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Taomerle11. UneaseBy Assilsastao()xxxx[{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::><::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::}]xxxx()oThe past two days had been uneventful on the road north of

Lementhra. Leoric Had been eager to negotiate a price and head out for the Avi

city of Featherfall. The troop had taken their well practiced positions around

the caravan. Leoric lead the group with his vardo at the front of the pack. The

young kitzen and her companions were placed at the rear of the pack, left with

a small team of horses to pull the train of six vardo wagons they had chained

together to free the remainder of the group to freely move through the caravan,

either on foot or horseback. Following the group a good distance to the rear

was the giant wolf beast still in his seemingly natural feral stance. The agmina twins met in the center of the group as they

finished a quick patrol and head count of their employers and family. Metkatha

looked at her brother as she slowed her horse to match his unmounted pace.

"Brother, I don't like this, something is wrong." Metkatho continued to watch the perimeter as he listened to

his sister. "Leoric knows what he is doing, He surely has a good reason to be

taking this road." He jumped slightly at a sound from the thick dark woods that

framed the less traveled road. "Though I would feel better if he had stayed

with the main roads." The young hystrix rode up to the pair quickly as they

talked. She pulled her horse to a slow trot by them as she began the lead it in

a slight sideways gait while she tried to look at them both and said, "Leoric

told me he got news of a raider group attacking caravans on the main road after

Lamenthra closed the gates. He took this path to avoid that, I don't know why

you two doubt him so often." Metkatha looked over at Cassidy as she said, "Leoric is not

the noble man you think he is young girl. Everything he does for a reason." She

looked over her shoulder toward the Kitzen and lutra that drove the train of

vardos, then to the haggard beast that followed then. "There is more to that

trio, and his plans, than he is letting on." She glanced around them quickly to

check who might be within earshot before she leaned close to her horse and

talked in a lower tone. "He will not say it, but I believe that the kitzen

truly is the princess of Lementhra. And whatever that beast is... Look at how

Marco and his little witch have been keeping their distance. I think they know

more than they are telling as well." Cassidy let out a, "Ha! You are both paranoid freaks. Why

don't we just ask him what's going on?" without another work she tapped her

spurs into the hip of the horse sending it into a fast gait to the front of the

pack, toward their leader's position.  Metkatho shook his head as they watched her leave them.

"She is still blinded by his kindness. I feel for her when she figures out just

what kind of malin is willing to take in a stray like her. She is skilled, I

will give her that, but her blind obedience to him will be her downfall one of

these days, and all because he saw what he needed in her." Metkatha looked around again,

more uneasy than before, "I have a really bad feeling about this brother,

things will not end well. o()xxxx[{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::><::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::}]xxxx()o Isaiah

laid out on the wide bench of the lead vardo as Assilsasta held lightly onto

the reins that controlled the team of horses. Leoric had been right when he

told her that the team of feral beast would do most of the work as they were

trained to follow the caravan. She watched the two reptilians and hystrix talk

for a moment before returning to their patrols and duties. She knew they did

not trust her and were suspicious of everything Leoric had told them. She was

not sure who, but she just felt the truth of their apprehension each time she

looked at them.  Suddenly

she cupped her paw over the stone that replaced her left eye as a sharp pain

shot through her skull. Within a moment the now familiar and welcome ethereal

voice of Noriscuriel flowed into her mind. 'The

time draws near. You feel it as I do.' She

looked over at the side of the vardo where the young lutra pup slept. "What shall

we do with him?' she asked aloud. "He cannot protect himself and I am afraid we

will lose him after this." 'He will be well. He has a purpose here,' the disembodied voice echoed in her mind. 'She will need him if she is going to survive. Be ready my Queen. The

time draws near when you will not be able to hide our nature.' "In

four days, so much has changed," the young, exiled noble kitzen said as she

reflected on the time away from the comfort and ease of life in the stronghold.

She laid one paw on the lutra pup at her side as she continued, "And every life

I have touched from that day had been destroyed." She looked over the caravan

as she felt the uneasy sensation of the stone rolling in her socket. She knew

that her bound servant felt the same thing in his as she visions flooded in

over reality. The road before her was littered with the bodies of both young

and old as they lay lifeless in pools of their own blood. Mix in among them

were the armored corpses of the bandits that slaughtered them. Small fires

burned in the wagons as the remaining set the scene ablaze. Mouths moved on

those still standing, but no words could be heard. A small group had gathered

to one side around the small lutra pup as she dragged a sword three times she

size as he stood between the advancing group and a vague body. She watched

helplessly as she struggled to heft the oversized weapon in defense of the

lifeless body he guarded. Asslisasta

shook her head to rid her mind f the visions. They came to her more quickly and

clearly now, but what they told her was only of fire, blood, and death. She

looked over at the lutra pup again as she asked, "Is there nothing we can do to

change the vision? Are we only going to going to leave destruction in our

wake?" 'It is not you or I that bring death,' Noroscuriel's voice whispered softly in the corners of her

mind, 'Those that wish for power they

know nothing of will lay waste to that which stands in their way. Our future is

filled with that fire. What you do with it will seal this worlds fate, for even

that is now unwritten.' "Protect

him," She said as she looked forward to the gyas and felis look back to the

from their position near where the other group as spoken. "And what of those

two? I did not see them in my vision." 'They

have their own destiny,' the voice spoke as a shadowy blurred vision filled her

sight, 'The fool who thinks himself wise, and the slave that thinks to be the

master.' She could see the vague form of the tall white bear-kin as he carried a

dark figure in his arms away from hero.o()xxxx[{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::><::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::}]xxxx()o Marco took hold of the reins of Dementia's horse as she

drew close to him. "Leoric is planning something. This is not the path to

Featherfall. We are going too far west, unless he plans to stop in Ashburn

first." "Why would he go to Ashburn?" The felis asked from under

her dark hooded cloak. "That is a free guild tow..." she trailed off as the

obvious reasons for the side trip hit her. "He wishes to..." she trailed off

again as a cruel smile curled the corner of her muzzle, barely visible in the

shadow of the hood.  The voice of her shadow companion flooded into her shattered

mind as the fragments of the darker aspects doubled back the surface, 'Death, blood, and war fallow the beast, for

that is what we are.' "He will have to do something and soon," Marco said as he

glanced into the forest around them. 'He would not dear knowingly take a

merchant caravan into Ashburn. Be ready for it." 'Blood,

flesh and fire,' Ithurot's voice nearly screamed as she looked forward into

the blinding darkness that had valed her vision. 'Their flesh will burn at our hands. They will suffer for the innocence

they steal.' The images of the long hidden memories tricked to the surface

again. The sight of the children, their lifeless bodies used to summon her

servant, slowly replaced by the vision of the caravan before her. The sight of

the young pups and cubs of the merchant families they escorted. 'They come for us, for the demon wolf and I.

And they will let nothing live.' The shadow beast fed on the anger, and

cruel essence of Dementia's shattered psyche he had learned early one of her

need to protect those who could not protect themselves, and her warped vision

of salvation by death. So much time had passed since he had been able to drive

her to the lengths needed to sustain himself with her essence and power. 'They will even take Marco from us.' He

reveled in the in the jolt of twisted justice and bloodlust.Marco felt the invasion of Hemslef as

the bound spirit spoke to him, 'He's

working on her again.' The ancient bound soul whispered to his master. 'He sees the coming conflict and will feed.

But this time we may need his hunger. I have no power against the beast, and it

will turn on us.' The albino gyas looked up at the you

shadow priestess he had sworn to protect and save for herself and her shadow

servant. His face turned down as the frightening sweet melody started flowing

from her lips.Mary Mary quite contrary,How does your garden grow?With silver bells and cockle shellsand pretty maids all in a row. Marco let go of the reins as she softly

chanted the nursery rhymes. He felt the dark energy flow off her as she began

to whisper is counter binding to draw her back from the edge. Himself voice

screamed in his mind, 'NO! Let her be, we

will use them against the beast.' As his staff spoke he looked into the

forest that surrounded them. Rustles in the undergrowth moved from side to

side. He stepped away from the horse that held his companion as he watched the

shadows flow and stretch from beneath the cloak. He spun on his paws as the

caravan halted at the shout from the rear of the caravan. AMBUSH!!!