Murmuring as he woke, Avani opened his eyes.

He was in a building made completely out of glass. The panes of the windows were sparkling in the sun, which was just rising and casting a long, drawn out shadow of the building, turning the grass and wildflowers a just slightly darker shade of green and white.

Avani’s hand found its way to his aching shoulder, which was wrapped in a thick bandage underneath his dark jacket. He then rubbed his head and felt a risen scab of blood where his skin felt sore, but there was no way to soothe the damage he had taken to the deep center of his brain, where there was a knot nagging at him. Ignoring the pain as best he could, he surveyed his surroundings a bit more closely. Avani saw that the wood shelves filling the huge, bright room had hundreds- no, thousands of books piled on them every which way. Along the shelves, they were stacked, layered, piled, mounded and placed carefully at every angle that would fit exactly as many books as was possible to. They smelled of paper, the scent faded but lingering still in the castle of stories. Desks were set in random places of the library as well, made of aged wood and stained a deep red. There were the ends of white candles, almost completely burned out, melted onto stacks of books and along the tops of the wooden shelves. Loose papers were covering all the area on any of the desks that was not already overwhelmed with piles of books. Avani rose to his feet unsteadily and walked to a wall of the Glass Library, looking out onto the endless mountains. His eye was caught by something moving, closer to him than were he had been gazing. Startled, Avani flinched back but did not take his eyes off the glass. He saw a reflection of smoke faintly in the glass and he turned sharply, looking for the source. When he turned, he saw nothing. Looking back into the glass revealed an empty view of reaching mountains and a very faded reflection of Avani in the bright glass. He turned away from the wall and rubbed his eyes hard, trying to wipe out the illusion. Taking his hands away from his face, Avani once again faced the library.

He almost didn’t see a lady sitting at one of the desks because she was sitting so still, pouring over dozens of open books at a time. She had a white shirt under a leather jacket and a large skirt draped over the armchair she was situated in, made of earth-like colors made of shades of brown and frills of faded white. She had dark red hair in curls that were pinned up without much attention paid to them, but a short curl was constantly falling in her face, causing a frustrated groan and a sweep of the hand to get that gosh darn thing behind her ear. Avani sleepily stumbled over to the lady to confront her about where he was, clearing his throat to get her attention. She turned to face him with incredible alertness and she raised an eyebrow, silently demanding what Avani could possibly want when she was so busy. The jerking movement forced the curl of hair out from behind her ear and in front of her face again. The lady made an angry sound. Avani, thoroughly intimidated, wanted to say something intelligent and as quick-witted as he expected her to be, but his sleepiness won out.

“Why am I here?” He whispered, due to the early hour and the strangeness of the thought of breaking the silence as delicate as the sparkling walls of glass seemed to be. She opened her mouth to begin to answer him but stopped short when she saw that Avani was staring with wide eyes at the books that she was examining. Avani noticed that the covers of most of the books were made from stone and that strange carvings adorned them. Leaning over her, he touched one and was unable to contain his curiosity, quickly scooping the book up. It fell from his hands and onto his foot when he had braced himself for an incredibly heavy weight and picked up a book with no more weight than the pages alone. Avani instantly flung his arm out and held onto the rough wood of the back of the nearest chair while he lept up and supported himself on his good foot. He made a pained noise and heard another grumble as an answer, echoing in the library. Turning, he saw that he had woken a girl lying on the ground who could not have been over six, and was then opening her eyes with a large sigh protesting mornings and waking up altogether. She had light brown hair cut short, shining eyes that saw the world with innocence, and an obvious hatred of mornings. Avani recognized someone in her face and stood for half of a moment thinking, then remembered the appearance of his own face and the thought occurred to him that it was himself that he saw in her. Remembering now, Avani knew the young girl as his sister. He blinked in surprise. The lady at the desk raised an eyebrow expectantly at Avani, who wordlessly offered the stone book, unbroken, back to her. She turned it over in her hands and flipped through the worn pages to find where she had left off, revealing to Avani and the girl an ancient language covering every page. The young girl saw and gasped.

“Can you read it?” She asked with wonder in her large eyes.

“I’m attempting to translate it, but the language is too complicated.” The lady said quietly.

There was a pause for the silence to settle again.

“You never told me why I’m here.” Avani said more loudly now, adjusting to the sound of his own voice in the echoing halls.

“You don’t remember?” The lady asked in response.

“I remember hardly anything, sorry.” Avani mumbled.

She retold the story that had been an archer who had shot Avani, who then fell off of the small cliff that they had been on. Avani had then, apparently, lost some memories when his head impacted the ground. His sister was so deep in shock at the time that she also passed out. So the lady carried them, with some help, to the nearest shelter, the Glass Library. She had cleaned Avani’s wound, which was a minor shot to the shoulder, and comforted the girl when she woke, encouraging her to sleep again. It had been several days since they had been brought to the Library, and the lady was using her time to attempt to translate a book which the king had sent out an order for his men to find. This was how she knew it was important, although she had no clue as to how. She had been negotiating with the archer to translate the book when she had angered him.

“Eh.. that was how you got shot.” She addressed Avani with an apologetic smile, “You tried to intervene and make peace, which made him reach for his bow.”

Avani cocked his head at her.

“Do you really not remember?” The lady asked again.

With a sigh, Avani shook his head. The lady suddenly rose from her chair and leaned toward him, reaching out and gently touching the back of his head, which made him gasp in pain and flinch away from her. The lady released air through her nose in a disappointed sigh.

“I should have realized that you hit your head when you fell. I’m sorry.” She bowed her head in apology.

“No-” Avani said, holding his head with his hand, “You couldn’t have prevented it.”

The lady blinked and looked down.

“Yes. Well, I suppose then you don’t remember me. My name is Vida. You do remember your own name, correct?”

Avani nodded then turned to the younger girl.

“Irene. Right?” He said slowly to put a name to her face, attempting to remember as much as possible.

The girl nodded and smiled at him.

There was a silence that was only broken by the strange birds singing outside of the glass bubble that enclosed the world and the gentle clipping of Vida’s boots on the library floor. Avani stopped and marveled at the young girl. Kneeling beside her, he held onto her small hand and breathed deeply, feeling completely content. Irene wrapped her small fingers around Avani’s hand and led him to the desk to stand beside Vida, who saw them and sighed while closing the book slowly.

“Give me a few days to keep trying. If I can’t begin to translate within a week, I will never be able to. Then we can seek help. We’ll stay here for a week.” She reasoned, mostly with herself.

Avani sat down with his back to a bookshelf and Irene plopped herself down beside him while he began to investigate his dark clothing with many pockets. His black jacket had at least six pockets, his pants had four, his white shirt (stained with blood around his shoulder) had two and he carried with him a leather bag mounted on his hip that had hidden pockets inside and out. Apparently, he had a love for pockets. He found cigarettes of some kind, a box of matches, twelve stones which were used for trading, scraps of paper along with the stub of a pencil, and spare fabric, fraying at the ends. There was also a dagger of silver with a bright red ribbon tied around the hilt mounted at his side, which he frowned at. He held it and wished for a better weapon as he looked over its sad six-inch blade. Sighing, Avani resolved that it was better than going unarmed, and hopefully they would have no need for weapons. Striking a match entertained his absent mind until he decided to smoke in order to calm his nerves. Pulling a cigarette from the pack, he slowly rolled the cylinder in his fingers and put it to his lips. He placed the lit match to the cigarette and let it catch fire. He inhaled the dark waste and calmly exhaled the smoke. It fluttered as it left his lips and hung in the air for a moment.

There was a gasp.

“What are you doing?!” Vida rushed to say and ran, holding her swaying skirt up from the ground as to not trip, to Avani.

She began frantically scattering the patch of smoke with one hand and pulling Irene to her feet with the other. Avani stood warily with a look of confusion. Vida took the cigarette from his hand and threw it to the ground. She then pushed the two away from the smoke as quickly as she could and as quickly as they would allow. She glanced back and plowed along Avani, who was digging his heels into the ground in a reluctant fight, and pulled along Irene, who was running the best she could but was still unable to hurry as rapidly as Vida thought was fit.

“What’s happening?” Avani asked without answer.

He attempted to pull an explanation from Vida, but she, determined, refused.

“Run now, talk later!” Was all she would shout in his direction.

They began to hear a quiet rushing of air in the midst of the shouting and confusion. Vida stopped and dropped her hands, quitting all attempts to put distance between the group and the center of the library. Avani began to understand the seriousness of the situation when the cigarette smoke he had exhaled hung still in the air and began swirling around. It created a vortex with its point to the ground, like the air was being mixed violently with the smoke. It gained mass as it spun more quickly and soon it was occupying most of the Glass Library. The bookshelves shuddered as they were tossed by the wind and books were soon flying everywhere. Vida turned to Avani and Irene and shouted above the noise of the wind “STAY!” before running into the cloud of smoke. After she had been gone for too many worrying seconds, Avani stared into the toxic fumes with horror and Irene was about to cry.

Vida then emerged from the wind.

Her hair had been shaken loose and her clothing was whipped about her (as she held her skirt down with one hand) but she had a triumphant look in her eye when she tucked the book she was attempting to translate into her colorful backpack and latched the leather seal. Slinging it over her shoulder, Vida put a hand onto her hip and stood confidently, facing the smoke. With her opposite hand, she pulled a long, golden sword out of a sheath hanging at her side and bore it with calmness. The sword had an elongated grip and a white stone at its pommel with white vines climbing up from the hilt to the blade- creating an image of clean beauty in an object of destruction. It contrasted against the dark cloud of smoke behind it. Vida smiled with her eyes and whispered encouragement to Avani and Irene, who both looked at each other with confusion.

Avani then gently pulled Irene behind him, staring into the smoke with determination. The smoke formed itself into a mass of darkness hovering above the ground in the center of the library. It twisted itself into the general shape of a woman and the smoke augmented and flowed over her, creating a large dress with intricate layers and a flowing train that touched the ground, although her feet did not. There was not a speck of her that was not pitch black, even her eyes were a glassy shade of night. Wherever in the Library she hovered above, the floor was scorched with black and red patterns as she moved. The woman of smoke walked slowly above the bookshelves toward Vida, Avani and Irene.

When she saw Irene peek her head out from behind Avani, the woman smiled with a tangible coldness and she craned her neck just slightly, to attempt to see the child better. Avani glared and unsheathed the dagger with the red hilt, not that it would defeat such a creature, but because he needed to feel some power under his fingers in order to feel the sliver of hope he held fast to. He thrashed the dagger in the still-churning air, trying to call back the memory of learning to use it. The woman of smoke continued to make her way to the group, now descending as she stepped. She halted when she was a foot above the ground, directly in front of Avani. He could smell the dark smoke and feel his skin heating. Avani prepared to fight her and hesitated when he saw her throw her head back in dark laughter, mocking his attempt to be brave. She then turned to face Vida and became instantly serious.

“Do you not understand that I am constantly busy? You cannot set off that smoke without calling me, you know this. It has been this way for years. Why would you possibly want to provoke me? Honestly, if I didn’t know better, I would say you wanted to call me just for a good fight alone.” The smoke woman questioned her with an illusion of patience.

“Corentine, I know. Please, forgive us. This boy just woke and he lost his memory, he found the cigarettes for you and unknowingly set one off. If you’re willing to graciously accept a gift we will be happy to send you on your way with something well worth your time. Listen.” She said when the smoke woman, Corentine, crossed her arms, “We do not have any need to fight each other. We work toward the same goals, you and us. If you’ll try to see things through our eyes, you’ll be sure to-”

With an irritable wave of her hand, the smoke woman, Corentine, silenced Vida from speaking. She absent-mindedly twisted the tip of her long, black braid in her fingers and tilted her head as she thought.

“You honestly thought you could placate me with cheap material things?” Corentine sighed, “How many times have I heard that before.”

“I know you’re not really a monster-”

Corentine inhaled and her hands flew to her side, immediately she became stiff and straight faced. She blinked slowly, her hands smoothed her large dress and she exhaled. She laughed without humor, dryly and quickly. Her fingers tapped quickly on her side as she hovered rigidly.

“Is she a monster?” Irene whispered fairly loudly to Avani, peeking out from behind him.

“Hush, baby.” He whispered immediately, pulling her behind him again.

Corentine stepped onto the floor and faced Avani, touching his arm to push him away from Irene. He refused to move, and her glare seemed to scorch his bones.

“Move.” She spat out the word.

“Never."

Corentine put her hand gently on Avani’s chest and blackness slowly crept out onto him in a thick cloud, emanating from her. Avani's heartbeat grew faster and faster as his breathing became shallow. His pounding heart suddenly fell almost completely inaudible as his face went blank. He stood, unfeeling, and Corentine removed her hand from his chest. She then pushed him aside with her pointer finger, and he fell away. Sprawled out on the floor, his eyes were frozen open and his heartbeat still, though just faintly. When he fell, Irene stood unprotected; Vida did not dare defend her, but stood with her sword ready. Corentine leaned down to face Irene, supporting herself with her hands on her knees. Irene struggled to remain brave and her lip began to quiver. Smiling, Corentine spoke in a hushed voice to her.

“Many people harbor an unusually dark hatred of evil beasts and monsters. They easily forget how not every ‘monster’ is evil. Soon they hate not only evil monsters, but anything and anyone that they consider to be a monster.”

“Are you a beast?” Irene asked plainly.

Corentine’s eyes narrowed, but she showed her teeth in a way that might have been an attempt of a smile.

“What do you think, sweetie?” She raised an eyebrow.

“I think you are.” Irene spoke honestly, trying not to cry.

A growl emanated from the cloud-like mass of smoke, twisting and grumbling. Then it was a woman again. She regained her little patience and smoothed the lace of her dress, clearing her throat.

“Why do you think that?”

There was no answer from the teary-eyed girl.

“Because I am different from you,” Corentine answered for her.

Vida shifted her grip on her golden sword and eyed Corentine with caution.

“Many people attack me. They believe that I am a monster, a dirty, evil, hopeless monster.” Corentine began to shake and her words grew louder.

Irene began to silently cry, trying to the extent of her ability to remain quiet as to not upset Corentine any further. Vida took her small hand and rubbed her own thumb against the back of the girl’s hand. Avani took shallow breaths from his resting place on the floor, and Irene glanced at him more and more often.

“So,” Corentine spoke quietly, “I show them what a monster looks like.”

“You mean you hurt them?” Irene whispered.

There was a pause that seemed to singe the very words that Irene had whispered in the Glass Library, the ashes flying up to the glass rooftop itself. The smoke fluttered and was constantly changing the appearance of Corentine.

“Yes.”

Irene gasped.

“You are a monster. Those people are right.”

“I am a monster?” She repeated and with a bit of pressure on her toes, she flung herself to the rooftop.

“I am a monster?” Corentine shouted again.

The world itself seemed to be inhaling slowly.

“I am a monster!”

With a thrust against the inside of the rooftop, Corentine made firm contact of her fist with the tip of the building. There was a pulse of energy that toppled several bookshelves and blew away any paper that was not pinned down. Time seemed to pause as the world around them literally shattered. Every pane of glass in the entire building was in pieces around them, hovering with the woman of smoke in the library for a fraction of a second.

Then there were shards all around them, falling from the skies and in walls around them. Vida dropped down and wrapped Irene in her arms, swinging her on top of Avani, collapsed on the ground, and folded herself over them, attempting to shield them from the falling peril. She had dropped her golden sword, which she then grabbed and slammed into its sheath. Glass scraped her back and made tiny cuts her clothing, but she was able to keep the two under her unharmed, at least for the moment. A bookshelf shuddered and began to fall above them all and Vida tried to swing Avani and Irene out of its path, resulting in the two of them sliding them across the floor of blades and being still in the danger of falling mountains of wood, stone and paper. They were scraped from head to toe and Irene tried to pick herself up and wake Avani, with no success. Vida rolled across the floor, resulting in some wounds to her exposed arms, and avoided the huge bookshelf. She flung herself to her feet and ran to Irene and Avani, pulling Irene to her feet and swinging Avani into an awkward embrace in which she attempted to carry him out of the chaos.

Avani’s feet drug on the ground, causing Vida to trip over her large skirt and drop him several times. Irene fell behind and kept trying to hop over large shards and leaning into Vida, causing Vida, and by extension, Avani to fall and receive even more scrapes from the glass. Managing to somehow carry Avani, lead Irene and force herself out of the Glass Library, Vida threw Avani and herself onto the warm grass outside of the library once they managed to escape the shattered world.

Irene plopped herself down beside the two in the grass. Vida sat up with her arms propped up on her knees and surveyed the ruins of the Glass Library. There was a faint trace of smoke that was lifting up into the bright clouds that had gathered in the morning. Every window and door had been shattered into pieces, there were bookshelves on their sides, covered in glass, papers and stone books scattered all around the floor. Vida sighed. There must have been hundreds of papers scattered around the glass, and somewhere in the hundreds of pages were the papers on which were the notes that Vida had been using to translate the book that she then carried.

Vida let herself fall back into the long grass and patches of wildflowers, resting for a moment. The grass smelled fresh and the dew had not left completely, calming the group with its coolness. Their heart rates slowed as they lay in the cushion of green and white. They stayed in the calmness for several minutes until Vida finally spoke.

“I need to clean all of our scrapes.”

She knelt by Irene and tore a strip of fabric from her skirt, mopping up the small stains of blood that Irene had puddled on her arms. Irene gasped and her eyes started to fill up with tears. Vida murmured assuring words to her as she cleaned her wounds then tied bindings around the biggest cuts which Irene had received. She finished helping the small girl and put her hand on Irene’s shoulder, comforting her. Then Vida sighed and walked over to Avani, dropping to her knees beside him. She closed his wide eyes for him, for the sake of keeping the creepiness to a minimum. Prying the dagger with the ribbon from Avani’s hand, Vida slipped it back into its sheath, hanging from his belt.

“Your brother won't wake up for a while.” She said as she ripped a cloth from her skirt and took Avani’s jacket off of him.

“Will he be okay?” Irene’s eyes grew wide with concern.

Vida smiled and wiped away Avani’s blood.

                “Of course. He’ll be just fine. But we can’t wait for him to wake- not here, at least. The Glass Library has been standing for hundreds of years, so the shattering of it will have brought some attention to this area. We need to find somewhere the King’s men won’t be able to find us.”

Irene tilted her head slightly and asked, “Isn’t the King supposed to be good?”

Avani murmured slightly as Vida soaked strip after strip of her skirt with his blood. She bound fabric around many places on him where he had been badly cut.

                “He’s supposed to be, yes. It’s a bit complicated, but I can explain it to you after we get your brother safe.” She began to look down at her own wounds and clean them as well. As it was Vida who had received the most and deepest scrapes, she tore huge strips from her skirt to bind her own arms. She tied strips around her arm with one hand and took the ends of the strip, one in her right hand and one in her teeth to tighten it.

“Will you help me move Avani?” Vida sighed.

Irene nodded her head enthusiastically, beaming at Vida, who threw Avani over her shoulder and began to walk. The hills of the land were to their benefit, as when they climbed a hill and hiked to the bottom on the opposite side, they were out of sight of the Glass Library.

                “Okay,” Vida began when Irene gave her an expectant smile, “So a long time ago, there was a king that ruled Alba, our kingdom, with love that went out to every citizen. He ruled fairly and was a very good king, all the people supported him. Then another king named Erebus, who ruled over Magnesse at the time, came and took over Alba. He killed our good king and proclaimed himself ruler over us. Everyone was too afraid of him to stand up to him, so they allowed him to rule. He rules corruptly now, with hatred of Alba and its people. He knows that I have the very book that he is trying to find, so I have been trying to hide from him. We need to translate the book- that’s where we will go as soon as Avani wakes up, to find a translator.”

Irene blinked several times.

                “There is a boy that would be able to translate it, but I don’t trust him with the information that the book may contain. I believe it would be safer to go an extra ten miles and find the elder, Aaron. It is a long way, but it is the safer way to go.” Vida told herself more than she was telling Irene.

There was a silence which allowed the sun to melt into the grass and warm the earth. Vida and Irene continued to wait for Avani to wake up, Vida flipping restlessly through the stone book, Irene tearing up clumps of grass and thinking over the situation. When Irene could not move her brain to process another thought she knew it must have been hours since the library had shattered. It had only been half of an hour, but to a six year old that qualified as many, many hours.

     Vida stopped studying the book suddenly and looked up, gazing off, not using her eyes but her ears. People had arrived at the scene of the broken building of glass. There was enough distance between Avani, Vida and Irene and the library to hide the group, but the faint bustle of people could still be heard.

     Avani, waking, muttered and opened his eyes slowly, blinking and adjusting to the brightness of the day. He groaned, clasping his cuts. Thinking back, he remembered the events in the Glass Library and swore quietly. Irene was sitting next to him with wide eyes and he put his hand over his mouth, realizing what he said.

"Sorry, Irene."

She ignored his comment and threw her arms around him. He gently wrapped his arms around her back, sighing. He needed to be stronger; he couldn’t rely on Vida to save all of them every time he was too weak to continue. That made twice then that he was unable to even keep himself conscious enough to help his friends. He felt an overwhelming desire to stab his knife into the ground, to scream and kick and rip the grass from its roots- but he took a deep breath instead.

"What happened? Why are we here?" He asked Vida, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.

"Eh, nothing much,” Vida replied, “The Glass Library shattered. I carried you. Now that you're awake, we can get going."

"Going where?"

Vida stood and pointed to the mountain which they had their backs to.

“The mountain Silos.”

Avani peeled the clinging little girl off of him and stood up, turning to face where Vida was pointing. He saw the endless sky with mountaintops reaching as if they were trying to puncture the vast blue with their sharp peaks. There was a sea of huge trees that thinned slightly only to let the mountain range through. Avani raised his gaze to survey the point that Vida wanted him to see. On the rocky cliff there seemed to sit a small, skinny building running through the skin of the mountain. Avani inhaled slowly as he realized what he was looking at. It wasn’t a building- it was a tunnel for a train.

                Once Irene was so tired that she was physically unable to walk (about ten minutes after heading out), Avani carried her on his back. They hiked up the mountain slowly and advanced upon the tunnel with determined steadiness. Vida took Irene to carry after Avani came close to falling over for the fourth time. They decided to switch off as they went. The sky seemed to encourage the group, blowing a gentle wind their way to cool them. Soon enough, clouds had gathered and Vida began to glance up every so often, worrying Avani. After about an hour of climbing, the rain gathered in the gray clouds refused still to fall but was threatening the three hikers with a downpour. They reached the hollowed skin of the mountain just in time to avoid the rain.

                Unable to see, Avani stumbled into the dark tunnel and sat as close to the opening as he could to receive as much light as possible but still remain dry. Vida let Irene off of her back and sat next to Avani, who offered Irene a tired smile and a place to lie down next to him. Irene lay in the dry dirt, curled up next to her brother. He stroked her hair until he heard small snoring from her and was nodding off himself as well when he heard the faint sound of stepping boots. Vida also had noticed the sound, and she got to her feet quickly, pulling her sword from its sheath and melting into the shadows. Glaring into the opposite end of the tunnel, Avani could make out the silhouette of six large men advancing. He woke Irene quickly and pulled her into the shadows, pressing himself against the side of the tunnel while the large men approached. The smell of the rain and the gentle falling seemed to grow stronger with every step the men took, until there was a roaring in Avani’s ears. He blinked hard and felt his hand on the ribbon tied at the hilt of his dagger. Moving his hand to grip it hard, he pulled it gently as to not make noises of metal scraping.

He waited, ready in the darkness.

The rain fell with a strong, steadily growing intensity. Avani shook his head and tried to clear the fear which he held in himself. He took a moment to address his fear, because it confused him. For hardly a second he thought that he was afraid for himself, until he envisioned being killed and he felt hardly anything at all. Understanding, his brain automatically tried to visualize Irene being- no. He stopped himself. No further. He shook with anger and fear, his knuckles gripping the dagger turning white. If those men would dare to touch her, Avani would kill them on the spot. It was that simple.

                He was pulled back to the real world, with Irene standing nervously beside him and the sound of boots stomping in dry dirt coming closer. There was suddenly a shout of surprise from the men and Avani knew that Vida had revealed herself. Avani then lept out of the darkness and bared himself between Irene and the men, surveying the situation.

Vida had not hurt any of the men yet, because she had, instead of killing them from behind like she was clearly able to, stepped in front of them calmly and given them a chance to prepare themselves. She questioned their purpose for coming into the tunnel while they all drew their swords and were forming a circle, enclosing Vida. They said nothing, but she was able to see the image of a red tree twisting up their armor, the sign of the king, and she understood. She breathed slowly and grasped her sword with two hands, held straight up against her chest, waiting for the men to make the first move. One of them thrust his sword at her, which she avoided easily and proceeded to throw her left hand into his face then her sword across his chest directly after. The man fell to his knees, gripping his chest, and Vida struck him with the butt of her golden weapon, knocking him out. She quickly turned to face the other five men.

For a fraction of a second they stood, dazed, but soon regained themselves. Before Vida had the chance to attack again, Avani jumped out of a shadow and made an attempt to quickly stab the first man he saw. The man being attacked blocked Avani’s advance with his own sword, then wrestled with him for the silver dagger and pushed Avani to the ground. One man went to help the man attacking Avani and another, unnoticed, went to search the shadows.

Two of the men approached Vida, holding their swords confidently and wearing grim, disgusted looks on their faces. Vida took a breath slowly and closed her eyes. For a moment, she took in the sound of footsteps becoming louder, the smell of sweat cutting through the smell of the rain and the coolness which she could feel emanating from the rain outside of the tunnel. Her foot swept over the dirt and through her boots she felt every dip and every rock embedded. She opened her eyes at the very moment that one man had a sword accelerating straight down towards her head. The world moved slowly as she slid one foot forwards, raised her sword and threw her weight forward, pushing his sword away. While her arms were up, a second man tried to run his own weapon through her chest. Vida twisted her golden weapon and took the first man’s pressure off of his sword as she sidestepped the second man’s attack quickly then threw her leg into the crook of the first man’s knee. He was forced to throw all of his weight into his legs, trying to remain standing, and forgot to throw his sword. The second man had put too much force into his thrust and when Vida sidestepped, his balance was thrown forward. He put his right foot out in front of himself to catch his balance, going into a lunge, but Vida, having already temporarily dealt with the first man, grabbed the second man’s left shoulder from behind and kicked his left foot forward while pulling his shoulder down. He landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him, and Vida knocked him out with a kick to the head then turned to deal with the first man again. Turning, he held his sword out in front of himself, putting force into his spin to contact the blade with Vida’s side. She dropped to the ground and he quickly spun and stomped on her back. She flung her sword behind her before he could run her through or restrain her arms. Her sword sunk itself into the flesh of the man’s leg, making him cry out and lose his balance because of the sudden shift of center. Vida grabbed his shoulder and held him up just long enough to slam the butt of her sword to his head, knocking him out.

“Vida!” Avani called, defeated, from the ground.

Vida turned quickly to aid him. He was on his stomach in the dirt, with one man sprawled out next to him, obviously killed by Avani’s rage and one man about to plunge his sword into Avani’s back. Vida propelled herself at them all, cutting down the man with his sword pointed at Avani. The man’s body then fell forward onto Avani, who struggled to get free from the bloody man.

There was suddenly a scream. Vida and Avani turned and saw Irene, being carried by the man that had searched the shadows.

“Vida!” The boy being pinned down shouted, though he was obviously reluctant to ask for help.

“Vida? The one fighting is Vida?” The soldier searching the shadows murmured in an echo as he approached the young girl cowering in the shadows.

The world froze.

The man’s thoughts raced as he realized where he had heard the name Vida. It suddenly clicked. The king had sent him to collect the book of prophecy, carried, he had informed them, by a lady named Vida. She was incredibly dangerous and vicious, he had been told, especially to the king and his followers and the man had just then witnessed how easily she had defeated the soldiers who he had come with. He tried to picture capturing Vida and forcing her to walk miles to the king- he wouldn’t even be able to approach her, not alone, disregarding the difficulty in making her walk for days, maybe weeks. She obviously cared for the young girl he was approaching, and even if she were not willing to follow the girl if she were taken, the boy running at him definitely would. If he could even get the boy to come to the king without Vida, they would be able to interrogate him on the position of the book carrier. Then they would be able to gather an army that Vida would not be able to defeat. Either way, if the soldier took the girl, he would be able to capture Vida in the same move.

The world started moving again. The man scooped Irene up into his arms, just as she screamed, and he started running out of the tunnel. He knew that he would be pursued now that the two had heard the girl scream, but he didn’t look back, running through the rain without hesitation. He didn’t bother to cover her mouth now that they knew that she was being taken. When he came to a muddy slope, he slid down it, making Irene scream as they plunged down the side of the mountain. The man got to the end of the slope and continued running, along a cliff-side, which had a drop that fell a long ways onto a flat piece of land. Avani ran after the soldier and ran down the muddy slope instead of sliding, but lost his balance and ended up rolling down instead. The rain and mud poured onto him and covered him completely, gluing pine needles to his back. He paid no attention to the dirt covering his body; he only had the thought of saving Irene in his mind. He finally got to the end of the slope and continued pursuing the man with his sister. Avani’s breathing was shallow, his heart beating rapidly and he heard a ringing in his skull. The man was much faster than the poor brother of the terrified child, and was soon was out of reach of Avani, who kept running anyways, hoping still to catch up.

Avani slid and lost his footing, sending him onto his back, tumbling feet first in the direction of the cliff. Digging his fingers into the wet ground, he attempted to slow himself down. The trees were all out of reach, and it was bare ground that he was sliding on. The mud only accelerated his fall and for half a second his feet were dangling, he tried to dig his hands into the ground but all the same was preparing to fly off the side of the cliff. His feet went over, his knees, his legs, and he was about to fall completely. Suddenly, his arms were grabbed from behind him. Vida had taken up Avani’s dagger and plunged it into the mud, grabbing the hilt and using it to hold herself steady as she held Avani up. He dug his boots into the side of the cliff and hauled himself back to the top, then heaved himself up the curved land and dropped himself on his back into the mud and leaves.

Avani let out a scream of frustration and anger, followed by a fist in the mud and a few swear words. His chest heaved and he lay still, using all of his strength to not break down and cry in front of Vida. His thoughts soon turned viciously onto himself. Why was he not strong enough to save Irene? He was constantly being defeated and put down while the people that he cared about were hurt. And he could do nothing about it! He was powerless. Weak. He could do nothing on his own. Nothing. Is there anything now that he found good in the world? Any reason at all that he was stuck on this revolving mass? Suddenly the concept of life itself looked dark and hopeless. Another shout was released into the world, but only Vida and the sad clouds received it. Avani rolled onto his knees and pounded the ground that he had been laying on with his angry fists. He looked down into the indent he had made and realized that his heart felt every hit that the mud was taking, until his insides were just a torn up mass. He whispered another curse to the world.

Vida made her way over to him and put her hand on his shoulder, bringing him back to calmness. Avani closed his eyes and took a deep breath, putting his anger deep inside of himself. He had thrown his hood up to shield himself from the rain leaking through the branches of the tree that Avani had thrown himself under. The rain was still stubbornly trying to reach them, even under the thick branches and leaves of the tree, and every so often there was a drip on either of the two. Vida offered her hand to Avani to help him up to his feet but he opened his eyes and stood slowly on his own, ignoring Vida and instead supporting himself on a tree with his hand flat against the rough bark. Keeping his hand on the tree, he leaned over to touch his shoulder to it. He did not depend on Vida for picking him up off the ground. He would help himself. Vida sighed when she saw the expression on Avani’s face.

“Avani-” She said quietly, about to offer comfort to him.

He turned away from her.

“I don’t need your pity. Keep it for yourself.”

Vida was about to punch him and shout at him that she was giving him no pity, that she was being a friend, when she was reminded of the situation Avani was in. She calmed herself with a deep breath then started mulling over what would happen now that Irene was being taken to the king. Her mind settled on, first of all, stopping to get some extra supplies, because her planned journey to the translator had been elongated into a trip to the king, or at least to the Stone Garden, if that were where the man was now taking Irene. She sighed. She had been sighing way too often recently. Well, she could take Avani to Eisheima, they would be able to load up on some food and fresh water there. Her mind settled on visiting the mountain-dwellers. Yes, they would be welcomed there.

“Avani. I know you want to go and find her. She’s being brought to the Stone Garden’s prison, to the King, but we don’t have enough supplies to last over such a long journey from here to there. If we were to head up the mountain a ways, we would come across the village of Eisheima. They welcome guests and we’ll be able to buy enough food to accommodate for the length of the travelling time.”

Avani made a disapproving noise in his throat, not trusting himself to speak from fear of a scream or a curse escaping his lips. Vida tried to explain.

“It’s only about a day or two’s setback. If we try to make it to the Stone Garden without stopping at the village first, we’ll run out of food and be forced to find another village, which could be almost a week out of our way.”

Avani sighed. It seemed that everyone was sighing too often. He gave up keeping his lips tight.

“Fine. It’s on top of this mountain?”

Vida nodded and Avani began walking up the slope of mud and leaves with his hands stiff by his sides, followed closely by Vida. The disgusting mess of wet dirt worked itself up in their clothing and dried stiff, making each move the two made awkward and tired. Many times one of them would begin to slide off the muddy slope and have to grab onto a nearby tree, covering their hands with sap. The rain began to let up, easing from a downpour to a drizzle, then finally a small sprinkle of raindrops every once and again. Avani’s stomach began to growl at him angrily and Vida passed him an apple that did nothing to calm his hunger. The sky began to turn pink and yellow where the sun was being pulled into the horizon and the air froze slowly on the breath of the two climbers. Once they began to reach the top of the mountain, they could see a village spread out over the long, flat peak. A few people still bustled about the collection of houses and small shops despite the setting sun, closing up shutters and shouting goodbyes to each other.

                Vida took wide steps to make it to the top quickly and, standing in the middle of the square, turned in circles, obviously looking for someone. Avani pulled himself up the mountain top and up the stone steps to sit himself down on the brick wall next to Vida. Suddenly, just as a boy stumbled past them, engrossed in thought, Vida threw out her arm and gently hit him in the chest. She called out.

“Deimos!”

“Vida?” The boy replied, quite taken aback, “When did you get here?”

Vida laughed and Avani looked up to see the stranger. He had curls of hair so blond that in the evening sun, Avani mistook them for silver. His clothing was worn and patched; it was clearly made by someone who knew how to sew well. A basket full of bread and some woven fabric hung at his arm.

“Just a few minutes ago, actually. I’ll explain-” She was about to tell him the eventful few days that they had been through, but he stopped her.

“You’ll explain once you get cleaned up, fed, and brought inside. Come on.”

Avani shifted where he sat, and Deimos noticed him.

“Oh. Are you travelling together?” He asked Avani, who nodded, then continued, “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Deimos Arden.”

“Avani.”

“You both should come to my house, I can give you water to clean yourselves and clothing to use until yours dry. I was just going to make some dinner, there should be enough in the house to cook for all of us, and it’s warmer inside. The sun’s going down now- you need somewhere to stay. Come with me.” He told them and smiled.

Vida nodded and Deimos turned, leading them down twisting stairs in the darkened village. He led them to a house built of wood on a tall foundation, a fairly small building. It had light glowing from the windows, displaying the warm fire that was being tended inside. Deimos climbed the wooden steps up to the front door to swing open the door gently and let Vida and Avani in. There was a happy little old lady sewing by the fire she had built in the fireplace who turned when she heard the door. She set her sewing down and stood to greet Vida warmly. The two women hugged and began speaking quickly to each other, exclaiming how long it had been since they had last met and how they did not seem to have changed at all!

Avani stood rather awkwardly by the door, looking about the small house. He constantly shifted his eyes to everything that he could find to distract himself from being completely awkward and tracking mud into a stranger’s home. The floor by the door was covered with his tracks from his large boots and Avani turned a lip up when he saw the mess. Deimos swung around Avani to enter the living room and rounded a counter to set the bread from his basket next to the gas stove. He plucked the fabric, which was light green with small purple flowers painted onto it, to present to the old lady. She laughed and held it in her worn hands, touching the tiny flowers carefully.

The room was full of happiness and warmth, but Avani stood against the wall, feeling strangely cold. He frowned at his stiff, muddy clothing, at the people he didn’t even know, at the emptiness he felt when he made a move to hold his sister’s tiny hand, at the hunger in his stomach, at the world that appeared to be so bright. Vida, smiling, turned to Avani and saw his frown. Her smile instantly melted off of her face and her shoulders fell. She took a step toward him, reaching out a hand, when his voice echoed in her mind. “I don’t need your pity,” it told her, and she stopped in her tracks. The heart in her chest seemed to fall down into the pit of her stomach because she knew that she needed to comfort her friend but all that he would do was push her away. She furrowed her eyebrows and marched to Avani’s side.

“This isn’t pity, you butt.” She told him as she pulled him into her arms in a hug.

He stood stiffly for a moment, realizing what an impact his harsh words had made on Vida. Then he wrapped his arms around Vida and held shame in his eyes that he slowly closed. Vida stepped back and put her hands on her hips, looking Avani in the face. He looked down to the dirty floor and suddenly his train of thought halted when he realized his deep hatred for mud. His nose crinkled and he tried to sever his glare from the floor. He looked up to see Vida laughing and throwing her head back at his reaction to the mud. She clapped him on the shoulder and turned to Deimos with a smile, calling to him.

“Deimos! Friend! Can we get cleaned up now?”

Deimos realized how uncomfortable they must have been and nodded his head quickly, telling them, “Of course! Go to the room down the hall, the first on the right! There are extra clothes in the cupboard.”

Avani hurried down to the doorway that he was instructed to and quickly filled the footed bath with warm water. The world brightened a tiny bit. Just a little, but any situation will look lighter when one is not forced to wear clothes full of mud. He felt strange once he was dried and dressed in Deimos’s clothing, but it may have been from intruding on a stranger’s life with the only person that he knew being someone that he could hardly remember. He sighed at his reflection and left the small bathroom to invade, once again, Deimos’s living room. Vida slipped into the room to clean herself as well as Avani left, and he was left alone with the people he knew nothing about. Sitting quietly onto a large chair by the fireplace, he began to talk with Deimos and the woman.

                As soon as Avani sat, the woman first spoke to him, introducing herself.

“I am so terribly sorry, dear! I didn’t introduce myself to you, how unwelcome you must feel- don’t worry, you are completely welcome to stay here! I’m Mrs. Cheverill, but you can call me anything and I’ll respond,” she said with a smile, “Tell me, hon, what’s your name?”

“Avani,” He responded, “Thank you so much for allowing me to stay in your home.”

“Oh, don’t be thanking me, it was Deimos who built the place. He put so much work into it!”

“I made it for the two of us because she,” He nodded to the woman, “was having such trouble taking care of herself that I thought it would be easier for everyone if I helped her out. She is my grandmother, after all. We don’t share a name, but we’re family.”

He smiled modestly. They all spoke for a while, warm by the fire, just discussing little things.

“So how long have you two lived here?” Avani asked awkwardly, struggling to continue small talk.

“About ten years, just as long as the king has been sending his men out to villages. That’s what began this village here, you know.” The woman responded, “The old crown hasn’t found us yet- or at least bothered to send men up here yet. We light fires only at night, so that he won’t see the smoke, and we’re so far away from anything that he hasn’t noticed us.”

“The king wants to find villages?” Avani muttered.

Deimos and Mrs. Cheverill gaped at Avani for a moment before Deimos responded.

“Yes. He wants to find everything. He’s a bit of a control freak. He’s been driving the people out of their homes, to make room for his subjects from Magnesse. Sometimes his soldiers will set fire to villages, if the people refuse to leave. Pardon me asking, but are you new in Alba?”

Deimos sighed, not knowing exactly how to respond, but said, “I don’t think so- you see, I woke up in the Glass Library and Vida explained that an archer shot me and when I fell, I lost a few years of my memory.”

Just as she was mentioned, Vida emerged from the bathroom, still dripping wet from cleaning the mud off of herself.

“Speak of the devil!” Mrs. Cheverill laughed.

“Yes, Avani’s right,” She added to Deimos, “Kieran shot him. We were asking him to translate the book when he got angry. Avani tried to step in between Kieran and myself, to make peace, but that just made him angrier. So Avani was shot off of a ledge of this mountain, just far enough to lose some memories in the impact of hitting his head. He thankfully didn’t break anything.”

“Kieran.” Deimos laughed dryly and his eyes narrowed, “I have tolerance for a lot of people, but he’s…”

Vida explained to Deimos what had happened from the beginning, up until reaching the tip of the mountain, where she came in contact with Deimos. Once she had finally finished her story, it had been dark for far too long and everyone was beginning to feel their eyelids slowly falling. They decided to go to bed and discuss plans for any further travelling in the new light of the next morning. Vida and Avani were led down the hallway and given the small guest bedroom, in which there was one small mat spread out over the floor. Deimos threw them each a blanket and wished them a good night of sleep as he continued down the hallway to a separate bedroom. Avani gave Vida the mat and he lay on the bare floor across the room, hoping that he would be able to get to sleep on the hard, flat wood.

                The next morning, there was a large knot in Avani’s back that wouldn’t stop nagging at him. He ignored it the best that he could and grumbled at the bright sunlight leaping into the room through the cracks of the shutters fitted on the window. He flipped onto his side, turning to face the guest room and blink the sleepiness out of his eyes. An abandoned mat lay in an empty room, staring back at Avani, who pushed himself up off of the floor and out from under his thin blanket. He yawned and stretched his back in a cat-like position, trying to pull the soreness away from his aching body. When he got to his feet, his vision blurred and he was forced to prop himself up on the smooth wood wall closest to him, one hand touching the gentle texture. He touched his forehead to it as he waited for the spots in front of his vision to clear.

Avani began walking as his vision allowed, strolling into the small living room of the log cabin. He found Vida and Deimos completely packed for a long journey, and Mrs. Cheverill speaking in a hushed voice to them. Avani cleared his throat and everyone’s head turned in his direction. Deimos smiled and adjusted his backpack while Vida threw Avani a small loaf of bread.

“Deimos, you’re coming with us?” Avani asked plainly, wondering why he wasn’t surprised.

Deimos nodded quickly, saying, “Is that okay with you? I can pick locks and I’m a decent fighter. I mean if you’re going to find your sister then you’re going to need more swords to put to work in your fight. I figured you could use all the help that you can find, going up against the king.”

“I don’t care,” Avani sighed and continued, “I honestly don’t care who or what comes with us as long as we can get my sister back.”

There was a pause in the room that made the cool morning sounds of the mountain come to life.

Vida sighed, “Let’s get going, then.”

Avani was given a backpack full of supplies then pulled into a hug by Mrs. Cheverill, who told him to be careful and not do anything stupid. Avani wanted to roll his eyes, thinking that the entire trip itself was stupid- they were going to invade a swarm of the king’s men for one little girl and they were pretending that they were able to. Vida and Avani had hardly been able to take on the five men in the train tunnel, let alone how many hundreds there were sure to be at the Stone Garden. But either way, Avani hugged the old woman and smiled at her, thanking her again, pretending like nothing was wrong. She shooed them out the door once the goodbyes began to drag on, wishing them a good trip and a careful fight.

     Once down the wooden stairs, the group of three began descending the mountain, following the winding stone path until it ended. They continued down the mountain until they reached the tunnel for the train, where there was kicked up mud and a tense air still hanging. Avani paused and his breathing began to quicken. Vida put her hand on his arm and took a deep breath, mirrored by Avani when he calmed down.

     Vida led the group through the tunnel and out through the other side, following the train tracks. They walked along the metal path which had begun to lead them down the mountain. It was slowly leaving the mud and slithering into patches of grass. Trees were sprinkled around the side of the path, and more bushes appeared as they continued walking. The mud had almost dried and the three adventurers sank into it with every step that they took, slowing them just slightly. The birds were in the trees, singing in the morning light and flitting around from tree to tree. Avani slowly inhaled the crisp air and held his breath in his lungs for a moment, then exhaled, not ready to face the long day ahead of him, but planning to face it anyways.

     Then there was an arrow across Avani's chest, grazing him just enough for him to feel the fletching whip his shirt. He attempted to jerk backwards, which resulted in falling in the wet dirt on his bottom. He raised his eyes to the space on the train tracks where a boy had stepped, blocking the way of the three climbers’ journey.

     The boy standing in the path was wearing a confident and sneering smile as he held his bow by his side proudly. He was just slightly pale and had pitch black hair that was swept up, twisting slightly as it covered his head. Standing boldly, with a smile on his face that seemed to look down on the entire world, the boy leaned forward slightly as he spoke.

He spoke slowly, "Hello," he smiled a bit wider, "If I were to kill you all without warning, no one would know. But I am a fair person. So I'll give you a chance to live before I kill anyone."

Vida groaned rather loudly and glared at the boy, but didn’t reply.

"You just won't die, will you, Avani?" The boy spat at Avani, who was watching with curiosity.

Something in Avani's mind seemed to click as he looked into the face of the boy.

He saw himself falling, feeling a sting in his shoulder, staring up at the top of the ledge he was falling from. He saw the face of a smiling boy, with a confident stance and sweeping black hair. Avani’s own head was connecting with the dry ground, his brain seemed to rattle around in his very skull. Avani felt himself stop falling, landing on his bottom in the damp dirt in front of the strange boy in the road. He stood quickly, pulling his dagger from his belt and holding it pointed straight at the boy's throat. Avani had stepped so far forward when he launched himself from his sitting position that only a small jerk of his hand would send the dagger into the boy’s throat.

"Kieran." Avani growled.

The boy in the road stepped far back with one foot and bowed with twirls of his hands, saying, "At your service!"

Deimos spat at Kieran’s feet, stepping forward with one foot and pulling a large silver sword from its sheath. He stood with a disgusted look on his face. Kieran whipped an arrow from its quiver mounted on his back and strung it with silent quickness in response. Vida wrapped her hand around her sword hilt, beginning to pull the golden weapon, and stepped in front of Deimos and Avani, facing Kieran, who dropped his smile slightly. As much as she hated Kieran, someone had to be the one to make peace.

"Lower your weapon," She growled, then added, "All of you. Put them down. We can't afford to repeat the past."

Kieran tilted his head back and narrowed his eyes, saying with venom, "After you, honey."

Vida rolled her hand up and off of the golden hilt of her sword. Deimos made an angry noise in the back of his throat and slammed his sword back in its sheath. Kieran dipped his bow in the direction of Avani, gesturing to his ribbon-hilted dagger.

"You plan on stabbing me faster than I can shoot?" Kieran asked him challengingly.

Avani smiled and responded, "I plan on stabbing you faster than you can think."

But, even so, he placed his small dagger back into its sheath and let his shoulders fall just slightly.

"Why are you here, Kieran?" Vida asked once he slid his arrow back into its quiver and lowered his long bow.

"I might ask you just the same question. I was heading up the mountain to, well-" he cleared his throat, "Pay a visit to a friend."

"If you dare lay a finger on any person in that entire village, I swear, I will tear your skin from your sorry flesh." Deimos snarled.

Kieran faked a sorry smile.

"What a nice invitation, but I think I'll pass,” then he turned to Vida and Avani, “What are you doing on the mountain?”

"We were just going down." Avani said carelessly.

Kieran raised an eyebrow.

"Why would you want to do that?"

Vida stared at him and blinked, then asked him very quietly and swiftly, “Do you honestly think that you can insult me and the people I care about, deny helping the people of Alba, shoot my friend, terrify his sister, ambush us and nearly shoot him again- then get us to answer honestly to you- Of our own free will?”

“The kind of people you lot are, yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if you trusted me with anything and everything.” Kieran replied truthfully.

Avani rolled his eyes and raised his chin so that he would be looking down on Kieran.

“Well, we’re going down and that’s all that you need to know. We can’t afford to waste any more good time on people like you, so we’ll be going now.” He said loudly.

“Oh! I understand! ‘Shoot my friend, terrify his sister’!” Kieran quoted Vida and continued in his revelation, “His sister, that’s what this is! She isn’t here with you is she? That’s why you’re all wound up,” He looked at Avani, “I’m sorry, I’m a bit slow- but I understand now! So she was taken by the king?” And when the group of three exchanged glances, “So you’re headed to the Stone Garden, right?”

“My sister is resting in the village at the top of the hill, safe with people that we trust. We’re taking a short trip down but we’ll be back with her soon.” Avani replied quickly, not exactly sure why he was lying but felt it to be the best thing to do.

“Come on, you could never bear to leave her side.” Kieran smirked.

“Yes. We’re going to the Stone Garden.” Vida said quietly.

Avani turned and shouted, “Vida!”

“I’m sorry, Avani, but he already knows anyway. And-” She turned to Kieran, “We need his help.”

“Is it the book?” Kieran asked with a raised eyebrow and a small smile.

“Yes. I was planning on taking it to Aaron Bristowe but he’s too far out of our way now, and we need the book to be translated by the time we reach the Stone Garden. Now that we’ve run into you, we need you to translate.”

“You need little old me?” Kieran’s smile elongated.

Vida sighed and told him reluctantly, “Yes, Kieran. Will you help us?”

Avani spun Vida around by her shoulder and marched her several good sized paces away from Kieran.

He harshly whispered at her, “Are you insane? I won’t accept any help from him! And what do you think- he’s just going to keep all of that information a secret? If the book is really that important, then you should be doing everything that you can to keep it as far away from him as possible!”

“Maybe you’re right. But the chances of the king taking the book from us when we’re in the Stone Garden are too high for comfort- the old crown is going to get the information either way. Don’t you think that we should try to understand it before he can get it, even if we can only be ahead of him for a few days? Won’t that help us to get to Irene- the information could tell us how!”

Deimos interjected while he walked over to join Avani and Vida, “I agree with Avani on this one, Vida. I’m sorry. This is just way too important to be in the hands of Kieran.”

“This is not a matter for you,” Vida said, getting frustrated, “This is the book that was placed into my care because I know what to best do to carry out what it says.”

“This is a matter that concerns all of Alba. We can’t let one person make such an impactful decision alone.” Deimos put in.

Vida made a frustrated noise and ran her hands through her dark hair while she sighed deeply.

“Okay. Listen. The king will get the book hand-delivered to him either way. Isn’t it better if we use every advantage to our benefit? We can find out before him! In fact, we can just take Kieran with us so he won’t have a chance to tell anyone anything.”

“How long can we drag him around for? Until he dies? Until whatever that book says is no longer relevant to Alba- in hundreds of years, after the old crown has died?”

“Until we know that he can be trusted!”

“People like him never change, Vida. He will never be trustworthy.”

“They never can or never try?” Vida whispered back, “He will try! We’ll convince him to!”

Avani glanced back at Kieran, still standing, holding his bow, in the middle of the road. Kieran’s smile had melted off his face and he suddenly looked extremely out of place. Suddenly, Kieran noticed that Avani was looking over his shoulder, and he smirked.

Kieran shouted over to them, “I vote that we translate it now! We’re tied!”

Avani and Deimos heaved a sigh and Avani shouted back, “You don’t get a vote, Kieran!”

Vida puffed out a small laugh and rolled her eyes.

She turned back to Avani and Deimos, saying, “Let’s bring him until we get Irene back. Then if he still isn’t trustworthy, we can… cross that bridge when we come to it. He can translate and we can keep him quiet- everybody wins.”

The boys saw plainly that Vida was not about to change her mind, so they exchanged a glance and agreed with her conditions. She smiled at them and turned back to Kieran, walking back over to where he was tapping his toe, waiting for them.

“As I was saying. Yes, we need you. Will you help us?”

Kieran eyed Avani and Deimos’s facial expressions curiously, wondering what she had said to convince them to consent.

“What are your conditions?” He lifted his face and raised an eyebrow.

“Come to the Stone Garden- we can’t afford to stop and wait for you to translate, so you’ll have to come with us. Translate the book on the way then tell us what it says. You will tell no one besides those of us standing here. Help us to get the girl back then you may go and do what you wish.”

“So why should I?” He twitched a corner of his mouth up, hoping to find something of value in the offer.

“Because you will have access to an entire book’s worth of valuable information. We will provide you with food and water and we’ll help you how we can,” Vida said and when Kieran rolled his eyes, she snipped, “Oh, what of value do you think we have with us? How much can we possibly offer you?”

Kieran shifted his stance and asked slowly, “Once you get the girl back, I still need to keep quiet about what the book says?”

“Yes.” Deimos answered quickly.

“Or you’ll kill me.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.” Avani answered this time.

Vida gasped and lifted her hands in question, but Kieran put his hand out, palm down, to dismiss her surprise, in a way of acknowledging the possibility of his murder.

“As expected,” He replied, “But not very welcoming.”

“I can promise you that you will not be harmed by Avani or Deimos unless you do something that goes against our agreement. Within the limits of being rational.” Vida attempted to patch up the breaking negotiation.

“Being rational as in not killing anyone on your side, not lighting forest fires, not destroying the book. That kind of rational?” And when the group nodded, “Good, I am a rational person. This will work out well.”

The three adventurers facing Kieran all blinked in shock.

“So you accept?”

“Well, yes.” Kieran acted like it was perfectly normal.

Blinks of shock turned into tilted heads.

“Really?”

“Yeah, why shouldn’t I?” Kieran replied.

“Well. Okay. Um… Great. Let’s get going, yes?” Vida looked at Kieran with a raised eyebrow but began walking down the train tracks.

Avani and Deimos gaped at each other in shock, but followed Vida’s lead. Kieran was scolded by Avani for walking behind everyone and he had to receive an explanation that, “It’s like you’re about to shoot us all in our backs! Walk in the middle, won’t you!”

So he walked with them down the train tracks, in the middle. He was after Vida, who did not trust Kieran, but trusted Avani and Deimos to be fast enough to tackle him if he made a move to shoot her, and before Avani and Deimos, who less than trusted him. They walked along the calm path together, feeling extremely strange in their group of three friends and one sworn enemy. The grass steadily thickened as they descended, and soon they were almost at the bottom of the huge mountain. They looked out at the land they were setting out to cross- the mountains behind them, but a forest spreading around the bottoms of some of the bases of the mountains, coming together and approaching the group. There was a lake some ways away which was being fed into by a spring on top of the mountain they had just come down from. The train tracks weaved around all of the obstacles, creating an ideal pathway to follow.

                Suddenly, there was a group of three men that turned onto the same path as the four adventurers, and they began climbing up the mountain, following the train tracks in the opposite direction. One of the men tripped and fell into Vida, apologizing greatly and placing his hands on her shoulders to steady her. He clapped her on the shoulder and gave her a dazzling smile before hurrying off to join the rest of his group. Vida tilted her head slightly at the men, but just shrugged to herself and continued walking. The group walked on for some time before Kieran stopped.

“Do you still have everything in your bag?” He asked quickly.

“Um-” Vida swung her backpack from her shoulders and opened it, then shouted an angry, frustrated groan, “The book!”

Everyone took off running.

“Out of everything they could have taken-” shouted an angry Vida, sprinting in the direction they had seen the men going.

“Do they even know its value?” Deimos gasped.

Avani panted, “We just got down from that stupid mountain!”

“Just run!” Kieran shouted and rolled his eyes.

The men had run into a side path somewhere, so running along the train tracks would not help the group. Instead, they split up and Deimos and Vida scanned the trees and shrubs along the path while Avani and Kieran ran ahead to try and find the men. They ran until their lungs were on fire and their legs were strained to the point of falling over.

Avani, after a while of running, was short of breath and stopped along the dirt path, leaning over with his hands on his knees to support himself. He gasped for Kieran, who stopped and looked back at him, then quickly spoke.

“I can’t wait- this is too important. I can’t be held back by you, we might lose them.”

“No, I don’t trust you to do this-” Avani huffed in between breaths, “How do I know you won’t get the book and run off with it? No, you’re staying with me.”

“This book determines the fate of all of Alba. This is more than I would dare to fool with. I have promised you that I accept your conditions, now let me prove it. I’m going.” Kieran spoke and then turned to start running up the path again.

“Stop! Stop running! Get back here, Kieran!” Avani attempted to follow Kieran, but he clutched his side in pain and stopped running abruptly.

Kieran ran up the train tracks and examined the bushes as he went, hoping to catch some sign of the three men who had robbed them. Thinking back, he remembered that two of the three men wore gray cloaks and one had worn red. He trained his eyes to sort out the colors he needed from the forest greens that dotted the mountain path. A splash of gray was spotted every once in a while, but often it was merely the color of a boulder, so when he saw the gray cloak of one of the men, hiding in a bush, Kieran almost overlooked it. But then the gray spot quivered slightly and Avani stopped in his tracks. Soon there was an arrow docked on his bowstring, pulled back taut and ready to run through flesh. Pointing the bow at the gray spot, Kieran carefully stepped over to the bush, looking either way for the man’s company. When he saw no one, Kieran used his foot to push the branches of the shrub aside, revealing a man cowering behind a cloak. The man slowly looked up at Kieran, who grimaced, and let his cloak fall as he climbed to his knees.

“Where’s the book you’ve taken?” Kieran demanded.

“On it’s way to King Erebus in exchange for the money he’s promised.”

“Who are you?”

“Me? I’m nobody. You shouldn’t be worrying about me. But you probably should be worrying about the man behind you, about to knock you out.”

Kieran dropped to the dusty ground as he felt a blunt object swing above his head.

“Thanks for the heads-up.” He told the man on his knees with a smile before jumping back to his feet.

He turned to face the second man and saw that he wielded a large, rather heavy log with his powerful grip. Kieran couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

“Why’re you smiling, freak?” The man that had swung the log shouted at Kieran when he saw the grin that he was wearing.

“Are you kidding? I live for this!” Kieran laughed as he lifted his bow.

The man in the bushes rose to his feet and drew a sword from the sheath hanging at his side. He made a move to stab Kieran, who turned, sidestepped, and pointed his bow with the tip almost touching the heart of the man, but did not shoot.

“Oh, come on. If I were playing by the rules, you’d be dead right now. You can do better, I believe in you!” Kieran told the man.

“Why aren’t you... playing by the rules?” The man muttered as he and his friend began circling Kieran.

“Because I don’t ever get to play!” Kieran shouted, “I want this to last!”

The man with the log attempted to force his large piece of wood into the back Kieran’s head. Kieran leaned forward to duck and, when the man’s balance was lost in a spiral forward, grabbed a fistful of the man’s hair and yanked it down to the dusty ground. The man landed face-first in the dirt and laid there for a moment in defeat before getting to his feet again. The man in the gray cloak attacked once again, striking out with his sword, which was easily avoided by Kieran. The men continued to attack and Kieran continued to avoid killing them. He took a moment to keep one eye on the men and one eye on the pathway, waiting for a third man to attack as well. When no third man came, Kieran confirmed his situation and spoke to the two men.

“On second thought, gentlemen, I really must be going, because there is a book that I really would like to read waiting for me. As much fun as this is, I must be going.”

Kieran let loose two arrows and began running once again.

His eyebrows furrowed at the death of two men at his own hands, but he pushed it aside, telling himself that it was not the time or place to dwell on such things. On the incline, Kieran felt his heart pumping blood fiercely and his breath shooting through his icy throat, but he kept running, determined to find the book. Wondering what could be inside of the stone cover lifted his legs up when he felt like falling down into the dirt and laying there for an eternity. He thought of all of the possibilities, pumping them through his brain with every stride he took. It could be instructions. It could be a prophecy. It could be history. It could be about the king. It could be anything and anything relevant to Alba, and in fact, it most definitely was. With every thought, his legs got lighter and he was able to run for just a few more seconds. He had been running for what felt like a half an hour when he finally met another person on the road.

Immediately, Kieran recognized him as the one who had bumped into Vida and stolen the book, making off with it. The person, who was not young enough to be a boy yet not old enough to be a man, was panting with one hand over his racing heart and one hand clutching a stone book. He had stopped when he saw Kieran, knowing that he was unable to outrun him. The person had turned to face Kieran, who stopped to confront him.

“Oh,” the person panted, “What a long run, my goodness!”

“Do you have any? Goodness, I mean.” Kieran smirked through his tired breathing.

“Ahaha, very funny. I think you would be pleasantly surprised, if you knew.”

“I dare you to surprise me.”

The person shrugged.

There were faint, hurried footsteps approaching and Kieran silently assumed them to belong to Avani, Deimos and Vida.

“Yes, because you are so noble,” Began Kieran, “stealing a book that determines the well-being of the entire kingdom off of a woman who knows nothing of your tricks. How very good of you.”

“Isn’t that considered to be good, to the King? Shouldn’t we serve our King with every part of ourselves, even if it means stooping to stealing from women? Doesn’t that just prove our devotion to our ruler? And either way, that woman is an adversary to the King, I should have killed her then and there, but I really do hate the sight of blood.”

Kieran grimaced in disgust and gathered himself to reply, “Yes, it does prove your devotion, but some might argue that that would not be considered good. Most sane people would argue that, in fact.”

“Oh. Well consider me utterly insane as we continue our conversation, then.” The person laughed.

“I assumed that about you far before just now, don’t worry. And I doubt our conversation will last much longer.” Kieran murmurred.

He kept a bare hand on his bow, flexing his fingers, ready at any moment to whip an arrow from his quiver and string it silently onto his weapon.

“But, I really must ask- Why are you following me?” The person asked quietly.

“Isn’t it obvious? I hold an interest for the book you have.”

The footsteps were approaching Kieran and the thief.

“Well, yes, obviously, but…” The person muttered.

Kieran rolled his eyes.

“What’s your name, thief?”

The person cleared his throat, “Agro Foley, but I’m not a thief.”

“You’re not a thief?”

“No, I’m giving to the King back what is his property.” Agro pulled back his shoulders and stood tall, confident in his king.

The footsteps had nearly arrived.

“Yes. How despicable of you to do that.” Kieran said as he strung an arrow.

Argo, with an open mouth to reply to Kieran, gasped as he was impaled by Kieran’s weapon, and soon after he lay on the dirt, bleeding out of a now silent heart.

Vida ran up beside Kieran, ready to fight, and gasped when she got a glimpse of Kieran’s hard face looking down on the dead man, who had not even drawn his sword. Deimos and Avani followed Vida and stared at Kieran with more distrust than ever as he bent down to pick up the book, taking it from the bleeding man’s hands. It was splattered with a small puddle of blood, which Kieran placed a cold finger on, touching the blood of the man he had killed. Kieran stood with a rigid, cold look in his gray eyes and handed the book back to Vida, who sighed and opened it with care. She exhaled sadly when she saw the state that the precious book was in. The stone cover was the same as always, but the inside pages had been flipped through carelessly and torn in many places. There were several complete pages missing, and the edges of most of the pages were covered in blood. Vida sighed but closed the book gently and slung her backpack onto her knee to replace the book in it.

                Once the book was safely returned, the group headed back down the mountain, walking more slowly than when they had first descended it. They had not even begun the journey and they had already felt their share of death, and all departed the bleeding man with a more perceptive look in their eyes. They knew how a man behaved when he was run through the heart with a weapon, and they knew the look he would hold in his fading eyes when he died in the dirt like an animal. The four of them began to feel the cruelness of the world they all lived in, a place where one may take another’s life without receiving a reaction from anyone. Kieran looked down at his hands, hands that had killed three men just in that morning, and he felt his heart fill up with lead and it slowly sank down into his stomach. Those hands that would rejoice to be given a pencil, an instrument, a book, but instead would be constantly forced into an embrace with an arrow as the hands would pull back the string of the bow and take yet another life. He stared at his hands with a sadness that he would never admit to, because, after all, this was a world where death received no reaction.