Rise of the Fifth
The Hidden College Part 1
Pages 16 to 30

Korius had finished his shopping and was standing, in civilian attire, within Dystran's personal catacomb chamber. Before him were three of Dystran's best research mages. They had prepared a pack of food, research information and a small collection of knives should the need arise. The pack had been stripped of any Xeteskian markings. The mages had finalised details of the mission ahead and were currently finishing off,

"...and you will use the name Gheran if you are so asked," said one, as he seemed to be the leader. Not only because of his stature but the fact he was older than the rest. Korius didn’t much like the procedures Xetesk used. These mages had told him nothing new, they just retold what Dystran had said. Worse than that it was almost word for word.

"Now," the lead mage continued. "The real reason for bringing you here." Korius' eyes lit up, he'd almost dozed off during the previous speech but here was something new.

All three mages moved to a small wooden box in the corner of the room. It sat on a low table and looked very ordinary. What it contained however was something extremely important. It had obviously been placed in this box so people would overlook it. The three mages recited an incantation and removed any WardLocks that were on the box. Korius knew those were high level locks and that there was something special there.

It took three of the best research mages in Balaia a full five minutes to remove the locks. They brought the box over to the main table where Korius stood. All that was inside was a small piece of paper. The lead mage took it out and spoke,

"This was recovered from Arthimus' chambers. We believe it to be a map to the Hidden College. These strange symbols denote some form of spell that is needed to gain access." The paper looked strange - unusual shapes where dotted all around it. One side seemed to be torn as if it wasn’t the whole map. "As you can see this is only half the map. This location -" He pointed to the edge which could easily be near Triverne Lake or possibly Septern Manse. " - is where we believe the college to be. We think these lines show the mana density, and now we are pretty sure this is North Triverne Lake. That is where you will travel first. Well, time is getting on. You have two hours before you will go to the North Gate, I suggest you get some rest."

Korius took the paper and was about to leave when he was stopped.

"What do you think you are doing?" the lead mage spoke.

"Going to get some rest."

"Yes, but you aren’t taking that. It is the best clue we have to the location, what if we lost it? What if it fell into the wrong hands?"

"So what am I supposed to do?!"

"Remember it!" With that Korius handed the paper back and left.

~*~

As they rode away from the Blackwings encampment in silence, Pen handed the paper to Joibri that he'd been given by Selik.

"I guess this is the time I do my double-crossing?"

Joibri let Penrold have a half-smile, and took the paper from him. She looked upwards at the dying light,

"Where do we go now?"

~*~

The mysterious figure rode into the quiet settlement, horses’ hooves tearing up a cloud of wet earth behind it as it sped through the gathering night. As it neared the far side of the village, a second rider approached from the North, with two more coming in through the East. The four riders joined almost at the same time, their movements fluid as if all were reflections of the same being. The group sped on, their destination almost within sight.

The news each had to report would mean changes had to be made to the plans of the Master. The Master would not approve of this, but it would happen anyway. The Master would adapt, as always. The Fifth would not be allowed to take hold of Balaia. The Master would see to that.

The riders rode on...

~*~

Pen shrugged,

"This is your area of expertise. All I know is that that paper should go with the one you already have. Well that's if Selik was right anyway. And his information isn’t usually wrong." He mentally hit himself for that comment. "Anyway. What do you suggest?"

"Let's just hold on a moment..." With the new piece of paper in hand, Joibri took out her own, unfolding them both and examining them. Then she turned the new one around, and held it up to the top of her piece. "'Pen, look - they go together. But, there are still bits missing, now that you look at it... like on the left side there..." she leaned over to Penrold to let him see.

An arrow shot directly between the stopped horses, and Penrold and Joibri turned around in shock.

They saw not just a group of about ten Blackwings but Selik leading them.

"Oh shit!" How should they play this? Silence. Pen looked over at his friend. She was fighting the urge he knew. She didn't want to use her mana, she really didn't, but if she didn’t they were bound to be caught. In this state Joibri wouldn't be able to concentrate on her fighting, being unsure as to whether or not it was right to do what she was doing.

"Joibri. JOIBRI!" She snapped out of her trance. "Come on, forget the mana for now, just fight." Pen could see she was still fighting the urge.

Too late. The Blackwings had surrounded them, their leader reining in just in front of them and dismounting.

"Joibri. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." It was at this point, his fist connected with Pen's face, knocking him backwards onto the ground. He hadn't been expecting it as he was keeping an eye on the other Blackwings and Joibri. He made to stand but found his former friend's sword at his throat. "I wouldn't bother if I were you."

Joibri leapt to the ground, rolling where she landed to avoid a Blackwing’s protective swipe in front of his leader. She needed to get to Pen. The surprised horse, though, chose that moment to try and bolt away and in dodging it Joibri found herself in the grasp of a mass of Blackwings.

As Joibri was manhandled back towards the recaptured horse Pen rolled to the side, jumping up and grabbing Selik's sword hand, pushing it above his head and thrusting his own fist into the Blackwing leader’s stomach, doubling him over. Yet Pen was being dragged backwards by Selik’s thugs before he could do any more damage. Selik had straightened and was walking towards where Pen was being held firmly,

"It seems I was mistaken in believing you to be anything more than worthless scum. By betraying me you betray Balaia." Pen received a fist to his stomach, and a sword pommel to the head before blacking out.

"Pen!" Joibri shouted as she saw him go down.

"Shut up wench!" A large hand struck her across the jaw, making her feel momentarily dizzy.

She wouldn't use the mana. Not if she didn't want to risk more harm to Penrold. Joibri's hands were behind her back, so not even her finger blades could help her now. She was stripped of her weapons as Selik came nearer,

"You will only speak when spoken to, am I clear?" He made another step and Joibri spat in his face. Another strike across the face, and things grew a bit too blurred. "Bring them."

A couple of the thugs dragged both Penrold and Joibri back into the Blackwing camp, and into two cells of sorts, one across from another. As they pushed her in Joibri's head made contact with the stone wall and all was pitched into black.

Pen opened his eyes to find himself on the floor of an empty cell. Empty save himself, a table and the Blackwing commander looking angrily down at him. Pen shook his head to try and focus. They'd obviously administered something to him. A beating like he had had didn’t normally have such an effect on him. The Blackwing took two sheets of parchment from his pocket, unrolling them.

"Oh shit." Pen groaned.

"Yes. Care to explain or shall I?" The reply came from behind his sneering mouth, "You would betray me so as you could help a worthless mage?" he spat.

"I would not betray a friend to her death because of the petty power-obsessive wants of the lands’ leaders and rebels." Pen strained to talk, exhaustion taking him.

The parchment was thrown onto the table and hands grabbed hold of his collar dragging him up to his unsteady feet. He was slammed several times into the wall behind him, winding him, and sending renewed pain through his head.

"Where are the other pieces of this parchment?" Selik pressed him.

"You must have great confidence in me, Selik to believe I could find such information so quickly." Pen was back-handed to the ground. "Now I see how you get such great information Selik," The man in question strode towards him. "You beat the shit into them so badly they die before you can extract the information you need." Pen allowed himself a sarcastic laugh. The first of the kicks landed itself right into Pen's torso, before several more were inflicted on him.

As he attempted to stare into his attacker's face, all he saw was fury like he'd never seen before. After what felt to Pen like hours, but in fact was about half an hour, Selik stopped his beating of him. And as he heard the Blackwing order the thug outside his door not to feed him for two days and to open the door to no one, Pen resorted to lying where he had fallen, tasting his own blood.

~*~

Delenar had never been lucky. Unsuccessful as a warrior; an awakened mage that could not cast, and shunned by his elven family for his lack of faith, nothing seemed to go Delenar’s way. He couldn't help but think that this was another one of those days. He withdrew his arrows from the Blackwing corpses around him and scanned the approaching horsemen. His elven sight focused on the twenty-plus riders; all were armed. His day had started well, the mysterious contract to watch the burly warrior and the temperamental elf had gone swimmingly until they had been captured by Blackwings. Delenar had watched the Blackwing leader, Selik, knock the man out cold before taking both of them hostage, but as he was about to follow, three Blackwings had spotted him. Now they lay dead at his feet, his own death riding towards him.

"Shit," he said, as he cast around for some way of escape. It was hopeless. His horse lay dead on the ground while the Blackwings’ mounts had fled when the fighting began. He returned his gaze to the approaching Blackwings and restrung his bow. The lead horseman reined in:

"You just killed three of my boys, elf!"

Delenar looked around at the horsemen who surrounded him, locking gaze with one man who had a cruel smile on his face, he drew his bow and loosed a shaft. At almost point blank range the arrow buried itself in the man’s face, throwing the corpse from his mount.

"I believe you miscounted," said Delenar to the shocked leader, "I count four." Stunned silence filled the air, followed by the unmistakeable tension that comes before a battle. Finding his confidence again the leader spoke,

"You will pay very dearly for that, elf! Take him!"

Dropping his bow Delenar’s hands shot to his sides sending twin knives flying towards their targets. The man to Delenar's left fell with the blade buried in his throat, while the man to his right escaped with a cut cheek. Suddenly a searing pain shot through Delenar’s head and the ground rose up to meet him. His luck hadn't changed.

~*~

Dripping, it was definitely the sound of dripping. Delenar woke in a dark, damp cell. Water was dripping onto his chest. Looking up Delenar could see a crack in the stone roof leaking rain-water. Trying to clear the fog from his vision he shook his head from side to side, his gaze falling on bright eyes staring back at him through another wall of bars.

"Ah, it seems this establishment is popular." he said to the woman in the cell beside him.

"Who are you, why were you following me?" she questioned as a reply.

"No really, I'm fine, don't concern yourself," said Delenar sarcastically. "Perhaps we should start with an introduction," this time more seriously, "I'm Delenar." Footsteps echoed down the hall and a shadow fell through the bars.

"My name is Joibri‘dan. We're in trouble."

There was a jangling of keys.

"Don't interfere. It's not worth your trouble," Joibri advised, the ringing in her ears making her wobble as she tried to stand up to face the attack she knew was coming. She barely called out as the door opened and a swift kick was landed in her gullet.

Joibri allowed her rage to seep out a little, and she retaliated with a roundhouse kick and a dive at the thug's neck, aiming to snap it. But another pair of hands was around her shoulders and dragging her off before she could kill.

She was pushed into an empty cell with a table and Selik, and a small amount of blood on the floor.

"What the hell do you want?!" Joibri demanded, struggling in the grip of her oversized guard.

"You are in no position to make demands," he replied coolly. "Now," he held up the pieces of parchment, "Where are the other pieces?"

"How the hell should I know?!"

"Tell me," he commanded. "Or neither you nor your treacherous friend will see the morning."

Joibri swung herself back against the guard's stomach unexpectedly, kicking up and into the table, catapulting it into Selik's disfigured face. Immediately she flipped onto the guard's shoulders and struck him a couple of times in the head until he went down.

Selik by this time had got to his hands and knees and was shouting for reinforcements.

~*~

Anger, cold pure anger swamped Delenar. Why would they always underestimate him?! His parents were the first to do so. His father would always talk boastfully of Delenar’s brother, Thaira - a smile would cross his face at the name. But Delenar - "he tries". It was all his father would say, 'he tries'.

A sharp pain shot through his chest and brought his thoughts back to the present. The sound of laughter reached him through a cloud of pain.

“How’s that feel, elf!" said the ugliest man Delenar had ever seen. Another kick brought a fresh mouthful of blood.

"You know," said Delenar, before he spat clear the blood in his mouth, "You shouldn't underestimate me.”

The man burst into laughter and rage swamped Delenar. Rising to his knees he lashed out with his fist, catching the brute in the groin. He swiftly followed with a straight left punch that cannoned against the bigger man’s chin.

"I had a horse like you once," said Delenar as he struggled to rise fully above the man, "He was a lot better looking of course, but he was so...agitating!" As he said the last word he lashed out with a vicious uppercut, knocking the brute from his feet. Hawking up more blood from his throat, he spat on the unconscious man before leaving the cell.

A few minutes later with his knives found and in hand, Delenar found what looked like an exit from the cells. So far he had been lucky, he hadn't encountered a single Blackwing. He made for the exit but stopped after his first step.

‘Don't interfere.’

"Damnit Delenar!" he muttered to himself, "She told you not to interfere." He sighed to himself and closed his eyes in thought. Opening his eyes he turned round and began to search for the elf woman he had seen.

~*~

Joibri lunged again and grabbed the pieces of paper from where they had fluttered to the ground, trying to think where her weapons would be and, most of all - Penrold.

"They'll catch you. The Fifth are real," Selik warned her.

In response Joibri only walked over to him and kicked him violently, sending him sailing back onto the overturned table. She slipped out of the cell and could hear the calls of pursuit.

"'Pen! Where the hell are you?!"

~*~

Delenar’s luck had run dry once more. After searching through countless cells, the only items of worth he had found was his own bow and a peculiar array of weapons. Hiding the weapons in an empty cell, he had made his way down a small corridor to a single door. Opening the door he had walked into a large chamber and into two guards, both with swords drawn.

"Gentlemen it seems I have made a wrong turn, if you'll excuse me," said Delenar as he turned away from them. One guard grabbed Delenar’s arm and span him around,

"Wait one sec-"

He was cut off as a knife was buried in his chest; a second flew and thudded into the second guard’s temple. Both guards fell heavily to the ground. Cleaning his blades, Delenar walked in the direction of what the men had guarding.

**"Your employer wants you to watch the pair, nothing more, nothing less," the man had said while draining his mug greedily.

"It’s not a problem, but what am I watching for?" Delenar had replied.

"Nothing, everything, it’s not for you to know, just remember the man...Penrold and the elf girl are important to our employer. Watch but do NOT be seen."**

Delenar's thoughts returned to the present. Another contract he would not be paid for, he mused. Footsteps could be heard echoing down the corridor.

~*~

Pen was coming around. His beating had been fairly severe since he couldn't stick up for himself. Dried blood was splattered across his face and clothes, and anger against Selik filled him. Yet some sympathy still was there in the back of his mind, remembering the man's past, having known him as a child.
It was then he heard it.

"Pen, where the hell are you?" It was Joibri, and shouts in the distance.

"Shit, she must have escaped," he muttered hearing Selik's furious voice shouting orders. He tried to shout out to her, but nothing came out, just severe pain. The bastard had kicked him in the throat and though he couldn't tell himself, there must have been some damage done to him. Instead he crawled over to the door, bashing it with his fist, hoping Joibri would get there before Selik arrived to skin the both of them.

~*~

He could hear the shouts of alarm coming from the cells. They could only mean that the prisoners were attempting their predictable escape, but the level of voices echoing down the corridor could only mean that they had taken back the parchments.

Realising that his mission had failed, he used the secret passageway the Master had told him about. Downwards he travelled, footfalls sounding off into the darkness. When he felt far enough away from the hidden entrance he lit his torch, the light glaring briefly until his eyes adjusted. Soon he was out of the Blackwing stronghold and into the surrounding tree-line, confident that the escape attempt would draw any guards away from the walls before they spotted his light.

His partner was right on time, his horse tethered to hers in the agreed spot. Quickly dousing the flame he was up in the saddle and they were away, eager to tell the Master that their quarry was within their grasp.

~*~

"Gods burning!" Joibri said as she came across the immense banging on the cell door. "Oh hell, how do I get this open..." She thought only for a moment as the shouts grew nearer. "Get back from the door!" Gradually Penrold hauled himself away from the cell door as Joibri cast her hands in front of the lock, an invisible wedge forming in the crack that only she could see.

Joibri backed up and then jumped at the door, kicking the invisible wedge. As hoped, the lock snapped under the pressure and the door swung wide inwards on its hinges.

"Come on 'Pen, time to go!" Joibri said as she rushed inside to help him to his feet. She was just dragging them both down the corridor when they bumped into the young elf she had talked to earlier, "You're still here?!" Then she espied her weapons in an empty cell. "Here, hold him a moment." The younger elf reluctantly grabbed hold of Penrold's shoulders as Joibri ducked into the cell and armed herself.

As she came back out again an arrow thudded into her shoulder, announcing their pursuers had found them. She let out a cry of pain, motioning rapidly for the elf to take Penrold out of the way of the oncoming shots. After snapping off most of the bolt of the arrow, Joibri took her two large throwing stars and flung them at the two Blackwing archers, their last arrows skidding the side of her wrist and striking her side. She didn't give in just yet, following her stars as they imbedded themselves in the skulls of the archers.

A quick cast of her mana there, and a stepping stone was formed. She used it to jump above the oncoming Blackwings' heads, landing right in the middle of them with her kichida unstrapped and in both hands. In a matter of seconds four Blackwings were dead.

Selik was lucky that he skidded around the corner with such speed that he wasn't caught by the elf's kichida blade. His eyes widened as he saw it swing in his direction, but it missed him as he shot past Joibri down the same corridor he had been running down.

~*~

Meanwhile, the elf that Joibri had entrusted Penrold's near lifeless body to had dragged him down another passageway. As he heard the shouts and screams of the Blackwings as they were beaten by Joibri, he just had enough time to see the hand of the young elf raise into the air before everything went black.

~*~

Joibri had stayed behind just for that last 'I beat you' jibe at the Blackwing leader as he raised himself from the corridor floor to face her. She had edged herself down the corridor so she could make an easier escape.

"You'll never escape everyone," he sneered. "Either the Fifth will get you, or another college." Then he broke into a sickening smile. "Or I will."

It was at this point Selik noticed her hands, knew what was coming and dived back down the corridor landing hard on his shoulder, but he had had just enough time to see her mana. Red.

"Gods burning." He was shaken, but that mana colour proved everyone and everything right. This bitch of an elf had to be destroyed.

~*~

Pen tried to wake up, but the multiple beatings that he’d endured were coming back to haunt him, and the last thump by that other elf was the last straw. He tried to open his mouth to tell Joibri that Delenar had hit him, and that he clearly - in Pen's mind - couldn't be trusted, but all that happened was that he vomited.

Delenar dropped him, and he landed hard on the ground making him retch even harder. His head swam and his eyes were unfocused. Feeling weak and useless he gave in to the blackness once again.

~*~

Feeling triumphant, tired and guilty at the same time, Joibri caught up with Penrold and his temporary guardian,

"Thanks. What's your name?"

"Delenar."

"Good job Delenar, now... let's get out of here before... I lose it too," she smiled weakly, finally letting the pain of the arrows catch up with her.

The two elves somehow managed to get the insentient Penrold out of the camp, every so often Delenar having to pick off a straggler who decided to challenge them.

Still without horses, they got as far out away from the base as they could, and made their own little camp. As Delenar set about making a fire, wondering what the hell he was doing with these people, Joibri leaned over Pen and hit him lightly on either side of the face,

"Pen? Pen can you hear me? We've got out. Pen?" She grimaced and sat back for a moment, looking at her wrist and then pulling tenderly on the arrows still in her side and in her collarbone. "Shit, Pen!" it seemed to be becoming a common phrase, thought Joibri. She sat down helplessly by Penrold, looking to the side as Delenar finished building the fire silently.

Come to think of it, she didn't know if she could trust him. And with Penrold out cold and herself in little better condition she wasn't in much a position to kill again just yet. Maim, injure mercilessly, maybe, but not kill...

"Got to get these out,” she told herself, touching the bolt in her side. She took off her finger blades and set them beside her.

Reluctantly she grabbed hold of the bolt as well as she could and wrenched it out, crying out with the fresh wave of pain and startling Delenar. She bit down on her lip and drew blood, casting the first broken arrow to one side and taking hold of the other. Seeing Delenar watching her, she narrowed her eyes,

"Stop watching kid, I don't like it."

With that she wrenched the other arrow out of her flesh, letting out another cry and throwing it angrily into the fire as she fell forwards to her elbows.

~*~

As Lena was about to walk through the rip, she felt a tingling at the back of her neck. Feeling watched, she looked around her, but couldn't see anything. She shrugged; it was probably her nerves playing up. She faced the rip again, took a deep breath and walked through it.

As she entered the darkness, the pressure was so intense she felt as if every bone of her body was breaking. Lena had never felt anything like it before. She had never felt so scared before. Normal pain she could deal with, she could do something for it. But this... She couldn't fight this. Just as she thought she couldn't take another second of it, the pain ceased and she fell on a hard stone floor. Silt was standing before her, smirking.

"Intense, isn't it?"

"Gods, I've never felt anything like that before," Lena said, while trying to stand up. It proved quite hard. Silt grabbed her arm and steadied her,

"It's supposed to be that painful," he said, "That way we can see if a person is strong enough to join the college."

"What?!" Lena nearly shrieked, "You have to go through that every time you enter the college?!" Silt smiled, it was the first time she had seen him this friendly, maybe he wasn't all that bad...

"Nah," he answered, "It gets easier with time."

"I hope so," Lena said fervently. Just at that moment Lena heard someone running, and the steps were coming nearer. She looked around and realised that they were coming from the hallway that led away from the rip.

"Thank the gods you're here Silt!" a small, slightly pudgy man said as he came up to them. The man's eyes narrowed suddenly as he saw Lena. "What is she doing here! Silt, you know you can't just bring people-"

"Yeah, I know. That's why I need to see Jonak now. Where is he? What's going on here?" Lena glanced at Silt and saw that his forehead was creased in worry.

‘Something bizarre is up,’ she decided inwardly, but refrained from comment as she knew that at the moment she wasn't supposed to be here.

The other man looked at Lena but had obviously decided not to say anything about her anymore. Instead, he returned his eyes to Silt again and said,

"You'll see soon enough. I'll take you to Jonak right now," and off he went with a surprisingly quick stride. Silt sent her a look of warning and strode after him.

‘What the...’ Lena thought and started to run after them.

~*~

Gasping with the pain, Joibri could feel the blood start to flow. She was going to black out, she just knew it, and there was no way to stop it. She just hoped Delenar was friendly enough to leave them alone while they were unconscious and defend them if anything bad showed up.

As the world faded and her upper body hit the grass, Joibri found that she was not descending into blackness, like you would expect, but a surge of violent red. Immediately a large parchment was brought before her mind's eye, including the pieces of parchment that she carried...the whole thing was complete.

Then Arithmus appeared. If Joibri could have wrinkled her nose in surprise, rest assured she would have. After all, she had killed him.

"Hermetii conclusus dan'dewin nerfeth," he chanted, and it was then Joibri started to worry. "You haven't gotten away with it yet, Joibri'dan of the Arisen."

There was a horrible screech like metal being torn apart, and suddenly this new vision was perfectly real. She fell to the flame-colored floor and saw the shadow of he who she had murdered cast itself over her hands. An unknown force plucked her from the ground and an unimaginable pressure closed in on her from all sides, causing her to cry out.

"Hermetii conclusus dan'dewin nerfeth," Arithmus chanted again. "You are needed."

Black shadows and red mana began to fly around this...room... in great streaks, growing faster and faster while Arithmus still chanted.

~*~

Pen began to stir. He didn’t feel so bad now, and could smell spring air, grass, even. He pulled himself into a sitting position and wiped his mouth.

"Eugh, vomit," he muttered. He struggled to his feet, and upon noticing a small stream at the bottom of the slope he had been laying on under a tree he made his way down to get a drink. Pen knelt down over the water, scooping a great handful into his mouth, swashing it around and spitting it out before taking another handful to swallow.

Standing up and feeling refreshed and a lot stronger, he trudged to the top of the slope and over to the fire.

"Good fire you've got there." Pen smiled as he watched his feet and was about to offer to look at Joibri’s wounds when a movement caught his eye. "You!" he roared and launched himself at the elf. Grabbing Delenar by the collar with both hands he pushed him backwards against a tree trunk. "You treacherous bastard! You could have got us killed in there! Who the hell are you, and what the fuck do you want?"

The elf's eyes were wide in fright. He had obviously been hoping his escapade inside the Blackwing stronghold would have been forgotten. Then Pen noticed that Joibri hadn’t said a word, and that in fact something strange was happening to her. He loosened his grip on the elf's collar and stood stony still as Joibri began to levitate into the air.

Pen ran forwards, grabbing his friend around the waist and trying to pull her back down. It didn’t work.

"Damn these bloody mages and their magic. JOIBRI WAKE UP!" Pen slapped her across the face, and she seemed to respond but continued to float in the air. Looking back at the male elf he saw he seemed too scared by the goings-on to be of any use.

Pen ran down to the stream shouting at the elf to keep an eye on her. Like he wouldn’t. He was stood in the same place gawping at her floating body by the time Pen returned with a container full of water. Throwing the water over Joibri, Pen screamed at her to awaken whilst slapping her and dragging her body down to the ground.

"Let me out!!" Joibri screamed - she could feel now that she was wet, and not on the ground, but she couldn't see anything. All there was were Arithmus and the strange room, and his continuous chanting. "I want out of here! It hurts!" her voice died to a whining gasp.

Eventually her eyes opened. Terror was written across her features.

Pen had no idea what was going on, though he could hazard a guess. Something to do with Joibri's heritage and her connection to the Fifth College was to blame for this incident. As she had fallen from terror into sleep, Pen had caught her falling body, placing her down beside the fire and covering her with a blanket to keep her warm.

"I'll take first watch," Pen commanded of the young elf. "Then you'll have some explaining to do in the morning." The elf said nothing but lay down on the ground covering himself with a blanket and falling to sleep.

The night was long for Penrold. He was not going to allow himself the luxury of dropping off. Especially with him being so edgy. His experience of Joibri's suffering at the hands of something to do with that bloody magic saddened him.

Pen hated how magic destroyed Balaia's beautiful land, but Joibri wasn’t the same as all the other mages he'd met. Joibri wasn’t even an official mage. She was his good friend and he hoped the situation would stay the same for as long as they lived, which judging by recent events might not be for too much longer.

~*~

He felt he was making good time, changing horses whenever he could at his familiar stopping points along the way to Julatsa. There, he hoped, he would pick up the trail.

A few hours ago he had noticed something moving just off in the distance to the West of his position. It wasn't much, but he was sure he had caught a glimpse of another rider. Although not uncommon to see other travellers using the same pass as he was, Kane found it slightly unusual that the rider would be trying to stick to the very worst areas, those thick with fallen rocks hidden beneath tall grasses which would prove hazardous to a horse travelling at anything faster than a canter.

He accentuated his vision using his mana and took a closer look. Sure enough, it was another rider. He could not tell who though, for the rider's cloak was drawn far down over their head, which every few seconds would turn to his own position. The realisation hit him then - he was being followed, but why? And who was this rider? Questions he knew would have to wait, but not for too long. He didn't want this company following him right into the College.

He urged on his mount to it's next destination, a discreet hut he had secluded in the woods a few miles North-West of Dordover, not far from Understone. He decided he would try to catch this Shadow of his there, and soon his mind had switched back into its Dordovan Assassin training, creating numerous traps, deceptions and ambushes with which he would entangle his prey. A smirk pulled at his lips as he settled on one particular plan of action, one he had not used for some time.

~*~

Delenar closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. How dare the man talk to him like a child - had he not helped rescue him?! A torrent of images flowed through his mind, the two guards he had killed, trying to wake the man, Pen, going off to find the woman, and the woman’s attack that saved them all. Now he had witnessed her floating in mid air! It was all becoming too big for his mind to handle.

One thought was clear to him; 'what now?'.

He opened his eyes and watched the burly man tending to the girl. He was clearly upset, lines of concern etched into his face. Getting involved with the pair would only lead to trouble, that much was sure. And now it seemed that Delenar's anonymous employer wasn't the only person interested in the elf girl. Every shred of Delenar's being told him to get clear while he could. He closed his eyes again, sleep coming slowly as two words echoed across his mind: 'don't interfere'.

But he would, and he would prove his worth.

~*~

Two torches were all that lit the small study. The flames flickered, sending shadows dancing across the walls. Kelthan approached the small desk and the hooded figure sitting in the gloom.

"We have failed my lord, the tracker has joined the elf." A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, failure was not accepted easily.

"Relax Kelthan, this may have worked out better than expected. You know much of the tracker?" Kelthan nodded warily.

"Then you know he can be used. He is a loner, seeking to prove his worth and feel needed, he can be manipulated when the time comes." Kelthan suddenly remembered to breathe, relief flooded him and he visibly relaxed. With more confidence now, he said,

"What are my Lord’s orders?" The hooded figure rose, face still hidden by the gloom and the cloak.

"I have elements in place that will watch the girl, but I must know why she is needed! He wants her for something and when I know what it is..." he paused, voice softening, "then the tracker can be put to use."

The figure leaned over his desk, eyes boring into Kelthan. "The elf boy must be reassured we need him, play to his ego. Meanwhile, continue with our main plans. We're close Kelthan, so very close.."

Something in that cold voice sent a shiver down Kelthan's spine. He backed away hastily, feeling the eyes he could not see through the gloom boring into him. Turning on his heel he left the chamber. He had been lucky but he would not disappoint the Master again.

The thick doors closed behind him. As soon as he left, a SoundBell casting from a Mage next door enclosed the room, preventing all sound from escaping.

"Make sure he does not fail me again." The voice seemed to boom out from beneath the hood, yet it was little more than a whisper. From one of the corners of the room a shadow emerged, unseen and unheard by Kelthan.

"Master, your wish is my command as always. But Master, forgive my insolence in asking but why are you using him instead of one of the others to complete this task?"

The Master stood and moved silently around the desk towards the Shadow. The towering figure stood at least a good shoulder above the servant, who immediately dropped to one knee, visibly shaking through sheer terror. The Master placed a gloved hand on the Shadow's shoulder, and immediately the clothing beneath started to smoulder and burn from the heat of the FlamePalm. The servant winced and squirmed in agony, but could not move for the strength in that grip was terrible. The voice came again, even more threatening than before,

"You will never again question my judgements, slave, or I will make sure that you endure the worst horrors your feeble mind can comprehend for the rest of eternity." The hand released the Shadow, which collapsed in a heap on the floor, one hand covering the already-blistering flesh. "Just make sure you do your job and ensure he does his, or you will both face my wrath. Now be gone from my sight!"

The figure picked itself up and dragged itself from the room as quickly as its shaking legs would carry it.

The Master sat back down in the chair behind the desk. A Communion would be required soon, for the others had much to do. The news the scouts had brought back meant that plans would have to be brought forwards ahead of schedule, but that would not matter. All that was needed for now was for suitable recruits to be brought before one of the next in command, for the Master would not face an outsider until they had been proven worthy. Security was of the utmost importance, for if the Fifth found out the identity of the Master, things would become difficult at best.

~*~

Slowly Joibri stirred, shifting her head this way and that as she struggled to come out of the strange world she had just been in. She squinted as she opened her eyes, first seeing the new elf, Delenar, 'sleeping' by the fire (though she knew very well that he wasn't - his breathing was too irregular - she furrowed her eyebrows when she discovered that she knew this, for even as an elf she shouldn't have been able to tell). Then, she rolled her head back again and saw Penrold leaning over her with concern.

But one thing was not right. Everything was different shades of red.

"I'm awake..." she groaned as Pen helped her into a sitting position. "You should be resting..." So should she, if she were to be honest with herself.

A look of absolute seriousness overcame her features,

"As if things weren't confusing enough, everything's red. And if I don't try and block it out, I can constantly hear Arithmus, chanting the same thing over and over again, trying to draw me back in to that...place. I want to know what's going on, but no one here can give me the answers. This is nothing like a mercenary mission - I'm not meant to be a mage, Pen, yet I can do this," she held her hands up and they instantly flared with red mana. "And still things keep growing more complicated. Delenar has been following us, and we don't know why. He's not asleep, by the way. For one thing, I'm finding it strange that you and I came across one another after so many years - bit of a coincidence if you ask me." she paused, then, realising she wasn't going to get a reply, forced herself to address an old issue, "Do you remember that evening before we never saw one another again, when you were drunk?"

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," said Delenar as he approached Joibri and Pen.

"You have got a lot of explaining to do," said Pen angrily. "Why are you following us, tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now."

"He doesn't know," said Joibri in a dream-like voice. She turned her head towards Delenar. "You don't know why you’re following us, do you? You don't know who we are or what's going on." Delenar frowned, more to himself then anyone else.

"I was hired to watch you, yes. But if you think I have answers for you, you’re sorely mistaken. I was just meant to look for anything unusual. I wonder if I should mention the fact you fly and glow red occasionally." Pen stood facing the elf,

"If you think you’re reporting anything to anyone, you’ve got another thing coming." Delenar smiled briefly, the irony of the situation suddenly seemed hilarious. He had taken this job because it seemed easy, no danger, no politics. Just watch the girl and see where she goes.

"My contract ended when I helped you kill Blackwings," he said more angrily than he meant. "Now I think I'm owed some explanations. Like who are you, why people are after you, and who the hell is Arithmus." Joibri's head snapped up at the name. She stared at the angry young elf.

"Where did you hear that name?" she asked coldly, finger blades slipping slowly onto her fingers.

"You wanna know where I heard it? While you were floating!" he stuttered slightly, and then in a resigned voice said, "I can see the mana spectrum, I can see the red mana flowing around you now Joibri." Pen stepped even closer to Delenar.

"You’re a mage!" he accused. Delenar smiled,

"Not quite, I can't manipulate mana and before you ask, I have no idea why. I can only see it. I saw Arithmus for a split second, I heard him chanting." He nodded towards Pen, "Why do you think I was frozen on the spot. I was staring at someone who wasn't here!" Pen took a step back, a look of confusion breaking out on his face. Joibri stood though her fear and anxiety was still there,

"There's a lot to discuss but for now we need to put some distance between us and the Blackwings."

Joibri hated this. Picking up her weapons and rearming herself, she wished she'd stayed in her apothecary - her father must be turning in his grave. And now, everything was red, and full of chanting.

"Let's go you two!" she demanded, feeling unexplainable anger boiling within her. Her feet took her out of the camp and into the night. A little bit of blood was still seeping into her clothes from the arrow wounds, but her mind was too clouded to regard them completely.

With a growl of rage that couldn't be contained any longer the unfamiliar red mana swirled into being in her hands, and she flung it out into the shadowed landscape, hitting a group of scraggly trees and setting them alight. For some reason though, they didn't burn as such, they were just...alight.

As if it triggered something else - or perhaps thinking she could get rid of her gift by it - she flung a few more ruby-red orbs around the area, each accented with an angry, hurt shout. Whatever they hit got caught in a blaze like waves of red silk, but nothing burned or died in any way - gradually the blaze faded again.

"Get out of my head you undead bastard!"

~*~

Covered in slime and on foot, Korius was thoroughly annoyed. A lack of a steed had meant walking all through the night to get a good distance from his home. He'd walked into a marsh in the pitch black - it really shouldn’t have been there, he thought. Since then he'd been attacked by a wild dog meaning he had to use some stamina to kill it. At least it had made an interesting meal when he set up camp.

The pack was also heavy and he had had to stop to rest. He could hear Dystran's laughter in the back of his mind and see the Lord of the Mount relaxing in his chamber atop his tower. He'd sent Korius out like this to break his spirit, and it seemed to be working. Korius thought to himself, ‘this is no place for a mage’. But his thoughts also kept bringing himself back to the reason he had gone and that surely would give him enough spirit to continue on.

Korius lifted himself up, the six hour walk still evident in his protesting muscles. He had to keep moving. He half expected to be followed; he didn’t put anything past Dystran. To add to that he kept hearing strange noises and looked back over his shoulder. Telling himself it was just his mind playing tricks he picked up his pack and continued towards Triverne Lake.

~*~

The figure hid back in the shadows, cursing under silent breath to be more careful. The Master had warned against making too much noise, especially when tailing a mage, never mind one as strong as this one. The informants inside Xetesk had been correct though - for some reason Dystran had sent this one out on foot, and with a heavy burden as well. It seemed that this would be an ideal candidate to the Shadow, but the Master had warned against making an approach. After what had happened to his colleague, the Shadow was very much against the Master's orders, so had stayed back to follow and observe.

The mage was then up and continuing onwards, the short break apparently enough to rest weary muscles, although the Shadow suspected some sort of mana-based healing was being used to take the edge off the pain. It continued on through the darkness, stalking its target.

~*~

He heard it again and looked back. Someone was following him. Korius waited, but the sound was gone again. No, no. Just his mind once more. He continued on his way considering using ShadowWings. He had so wanted to fly there but remembered what Dystran had told him - he was to do nothing that would reveal himself as a student of Xetesk. The healing spells he used on his legs were small and could hardly be seen within the mana spectrum. A mage of his power could easily hide it anyway. But there would be no hiding the mana that bound ShadowWings. It was okay to see the wings as he could be from anywhere, but a mage having a closer inspection would see the Xeteskian mana and that could be fatal.

Again Korius geared himself up mentally and continued on his way.

~*~

"You have to help me here, my life could be on the line," whispered the man across the table. A serving wench brought the pair another flagon of ale, before returning to the bustle of the bar.

"You've really landed yourself in too deep, haven't you Kelthan," said the elderly mage.

He smiled inwardly at his companion’s impatience. He had already decided to help the man - he liked Kelthan. He was a thinker and so few people really thought about much these days. Raising his eyes to meet Kelthan’s he took a deep drink from his mug. This time the younger man had taken on too much. Whoever it was he was working for clearly terrified Kelthan and he was not easily cowered.

"He is with the awakening girl. They are not far from a Blackwing camp to the west of Dordover. If you move quickly..." he trailed off and watched the smile spread over his companions face.

"You’re a good man Youlvi!" Kelthan said, dropping some coins onto the table as he stood. "I'll see you soon." With that Kelthan went out into the night.

Youlvi sat contemplating recent events. He had felt the elf girl’s power from miles away, a form of mana he had encountered only once before. The thought brought back old memories.

"Arithmus," he whispered so low that none could hear it. A gust of wind rattled the window next to him and the fire in the inn flickered for a moment.

Taking his staff, the elderly mage rose and left the inn. The walk to his home was a short stroll from the inn, he took a left turn into the alley that would emerge at his home. The night had grown bitterly cold and the wind was blowing hard against the old man, slowing his progress. He was about to allow himself a small use of magic to warm himself when the wind suddenly died. Youlvi stopped in his tracks and smiled a sad smile.

"I knew you were following me," he said in resignation as the shadow behind him seemed to grow and move towards him.

The figure stepped out from the alleyway. The wound on the shoulder was visible, deep scar tissue on the shoulder that had only been recently healed by a strong WarmHeal, but the arm was moving freely as the figure unsheathed its long blade, dusted down with dampened charcoal so as not to reflect light from its keen edge. The cold voice cut through the air,

"Believe me when I say this, mage - you have no chance of casting before I can run you through, so do not bother trying. I can sense you pulling at your spectrum, your feeble attempts at disguise do not work, for my Master has trained me well."

It approached slowly, but its footwork belied its true speed of movement for it crossed the ground between them in no time at all. Forcing the old mage back against the wall, sword tip to throat, and the voice came again from beneath the hood,

"You have found her, yes?" A slight nod. "Excellent. Then your work is complete. Be warned Youlvi - tell a soul about what has transpired and you will never see the light of day, nor your darling Granddaughter again. You know my Master. You know this is the truth."

And with that the Shadow backed away in to the darkness.

~*~

NEXT