strength, and keeping one eye on the octopus. I wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but it was speaking. It hadn't even understood spoken language before, but it was speaking and understanding now. It was also very rude. I wasn't exactly sure what had transpired, but there were several alternatives, none of which were particularly pleasant. I resolved to keep an eye on the octopus in case it wasn't an ally anymore. I decided for now to just play along, and hope my suspicions were unfounded.

"I'm rested enough now. I'll take Lorence, he's lighter. Complete wimp without his magic. You take Aelina."

----Fork----

I wasn't sure I trusted Ashak. He was being exceptionally nice and rather pliable, but I had gotten the impression that he would kill me and escape in an instant if he could. I hadn't exactly engendered his goodwill either, only fear and hate. I decided to throw him a bone since he was being so helpful.

"What sorts of things do you like to do, Ashak? You've been fairly helpful, but I haven't exactly been a good host. What do you enjoy? What do you eat? Is there anything you'd like to do?"

Ashak projected startlement, but he started eagerly making a list soon enough.

"I like to burn things. I like to kill humans. I like to watch the night sky. I like to throw things off cliffs. I like to read books about battles. I like to go to war." He paused for a moment.

"I eat fires. That's why all the forest fires went out. I ate them all, and tried to use the extra power to escape the mage's grip, but somehow he got me anyway. It's just one facet of my timeless and immortal power. It's also how I get bigger. The more fire I eat, the bigger and stronger I get. Eventually I will be as strong as one of the fire spirits that burn in the night sky. Those tiny specks of light are others of my kind, blazing brightly at such unimaginable distance. Their size and power is overwhelming." Ashak paused for a moment before answering my last question.

"Can we burn these humans to death and throw them off a cliff? It would be twice as fun."

"No."

"Can we burn things?"

"Sure, we'll go burn things. But only if you're good." I said.

I could feel Ashak's excitement and anticipation from here. "I'll be super good!" Said Ashak. What a strange being Ashak was.

I stopped, paying more attention to the world around me. I heard sounds from ahead, and Sir Robert was paused and hiding behind a tree, Lorence draped over his shoulder. I took on the black and wrinkly texture of the charcoaled trees, gently set down Aelina, and slowly climbed one for a better view. The sun was risen past the horizon, and my vision was poor, but I got a serviceable enough look.

It was more of the same humans that had attacked me before. They all wore the same clothes and carried the same weapons. This time, there were more than a hundred. They were milling about, flipping things over and digging everywhere. I slowly climbed back down and asked Ashak to tell Sir Robert what was ahead and about my last encounter with them, and translate his reply for me.

----Sir Robert----

Fork camouflaged himself effortlessly, and climbed up the tree. I watched him closely, but the more I watched him, the less likely it seemed he had been possessed. His body was unusual, and any spirit that invaded his flesh would not have instantly become so dexterous and practiced at using his flesh. It occurred to me that he was very useful, with his rather unique physiology. The camouflage and climbing alone would make him worth having along. I was actually growing rather fond of Fork, he had no hesitation in his nature. The voice thing was kind of odd, but I decided to ask Lorence once he regained consciousness. I was less wary, but still a little unnerved by the whole thing.

Fork slowly climbed down from the tree, and began whispering at me. "There are over a hundred humans out there, armed with bolt throwers and swords. This vessel has fought them once before, but there were only 25, armed with only bolt throwers, and it killed them with its sword. These humans are even more retarded than usual. They do not speak or plan. This one's vessel wants to know why they keep coming to kill it."

"I'm not sure." I said. "But I know someone's probably been tracking your sword. I buried your sword over there too, once I figured it out. I had hoped it would throw off any tracking. Maybe they're here to get it back."

"That makes sense. This vessel says the creatures were able to follow it easily in the darkness, but it was holding the sword. Perhaps they were tracking the sword instead of it."

"Well," I extemporized. "They probably want that sword back really bad, if they sent this many people. Those guys are probably working for the same people who tried to kill us. We should keep them from getting the sword, if we can."

"Ashak wants to burn them to death. This vessel wants to know if that is all right with you." The hissing voice coming from Fork was eager, excited even.

"Sure, if you think you can manage that, go ahead."