ohh, my fourth page!!!! ^_^_^
To WF RP to read where it all started,
To WF RP 2 To see more on what has happened
To WF RP 3 for the previous chapter.
To WF RP Members to see who has joined.
Imaginative names, huh.

---

"Anessa," Said Angel, "I personally don't care about strategies to knock people out right now, because I really want to get out of here." He said, felling uneasy in the "cage". It brought back bad memories, and even if they were in a glass box rather than metal bars, it still had the same feeling of enclosure.

~Gotcha.~ Anessa noted. ~So, Rachel, are you going to let us out? I did try earlier, but she caught me and now the bars are closer together.~ Anessa pouted. It had been hard enough squeezing out the first time. Trying again was even worse.

"You know, squeezing out is a great idea! Why don't you try Aurelia?" Rachel dared Aurelia with her eyes " I'm sure the half-centimeter space will wield to your oh-so-mightyness. Don't you think Anessa?"

Aurelia's eyes seemed to burn as she glared at Rachel. "It's not my fault. I can't control it," she hissed.

Anessa glanced nervously around the bars of her cell - insanity, giving a mini-dragon an entire cell to herself - at Angel. ~Can we save the arguments for later and get out of here before Angel comes and kills us all with an axe?~ She asked.

Angel laughed a bit shakily at this ut it did start to feel like the walls were closing in on him. He sweared there were more bars on his cell a minute ago...

"Are you just going to leave us in here, then? You would rather argue with me than let us out? What if she tortures us? Kills us? It'd be all your fault! Rachel, LET US OUT!" Aurelia couldn't contain herself any longer. This child was insane!

Rachel, taken over by a different player for her pokishness, started and drew keys from some convenient place nearby, which she tossed to A Different Character before becoming properly comatose again.

Angel grabbed the keys and literally burst out of the cell before opening all the other doors.

Aurelia ran out of the cell hurriedly. She smiled and apologized to the small girl for her pushiness.

~Right, then let's get outta here.~ Anessa suggested. ~I'm hungry, and all the meat in here is days old and far too big. Besides, I don't want to get out of practice hunting. I could catch you a nice shrew, if you're hungry.~ She added.

"I'll join you hunting if that's OK." Said Angel, running up the stairs and hopefully to outside. "I want to see your technique."

Aurelia followed them, dragging Rachel along with her(literaly).

Anessa bounded up the stairs behind Angel, trying not to get kicked by his pounding feet. She flapped her wings to gain speed, and managed to scoot through Angel's feet to get in front of him. ~Follow me!~ She offered gleefully, accelerating, before she remembered that she had no idea which way was out. Oh, well, dungeons were dungeons, right? And dungeons were under ground. Therefore, if she kept heading up, they were bound to get out.

Angel followed Annesa until there weren't any stairs anymore and there was an open door with light bursting out of it. He thought it strange that it was less guarded then he thought. Mind you, as the saying goes, don't look a gift horse in the mouth...whatever that means.

Anessa skidded to a stop just before crashing in to the stone railing around the edge of the tower. She shook herself and sat up on her hind legs. This was not where she had meant to go. It was too high up. It was... not at ground level. Much, much higher than that. ~Um... oops?~ She suggested as the others came out into the light. ~Magic and angel wings?~

"Okaay." Said Angel. "This is wierd, I dont remember being here when i was taken down in the dungeons." Just then he saw a door disappear into thin air, to be replaced with a brick wall. A changing house? it was freaky!

Aurelia was trying to get Rachel to stand up(without much success) when a monkey came ran across the floor to jump onto Rachel's shoulder. As Aurelia was very behind the others, she sighed and dropped the lifeless girl onto the floor and ran to catch up.

"Hold on," Said Angel, "Where's Aurelia?"

~Um...~ Anessa replied. ~Back inside?~ She turned around to collect her, and was confronted with a blank wall. ~Hey! I could swear we just came through there!~ Anessa complained. ~Where'd the door go?~

Aurelia ran to where she had seen Anessa and Angel go through a door...only to find no door. She looked around the wall, looking for the door. "Where did it go?" she wondered aloud. She decided the best thing to do was to stick with Rachel, in case she woke up any time soon. So Aurelia jogged back to where she had dropped Rachel.
~*~
Shae stomped down to where the prisoners where being held. Her meeting with Parr had not gone well. Parr had enjoyed it, but Shae had not. But then, Parr found it pleasant to drawl and dodge and be utterly annoying, and it is never so pleasing to be at the other end of such things.

Parr had not returned to the dungeons. He had parted with Shae, then found a nicely empty corridor where someone was bound to come along at some point so he could trip them and drawl at them, and leaned against the wall to talk to Anessa. She told him she was busy being useful, and he gathered that she wasn't in her cell, so he stopped lying in wait and went towards the dungeons, so that he could watch Shae get upset when she found that her prisoners had escaped.
~*~
"There must be some way of changing the walls so they become doors, so Darken Rahl can easily get to places." Said Angel. "But how?" He asked, half to himself.

~Open or I'll melt your sorry excuse for bricks into a much nicer combination of... of... of elements and put them into service as fuel for a forge!~ Anessa threatened the wall. It was unimpressed; possibly it knew that she didn't know how to breathe fire.

Anessa sagged. ~It seemed appropriate for his character.~ She explained.
   "Aurelia? sorry I fainted, I guess it's  theside-effects of  that medicine. I think  we should  get out  of  herte, why haven't  we already?"

"Maybe there's a brick you push or something." Said Angel, pushing each brick in turn to see if it would do anything.

"Rachel!" Aurelia almost hugged the girl. "I thought I'd have to carry you! Listen, no time to explain, for I'm sure Shae and Parr will be here any moment. Right now we need to figure out where Anessa and Angel have gone of to!"

~Aurelia?~ Anessa called. ~Are you still inside? 'Cause we can't get back in. The door, um... closed.~ Telepathy was so much more convenient for talking through walls than normal speech.

Sorael stopped pressing the bricks and slashed at it with his sword. It struck sparks but then snagged about halfway down. Sorael looked closer and saw a tiny slit in the brick, sort of like a keyhole. He took out the set of keys which he still had, and searched for a thin one. He picked one out and tried it. A door materialised. "YES!!!" He shouted.

~That was loud.~ Anessa commented, placing herself half in and half out of the door so it couldn't close unless it closed on her, which hopefully it wouldn't do. ~Aurelia? Are you down there? And Comatose Rachel, too?~ Then she had an idea, so she followed the questions up with a nice little finding spell, mostly because she could cast magic now.

"Yes! We're here!" Aurelia called. "But, hurry! I think I heard footsteps!"

The footsteps were Parr's. He was still looking for the dungeons. He'd kept going down, and found himself ending up back where he started, or somewhere that looked remarkably similar and was decidedly not downwards. Being a magic-user himself, he concluded that the building had some sort of enchantment on it, and Shae did not want his drawling sarcasm at the moment. So, to confuse the enchantment, he'd gone upwards, which, anti-logically, should lead him to the dungeons.

It hadn't. It had, however, brought him closer and closer to Anessa, which was interesting. In fact, he had started to hear her little friends, too. Parr couldn't resist. He snuck to a nice place where he could lean most irritatingly against a wall and watched for a moment before revealing his presence.

"Escaping, are we? How droll."

Aurelia gasped and spun around. "Now, Parr, who's side are you on exactly?" she asked, scowling. "I mean, you did hold me captive for a while, but then you were held prisoner by Shae and Darken Rahl!"

"Not precisely held prisoner." Parr corrected quickly, preserving his dignity. He didn't even manage to load it with sarcasm or anything. "I had a discussion with Shae." He pouted. "She fixed the house so I can't see her expression when she realizes you escaped. Honestly, you'd think she objected to sarcasm!" He shook his head in despair.

"In any case, I can assure you I am not on your side. Nor, for that matter, am I on Shae's or - if I may prove it - the Darker Rail's. Or is it the More Ebony Banister? By all means, escape. I suggest getting Angel to fly you off the tower. Or you could try using magic. Once you get down, I'll hunt you and take you to my master, and that will be fun, don't you think?"

"No!" Aurelia yelled. She was done talking to Parr. All she wanted to do was to get out alive.....and stay out.

Parr shrugged. "Ah, well, go down however you like. I'll watch, and... watch." He managed not to say 'laugh' or 'make snide comments,' which was what he meant, but which ought to be reserved for later. "Not interfere." He clarified.

~I'll float Rachel down.~ Anessa offered. She thought she could do it. ~Let's go, though. Before Shae decides it's worth risking whatever sarcasm Parr wants to throw at her.~

     -Where are  we floating me?- Rachel asked  confused -in case you don't remember I'm kinda outathe  loop  here-

~It comes of being comatose.~ Anessa suggested helpfully. ~I'm told it's a side effect of assuming a vegetative state. If you can't think, you can't interpret voices.~ Parr was pleased with her answer. It was the sort of thing he would want to say. He was about to open his ever-so-pleasingly big mouth and drawl something when Anessa added - almost tactfully - an answer to Rachel's question, completely ruining the entire thing. ~And we'd be floating you down. To the ground, rather than letting you stay in the tower.~

-Oh, well that's good!- Rachel almost let herself show how relieved she was.-I'm sick and tired of this castle! I just want to get out of here!-

~Right, then. Hold still.~ Anessa began weaving - well, she supposed it was probably about her third magic. The novelty was nowhere near worn off, and experience hadn't even begun to begin. Parr cringed at the sight, and though he tried to resist, he eventually had to wade in. Opposite side or not, he couldn't abide such bungling.

"Look, little lizard, if you do that you'll waste energy." He told her, annoyed. "And if you try to fix it like you're doing now, she'll go down in great harmful jumps. You've got the entire spell structure wrong. You have to weave it around a center - I like using the power indicator, as it's economical, but others prefer to use the desired-effects area. And wherever did you get the idea that it has to be square with a handle?"
~*~

Shae looked at the empty cells with not much surprise. She had been positive that they would escape sooner or later...not that that knowledge helped her catch them any less. Shae let out an outraged scream and started to run upstairs.
~*~
Aurelia heard a barely audible scream with her exceptional hearing. "Hurry up, Anessa! I believe I just heard Shae!" she whispered, trying to make as little noise as possible, hoping Shae wouldn't hear them.

~Well, you do it then, if you're so clever!~ Anessa snapped at Parr, irritated. Right though he may be, she did not appreciate the way he just butted in and criticized her work.

"I am so clever." Parr informed her. "I'm also experienced, unlike you." Then he paused. He didn't particularly want to help them escape - but then, he didn't want Shae to recapture them. "Look, take this. I'll go find our darling friend." He shoved the layout of a standard levitation spell into Anessa's head and strode off down the stairs. It wasn't too late to lean against a wall and drawl sarcastically about escaped prisoners.

~Wow... it's so... simple. Elegant. Beautiful.~ Anessa paused, considering the spell in her head. There was such grace, such knowledge behind it. She could take years looking at the runes, the etymology of the spell, who put it together, how it was done, why it worked...

"Anessa!" Aurelia whispered more urgently. "I can hear her footsteps!"

Angel couldn't wait any longer and snatched up Aurelia, flying out of the building, as Annesa was sorting out Rachel. Fresh air! He would have done a couple of loops if he wasn't holding Aurelia. He knew Aurelia could float down by herself, but he just wanted to get out.

~Anessa. Quit wasting time. Hurry up and get that small one out so I can capture you all.~ Parr snapped at her, glad that claiming her had enabled him to converse with her this way.

~Gotcha.~ Anessa reluctantly agreed. She wanted to study the spell. She almost wished Shae would put her back in the dungeon, just so she could sit and rot in it for a few years and work on the spell without interruption. However, this wouldn't be fair to her friends, so Anessa started building the spell Parr had given her. ~Stand on that stone, Rachel - the one with the streak of red through it.~

Shae was furious with herself that she let those "brats" get away. She was so busy whispering to herself about how stupid she had been when she was walking up the long flight of stairs, that she didn't hear the voices coming from around the corner.

Aurelia nearly yelped as she was snatched by Angel and flown up...up....UP into open sky. "It's so good to be out of captivity!" she cried flailing out her arms wide, breathing in the fresh air.

Parr hurriedly leaned against the wall. It wasn't his best pose, but then, they were on stairs. Stairs that twirled nicely and would allow Shae to get right up close before she ran into him. "Oh, Shae." He drawled when she did so. "I've been looking all over for you. I assumed you were going to check on your prisoners, but your delightful little doll house convinced me to go backwards. You really must teach me that spell some time. But - you seem disconcerted. Is something wrong?" It was so hard to repress a malicious grin, Parr had never really tried.

"What have you been up to, you little roach?" Shae growled. "You know full well what happened!" She started to go up the stairs 2 at a time, hoping that her prisoners were just around the corner.

"Why, Shae, I do believe you're blowing me off." Parr commented with some wonder. "Not very friendly, is it? Whatever could it mean - are you in a rush? No, don't tell me, let me guess - your resourceful little prisoners have escaped and you think that the silly little things would come right to the top of a tower and jump off. I will admit, there is some freedom in death, but it doesn't seem quite... in character."

Shae rolled her eyes, and, without stopping, called back, "Yes, but the two with wings can fly can't they?"

Parr rolled his eyes back and, managing to take two steps at a time and still look like it was a bored stroll, drawled, "Wings do tend to have that effect on people."

Meanwhile, Anessa finished her spell and popped it around Rachel, with much reluctance. It was such a beautiful, beautiful magic... in any case, she launched herself into the air and, levitating the girl and her monkey - not snack, monkey - behind her, she started down towards the ground, hugging the wall to avoid casual glances and dodging windows.

Angel slowly circled down to the floor with Aurelia still in his arms.

Aurelia started to glow. She looked at her hands, startled. "I'm blue!" she cried. "Wha- what's happening??" She jumped out of Angel's arms and floated the rest of the way down to the ground. "Angel....I'm BLUE! Why am I blue? WHY AM I BLUE?!" she yelled, running around in circles, staring at her hands. Shadows started oozing out from behind the trees surrounding them, and Darken Rahl's voice could be heard loud and clear. It was saying, "Aha! Found you, you little rats! Thought you could get away, did you? I'm not the most powerful warlock in all the land for no reason, am I? Now why don't you have fun with my friends, the Shadows, while Shae gathers the guards to come and get you." He laughed then, and the voice was silent. The shadows started coming nearer and nearer, as Aurelia started getting bluer and bluer. [Sorry, I wasn't finished yet!!]

Angel dropped most of the way down before spreading his wings to slow. Something very wierd was happening.

Rachel stood on the stone and found herself outside.-Where am I?-

~Outside.~ Anessa clarified briefly. ~And you may want to exercise your sharp bits, there's some black things that need biting.~ She looked upwards hopefully. Maybe Parr would come and deal with various enchantments. And Shae. She didn't like Shae very much. She made things hurt, things that had no right to hurt. She shuddered with the memory.

Above them, Parr stumbled against the wall. He paused for a moment, surprised, and let Shae escape him. She was out of sight by the time he managed to get control of himself and sort things out. ~Get control of yourself, Anessa!~ He ordered crossly. ~That hurts. I can't deal with Shae if you're being incapacitating.~

Finally, Aurelia's transformation to blueness completed as her eyes turned to a bright blue. She lifted her head up as she was lifted her head as her feet rose off the ground. She continued to rise off the ground, higher and higher into the air, as the shadows below were closing in on Angel.

~Uh, Aurelia?~ Anessa asked. ~I hate to interrupt whatever wonderful magical transformation you're going through, but that doesn't look very helpful.~ She snapped at one of the shadows. ~Stupid thing, you aren't even corporeal! How are you supposed to hurt me?~

Anessa's question was answered when one of the shadow creatures grabbed Angel, trying to strangle him. Angel pulled out his sword and slashed off the shadow creatures arm. He then flew up to meet Aurelia, incase she fell.

Aurelia closed her eyes and smiled, as if in complete bliss. She then glared down at the shadows scrambling towards Anessa and Rachel. Blue light poured from her body and not flew, exactly, but more like floated down to greet the shadows. They started to writhe as the blue light enveloped them, Anessa and Rachel in a loving way.

"Okaaaay." Said Angel, seeing waht had happened.

~What, they like float over us and condense?~ Anessa guessed, and turned her attention back to the shadows. ~That's just stupid. And now you look even stupider with those blue boots on. Like a new sort of centipede. In a rain coat, too.~

Aurelia started to turn back to her normal color and float down. For a second, it looked like the blue light had done nothing to the shadows except make them uncomfortable. Then, they just went *POP* out of existence. One by one, they disappeared.

When Aurelia finally got down to the floor, Angel asked, "What the hell was that about?"

"Really Aurelia, what was that about. You turned blue and all....floaty." Rachel had no idea what had just happened, but she did know that Aurelia had looked alien during the episode.

Aurelia just shrugged. "I didn't make myself turn blue, it just....happened!" she sighed.

~Was it fun?~ Anessa asked. ~I mean, personally, I wouldn't want to be blue. It seems kind of silly. I rather like being green. But for someone as splotchy as you usually are, it might've been a relief. A nice change of pace, something more easily comprehended. It's really quite silly of you to be so many different colors.~

Aurelia laughed. "We'll talk more about my splotchy skin later! Right now we might want to get moving before more of those things come!"

~All right, we can go. But it's not just the skin I was talking about. I mean, hair? Not only is it strangely different from the rest of you, but it's so.. loose and... weird. Euch.~ Anessa paused to wonder what having strands of something hanging off your head would feel like. She thought it would be rather stupid. ~Oh, well, let's go. That way?~ She suggested, pointing with her tail.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea? I get a bad feeling about that way, a really bad feeling." Rachel shuddered from the cold that blew from the direction Anessa's tail was pointing at. And what was worse, it seemed like none else could feel the.. -well, evil- that came from that place

"Well lets at least go somewhere before we get captured again." Said Angel.

"Angel, why don't you go ahead, in flight," Aurelia suggested, "to see if there's anything bad coming from that direction." Aurelia did feel a cold gust of wind coming from that direction, but a little cold couldn't hurt her!

~It doesn't have to be that direction.~ Anessa assured them. ~It's just that if we want to go somewhere, wandering in a circle can't help. I don't know this area, so the direction was pretty much random. And wherever we end up going, I think my idea of a tourist attraction will be a lot different from yours.~

Angel flew up and went the opposite way Annesa pointed. If someone gets bad vibes, it normally means something bad is going to happen.

Aurelia shrugged. It is getting cold out her! she thought. She hunched her shoulders and turned away from the cold, towards where Angel was soaring into the sky.

~So... are we going that way?~ Anessa asked. ~Or... what? Do we really have a plan? A goal?~ She considered what she knew of general heroics, which was not much. Of what little she had heard, only stuff about dragons tended to stick in her memory, and she didn't think she was the dragon-slaying type. ~Um... allies? Against the forces of evil?~

That was it! That had to be it! Anessa remembered about small birds getting bigger ones and dolphins getting sharks. There were only two of the evil people, after all, not counting Parr of course, so if they got a few more of each other together, they could mob the bad ones and get it over with! Then she could settle down with Parr and they could invent potions or spells or something for the rest of thier lives. It sounded boring to Anessa, but she wasn't sure what else a familiar did.

"Do you seriously want to be a familiar?" Rachel asked. -Woa, how did I know Anessa was thinking that? Oh, well. I guess it doesn't matter.- "I mean you could do so much better than him." -Who I still don't like- "Just think of all the possibilities. You could freelance, or make your own potions, really you could do most things.... except anything that involves apposable thumbs." Rachel looked at Anessa to see what the huffy dragon would do.

Anessa just stared at Rachel as though she were crazy. ~Freelance?~ She asked incredulously. ~My own potions?~ It sounded stupid. What was the point? It wasn't like she really cared, or would use them or anything.

It was only shortly after, having managed to wrap her mind over the complete idiocy of the plan, that Anessa realized what else Rachel had said. She stiffened. 'So much better than him?' She thought. Her neck arched. She glared at Rachel and half-spread her wings. Her body grew tense. ~And you will not say anything like that ever again, understood?~ She demanded coldly. ~Ever.~

Aurelia couldn't help feeling bad for the poor child. She walked up towards Rachel and put her hands on the child's shoulders. "Alright, would someone like to tell me what exactly just happened?" she questioned the two. First looking at Anessa, and then bending down to look at Rachel.

~No.~ Anessa replied shortly, still glaring. Her wings settled closer to her, though, so she looked less aggressive. Rachel had been warned. Now she could calm down, with the assurance that the girl wouldn't do it again - or if she did, Anessa had the right to take punitive action.

Aurelia sighed and looked into the sky awaiting Angel's arrival. She shivered and drew closer to the small girl. Aurelia bent down to Rachel's eye level and tried to change the subject. "It's cold out here! Anessa, do Dragons ever get cold?" she asked Anessa. Aurelia forced a chuckle and looked at Rachel. "Are you cold, Rachel?" she asked sweetly.

Anessa deliberately let herself get distracted. She relaxed fully and smiled. ~Sure we do. I think it just takes more cold to get to us, though. At least for mini-dragons. Since we have fire inside - or theoretically we do, anyway - that must be warm, and then we have to be kind of insulated or we'd never be able to fly very high or fast. Angel, now, he'd have to wear a coat, I'm guessing. Genetic lack of planning.~ She teased.

"Not really, I'm used to flying high with colder and thinner air then down here. besides, my wings are quite insulated. They can catch air, so they can also hold heat." Said Angel, flying back from his search

~But I'll bet your little pink toesies get cold.~ Anessa replied. ~Or your ears. Or your fingers get numb. You don't have feathers everywhere.~

"Yeah, but I lost most feeling in my fingers and toes ages ago - with my hollow bones they break too easy." Said Angel.

Aurelia raised her eyebrows at Angel. "Did you see anything ahead?" she asked, anxious to change the subject.

"No, all clear, unless you're afraid of squirrels." Said Angel.

Aurelia nodded. "Okay!" She winked at Rachel. "Let's move forward, then!" she announced.

Anessa froze. ~S-s-squirrels?~ She asked, a tremor in her voice. ~Really? Please tell me they're not flying squirrels!~

"Of course they're flying. I mean what kind of squirrels would they be if they couldn't fly.... Aside from that why do you care, it's no different then Mikki."

~Squirrels are... are... scary.~ Anessa clarified. ~Make them stay away.~ She scooted quickly over to Angel and pressed herself against his ankles.

Aurelia rolled her eyes and smiled. "Come one, Anessa! They're not that scary! You eat things scarier than they!" With that, she started to walk into the forest.

~Oh, yeah. I've eaten squirrels, too. You guys are gullible. Hey, speaking of squirrels, if you're walking, would you mind carrying some dead animal? I want to go hunting, and you'll need dinner. Maybe by evening I'll be able to light the fire!~ It seemed a vaguely achievable goal. After all, that morning she had been unable to use magic, and hadn't had Parr, or anything... was it really that morning? Maybe she'd lost a day.

"Can I join you hunting?" Said Angel.

Anessa was struck by the idea. She hesitated a moment, looking Angel over. He was a bit big, she thought, and his lack of talons would certainly be a problem. Logic told her to tell him he'd just get in the way, yet somehow she found she wanted him along, wanted to teach him to hunt. ~I suppose so.~ She decided. ~Have you hunted before?~ Maybe he did it in some strange human way.

"Ok while you two have fun deciding whether Angel's lack of talons affects his hunting skills, Aurelia and I should probably start looking for a place to set up camp in a while." - Or we could just stand here and sit around for everything evil in this forest to get us.- Rachel did a mental eye roll, she was starting to sound paranoid. "I could scout around if you want," Rachel offered half-heartedly. What she really wanted to do was to curl up in a treee-nest somewhere and fall asleep.

"I've hunted before, don't worry Annesa, and Rachel, you could scout if that makes you feel safer, but you could set up camp as well. Me and Annesa will bring back dinner." Said Angel, beating his wings to start flying.

Anessa launched easily into the air. ~Good. I was a bit worried about your lack of proper appendages, but if you've done it before, I won't worry. Do you prefer mice-sized or rabbit-sized hunting?~

"Rabbit normally, I have a big appetite."

Rachel laughed at the fact that someone Angels size would eat mice instead of something bigger. She walked off into the forest to find a suitable camp-site... for herself of course.-The others can camp there, I need to find a tree.-. Rachel continued searching, and thought she found a suitable tree when a flash of light caught her eye. -What in the world would flash like that?- Rachel went over to look and found a silver stream running through the trees. The light was reflecting of the shiny surface and that was what had made the flash. Rachel took some out of the stream and but it in a small container to take back and show the others.

"What's that?" Asked Angel, seeing Rachel with something in her hand, and stopped his wings beating.

Aurelia shrugged and looked up at Anessa and Angel. "I suppose I'll help Rachel, then?" she suggested. Not that she had much choice since it seemed to already have been decided that Angel and Anessa were going hunting, therefore, Rachel and Aurelia were together (for it was not safe to be alone in this jungle-like forest).

Anessa paused and began hovering. She didn't like hovering very much. Thirty years had given her plenty of practice so it wasn't precisely difficult, but it wasn't easy, either. After a moment, she selected a nearby tree branch, which would serve admirably for the nonce. Then she looked to see what the disturbance was and -

It was shiny. Anessa's attention was caught by this simple fact. It glittered, and sparkled, and shone. She was fascinated. It was lovely. She wanted it. Her eyes grew round as she watched. It was so... very... nice... sparkly... shiny...

Anessa had, to all intents and purposes, discovered hoarding instincts.

Angel had a very different feeling. He was repulsed and scared at it. Most things in the Lab he lived in was either shiny or white.

~It's so pretty...~ Anessa murmured, captivated. ~Where did you find it? I want it! I - it - but where would I keep it? Hmm. Lessee. I'll have to settle down somewhere, I suppose. With a nice mirrored place so it reflects the shiny all over. I don't know anywhere like that.~ Maybe Parr could make it for her. ~Would you keep it for me until I find such a spot?~ She asked Rachel. ~But not hidden. Out in the open where it can be enjoyed. And I can fly over after hunting, and look down and see the beautiful shiny smiling up at me...~

Aurelia raised her brow at the thing in Rachel's hand. "It looks like a liquid," she said. "Is it?"

~It's a shiny.~ Anessa informed her, quite sure that there was nothing more to the essence of the subject. Nothing important, anyway.

"Yes, it's.. water.. I think. There's a stream over there." She pointed in the direction she had found the stream. "I wanted to know if it was o.k. to drink. I thought maybe it was to..." she hesitated "well.. pretty."

"No..." Said Angel, shaking. "It's...chrome. A sort of metal from the Lab."

Aurelia looked curiously at Angel, but dismissed the idea forming in her mind with such vigor, that she nearly made herself fall over. "Oh!" she exclaimed as she stumbled to regain her balance.

~So you can't drink it. Wonderful!~ Anessa concluded. She wanted to show Parr, it was so pretty and bright and shiny... maybe he would come and ambush them soon. She hoped so. ~Is it mine, then? If you let that monkey anywhere near it with its filthy little paws, I swear that I will eat it, no matter how much I may or may not have promised not to. It will not touch my shinies!~ Even though technically she only had one, and that was debatable.

"Whatever." Said Angel. "Just don't let it near me."

Anessa looked confused. ~The monkey? I thought you liked the monkey. But if you agree it's irritating, I could catch it for you. It does look tasty.~

"Two things. One, I don't think this is metal, and two, you are NOT touching Mikki! Besides Mikki doen't like "shinies" they reflect and hurt her eyes." Rachel lost interest in the conversation after this and her mind wandered back to her home. - I wonder who's still there?- she thought. Thinking about her home made her memories flood up, and with a jolt she realised that during the time she had been away, she had had two name-days. That made her eleven now.

~Won't hurt Mikki, whoever Mikki is.~ Anessa promised, thinking about what she'd do to that horrid monkey if it went near her new shiny. And she did hope Parr would come soon, she so wanted to show him her shiny. She knew he would appreciate it.

"No, not the monkey." Said Angel. "That container."

~Mikki is the container?~ Anessa was really confused now. ~You mean - Mikki is my shiny? Rachel's not going to let me near the shiny?~ She was... devastated. It was inconceivably horrendous. Surely not possible. The world was over. Unless - no, she would not stand for it. She would take the shiny from Rachel, if she had to, and if Rachel's fingers got hit by magic or fangs or claws or flame - assuming she figured out how to make flame - then so much the better. Served her right for trying to keep the shiny away from Anessa.

"No." Said Angel. "Your 'shiny' is the container, and Mikki is that monkey which you so willingly want to eat."

~Because Mikki looks very, very tasty.~ Anessa agreed, calming down. She had her shiny. It didn't have a name. Mikki was still an available entree. She reached out more privately, ~Parr, I got a shiny!~

~Oh, that's nice.~ Parr drawled tiredly. ~Shut up. I'm busy - Shae and I are having a nice little tug of war with the layout of this castle.~

A command from Parr! Anessa, quite happily, obeyed. Utterly. She was not to say another word, to anyone, for some minutes.

"Riiight." Said Angel at Annesa's sudden silence.

Aurelia was very tired of this conversation by now. She rolled her eyes and said, "We need to finish our camp before it gets dark! I would suggest, then, doing so NOW!" With that, she turned around and started gathering twigs and sticks for the fire.

"Are you coming hunting, Annesa?" Asked Angel. "I'll come with you if you don't take your "shiny". That thing creeps me out."

Anessa was not sure how anyone could be 'creeped out' by a shiny. It was just so... wonderfully perfect and shiny. Still, they did need to hunt. So she nodded, and reluctantly turned her attention away from the shiny. She still was obeying Parr's order, so she just launched into the air and hovered a moment to see if Angel was following.

Angel followed Annesa and started skimming the treetops in seach of somethign to eat. He spotted a rabbit. "Do you want to take it?" He asked Annesa.

Now here was a problem. With humans, anyway, communication was constantly neccessary. Sign language tended not to cut it. However, Parr had asked, so Anessa flung herself at the game. She nodded at the rabbit, and attempted to make one of those paw-out human gestures, like when they came to an open door.

Unfortunately, this did not suit her current altitude and the set of her wings. It was absolutely unbalanced, and Anessa found herself tipped sideways and whistling downwards. She flipped herself over, turning it into an elongated sort of barrel roll, and stabilized. She'd have to think of something else.
~*~
"Parr, darling, would you SHUT UP! For two seconds! Now I really must get down to Father Rahl!" Shae screamed at Parr for the millienth time as they circled down the winding stairs to the main level.

That was nothing like what would stop Parr. In fact, he was greatly enjoying the conversation. Unfortunately, there were only so many replies to this sort of comment, and he was running low on them. "My dear Shae," this appellation was becoming more and more common, "would that I could. But the very sight of such fury sends me into an extended monologue on its uselessness but empassioned delivery."

Maybe he ought to start giving her compliments - but no, he simply wasn't interested. Besides, being an Evil Servitor, she'd probably take it in a manipulative way. Such a double-ulterior-motive relationship would be interesting, but he simply didn't have the time for it at the moment.

"Indeed, I have been enjoying your company altogether too much for the last, oh, five hundred loops along this staircase. It really is silly of you to walk the whole way. However, I am afraid our delightful little conversation may well be drawing to its long-awaited close. I simply haven't the time to stick around. I'm sure you won't understand, as you lead such a wonderfully leisurely life, but you must try. Be assured, I shall return as soon as I have taken care of my duties." He smiled at her, and disappeared.

"Mekal - are we still prepared? Good. New direction." Would that sarcasm and drawling were appropriate for dispatching orders. He just couldn't seem to work it in most of the time. "Our lovely, darling prisoners have, rather literally, flown the coop. What a tiresome thing retrieval is."

Shae looked back behind her in bewilderment. "I - I'd forgotton he could do that!" she mumbled to herself. She quickly ran the rest of the way down to the main level, and, panting, called to one of the servants to call up Father Rahl. "And tell him it's important!" she yelled after the servant who was scurring along the corridor.

It really was too bad that he couldn't stick around and irritate Shae more, Parr thought. But business was business - and he needed to capture these people quickly. He hadn't been home in ages; apparently Darken Rahl's headquarters seemed to attract missions he was suited for. But he would have to leave once he got his prisoners. He could get his hand redone, and catch up on the misdeeds of some old 'friends'. Maybe gut someone for sneering at him, though that got dull very quickly.

Mekal was standing politely behind him. "We're ready?" He guessed, and felt the nod. "Good." He reached out - and frowned. The tags he'd put on the group were spread out. They'd have to do this in stages. Inefficient, but possibly easier. "We'll take the ones on the ground first." He decided, and gave Mekal the coordinates.
~*~
Gra'andu knelt by the stream he had been camping at for the past few days and sighed yet again. "Why did I have to leave home? Maybe it would have gotten better, and I'd have food." He rubbed his rumbling stomach. Gra'andu then thought about why he left home. "O.K. I guess it wouldn't have gotten better, but I wish I had food!" He got up and started walking back to his camp when he saw a girl climbing into a tree. Gra'andu stopped and looked at the girl. "She looks verry young, I wonder if she's lost?"


Rachel heard someone muttering as she was climbing into her nesting tree. She looked around and saw a funny-looking, half naked, and half starved little man.-What the heck is he doing here?- She climbed down out of the tree and slipped behind it, thinking she would have a better vantage point to look at the strange creature. But when she looked around the tree.... he was gone. Rachel spun around when she heard someone say.."Are..

...you lost little girl?" Gra'andu asked the young creature that was in front of him. "Do you need help?" Gra'andu was startled when the seemingly nice little girl put a knife to his throat. "What is you doing? Gra'anu is only being helpful ..... what is she doing I is not doing anything to her.... Gra'andu was being nice...only nice....she is hurting Gra'andu...what is Gra'andu doing to her, he is doing nothing and she is being hurting."

Rachel was confused at the small mans ramblings. But she had to admit, he didn't look dangerous. She slowly let him go and said," What do you want?" The little man looked at her and said, "I is only trying to help... Gra'andu sees little girl and Gra'andu thiks to himself 'that girl must be lost I's should go help she'.... but does she say thank you?... no, shes is putting knives to Gra'andus throat and is assuming things about I." Now Rachel was really confused. She couldn't understand a word this creature was saying.-Well I better take him to the others...though I'm really getting tired of walking back and forth- "O.K. I'm sorry will you come with me? I have some friends I'd like you to meet."

Gra'andu thought this was much better, now he would get food. "Oright, Gra'andu is coming with you but he is needing food and I is wanting some mushrooms...but I come with you."

Aurelia was just setting down her small pile of kindling on the damp earth floor when she saw Rachel walking back towards the camp with a small, thin little man trotting behind her. "Rachel? Exactly who is that?" she asked accusingly. "And why is he HERE?"

"Ummm... I can't figure out who he is because his talking really confuses me and I was hoping one of you could help. He doesn't seem dangerous."....-just a little insane- she thought.

"Rachel...!" Aurelia said in a tone of indulgent exasperation.

"Oh, you picked up another one?" The drawl was instantly familiar. "I suppose I'll just have to capture him, too. We can always ditch him later. Though I'm warning you, if he tries to rescue you afterwards, it won't be a pleasant, heart-still-beating ditching. Where'd your friends go?" Parr leaned conversationally against a tree.

Aurelia turned around slowly. She groaned once she saw who it was. "You! W-where did you come from??" she demanded. Aurelia silently prayed that Anessa and Angel wouldn't come back anytime soon, so Parr would spare them their freedom.

"Oh, darling, I am so tempted to say 'your worst nightmares.' But fortunately for you, I try not to do cliche. And you probably do not dream about me anyway, alas." He gave a dramatic sigh. "Ah, well. Perhaps more to the point is 'what are you doing here?', to which the answer is 'capturing you.' Do we go through the whole all-by-yourself talk, or would you like to come peacefully now? You will sooner or later, if I have to send you to sleep to do it."

The second Rachel saw Parr she pulled the funny man with her into hiding and somehow she felt safe, like in her mothers arms...not that that had ever felt safe. She watched Parr and knew that she was right..he never should have been trusted.

Parr frowned. He could have sworn he'd seen the midget here... she must have snuck (sneaked? other? Reminds me of the Savage Damsel and the Dwarf - 'You've gone and cleaved my dinner!' cloven... cleft... oops, tangent) off at some point. That was inconvenient. He had Anessa to keep an eye on the winged thing, but now he'd have to waste men on finding the girl. He sighed.

"Yaeren." The man bobbed up from a nearby bush across from Parr. "Remind me - wasn't there another one or two here?"

The man nodded reluctantly, knowing what was coming. It wasn't his fault he was good at finding things.

Parr smiled condescendingly at him. "Find them." He ordered, and turned back to the prisoner he could see.

Rachel saw a man-dog to Parr who eagerly licked from Parr's hand. He started looking for them. She knew he would be able to find them if they didn't move.

Gra'andu also saw the man's intentions and whispered to the rock they were behind. The rock opened a little bit and Gra'andu pulled Rachel inside. At another whisper the rock closed around them. "Now that bad man won't find we. We is safe in rocks.. rocks help Gra'andu they is his friends they be she's friends too if rachel let them."

Rachel looked at the small man beside her and said, startled,"How do you know my name, I never told you my name." The little creature hung his head shamedly. "I is listening and you is saying things and elf is saying things and Gra'andu is listening and he is hearing yous and elfie who is yelling at Rachel... I is not meaning harm Gra'andu is not doing nothing.. he is helping...yes?"

Rachel decides she liked this queer person and had figured out most of what he just said. "Your Gra'andu.. right?"
"Yes that is he."
"Well then, nice to meet you.... Do you think you could get the rock to open a little hole for me to see and hear out of?"
"Yes, I is opening and i is helping... yes."

The rock opened and showed Rachel something she did not want to see:

For one, Yaeren was frowning pesively at the general area of the rock they were in. From Rachel's assumedly nervously paranoid point of view, he was staring right at the hole Gra'andu had just opened and was going to go yell for Parr that he'd found them. Instead, the man finished frowning and turned to look up into the branches of a tree, and other hiding places.

The second disturbing part was that Anessa and Angel were back. Or Anessa was, at any rate, and logically Angel would follow shortly. She hummed up above the trees, laughing obliviously. ~Look, 'Relia!~ She called. ~I never could have carried it before. I've always had to eat where it got caught, because I'm simply too small to carry things off properly. Even a hawk can do it, but me? No. But I've got magic now, like a proper dragon! So I put a levitation thing on it, almost like the one for Rachel when e were coming off the tower, remember, that Parr showed me? But it had to be adjusted. And it's so much easier now! It still takes effort to get it upwards, but there's not really anything dragging me down, and...~ She babbled on.

Aurelia's shoulders drooped upon hearing this. She turned around, frowning. "Oh, Anessa! Can't you see what is going on!" She gestured to the place where Rachel was standing. "Rachel has gone off and brought a strange man to our camp, who probably was the one who called Parr. Parr is here aswell, bytheway!" As she finished her sentence, she glanced towards where she thought Rachel and the man were standing. "Rachel?" she called, as she slowly realized poor Rachel was gone. Aurelia whirled around to face Parr. "Give her back right this minute, or I swear! I'll..." she stopped there, searching for something she could do to harm Parr.

"Yes?" Parr asked attentively.

Angel, with 6 mice in his hands, went to land, but saw Parr. He silently landed on a branch, but one of the mice came loose. It fell to the ground, just in front of Parr. "Oh, crud." said Angel.

Still waiting for Aurelia's response, Parr watched a mouse drop blatantly in front of him, followed by a distinctly revealing comment. He sighed. This was, aside from the Amazing Disappearing Monkey-Girl act, all too easy. He signaled for a few of his men with bows to cover the winged boy.

~What - Parr!~ Anessa shrieked happily, and dropped her prey to go barreling into his chest. ~Oh, hi! It's so nice to see you! I missed you - where were you? With that horrid Shae? You should dump her. I'm much more important. Especially since we just met.~

"Ack!" Parr oofed as Anessa hit him. He had not planned on this. Anessa was supposed to be helpful and subtle, not... ecstatic, was that the word? And now it was taking all his self control not to shriek and yell for his men to get it off him. "Calm down, you stupid dragon!"

Aurelia was in shock of Anessa's reaction to Parr's arrival as he was. "Anessa!" she shrieked. "What are you doing?!"

"Mauling me." Parr muttered, managing to get a grip on the little dragon. He held her at arm's length and she squirmed. "Go greet your friends." He told her. "You can squirm at me later."

~But you're here now.~ Anessa pointed out. ~Didja see?~ She asked, brightening. ~I carried a rabbit! All the way here!~

"Uh-huh." Parr agreed in a distinct I'm-not-listening tone. "Well, as long as you're here, you can make yourself useful. Find the midget."

-Uh-Oh- thought Rachel. Anessa would be able to sense where she was, and tell Parr. "Gra'andu, can you do anything?" Gra'andu closed the hole and said, "The rocks will not be wanting the unfeely brainwaves coming at them they dont like the itchyness. They is blocking us." "Oh, thank the Godess." Rachel would be able to get the others out of there if they didn't know she was there.

~Midget?~ Anessa asked, confused. ~What's a midget? And I'm staying right here anyway.~ She paused to consider. ~No, not right here. Not until someone teaches you how to hold me properly. I'm going to go sit on Angel.~

As long as she was gone, Parr was reasonably happy. He turned back to the business at hand with a sigh. The arrivals had completely ruined his wonderfully irritating line. If he were a Dark Lord, he'd make sure no one ever did that. It ought to be a crime punishable by death or worse. He couldn't even sulk properly because he had to handle everything.

"Let's see." He thought. "Mekal, you can bring the cage here. The one with the right wheels, remember, I spent weeks fixing them after the last assignment of this kind. Then we can put them all in there and be on our way before Shae gets here with some overlarge force to drive us off sans prisoners. And while we're waiting on that, we can subdue these two and pretend the irritating midget doesn't exist. Objections?"

Aurelia looked around behind trees and up trees, behind rocks...anywhere she could think of a hiding place. Where is Rachel? she thought.

Angel was a bit peeved that a tiny dragon was sitting on his head, but didn't want to make any sudden moves just in case the archers shot. "What are you doing?" he asked Annesa.

((WF RP 5))