everything

The Story of a Phoenix
By Kaitlyn Pyer
JPrefaceL
The cube-shaped planet lives in peace. Each of its six sides worked in harmony with each other. The only thing keeping the sides together was the Stone. The Stone is a magical object that had been split into six pieces, one for each side of the planet. Each of the shards of the Stone was hidden on a different side of the planet, making it nearly impossible to find. If anyone found all of the Stone, they would control the planet. That’s why the Stone was hidden and protected by many dangerous obstacles.
Each of the sides is different. The beings that inhabit the sides are different also, with special traits to help them live in their habitat well.
The first side is the oceans, called Garvish by the inhabitants, is the side on the top. Waterwaifs live here. Waterwaifs are creatures that are about four feet tall, with webbed feet and hands. They are light blue in color, with eyes of a deeper blue. Waterwaifs think of life as a joke. You will hardly ever have a straight conversation with one, making them hard to talk to.
The second side is called Valenque, meaning Snow Lands or the Snowy Place. Snow covers the land, with blizzards happening almost every day. The people who live here are made of ice. These people are called Ice-elves, for their great resemblance to elves. They can move like elves do, but if they leave the Valenque, they melt. They are a smoky ice color. Their eyes are a startling red. They are very kind people, who will welcome almost anyone into their homes. They hunt the bison-like animals that roam the snow lands, using every part for a good use. They save the skins for guests that visit them.
Estubia is the third side. Estubia means fields, or plains. This level land is full of tall, beige colored grass. Small towns and villages dot the landscape. Most of the population consists of farmers, though, so none of the towns are big enough to call a city. Elves are the native of this land. Calm and fair, elves are warm-hearted people who like to have large families.
The next side is filled with large, abundant forests. This tree-covered land is called Shalin. Two different kinds of people live here. First, there are the Tiger People. These half-human, half-tiger individuals are mildly aggressive, but, if you prove your worthiness, they will trust and welcome you into their community. They have the ears and whiskers of a tiger, but otherwise their head is human. They have the body of a human and a tiger tail. Their hands and feet are shaped like a tiger’s paws and covered in yellow-orange hair, but their fingers are long like a human’s. The other inhabitant of the forests is goblins. Goblins are kind and well mannered. With their large, mushy bodies and small green hairs that cover every inch of their bodies, they look like large piles of moldy dough that has been shaped into some sort of person. They live in tree houses scattered across the thick forests. Goblins and Tiger People get along well, though they do not prefer to interact.
The deserts, otherwise known as Reaknos, lie on the bottom of the cube. This dry land is filled with large dunes and sand hills. The only people who find this land worthy of living are the Sandbuilders. The Sandbuilders are cheerful, fun-loving people. They have lots of holidays; the more parties the better, as they say. They love to have outsiders join in their festivities. Sandbuilders are nomadic. They travel in a pattern that visits the holy places that they go for holidays and festivals.
Valenque is the hot, volcano-covered side. Fires erupt through fissures that run along the black ground. There are seventy-three active volcanoes, and each of them erupts almost every day. The land is a hard place to live, so the only inhabitants of this land are the Firepeople. These fire-resistant elf-like beings are very aggressive. If they catch you anywhere near their land, you are as good as dead.
As long as the people of each side stay on their own land, no body gets hurt. It is an understood rule that one side does not invade another’s territory. If this happens, and war breaks out, the five sides will ban together and totally wipe out the offending side. This is stated in the Book of All Magic, which is hidden somewhere in the planet’s center.
JPart One: EstubiaL
I woke up, panting and sweating. As I tried to recall my dream, it slipped away. Again. I dreamed this same dream every night, I knew it, but I could never remember the dream. It was a nightmare. If only I could remember it….
I pulled myself to a sitting position. Shaking my head to clear it, I pulled the covers back and sighed. My room was cold, as it always is during early spring. I half ran to my drawer. Pulling out my clothes for the day, I put my socks on first. I then dressed in my ragged, hand-me-down clothing. When I was dressed in my warmest clothes, I was still cold. Shivering, I headed down the stairs.
“There Phoenix is,” my father said. I looked around the crowded kitchen table and cringed. I was the last one to come down, which had happened every night since the dream first came. I knew that my siblings would be angry with me because, once again, they had to take on my morning chores because I was sleeping. If they only knew about the dream, they would understand, I thought. But I can’t tell them because I couldn’t even explain it to myself.
Lydia came to my seat with a steaming breakfast. I smiled at her as I took the food. Lydia was so sweet. She had… problems. She wasn’t nearly as smart as any of us, but she was sweet, understanding, and so wonderful. I suppose I should tell you about my family.
There are eight of us kids. The oldest, at twenty-three, is Estin. Then there is Lylyia, who is my twenty-year-old sister. I come next, Phoenix, eighteen in a month. Reyfold comes next. He just turned sixteen last week. Elmonga is next. She is fourteen, and very vain. After Elmonga comes Elsiea, who is thirteen. Then come Parsnip and Turnip. They are ten, twins, and big trouble. After that’s Lydia, the sweetest of all. She has problems in her brain. She outshines us all, though. Lydia never gets mad and is always willing to help. Lydia is nine now, though she cleans the house and cooks everything. Merryn is the last. She is seven. My mother died while giving birth to Merryn, and Merryn blames herself for mother’s death. No one can convince her that her life was not the sole cause of Mother’s death.
“Slept late again, Phoenix,” my father said with a disappointed frown. “This needs to stop happening. Your siblings can’t continue to do your morning chores.”
“I… I’m sorry, Father, it’s just…” I began, but Father’s stern voice cut me off.
“You had those nightmares again. The ones that you can’t tell us about, right?” he more stated than asked. I nodded, staring at my plate. “For causing your hardworking, obedient siblings to take over your chores, you will be doing all of the work for the rest of the week.” I gasped. Surely he couldn’t, wouldn’t, make me do this. It was too much work for one girl to do! “Is that understood?” Father asked, glaring at me.
“Yes… yes, Father. I understand.” My voice sounded small, weak, defeated.
“Father, please, let me help her,” said Reyfold.
“No, son. She must do this herself. You are not to help her at all.”
“I get it,” Reyfold spat, apparently angry at Father for this unfair punishment.
We ate the rest of our meal in tense silence. When I had eaten all I could force myself to eat, I stood up and loudly put my dishes away. I walked out of the house to do everyone’s chores.
The chores took all day, leaving me drained and sweaty. I fell into my bed, still dressed, and fell asleep instantly. Sadly, the dreams came even though I was so worn out.

I sat up in my bed, a feverish desire to stop it, this thing that was coming. Panting, I stood up and rushed around my room wildly and blindly. How I could I stop it? I hoped the fast motion would help me think of a way… Suddenly, I stopped, realizing something. I had remembered the dream. I knew it now; couldn’t stop it from running through my mind. I sat down on the edge of my bed and took a few deep, calming breaths. I thought through the dream slowly.
I was standing at the edge of our property, looking back at the farm with a downcast face. A bag, containing my few personal belongings, I guessed, sat at my feet. The house – my house – was burning. I could hear the screams of my family inside. Yet I stood there, not moving, not going to help them, just standing. Soon I became aware of something in my hand. I looked at it, not believe what it was. It was a burning torch. I was the one who started the fire. It was me. Why had I done this? I did not know. All I could think about was getting away… far away. I had to escape the horrible burning house before the fire spread. The waist-high grass around me would soon ignite, I knew this. I started to run. I ran and ran and ran, until I could run no more. I had reached the end of the world. I plunged off of the cliff into the nothingness below. I fell, deeper and deeper into the black void. Then, I hit something. A hand. A human hand was holding me. I looked up into the face of the person. There was no face, just a smear of skin where the features should have been. I could hear insane laughter, and, too my horror, the person who was holding me started flinging my body up into the air… now catching me, now throwing me back up. I went up, just to crash down into the palm of the stranger again and again, unable to stop it, unable to move. Then the dream ended. That was all.
I knew the dream would come true sooner or later. It made no sense, but I knew. All I could think about was stopping the dream. After an hour or so, I came up with a solution. I had to leave. That was the only way. I had to pack my stuff and leave. I stood, very calm, and started silently stripping my room of everything I could fit into the small bag that I had. Suddenly, a thought came to me. How was I going to explain this to my family? I couldn’t just pack and leave, or they might worry about me. I had to write them a note. Picking up a stray sheet of paper and some charcoal, I started scratching letters onto the page.
Dear family, I wrote, I must leave you for reasons I can’t explain. I have taken a small amount of cash to help me along my way. I have also taken some food and our family picture so that I can have a small token to remind me of you. I know you won’t understand no matter what I say. Please do not go out searching for me. Do not tell anyone I’m gone. I believe that you are in danger while I’m here. Please, please let me leave peacefully. I may or may not see you again, but if I do, I’ll explain everything the best that I can. With much love, Phoenix.
I hoped that they would read this and not search for me. That would just make it more dangerous to them. I finished packing quickly and headed out the door. I walked a few feet from the house, looked around me, and sighed. I would never get anywhere on foot. I would have to take Midgen. Midgen was one of our four horses. A sturdy palomino mare, not exactly in her prime. She was the least valuable of our horses. I figured that my family would want me to take her, so I could make my long journey safely.
I dashed into the house and picked up the sheet of paper I had written on. Ps. I have taken Midgen so that I can make it to wherever I’m going. Please do not be angry. I scrawled. I went back outside and into the barn. I readied Midgen, who objected to being awoken early.
Finally, we rode off into the growing sunlight. I glanced back at my home, wondering if this would be the last I ever saw of it.

It was the eighth day of my journey. I knew this because of a small notebook and charcoal pencil that I had thought to bring along. The first page of the notebook was to mark the days on: one tally mark per day. Eight tally marks now sat on the first line of the page. I had not found a use for the other pages yet, but I figured that I could write important things down on there.
Midgen and I stopped at a stream that sang its way through the grass. This was the first running water I had seen since I left. (I had been drinking warm, old water that I had packed in a bottle. Strangely, the water never ran out. It just got grosser and grosser as time wore on.) Delighted by the stream, I hurriedly ripped off my clothing and threw it into the water. I waded in after the bundle, laughing. I caught my clothes and washed them best I could.
Having laid my clothes out on the bank of the stream, I got back into the water and started to wash away the dirt, sweat, and stress of my journey. I could tell that Midgen was enjoying this break also. I finished in the stream and got out. I made sure that I had changed the water in the bottle, pulled out fresh clothes from my bag, dressed, and laid myself out on the soft grass.
I felt my eyes growing heavy. I tried to keep myself awake, but it was no use. My body was not use to the lack of sleep, so I was soon out. Thankfully, the dream stayed away. I relished my first peaceful sleep in months.
I awoke to someone shaking my shoulder roughly. I opened my eyes and screamed.
“Who are you?” I bellowed at the man who had been shaking me. “What are you doing here?”
“I just helped you! I have been letting you sleep, taking care of your horse…” he was yelling also. I cut him off.
“Why are you here? Who are you?” I screamed.
“I’m here on my own business. My name is Fragen,” he shouted back.
“Why are we shouting?” I yelled.
He dropped his voice. “I have no idea.”
“Oh. Well, I’m Phoenix. Sorry to yell like that. You scared me, though, waking me up like that,” I said sheepishly.
“Quite alright, Phee,” he said, nicknaming me. The nickname took me off guard. I had never been called anything but Phoenix in my life, and here was this stranger, giving me a nickname. “It was rather rude of me. I just wanted to let you know that dinner will be ready soon.”
Fragen was tall and muscular. He had the most green eyes. They seemed to see right into you. They were the most enchanting eyes I had ever seen. His shoulder-length hair was dark brown, so dark that it seemed to be black. He was funny and kind. I had never met anyone like him, and I thought that I never would meet someone else so stunning.
“Dinner?” I said, taken aback. “You made dinner?” I looked over and saw a nice little fire burning. A pot of something was sitting on top of the fire.
“Well, yeah, of course I made dinner,” Fragen said. “That’s what traveling companions normally do for each other. It’s your turn tomorrow.”
“What­? We’re not traveling companions!” I did not understand this boy.
“Oh, right. I’m supposed to leave you in the wilderness to make it on your own,” Fragen said sarcastically. “I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I did that, now would I?” he had a point, I had to admit. “You wouldn’t last another week on your own. Why are you out here, anyways? You definitely should be with your family right now.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” I said, turning my head away so that he wouldn’t see the tears that were forming in my eyes. He saw them anyway.
“Don’t cry, Phee. I was just wondering,” he said soothingly, patting my arm.
“I know,” I said, wiping my eyes. Maybe, just maybe, Fragen was better than I had thought. “I guess I should tell you my story, considering that I could be a murderer or something.” Fragen laughed at the thought.
I told him all about the farm, my family, the reoccurring dream, and why I left.
“Very odd,” he murmured to himself once I had finished. “I wonder what that means…”
He sat for a few minutes, thinking hard. I watched him think. Finally, he came to a conclusion.
“I’ll tell you my story now,” he said loudly. “I came from a very bad family. My parents fought all of the time. They would yell, scream, and throw things at each other, the whole deal. Finally, my mom couldn’t take it any more. She left one day. I was six. I haven’t seen her since. My father continued to beat me. I knew I couldn’t leave. Where would I go?” his voice got softer. “Then I discovered my powers. I can do magic.” I gasped.
“I thought magic was just make-believe,” I said disbelievingly.
“No, it is real,” Fragen insisted. I decided to keep quiet. “I showed my father. He was frightened. I could tell, even though he never said it out loud. One day, he left and didn’t come back for days. When he finally came back, there was a large object in his cart. I couldn’t see what he had gotten; it was under a tarp. He began to make something. It was a room. He locked me in the room and I had no means of escape. He fed me twice a day. I was never let out. It was horrible, Phee. Finally, he died. Somehow, I was let out of the room. I immediately set out. I’ve been traveling ever since. I don’t know what I’m looking for or anything.” He fell silent. I felt sorry for him.
“Prove to me that you can do magic,” I demanded, not knowing what else to say. He stood up and, with a flourish, set his horse on fire. I screamed. With another wave of his arm, the fire went out, leaving no mark at all.
“Wow,” I said. That was all I could manage.
“I wonder,” Fragen said under his breath. He turned to me. “Think fast, Phee.” He muttered something and a dart of blue lightning shot out of his finger tips. It was going to hid Midgen!
“No!” I screamed, flinging out my arms uselessly. To my surprise, something red shot out of my fingers and caught the lightning bolt, destroying it. My mouth fell open.
“Just as I thought,” Fragen said proudly. “You can do it too.”
“How can I do that?” I asked dumbly.
“I don’t know, but I’m sure glad I found you,” Fragen answered. “The food’s ready. Let’s eat.”

We set out after that night, following the brook. Fragen was nice company, I found out. We took turns making dinner. Fragen’s meals always tasted better, but he seemed not to notice. He taught me what little magic he knew. One day, when we stopped for the night, I pulled out my notebook (there were twenty-seven marks in it now) and realized that it was my birthday.
“It’s my birthday,” I said. Fragen looked surprised.
“Really? How old are you now?” he asked.
“Eighteen,” I answered. He looked surprised at that too.
“You look older than that,” he said.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty in a month,” Fragen answered. “I’ll have to get you something at the next town.”
That was unexpected. “You don’t have too,” I said. He gave me a look and I realized that he did need to get me something. It was the polite thing to do. I let the matter drop.
“Do you know when we’ll get to the next town?” I asked. He nodded.
“Tomorrow,” he said, pointing. I could see a small smudge on the horizon. That must be the town. “I can do something to make us travel quicker.”
“Why didn’t you do that before?” I asked.
“It would have been hard on the horses,” he answered. That made sense.

We were at the town by the next sundown. Fragen made us travel much, much quicker. I seemed to learn something from him every day. He was teaching me the bits and pieces of magic that he knew. I could now start fires, warm things up, make myself invisible and a few other little things like that.
The town was more of a city, really. The people were kind but kept their distance, as if they respected us, but from a distance. They obviously had few visitors; there was only one inn in the whole city.
The inn was odd. You paid money to sleep there. Food was included. The weird thing was that there was only six rooms in the entire inn: the woman’s sleeping room, the men’s sleeping room, a woman’s bathroom, a men’s bathroom, the area where you checking in, and a kitchen. Everyone slept on cots in their gender’s room. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served on large wooden tables that separated the sleeping rooms in half. The bathrooms were nice, with stalls that had toilets, sinks, and bathtubs, complete with soap, shampoo, and towels. The inn was very clean, too.
Before dinner I bathed. The warm bath felt wonderful. I scrubbed the days of riding in the dusty, windy fields out of my hair. I put on my one other outfit, a dress that had been my sister’s, and threw the other one in the laundry hamper that the inn provided. I went into the sleeping/eating room. They served a wonderful dinner of chicken and vegetables, stir-fried with rice.
After I had finished my dinner, Fragen met me in the check-in room. “Are you ready to pick out your present?” he asked me. I blushed slightly and nodded.
“Erm… what are you thinking about getting me?” I asked, feeling very rude.
“Oh, anything, Phee.” He leaned close to me and whispered, “I know how to make money. Don’t let word get out, though. I think that may be illegal.” The thought of using illegal money was not a welcome one, but I knew it was necessary. My money had only paid about half of what it had cost for me to stay in the inn. Fragen couldn’t possibly have that much, either.
“I guess I’ll take an outfit, then,” I answered. I couldn’t think of anything else to ask for.
“Just one, then?” Fragen asked. I nodded, trying not to seem greedy or anything. “And how many do you have with you?”
“Two,” I said softly, knowing that he was going to insist on buying me more than just one outfit. I did not like spending too much money on myself. I had left the farm few times, and I had never had more than about twenty weights spent on me at any time.
“I can’t just buy you one, can I?”
“I guess not.”
“Okay,” Fragen smiled, “we shall get you enough for a while.” We headed down the streets.
The atmosphere in the market was loud and cheery. Stalls lined the streets. Shopkeepers yelled their deals to the customers that filled the roads and shops to bursting. Fragen pulled me aside and ordered two chocolate-covered apples from a candy seller. He handed one to me. I took it, smiling. We headed down the streets to where the clothes shops were.
I headed into the first shop, a nice one, thinking that, as long as Fragen could keep making money, I should enjoy living in the lap of luxury. I looked at some dresses. None of them caught my eye in particular. That was all that they had as far as women’s clothes went. Grinning at Fragen, I headed over to the men’s side of the store. I looked through the racks, searching for a nice outfit. I found something, black leather pants. I went back into the women’s clothing and found a nice shirt. When I asked the saleslady for a changing room, she thought I was helping Fragen find new clothes. Fragen and I laughed at her surprise when I went into the changing room with the clothes.
They sort of fit, but not quite. When I finished, I asked the saleslady if there was a tailor in town. She gave us directions to the place. We paid for my new clothes and headed out, deciding to go to more shops before we went to the tailor’s.
I got six outfits, some women’s clothes, some men’s. Fragen liked the fact that I was not afraid of what other people thought of me. The tailor took my measurements and the clothes. He looked interested in us. I bet he would, two travel-worn companions, asking him to make expensive men’s clothing fit a girl. We would definitely stand out in this tradition-keeping town.
After we had left the tailor shop, we went back to the inn. Before bidding me a good night, Fragen pulled something out of his pocket. It was a little box. There was a small bow on top. I stared at in confusion. He handed the box to me. I opened it slowly and gasped. A delicate, silver necklace was inside. The pendant had blue, green, yellow, and purple gemstones in it. I had no doubt that they were real.
“When… when did you get this?” I asked stupidly.
“While you weren’t looking,” Fragen laughed. “Do you like it?” He seemed earnestly worried that I could actually not like the beautiful piece of jewelry.
“It’s… it’s… I love it,” I said, tears forming in my eyes. It was the nicest gift I had ever gotten.
“Good,” Fragen said. He went off into the men’s room. I put the necklace on.

We stayed in the city, Gul, for a week, searching for someone who could do magic as we could. We did not come right out and say, “Does anyone here do magic?” because this could get us killed. We had to be more careful, listening in on conversations between two shady characters, visiting bars with magical names, and such. Finally, after searching for six days, we found something.
I was in a bar, waiting for Fragen and listening. Nothing that I was hearing helped us in any way. I ordered a drink and sat, bored, when Fragen came in. He spotted me immediately and came over.
“I found something,” he said, sitting down. “A woman – her name is Myrie – she can do magic, I think. I left a message for her at the inn she’s staying at. I hope she comes.”
“Comes where?” I asked, confused.
“Here, of course. I told her to meet us here tomorrow at nine thirty.”
“Wow… after all that searching… you found something, just like that,” I said, hoping that she would come.
The rest of the day was spent sitting around idly and reading books that we had bought. It was very boring. I took about three baths, from sheer boredom. After a while, we went out into a park. Fragen and I sat on some swings and talked for a bit, about our families and pasts and dreams. The pendant was still around my neck. Every now and then, I played with it unconsciously.

The woman, Myrie, did come. Fragen and I were at the bar, waiting. She came thirty minutes late, which worried me. Fragen kept insisting that she would come.
“So this is the girl you were talking about,” Myrie said coldly as she sat down. “Not a very pretty thing, eh?” I glared, first at her and then at Fragen. Who did she think she was, walking in late and insulting me like that! The nerve of some people.
“Nice, to meet you too, Myrie,” I turned to Fragen, “So this is the woman? When I pictured her, she wasn’t so fat and that nasty wart wasn’t on her face like that.” Myrie looked affronted. Fragen just looked awkward. Myrie did have a wart, though. And she was not what you would call thin.
“Uh… Myrie would you like a drink?” Fragen asked. I felt bad for him. I had not wanted to hit it off like this, but how she angered me.
“No. I would like to have my wits about me.” she glanced at me pointedly, as if she thought that I would wait until she was drunk and then kill her. It was not a bad idea, though.
“So why exactly do we have the, uh… pleasure… of talking with Myrie?” I asked Fragen, fingering the pendant.
“Oh. I don’t know. I thought maybe she could teach us about magic,” Fragen said.
“It would cost you,” Myrie said. ‘Oh, please, surely you know that we can make money whenever we need it,’ I thought nastily.
“Money isn’t an issue,” Fragen said confidently.
“Then you know how to make it?” Myrie more stated the question than asked it.
“Well, yes, of course I can,” Fragen answered.
“Does the girl know?”
“I have a name. It is Phoenix and I demand to be referred to as such.”
“I haven’t taught Phoenix that yet,” Fragen said, stressing my name. I beamed at him.
“You are teaching the girl?”
“Phoenix. I’m teaching Phoenix.”
“Well, didn’t she know?”
“No. Phoenix did not know that she could do magic.”
At this point, I needed to say something. “I grew up on a farm with my seven brothers and sisters. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, except once when I was about to be bitten by a snake. Before I could even scream, the snake dropped dead. I never told anyone. Oh, and there were the dreams.”
“The dreams, you said?”
“Yes, the dreams,” I answered, explaining them to Myrie.
“Ah, my, that would be bad,” she said once I had finished.
“Are you going to buy anything or just sit there?” this was the barkeeper, a small, wiry man.
“Oh, we’re very sorry, but no, we wont be buying anything today,” Myrie answered as Fragen opened his mouth.
“Then you’ll have to leave. Can’t have paying customers waiting, now.”
We got up and left. “I shall see you tomorrow, six sharp. Bring all of your stuff with you. We will be leaving at once.” Myrie walked off without another word. I glanced at Fragen with a confused look. He just shrugged.
“She was strange,” I said to him as we started back to the inn. “I didn’t like her.”
“That’s just because she was so rude to you at first.”
“I hate her. She is a pig.”
“Oh, come on, Phee. Please. I need answers,” Fragen looked at me pleadingly. I fingered the necklace.
“Okay, I’ll give her a chance. But, if I’m offended, I’ll walk off. Understand?”
“Yeah. I do. please don’t walk off, though. I need you with me,” he said. I raised my eyebrows.
“Really,” I drug the word out, “how so?”
“I don’t want to do this whole magic thing alone,” he said, reddening. “That’s all.”
“Okay, then, I won’t make you do it alone. I promise,” I said, then lowered my voice to a whisper. “I just wish I knew what would happen.”
The day dragged on. It was just another day of waiting and wasting time. Finally, though, night happened. And after night, the next day came. The day we would leave with Myrie. At six sharp, we were outside of the inn, ready to go. Myrie apparently did not know how to tell time, because she turned up late again.
“Look, Miss Punctual decided to show up!” I said as Myrie came up to us. she glared at me. I gave her a fake but cheery smile.
“we had better get a move on,” Fragen said nervously, trying to avoid a cat fight. I gave him a genuine smile. We all mounted our horses (Myrie had a fat gray mare – how fitting) and headed down the main road.
We were a spectacle to those people, who were very traditional. First, there was a large woman in a hot pink dress on an equally large horse. Next came a stunning man on his beautiful charger. Then, a girl in man’s clothes, sitting regally on her horse. I imagine that those townspeople had never seen anything like us, and they wouldn’t ever see it again.
The moment we stepped out of town, the atmosphere changed. The weather had been pleasant when we were in the town, but now it was notably hotter and the grass was dried out. The heat made us irritable and moody. At nightfall, it was amazing that we were all alive. Fragen made the meal while Myrie and I sat, tired and sore, glaring at each other. I really couldn’t stand the woman. She acted as if she had known Fragen for a long time, when I knew him before she ever did.

The next day, before we started out, Myrie called Fragen and I to her. I wondered what she wanted to tell us.
“Fragen, Phoenix,” she said my name with a strained edge, “It seems as if we are just going nowhere without a point, doesn’t it?” I nodded. I did not know about any certain reason as to why we were going where we were, so I was eager to hear a meaning to our traveling. “We have a very important task that I have assigned us to. We are going to find the Stone.” I did not understand her.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked. Myrie looked at me in a way that made me feel irritatingly stupid.
“Please don’t tell me that you don’t know about the Stone,” she said. I shook my head. “What do you know? Well, the story of the Stone is made out to be a legend, which it isn’t. It is a very real thing. There are six sides to our world, you do know that. Each side is different, which you should also know. There are people who do magic on each side. They – we - are a dying breed, though. sadly, we are the only thing that stands between our lovely planet and destruction.
“On each side of the planet, there is a magical Stone, which is what we are after. This Stone is protected by many obstacles and tests, for its safety. We must get past all of those obstacles. We need to get the Stone. It is very important that we do this.”
“Why? Why do we have to get this Stone thing?” I asked.
“You can’t know yet. It is just key that you follow me and do everything that I say.” This idea was repulsive.
“And why should I do that?” I asked testily.
“Because you have no where else to go,” was Myrie's simple answer.
“Fine. I’ll think about it.” I got up and stalked up. Fragen followed me. Myrie politely stayed behind.
“I think we should go with her, Phee,” Fragen said.
“Why should we go with that…?” I started, but Fragen cut me off.
“I don’t know. For some reason, I feel as if this is the right thing to do.”
“I don’t want to get too involved. This whole idea of stealing this important magical Stone thing seems wrong to me. we could get into big trouble if we go messing with that, I think.”
“We will just have to be extra careful, won’t we?” Fragen smiled. I couldn’t say no to him.
“Okay, Myrie. We’ll go with you,” I said, packing up. I really did not want to go. Truth be told, I was scared.
“Good. I’m going to tell you something now that you have agreed to come on this mission,” Myrie said, sitting down on the dry grass.
“Wait, I have a question,” I said. “What would you have done if we hadn’t said we’d come with you?”
“Why, I’m not stupid. I would have killed you,” Myrie answered. Even though I was pretty sure that this was a bluff, I was still a bit uneasy about Myrie. She continued with, “I already have one of the Stones.” She pulled what was obviously the Stone out of a concealed pocket in her jacket.
The Stone was amazing. It was yellow-golden in color, but, unlike a usual rock that you would pick up, the color pulsed and changed. Instinctively, I reached out to touch it. Myrie pulled it back.
“I don’t think you should touch it,” Myrie said. I gave her a confused look.
“Why not?” I asked.
“I just don’t know if it would be wise,” she said. I had this feeling that this was not the true reason, but I decided to let it go. For now, anyways. Instead, I finished packing my stuff and mounted my horse. Myrie and Fragen followed suit.
“Where to?” Fragen asked.
“We are going north to Garvish,” Myrie answered. I knew about this place; I had read about it on one of those boring afternoons that Fragen and I spent in Gul. This was the side of the world that was covered in water. I couldn’t wait to see this.
It only took us four days to reach the Gateway to Garvish. The trip was trying and exhausting. We traveled from dawn to dusk. There was no magical assistance in our travel, either. Myrie said that her horse was incapable of magic interference or something like that. I learned a lot in that time, though.
“This is the Gateway?” I asked, crinkling my nose. We were standing in front of a doorway that lead straight down into the ground.
“Yes, it is,” Myrie answered. I could tell that she had been here before.
“So, what do we do now?”
“We go in,” Myrie said, like I was stupid. How was I supposed to know where we went now?
Fragen held the door open for Myrie and I. I smiled and thanked him as I walked through. Inside, the underground chamber was stuffy and cramped. A few potted plants sat around, wilting. There was a desk in a corner. An old woman sat at the desk, reading a book. We approached her.
“Hello and welcome to the Gateway to Garvish,” the woman said in a nasally voice. “I’m Matilda and I’m going to help you through to Garvish.” She motioned to a scale that was hiding next to the desk. “Please take your shoes off and step on the scale.” I was surprised that she did not ask our names first.
“Why do you need our weight?” I asked.
“It all goes on record,” Matilda said, motioning for me to step onto the scale. It all goes on record… why did they need a record? “Get off, honey,” Matilda commanded. I stepped off of the scale and watched as she wrote something down on papers that she had gotten from her desk. Fragen went next. Matilda got out a different paper for him. After she had weighed all of us, she spoke. “What are your names?”
“Phoenix Cage,” I answered.
“Fragen, no surname,” Fragen answered.
“Gracie Trink,” Myrie answered untruthfully. When Matilda leaned over to write our names down, Myrie motioned for me to keep quiet about her name. This confused me.
“Age?” Matilda asked. We answered. “date of birth? Height?” – she measured our height out – “Let’s see… eye color? Hair color? Why are you traveling to Garvish?”
“I’m going to die of a horrible disease, and my lifelong wish was to travel the world,” Myrie answered. I wondered why she had lied again. Matilda nodded and wrote it down. She put all of our papers into a folder and handed it to Myrie.
“Take this,” Matilda commanded, “Keep it safe. You can’t get back into Estubia without those papers. Now, please follow me.” She lead us out of the room and through a few halls and doors. We finally arrived at an iron gate.
“Is that the Gateway to Garvish?” I asked, a bit let down. I thought that the gateway would be something bigger, better, not just a little rusty door underground. This showed in my voice, because Matilda sounded flippant when she answered.
“Yes, of course this is the gateway. What did you expect a big, pretty door up on ground? That wouldn’t have worked because of the square shape of our planet. This tunnel gradually curves so that you come out on Garvish. Don’t ask how it works, cause I don’t know.” She unlocked the door and held it open for us. “Have a nice visit to Garvish,” were her parting words.
The tunnel was dark. I had to take care not to bump into Myrie, who was in front of me. the ground was uneven. I wondered, correctly, if they had made the tunnel uneven so that you wouldn’t realize that you the ground was sloping so much. We walked for about thirty minutes. Finally, we saw the chopped up light that meant we had reached another iron door.
When we got closer, I noticed that a man was standing there, waiting for us to come. I briefly wondered how they could communicate from side to side. The man was old and stooped, his smile lacking most teeth. What little hair he had stood out all over. When we reached the door, he already had opened it. “Welcome to Garvish,” he wheezed. “Have a nice stay.” He then lead us out into a room much like the one we had our papers filled out in.
“Come over here, now,” he told us, “I need to stamp your papers.” Myrie took out the folder and handed it to him. He took a rubber stamp out of the drawer and quickly stamped our papers. “The door is right there,” he said, pointing to a stairway.
We went up the stairs. I walked slowly, heart racing. I had not been outside of my farm before this adventure started, and here I was, going to a whole different side of our planet. At the top, Myrie opened the door. I walked out into the sunshine.

JPart Two: GarvishL
Garvish was nothing I could have ever imagined. When we walked out of the door, we came to an ocean. It stretched out before us, a vast sea of blue. It was down a bit, though, so that it wouldn’t run over into the other sides of the planet. We were standing on a wooden dock. A little hut stood down the way. We headed toward it.
A small man came out of the hut. “Welcome to Garvish. Come inside and I’ll give you what you need to really enjoy your stay here,” he said, laughing at the last part. We went into the little hut.
“What do we need?” Myrie asked in a bored voice.
“This,” the man said, holding up a little bottle of dark green powder. “This will give you gills so you can breathe underwater. There is no land until you leave Garvish.”
“How much do we need?” Myrie asked.
“One bottle each. It lasts until you take some of this,” he held up a bottle of purple powder, “This is the only thing that can restore your lungs. You will have to buy some here, though. you need one bottle of this, too. To get them both, it costs thirty weights each.” The price was steep, but I knew it wouldn’t be a problem.
“Okay,” Myrie said, “Fragen, get ninety weights out of your bag.” Fragen did so, creating ninety when his hands were hidden. He handed them to the man.
“Oh, I forgot,” the man said, handing two bottles to each of us. “You will need waterproof bags for your stuff and waterproof clothes. Those will cost…”
“We won’t be needing those,” Myrie said, leaving.
“Don’t forget to jump into the water before you take that!” the man yelled agitatedly out of the hut.
We headed down the pier a bit. Once we were safe from the prying eyes of the man, Myrie stopped.
“We need to waterproof all of our stuff,” she said. “Be sure to get all of your stuff. Point at the object that you need to waterproof and say disotfout michse.” She pointed at her shoes and demonstrated. Fragen and I followed suit, pulling things out of our bags and waterproofing them.
When we had finished, Myrie hopped off of the dock into the water. She pulled out a rope and tied her floating bag to her wrist. This way, she wouldn’t lose it. Fragen jumped in and did the same. I followed, nervous. I had never really swam in my life, so I was afraid of drowning.
The water was cold. I started to sink. Fragen grabbed me ad pulled me up, instructing me to get out my dark green powder and take it. I pulled it out, took out the cork, and tried to swallow everything at once. I managed to get most of it down, but I coughed some up. The powder tasted like rotten cabbage.
I could feel the difference immediately. I started to gasp and choke as my gills developed. Fragen quickly grabbed a rope and tied my bundle to my wrist. He then forced me under the water. I found it easy to breathe now. After a minute or two, I opened my eyes. Myrie and Fragen were waiting for me to follow them. they had started down into the murky water. I followed them, kicking powerfully. I was surprised that I could swim.
“Where are we going now?” I tried to say, but only bubbles issued from my mouth. I caught up to them and tried to ask again. It still did not work. How were we supposed to communicate? Myrie motioned for us to go deeper. Down and down we went, cutting through the dark, icy water. Every now and then, we would see a fish or a dolphin, but they ignored us. after about half of an hour, we saw something new.
It was a blue person-shaped thing, with webbed feet and hands. It was sort of like a human, but its limbs were longer and seemed to have no bones in them. It had a pointy face, long, green, seaweed hair framing the sharp features. I noticed its abnormally large eyes when it started toward us. those eyes were empty, void of reason and intelligence.
“Who are you?” it asked with a squeaky, high voice. It smiled, baring many sharp, jagged teeth.
“We are visitors to your great land… well, er, sea,” Fragen answered, reddening.
“I’m Marscy,” it squeaked, “I guess I have to be your guide. Come on!” Marscy swam off at a fast pace. We followed, losing ground every second.
“He is a waterwaif,” Myrie informed us. “They are the main inhabitants of Garvish. They take nothing seriously, so watch out.”
“Are you sure that it was a male?” I asked sarcastically. Fragen laughed. I suddenly noticed that we could hear each other now. When I thought about it, I noticed that the water seemed lighter somehow, as if the pressure was not as great down here. My movements felt more natural. It was definitely a change for the better, I concluded.
We swam after Marscy for less that a quarter hour. After five minutes, I noticed a large, indefinite shape appearing. The closer we got, the clearer the shape. It turned out to be a city. The buildings were built awkwardly, just a mass of rocks, roughly hewn and stacked; they did not look like they would have stood on land. Waterwaifs flitted around the place, in and out of buildings, down the streets, everywhere. No other human was in sight.
“Well, come along, now,” said Marscy, swimming back to us. “You are slow! Hurry, hurry, I want you to meet the Kablah before time runs out!”
“Kablah?” I whispered confusedly to Myrie.
“The Kablah is the ruler of the city,” Myrie whispered back. “I guess we’re the first humans they’ve seen in a while; we aren’t usually taken to see the Kablah.”
We swam until we reached the biggest building. I was a bit afraid of going into the building. It was especially haphasard. We went through the doorway slowly, following Marscy.
There was a huge throne, made of coral, with a large waterwaif sitting on it. I guessed that this was the Kablah. He stood as we approached. Following Marscy’s lead, we bowed.
“Welcome, creatures of land!” the Kablah said, the voice startling me. the Kablah was a woman – her voice told me that much – but she did not look any different from Marscy. The only way she was different was that she wore a white dress instead of a tattered loincloth. This baffled me. “I welcome you to our great city. You will stay in the guest chambers of my own house. Marscy, thank you for bringing our guests over. Let us have a minute alone. You may go and ready the chamber.” A look of unhappiness on his face, Marscy did as he was told. I was surprised at how strict and serious the Kablah sounded compared to all of the other waterwaifs.
“Oh, great Kablah,” Myrie said, taking another sweeping bow, “why have you brought us into your house and giving us room here?” she sounded so humble and lowly as she spoke. This submissive act was very unlike her.
“Please, call me Merial,” Kablah said, motioning for Myrie to stand. “I know you are not here for a visit. You want the Stone of the Seas, do you not?” Myrie nodded mutely. How did the Kablah know this? An icy stake of fear pierced my heart. We were going to be punished for intending to steal their Stone. We stood in a line and waited for the Kablah to speak again, grim looks of fear on our faces. “I shall overlook this; even help you to find it. But,” the Kablah help up a finger, cutting off our relieved sighs, “you must help me. I only want one thing from you.”
“What would that be?” Myrie croaked, hoping that whatever the Kablah wanted was not hard to make or give away.
“Freedom. You must give me freedom from this place. I do not belong here. I hate this pointless life that I’m living, ruling over these insipid waterwaifs. You must – and I do mean must – help me.” I was dumbfounded. The Kablah wanted our help to break her from here underwater prison? This was an interesting twist.
“But, how? And why? Don’t you like this place? They are your people,” Myrie said, surprised as I was. Fragen’s face said that he was very surprised too. Neither I nor Fragen had said anything yet. We were afraid and astounded at the Kablah.
“Don’t you get it?” the Kablah asked, appearing to lose her temper. We all winced. “I hate this life. I feel trapped with these lesser people. I’m much to good for them. and don’t you dare suggest I simply quit. I can’t do this. It would break the bonds that tie our city together – literally. The buildings can only stay up if there is a ruler. If I quit, there won’t be a ruler for the smallest amount of time and everything here will fall and everyone will be killed. However, if I’m taken away against my will, they can find a new ruler without there ever not being one, see? That’s where you come in.” I suddenly understood her insane plan. Myrie and Fragen were still trying to figure it out, though.
“So we have to kidnap you, manage to get out of the town unscathed and then you will lead us to the Stone? Are you sure that’s even a sane plan?” I blurted, turning red as soon as the words left my mouth. Surely this meant death for us.
“Yes, that’s my plan. I don’t know if its sane or not. But you have to try. Your options are either help break me out and maybe loose your lives, but quite possibly succeed, or say no and loose your lives anyway.” I hated the Kablah for just a moment. She put us in such a rough spot, yet I couldn’t help but admire her for it. She was such a rebellious person, not afraid to go against the flow. I liked that about her.”
“Why don’t you just travel to a distant city and declare that you won’t rule anymore? That way you would be safe,” Myrie pointed out.
“I couldn’t do that to my people. I would kill all of my loyal servants and people that way. As much as I hate them, part of me loves them. you couldn’t possibly understand.” I understood this. I had not in any way like living with my family, but I wouldn’t have killed them just to escape. This was a selfish, dishonorable act.
“I could understand,” I said, looking at her with something like pity in my eyes. I knew the exact place she was in.
“And why would that be?” the Kablah asked.
“Well, I hated life on the farm that my family still lives on. I felt out of place. I had no means of leaving, yet I couldn’t kill them so I could be free. I finally was able to run away, though. I know how difficult your situation is,” I explained. The Kablah smiled brightly. I noticed her pointy teeth and decided not to ever make her angry, lest she decide to use them on me.
“I like you, child,” she said. “What is your name?”
“Phoenix,” I said.
“What a wonderful name! you are lucky to be named after a mystical being. The phoenix is an especially good creature to be named after.” She stood again and walked over to me. “Come, Phoenix and Phoenix’s friends. Let us enjoy our time here.” Throwing her arm over my shoulder – I noticed that it did not seem slimy and scaly as I had expected – she steered me out of the chamber and into a corridor. I noticed the guards placed about every five feet or so. A couple of them had obviously been laughing at some joke but snapped to attention when their queen came out.
“Let me show you your personal chambers,” the Kablah said loftily, letting go of me. she walked, back straight, head high, down the hallway. Every now and then she nodded to one of the soldiers, who would salute her. We got out of that corridor and into another one, guards still lining the walls. I saw her roll her eyes, as if saying, “Why are there all of these guards?” I was thinking the same thing.
We finally got to a corridor that was empty. It was old and, well, not dusty but the underwater equivalent. The Kablah sighed and whipped around.
“Finally, we got away from the guards. I have no idea why there are so many of them!” she giggled. Linking her arm through mine, she marched away, still smiling. This behavior left me with a question.
“Miss Kablah, if you don’t mind me asking, but how old are you?” I said nervously.
The Kablah let go of me and hit my arm softly. “I told you already, call me Mariel. This is a command. And no, I don’t mind you asking how old I’m. I’m eighteen.”
“That’s my age,” I said with a gasp. She was only my age, and yet she ruled a city.
“I thought so,” Mariel said triumphantly. “Oh! I only now remembered your friends here.” She gestured to Fragen and Myrie. “I haven’t even asked their names!”
“I’m Myrie and this is Fragen,” Myrie said, unhappy that she had been forgotten. Fragen looked as if it did not matter to him, but I’m sure it did.
“Well I hope you enjoy your stay.” Mariel seemed not to care about them, only me. I noticed this when she gave me the largest guest chamber, when she let me sit by her at the dinner table, and how she let me wear her own jewelry. I could practically smell Myrie's jealousy.
When Mariel had left us for the night, Myrie came into my chamber. “You little freak,” she said. I found this uncalled for. “Why did you let Mariel dote on you like that?” I did not respond. I merely sat there, taking it all. “This isn’t going how I planned. You are messing it up.” Fragen had heard her rising voice and came in too.
“Why are you yelling at her?” Fragen shouted. I still sat, watching silently.
“She is a little brat, letting herself be patted and pampered by a queen,” Myrie said, offending me.
“No, she isn’t!” Fragen insisted.
“Yes she is. You know it. You just won’t admit it because you have a little crush on her!” I felt hot anger seeping over me.
“I do not have a crush on her,” Fragen said quietly. A pang of hurt stabbed my heart. I had thought that we might have something… apparently, I was wrong. I couldn’t contain myself any longer.
“You both are heartless! Myrie, stop being jealous! You just can’t stand it when you don’t have all the attention, can you? You need to be the big, important one, don’t you! I think you are pathetic. You are vermin that only cares for itself and nobody else! You know what I think? I think you should rot in a jail cell! Admit it, the only reason you are about us is because you aren’t capable of getting the Stones on your own! And Fragen, you have problems. Just get your thoughts about me straight and stop sending mixed signals! I’m sick of the way that you act like you know each other. I’m tired of feeling like I don’t matter to either of you! So, you had better start treating me better or I’m leaving! Got that?” I sat down, chest heaving. When neither answered, I shouted again, “GOT IT?” they nodded mutely and left the room, looking like whipped dogs. I felt much better than I had in a while. A servant came into my room.
“Lady, I heard you screaming. Is everything okay?” he asked. I nodded. “May I get you something?”
“Yes, please. I would like some tea,” I answered, pulling a book off of the shelf next to my bed. The servant nodded and left the room. I fell asleep before he could get back, still holding the book.
When I woke up, the book had been placed back on the shelf and a cold cup of tea was on the bedside table. A sudden thought came to me: how could tea be in a cup underneath the water? I resolved to ask someone later. I could hear Myrie up through the walls. I stood and stretched.
I went over to my bag. I was surprised to find it empty. I looked around the room and saw a wardrobe. I found my clothes in it, which did not even surprise me. this did unnerve me a bit, though.
Mariel came into my room, dressed in a white tunic. “I hope you found your clothes,” she said in way of greeting.
“I did, thank you,” I answered, wondering if she had heard me yelling last night. “You and your servants have treated me so nicely.”
“Have they?” she asked absentmindedly, playing with a decoration. “Oh, I heard you last night.”
“Really? I’m really sorry about that,” I said, reddening. She smiled.
“No worries,” she said. “I would have done that a long time ago. I think that Fragen does have a bit of a thing for you, though.” I blinked at her.
“Really, you do?” I asked, hoping that she was right.
“Oh, I’m quite sure,” Mariel answered an honest look on her face. “I know these kinds of things.” She suddenly slammed down the decoration, causing me to jump. “Breakfast is ready!” she ran out of the room. I followed her, wondering how she knew that breakfast was ready.
The table was filled with wonderful breakfast foods: sausages, eggs (from what animal?), white rice, pastries, the choices were endless. I noticed that Myrie and Fragen had not shown up yet.
I sat down next to Mariel and a servant poured me a cup of steaming coffee. “How can the coffee stay in the cup?” I asked. Mariel looked at me with a smile.
“This water is more like air than anything. You just have to have gills to breathe this air,” she answered, filling her plate. This made sense to me. I had even forgot that we were underwater until I saw the drinks.
Fragen and Myrie came in when we were almost done. The food was cold. Apparently, they had been forgotten. Myrie did not look happy about this. She scowled at me when she sat down. Fragen gave me a sleepy smile and a small wave. He looked half asleep. Maybe he had not been able to sleep after my outburst the night before. I shot an apologetic look down the table. He noticed and nodded as if to say that everything was fine.
Presently, Mariel grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room. She was running and I nearly fell trying to match her pace. “Where… are… you… taking… me?” I panted.
“I have to show you something,” she said, which did not answer my question. We turned abruptly and I saw that she was running straight for a wall. I yelped and waited to hit it, closing my eyes. I felt a strange brush on my skin, like we had run through cloth instead of a wall.
“Hidden door,” Mariel explained. I had already figured this out. We were going up a staircase. It ended in a trap door on the ceiling. Mariel pulled me up through it. I found myself in a large, circular room filled with air. I couldn’t breathe.
“Mariel, can't breathe,” I choked, thinking that maybe she was trying to murder me. I looked around the room for her, but she had disappeared. In her place, stood a human woman. The woman came over to me and shoved something down my throat. This caused my gills to disappear and my lungs to grow back. I gasped for breath. “Who are you?” I asked as soon as I could.
“Mariel, of course,” the woman answered. I recognized her voice. It was Mariel’s. I stared at her, a look of confusion on my face. “I can change shapes, Phoenix. I’m a shape shifter. I want to teach you how to also,” she explained. My eyebrows shot up. “So, what do you say?”
“I say… what are you talking about?” I answered slowly.
“Watch,” she said. In front of my eyes, Mariel changed. First she was a dog, then a bee, after that, a bird, and finally, back to human form. I was dizzy. This was new to me. I did not know that shape shifting was possible. “I want you to learn.”
“Why?” I asked, still confused. “Why do you like me so much?”
“Oh, yes, I suppose I should explain some things to you,” Mariel said. She launched into a story. “Long ago, there was a Magic. He was the most powerful Magic the world had ever seen. He married a non-magical woman. They had six children. Each of the children could do magic like their father. There were three girls and three boys. After a while, their mother started to age. You see, Magics do not age like normal people do. after Magics hit a certain age – twenty, I think – they stop growing and remain the same for decades, centuries. The Magic couldn’t bear to live without his wonderful wife, but he couldn’t make her live any longer than the average human. So he split up his magic into six parts and put each bit into a different stone. He gave the Stones to his children, who scattered to different sides of our earth. They each hid their Stone on the side they chose. Meanwhile, the father was making a book of Magic. He recorded everything he knew in that book. When he finished, he hid it in the center of the earth. By that time, his wife had died. His magic gone, he died also. The children had settled down and made families. However, they did not age. They were cursed and had to live forever. For centuries, they roamed their side of the earth, making families and faking their own deaths. They were trying to sneak magical children into society. Your mother is one of those cursed children, Phoenix. Mine is too. We are cousins.” She stopped. My mouth dropped. My mother was alive. She gave me her magic. But that also meant….
“what about Fragen and Myrie? Are they our cousins/siblings as well?” I asked. It was all I could get out.
“No. they came from some of the other children from your mother. Each magical child would grow up, find a family, pass their magic down to one of the children, and die. This has been going on for thousands of years. I doubt that you are related in any way.” We sat and stared at the ground, lost in our own thoughts. Finally, I had a question that seemed important enough to ask.
“How did you find this out?” I asked. Mariel looked slightly startled at my voice, as if she had forgotten I was even there.
“My mother told me just before she left,” she sounded angry and remorseful, as if her mother leaving had been her fault. I decided to leave that subject alone in the future. To get her mind off of it, I asked another question.
“How are you going to teach me shape shifting?”
“So you’ll learn?” her face brightened up. I nodded, smiling too. “Well, I learned by practice, so I suppose that’ll have to be the way you learn.” She showed me how she did it and instructed me. it was hard. Mariel assured me that it got easier.
By the end of an hour, I had managed to change half of myself into a waterwaif. I started with a finger, then a hand, then an arm, a foot, a leg, and so on. Eventually I would be able to turn my whole self into anything in the blink of an eye. Mariel handed me a bottle of the green powder that we had taken before Myrie, Fragen, and I had come here. I gulped it down, mouthful by mouthful. I was smarter this time. When I started to feel the change, I dove into the water. Mariel followed, shifting into a waterwaif.
“I wonder what Myrie and Fragen have been doing this whole time,” I said.
“I instructed them to start planning.”
“Myrie is going to hate me even more after this.”
“She needs help, then,” Mariel said, flinging herself through the hidden door. “Oh, yep, she’s mad. I can hear her yelling.” I strained my ears but couldn’t hear a thing.
“How can you hear this stuff?” I asked. Mariel looked at me.
“Why, waterwaifs have incredible hearing. Shift your ears,” she advised. I tried it. Amazingly, it worked.
“I can hear her! Wow!”
I could hear her. She was screaming at an old servant. “Where is the girl? I know you did something to her! We can't do anything without her! Do you have any idea how valuable she is? I thought not. Now lead me to her this instant.” Then the servant’s quiet, shaking voice, “Please, madam, I honestly don’t know where Lady Phoenix is! Please, please, stop yelling.” I shifted my ears back. What had Myrie meant by that? I felt anger bubbling up in my chest. I was just “the girl” to her, the “valuable” girl that they can’t do anything without. I knew it. They could do nothing without me.
I started off in the direction of the voices, hoping that I wouldn’t get lost. Mariel followed, every now and then turning me the right way. I burst into the room that they were in.
“I heard what you said about me,” I said lowly, my voice hard and cold. Myrie blanched.
“What do you mean?” her voice was overly sweet, dripping with honey. “But you were on the other side of the castle. How is that possible?” I looked at Mariel, silently asking her if I could show Myrie my new abilities. She shrugged. I took it as a yes.
“Like this,” I said, turning my lips up in a triumphant smirk. I concentrated and changed my ears. Myrie gasped, anger clouding her features.
“You little… I can’t believe that you have done that… who taught you?” she snarled. I looked at Fragen, who was sitting quietly, trying to take everything in.
“I taught her, Myrie,” Mariel said loftily. “I thought the skill might come in handy.” Myrie looked ready to say something, but Mariel cut her off. “I’m quite sure that you don’t want to say that. Think of what I can do to you.” Myrie's mouth went up and down. She looked like a fish. I laughed.
“But, why did you teach her?” Myrie said, spitting my name out like it hurt to say. “Why not someone better than her, like me?” I knew that she meant the words to hurt me, but they did not. They merely slid right off. I did not care about her opinion.
“You think that you are better than Phoenix,” Mariel stated, nodding. “I would have to say you were wrong, then. She’s far better – far more powerful too – than you. We heard you, ‘do you have any idea how valuable she is?’ now we do, thanks. The reason I taught her is because we are cousins.” Myrie blanched again, face whiter than anything I had ever seen.
“Co… cousins?” she said, looking fearful. “How can that be? I thought….” Suddenly she snapped her mouth shut. I wondered what she had been ready to say. Mariel decided to explain everything to her. After she finished, we all fell silent.
We stayed three weeks in Mariel’s castle. Three long, quarrel-filled weeks. Something about being underwater (I think it may have been the pressure of the water) made us all edgy and moody. Our only real conversations were about how we were kidnapping Mariel, when it should be done, and so on. The servants remained unsuspecting and gracious to us.
every day, Mariel and I escaped into the room, where I learned to shape shift fully. After the learning process was done, we discussed our childhood and our plans. We made secret plans to find all of the original six children of the Magic. We knew that this was most likely impossible, but we still had fun planning. We were having one of our sessions on the last full day that we were staying in Garvish.
“before we go, I want to give you something,” Mariel said, handing me a large book.
“What is this?” I asked, staring down at it.
“A book of magic. In the beginning is a thing you can do to make it so that you can remember everything you read, so you will have a whole new magic vocabulary,” Mariel answered.
“Wow, Mariel. I have never gotten something so wonderful. Except maybe…” my hand flew to the necklace Fragen had given me. it appeared as though Mariel had not heard me.
“Are you nervous about leaving?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mariel nodded, “very. I have lived here all of my life and now I’m leaving. Wouldn’t you be nervous?”
“I was very nervous,” I said, reminding her that I had done the very same thing only a few months ago. I shifted into a snail for the fun of it.
Mariel and I shifted a lot, much to the displeasure of everyone around us. I turned back and laughed. Mariel changed into a shaggy dog. I changed into a butterfly. This continued until we changed into the same animal. This was our game. Our own, secret game.
Today, we ended on a purple monkey. “You’re monkey is better than mine though,” Mariel said. “I forgot the toes.” I looked at her feet. She had forgotten the toes. This made me laugh.
I straightened up. “That’s fine. I really don’t like the toes anyways.” I held my face straight, like a queen or something. We always did this, though neither of us knew why.
“Thank you for your generous comment,” She said. She stood and extended a hand to me.
“Shall we go down and spend time with the others?” I asked, face still held in the serious manner. I nodded and took her hand, pulling myself up.
“I think that would be proper of us.” At that, we both burst into peals of laughter. I shifted into a waterwaif (I did not even need the nasty powder anymore) as Mariel did. We leapt into the water and started down.
I was surprised that Myrie couldn’t find the hidden door. she wanted desperately to see where we went every day and spy on us. somehow, Mariel had magicked the door so that no one unwanted could get in. Myrie was definitely unwanted. I had stopped talking to her altogether. We used poor Fragen to go between us with messages. Fragen tried to remain indifferent, but I felt sorry for him.
We finished the evening as normal, Mariel trying not to appear excited. As she bid me goodnight, she whispered one word, “Tomorrow.”
Tomorrow came all to quickly. We started the day as normal. We wouldn’t make off with Mariel until noon. I said that if we were going to kidnap her we would do this in the middle of the night, but Myrie insisted on going in the middle of the day. Finally, the time came.
We were all walking in the museum of artifacts. The museum was filled with important memoirs of past kings and queens and such. Suddenly, Fragen pulled out a rope and started to bind Mariel. She gave one loud scream before he gagged her, to alert the guards. This way everyone was sure that we had kidnapped her. As planned, the guards ran in. They started to storm the place. I started to panic. There were more of them than we had planned.
“Release her,” one of the guards bellowed. Myrie shook her head. The guard shrugged and charged us, everyone else following suit. Mariel pretended to struggle against Fragen.
What happened next has haunted me for years. Myrie raised her hand and shouted… no, I shouldn’t write what she said. It was too horrible. About ten guards dropped dead. Still more rushed in. Myrie repeated the phrase over and over. I stood, paper-white, ready to pass out. Somehow, a guard got past Myrie's curses and came after me. I spoke another killing word and the guard died. I looked at him in shock and horror. I had killed someone. I hated myself for it. Luckily, no one else got past Myrie. After about fifty guards had died, they gave up. We shot through the ceiling. As soon as we were out of sight of the guards, Fragen let go of Mariel. She started to sink immediately. I shouted and grabbed her. She was limp.
“Mariel… Mariel… Mariel, please!” I was shouting. Her eyes fluttered open.
“It is in… the… place where my ancestors are hidden,” she whispered. She must have meant the Stone. That was all she managed to get out before her eyes closed and her head lolled back.
I carried her for a while, numb. What had happened? How did she end up… dead? I did not cry. Couldn’t. My throat was dry. We finally reached a nice place to hide and rest. I laid Mariel on the ground. She looked like she was sleeping.
“How did that happen?” I asked Myrie. She shrugged.
“My curse was supposed to kill anyone who was against us,” she said, “I guess Mariel was bad.” This seemed highly impossible. I knew Myrie had killed her on purpose. I rushed at Myrie, ready to hit her. Fragen caught me and held me back. I turned and hit him half-heartedly on the chest. Then the tears came. Hot tears were pouring out of my eyes. I sank to the ground, head in hands. I felt Fragen kneel and awkwardly pat me on the back.
Myrie only put up with the crying for about five minutes. Then she nudged me with her toe. “So what did she say before she died?” I thought how she said this, like she was bored, was rude.
“‘the Stone is in the place where my ancestors are hidden,’” I answered.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Myrie yelled. I stood up and faced her.
“You know what?” I said angrily. “I just lost one of my two only friends. You killed her, Myrie. On purpose. I know you did it, so don’t even dare try to deny it because I’m way more powerful than you know. I also know that you can’t complete this stupid quest without me. you had better try to stay on my good side, or I’ll leave. Just like that.” I shoved her to show that I meant business. Her eyes widened.
“Well, if you feel so strongly, why don’t you leave already?” she asked, assuming a threatening pose.
“Because I promised Fragen, my other friend, that I wouldn’t make him do the magic thing alone.”
“you are only here because of a stupid promise you made?” Myrie said with a laugh.
“Promises aren’t made to be broken,” I said pathetically. This made me wonder why the promise was so important to me.
“So, where are her ancestors buried?” I asked, not glancing at Mariel. I knew something would have to be done with her body. That was the question.
“Hmm…” Myrie pursed her lips in thought. “Maybe, just maybe, in the ruins of Ansceroth, the holy city. That would be my guess.” That made sense. “What should we do with her body?”
“We could create a tomb for her and leave it out here in memorial. Would that be okay, Phee?” Fragen suggested. I nodded.
“She would like that,” I said, sniffling. Fragen did everything while Myrie and I watched silently. Soon, Mariel was in a strong tomb that wouldn’t wash or wear away.
“On to Ansceroth,” Myrie said. We gathered our stuff and started out west. In my muddled mind, I noticed that we could hear each other when we spoke. We must still be in enchanted water.
We reached the ruins in a few hours. Only a couple of buildings still stood. The ruler of this city had merely quit instead of trying to save the people. I felt a dull anger at this. What a selfish ruler. So unlike… I couldn’t bring myself to remember Mariel. The wound was still so fresh.
“The burial chambers are underneath the ground,” Myrie said. She knew a lot about things like this. I wondered where she got all of the knowledge.
“I think it’s in there,” she said, pointing at the ruins of an elaborate building. A stone killer whale stood where the entrance should have been, still guarding the ruins. We started out toward it.
“How do we get in?” I asked when we had reached the building. Myrie rolled her eyes.
“We magic it open,” she said, making me feel stupid. She did this a lot. I hated her for it.
“Right,” I said, blasting a door into it before she could. We made our way in. we had to crawl along a path that we made as we went. I saw an opening in the floor. That must be the stairway down to the burial chambers. I made my way toward it, Myrie and Fragen turning to follow me.
“How has that stayed open?” I asked. Myrie shrugged. When we had clambered into the stairwell, we stood. There was dirt ground into our clothes. We looked a mess.
I made a little light and placed it on my shoulder, where it sat, almost like a sort of glowing parrot. Myrie and Fragen did the same. We started down the dark stair. What we met at the bottom was surprisingly closed-in. it was just a hallway with half-preserved bodies laying on shelves hewn from the walls. I could barely glance at the decaying bodies, glad that we were underwater so that there was no rotting stench.
“Where will it be hidden?” Fragen asked.
“I don’t really know, but,” Myrie answered, “I would think it would be with the first king of the city.” We walked to the very front of the burial hall (they started way far over and worked their way in and out the other side) and saw the first king’s body. It was up on an ornate pedestal. The bluish-green Stone sat on his chest, clasped in his hands. How simple was that?
“Is that the real Stone?” I asked, unsure.
“Oh, I’m sure it is,” Myrie answered. She started to grab it and almost had it pried from the king’s half-gone fingers when he grabbed her arm. I shrieked, but Myrie seemed prepared. She yelled something harsh and the king let go of both her arm and the Stone.
We started to dash back down the hall and almost made it to the stairway when some of the other kings awoke from their slumber and started to grab at us. I turned a few of them to dust or stone, but it did not work. They were still going after us, and after one was gone, they all got even more vicious. Bodies were blasted every which way. I thought of the nightmares I would have of this event.
Finally, we made it up through the stairwell. The dead kings seemed unable to follow us out of the burial chamber. I was very glad.
Instead of coming out the way we came, we blasted through the rubble and up and up and up some more, until we broke the surface of the water. Myrie and Fragen quickly ate their nasty purple powder while I shape shifted. They glared at me jealously. Somehow they knew that I would never teach them to shape shift. This was my special ability and mine alone. I doubted that they even could, had they tried. It must be a special power that children of the Six Children of the great magic possessed.
We reached the boardwalk/dock thing by nightfall (propelling ourselves through the water by magic). We got out and made our way to the Gateway to… I did not know where this gateway led to. All that mattered was that we got out of Garvish.
“Papers?” asked the lady who was at the desk in the small building, once again underground. Though this one was metal, build underneath the waters of Garvish. Myrie pulled them out of her bag and handed them to the lady, who introduced herself as Dileah, which I thought was a beautiful name. “I see that you have horses in Estubia,” she remarked. She pulled out something odd and spoke into it. “We need the three horses under the name Trink.” Our horses materialized in a small room off to the right. They were led, making a fuss, out by Dileah. As soon as Midgen saw me, she settled down.
“So nothing has changed?” the woman asked us. we all shook our heads, hoping that this was the truth.
“All right, then. Come this way.” We followed her through some hallways and ended up by a small iron gate, much like the one in the Gateway to Garvish building.
“Have a nice stay in Reaknos,” she said, unlocking the gate. So we were going to the desserts. Once again, I went through the dark tunnel, but this time I came out in the moonlight.



JPart Three: ReaknosL
Reaknos by moonlight was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The sand, stretching out forever, reflected the light, turning it silver. I saw some rocks, also painted silver by the moon, scattered here and there, breaking the vast ocean of sand. It was as if we were going from ocean to ocean, but each ocean was made of something different.
Myrie pointed to a cluster of campfires that I had not seen earlier. So there were people here. We started toward them, hoping that they would take us without problems. They did.
“Welcome, outsiders!” boomed a large, brown man. He had on robes of beautiful color and wore a white headpiece on his head. “Welcome to the Westernize Sandbuilders Tribe! Do come; we are about to eat our supper. You are free to journey with us and join in all of the festivals.” Myrie hurriedly explained that they had lots of rituals, festivals, and holidays.
“Thank you, gracious sir,” Myrie said, in the same humble voice she had used when we met Mariel. “But how much will it cost for us to travel with you?”
“Only a hand where it is needed,” the large man, the leader I guessed, said smiling. His face seemed to glow when he smiled. “Will you join us?”
“Why, yes, I think we will,” said Myrie. The man motioned us over to the camp.
“Oh Desmeela, do come here!” he called. A young girl, who looked very much like the man but thinner, came over to us.
“Yes, father?” she asked.
“I need you to take our guests and give them proper attire,” the man commanded.
“Yes, father, I shall. But where do I get their clothes?”
“Well, ask around I’m sure that someone will have something for them to wear.” As Desmeela rushed off to get us clothes, the man took us to a tent.
“This is my tent. You are to stay here during your visit. You may all share the room over there,” he pointed to a doorway in the tent, “when Desmeela gets back, you put the clothes on. They are specially designed to keep your body at a comfortable temperature. By the way, my name is Shimuso. I’m the tribe leader.” He ducked out of the tent, leaving us alone. Desmeela came with our clothes. We took them into our room and began to change.
“They seem very nice,” I commented, pulling the beautiful shirt I had been given over my head.
The rainbow-striped, sleeveless shirt fit perfectly. It felt like silk on my skin. The white pants fit well around my waist, too, but they were a bit long. I decided not to complain. After this I put on a long, brown robe. It went down to my ankles. I slipped into the leather sandals and wrapped the headdress around my head. Only my face and hands and toes were uncovered. When I moved my clothes made a pleasant sound like thousands of bells. I then noticed the tiny bells sowed around every edge. Myrie and Fragen were dressed mostly the same, but our clothes were different colors.
We went out of the tent to get our share of the food. Everyone seemed to know about us. when he spotted us, Shimuso came over. “Come, come, this way,” he said, pulling us to the middle of the group. Everyone got silent.
“These are the outsiders, our guests!” Shimuso yelled. I noticed that his voice could really carry if he wanted it to. “Introduce yourselves,” he commanded us.
“I’m Myrie,” Myrie said.
“My name is Fragen.”
“I’m Phoenix of Estubia,” I said, hoping that the ‘of Estubia’ would make me sound slightly important. More important than Myrie, at any rate.
“Welcome our guests, Myrie, Fragen, and Phoenix of Estubia!” Shimuso roared. Everyone welcomed us with various words and phrases. There were about a hundred of Sandbuilders in the camp. “And now, we eat!”
The meal was delicious. There were many different kinds of food. I wondered where some came from. I could see no trees or plants growing anywhere, yet they had fruits and vegetables. I supposed that the meat came from some animals that they had. It seemed as if everyone came up to greet us and chat. I liked the Sandbuilders.
When the meal was finished, we were directed to our room, where nightclothes waited. Our beds, thickly padded blankets spread on the floor, had many fluffy pillows and books in case we wanted to read. A small stone basin were beside our beds, with towels and soap so we could wash. It seemed as though they had thought everything out carefully and planned it so that we would be so kindly treated and not want anything. I made a mental note to thank them for their hospitality.
We all readied for bed and read a bit. My book was very interesting. It was a book about a Sandbuilder girl, detailing her daily life. I learned a bunch about their customs and tribal dealings. Myrie seemed less into her book, while Fragen dozed behind his. We extinguished the lamp and went to sleep.
A light shaking awoke me in the morning. It was Desmeela, the leader’s daughter. Myrie and Fragen had already woken up. I got into my clothes and noticed that they smelled as if they had been cleaned. This was a pleasant surprise.
When we walked out of the tent, most of the people were eating. Some had taken down their tents and packed them onto camels or into wagons. So we were moving on today. I sat down and ate the most wonderful breakfast I had ever eaten.
Soon, we were off. Fragen, Myrie, and I all sat in the leader’s own travel-carriage. It was large, supported by six wheels, and drawn by eight horses. The seats were velvet, and the floor was carpeted. Everything was decorated luxuriously. Even from the outside you could tell that this carried important people. There was what seemed like a whole library on one of the walls, a writing desk with quill pens and ink bottles and fancy paper with gold trim. I wondered what it would be like living in this luxury every day. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stand it.
“Where do you all come from, if I may ask?” Shimuso said, trying to open a conversation. Myrie made no indication that she even heard him. Fragen shifted uncomfortably.
“Well, I came from a farm,” I said, instantly regretting it. I knew he would ask questions that we wouldn’t be willing to answer.
“How interesting. I won't press you for more information; I know that you probably wouldn’t even answer me. don’t worry, we get interesting visitors all of the time.” He added, getting a look from Myrie when he used the word interesting. I knew he really meant strange, odd, different.
“Would you like to hear about our festivals?” he asked, changing the subject. I nodded eagerly. “The one coming up next – yes, we are traveling to that spot right now – is called ‘the Festival of Living Magic’.” The name caught all of our attention. Oblivious to this, Shimuso continued without hesitation. “this festival was made because one day, when we were traveling by a certain spot, strange things started to happen. Everyone could feel the magic in the air. No one could explain it, so we made a festival. Then there is…” After this, we stopped paying attention. The other festivals did not matter to us. we had found what we were looking for.
There could be only one explanation for the Festival of Living Magic. It was held by where the Stone was. Anticipation bubbled in my stomach. I remembered the last time we had taken – I couldn’t bring myself to use the word stolen, even though I knew that was what we did – a Stone. I shivered at the memory of the dead hands reaching, grabbing, trying to drag us back. I shuddered again and pushed the thought out of my mind.
I wished that finding the Stone here was not so easy. I liked this place, these people, everything. For once in my life I felt safe and secure. I knew it couldn’t last forever and sighed.
Shimuso seemed to notice that we weren’t paying attention. He sighed and stood up. “Well, you can do whatever you want. I have some board games if you wish to play them. right now I really must write some letters. I hope you do not mind?” the last sentence was phrased as a question. Myrie shook her head.
“Can we play the board games?” I asked. Shimuso opened a cabinet. I could see different boxed stacked on each other. I could tell that the traveling part of our adventure wouldn’t be dull. Fragen and I selected one, pulled it out and began to play. It was a new game to me, called checkers by Fragen and Myrie. I liked it. We played three or four games, each ending with me as winner.
the rest of the day passed like this. That evening, when we stopped, I asked Shimuso when we would get to our destination.
“We shall be there in exactly six days,” he answered.
As we traveled each day, we formulated a plan. Shimuso was only in the wagon with us half of the time, so we had plenty of time to talk. Our plan was this: when we arrived, I would mysteriously get sick. I would stay in our little room in shimuso’s tent, while Myrie and Fragen alone tended to me. when everyone was eating, I would shift into a lizard and go looking for the Stone. Then I had to come back and tell Myrie where it was. She would sneak out while most people were sleeping and take it. I did not understand why I couldn’t take it. However, I held my questions and followed Myrie, against my gut inclination, again.
Everything went according to schedule. On the last day of traveling, I found myself wishing that something, anything, would prevent us from getting to the place of the festival. Shimuso was away from his wagon all day, joyfully visiting his friends, making sure that the festival meal would be perfect, and keeping people from getting too excited. Apparently this was their favorite (though they would never admit it) festival of them all. It was the one that they looked forward to the most.
Fragen and I were playing checkers again. He was very tired of playing the game by this point. I wanted to play it at least ten times a day. He played every time I asked him. Most of the times, I won. I was “amazingly good”, as Shimuso put it.
“I don’t ever want to get there,” I whispered to Fragen. Myrie was napping on a couch.
“I know,” he whispered back, “I feel so comfortable and safe here.” I nodded.
“I just want to abandon this Stone thing and live with these people forever.”
Now it was Fragen’s turn to nod. “Very much agreed,” said he. We went back to the game. I quickly defeated him.
After a while, we both got bored. I pulled out the magic book and started to read. It was long and dull, but the amount of magical knowledge was amazing. I learned more from it in five minutes than five days with Myrie and Fragen. They were keeping so much from me. I read and read and read, learning countless spells and charms and helpful tips, all of which were stored in my mind.
All too soon, we were at the festival site. The wagon stopped abruptly, throwing a startled Myrie off of the couch. I snickered and she shot me an angry look. Fragen stood up and spoke.
“I can't believe how fast that trip was,” he said, stretching. I stood and stretched too. Shimuso came barging in, a smile gracing his features.
“Dear friends, we are here. Do come out and see the wonderful landscape,” he said loudly. I pondered his words. “The wonderful landscape” must mean that we weren’t in flat desert any more. I left the wagon room and blinked my eyes unaccustomed to the bright sunlight.
For a second, I was overwhelmed by a strong burst of magic. It made the little hairs on my arms stand up straight. There was a loud buzz in my ears. I got dizzy and hot, the magical power overtaking me. the feeling soon passed, and I found myself sitting on the ground, with Shimuso standing over me. he looked worried. I stood up and assured him that I was fine; the sunlight had merely blinded me for a second. He muttered something about special glasses and ran off. I got a good look at my surroundings.
The landscape had changed drastically since we had started out that morning. Where there had been only sand, there were now boulders, large, slate blue, and full of holes. The boulders, or “Power Rocks”, as the Sandbuilders called them, were in different shapes. I recognized some but the others were new to me. I turned around, facing Myrie, who had come over to me when I had sat down.
“Powerful place, huh?” she said, glancing around, looking for where the stone could be.
“Yes, it is. I thought I was going to faint,” I said. she laughed, but mockingly. I frowned. “I don’t see where the stone could be. There are no caves or anything here, just rocks on sand.”
“Oh, it is here. Somewhere. You have to find it.” I had to find it. For all I knew the rocks could cover many square miles. I decided not to complain, as Shimuso was making his way back to us. He carried a pair of glasses, with dark charcoal-colored lenses. He called them sun-glasses.
“can I keep them?” I asked.
“Well, sure,” he said, smiling. I put the sun-glasses on and the world around me changed colors, darkening. The sun was not glaring in my eyes anymore. This was very nice; it enabled me to do things without having to use one hand to shade my eyes.
“You all prepare for the ceremony. It starts in three hours,” Shimuso told us. I was sad that I would miss the ceremony, because I had to sneak around to find a Stone.
I was thinking about what sort of sickness I should get. Suddenly, an idea came to me. “My head hurts,” I said, sounding weak and pathetic. Perfect.
“Oh, no, we should have you lay down!” Myrie exclaimed, catching on quickly. It took a minute more for Fragen to understand.
“I feel light-headed, too,” I said. I dropped to the ground, feigning a faint. Apparently it was very believable, because Shimuso shouted.
“She’ll be fine,” Myrie said. “Fragen will carry her back to the tent and she can rest. Hopefully she will be fine by the time the ceremony starts.” Fragen leaned down and picked me up delicately. We headed off toward the tent, Shimuso apologizing that he couldn’t tend to me himself because he had things to do. Myrie assured him that I would be fine.
“I’ll send a doctor in to check on her, okay?” he insisted.
“That’sn’t necessary, Shimuso. You see, I have had a bit of training as a doctor.” Another lie from Myrie.
“Oh, good,” said Shimuso, “now I feel better.” He hurried off. We reached the tent. Fragen carried me to our room and set me down.
“I hope I wasn’t to heavy,” I said.
“No, not at all. You were light as a feather,” he said, making me feel a bit better about this. It seemed as though my whole life was a web of lies now. We were always having to say things to make this work out right.
Night came. Fragen and Myrie left our room, assuring Shimuso and his doctors that I was fine, I just needed my rest. No one came in to check on me. I waited for the noise level to rise, and then I shifted into a lizard and slunk out of the tent. Sandbuilders all around me were partying. There was loud music, good food, merry company, and enough drink to last them a while. No one would pay attention to a small lizard making its way around.
I could feel the magic around me. I searched for places where there was more magic than in others. From the book, I had learned that you could reach out with your mind and feel magic around you. I scuttled under a rock and reached my mind out, doing just what the book had said. I felt three places where the magic was greatest.
Keeping my eyes closed, I felt toward the closest of the three places. It was just a plain rock with some old enchantment on it. If you looked closely, you could see the color change from dark gray to dark green to dark blue and back again. Who would waste their time on something like that? I wondered. Then I realized that it may be some trick of some kind. I made my way toward the next magic spot.
This one was just a rock. Angry, I kicked the rock with my small lizard foot. To my surprise, my foot went through the rock. I went inside and shifted back to human form. I felt around on the rock, determining how big the door was. It was big enough to fit Myrie, just barely.
I made a small light and went down the tunnel that was inside the rock. Before I got too far, I realized that this was definitely the place. Remembering the horrible dead people that we had encountered while stealing the last Stone, I decided to go back.
I had just started to make my way back to the tent when I realized that I needed to mark the rock, so Myrie would know which one it was. I drew a small aqua blue M at the base of the rock, small enough that no one would know that it was there if they weren’t looking for it.
Soon, I was back to the tent. I slipped into our room and found Myrie and Fragen waiting for me.
“So, how did it go?” Myrie asked, an excited look on her face.
“It went wonderfully. I only got stepped on twice,” I answered.
“I don’t care how many times you were stepped on,” Myrie said rudely. “did you find it?”
“Yes, I did. And I’m glad that you care so much about my well-being.”
“yeah, yeah, right. Where was the Stone?”
“I don’t know, exactly,” I said. Myrie looked angry. “but I marked a rock with a small blue ‘M’. there is a hidden door in it, just barely big enough to fit you.”
“Well, that’s nice. What kind of things are guarding it?” Myrie asked.
“I have no clue. I didn’t go far down, but I know that’s where the Stone is. I could feel it.”
“you are useless,” Myrie said, angering me.
“I’m? Really? Because I somehow doubt that.”
Myrie remained silent.

Two days later, we had gotten the Stone. Myrie came back with a small scar on her leg. She refused to tell us how she got the wound. Myrie seemed to not want to remember what happened underneath the rock, because whenever we asked her what was guarding the Stone, she would get silent and shudder slightly.
Everyone kept asking me how I felt. The first few times, is started to ask them what they meant. Then I realized that they all thought I had been sick. I told them fine, but they still pampered me and fretted. This made me feel horrible. The guilt was tearing me apart.
Soon, the Sandbuilders had cleaned and packed, and we left. The festival area looked the same as when we had gotten there. Apparently the Sandbuilders wanted to keep the land clean and healthy. I admired this.
Myrie asked Shimuso how long until we would be near one of the edges. He said in a few days. We spent about a week riding in shimuso’s fancy wagon. We stopped one time for some sort of celebration. Myrie forced us to go, saying that we needed to appear normal, not guilty and distraught.
Soon we reached the Gateway to Valenque. We went down steps to the familiar underneath the ground. The lady behind the desk pulled out our papers after I started to give my name. since we had taken our horses with us, we did not have to have them transported.
the lady spoke. “You will need to pay to stable your horses here,” she said in a flat tone.
“You can’t take them to Valenque because they will freeze. For three horses, it will cost 300 weights per week. You will be billed as you leave Valenque.” We agreed to this.
The lady, who had not given us her name, stood and began to lead us down the familiar tunnel ending in the familiar iron gate. We headed through the gate and up the tunnel to the small room that waited for us. I was astounded when we saw two people, who looked like Sandbuilders, leaving Valenque. They smiled brightly and waved at us. I waved back.
Once again, I found myself walking into a new place, to steal another Stone. After we got the Stone from this side of the planet, there would only be two left. Once again, I was surprised by what I saw when we emerged.











JPart Four: ValenqueL
Everything was white. And it was so cold. I stood there, freezing, for quite a while, staring at the whiteness. I had heard of this white stuff, of course, but had never seen any. I think the word for it was snow. More of the snow was falling, like rain would. I stretched my fingers toward the sky, trying to catch the snow. I looked over at Fragen. Laughing, he had his hands up also. Myrie grabbed us and told us to put a warming spell on us so we wouldn’t freeze to death.
I thought of the best one. “Myhissen,” I whispered, closing my eyes. I felt the difference immediately. Warmth spread from my fingers throughout my whole body. Myrie got her spell wrong the first time, turning her skin green. I snickered while she quickly undid her mistake and tried again, this time getting it right.
We walked through the storm of falling snow. Myrie told me it was called a blizzard. The way she was acting, this was not a very bad blizzard. I thought it was. The thickly falling snow combined with the ferocious wind made it nearly impossible to walk. When the meager light from the sun faded, my strength gave out.
“Myrie, can't we rest?” I asked, breathing heavily.
“Well, how soon do you want to leave this forsaken place?” Myrie snapped, obviously exhausted also. I could tell that she did not like the snow.
“Must you be mean?” Fragen said. “Phee is obviously tired and needs to rest soon. In fact, I think a rest would be nice also.”
Myrie gave in. she had us tunnel under the snow. We created balls of warmth that we could hold. We slowly melted back the snow, shaping a small room. We burned our way down pretty far, but after about ten feet the snow was still there. I made an indent in the middle of our room and lined it with rocks I had created. I started a small fire that burned without wood. I had found that particular spell in my book.
“Where did you learn that, girl?” Myrie asked, surprised that I knew such a complex spell.
“Not from you, certainly,” I answered, looking down. It was a pathetic answer but I wouldn’t tell her about my spellbook unless absolutely necessary. I did not want her reading it and learning more spells.
She mumbled something that was not nice at all. Fragen glanced at her sharply. Using my bag – the spellbook inside – as a pillow, I laid down to rest. I had not even gotten comfortable when I fell asleep.

I was jolted awake sometime before dawn. Myrie was shaking me. I batted her hand softly and groaned.
“Time to move on,” she said coldly. I saw that Fragen was also up and about, making breakfast. I wondered where he had gotten the food, then I realized that he had probably made it out of thin air.
“Where are we going, exactly?” I asked, standing up and stretching my limbs.
“to wherever the force of magic is strongest,” answered Myrie. I started, wondering where she had learned about the pull of magic.
“what do you mean?” I asked. She smiled and held up a book – my spellbook.
“Oh, I think you know.”
“You stole that!” I shrieked, angry that she had been going through my stuff. “Leave my stuff alone!” she tossed the book back to me and I shoved it in my bag, wondering how she had gotten it. My head had been resting on it the whole night. Then I wondered how much she had read.

Once we had all gotten awake and energized, we made our way out of our warm room. The icy wind bit into me and I realized that the warming spell had worn off. Myrie and Fragen realized this also, shivering violently. I quickly warmed myself.
“Everyone try to find the Stone,” commanded Myrie. I did as she said, closing my eyes and opening my mind. I reached out over the country, feeling for magical spikes. There was only a small increase whatsoever.
“It’s very strange,” I said, “the only increase in magic I can find is right small.”
“Really? That’s exactly what I felt,” Myrie said.
“Yes,” Fragen agreed, “that’s strange. And the increase is small, as if the Stone is buried very deeply or there is something blanketing its powers.”
“Anyway, lets head toward it. I’ll lead.” Myrie headed off, marching determinedly. I followed, walking slightly less confidently. What if someone had already gotten the Stone and left something else in its place? This worried me.
We walked and walked, staying silent. Every now and then, a rock would be sticking up in the air, jagged and lonely. I could hardly tell the sky from the ground, the snow was falling so thickly. A few times one of us would fall over, only to be hauled up by the other two. We went on like this for hours. Eventually, the sky drew dark. We were settling in for another night when I saw something.
“What is that?” I asked, pointing. There was a gray-green blur on the horizon, growing steadily larger.
“I have no clue,” Myrie said with a shrug. “But it looks as if we will have visitors tonight. Quickly, fill in that hole we made, Fragen. Phoenix, you make special suits to keep us warm.”
“Why do I need to do that? We are perfectly warm.”
“Well, we don’t want whoever that’s knowing we can do magic, do we?” Myrie had a point. Perhaps the strangers would be nicer and more accepting of regular people than three Magics. I quickly set about doing my task.
We had barely made ourselves look normal when the blur became clear. It was seven large creatures with gray-green scales. It was the animals’ scales that had given the blur it’s color. I could see small white figures riding the animals, two per creature. As they drew closer, I could see them with more clarity. The animals walked on four feet, and there were stubs sticking out of them on each side. The riders appeared to be people, white as the snow.
They finally reached us. what had seemed like stubs on the creatures’ sides were actually wing joints. As their riders dismounted, the creatures stood up on their back legs. I realized that there were none other than dragons. Their snouts were bound closed so that they couldn’t blow fire. Surely dragons would melt everything here, so why did these people have them?
I then studied the people. They were white, and rather clear; my first thought was that they were made out of ice. The tallest one, the leader, walked up and shook each of our hands. I thought my hand was frozen when he let go. How could something so cold be alive?
“Welcome, strangers,” the ice-elf said in a low voice. “Welcome to our lands. We have come to take you to our city.”
“Thank you, kind people, but we are fine on our own,” Myrie said politely, not looking the ice-elf in the eyes.
“We wish to make your stay in Valenque as enjoyable as possible. Surely you want to see the sights and learn of our culture?” said the ice-elf, raising a snowy-white eyebrow. “I’m Alendanen, leader of the ice-elves of Tisheia. And you are?”
“Phoenix,” I said quietly. Alendanen looked at me and smiled.
“Phoenix… what a wonderful name,” he said, still speaking slowly. “welcome to our land, Phoenix.”
“I’m Fragen,” stated Fragen, moving toward me slightly. He had spoken very quietly also.
“Fragen… another wonderful name,” Alendanen said, giving Fragen a small smile.
“I’m Myrie,” Myrie said loudly.
Aldine’s face darkened. “Myrie… I know that name. there was a Myrie here once before. She destroyed my brother’s city and murdered him. But you are not that Myrie. Your face is different and so is your spirit. But, even so, I’ll have you watched extra carefully.” Myrie looked unhappy at this. She must have expected Alendanen to speak well of her name also.
Alendanen caught me staring at his mount, the biggest animal of all. It was beautiful in a dangerous way. “I see you have taken interest in our dragons. Surely you are wondering why we would have that kind of creature here, where a blast of fire from its lips would melt us away. These are a different kind of dragon, however. These dragons spew snow and ice, not fire. They are also quite tame. You may pet mine, Gurarah is her name, if you wish.” I went up to the large dragon and carefully patted her nose. She made a contented grunt and put her head down so I could scratch behind her ears.
“I see she has taken a liking to you,” said another of the ice-elves, in a low voice similar to that of Alendanen.
“Yeah, I guess she has,” I agreed, petting Gurarah some more. She nuzzled me with her snout.
“You may ride with me, if you wish,” the ice-elf said a few seconds later. “I’m Hatniel.” He held out his hand. I shook it, once again feeling as if my hand was frozen. Hatniel looked horrified. “I’m so sorry, Phoenix. I should have known. Your poor hand must be freezing. Here, take these.” He handed me a pair of thick gloves. I took them and put them on.
“Oh, thank you, these feel so nice,” I said. The gloves were soft as a cloud on my hands and warmed them up considerably. “And, I’ll ride with you.” Hatniel looked happy about this; he quickly whirled around and began whispering to his dragon.
“Interesting people arent they?” said a voice at my ear. I turned and saw Fragen.
“Yes, very interesting. I like these dragons,” I said, giving a dragon a pat.
“Yeah, they are pretty nice,” Fragen agreed, patting the dragon too. For a moment it seemed as if he wanted to say something else, but that moment soon passed.
“Well, let us go. It will be dark soon,” said Alendanen. Hatniel looked at me and motioned toward himself. I walked over, battling through the waist-deep snow. When I reached him, Hatniel helped me onto the dragon, grabbing my waist and placing me lightly on the back of the saddle. I could feel the cold of his hands even through my thick outerwear. Hatniel swung up before me and instructed me to hold onto the back of his shirt tightly. I did so, lurching backwards as the dragons rushed off.
The dragons traveled very fast, faster than anything else I had ever ridden. I could barely see anything, what with the falling snow and speed. I glimpsed Fragen and Myrie sitting behind other ice-elves. Every now and then, we would come up on a rock and the dragons would move away from them, whipping us to the left or right. Many times I almost fell off, and when this happened, Hatniel would reach back and steady me with one hand. The ice-elves seemed to be just barely hanging on themselves. I wondered if they were actually guiding the dragons or if the dragons just knew where to go.
Suddenly Hatniel’s dragon stopped, causing my face to slam into Hatniel’s back, half freezing my nose. Saying that I was fine, I rubbed it until the feeling came back. But I only put half of my attention on this; what the dragon was doing was far more interesting. The dragon was running around in circles, having flung us off, chasing its tail. It looked like an overgrown, scaly puppy. Hatniel rolled his eyes.
“Freshia, come back here. Now isn’t the time for playing,” he said, embarrassed. His icy white face had gone slightly blue, which I supposed was a sort of blush. Freshia, the dragon, came bounding back, licking his face. I saw the dragon-slobber freeze onto his face, causing a slight bump to appear. I tried not to think about this as Hatniel hoisted me back up onto the dragon.
We rode for a bit. We soon reached their city, passing a few. We went through one and the people there seemed to be on friendly terms with our group, waving and calling hello. We arrived in a smaller city and stopped. Hatniel helped me off of his dragon and I looked around. Everything was made out of ice and snow, packed in tightly. The buildings sparkled blindingly in the sunlight. I pulled out the sun-glasses given to me by Shimuso and slipped them on. Fragen and Myrie cast jealous glances at the glasses.
“Welcome to my home!” Hatniel exclaimed, gesturing joyously to the dazzling buildings. The detail on them was amazing; everything seemed so perfect and planned. I guessed the ice-elves to be very good architects.
The group proceeded into the largest building in town. It seemed to be a sort of town hall. If the inside of this building said anything about the inside of their other buildings, these ice-elves were quite the architects. Massive pillars held the lofty ceiling up. There were fountains spouting ice. I wondered how they did this. Small white birds flew around all over the place, giving messages to the various important-looking ice-elves that were walking around. Occasionally, one of the birds would let out some droppings that froze before they hit the ground, making the floor uneven with small bits of ice and snow.
I looked away from the birds. Alendanen was saying something. “We should go the Gricnack’s office now. The Gricknack is the leader of our city,” he informed us. Just as he finished telling us this, I felt something alight on my head. I reached up, praying that it was something good, not one of the birds’ droppings. I felt a folded piece of paper there. Thinking that one of the birds had made a mistake, I picked it up.
“‘To our guests, Fragen, Myrie, and Phoenix,’” I read. So it was for us! “‘I regret to inform you that I cannot meet you today. A problem with our dragons has arisen and I had to leave the city. Let my friends Alendanen and Hatniel take you to your lodgings in the upper floors of our town office. Thank you for visiting us and have a nice day. Marilain Tishock, Gricknack of Noirbenn.’”
“it would seem that I should lead you to your apartments, as Hatniel is off tending to the dragons,” Alendanen said. “Follow me.” he lead us across the lobby toward a pair of doors. When he approached them, he clapped his hands. To my surprise, the doors opened, revealing a small room – the size of a large closet – behind them. Alendanen lead us inside and clapped again. The doors closed. “Level twenty-two, please,” he said clearly. Level twenty-two? what a large building! I toppled over as the room lurched and began to move.
Alendanen made a choking sound and I rushed to his aid. “I am fine,” he said, pushing me away. “Have you never heard anyone laugh before?” that explained the choking noise. “I was laughing at the shocked expressions on your faces. You see, it is knows that this building only has floors of even numbers. The lobby is level zero, the next level two, on to level four, six, eight, etc. it goes all the way up to twenty-two, which is where foreign guests stay. This room is called an elevator. The white birds pull it upwards or let it drop downwards depending on where you wish to go.”
“Are they really that strong?” I asked, afraid of falling and having the elevator shatter.
“They are no ordinary birds. We breed them specially, with varieties of all sorts. The birds that pull this elevator are the strongest type we know of. The birds that deliver letters are especially smart. Everyone in this city is required to have a picture of them for the birds. They memorize the faces and are therefore able to deliver the messages. When a letter is addressed to someone they do not know, they look for an unfamiliar face. They can also read, so a name accompanies the face. The birds can match a face to a name or a name to a face.” These people amazed me. buildings made of ice, elevators, birds who could read, would the surprises ever end?
Apparently not. When we reached level twenty-two, where the foreign guests stay, we found that it was made like the buildings where we came from. Instead of ice everywhere, there was wood and brick. I guessed that the outside of the floor was covered in ice to make it blend with the rest of the building. A long hallway lead away from the elevator.
“I will show you to your rooms, but I cannott accompany you inside. The rooms are heated, so I would melt. Do not worry about melting the building; these rooms are well insulated and the heat cannot escape,” Alendanen told us. the ice-elves had to be the most intelligent creatures on the planet.
We walked down a frigid hallway to rooms numbered twenty-two eleven, thirteen, and fifteen. I looked around and saw that even numbers were on the opposite side of the hallway. Alendanen looked around and his face got slightly blue. He was blushing just as Hatniel had. “I forgot the keys.” He made a strange whistling noise in his throat and a couple of birds appeared. “Keys for rooms twenty-two eleven, thirteen, and fifteen,” he told them. they seemed to nod and flew off. A few minutes later, they returned, carrying a key each and sharing the weight of the third. Alendanen thanked them and handed us the keys.
“Just pull the cord by the door if you need anything. An attendant will be up to assist you shortly after. You can tell them if you need anything, such as food. But we cannot offer any heated food as carrying it would melt our hands. But you can heat up food on the stoves in your room, if you wish. Hot water is available via the metal tap in the corner of your bathing room. It may take a while to reach you, however, because we had to dig very deep to get any unfrozen water at all. Enjoy your stay.” Alendanen’s speech sounded memorized, like everyone had to learn what to say to visitors. I unlocked my room – number thirteen, between Myrie and Fragen – and went inside.
A blast of warm wind hit me and forced me to take off my coat. I laid it on the bed, glad to feel warm again. The outer wear did keep me warm, but it was not the same as being able to move freely without freezing. I looked around my room. It was attractively decorated with a theme of red and black, giving the room a cheery, cozy feel. The bed was large and soft, perfect for me. I saw a collection of candles on the dresser and tables. A few boxes of matches were sitting next to some of the candles, so I decided to light them. the warm light of the candles made me feel sleepy, so I was laying down to take a nap when a knock sounded at the door. I opened it to find Myrie and Fragen.
“Want to come in?” I asked, knowing that this was exactly what they wanted. Myrie nodded and I reluctantly stood back to let them in.
“I see you have gotten comfortable,” Myrie noted. I nodded.
“I was just about to take a nap,” I told her.
“We have work to do,” she said with a shrug. I frowned at her. Fragen did also. We wanted nothing more than a nice rest, no matter how short. Even in this frozen city, I was willing to stay for a while if it meant not stealing a Stone. “I want to get all of the Stones before the year runs out. This means we only have three months in which to do it.” Four months seemed like a long time, if you asked me. I told Myrie this. “We have to search here,” she reminded me. “We don’t know where it is, or even if it is here at all.”
“what happens if its not?” I asked, afraid of the answer.
“We will tear the place up looking for it. If not, we will force those insipid ice-idiots to tell us where it is. Surely someone here knows where it is.” Myrie's answer did not trouble me as much as the way she said it, with an airy tone as if that was as violent and horrible as fixing breakfast. I shivered slightly, noticing that Fragen did the same.
I knew that Myrie had a good reason to go to all of the trouble of getting the Stone, but a small voice in my head kept telling me to stop helping her. Maybe she is going to cause harm with the Stone, it whispered, maybe she does not mean good. But I refused to listen.
“Call up room service, Phoenix,” Myrie commanded. I pulled on the rope. Only a few seconds later, a knock sounded on the door. “Ask them for a nice chicken and potato soup,” Myrie ordered. “With a side of rye bread. And I’ll take their finest wine with that. I opened the door and repeated the order to the waiting ice-elf. She nodded and ran off before I could thank her.
Our food came in under five minutes. Everything was frozen, as I had expected. Myrie was unhappy about this, as it would take time to heat it up with the stove and she was starved. To her great embarrassment, I had to mention that we were in fact magical and could heat it up much faster if we wanted.
“All this cavorting with regulars,” complained Myrie, “is making me forget that we are magics. Once, long ago, magical people could go around doing magic whenever they wanted and in the company of regular people. But that was long, long ago. I wish it were still like that.”
Three days passed while we explored the city, accompanied by either Alendanen or Hatniel. We saw the sights, ate the food, and learned the history. On the fourth day of our stay, a knock sounded at our doors early in the morning, while it was still dark. I opened the door.
“You are to go to the lobby immediately. The Gricknack is back from her trip and would like to speak to you,” an ice-elf informed me. I grunted in reply, closed the door, and started to dress in a pathetic attempt to make myself presentable. I hoped that the Gricknack was not too into appearances. I could hear Myrie yelling from the room to my right. She was angry about being woken up in the “middle of the night” when I could see a crack of light on the horizon. Fragen was quiet, probably to tired and groggy to cause a fuss.
We walked down the hallway in silence. Myrie looked irritable. Fragen kept rubbing his eyes. Soon we reached the elevator, and I realized, with horror, that I had forgotten a coat. I shivered just thinking about the freezing lobby. I thought about making myself one by magic, but what if someone saw? Fragen noticed my shiver. He apparently had the same thought about getting caught doing magic, so he pulled off his coat and handed it to me.
“No, you keep it,” I said, pushing it away.
“Take it, already,” he insisted. “I can stand the cold better.”
“Oh, so you think I’m weak or something?” I was angry at him now.
“Phoenix, take the coat. Don’t fight,” snapped Myrie. I took the coat with a tired sigh and slipped it on. It was about four sizes too big. Since it was a long coat on him, it drug on the ground when I wore it. I had never realized how much bigger Fragen was than me before.
We reached the lobby. It was empty except for one lone ice-elf. She was tall and looked especially cold, like she had spent her whole life fighting for power. I noticed that the birds were gone and the floor was smooth. Maybe they scraped the floors to make them even every night. That would be a bad job to have.
“Hello, Myrie, Fragen, and Phoenix. I have been most eager to meet you,” the tall ice-elf said. Even her voice sounded cold and hard. The leader of the ice-elves couldn’t have been more different from the other leaders we had met. Even though Shimuso had not been around as much as Mariel, they were both warm and welcomed us with open arms. But the Gricknack seemed distant and unreachable. Like she would never really welcome us.
“And why, may I ask, is that?” Myrie asked with a not-too-graceful bow. The Gricknack laughed harshly. Her laugh sounded light, like small bells ringing. This surprised us all.
“Do not pretend you do not know, Myrie. You know exactly why I am most eager to meet you. Because last time you were here I did not get the chance to meet you.” Myrie was unable to look into the Gricnack’s eyes. Instead, they rested on the shiny, smooth floor.
“I’m sorry. I did not mean for your…” she was cut off by the Gricknack.
“Do not mention my Flacient! I am amazed that you would have the audacity to come back here, let alone mention my dead husband!” the Gricknack was yelling. Her face was a deep blue, as if she were very angry. I could see sadness in her features as well.
“I’m so sorry, I really am. I didn’t mean him to die. I just wanted… something,” Myrie explained. She was red in the face, stuck between anger and regret.
“I know what you seek, the same thing you seek as last time. The great Stone. Yes, I do know about that,” the Gricknack said at our surprised faces. “Do not think I would not do my research. But the Stone is no longer here. The fire people came and stole it while we were still crippled from your visit.”
“How did they get in?” I asked.
“They burned the snow away with their dragons. We put up a good fight, however. Fire is just the more powerful of the two.” I nodded respectfully. I understood this cold leader. Two horrible things had happened during her rule, and both were caused by Myrie. I wondered about what Myrie had done here that was so terrible. It couldn’t be the incident Alendanen had mentioned… could it be?
“I see you want to know,” the Gricknack said. “so I shall tell you. Years ago, right after I was made Gricknack, the Stone was hidden in a city close to mine. This is the city where my second, Alendanen, and his brother Flacient, came from. I visited a few times and fell in love with Flacient. We got married secretly, but I was planning to move to his city, but my father died and I was made ruler instead of my elder sister. So Flacient and I decided to keep or union secret, since he was ruler of his city. I was young and foolish then, falling in love with the ruler of a different city. One day, a woman by the name of Myrie found out where the Stone was hidden. Then, I did not know the meaning of the Stone, but I knew it was important. Well, this Myrie attacked the city of my lover. In her haste to find the Stone, everything was destroyed. Including my lovely Flacient. But, by some miracle, Flacient’s brother had survived. Oh how I wish it had been Flacient, but it was not. It was his twin, however. So I made Alendanen my second. He does not know about Flacient and I…”
Before she could say more, a voice rang out in the empty room. “Well now I do,” it said. I turned and saw Alendanen. The Gricnack’s mouth fell open. She quickly regained her composure, however.
“just how much did you hear?” she asked. Her face betrayed no emotion.
“everything I needed to. I know that this Myrie is the one who murdered my brother. But, she looks different. How did she do that?”Alendanen looked upset and confused and angry.
“You do not understand yet? Myrie, Fragen and Phoenix also, are magics. They have magical power. Myrie can change her looks. But I have read that it is very painful….”
“It is,” Myrie said with a nod.
“I hate you,” Alendanen growled in her direction. To the Gricknack, he said, “so you were the secret lover Flacient told me about. I wondered, especially since I…” but he stopped himself.
“What were you going to say?” the Gricknack asked him. Alendanen turned slightly blue before answering. He seemed reluctant to answer, but also reluctant to say no to his leader.
“since I fell in love with you,” he said softly. The Gricknack looked astounded, then slightly happy.
“This shall be discussed later,” she said, voice shaking slightly. I wondered if she was angry at him. But she said it with a small smile, the first one to grace her features since we had first walked in, so I thought not.
“But, you,” the Gricknack said suddenly and violently. She was pointing at Myrie. “You must do what you can to fix this. I want our Stone back. If you bring it back safe, we will reward you. If not, we will not reward you, but we shall find ways to track you down. It may start a world-wide war, but I want what it rightfully mine.” She sighed, looking very sad.
“I’ll retrieve your Stone for you,” Myrie said, looking apologetic.
“Do you promise?” the Gricknack asked harshly.
Myrie whipped around as if she had not heard what the Gricknack said, or as if she wouldn’t promise. “I’m very tired. To do this, we must leave as soon as possible. Gricknack, may we have an escort of dragons to the gate? We will leave tomorrow – later today, really. But now I need sleep.” She started to rush up towards the elevator, not even waiting for the Gricnack’s reply.

After we had gotten some sleep, Alendanen, Hatniel, and another ice-elf – who introduced himself as Lucinan – were waiting for us. they had their dragons ready. Hatniel looked sad that we were to go. I could tell he held something in his hand. He walked up to me.
“I… I got you this ring,” he said nervosly, showing me one of the most beautiful rings I had ever seen. “It is very powerful. It keeps you safe, and when you are wearing it one people whom you want to see you can see you. Understand?”
“That’s so kind of you!” I exclaimed. I took the ring. It was beautiful, with thin strands of silver braided around a medium-sized gemstone. The gemstone was palest green, like a young fiddlehead. I slipped the ring onto my finger, where it fit perfectly. Aside from the necklace Fragen had given me so long ago, and the book of spells mariel had bestowed upon me, this was the nicest gift I had ever received.
“Please take good care of it,” hatniel requested. I laughed.
“I will, hatniel. How could I not take care of such a ring? I shall wear it always.” Hatneil brightened at my words.
“We must be leaving now,” Alendanen announced. He told us who we would be riding with. I was with Hatniel, Fragen was with Alendanen, and Myrie was with Lucian. Soon we were off.
The trip to the gate was a short one. Against Myrie's suggestion, they dropped us off at the Gates to Valenque. She reasoned that it would be best to go here last, as this was the most dangerous of the sides. But the ice-elves wanted their Stone back sooner than that. I told Myrie to drop it before they got angry. She unwillingly obliged, as the ice-elves were looking dangerously aggravated.
“And now we part,” Alendanen said slowly. “Take care. The luck of Valenque goes with you, Fragen and Phoenix. Myrie, may you succeed, for your good as well as ours.” The words to Myrie had a slight threat to them, so she resisted the urge to say something about the fact that the luck of Valenque did not go with her.
The ice-elves dropped us off a way from the gate. They said that if they went too close to the gate, they might melt. How could we survive in such hot temperatures, I wondered. We waved as our friends left.
We walked the short way to the Gate in silence. It was a short walk, thankfully. But we got a huge shock when we reached the Gate.
It looked deserted. Something black was smudged around the entrance and window. We walked closer, but slowly. I peeked inside and shrieked. It looked as if a bomb had been set off inside the Gate. I saw charred bits of furniture strewn across the floor. And in the corner… it was a pile of bones! I shrieked again, and Myrie and Fragen pushed me out of the way, trying to get a better look.
“The Firepeople must have done this when they invaded. But why?” said Myrie. I wondered this also. Something was scrawled in red – how I hoped that it was not blood – on the wall. I read it.
“‘you have lost, stupid ice-elves,’” I said, confused. “This is from when they invaded Valenque, then. But why write it here? Those poor ice-elves can't even come near here.”
“It is strange,” Myrie said. “This certainly complicates things. Well, you know what to do. head down the tunnel!” with that, she started toward the door that I knew headed to the tunnel. Only two more tunnels after this one, I assured myself, assuming we go back to Estubia.




JPart Five: MavlalenL
We emerged in the sweltering heat and hazy red light of Mavalen. Before I could look around properly, Myrie grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hollowed-out rock.
“How are we going to do this?” I asked. I could see the same question in the eyes of my companions.
“We must determine where the Stones are exactly, first,” Myrie decided. I nodded with Fragen and started to reach out with my mind. They were surprisingly close to us, only a few miles away. Fragen and Myrie soon verified my conclusion.
“Well, this should be easy,” Fragen said. Myrie gave a sharp laugh.
“You have obviously never heard or read anything about Firepeople. They are violent and detest any outsiders. I would eat my own feet before I would look one in the eye.” As Myrie said this, Fragen’s face grew whiter and whiter.
“How are we going to do this?” I repeated.
“It needs to be an inside job,” Myrie said, with a pointed look at me. I gasped in horror. So now I was supposed to shape-shift into a creature I had never set eyes on before, convince them to let me around the Stones, and make off with their most guarded (I supposed) possessions? I had done some impossible things on this journey, from leaving my friend in Garvish to lie to my friends, but this definitely took the cake.
“How do you suppose I do that?” I asked, sticking my face into Myrie's. It seemed like when something difficult came up, I had to face it.
“Well, Firepeople don’t have names. They are referred to by a number around their neck. So we have to find some Firepeople and kidnap one, which should be easy if one of us can sneak up from behind and grab. We have to try to get one with a low number, preferably under ten. Those are the most important, so this may be difficult. Then you, Phoenix, take the number and shift. You have to be sure to turn yourself into an exact replica of the fireperson we snag. For this next part, you had better know how to act. You come back to the city (that should be easy, all you have to do is find where the magical power is coming from) and act dazed. We can create a painless wound on your head so you can pretend that you found a trespasser on their land and they managed to knock you over, wounding you, then they escaped. Hopefully they will buy this. If they don’t, we resort to violence. Then you get in the room with the Stones and perform a simple moving spell, sending them to this point.” she jabbed her finger at the ground. “After that, you simply have to escape from the city. But you can't touch the Stones, okay? That’s crucial. If you do, they will know that you are trying to steal them. The Firepeople are known among the magical community to have virtually no magical power or knowledge, so they shouldn’t know what the Stones are, just that they are important. Do you understand?”
“Why, yes, I do understand. I understand that you made a plan in which I could die a million different ways but you are safe. All for some magical rocks. Why do you want them so badly, Myrie? What is so important?” I challenged.
“I didn’t want to tell you this, Phoenix and Fragen, because I didn’t want you to be pressured. But, the truth is, the Great Warlock sent me on this mission. He needs the Stones because something is very wrong with our planet and if he doesn’t have them by the end of the year, we will all die.” Something seemed wrong with this, but, as I wanted to get out of this accursed place, I did not argue with her.
Our chance to kidnap a fireperson came soon. A couple of Firepeople, all with numbers less than ten, were out walking. One lagged behind. He was mumbling to himself and seemed to be upset about something. Fragen made himself invisible and sneaked up behind the fireperson, whose number was four. Before Number Four could yell, Fragen had clamped his hand over Four’s mouth. He tried to kick out, but Fragen had him gripped tightly. The other Firepeople did not even notice their friend being attacked.
Fragen dragged the struggling Number Four behind the rock where Myrie and I were waiting. Myrie zapped the fireperson with a knock-out spell she had prepared. The fireperson went limp and Fragen dropped him. Number Four hit a rock as he fell to the ground. I focused really hard on making myself an exact replica of him.
Apparently I succeeded, because Myrie looked rather upset that I had done so well and Fragen was gasping. I felt the back of my head and found that I had gotten Number Four perfectly, right down to the head wound. This would be good while explaining to the other Firepeople why I was later. Luckily, I could feel no pain in the wound.
With a final wave of my crimson hand, I walked away into the ashy gloom of Mavlalen. I found it easy to find where the Firepeople went. I could smell them. Their smell was pungent and overwhelming, yet strangely comforting. I shook my head. I had to be careful. I was starting to think like a fireperson. I rounded a jagged rock and gasped. Before me stood a gargantuan blackish-gray building. The Firepeople’s city.
It was carved out of a single stone, and well carved at that. The different faces of the building shone in the murky-red light. The edges were clean and crisp. The whole thing ended in a point, sharp as a needle from the looks of it. I could see windows and doors cut into it at random places. Carvings of wild beasts adorned a few of the walls. This was a beautiful building, beautiful in a frightening way. All in all, this building was evil, or close to it. I looked around nervously and found what appeared to be the door into the city.
I headed toward the door, staggering slightly. I clutched the back of my head, feigning injury. The wound still felt fresh, which was good. The doorkeeper looked up and gasped. “May… may I help you, Number Four?” he asked nervously. At least, I think it was a he. Either way, the fireperson looked eager to please. He glanced around nervously, refusing to meet my eyes. This must mean that Number Four was a person to be feared. That was my hope.
“I hit my head,” I said in a rasping voice. “There was a person… I tried to capture him, but he bested me. he slammed me into a wall. everything went black. I only just recovered enough to make my way back.” I stumbled dramatically, playing the part up. The doorkeeper, Number 533, helped me into the city.
Everything was silent inside, as if no one was there. The pressed silence unnerved me. I glanced around, seeing nervous faces peeking out of windows. The gatekeeper yelled suddenly, making most jump. “Get me the assistant gatekeeper!” At this, a twitchy young fireperson slouched to the post.
We went up a winding stair, the gatekeeper clutching me tightly, afraid that I would fall again and he would be blamed. Faces still peeked out of windows. When I caught someone’s eye, they would cringe and look away. Apparently I did strike some fear into the people’s hearts. This would be a useful tool.
We reached the top of the staircase and met a door. the gatekeeper knocked lightly. It was opened by another fireperson, Number 361. He ushered us into the room. The light was dim. I could see many shapes in the room, all staring at me in surprise. “Number Four, you’re back. We hoped you were okay,” a voice said. Its owner was Number Six. So he was below me.
“Yes, I’m,” I said. I wondered how you talked to those lesser than you and those more important. The last thing I wanted was to get into trouble. This would make completing my mission difficult, if not impossible.
“What happened to you?” asked another fireperson. I couldn’t see him, or her. I retold my story, in greater detail. I showed them the wound. When I had finished, the second voice spoke again. “Get Number Twenty,” it ordered. There was a slight shuffling as Number 361 left to fetch Number Twenty. I guessed that this person was some sort of healer or doctor. I was right.
“Where is he?” grated Number Twenty. His voice sent shivers up my spine.
“Over here,” someone said, pointing to me. I cowered slightly at the sight of the doctor. I could see him more clearly as he came toward me. there was a scar over one eye, and the ear above that eye was ragged. He had long, grimy nails that looked like miniature knives. He was clutching something, a bottle by the looks of it.
“Show me the wound,” he instructed. I did so, turning around. I hated having my back turned on the Firepeople, even if they did think I was on their side. The doctor rubbed it, feeling around for a concussion. “No concussion,” he said. He then proceeded to pour the entire contents of the bottle over my head. I tilted my head back instinctively, making sure that the warm liquid ran down my back and not into my eyes. The liquid burned my wound. I screamed in pain before I could stop myself. I had not expected this. The doctor smiled at my screech. The Firepeople were violent. This scared me.
“Well, now that you are safe and healed,” a fireperson – Number One – said, “We can eat!” this last part was a roar. Number 361 hopped up immediately and left.
in no time at all, a line of Firepeople, each bearing a tray of food, came in. their numbers were very low, 1,000 or more, so I guessed that these were servants. The food was steaming hot and I was hungry, but I was reluctant to eat it. There was no saying what the food was. I could be eating anything and not know it. Number Three was watching me, so I picked up a piece of grayish meat (there were no utensils; everyone was just using their hands) and popped it into my mouth. It was very sweet meat, which caught me off guard. I coughed it out.
“Are you okay?” Number Three asked me. he had come up behind me while I was coughing.
“Yes, I’m fine, just a bit light-headed,” I answered. Number Three nodded. He reached around me and handed me a glass filled with a pink liquid. I drank some – it was tart – and he took the drink back and put it onto the table. I noticed that he slipped a piece of paper beneath it. I grabbed the paper in a fist and excused myself.
“I need to go lie down,” I told the dining Firepeople. “But I can't remember much. Where do I go?” they glanced at me apprehensively. Number 361 got up slowly and walked out of the room, beckoning me to follow. Note still clutched in my hand, I left with him.
We went down the stair, then up more stairs. Number 361 mumbled something about a shortcut and ducked into a room. I had not the time to see what was inside this room. We went down a few corridors, always turning left when the need arose. Before long, we were at a closed door. but this door had no handles. The only reason I could tell it apart from the wall was the thin crack that outlined it. “Do you remember the password?” number 361 asked.
“No, I don’t. can we hurry up? I feel very sick.”
“Well, the password is ‘589 smells weird,’” Number 361 told me. and as he said the password, the door swung open silently. I went inside and nodded to 361. He nodded back and left, the door closing silently. I looked around the dark room. I was alone.
Curiosity overcoming common sense, I conjured a candle and lit it. I then opened the note. “Number Four,” it began, “are we going to go through with the plan? Do you even remember the plan? We were going to get rid of Numbers Two and One. Then I could be leader and you could be my second. Tonight we get rid of Number Two. Leave everything to me. all you have to do is make sure that no one knows who it is. Make everyone think that I was with you all when he died. If you don’t do this, I’ll make sure that you are hurt badly. As I have told you before, I have supporters that you would never guess. Keep this in thought. Number Three.” I gasped. So this Number Three character wanted to control the city, and would stop short of nothing to get what he wanted. I decided that he and Myrie would get along well.
The night came soon. Number Three said nothing to me, but he glared pointedly every time no one was watching. I had no choice but to help him. I wondered how to let him out safely. All of the leaders slept in the same room, the room that Number 361 had showed me to. Number Two was away that night. He wanted to watch the stars – which were pulsing red in the sky – so he said he wouldn’t sleep that night. About midnight, I started to scream. I would pretend that my head was hurting very bad. I hoped that they would buy this.
“What is the racket about?” shouted someone groggily. “Shut up, won’t you?”
“But my head… my head, oh the pain!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
“Maybe we should get Number Twenty!” Number Three suggested. A few voices were raised in agreement. Number Three ran out of the room. He came back about thirty minutes later, doctor in tow.
“Sorry it took so long,” Number Three apologized. “I couldn’t find the doctor. Someone was sick, so he wasn’t in his room.” The doctor was glaring at Number Three, so I guessed that in fact, the doctor was in his room, but Number Three had threatened him into silence. I could tell that in this barbaric community keeping yourself alive was a sport.
“What is it, Number Four?” asked Number Twenty.
“The pain is horrible,” I rasped. “Make it stop!”
“I guessed that it would do that,” said the doctor. “Let me get the medicine.” He pulled a bottle from a bag he had over his shoulder. He dumped it over my head. It was the same stuff as before and again I screamed as the fiery liquid burned the cut on my head.
“That should do it,” the doctor said. He left, stepping briskly. We all went back to sleep.

The next morning, Number Two was discovered outside of the compound. He looked as if he had been pushed from one of the higher windows. At first, Number Three – though he was Number Two now – was thought to be guilty, but he was out looking for the doctor, and the doctor’s room was on the other side of the building, so he was ruled out. It was then decided that this was a tragic accident. I was given a new sign that said “Number Three”. Every second of the day I worried about my safety. Since I was in such a high position, my life was constantly in danger. The Firepeople were power-hungry.
Two weeks passed before Number Two, whom I still thought of as Number three, told me that we were going to kill Number One. The perfect opportunity came when Number One invited the two people right below him, Number Two and I, out for a walk. He apparently wanted this to be a secret meaning, because the only other person to come with us was a deaf servant.
We made our way out of the large city. We walked along a path for a while, but then we turned away. We reached a small, empty area with tall rocks surrounding it on all sides. Number One told the servant with jerking gestures that he was to sit at the only entrance to the area with his back facing us. the servant did so. Number One, Two, and I sat down on the dark ground.
“I fear for the safety of the Stones,” he said in a hushed voice, as if afraid that the rocks themselves were going to hear him. “I have no idea what they do, but I know they are important. That’s why it is your two’s job to keep them safe.” This mission looked as if it was going to be easier than I thought.
“As you wish,” Number Two said gravely. Number One nodded, as if pleased.
“I don’t trust anyone as far as I can throw them, but you two seem to be more trustworthy than the rest,” Number One told us. my stomach lurched. By the look in Number Two’s eyes, Number One was wrong to think that. In fact, he was wrong to think that he would make it back to the city okay.
Everything happened so quickly that, looking back, I can’t be sure what happened. Number Two grabbed a rock and hit Number One over the head with it. Number One fell to the ground, dazed but still concious. “Trusting us was a bad choice, Number One. A very bad choice indeed.” Number One saw the murder in Number Two’s eyes and cried out. But since the servant was deaf and I was on Number Two’s side (the thought was not a good one), no one rushed to help him as Number Two leaned down and slashed the leader’s throat with one long finger nail. Scarlet blood gurgled out of Number One’e neck as he took a few sputtering breaths. Then the light faded from his eyes and he was gone. Both Number Two and I were blood-spattered. Number Two looked at me fiercely.
“That servant did it. We tried to stop him but he was two strong for us. he knocked you out then I saw him commit the murder, okay?” he said. I nodded. To my surprise, Number Two picked up the rock he had bashed Number One with and hit me over the head. There were a few seconds of pain before everything went black.
I awoke sometime later, surrounded by firepeople. They looked relieved that I had woken up. A shaken Number Two was on a bed next to me, retelling the story of how Number One had died. The deaf servant sat in a corner, chained to the wall. he was yelling loudly that he was innocent, but no one believed him. Instead, they believed their new leader. One fireperson came up to me.
“What happened?” he asked, staring me in the eyes. I told the story as Number Two had instructed. All of the firepeople agreed that the servant was to be put to death immediately, and a gathering of all firepeople in the city was called. I felt my throbbing head and found a bandage was wound about it.
“Another wound,” the doctor muttered angrily. “And the other one not healed up! What is this place coming to?”
Everyone in the city gathered outside of the walls. A crude contraption was set up and I saw that the servant was to be hanged. He was drug to the platform screaming and struggling, still insisting that he was innocent. In fifteen minutes, the deed was done. Number Two was officially declared leader and I his second. To keep us safe, we had a full guard with us at all times. Moving the Stones was going to be difficult. Thankfully, Number One put me in charge of the Stones, saying that whatever they were they needed to be kept safe.
I went in to look at them the first day that I could. It had been almost a week since the death of the previous Number One, and life had settled down considerably. Now Number One and I were only accompanied by two guards each.
One of the Stones was a pulsating crimson- and scarlet-red. Once again, Stone Sickness grabbed me when I felt their power in the air around me, but this time I was ready and managed to stay upright. The other Stone was a snowy-white with clear patches. Their white and red light swirled around, casting strange patterns on the walls. Together, they hummed a powerfilled tune. I wondered how to get them away without acting suspicious.
After a week, my chance came. I was breaking in two new guards. I went to check on the Stones as usual. They were struck by Stone Sickness and fell to the ground, moaning. Instead of helping them, I went over to the Stones. They were too caught up in their own pain to pay any attention to me.
I quickly transported the Stones to their position with Myrie and Fragen. Before I did this, I made them look like two ordinary rocks to the un-magical eye. Then I made to ordinary rocks look like the Stones. It was not a perfect match, but no one wouldn’tice. At least, that was my hope. By the time I had finished, my guard had recovered. We left the room.
That night I arranged to take a walk by myself. Well, almost. My guards had to come. We left the city. I lead the guards far away. Then I knocked them out magically. I hoped that they wouldn’t be able to find their way back, but in case they did, I charmed them so that they would remember nothing about the walk. I made my escape and found Myrie and Fragen.
“Nice job, Phee,” Fragen said, surprising me with a hug. “We were worried, you know. Almost a whole month without one word from you! But then we got the Stones and we knew you were okay. So, what happened?” I told them a condensed version, saying that I needed rest and some of the food I was used to. Myrie seemed less excited about my return, chiding me for the time it took.
“I want to get out of here as soon as possible,” I told Myrie. She nodded. “the firepeople will look for me soon and I don’t want them to find us here. That would be very bad. By the way, what happened to that Number Four? He’s second in command now.”
“No he isnt,” Myrie told me, “He is dead. We couldn’t keep him alive. That would have been stupid.” I nodded, not sure what to think of this. So I let the matter drop.
The next morning began our journey away. According to Myrie, we wouldn’t have to travel far before we could get out of Mavalen. The side we wanted was west of us. so we headed away from the rising sun, moving as swiftly as we could. I was rested up and felt strong, as if I could go on forever.
The trip itself was boring. The landscape never changed. It merely went on, black ash and black rocks, with the occasionally red river of lava. We had to wind around the rocks and find ways around the river. Magic couldn’t help us in this desolate land. We passed the occasional city, all of them like the one I had stayed in. I wondered if these cities had names, and if mine – for some reason, I called that city mine, even though that made no sense – had even had a name.
We pressed onward with determination. We had only one more Stone to go, and we were going to get it as fast as possible. We found extra strength in the thought that soon we would be able to go back to Estubia. Soon the journey that had flipped my life over would be over.
As we traveled, I gave thoughts to the future. What would we do when we were finished? Would we stay together? Or, more importantly, would Fragen and I stay friends? Would I see them at all after the ordeal?
We reached the Gate to Shalin in the same week as we set out. Someone was outside it, locking the door into the small underground building. “Sir, please let us through,” Myrie said. He nodded.
“So ya want to get out of here as soon as ya can, huh?” he said. “well, I can help ya nice folks with that. Just come on inside and show me yer papers, then ya’ll be right through and in Shalin.”
“Thank you, kind sir,” Myrie said, voice filled with fake gratitude. Had he not agreed to let us through, I doubted he would be alive much longer. Myrie seemed to be more determinded to finish the task before the year was out, and time was running short, so she was even more dangerous than ever.
“Mosey on in here like the good folks ya are,” the man said. “I’ll take yer papers now.” He did not even look at them before stamping them and leading us to the door. “Come on through the tunnel now, and go quickly. Cause, personally, I don’t like them dark tunnels.” We hurried through the tunnel and before I knew it, I was arriving in Shalin.











JPart SIX (woot woot): ShalinL
All I could see were trees. I had never seen a tree in my life before now. They were amazing - tall, strong, with broad trunks and leafy tops. It looked as if there was a hole-filled green ceiling over everything. It cast a pale green light on the ground. The different colors in the bark and leaves amazed me. The trunks of the trees ranged from pasty gray to a burnt orange. The leaves ranged in color from a light, foamy green to a green so dark it was almost black. I simply stood staring for a few minutes, then Myrie jerked me out of my wonder.
“Now, we find that Stone,” she said. I look this as an order and started to reach out with my mind. I located its whereabouts in under a minute. This magic thing really got easy with practice.
At the same time, we each yelled, “I found it!” at the same time.
“Good, then, we all know to go that way,” Myrie said, pointing to our left.
“No, it is that way,” I said, pointing to the right. Fragen laughed.
“Surely you both can tell that it is that way?” he said, pointing straight ahead of us.
“This is going to be a problem,” I said. “Who is right? How can there be three different ones? Is there three?”
“Yes, it is going to be a problem,” Myrie agreed. “I think we are all right in our own way. There can’t possibly be three Stones, so there must be some other explanation.” She thought hard for a few moments, then smacked her head with the palm of her hand. “Of course! That’s the trial! We have to get all three to find which one is real. So where to first?”
“Well, let’s start to our left and work our way through,” I suggested. Myrie nodded.
“That sounds okay.”
So, we started to walk to our left, Myrie in the lead. Every now and then she would stop, stand still for a moment and say, “the Stone is moving! How does it do that?” after a while of this, I searched for the Stone also. I found it, miles behind us, moving slowly away.
“The Stone I found is moving also,” I said. Fragen stopped.
“Well, mine is standing still.” We pondered this for a moment. Then something in my brain clicked.
“The Stones or whatever that Myrie and I feel are on people, maybe as a necklace or something, and Fragen’s is obviously standing still. That explains it!” Myrie went with this, claiming that she had just had the same idea. I thought she was jealous that I figured things out first.
We continued on, stopping every five minutes for Myrie to find the Stone. Because it moved at random, we often had to change directions. Sometimes, we even went back the way we had come, only to turn around again. Eventually, though, she said we were getting closer. A bit after she said this, we could hear talking. We hid in the bushes and crept closer to the voices. Though we couldn’t make out the words, we could see the talking creatures clearly.
“Are those people? Are they dead? They look like they are covered in mold,” I said, and Fragen seemed to feel the way I did about these strangers.
“Have you learned nothing?” Myrie spat. “Of course they aren’t people! They are wood-goblins, and that ‘mold’ is only the green hair that covers every inch of their skin.” I muttered a small ‘oh’. Myrie could have been nicer about telling us this, I thought. She was always so rude about these things. She was really getting on my nerves.
“So, do they have the Stone?” Fragen asked, to change the subject.
“Yes, they do. See it? It is around that especially large one’s neck, on a leather cord.” I looked closely and saw the Stone. It was small, and had a hole through it. How had they gotten the hole through it? How had they even found it? “That’s interesting. I never knew you could poke holes into the Stones,” Myrie said, more to herself than Fragen and I.
“So, do we just jump out at them and take it?” I asked. Myrie shushed me, thinking.
“No, that would be stupid,” she said, though if it were her idea it would have been brilliant. “We jump out at them and pretend that we are lost travelers who happened to bump into them.” this did seem more logical, I had to admit. Anyways, I did want to avoid fighting when I could. Or did I? The idea of taking the Stone by force had come easily to me.
So, we jumped. Well, not literally, but figuratively. We had no way of knowing if these wood-goblins would kill us before hearing our story, welcome us, or wait to hear our story then kill us. I knew nothing of them, and my guess was that neither Myrie nor Fragen knew anything about them either. So, we took a big leap.
“Who are you?” said the leader, the one with the Stone around his neck. I fought back the urge to laugh. The voice that issued from the large, hairy being was small and high, much like a mouse would have. If mice could speak. Myrie somehow managed to keep her composure as she answered.
“We are lost travelers,” she said quietly, as if she was exhausted and hungry. Thinking fast, I murmured something that would make our food and drink disappear. This would make our story more convincing.
“What did you mutter?” the leader asked me. I made a note to move my lips less when I made spells.
“I was just thinking about food, and how much I want some,” I said, thinking quickly.
“Well, you shall have food with us, then. We have plenty to spare and guests would be welcome.” Myrie smiled, a small, triumphant grin. This would be easy. These poor, unknowing creatures had welcomed her into their homes. Taking the Stone would be simple. In fact, I thought, she should just try asking. Maybe the leader would give it to her.
As the wood-goblins brought us back to their homes, Myrie struck up a conversation with the leader. “So, er, what may I call you?” she said first. The leader chuckled.
“Call me Boulder. Everyone else does.”
“Boulder, then, may I ask where that beautiful necklace came from?”
“This necklace has been handed down in my family for years. Every leader gets is and wears it till he dies.” Boulder fingered the Stone affectionately. “Personally, I think it brings good luck. Because…” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “we are the last wood-goblins left. The others say that there is at least one more clan, but I know in my heart that we are the last.” He shuddered. “But try not to think about that, okay? It is too sad.”
“Wow, I can't believe it. Your clan must be so strong and wonderful to have survived!” Myrie's voice was dripping with honeyed praise. She would have him found around her finger before we got to the camp.
“Well, you make us sound so brave,” Boulder said, beaming from ear to ear. I noticed that he stood up straighter and tried to brush the green hairs on his head into place. My stomach clenched. Here was another group of people who were only being kind, and we were going to steal their Stone. If that even was the real Stone, that’s.
“Oh! Is that your city?” Myrie asked, pointing to a clearing in the trees. I could see buildings made of large rocks. They looked run-down and unkempt. Surely the wood-goblins wouldn’t live in such a dilapidated place.
“No, these are only the Ruins,” Boulder said with a hearty laugh. “We would never venture into the Ruins. Many people died there, and it would be disrespectful to their memory to live there. Anyways, we prefer living in tree houses.” After this, we all fell silent.
I was deep in thought when we reached the city – could it be called that? – of the wood-goblins. I looked around me, puzzled. Fragen pointed upwards. I glanced up and gasped. There were countless houses in the tops of the trees. They were large and fancy, like mansions that had grown roots and shot upwards. Wooden bridges connected the houses. It was amazing.
“Up this way,” said Boulder, smiling at our amazement. He led us to a ladder. I looked around. This was the only ladder I could see. It was just some planks of wood nailed to the tree. I went up after Myrie. Some of the planks looked rotten. I wondered if they would hold. They did.
“This is my house,” Boulder explained. He ushered us inside. There was only one room in the house. The furniture was plain, carved out of wood of varying color. Other than a few branches growing through the floor, there was no decoration. Feeling that it would be polite, I nodded in appreciation for the room.
“Very nice,” I told Boulder. “I like those chairs.” I pointed at the chairs that were clustered around a rather large table. They were pretty chairs, dark in color and with sturdy-looking armrests.
“Thank you,” Boulder said with a smile. He seemed to smile at everything. I decided that I liked Boulder.
“Well, might we get food?” Myrie asked, looking hungry. I found that I was hungry also. We must have skipped a meal while walking.
“Why, yes, of course, right this way. I had forgotten.” Boulder looked upset that he had forgotten to give us food. He led us out of his house and across some bridges. The bridges scared me. they seemed so flimsy, so frail, merely bits of rope and wood. I was worried that they would snap, but thankfully they held. I thought of the weight of the wood-goblins and how these bridges must have held for them. this comforted me a bit.
We reached a very large tree-house and went inside. It was filled with dining wood-goblins. they chatted animatedly, looking happy. When we walked in, however, all eyes focused on us and an awed silence filled the room. “Visitors!” someone managed to say.
“They are very hungry,” said Boulder. Everyone snapped into action at once, eager to get their treasured guests food as fast as possible.
We were presented with a succulent feast of foods that I had never seen before. There were red meats slathered in different sauces, plates of berries and leaves, steamed vegetables, and so much more. I tried a bit of everything and liked most of it. After we had eaten, Boulder led us to our lodgings.
We were to stay in a relatively comfortable house. It was small, yet cozy. There were three beds, a small table, some wooden chairs, and a few cushions. It could have been better, but I had seen no soft bed or cushions in Boulder’s house. These wood-goblins seemed tough. I wondered how they would react to their Stone being stolen.
Boulder left us. I looked outside and realized that it was getting late. The sun had disappeared entirely. “We should get some sleep,” Myrie said. I agreed silently. My legs were sore from the long walk through the forest. But first I wanted to hear the plan.
“How are we going to get the Stone?” I asked.
“The only way we can,” Myrie answered with a grin. “We get Boulder drunk and convince him to part with it.” The idea of getting Boulder drunk, then tricking him into giving us his precious Stone seemed insane. And not to mention dangerous. What if we angered him? I decided not to think about it and merely nodded in response, lying down on one of the beds. I feel asleep almost immediately.
The next day was passed in quiet relaxation. The wood-goblins made us feel very welcome. They showed us all around their city – they called it an encampment, whatever that meant. It was an amazing place. All of the houses were decorated the same as Boulder’s had been. Well, those that we saw, that’s.
Myrie seemed to like the life of the wood-goblins. she said she was just being nice, trying to get closer to Boulder and therefore closer to the Stone. But I knew the truth. Myrie liked the simple, straightforward life of the wood-goblins. I did too, truth be told. They were wonderfully nice and steady. Hardly any fights were had and everyone knew everyone and liked them also.
We stayed almost week, learning about the culture. On the sixth day of our stay, we were invited to hunt for food. This was a great honor. Only special wood-goblins were allowed to hunt, those who were related to the leader. Hunters were the second most important beings in society, after the leader himself.
We were armed with light bows. They were only enough to kill small animals, such as rabbits and squirrels. The wood-goblin hunters were armed more heavily; they were going to kill bigger animals, deer and whatnot. Everyone also had a basket strapped to their hip. This was for holding plants and fruits.
The hunt itself was fun. I killed seven animals and filled my basket. Fragen came close, but he got only five animals. Myrie did horribly. She was too slow to hit the animals, and two loud. She did get quite a bit of fruits and plants, though. she even found a rare mushroom, which was to go directly to Boulder.
Somehow I knew that this was the day when we would get the Stone and run off. Myrie confirmed my suspicions, whispering to us on our way back to the Encampment, as it was called. “I’ll get it. You two just stay in the room we have and be quiet. I’ll come back around midnight, or close to it, and we will leave. So have everything ready.” We nodded silently. I would be sad to leave the wood-goblins behind.
Myrie offered to take her prized mushroom to Boulder. She said she wanted to have the honor of presenting it to him, and the wood-goblins agreed. She set off at sunset, carrying the mushroom in a cloth bag. She also had some wine, which she said was a present for Boulder to thank him for letting us stay.

We waited a while, playing games that we created, reading, or simply sitting silently. I kept looking out the window, wishing Myrie would hurry up. I felt sick to my stomach. Nerves, I told myself. I was nervous that the plan wouldn’t work, and we would be found out and killed. But really it was about deceiving the wood-goblins, who had shown us only kindness.
Finally, Myrie came back. She had the Stone around her neck, hidden underneath her shirt. She had an unhappy look on her face, and I could tell that she felt sorry for lying to and tricking Boulder. She cared for the wood-goblins. I smiled to myself. Finally Myrie was paying for her actions.
“Let’s get away from here,” she whispered. “I think they are all asleep, but I think we should be careful nonetheless.” She dashed out of the tree-house. Fragen and I followed. We barely managed to keep up with her as she sped silently over the bridges. We reached the only ladder and found it guarded at the bottom.
“All this time here and you failed to notice that?” I asked Myrie scathingly. She glared at me but refused to answer. I smiled to myself. Myrie stood still for a moment, kneading her forehead.
“The back way!” she exclaimed. The guards looked upward and we pulled back from the ladder. “There is a back way. I forgot until just now. They don’t think anyone knows about it, but Boulder let it slip. I was too focused on my success that I forgot it!” this was whispered, as she knew the guards already suspected someone was up here. She motioned for us to follow her and we did.
To my surprise, Myrie led us to the eating house. She tried the door and it was unlocked. This was expected, as the wood-goblins guarded the only entrance that they thought was known. We headed into the kitchen part. It was large, with many appliances – I wondered how they had managed to make all their food without burning down the village in the process. Myrie stopped short and started to examine the floor. Fragen saw it before she did – a small trapdoor in the corner. It looked exactly like the rest of the floor, but there was a small groove to open it with. Myrie stuck her finger in the groove and pulled the door open. We went through quickly, dropping through the darkness and onto a large net.
“What an odd way to get out,” I said. I bounced slightly on the net, testing it. It was springy, throwing me up a bit every time I bounced. So I bounced more. Fragen rolled his eyes.
“When you have finished playing, I think we should leave,” commented Myrie darkly. I frowned at her, but I knew every moment we stayed was dangerous. So I followed her to the corner, where a rope with knots in it acted as a ladder. The knots were the “rungs”. I positively hated the rope ladder, because it was not anchored into the ground and therefore swung wildly as we descended. But, finally, my feet were on the ground again.
Myrie looked around for a moment, making sure we were alone. Then she spoke to Fragen. “Locate the Stone that you located earlier and tell us which way to go.” He nodded then closed his eyes. After a few moments, he opened them again and pointed south of where we were.
We headed off in that direction. Every five minutes or so, we would stop and he would make sure we were going in the right direction. This was exactly as we had done with Myrie. Next it was my turn to lead. As we walked, I wondered where we would find the Stone and if it would be with people, like Myrie's was. I asked this and Myrie pointed out that Fragen’s Stone was staying perfectly still, so either the person was standing still or dead or the Stone was by its lonesome.
We went on for a few hours like this. Finally, we were all too tired to continue. Myrie supposed we were far enough away from the wood-goblins, so she agreed to stopping. I knew she was exhausted also, but she would never admit it. So we found a large, hollow tree and made small beds for ourselves. I was sticking slightly out, so that if there was a rain I would be slightly drenched.

We woke the next morning and I found that it had rained, leaving me soaked. I silently raged against Myrie, who I was almost certain had planned this. We set off again, finding that Fragen’s Stone had not moved. This failed to surprise me. but, I checked, and my Stone had moved. So it was with someone. Surely not wood-goblins again? Who else could it be with? I pondered this as we walked. My body was sore and bruised from our escape the previous night, but I said nothing.
We reached the place where Fragen’s Stone was, but it was underground. We searched in vain for a door of some kind. I voiced the possibility that we would have to dig our way to the Stone. Fragen agreed that this made sense, so we started to dig close to the place where Fragen guessed the Stone was.
After a while, the ground crumbled away, leaving a gaping hole in the ground. I slipped and fell down into it, screaming. Fragen shouted and jumped down after me. Myrie followed, saying everything was fine.
I had fallen into a tunnel of some sort. It stretched out ahead and behind us, so that we couldn’t see the ends. We seemed to be in the dead center of things. I made a small light in my cupped hands and moved it around, attempting to learn more of the place we were in. the ceiling was relatively low; Fragen’s head almost brushed it when he stood up straight. It was wide enough for the three of us to walk abreast, but just barely. It was very damp, with lichen and moss growing on the walls. We moved forward a bit and found the tunnel had collapsed, leaving us no option but to go the other way. So we did, and we could all feel a smidgen of Stone sickness, as if we were getting close. Fragen said it was very near by.
We reached a door in the tunnel. It was made of some sort of rock, sturdy and well-made. I wondered how long it had stood there, guarding the treasure behind it. Myrie searched for a doorknob, but found none. So she started to push on it. Nothing happened. She stopped and stared at it, trying to figure out how to open this magical door. we tried everything from blasting it to simply yelling, “Open already!” but nothing worked. Myrie sat down and glared at it.
I started to think. How to open the door? how to open the door? the question repeated itself in my mind. I got very close to it, rubbing it with my hands. Myrie looked at me like I was insane. I ignored this. Finally, an idea came to me. I asked it politely and quietly to open, and it did. Myrie was surprised. “How did you get it to do that?” she asked, angry that I had figured out the secret before she had.
“I simply asked it to open,” I told her. “Politely, that’s. I think it responds to polite commands.”
“That’s absurd. How can something like a door open when you ask it to?” Myrie spat. I shrugged.
“Often being polite gets one farther than being rude and demanding,” I told her wisely. She chose not to hear this statement, pushing past me and through the doorway.
I went in also and found a large chamber. Straining my eyes, I couldn’t see the ceiling. Nor could I see any walls other than the one with the door. everything was pitch black. Myrie made a large fire and saw the Stone. It was on a pedestal in the center of the room. I thought something was wrong. This had been too easy. I looked into the corners of the chamber and saw grotesque skeletons.
Some had two heads, other no heads. There were skeletons with limbs sprouting out of their chest, some with tails, some who barely looked human. “Don’t touch it, Myrie!” but it was too late. She had grabbed the Stone in her haste to get out of the place. She screamed in pain and dropped the Stone, which rolled to my feet. I watched her, trying to figure out what was wrong.
“It burned me!” she said. I mouthed wordlessly and pointed to the skeletons. Finally, I found my voice.
“What is going to happen to you?”I asked, horrified. I was not keen on seeing Myrie be transformed into something else or grow new appendages. Fragen was staring, mouth agape. For about five minutes, we watched Myrie as if she was a bomb that would explode at any moment. Nothing happened, which somehow scared me more than something happening would have.
“Why… haven’t I… grown something?” Myrie asked haltingly, not able to keep the fear from her voice.
“Maybe something only happens when you touch the Stone and try to leave the room,” I suggested. Myrie nodded, as if this was likely. She conjured up a small dog and grabbed the Stone, wincing, then she threw it across the room. The dog barked and chased after the Stone, thinking that we were playing fetch. The dog brought the Stone back to Myrie, who created a stick, which the dog watched in anticipation. Myrie threw the stick out of the room and the dog followed it. Immediately, the dog was thrown back. It yelped in pain as it struck the wall. then it began a horrible transformation. The poor animal now had four ears and eight legs. It looked like some horrible spider. I was angry at Myrie for hurting the poor, innocent dog. But she seemed not to care.
The dog ran around awkwardly, getting used to its new body parts. I went over to try and pet it but it ran away from me. “How could you do that?” I asked Myrie, furious.
“Better it than you or me,” said Myrie, as if there had been no other choice. I had to admit, this was true. “Now I wonder…” these words were more said to herself than anyone else. Fragen was examining the skeletons, every now and again exclaiming in disgust.
Myrie now conjured a small bird. It started to fly around, so Myrie made it come toward her. She grabbed it and touched its belly to the Stone. Myrie let the bird go. It fluttered away. Myrie blasted a hole in the ceiling. The bird flew toward the light, eager to get out of this place. But, when it reached the hole, it was thrown back. It screeched as it fell; one of its wings had fallen off and a human arm sprouted in its place. I was horrified. But then, Fragen and I had not touched the Stone, so perhaps we could leave safely. But, it would be cruel to leave Myrie here.
I was feeling a bit hungry, so I tried to magic up some food, but to no avail. “Myrie, this place won't let me magic up food,” I said nervously.
“That confirms it,” she said sullenly, “we must break the enchantments on this place.” She was rubbing her head, thinking hard. She was mouthing words, but I couldn’t read her lips. Finally, she spoke. “This won't be easy, but it must be done. To break the enchantments, we must destroy this place. We have to totally obliterate it. That’s the only way to totally break the magical protection on the Stone.” I wondered out loud how we were going to do this. “I can't explain it. Just trust me on this.” That was her only answer. I looked uncertainly at Fragen, who nodded. So I decided to trust her blindly.
She instructed us to join hands and form a circle around the Stone. Myrie told us that this would keep the Stone safe while we destroyed its home. Then she told us to surrender our magical powers to her. I yelled, appalled, “And let you steal it? I think not!” but she told me that she didn’t need my powers; hers were enough, and anyways, magical powers couldn’t be taken without permission. Fragen seemed okay enough with this, so I decided to comply. Having all of my magic temporarily taken felt strange, as if part of me was being torn away. It was almost painful.
Then Myrie started to chant something. I didn’t understand it – it was in a different language – but Fragen did. He blanched at her words, so I decided I would rather not know what she was saying. Then she said to close my eyes, which I did immediately. I could tell that something horrible was going to happen and I didn’t want to see it. Still holding hands, we were carried upward by a strong wind. For some reason, I could sense that the Stone had risen off the ground also. Then the most terrible noise began. It sounded as if a hundred thousand animals were being tortured, while a hurricane raged in the background. I could hear screams, shouts, moans, an unnatural screeching, and the sounds of winds ripping things apart. I wanted to cover my ears to block out the racket, but I knew that we would die if I broke the circle.
Then it was over. As quickly as everything had begun, it was gone. Everything was quiet, and I felt myself lowered to the ground. We all collapsed, breaking the circle at last. I heard the pedestal holding the Stone hit the ground roughly. I noticed that I still had my eyes clinched shut and that I was trembling violently. I could hear the shaky breaths of Myrie and the horrified gasping of Fragen. I was pulled to my feet. Slowly, I opened my eyes.
At first all I saw was Fragen’s shirt, because he was holding me to him as if hanging on for dear life. Then I looked out and realized why he held onto me so tightly. The room in which we had been standing less than five minutes ago was gone. Everything in it was gone, the door, the walls, the ceiling, even the disturbing skeletons. The only thing that remained of the room was the Stone and its pedestal. Then I saw the woods, or what was left of it. For about ten miles around us, there were no trees, plants, wildlife, nothing. Just scorched ground. I was reminded of Mavlalen.
“What have you done?” I said softly. Myrie looked around, shaking.
“I have no idea,” was her answer. She sounded… remorseful, sorry. I could tell that she felt the loss of life. She grabbed the Stone half-heartedly and with a frown. Then she marched off, obviously eager to get away from this place. I was also, and Fragen seemed also ready to get away.
After we were far away from the clearing, Myrie turned to me. “I think this was the way your Stone was?” I had forgotten about the Stone I had found. I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, locating the Stone instantly. We were headed somewhat in the right direction, but the Stone was moving.
So we began to travel through the forests for the third time. It was my turn to lead. I stopped frequently, more frequently than Myrie or Fragen had, because the Stone I was seeking was moving swiftly. Whoever had the Stone was snaking around erratically. This baffled me. what were these people – or otherwise – doing?


At long last, we found the people we were following. We crept silently towards them, peeking through the undergrowth to spy. These people were strange, not really people at all. They had the body of a human, but the head of some large cat (Myrie said it was a tiger) and a tail. Their hands were covered in orange, black, and white fur, but their fingers were long like a human’s. to be honest, these strange half-humans rather disgusted me. I wondered how they got that way.
Myrie whispered to me, “You must act like one of them. if they think you are of their species they will accept you.” One of the strange being’s ears twitched and Myrie lowered her voice a fraction. “This is the plan: you shift into one of them and appear, looking ragged and hurt, out of no where, Fragen and I in tow. You will tell the Tershians – that’s what they are called, it stands for tiger person – that your clan is all dead. You will show the place where Fragen’s Stone was as where your clan lived. We will be your guests that also escaped from the horrible destruction of your clan. Understand?” I nodded. This was her most far-fetched plan yet. And infiltrating a group had already been used. So I thought this a rather desperate and pathetic attempt, but I understood Myrie's want to take the easy road out. This was the last Stone we had to get. It would all be over soon.
We followed the tershians for a while. Myrie was waiting for just the right moment to jump out. I had already shifted into a sleek female Tershian. Having a tail was odd to me, and my senses were so much more acute than a human’s. I enjoyed being a tershian, no matter how strange they were. A few times I was sure that the other Tershians were aware of our presense, but if they were they never said anything.
“Now,” Myrie hissed into my ear, much louder than she needed to be, and gave me a push on the back.
I walked slowly our into the clearing and faced the tershians. They looked me over with mild surprise. Myrie and Fragen followed me out. The tershians held up their wepons threateningly. “Please don’t hurt us,” I said, trying to look weak and defeated.
“Who are you and why are you here?” asked one of the tershians.
“This is Fragen and Myrie,” I said, gesturing to them in turn. “And I am Marsin.” This was the name we had decided on. Myrie said it was Tershianic. “We are here because we have no where else to go. My villiage has been destroyed and everyone there, except me, perished.”
“Why are these two humans with you? And how did you survive?” the tershian asked. However, he – she? – looked sympathetic, but the others didn’t.
“We were getting some water from the nearest river,” I told them. “These are, were, visitors who wanted to help with the work. While we were fetching the water, we heard a huge noise, like thunder. Then we ran back and everything was gone.” I shivered, trying to sell my story.
“We shall take you to the King,” said the tershian. The others nodded and led us to their camp.
The camp of the tershians was large. tershians went about doing their business. They all looked regal yet somehow savage. Their houses were simple, mud buildings with dried-grass roofs. They had constructed basic fences of twigs around small gardens. Small dogs ran around unchecked. Sometimes children would chase a dog, or the dog would chase the children. Everyone seemed happy. One building stood out from the rest. It was upon a hill. The thing that set it apart was the fact that it was made out of ivy-covered stone. It looked very old, as if it had stood there since time began. I correctly guessed this to be a castle.
We were lead to the castle, at whose gates stood two rather violent-looking tershians. We were immediately allowed to enter. The king was sitting on a large throne. He spoke when we walked in. “Who have we here?” he asked, in a deep, commanding voice.
“These are Myrie, Fragen, and marsin,” the tershian who had come inside with us said. He explained why we were here. I noticed that the king hardly took his eyes off of me. I gave him a small, nervous smile. His face seemed to light up as I did this.
“They shall take me to the place where Marsin’s villiage once stood. That is, if she is comfortable showing us,” said the king, looking at my inquisitively. I said it would be fine.
“Well, it is settled then. Go get my guard, Larnin. No, no, you don’t have to come.” Looking slightly upset, Larnin went to fetch the king’s guard. The king walked up to us. he grabbed my hand and kissed it. “I am very glad to have you here,” he told me. “You will be treated with the upmost respect during your stay.” I would have blushed had my face not been covered in fur.
The guards came in. they were the ones who stood by the door. they took their place by the king’s side, staring at us menacingly. I weakly smiled at them. “Now, dear Marsin, please show us your village,” requested the king, but he made it sound more like a command. I nodded and stalked out of the room, unconsiously flicking my tail as I did so.
As we made our way out of the village, all eyes were glued to us. the king didn’t seem to get out much. Everyone bowed low to the ground as we passed. Most of the tershians glared unhappily at Fragen and Myrie, the human intruders. I was more accepted, but still I aroused quite a bit of suspision.
We finally cleared the village and the king instructed one of his guards to go ahead of us and make sure the path was clear. The other one went behind us and watched our tails, literally except in the case of Myrie and Fragen. The king then walked next to me. Myrie and Fragen hung back a bit, close enough to overhear our conversation but not to be noticed. “So, my king, that is a wonderful necklace you have,” I said lightly, trying to strike up a conversation.
“Please, call me Pirnic,” he insisted. “This is a very valuable necklace. I got it from my father, who got it from his father, and so on. It has been passed down from generation to generation for as long as anyone can remember. Perhaps even longer. But I don’t want to talk about me. I want to talk about you.” I asked him what he wanted to know about me. “I would like to know about your clan,” was his answer. I was filled with dread. I knew almost nothing about these tershians, and I was supposed to make up a whole clan for him?
“Well, everything looked and worked almost exactly like your village. My father was the ruler, and I was to be his heir as he had no sons,” I stopped and hoped this would satisfy him, but it didn’t.
“What was your father like? I never heard anything about more clans in these forests.” I tried not to panic.
“Well, he was a very fair ruler,” I said, thinking quickly. “He wanted to make sure everyone was happy.”
“What was his name?” pirnic seemed to be testing me.
“It was Pirrok,” I said, hoping pirnic would accept this. He looked amused.
“That name is close to my own,” he said.
“Yes, I know.” I tried to look sad as I said this, as if remembering my father and village and all I had lost was hard on me.
“I am very sorry, Marsin. I can tell that talking about your lost family is rough on you, and it was not fair of me to ask this of you.” He took my hand as he said this, and he gazed into my eyes intensely. I only managed to hold his gaze for a few seconds before I looked away.
“Thank you, Pirnic, you are very kind,” I said softly. I noticed pirnic smile out of the corner of my eyes. His rough face seemed to soften.
“Which way was is?” he asked, obviously wanting to change the subject. I pointed, hoping that it was the way we had come. Myrie caught my eye and nodded in a slightly different direction.
“Or maybe its that way,” I said, changing the direction in which I was pointing. “This isnt the exact way we came,” I explained lamely. Pirnic nodded, looking slightly suspicious. We headed off in the correct direction, pirnic’s guard still leading the way. He almost seemed to know where we were going, but that was impossible....
We walked the rest of the way in silence, only speaking when I would show them the correct way. Myrie had to tell me where we were going, because pirnic expected me to lead. I seriously doubted that our plan would work, but I really hoped it would. I could tell how desperate Myrie was.
“Here it is,” I whispered as we stumbled upon the area cleared by Myrie's destroying spell. The tershians looked around, agast.
“How… how did this happen?” said pirnic, whispering also. The sight repulsed and surprised me. earlier I hadnt realized just how much damage we had done, but here the evidence was. Myrie had done this, and I had helped. I had helped to destroy this section of the dense forest. And since we had used what was so obviously bad magic, dark magic, it would never be the same. It couldn’t grow back like it had been.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t there, remember? It is like nothing was ever here, no one ever lived here. Whoever did this must have been a horrible person,” I said, glancing at Myrie. Thankfully, pirnic didn’t notice. But Myrie did. She glared at me, offended. I raised my eyebrows slightly. She knew what I had said about “whoever did this” was true.
“Well, I believe you, Marsin, and I would like to help you and your… friends.” Pirnic seemed to think that these friends of mine werent trustworthy or something. Considering we planned to steal his Stone, he wasn’t wrong in not trusting them. he was wrong in trusting me.
“Can we please go back?” I asked, my voice strained. Pirnic nodded, understanding why I couldn’t bear to be here. But he didn’t know the real reason. He just thought I was unable to look at the place where I used to live with the people I loved.
We walked back in silence, each of us immersed in our thoughts. I was slightly startled when we reached the village. The walk had seemed much longer while we were going to the clearing. Pirnic and his guards went back to the building where he lived. We were guided to the place where we were to stay.
It was a small dirt building in the corner of the village. We went inside and I shifted back to my usual form. I looked around. It was a plain house, with only the room in which we stood and three doors leading off into other rooms, our bedrooms.
“These are very interesting people,” I said, trying to get a bit of conversation going. The silence was tense, and I wanted to break it. For some reason being here made me very uncomfortable. It was worse than impersonating Number Four in Mavalen. Probably because I actually liked these people, and I wanted to think of them as friends. But this was impossible, simply because we were here to steal from them, and anything they thought about me was a lie. At least Fragen and Myrie could look like themselves, even though they had to lie also.
“I don’t like lying to them, or pretending I am one of them. this is wrong, Myrie.” I had finally said what was bursting out of me. I had told the truth. I almost smiled at this, but something stopped me.
“To be honest, I don’t either,” Myrie said, looking convincingly at me. I raised an eyebrow.
“Really? Or is this fun for you, like it has been before now?” I asked, glowering at her.
“No, this isnt fun for me anymore, actually. I admit, it was fun… but now I wish it was all over.” We fell silent at her words. How she could ever find constant stealing and lying fun, I didn’t know. But at least now she was having a hard time. I quickly pushed this thought out of my head.
“Well, I am going to sleep now.” I got up and went into one of the other rooms. I saw it had a bed, already prepared. I smiled at the tershians’ thoughtfullness. Despite their fierce and slightly disturbing looks, they were very kind. I decided that I liked them as much as I had liked the sandbuilders.
I got up the next morning feeling refreshed. Then the memories of yesterday washed over me. I quickly shifted into Marsin, hoping that I looked exactly like I had the day before. Then it struck me that I had never saw marsin in a mirror. Then I remembered that I had caught a glimpse of her in a pond. The thought that I had been someone and I never actually saw her face was an odd one. I promptly found a mirror and took a good, long look at Marsin.
She – I – was beautiful in a dangerous way. Her features were elegant and regal. I was slightly taken aback at her appearance. I hadnt expected her to be so wonderful. I stepped back to admire her from a different view. She was tall and slim, built like you would expect a queen to be. She had a long, perfectly banded tail. I left the room.
Fragen and Myrie were waiting for me in the living area of our house. They both looked a bit surprised at my appearance. I guessed that they had not expected me to be ready yet. Myrie gave me the once-over and said, “The ears need to be pointed more.” I nodded and changed them until Myrie said they were perfect. I ran back to my room to see what the ears looked like. Having memorized every feature, I went back out.
“I have a mirror,” I explained, “so I thought I would see what Marsin looks like. That way I know how to make her.” Myrie and Fragen nodded understandingly.
We went out too find some breakfast. A tershian immediately came over to us. “Marsin,” he greeted me with a bow. “We have a meal waiting for you. And you also,” he added, glancing at Myrie and Fragen, as if he had only just remembered them. “If you would follow me.” we were lead to the building where Pirnic lived. This surprised me. so pirnic was eating with us?
“Welcome,” said one of the guards at the door. they were the same as yesterday, I noticed. I wondered if they ever got the day off. “Come right this way.” One of the guards led us inside, where a banquet table was laid with a hearty breakfast. Pirnic was already seated at the head of the table, obviously waiting for us. I was lead to a seat at pirnic’s right side, and I knew this was a great honor. Fragen was seated at the other end of the table, with Myrie next to him. Myrie whispered something to Fragen, but I couldn’t hear what she said.
Pirnic helped himself to the food. Then we were allowed to serve ourselves. I took a bit of everything in reach, eager to taste the food. Everything was delicious. I suspected that I wouldn’t like the food so much had I been human.














JPart Seven: the Book of MagicL
We were finally back in Estubia. I was happy yet sad. The first thing we did was to get our horses back. I had not seen Midgen since we entered Valenque. She seemed excited to see me. I had worried about her, but I had worried pointlessly; she looked well-fed and happy. Myrie's horse went over to her and started to nuzzle its owner, but Myrie simply nodded at it, as if the horse could understand the greeting.
“Onward we go,” Myrie said.
“Where is the person we are supposed to take the Stones too?” I asked. For a second she hesitated, then she answered.
“He is in the Chamber of the Book,” she answered with a nod.
“Where is that?” I asked.
“In the center of our earth.” I wondered how we were going to get there, but not out loud, as Myrie seemed to have a plan. I decided to trust her instead of asking her.
“We have to go this way,” she explained, pointing. She was pointing directly away from our spot. As long as we kept going in a straight line, we would reach the center of Estubia. Apparently this was a way to get into the center of the earth. I asked Myrie if my assumption was correct. She said it was, with a slight frown.
We set off, once again riding our own horses.
“To where?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Phee, I need to tell you something,” Fragen said.
“What?”
“Can you see Myrie?” he asked.
“No, I can't see her. What does she have to do with what you are telling me?”
“Okay,” he dropped his voice to a whisper, “This is really hard to say. I… well, um…”
“What is it?” I was confused. Was something wrong?
“Myrie and I have been lying to you. That’s, we haven’t been telling the whole truth. Myrie does not want to do good with the Stone. This has all been a trick to get you to help her. She gave you the dreams so that you would leave home. She hired me and told me to tell you that story about my family… which wasn’t true. She convinced you that finding the Stones was the right thing to do.”
“You must be joking,” I said, laughing nervously. “This can’t be real.”
“I only wish this was a joke, Phee, but it’s not. I feel so bad now. We need to stop Myrie. If she finds out how to use the Stones, it will be the end for everyone. Do you have the necklace I gave you on?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Because the necklace enables you to do powerful magic. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to do what we have to do.” he sighed, shoulders slumping. “There is only one way to defeat her. You can only kill her when she is in the act of killing another person.”
“Who else is here to die?” I asked, trying to deny the obvious.
“I’ll go. You kill her, Phee, and make it as painful as you can.” Fragen stood up confidently, breathing deeply.
“No, Fragen, you can’t,” I objected. “I would hate myself if I had to live the rest of my life when you died.” He pulled me up and took my hands in his.
“Phee, there is no other way. Please, don’t make this any harder for me. You are the best – and only - friend I have ever had. This is really hard for me. I don’t want to leave, but it must be done.” His voice broke. We were both crying by now. I spotted Myrie out of the corner of my eye, making her way toward us.
“Myrie is coming,” I said. He nodded.
“What I want to say is that I have enjoyed this time we have had. Never forget me.”
“I won’t, Fragen. I won’t,” I said.
“What are you two doing over here?” Myrie asked as she walked up.
“Oh, nothing,” I said, trying to dry my tears. Fragen had dropped my hands when I mentioned Myrie.
“But you are both crying! Surely something is up.” I thought quickly.
“We were just telling each other stories about our childhood and Fragen told me a sad story,” I explained, hoping against hope that she would believe this and let it lie.
“Okay, I’ll believe that,” she said unconvincingly. I sighed, half out of relief and half because I was overwhelmed with what Fragen had told me.
I slept badly that night. Finally, I went and sat by the dying embers of our fire. I pulled out the small notebook that I had marked the day’s in. every morning, without fail, I had pulled out the book and marked the new day. I counted the marks, which was difficult as some were smudged. They totaled 197. I had not realized how long this had lasted. It made sense.
At last, we entered the Underground Chamber, where the Book of All Magic was hidden. It was large, I could tell, but dark. Our footsteps echoed around the cavern. We all made magical lights. I could see that the chamber was just dirt all over, with some old straw strewn here and there. The Book sat on a pedestal in the middle of the room. Myrie walked up to it, eyes bright with greed and anticipation. My heart gave a leap. This was it – the end.
Before Myrie reached the Book, Fragen cleared his voice loudly. Myrie turned, impatience darkening her features. “What do you want?” she spat, like he was just a bug on her shoe, hindering her.
“Myrie, I can’t let you get that book,” he said bravely, muscles tensed. She laughed in disbelief.
“Oh, come now, Fragen, we can't play these games,” she said. “You and I are going to rule the world, with that farm girl, if you must have her. Getting in my way would mean death, for both of you. We don’t need that.” She advanced on the book.
“No!” Fragen shouted, tearing after her. “NOW, PHEE!”
Out of Myrie's hands shot blue flames. Now was the time… I shot a crippling spell at her. It would knock her out, but not kill her. I was going to torture her. She fell back. Fragen ducked, but was not quick enough. The flames hit him and he crumpled, dead. I had no time to mourn. I had to get Myrie first.
I went to her and chopped her ring hand off. Her eyes fluttered open and she screamed in pain. Her clouded eyes locked on me. I stopped the bleeding on her hand and extinguished some of the pain. Enough to give her back her sense, but she still was not comfortable.
“What… what are you doing, insolent wench?” she spat. I knew she was keeping back tears. She was defeated. She knew this, but wondered why I had not just killed her. That was what she wanted; I wouldn’t give her painless death.
“I’m defeating you, Myrie. I have won. You are going to die. But not yet. First, I need to talk to you.” As I said this, my voice was level. I wondered how I could be so steady when I had just lost my best friend.
“I’m going to die? Phoenix, don’t do this. You are such a sweet girl. But if you must kill me, just give me that ring. It was a gift from my grandmother… a family heirloom. I want to have it when I die,” Myrie reasoned. I laughed at her. I knew her words were empty, thoughtless.
“Oh, so you think I’m stupid, do you? Fragen,” my voice cracked when I said his name, “Fragen told me about the jewelry. He told me everything – about the lies, the dreams, everything. There is no way out of this. You have power no more, Myrie. You see, in the end, Fragen won over you.” I stopped, letting her think.
“Oh, no he didn’t, Phoenix. I won over him. He is the one who ended up dying!” she gave a monstrous cackle, and sat up. I knew that she was trying to edge toward her ring, as if I would let her get it.
“No, he didn’t lose. You see, he wanted you to kill him. That was the plan,” I laughed manically. “As you killed him, you enabled me to get you down – to defeat you. It’s only your fault that you are done now, my dear.” I was numb all over. Realization dawned on Myrie's face.
“You… you… little brat, little wench,” her face contorted in pain and anger and her curses got worse and worse. I finally cut her off.
“How do you want to die?” I asked cruelly. “Should I crush the breath out of you? Slash your wrists and let you bleed to death? Raise you up and drop you? Crush your head under a boulder? What should I do? Stab you? That would feel nice, oh yes, but I think I shall let you decide. Pick any one of those you want.” I knew that I was bending down to her level, but she deserved this. I wouldn’t be able to live unless I had avenged Fragen’s death.
She thought for a long time, no doubt stalling. My patience wore out. “PICK ONE, BEFORE I DO EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE! I’M BEING GENEROUS HERE, DON’T TRY MY PATIENCE!” I screamed. I knew that I would never act on those words, but she did not.
“I guess,” she sounded weak, ready to get everything over with. Maybe… maybe I should let her go easily. No! That’s what she wanted. I knew her ways. “I think, I think I should die by fire. Please burn me, Phee,” she had used my nickname. Fragen’s name for me. I wouldn’t let her do this. I kicked her hard in the side, causing her to double over. “Phoenix. Please burn me.” I considered this. Burning would be merciful of me. I decided to let this happen.
“Okay, then,” I said slowly. “I shall have mercy and burn you. But first,” I picked her up, magically, of course, and threw her against a wall, banging her head with a sickening crunch, she slid to the ground. Her head lolled and her eyes half closed. My guess was that she was still conscious, if just barely.
“Goodbye, Myrie. The world will be a thousand times better without you,” I said, causing her body to erupt in flames. They were white hot – just like my rage. Her screams gradually died away as the stench of burning flesh filled the chamber. As an afterthought, I threw the Book of All Magic in the fire. That way no one else would even be able to read it, ever. I knew this was the right thing to do.
Finally, two great evils were completely destroyed. I sat down and cried. I cried and cried, face in my hands. Eventually, I cried myself to sleep. I slept peacefully, wonderfully away from the troubles of my life.
I had to wake up, though. That was the sad truth. When I did, I momentarily forgot everything that had happened. I found myself in a large chamber with a slightly burning fire and a body. Fragen’s body. Everything came back to me. I felt like crying, but couldn’t, having cried myself out earlier. Out of all of the bad things that had happened, the worst one was that Fragen had not said goodbye to me. I tried telling me that he had been a bit preoccupied with his own death to think of that, but I couldn’t believe it. No matter how I tried, I could never stop thinking up reasons for that.
I thought about my future. What could I do? I would go return the Stones to their proper places. No, I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t let anybody else find them, ever. So then I would simply go home. Yes, that sounded nice. As for now, I decided to bury Fragen.
I went over to where he lay. He was so beautiful, even in death. I pulled the bracelet – his magical jewelry – off of his arm and fastened it around my own wrist. I then constructed a tomb out of clear crystal, through which he would be ever more preserved. I made sure that Myrie and the Book were properly destroyed. They were. I kicked her ashes around in a bit of left over rage. The rage subsided and I felt nothing.
I gathered the horses and tied them all together. I started out from the cave, deciding to get myself out of there for good. I did not even look back as we rode off into the sunset.
I rode off and on for about a week and a half. I tried to keep my thoughts off of anything except getting home. Every now and then I passed a farm or city. I would stop and eat a meal, sometimes performing little tasks that the people needed done. They let me keep to myself, seeing that I was clearly distressed.
Presently, I came upon a farm. I was going to pass it, but something made me goes up to the door and knock. A woman, thin and frail, answered the door. A smile spread across her face. She was glad to see me for some reason. I smiled at her, too, instantly liking her.
“Would you like to come in?” she asked in a soft voice. I did not understand why I liked her so much, but I did. I came in. a large family of eighteen or so sat around a table, eating a meager lunch. They all looked thin and hungry. I heard a baby wailing in the background.
“I need to ask you one favor,” the woman said, tearing up. “If you don’t mind. I know this is strange, but would you take my baby?” I couldn’t believe my ears. She wanted me to take her child? “You see, you look so well-off and, well, to be honest we haven’t enough to take care of all of our children. I want dear little Fragen to have a good life…” she was about to say more, but I cut her off.
“Fragen? That’s your child’s name?” I asked, disbelieving it.
“Yes, is that a problem?” she said.
“No, not at all,” I said, deciding to take care of her child for her. “I can take Fragen for you.”
“Oh, thank you. Promise that you will take good care of him? I know that I’m taking a dreadful change, asking a stranger to take my baby, but times are rough,” she said, a few tears slipping out of her eyes.
“I promise,” I said, hand over my heart. She took this to be a solemn promise. It was.
“Okay, thank you so much,” she said, blundering around. She gathered a small bag and shoved some cloth diapers, a couple of toys, and a blanket in the bag. She handed it to me and went to get Fragen. He was lying on the floor because they did not even have a crib.
“Do you need help getting him out?” she said nervously, fearing that I might drop him off of the horse. I took him, balanced him on my hip, and shook my head.
“Don’t worry. I have younger siblings at home. I have had to do things like this with them before.” The truth was, I could hold him on magically, but I did not want to mention that to them. I knew that taking baby Fragen from them was the right thing to do. I could feel it. Fragen had stopped wailing the instant I took him. The lady took this as a good sign.
“Do you want to stay for lunch?” she asked politely, though I knew that one of them would have to go without a meal if I ate.
“Oh, that’s fine,” I assured, lying, “I’ve already eaten.” She nodded and opened the door for me. I walked out, turning to say goodbye, but she had already shut the door. I knew she was taking a great chance for her baby. She really wanted him to have a better life. I would give him one. That I knew.
I started to mount Midgen, but I stopped. I had sold Myrie’s old horse, but Fragen’s I had kept. I decided to leave it here, because the family needed it more than I did. I quietly led the horse to the barn and put him in an empty stall, next to their cow. Hopefully they would find him there.
I hauled myself on Midgen, having put the diaper bag in the saddlebag. Fragen was tied to my front with the blanket, a simple spell keeping him from slipping out. I rode Midgen off, listening to Fragen breathe. He had settled into a deep sleep.
I wondered why I had been so eager to take him. His name was one of the reasons, I knew. But there was something else – it hit me. I would teach Fragen magic, passing on my skill. I did not want to live forever. I knew this. He would be my successor. I removed the first Fragen’s bracelet from my wrist and put it around little Fragen’s neck. It looked right there.
That night I reached home. They were all surprised to see me. The baby brought a few odd looks, but I explained that I had married a man (I had slipped Myrie's ring onto my ring finger) but he had died. This was our son, Fragen. They took the story in, believing every word. I knew that it would be wrong to tell them the real story. They asked why I had left.
“I needed a change of pace,” I said. They believed this also.
“But why were you gone so long?” Merryn asked. I laughed.
“Well, I found a lover, got married, had a child, and traveled back. That takes a while.” She muttered ‘oh,’ her face turning red. I hugged her, not meaning to embarrass her. They asked no more and I told no more.



J EpilogueL
Phoenix lived out a long life. She rarely left the farm after that, not really wanting to see other people. She stayed in her room a lot, and always had Fragen at her side. The family never found out what they did so much. Fragen was brilliant at magic. Phoenix thought of the ‘first Fragen,’ as she called him, often. She never shed a tear after that first night, though. He was never mentioned in her house, either, except when she told young Fragen all about her adventure. However, Phoenix never thought of Myrie. Myrie was gone, never to be mentioned or thought of again.
The Stones were taken care of properly. Phoenix saw to this. She kept them on her person until the day that she died, and then Fragen took them from her. That way they would never get into any bad hands.
Fragen left after Phoenix died. He never found his original family, but he did start one of his own. He married a magic, and they had many happy children. He passed his magic and the Stones to one of his children, and told them his mother’s story. The Stones and Phoenix’s story are being passed down from generation to generation, still in the same family. None of them has done anything bad with them yet, and that’s how it is going to stay for centuries to come.
THE END