[quote]Artemis took a moment to just lay there, not-choking and definitely not-reviewing-all-her-mistakes. When she was finally confident she could breathe without wheezing, she let her hand fall from her mouth. Placing it on the ground, she used it to push herself up with a wince and a stifled groan. That landing had hurt.

Artemis blinked and took in her new surroundings.[/quote]

The darkened room smelled like pickling juice, dried fish and old soot; someone outside the window rushed past, and the moving torchlight spanned a white-stone kitchen. The room was dominated by a squat cold hearth, heavy polished tables, and shelves laden with glass jars. The jars were filled with vegetable preserves, pickled fish, salted meats, fermented and candied fruit; dry herbs hung in gray bunches from the ceiling, and more boxes on the tables held stacked cured fish and hard biscuits. One of these boxes had been recently dumped out onto a table, and bits and crumbs were strewn on the floor. The owners of the house were out -- but Artemis had found the window open only because someone else had snuck in through it first.

A child crouched like a cat underneath the farthest table, staring brightly at Artemis with eyes that glowed blue. She was barefoot and wore loose brown clothing, riddled with biscuit crumbs; her tawny blond hair was short and messed in all directions; a rune was tattooed to her forehead, and more runes were etched into the iron collar around her throat.

She stared at Artemis with narrowing eyes, slowly moving her feet under her, coiled and crouched like a small animal ready to spring at the slightest indication of danger.

[hr][quote]Her grip subconsciously tightened around the handle of the lantern, which she still had not realized was still in her hand. Pulling herself together, she walked over to the mattress, where the old man slept, and kneeled down.

“Um, excuse me, sir? Uh, hello?” she said, trying to wake him up, hoping he could help her. Her voice, though normal volume, seemed quiet and nervous, but clear.[/quote]

"Hah?" The old man sniffed and yawned widely; he barely had any teeth, and his breath indicated he had recently eaten pickled fish. He blinked up at Naia with bleary eyes.

"Oh, Palla, what's the matter?" he said in a smiling voice -- he had mistaken Naia for someone he knew. With a creak and a huff, he pushed himself up into a pained sitting position. "What's happened? Did Cod run off again? He's a little adventurer, y'know, just like his grand-pap."

He tilted his head expectantly, squinting at Naia with a slightly confused expression. "Why ain't you on patrol? What time is it? Something happen?" He pointed a rickety finger at the violet lantern. "Is Rhea wantin' that back now? 'Cause she can't never make up her mind, y'know."

Outside the tent, a group of people around a bonfire had broken into song and laughter.

[hr][quote]She didn’t hesitate in picking up the lantern and carrying it over to the door. The voices she’d heard had been behind the cabin, so perhaps if she went straight forward they wouldn’t see her leaving. She gripped the small piece of metal tightly as she pushed open the door, hoping for a silent escape.[/quote]

Outside the cabin door was a starry night, a wide grassy clearing bordered by a circle of low etched stone, and beyond it a shadowy forest chittered and rustled and creaked. The cleared, open area around the cabin suggested that whoever owned this house had very purposefully encircled their home with a barrier against the forest -- perhaps to avoid the very disaster that had befallen the cottage when a single tree got too close.

A breeze rustled in the darkened trees; the air was sweet and smelled richly of flowers and sap. Straight ahead -- across the open grass and across the low barrier that marked the edge of the trees -- a concentrated swarm of fireflies drifted and flashed their lazy beacons, illuminating a thin traveled path that cut through the brush. The rest of the forest was hidden in a deep, thick darkness.

Something rumbled like quiet thunder behind and above Erin, at the side of the ruined cottage.

Bright yellow eyes stared down at her from an impossible height, and long yellow fangs shimmered in the red light of the lantern in Erin's hand. What seemed at first to be a deeper shadow that loomed beside the house was something much more dangerous. A monstrous, shaggy black wolf stood as tall as the cottage itself -- towering over Erin -- and its attention was focused entirely on the escaping young woman. It was a dark, colossal, imposing presence that promised to outrun her in a single bound, no matter how fast she sprinted.

From behind the cabin, the old woman's voice went on: [i]I can barely walk right now, let alone fight. Take Reus, go to Oyagun Nai, they can sound a warning to the outposts -- if their blasted machines are still working. I'll reset a barrier, but I can't make promises.[/i]

The monstrous wolf's nose twitched; it stared at Erin without blinking, waiting for her to make a move.

[hr][quote]"I am the new Lady of Light. I am the Dragon's Herald. I am the Guardian of this Forest! You make a poor king to allow your kingdom to fall this far." She pointed towards the shades before her. "Release Peck!"[/quote]

A low, rumbling laughter chuckled throughout the shadows between the trees. Gray spirits flickered like ghosts among the brush, but they did not move closer; the power of the Lantern and of Anise's will had weakened their ties to the shadows, and they merely watched, confused.

High above, a gang of monkeybats chittered and shrieked in the boughs.

Anise knew, instinctively, that Peck could not be physically harmed -- the rune she had given him would ensure that much, and the Lord of Shadow would quickly find that nothing he did could pierce that protection that surrounded him -- but this was not enough to protect him from fear, and fear was the greatest of the Lord's weapons.

The shadows had swallowed Peck whole, and he would remain alive and unharmed until he begged for death. This was the promise that entered Anise's mind, hissed from the shadows. The darkness grew deeper, swallowing the trees and the stars; the Lord of Shadow flexed his power, fearlessly showing Anise that her determination and her two measly Lanterns were nothing compared to the vast power he maintained over the island. And yet, he did not attempt to destroy her here.

[i]Come alone to the mines under the Mountain,[/i] the Lord of Shadow's voice rumbled in her head. [i]I'll be waiting.[/i]

[hr][i]It was quick like a blow to the head.

Hot, crippling pain exploded in Lalna's skull. A piercing light flashed behind his eyes. A terrible, trembling horror ripped through him like knives of ice. Blinded, he felt as if he were falling, falling from an impossible height, down and deep into a hungry hot chasm stretched wide to receive him like the great maw of a beast. Its damp swirling breath smelled bittersweet, like chocolate laced with a hint of cinnamon --[/i]

"eeeeeEEEEEEE!"

Lalna awoke to the piercing screech of a frightened girl. Before he could open his eyes, something crashed and clattered behind him; the panicked girl leaped over his prostrate form and dashed out of the tent and into the cool night.

The tent flap fell closed behind her, and everything was still. Lalna was lying on the dusty floor of a room-sized tent, between a low table and a toppled chair. A small iron pot in the corner glowed with hot coals, offering warmth to the small space. A squished pillow was beside it, and a scatter of hand-drawn playing cards made of tree bark. The girl had been surprised suddenly by Lalna's appearance, and had dropped her game of solitaire while she had tripped over the chair in her escape.

Everything was illuminated in a soft green glow: its source was a lantern on the table, which shined its curious light without a flame. Within the glass of the lantern was an egg the size of a small melon, shining from deep within the shell.

Outside the tent, Lalna could hear a distant song and laughter; a group of people were chatting around a bonfire at the far side of the village, and hadn't heard the girl's scream -- but he could also hear the faint stammer of the girl's voice as she explained herself to someone outside, sobbing in hysterical fear:

[i]"There was a flash and then he fell on the floor in front of me, and I know it's a shade of the Lord of Shadow, he's come for us, he's coming for us at last!"[/i]