“What are we supposed to look for again?” Iris asked Xanth as they walked through the village. They had on heavy dark, hooded cloaks on them, hiding their swords and weapon from the eyes of others to keep the attention away from them, but the fact that they wore heavy dark hooded cloaks made them stand out from the rest of the villagers.“Information that could be useful.”“And how are we to do that?” She sneered.Xanth sighed. “Iris, I know you do not want to do this because you hate Lyra, but think of this also as doing it for Ryder, he needs all the help he can get now.”“That is only why I am doing this, Xanth, because of Ryder, but why are we to find another Khione when we already have one?”“I think,” He said and turned a corner towards the forest. “He doesn’t want to put all his eggs into one basket by relying on Lyra loving him.”She scoffed. “I think he is becoming soft and he doesn’t want to kill the girl.”Xanth smirked. He had that logic too, the fact that Ryder was beginn

“Just look at how fat you’ve become.” Syrana jeered at her sister, she held her long skirt up from the front to keep herself from tripping over it on this uneven rocky terrain. “What are you being fed with over there?” She chuckled and hurried in her steps, she had left the village almost an hour ago and had walked to the outskirts as she had planned to meet with her sister.Naphtalia smiled tiredly and shook her head. The huge rock she sat on was just the right amount of comfort she could be provided with outside the walls of the Astaroth castle. The tree she rested her back against provided the much needed shade, she had been here a couple of minutes before she sighted her younger sister running up the small hill to meet her.Ever since before she left Qeorin, she and her sister had promised to meet here on a certain day of every month for Syrana would not step into Astaroth because she had a strong dislike for Khiones developing relationship with outsiders, most especially relation

“…then if it’s a boy?” She asked her sister, a soft smile on her lipsShe watched her sister’s soft eyes look up at her and smile, her hand rubbed gently across her stomach. She smiled, her cheeks heating up and Syrana knew that her sister must have been thinking of Dixon.“Xanth.” She said. “I’ll name him Xanth if it’s a boy.”She woke up.She felt light headed and oddly calm after she had woken up, her body was relaxed like she had just had the best sleep in years, her head was free and her mind was empty for a while and she felt at peace for the first time in a long time. And she smiled, briefly.“Xanth…” She whispered softly and chuckled, her eyes burned with tears and she brought her palm to her mouth as she chuckled again, and again. And again.The last time she had felt like this had been over fifty six years ago, the year she had given birth to her daughter, before the massacre in Qeorin. She had been five hundred and ninety six years old then, young enough to hold a grudge a

Ryder and Xanth sat by the small round table with Lillian in front of them, she had a large round glass ball placed in the middle of the table, supported by its stand and her hands placed on the table on either side of the glass ball. She wasn’t smiling at them this time, she had on a serious expression and so did Xanth and Ryder.She had mentioned Indie and that had immediately put Ryder on edge, not that he feared the witch goddess but he was wise enough to know that he needed to be weary of her. And he was.“She spoke to you…” Ryder mentioned again so that she could clarify.“She speaks to all of us.” Lillian replied and Ryder narrowed his eyes at her. “All of us here follow her, we listen to her and she speaks to us, we consult her and she reveals to us the hidden secrets. There is nothing she doesn’t know, no where she doesn’t and cannot reach.”“Okay and if she told you that we would be coming here, she must have mentioned something else.” Xanth said and Lillian flashed a smile

The wind picked up speedily and it ran through the forest, picking up debris and flinging it in every direction and in that split distracting second, Indie vanished and the howling wind settled. Ryder looked around the small clearing but could not find her, he held on to Lyra who was still unconscious in his arms ad he pressed her into himself. Sh was cold and she was shivering, she needed warmth.He placed her on the ground by the base of a tree and moved to gather pieces of wood, dried leaves and broken branches that the wind had scattered around. He placed them all together close to where he had placed Lyra, cupped his palm over the bundle of wood and transferred energy to it. Black smoky mist sipped from his palms and swam around the bundle continuously until the wood caught on fire.He sat back on the ground and allowed the fire to build, part of his mind wondering how they would ever be able to get out of this forest. He had no idea in which direction hey should go. He let out a