"We’ll take some of the jerky," Miaka stated as she leaned over the counter to better see the selections of meat.

"How much?" the shopkeeper, a burly man with a kindly face, asked her as he withdrew several strips of the dried beef from a wooden barrel.

Serena, who was curiously poking through bolts of fabric being displayed near to the entrance of the shop, overheard the question and looked back at them with a wide grin. "If it was anyone else, I’d say enough to last a day or two," she called impishly, "but since it’s for my sister, you’d better give her enough to last a week or two, instead."

She laughed as Miaka swatted at her and huffed, "Look who’s talking, you bottomless stomach!"

The shopkeeper chuckled and reached into the barrel to pull out a few more strips, wrapping them carefully in soft cheesecloth and handing them to the older girl. "There ya be," he stated. "If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to smoking that pork. My wife Nattie’ll help you with anything else you need."

Nattie, a woman who reminded the sisters a great deal of their long-dead mother, stepped forward with a kindly smile. "So, will you be needing anything else then?" she asked cheerfully.

"How about some fresh rolls?" Serena replied, looking at her sister hopefully. "We haven’t eaten fresh bread in two days!"

"I don’t know, Sere," Miaka replied doubtfully. "We don’t have a lot of money with us, and we still have a way to go…"

As she spoke, Nattie turned and pulled a basket of fresh sweet rolls down from its spot on the warming shelf above the iron stove. Wrapping four of the steaming rolls in more cheesecloth, she added them to the bag containing the jerky, then held up a hand to forestall the coming protests. "Don’t worry about payment on these," she told them with a kind smile. "They’re on the house, for you being such sweet girls."

"That’s really too kind of you," Miaka replied with a wide smile. "If there’s anything we can do for you in return…"

"Well, now, there is one thing you can do for me," the woman replied as she leaned forward on her elbows. "Maybe you can fill me in on something I’ve been wondering about for awhile now. What are two pretty young ladies like yourselves doing wandering around this wild place? It ain’t the safest time to be traveling on your own without an escort, you know, what with the coming war and all."

The sisters exchanged glances. "Has there been a lot of trouble?" Miaka asked.

The woman shrugged. "Oh, well now, nothing serious. There’re rumors goin’ on about foreign soldiers movin’ on through the forest who can appear and disappear at will, an’ I heard a tale or two about strange happenings goin’ on in them woods at night; strange lights and noises and all. But there’s no definite proof of that, of course; probably just the local pack of troublemakers tryin’ to stir up some excitement. Still, the guards have been doubled around the village, and merchants haven’t been coming as much anymore. Everyone’s afraid of being attacked, what with being so close to the bandits’ mountain and all, with Elithia just on the other side."

Serena was alarmed at this news. She had no doubt in her mind that the rumors of vanishing soldiers and strange noises probably held more truth than most people expected, given Elithia’s ties to the ancient magic and all. Heaven only knew how many magic-users lived in that kingdom by now, or how many were controlled by Ayurhu. She seriously hoped she could do something to stop the cruel ruler before an actual war broke out. It didn’t look to be very good odds in Davinshire’s favor. Those vanishing soldiers, assuming they do exist, are probably all heading toward the capital, she thought uneasily. I hope King Reagan is prepared for the worst. I hope Endymion and Hotohori are working on defending the kingdom rather than worrying about where we’ve gone off to. But…who can prepare for something as unknown and mysterious as this?

The shopkeeper came back into the store at that moment, jerking a thumb over his shoulder and shaking his head. "The blacksmith Jakob tells me there’s a young fellow hanging around, askin’ a lot of nosy questions. Seems he’s lookin’ fer two runaways." He fixed sharp eyes on Serena and Miaka. "Two girls, accordin’ to Jakob. The stranger’s headin’ this way."

The sisters exchanged glances; Serena peered out the door, looking up and down the dirt road, before abruptly pulling her head back inside and turning back to the shopkeeper and his wife. A bright smile lit her face as she handed the man some money and asked innocently, "You wouldn’t happen to have a back door, would you?"

"Are you girls in some sort of trouble?" Nattie asked suspiciously. "Shall I call the village Constable?"

"Oh, no, that isn’t necessary," Serena hastily assured her. "We aren’t in any kind of trouble, really…"

"…Unless our friend there gets his hands on us," Miaka muttered as she, too, glanced out the door.

"We’re kind of on a special journey," Serena continued, smacking Miaka lightly on the arm. "There are people who really need our help…" No need to admit that it was the entire kingdom they were trying to save. "…and we left without telling anyone. We really weren’t supposed to leave, though."

"I see. So Big Brother is here to drag you home again, eh?" the shopkeeper finished.

"Big Brother. Right," Miaka replied with a slight giggle. "Very overprotective Big Brother. So…the back door? Please? This is a really important journey we’re on. We can’t go back."

Nattie’s face softened. "Let them go, Aerin," she commanded her husband gently. "They seem like intelligent girls, and I’m sure they’re able to take care of themselves. Who are we to put an end to their mission?"

"Bah! Woman, you’re too sentimental," the man muttered, although the look he shot his wife was fond. "Back that way," he told the girls, jerking his thumb over his shoulder once more, this time in the direction of the back room. "But I’ll not lie for you," he warned them. "If your brother comes asking if we’ve seen you, I’ll tell him where you went. It’s up to you to get away by yourselves after this."

"Thank you! Don’t worry, we’ll be fine!" Serena assured him, picking up her satchel and grabbing Miaka’s hand. "Thank you for the rolls, Ma’am. We’ll surely enjoy them. Goodbye!" She pulled her sister through the shop toward the back room, and had just made it past the doorway into the darkened room when she heard the little bell hanging above the front door of the shop jingle, and the sound of booted feet stepping inside. "Good afternoon, young man," the sisters heard Nattie say cordially. "Would you like to try one of my freshly baked sweet rolls?"

"No, thank you," an all-too-familiar voice replied, one which sent Serena and Miaka scrambling further into the shadowed room, hands clapped over each other’s mouths. They listened with wide eyes and pounding hearts as Tamahome questioned the shopkeeper on the whereabouts of a certain pair of girls he was looking for.

"We are so caught," Serena muttered against Miaka’s hand. She pulled it away from her face. "There’s no way we’ll be able to sneak out now without him seeing us."

"And the shopkeeper said he wouldn’t lie for us," Miaka remembered, her eyes widening. "We’ve got to hide until he leaves!"

"Well, I did see two girls," Aerin was saying seriously, despite Nattie’s protests. "Came in just a short while ago, purchased some food, and left again."

"How short a time?" Tamahome asked suspiciously, noting the frantic glances the shopkeeper’s wife kept casting in the general direction of the back room.

Aerin hesitated. "Just before you came in," he stated.

"Aerin!" Nattie protested.

"Nattie, I said I wouldn’t lie if he asked," Aerin reminded her firmly. "He’s their big brother, and it’s his job to look after them."

"Big brother!" Tamahome released a short, surprised laugh. "They told you I was their brother?"

"Well…we assumed…and they didn’t deny it…" Nattie looked confused, and Tamahome’s gaze softened.

"I’m not their brother," he began, his voice soft. "The one girl, Miaka, is the one person I’ve been in love with for as long as I can remember. She and her sister are on this foolish, pointless quest to save someone that they can’t save, and they’ll end up getting themselves killed if I don’t stop them. I couldn’t live with myself if I let Miaka die, alone, unprotected. All I want is to protect her, above anything else in my life. Please. Tell me where they went."

Nattie’s eyes were soft as the young man’s words touched her heart. She sighed, and shook her head. How could she ever turn down a request spoken so urgently. It was clear this young man was willing to go through hell and high water to be with his love, and that girl was pretty ungrateful if she didn’t appreciate that! "The back room," she admitted quietly. "They got wind of your arrival and went out the back door. If you hurry, you’ll catch up to them."

"Thank you," Tamahome replied seriously, bowing slightly before hurrying into the darkened room. He paused to let his eyes adjust, noting the scattered furniture and supplies stacked against the walls and everywhere else the shop owners could find. But there…in the back, half blocked by a stack of empty barrels…he could see a sliver of afternoon sunlight streaming in through what looked to be the back door. "Those girls," he sighed, shaking his head. "Miaka, why must you be so stubborn? Why can’t you just let me protect you?" He squeezed through the opening and closed the door gently behind him.

From the other side of the room, two faces cautiously peered out from behind a stack of crates. "Is he gone?" Miaka whispered.

"Yeah, he’s gone. Come on; let’s go out the front," Serena replied, starting toward the front of the shop. She paused when she realized her companion wasn’t following. "Miaka? What’s wrong?" she asked with a frown as she turned back again.

Miaka’s face was hidden in shadow, but the tears in her voice were all too clear. "Why must he keep saying things like that, Serena?" she asked helplessly. "Why does he keep loving me like that, when he knows it’s hopeless?"

Serena wrapped her arms around her sister. "Why did you keep loving Hotohori when you thought it was hopeless?" she asked in return. "I guess it’s for the same reason I keep loving Endymion even though I know it’s hopeless, too." Her voice grew sad. "It’s just something that we can’t help. I guess that makes us both idiots." She grabbed her sister’s hand and pulled her from her hiding place. "Well, no sense crying over it now," she added, a tone of forced cheerfulness entering her voice. "We’ve got a journey to continue, and a really annoying ‘big brother’ to get away from. I have to say, though, that this is the best game of Hide and Seek I’ve ever played!"

That comparison sent a smile to Miaka’s lips. "Idiot," she replied affectionately, her troubles momentarily forgotten. "Only you could think to compare this life-and-death journey we’re on to a game!"

"Of course," Serena sniffed, giving a wave to the two startled shopkeepers as she hurried past and out the front door. "Where would the fun in it be otherwise?"

"You couldn’t have found us a better hiding place?" Miaka complained as she shifted in her very uncomfortable position behind a stack of hay bales that had been loaded onto a wagon. "This wagon smells like chicken fertilizer, and the straw is making me sneeze!"

"Well, hold it in," Serena hissed back. "Tamahome is heading this way!"

"Fine," Miaka grumbled, "but I really don’t like the way that bird is eyeing me…" She warily glanced up at the rooster that happened to be perched on the back of the wooden bench seat, directly above their heads; it was the biggest bird either of them had ever seen—even larger than the prize rooster at the castle—and it did indeed seem to be keeping a particularly close eye on the two intruders. "What if it’s a trained attack rooster or something?" Miaka whimpered, clutching her sister’s sleeve and tugging. "That beak looks sharp!"

Serena rolled her eyes. "For one thing, people eat chickens; not the other way around," she pointed out wryly. "For another, there’s a leather cord tied to the bird’s leg and the seat. If it tried to attack, it wouldn’t get very far."

"Maybe. I still don’t like the way it’s looking at me," Miaka replied sulkily.

Serena sighed in exasperation as she peered out through the wooden slats that made up the side of the wagon. "Still, it’s the best place to hide until tall, dark and pesky goes away," she grumbled. "Just try and put up with the smell. That farmer was really nice to offer us a ride to the mountain. It’ll save us lots of time."

"I hope that farmer comes back soon," Miaka sighed. "Tamahome’s making me nervous snooping around here. The sooner we get out of this village, the sooner we can get to Elithia." She perked up as a figure suddenly emerged from the nearby stables, carrying two large bags of horse feed on his shoulders. "Wait…isn’t that the farmer there?"

"Yeah…" Serena replied slowly. Her eyes suddenly widened. "And there’s Tamahome, making a beeline right for him!"

"Yipes!" Miaka squeaked. "If Tama asks the farmer, he’ll give us away!"

"I know," Serena hissed back.

The farmer was saying something, and Tamahome’s expression suddenly changed, turning from one of frustration to one of hope.

"So…he’s telling Tamahome where we are!" Miaka’s voice was a mere squeak due to her panic.

"I know!" Serena growled, her mind racing ahead. She looked frantically around for a more suitable hiding place, and her eyes inadvertently fell upon the reins hanging limply over the back of the bench seat.

An idea began to form.

"So…what are we supposed to do now, genius?!" Miaka was asking sarcastically. Tamahome was now walking toward the wagon, his expression hopeful and serious all at once. The farmer followed him, hoisting the heavy feed bags easily as he continued to talk. Tamahome nodded once or twice but his attention was fixed mostly on the wagon.

"Sereeena! We’re gonna get caught!" Miaka whisper-wailed. "Come on!"

"Hold on to your girdle," Serena muttered grimly, abruptly standing up to scramble over the seat and managing to startle the nervous rooster into a panicked frenzy in the process. The big bird crowed loudly in alarm and flapped its huge wings, managing to catch Miaka in the side of the head and causing the older girl to shriek in surprise. This, of course, did not go over well with the rooster, who immediately attempted to flap off in the other direction. Naturally, the cord tethering its leg to the seat didn’t let it get very far, and it fell off the bench and right on top of Miaka. The poor girl suddenly found herself with a lap full of shrieking, pecking, terrified rooster.

"Aaaaiiiieeeeee!" she screamed, attempting to shove the feathered beast off her lap. Of course the panicked bird had by then decided that Miaka’s body was as safe a place to hide as any, and was attempting to bury itself under her arm, tether and all.

At the same time all this was going on, Serena had snatched up the reins, and with a mighty "KEE-YAH!" had snapped them hard across the horses’ backs, causing the startled beasts to rear up with double screams and take off in a thunder of hooves and a cloud of dust. They raced right past the poleaxed farmer, and an equally thunderstruck Tamahome, before heading out of the village, various merchants and villagers diving not-so-gracefully out of the way in a desperate attempt to avoid being trampled.

"Miaka! Serena, what are you doing?!" Tamahome bellowed, starting after the wagon but giving it up shortly as a lost cause.

"Goliath, come back! Come back with my rooster, you little thieves!" the farmer yelled, throwing down his bags of feed furiously, which caused them to split at the seams and spill their contents all over the dusty road. He cursed fluently and tossed down his hat, stomping on it for good measure and glaring at the cloud of dust that followed the path of the wagon. "Well," he snarled, abruptly fixing a fierce glare on Tamahome. "You was lookin’ fer them girls. They just done stole my wagon, an’ my beautiful, prize-winnin’ rooster, Goliath! I done raised that bird from a chick! What’re you gonna do ta replace him?!"

There was an ominous cracking of weathered knuckles, and Tamahome gulped and discreetly stepped back out of pounding range. "Erm…I’ll get it back, Sir. Right away, Sir. I’m leaving right now! See? This is me…going away!" he stammered, quickly backing away and heading off at a fast jog in the general direction the two little troublemakers had taken.

Sometimes…being the heroic type was more trouble than it was worth.

"I can’t believe you stole that poor man’s wagon!" Miaka scolded

"Well, I had to do something," Serena pointed out. "Running away wasn’t an option at that point."

"So you stole a wagon," Miaka bemoaned. Goliath, now sitting comfortably in her lap, crooned comfortingly, and she glared at him and attempted to shove him away. "And a glorified feather duster," she added disgustedly.

"That was just an added bonus," Serena called back cheerfully as she slowed the horses’ full-out run into a more sedate trot. "Look," she added, "we’ll go a few more minutes, then I’ll leave the wagon tied to a tree or something along the path for the farmer to pick up."

"If thieves—other than us, I mean—don’t steal it first," Miaka replied sarcastically, climbing over the bench herself to sit beside her sister.

"Nothing I do is ever good enough for you, is it?" Serena tsked. "Really, how ungrateful can a person be?"

Miaka rolled her eyes and let a small grin slip onto her features. "Still," she added reflectively. "Did you see the expression on Tama’s face? It was priceless!"

The sisters’ laughter rang out through the silent forest, and Goliath crowed in response.

"So, how long do you think it’ll take for him to realize he’s gotten ahead of us?" Serena asked impishly as she stacked firewood in the shallow, stone-lined pit she and Miaka had just dug.

"Tamahome? Who knows," Miaka replied with a laugh. "He was in such a hurry to catch up that he probably won’t realize he’s past us until he notices we aren’t leaving any kind of a trail for him to follow. That could be hours from now. I feel kind of sorry for him, actually. He seemed so distressed."

"Well, he should know better than to come after us!" Serena huffed. "There’s no way he’ll find us if we don’t want to be found! He’d be more useful back at the castle defending it from those so-called shadow warriors or whatever they are."

"You know, of course, that if Tama’s after us, our esteemed Highnesses are probably right on his heels. We’ll probably run into them next if we don’t keep moving."

"Yes, but even princes need to sleep. Besides, I’m hungry, and I really want a bath in that river we passed a little way back. I feel like I haven’t bathed in days!"

"Yeah, and you smell like it, too." Miaka grinned at her sister’s offended glance. "Oh, all right," she added. "Look, I’ll start dinner while you go bathe. Just don’t take too long. And save some water for me!"

"From a river? Don’t think that’ll be a problem." Serena shot her a smirk as she pulled some clean clothes from her pack.

"Sorry, force of habit. You always hog all the hot water when we take baths at home," Miaka teased. "By the time you get done the water’s cold!"

"Well, this water isn’t going to be very hot to begin with," Serena sniffed. She released a wistful sigh. "Too bad there isn’t any way to heat it."

"Not unless you want to spend the whole night lugging it up from the stream, and then where would we put it?"

"Hmmm…I see your point. Okay, freezing cold water it is then." Serena shivered. "I’m chilled just thinking about it!" With a wave, she skipped off in the direction of the river.

"Serena!" Miaka called suddenly, straightening up. The younger girl turned back curiously. Miaka hesitated, not quite sure what had prompted her to call out like that. A sense of…unease, perhaps? Something…wasn’t quite right, although she had no idea why she would feel that way. All those stories Nattie had told them were starting to spook her, that was all. She never had liked ghost stories. Serena was growing impatient, so she finally shook her head and called, "Be careful, okay? Watch out for wild animals and all that…"

"I know that! What do you think I’m gonna do? Invite the local bears in with me?" Serena replied with a laugh. "Now start cooking, ‘cause I want food when I get back!" She gave Miaka a playful salute and vanished between the trees.

Safir cursed as he squirmed and shifted, feeling every bump and bruise and scrape his recent fight had given him…especially the two particularly nasty blows that thrice-cursed, ill-tempered princess had laid on him. How dare she hit him such a low blow! He’d be lucky if he was able to walk after such a beating! He squirmed again, gritting his teeth against the insistent throbbing in his head and groin. And now, to top everything off, he’d awakened to find himself trussed hand and foot and tied to the base of a tree, to boot! They were apparently taking no chances on him getting loose. Oh, but he would get loose, and when he did, he would track them down and make them rue the day they had ever crossed swords with him!

Fury fueled Safir on as he redoubled his efforts to free himself, planning all the while the evilest, cruelest, most vile demise he could come up with for the wench and her traitor bandit. Oh, he’d make sure the girl suffered, all right! He’d start off by killing everyone she loved right in front of her eyes, including the bandit! Then he’d slowly and painfully torture her until she begged him to end her life, but he wouldn’t. Oh, no. Not by a long shot! He’d make her suffer first! Oh yes, his revenge would be very sweet indeed.

He squirmed and cursed.

That is…just as soon as he could get himself free from these blasted ropes!

A shadow fell over him, making him freeze into sudden stillness as, along with the shadow, a dark chill crept up his spine. He knew without looking who it was that stood there. He also knew that the man was not happy. "I…I can explain," he began, cursing silently when his voice trembled ever-so-slightly.

"I’m certain you can," Ayurhu replied in that cold, dispassionate tone he so often favored. "The fact that you are trussed like a boar ready for the slaughter, and the fact that the princess Rei and the bandit leader are no longer within the confines of the castle, explains all too clearly what happened. You failed."

Safir cringed. "The wench struck me from behind when I was grappling with the traitor!" he cried, the hint of a whine creeping into his voice. "I did not…"

"You dismissed her as unthreatening simply because of the fact that she is a woman. Therein lies your mistake."

Safir felt his insides turn to ice, although he valiantly tried to appear composed; for an Assassin to show fear was a shameful thing, and his pride had been compromised far too much as it was for one day. Still, Ayurhu was the kind of man one did not want to make an enemy of—even an Assassin—and Safir had the gut-wrenching feeling that his defeat had hurled him headlong into the king’s bad graces.

"I somehow expected more from you," Ayurhu continued in that same dispassionate tone. "I hired you because you are the best at what you do, and now I find you tied to a tree like a cowed dog? Because of your arrogance the bait is fled, and with her the traitor. I do not tolerate failure, Assassin."

Now Safir shook, realizing that he was looking at possible death. "F-forgive me, Sire, for my foolishness," he pleaded. Suddenly, pride didn’t seem so important anymore. "Untie me, and I’ll hunt down the vermin and slay them! I won’t fail you this time, I swear!"

"That will not be necessary," Ayurhu replied coolly. "I no longer have any need for the two of them. The girl has served her purpose, as the one I meant to lure out is well on her way to Elithia. She will be dealt with…specially. I could care less for the princess herself, and as for the bandit, he is a weak-minded fool, and not worth wasting my time on. No doubt they will both perish before reaching the mountains, anyway. The sun is setting, and the wolves are hunting. Listen…" A small, grim smile touched his face. "Can you hear them howling? They sound…hungry."

Safir had to wonder what in the world Ayurhu was ranting about. Who cared about wolves, anyway? Still, he supposed if he wanted to get back into the king’s good graces, he’d better do as he said. The wolves did indeed sound hungry…and they also sounded uncomfortably close. The Assassin cast a nervous glance around, noting the lengthening shadows spreading across the rocky ground as the sun sank behind the trees.

The wolves that hunted in Elithia weren’t the small, shy, fleet-footed creatures of Davinshire’s forests. These were huge, mangy, feral beasts that hunted with savage intent and killed for pleasure rather than necessity. It was rumored that a bit of the magic that Elithia was built upon had managed to work its way into their bloodline many decades ago, thus changing them into the monsters they were and no doubt giving them more intelligence than any soulless creature had the right to possess. Even a trained Assassin would be a fool to take on a pack of them by himself.

Safir squirmed, noting that the long, eerie cries were growing louder and louder. "They’re coming this way," he stated uneasily, tugging at the bonds holding him. "They’re almost at the castle."

Ayurhu cast him a dispassionate glance. "Yes," he replied simply. "They are." And he turned on his heel to walk away.

"Aren’t you going to untie me?!" Safir cried, his eyes widening with dawning horror.

The deafening howls suddenly stopped, but now the heavy, soft thuds of swiftly-running feet and the crackling of leaves and twigs could be heard within the trees surrounding them. Panting breaths echoed in the air.

Ayurhu cocked his head to one side, as though considering. His hand rested on the door. Safir felt a moment’s hope, but it was dashed to fragments an instant later. "If you cannot free yourself from the bonds of a mere child," Ayurhu told him dispassionately, "then you are not worthy of the name Assassin." He opened the door and stepped into the safety of the castle, not even deigning to look back.

Within the shadows, feral, yellow eyes gleamed with merciless cunning. One of the beasts snarled.

And the iron door closed with a resounding slam, drowning out a single, terrified scream as Death flew to embrace the Assassin with savage glee.

Serena sipped hot broth from her bowl and sighed contentedly. It felt so good to be clean again, even if she was still shivering from her bath in the icy stream. The broth was good, though, and it was slowly chasing the last of the chill from her limbs. She sighed blissfully, and a bit enviously, as she took another sip. Miaka would always be a better cook than her.

She thoughtfully chewed on one of the rolls—not so hot, anymore, but still delicious—and stared into the small cooking fire, watching the bright flames dance. It was growing darker as the sun sank ever lower. A nightingale sang in a nearby tree, heralding the end of the day. Its sweet voice seemed to ring throughout the entire forest, and Serena closed her eyes and listened contentedly. She had always loved Nightingales.

And then the singing abruptly stopped.

Serena froze, an all-too-familiar sense of unease trailing cold fingers up and down her spine as she listened for the trilling notes, to no avail. What is it? What’s wrong? Why did you stop singing? she demanded silently. The forest was dead quiet now; an unnatural stillness settled over the trees, and the fingers that had been tickling her spine now moved forward to squeeze her heart in an icy grip.

Something was out there.

"Hello?" she called out, her voice barely above a whisper. Then, louder, "Miaka? Is that you?" She waited, and there was no answer. I don’t like this, she thought nervously. Where’s Miaka?

When a soft, sweet melody abruptly began to play in the deathly stillness, it nearly caused Serena to leap out of her own skin in fright. She stood there gasping and clutching at her heart, but after a few moments, as she began to calm down, she also began to feel a little foolish. It was simply music, not some hideous monster leaping out of the trees at her. It sounded like a flute, although how a flute could be playing way out in the middle of nowhere was beyond her. She tilted her head to one side as she listened, her brow furrowing as she suddenly realized that she had heard this melody before. The notes were clear and sweet, and yet she couldn’t help but feel that they were also somehow sinister. They were hauntingly familiar, like a half-remembered dream. Where have I heard this before?

"Miaka?" she called out again, hoping against hope that it was her sister playing some nasty prank on her…although as far as she knew, Miaka couldn’t play a flute. In fact, there was only one person she knew that could play a flute, and he was back at the castle, entertaining the courtiers and keeping certain people distracted. "Miaka, if that’s you, come out now. This isn’t a funny prank," Serena demanded shakily. "I won’t be mad if you stop it right now."

To her surprise—and relief—the playing stopped.

Her joy was short-lived, however, as in the next moment, a sweet, melodious voice took its place.

Her eyes widened. I know that voice!

But…it was impossible! It was the voice from the dream…the appalling nightmare, and the song it was singing…it was the same song…

"Stop it. Stop it!" she cried, trying to cover her ears with her hands…but she found, to her horror, that she couldn’t move. She wanted to cry, scream, flee in terror—do something to drown out the awful words—but something unseen was immobilizing her, holding her in invisible chains as strong as…magic. Her legs strained to run; her voice strained to scream, but she could do little more than blink. And cry, as the silent tears streaking her white face gave testament to.

And all the while, that sweet, haunting voice trilled like the nightingale, drifting closer and closer, repeating the final, deadly verse of the grim song over and over…

Although her voice no longer worked, Serena’s mind still raced like mad, and all her thoughts were focused on one thing. No! No, it can’t be him! It can’t! My friend! He is my friend! I won’t believe it! I can’t believe it!

Then the shadows before her suddenly parted, almost like a velvet curtain being pushed aside, and Serena could no longer deny what she knew in her disbelieving heart to be the truth as Nuriko’s pale, beautiful face emerged from the blackness. She stared in silent terror, wanting to call out to him, but unable to do anything. His eyes were emotionless, blank, violet pools as his lips continued to form his mantra, the achingly sweet voice pouring from them like the waters of Hell. In his smooth, unblemished hand—a musician’s…an artist’s hand—was an unsheathed curved dagger that glittered like the claw of a dragon, an ugly contrast to the silver flute that hung just beside it from his belt.

Why, Nuriko? Why? Serena screamed voicelessly as she stared into his empty eyes. It was like looking into the eyes of a corpse. Was his soul even there, she wondered with a shudder. Beneath that sweet and friendly visage, had he been planning this all along, to kill her in cold blood like…like an animal? The thought made her sick. You were my friend! she silently accused, the fear and betrayal in her eyes piercing him like a sword.

As though hearing that thought, Nuriko stopped singing, and a bit of life slowly crept back into his dead eyes. For a moment—and only that—Serena felt a bit of hope. But his next words left her cold. "Ah, Sweetling," the minstrel sighed, shaking his head sadly. "You always did have too much faith in the wrong people. Always trusting, never questioning. Such a refreshing change from the usual crowd, but such is your weakness. Ayurhu was right, though. It was an easy thing to win you over by saving you from that storm."

Her eyes widened. The storm…

He had sent it. She knew it now. He had created it, and had used it to gain their trust by saving them from it afterward. He was a Mage, and a powerful one—that much was as obvious as daylight to her now—and she cursed herself three times the fool for not having seen it before. She, who prided herself on being able to read people like an open book, had failed to see through Nuriko’s scheme, and now she, and probably her sister, would die for it. Her eyes widened with sudden terror. Was Miaka dead already? Had he found her at the river and left her to die alone? The thought was too horrible to contemplate.

Nuriko gazed into her eyes, reading her emotions as one might read thoughts, and his eyes were strangely sad as he reached out to touch a gentle hand to her face. She flinched, wanting to pull away, but she could do little more than that. "It’s a shame, though," he murmured gently, shaking his head and causing his soft hair to shift gently about his lovely face. "Such a sweet child, with so much potential. You have the makings to be a great Mage, dearest one. It’s a shame that I have to kill you. It’s nothing personal, really. I do like you, very much. If things were different, then maybe…" He sighed again. "Well, perhaps this is what I get by allowing myself to get too close to my enemies. I was warned, after all, so I’ve no one to blame but myself. I dare not fail in my task, or Ayurhu shall have my head. He isn’t a very good Mage, himself, but he commands many that I wish not to become enemies with. And he is my king, the fool. Whatever you think of me now, Sweetling, at least know that I am loyal to my king."

He gently wiped the tears from her eyes, then leaned in and placed a soft, lingering kiss upon her lips. "Goodnight, sweet princess," he whispered, and raised the dagger to strike it home.

* * * * *

Okay! Before any Nuriko fans go on a rampage and attempt to take my head, allow me to explain a few things. Number one: I needed a good spy/Assassin that absolutely nobody would suspect. And judging from the reactions I’ve gotten thus far, absolutely nobody expected sweet Nuriko to turn out to be a villain. Therefore, I’ve succeeded in my goal. ^_~ Don’t get me wrong, I love Nuriko almost as much as I love Hotohori, but he’s just perfect for this part, so…well…there’s the result. Okay! Feel free to rant at me now! But don’t expect me to feel ashamed of myself or anything. I’m completely unrepentant. lol

To Part 19