[quote=Anise]Even then she clutched the lantern tightly and glowered at the wolf. In the back of her mind she remembered the ship and the flicker of sunlight. She decided that if she earned the favor of the wolf, she would hold off on destroying this lantern and find that ship. She wanted to learn of its significance about the sun and then she would make her decision then.[/quote]

The wolf's yellow eyes watched the battle between the light and dark that raged within Anise. The lantern pulsed and colors fought and flickered stormily within it; murderous rage warred against truth and hope. In the end, the remains of Arin's wretched spirit were ripped apart by Anise's strength of resolve. As the princess drew a new breath, the lantern glowed a clean, steady blue.

Behind her, past the silhouettes of trees, lights flashed and swirled in a storm of howling wind borne of the two broken lanterns she'd left behind.

The wolf's snarl twitched and pale fangs flashed, but the princess' glare held steady and clear. For a full minute a growl rumbled deep in the beast's throat, and neither he nor Anise blinked or looked away from the other.

Finally, Reus huffed, quieted, and turned his great head. The glare in his eyes were still defiant and hateful, but he silently admitted his respect for the princess. It was up to her to maintain that fragile trust.

The wolf's eyes narrowed in warning, and like a great sphinx he sank to the ground. His enormous head was level with Anise now, and he sniffed her suspiciously. An ear twitched. He looked away from her, and he stared at the lights that flashed beyond the trees.

[quote=Simon]"There actually is something that I do wish, I wish that the moody princess could be stopped in a non-fatal fashion. In return of this favour I will offer you a tribute, I will offer you the eye-sight of the Pirate Rhea" [/quote]

Immediately, all around Anise the shadows seemed to grow darker, more opaque, solid black and moving. The light of the Spirit lantern struggled and seemed to fade as darkness wrapped around the princess and the wolf. Reus growled again and his hackles raised. The air was getting colder. He pushed roughly at Anise with his muzzle, toward his back.

A swarm of [i]something[/i] flitted in droves among the shadows, gathering closer as the lantern light dimmed.

[quote=Simon]"Tyaelaem don't take out the Wolf, he isn't nearly as useful here without information however accurate or corrupt it may be. Go for the pirate the one who is feeding him such extremely contradicting information Ty."[/quote]

Tyaelaem's head twitched toward Simon; he had heard clearly, but that moment was all Talan needed to get his hands around the Kith's throat. Tyaelaem wrenched and thrashed in shock, and his back slammed into the ground with Talan over him.

[quote=Talan]he squeezed harder trying to kill the damned creature. Eventually the pain faded by the adrenaline. Talan used the magic of the amulet to raise various stones around them. He was going to make sure this thing was dead by the time they moved on from here. Of all the rocks around them, Talan raised one big enough to fill his hand incase he'd have to manually bash this creature's skull in.[/quote]

Tyaelaem gagged and gurgled; his body flickered and his limbs thrashed with a speed faster than the eye could see, but Talan's grip was too firm. As long as the Kith's feet were not under him, he couldn't run, couldn't take advantage of the quickness that the rabbit mask gave to him.

Frantic, the Kith scrabbled and scraped sharp nails into Talan's face and arms. And then came the blow of a rock to the head. The rabbit mask cracked like an egg, spattered with blood.

Tyaelaem suddenly went still. The blue glow of his eyes snuffed out.

Beneath the mask was a boy no more than twelve years old -- as human as Talan himself -- hollow eyes wide and mouth open in shock.

But Simon would see something else through the eyes of the fox: a new shadow stood up out of the child's corpse, with the same shape and height as the dead boy.

All of the shadows that wandered the forest were the souls of the dead, who were never permitted to move on from this world. The flowers had the power to summon them.

[quote=Fyair]Fyair’s scrambled thoughts struggled to grasp anything solid or retain the magnitude of the situation. All he wanted was for it to stop. He wanted the madness to dissipate far away and leave him be. Casting away the sword and purple lantern he chose the dragon, with no more reason than he wanted some peace and quiet. [/quote]

Rhea -- who had been shielding her face from the wind and light -- saw the flash of the violet lantern and her comrade's sword being cast away, and she dove for them and snatched them up. A jolt of electricity sparked all around her, and her face and hands for a flicker of a moment appeared as bone and sinew, an illusion of the lantern she held. She pressed the tattoo of her palm against the shell of the violet egg within the lantern, and the purple glow flickered and dimmed while she shook in pain. The egg would only be quieted temporarily.

"Talan!" she called out, pushing herself to her feet using the electric sword. Her tattooed hand had been burned an angry red. "Retreat to the village, we need to repair this before it starts hatching." She held up the violet lantern, which was only barely contained within the shattering iron casing. She peered across at Fyair -- she didn't have enough power to contain the green lantern as well.

Fyair, meanwhile, was engulfed in shattering pain. His bones felt like they were being crushed, and his hand was frozen around the green lantern no matter how much he might try to let go of it.

The winds died down and dissipated. The stone around Fyair crumbled into rubble at his feet, and he could move again. The glow of the green lantern calmed, but the egg inside was now hot, and the cracks in the iron casing were slowly widening.

Scales shimmered just beneath Fyair's skin. His bones and his grip were strong as stone. The mountainous man had become impenetrable through the dragon's protection.