EVABELLE

"I'm officially a ninja!"  Aza gave a karate cry and leapt into a dramatic pose, holding her hands up as though to crack a table in half. 

    Uri, their stiff, spiky elf guide had lead the team, excluding Kai, and surprisingly including Faux's date, into a side corridor away from the party to change into more appropriate outfits for their mission.  They were lightweight black pants and a top with a hood with sleek dark boots. 

    "To be a ninja, there is an art of silence, which is something impossible for you to master."  Del shook his head as he began to unbutton his dress-shirt.

    Faux leaned down to Aza.  "Don't listen to that Eclipsicus over there.  He's just jealous we stole his trademark color."

    Evabelle ran her fingers over the soft, water-like fabric.  It was so cool and light, she couldn't believe it was actual, wearable material.  The dark color shifted in a way that made her eyes blur...blur into the glowing blue of the fountain joy lights, to a man washing himself in their essence, that same man standing before her, staring her down, and finally telling her....

    Uri gave a loud grunt, coming up right behind Evabelle, sucking her back into reality and making her jump  "The pixie's have designed this elegantly woven fabric from the bark of the tamala plant we grow underground, in the dark, away from any light, for it could ruin it's fragility.  They are very difficult to make, so there are not many.  The King is very generous to allow us to be using them."

    "Well, this is a very important mission."  Lucis said, already wearing his outfit as well.  "You told us they made you practically invisible at night, and hush the sounds of movement.  That will be essential if we plan on sneaking up on a bunch of elves." 

    Evabelle's still pounding heart leapt into her throat, as he took a step toward her, but his eyes were fixed on Uri behind her. 

    "That's only if we do manage to catch them."  The elf gritted his teeth.  "We have looked for these rumored traitors before, and nothing has been found as of yet."

    "That's because they knew you were looking.  Tonight is the perfect time for them to meet, without the threat of being found."  Lucis replied.

    "And technically, there has been stuff found,"  Del cut in, who had removed his shirt and was currently stretching out his wings before sliding them back into his indented spine for the camouflage, making all the women in the corridor feel a little warm.  "It just wasn't by you, just a shadow who also seems to have gotten their hands on this special material."  He held up the top half of the suit.

    Uri's lip curled.  "Yes, that Shadow, a despicable traitor, a violent cretin, a deranged creature believing the life of a vigilante was made for more than human fantasy, did manage to get his thieving hands on a few precious objects."

    Evabelle blinked in surprise as the amount of spite in his words.   

    Aza's eyebrows shot up.  "Excuse me?  Batman is not a fantasy.  I believe that Gotham is a real place that is protected by the hero that they deserve, not the one they need.  But maybe this Shadow is what you pacifistic people need." 

    Uri flashed a glare at her.  "Are you suggesting that war and violence are a good thing?"

    "No," Evabelle spoke.  "War isn't good, but sitting back and letting others fight or deal with it, when you could do something, is just as bad.  Sometimes, you have to stand and fight, whether you want to or not."

    Everyone's eyes were on her, she could feel them.  The Anahalian princess wasn't sure where the words had come from in that moment, but they felt good.  Terrifying, but good.

    Uri stepped up to her, making the girl stiffen a little.  "Then where are your people in this fight?  Where are the guardians whose purpose was to fight?"

    Evabelle bit the inside of her cheek and dug her nails into her palm.  A bit of sweat was forming right at her temples like it always did when she was put on the spot.  

    "We're here."  Del spoke before Evabelle had the chance to figure out what she was going to say, surprising her that it was him that came to her rescue.  "We're right in front of you."

    Instinctively, Evabelle glanced behind her to Lucis, whose eyes were fixed on Uri.  She swallowed hard and turned back to the elf as well, opening her mouth, but suddenly a door to the side of the hallway swung open and Opal, who had left to get the key to some boathouse or something, tumbled out.  "I couldn't find the key,"  The elf girl began, shaking her head, but then paused looking around at the intense, stoic expressions.

    "What do you mean?"  Uri completely turning his attention away from the Anahalians.

    "Cedar doesn't have it.  He gave it to Commander Baldwyn."

    Uri's eyes narrowed.  "Baldwyn?  Why?  Why didn't he stay for the reception?"

    Opal shrugged.  "He offered apparently."

    Uri seemed put off by this, but Evabelle wasn't sure if he really was by this particular news, or if that was just his natural demeanor.  Either way, he turned back to face them all, dismissed their previous discussion, and gestured with his hand.  "Alright, come on.  We've got to get moving."

* * *

Uri and Opal ran swiftly lead the way through the wooded land of the first Isle, easily ducking under branches and over rocks in their path.  The twins and Faux followed alright as well, but Aza and Evabelle struggled a little bit.  The suits did add a fascinatingly aerodynamic feeling that Evabelle had never experienced.  She'd never ran so fluidly before in her life.  It was exhilarating when she wasn't tripping over rocks or getting slapped in the face by low hanging trees.

    Aza was grinning from beside her.  Evabelle couldn't see the grin, because they had pulled up the dark material around over their mouths and nose, but Evabelle could see that wild glint in her friend's eyes.  "How is this not ninja?"  She hissed.

    Evabelle chuckled, but then looked ahead again, watching the tall, broad-shouldered man streaking ahead of her.  He still hadn't even given her a passing glance, making Evabelle's insides swim.  Before they had left, she had wanted to pull him aside to talk to him, but what was she supposed to say?

    They burst through the woods and came to a halt on one of the beaches that sported a small dock with, what appeared to be, an small ordinary boatshed.  It was old, but obviously well-kept.  Tanned wood, weathered, but smooth gave it a rustic feel that matched the classic dock reaching out into the bay.

    In front of the shed leaned a slightly more muscular elf that Evabelle recognized from the ceremony.  He was the commander that had given Kai the candle of courage, but had said the words wrong, however Evabelle still believed he might have done that on purpose.

    Their group approached the man, who quickly tucked something back into his sleeve and looked up as they neared.  The helmet he had been wearing during the ceremony had been removed, revealing the dark blue, hinting at plum hair flowing down freely, with a few stray braids.  He shook it away from his ivory skin that glowed similarly to Kai's in the light of the full moon.  His eyes were a pale green, almost yellow, a somewhat offsetting chartreuse.

    Opal pulled back her hood and gave a little bow.  "Commander," She acknowledged. 

    "Jarri," He nodded back.

    Uri's greeting was a bit more curt.  "What are you doing here, Baldwyn?"

    Firefly eyes narrowed at Uri.  "Keeping watch.  His Majesty informed me of this plan that you two are leading with the prince's friends, and he made an excellent point in reporting the lack of patrol out on this night."

    The spiky haired elf crossed his arms.  "But why you?"

    Baldwyn took a deep breath.  "Why not me?  I am the high protector of the elves.  Commander of his majesty's army."

    "Yes, so you could have just commanded one of your soldiers to do it.  I mean, you do trust them don't you?"  Uri cut him off.  "I just figured that as our high commander and protector it would be your duty to be there for the new Heir."  He cleared his throat.  "Especially after gifting him with your strength."

    Evabelle glanced around at the others to see Faux finding his reflection in the water to be truly fascinating all of a sudden, Del's eyes glazing over in boredom, Aza returning her look, silently saying 'Yep, we can tally this guy on our list of boletus pig elves', Opal shifting uncomfortably as her fellow men glared at each other, then to Lucis who stepped between them.

    "Alright I'm sorry to interrupt, but we don't know how much time we'll have, if any.  So if there's any way we could move this along."  The peacemaker of the group spoke smoothly.

    Baldwyn nodded, first to break eye contact.  "Yes, of course."  He reach into his pocket and produced an ordinary copper key.  Then the commanding elf turned, unlocked the padlock, slid the door open, and stepped aside for them to pass.  Evabelle noticed Baldwyn's eyes searched past their group as if expecting there to be more of them.

    "He didn't come if that's what you're wondering."  Hissed Uri, who hadn't moved as the others filed into the boathouse.  Evabelle paused in the doorway, glancing back.

    "Of course, he didn't."  Baldwyn replied.  "The others would notice if the Heir left his own party so early."

    Uri flashed his eyes over to Evabelle, glaring, giving her an obvious message.  She ducked in after the others.

    She wasn't sure what to expect, but for some reason she felt a little underwhelmed.  Perhaps she was getting more used to all the extravagant castles, mansions than she realized.  There was nothing wrong with the boatshed, but that's all it really was.  It wasn't bigger on the inside, holding hundreds of immaculate ships.  It looked about the size it should, holding five simple rowboats...okay simple was underselling it a little.  They were small, sleek, black vessels, but that didn't stop them from being rowboats.

    "These are our Sea Dragons."  Opal gestured to the floating carriers as she moved along the edge of the house, where there was floor to walk on, to the other side to the furthest boat where she began to undo the rope that tied it in place.  "They're extremely fast, don't be fooled by their appearance.  They're actually made from the tamala tree, the same plant that made these suits."

    Faux chuckled.  "I have a feeling Del and this tamala tree would be very good friends."  He strolled over to Opal and began to help her undo the knot.  They're hands brushed, and Faux jumped back, as Opal's face flushed, quickly turning away. 

    Evabelle and Aza grinned at each other, but then the snick of the door closing, made Evabelle turn.  Uri still hadn't come in with the rest of them.  She could hear him though, murmuring softly with Baldwyn.  It wasn't good to eavesdrop, but Evabelle was very curious about this Commander.  There was something about him, she couldn't put her finger on.  However, as she strained her ears to hear them, she discovered it didn't really matter because they were speaking in elvish.

    Evabelle glanced up to Lucis.  "Do you know what they're--?"  But Evabelle stopped, as Lucis strode toward Opal and Faux, stopping next to the second boat and began to undo that one's knot too.  She gaped at him.  What was that?

    Aza who hadn't noticed what had just happened slid past her friend and over to the others by the boats.  "Why are you untying another one?"  She crouched down, reached out her hand and stroked the smooth wood of the boat, making it rock a little on the water.

    "We're going to need more than one, I figure."  Lucis glanced to Opal for confirmation.

    The elf girl nodded.  "Only three to four people can ride in each boat, so two should do it." 

    Evabelle was still staring at Lucis in dumb silence, when Del stepped up beside her.  "Sounds like that Uri jerk it accusing that Commander of being a traitor himself."  He muttered. 

    Evabelle spun her head around to look at him.  "What?  Why?"

    Del shrugged, his ear turned toward the door.  "I'm not catching all of it, but..." his eyebrow quirked up.  "That's interesting."

    "What?"  Evabelle whispered. 

    Del held up his hand and listened for a moment, his eyes half-closed.  "He's accusing him of helping the Shadow.  No one can do all of what they can do by themselves.  He assumes since the Commander is the primary fighter of the elves, he must have taught them and helping them steal they're equipment."  Del paused.  "Apparently, the letter that was turned in anonymously about this whole traitor thing in the first place, was through this Baldwyn.  He was the one who 'found' the note."

    Baldwyn's voice broke through Uri's accusations. 

    Del shook his head.  "Now, he's saying how suspicious Uri's been lately.  He knows that he was quick to volunteer for this mission to lead us through those caves."

    "Is everyone on these islands so freaking paranoid?"  Evabelle hissed.

    Del's eyes opened and he smirked at her.  "I don't know if you've noticed, Maus, but elves are a bit of a proud species, the fact that any of their own would even consider betrayal goes beyond them."

    Evabelle didn't even point out that Del had used that name again.

    The door slammed open and Uri stomped forward, stalking past Evabelle and Del without a glance.  "You haven't even opened the gate yet?"  He snapped at Opal, who jumped up at the man's harsh tone. 

    "No, sorry, Urian.  I was just getting the boa--"

    Uri grunted and waved his hand dismissively and went to the far side of the house and pulled on a rope that cause to the far wall to lift like a hand cranked garage door.  Instead of it opening up to the calming sea, shadowy fogged rapids met them instead.  "Everyone get in a dragon.  We need to get moving."  Uri leapt into the first boat and pulled out a long staff rather than an oar.  Then he stood at the front of the boat.  "Did you hear me?"

    Everyone rushed forward.  Opal went to the second boat and pulled out another staff, herself and stood at the same position as Uri.  The rest split up into two groups.  No one really wanted to be with spiky the grump, but Lucis got onto his and his brother followed.  Faux immediately leapt into Opal's boat, followed quickly by Aza.  Evabelle glanced at Lucis, but he wouldn't even look at her.  She shook her head and as her eyes started to burn a little, then jumped into the boat with Aza and Faux.

    Uri stuck his stick into the water and pushed off into the muggy canal, vanishing almost instantaneously. 

    Opal glanced at her passengers with an apologetic smile.  "Sorry, Uri's got a bit of a temper.  Don't worry though.  Now just remember to remain sitting and hold on, this isn't the calmest form of transportation."

    Aza smiled.  "You're making me excited, now."

    Opal pushed off, slowly floating toward the exit.  Evabelle turned one last time to see Baldwyn standing in the doorway, watching them.  He caught her eye, and gave her a nod.  There was something so sad in his expression.  It wasn't easily seen, but it was there. 

    Something slipped out of the Commander's sleeve, that he quickly caught and tucked away again before Evabelle could be certain of what it was.  It was pale white, similar shape of a rope, but it had fine loose strands making Evabelle think strangely of... hair?

    She didn't have the time to dwell on it because they had just entered the river, which instantly pushed it from her mind, as she felt as if she had just gone over the side of a waterfall.

* * *

Grizzly River Run Rapids.  A ride, that was at Disneyland Theme Park in California.  Evabelle, herself had never been, but she figured this is what those other kids at her school had sort of been talking about.  However, she was fairly certain that their ride had seatbelts. 

    Water sprayed from every direction.  She dared not open her eyes as her hand were going num from having her fingers in a death grip around her seat.  Her jaw was aching from clenching it.  First it felt as if she was falling again, going straight down a waterfall.  Now, though, she was nearly being flung out the side of the boat as if they were circling  drain at high speed. 

    Evabelle peaked through cracked lids, stunned that Opal was still standing, and somehow her stick wasn't in splintered pieces.  She was using it to somehow direct them, similar to gondolas in Italy, but whenever Evabelle had seen pictures or videos of that they had always seemed to serene and beautiful.  This was anything but that.

    Though perilously fast and wild, there was one thing to be said.  It ended quickly.  Evabelle wasn't sure exactly when, but the boat eased and slowed to a steady pace, finally allowing Evabelle to open her eyes fully.

    Now, they were in a lake very similar to the one where the boathouse had been on the first isle.  This one also had a little shed on another dock, which Opal leapt out onto, grabbing the rope so the black boat wouldn't drift away.

    Faux stumbled out.  "Wow," was all he could say.

    Aza, who was unsurprisingly unfazed, jumped onto the dock, grinning.  She turned to Evabelle.  "And you said nothing was crazier than my driving."

    Evabelle shook her head, still a little shaky, as she walked across the boat.  "I stand corrected."  She cracked.  Something she hadn't noticed before on the Sea Dragon caught her eye.  It appeared to have a large compass at its bow, but it didn't have the letters for North, South, East, and West on it.  Instead there were twelve strange symbols carved into it spiraling into it rather than around the edges.  The needle was currently pointing to the fourth one if you were going clockwise.  "What's this?"  She asked Opal as Faux helped her out of the boat.

    "The guide."  Opal replied.  "It's like the map of the Spiral."  Once Evabelle was out, the elf released the rope and of its own volition, the Sea Dragon turned and vanished.  Opal looked back at the stunned faces.  "Oh, don't worry.  That was a first isle ship.  It goes back home, after its use.  We'll just take one of the fourth isle ones on the way back."

    Evabelle's stomach gave a little lurch at the thought.

    Opal waved her hand for the three of them to follow her.  "Come on.  The others should be around her somewhere."  Then she lead them off the dock and onto another beach leading to another group of trees, although, unlike the first isle, these ones were in orderly rows, far less wild than the other.

    The group had just reached the first line, when a voice seemingly coming from nowhere spoke.  "Took you long enough." 

    Evabelle jumped so hard she stumbled into Faux, slapping her own hands over her mouth to keep her from screaming.

    They all turned to see three shadowy figures practically appear out of thin air.

    Aza clenched her fist.  "You jerk!" She snapped and swung it around to hit the middle one, who'd been the one to speak, and now whose hand swiftly caught the blonde's and spun her back against him. 

    Then he leaned down and murmured in the girl's ear.  "You don't want to embarrass yourself, Picasso."

    Aza struggled against her nemesis, her hood sliding off and the veil slipping from her mouth.  "I'll show you embarrassment, Del Vinc--"  She bit her lip and shook her head looking absolutely furious with herself.  

    Del released her, a twisted grin pulling the corners of his mouth.

    "Well, I'd say these shadow suits work pretty well."  Faux acknowledged, helping Evabelle recover herself.

    Uri rolled his eyes.  "Yes, yes we know what we're doing guardian.  Now come on, let's go."

    They all followed the ill-tempered elf silently through the orchard of trees a ways.  It was mostly the same orderly agricultural trees it seemed for most of the way.  It was interesting, Evabelle had to admit.  She wondered how each Isle differed from each other, how each one was run, what kind of plants and styles differed. 

    From the corner of Evabelle's eye she caught a flicker of movement.  Turning her head she saw what appeared to be a wild horse moving in the night, but then something glinted on top of its head.  Her eyes widened.  No way!  For some reason, the girl had always love unicorns, and of course after stepping into this world, she knew they must exist.  However, she had yet to see one until that moment. 

    Evabelle tugged at Aza's sleeve.  Her friend turned, and Evabelle pointed, excitedly.  Aza raised her eyebrows confused, and Evabelle looked back to see that the creature had vanished.  She lowered the mouth guard and mouthed the word 'unicorn'. 

    Aza grinned and spoke aloud.  "Of course that would make you wound up."

    Del turned and glared at her, she tried to stick her tongue out at him, but she forgot about the cloth and gagged, making Del smile and turn back to the front.

    The group finally broke through the charted trees into an open valley where the moon glowed bright on.  They began to run low, so they wouldn't be in the open for too long, but then the land began to move upward in a steep incline that after running up for a bit caused the girls to start to pant.  When they reach its peak, they were then up a steep incline they found themselves in shadow again, as tall, more wild trees arched up from the below them. 

    Uri turned to them.  "Just leap where I leap," was all he said before he jumped off the drop off, vanishing into the darkness. 

    Evabelle stared as one by one, Opal and the Anahalians did the same without question until it was just her and Aza.

    "Is there not some way around this?"  Evabelle shivered.

    Aza shrugged.  "Urd the turd is in more of a hurry than we are, I'd say."

    Evabelle crept to the edge to see the faint outlines of bushes and plants far lower than she was comfortable jumping down to, but she couldn't see any of their friends anywhere.  She opened her mouth to see if there was someone down there to catch them, when Aza leapt off with a, "Whee!"

    Evabelle's breath caught in her chest as she strained her ears, to hear Faux's grunt as her friend landed and then Del's hiss of annoyance.  "What did I say about that art of silence?" 

    Aza's voice echoed up.  "That I couldn't master it, and you're not wrong.  I believe it was Faux here who once said that it would be a shame if the world were not to hear my wonderful voice."

    Faux laughed and then grunted as Del must have punched him in the arm.  Then there was a bit of rustling and then Del's voice he spoke again, this time up to Evabelle.  "Come on, Evabelle.  Let's go."

    The girl still on top of the hill, took a deep breath, imagining herself back as the fearless child who, without hesitation, leapt into the sky, but this time she didn't have wings to carry her up.  Now it was like jumping into a dark abyss, insanely trusting people, she wasn't even sure could see her. 

    But Lucis would always be there to catch her.  His arms holding her, as they fell and rose back at the cliffs at Calandra's were the push that had her legs crouching down and springing up into the nothingness. 

      When she was actually in the air, she wasn't afraid.  She smiled, closing her eyes, enjoying the free fall, but then arms gently caught her and she opened her eyes, grinning up at...Del?

    Evabelle blinked in surprise.  "Where's Lucis?"  Was what unfortunately slipped from her mouth.

    Del rolled his eyes and set Evabelle on her feet.  "You're welcome."

    "Sorry," Evabelle ducked her head.

    Del marched forward into a more wild forested area again, with Evabelle following.  "He told Faux and I to stay behind and get you two, then he, Uri, and Opal moved ahead to plan or something."

    Evabelle wrapped her arms around herself as she walked, feeling a little chill as if the strange cold shoulder that she felt Lucis was giving her was actually causing her inner temperature to drop.

    "Do you smell that?"  Faux's voice cut through Evabelle fogged mind. 

    She looked up to see that she and Del had reached Aza and Faux, who had paused in the middle of the trees.

    The others took a whiff of the air.  "Smoke."  Del murmured.

    Indeed the scent of burning fire faintly danced around them.  Del pushed past the foliage in front of them to see Lucis and the two elves standing outside the mouth of a large cave.

    The others approached them.  Opal grinned as Faux came up to them.  "We have a plan."  She mouthed.

    Uri gathered them close.  "I've inspected as far as I dared, alone.  I know these caves well.  There are certainly people inside it, and I know exactly where they are.  There's a large cavern not far from the entrance that many have used for picnics and gatherings, where I suspect whoever's in there right now has got some bonfire going, obviously overconfident of this secret meeting remaining secret."

    Lucis nodded, lowering the black veil from his mouth.  "Uri explained that there's several caves that lead into the cavern from surrounding angles."

    "There's plenty of stone for cover in the cavern.  We should be able to split up into pairs and surround them."  Uri explained.

    "Split up?"  Evabelle whispered.  She gave Lucis a hard stare, hoping he would at least look at her.

    Lucis glanced at her briefly, but swiftly moved his gaze across everyone in their circle.  "We'll all meet up at the mouths of each cave.  When I know everyone's there, and I've evaluated how many we're up against, we can jump in if I decide to give the signal."  He glanced behind them at the cave.  "We're not going to kill anyone, but I have a feeling that we're probably going to have to use some force.  We don't know if these people are working for Ravana or not, so we're going to need to questions them."  Then he reached into a pocket of his suit and produced one of his feathers, which glowed white in the dark night.  He took a deep breath and the feather did actually light up before transforming into a long curved knife. 

    Lucis outstretched his hand to Evabelle, who looked up into his face that was finally on her.  His expression held nothing of the man that had confessed to her by that fountain merely an hour before, gentle, kind, joyful, and a little nervous, vulnerable.  This man was stiff, hard, strong, a warrior on a mission.  Evabelle swallowed and took the basic Duren-dal blade from his hand, still a heated flush lighting her blood as her fingers brushed against his palm.   

    Del then produced his own munera, turned it into a black version of Lucis's dagger and passed it to Aza.

    "Okay, now is everyone armed and ready then, because I suppose that means we should be splitting off into our pairs," Faux slowly inched closer to Opal.

     "No distractions."  Lucis stopped him.  "This is serious, not a game."

    "I think I've been extremely serious for me."  Faux pouted.

    Uri hissed under his breath, waving his hand impatiently.  "Alright fine, I'll go with the half-breed."

    Faux stumbled back a step, his eyes widening.  Aza blinked in confusion.  "Wha--?"  She began.  But Evabelle grabbed her arm and began to shake her head, when Faux recovered himself.

    "It's fine." The scrawnier Anahalian cleared his throat, but didn't return to the huddle.  "I'm part human.  It's not like it's a big secret or anything."

    Aza's eyes widened now.  "What?  I didn't know this!"  She shook her head, still confused.  "But how can--"  Again Evabelle gave her friend's arm a squeeze.

      "And as much as I'd love to go on a romantic walk with a prickly thorn like you," Faux smoothly slid back to his normal self.  "I prefer soft petalled roses--"

    "It'll be okay, Faux," Opal cut in, brushing her hand against Faux's, making him freeze.  "We'll all come out on the other side."  She stood on her tip toes as though to whisper in his ear.  "And don't listen to Uri, he's just impatient and doesn't like the thought of traitors."  Even though she said it like a secret, everyone heard, and Evabelle noticed Uri rolling his eyes.

    Faux's eyes flashed to Uri as well, something strange shadowing his face, and expression similar to when he had raised his voice with Evabelle back in the elf castle's kitchens, except it seemed to take a step beyond.  It was something Evabelle had never truly seen on Faux.  It was dark. 

    "I can tell."  Faux said, but then his eyes returned to the elf woman, the darkness vanishing again.

    "You can go with him.  You can trust him."  Opal went on.  She turned back to the others.  "I can take care of the Princess Evabelle,"  She pulled out a crossbow from behind her back.  "The Oracle can take the human girl and--"

    "Nope," Del and Aza said in unison.

    Faux, who still appeared to be unhappy about the current arrangement perked up again.  "When you say no distractions, I introduce to you the king and queen of distracting each other.  You see, they're secretly dating,"  He danced away from Del's grasp, grinning wildly.

    "Look, I can take Aza.  Del can go alone, as long as you direct him down the right path."  Lucis grunted.

    Evabelle looked back to him, noticing him pinching the bridge of his nose as if he had some kind of headache.  She opened her mouth to ask if he was okay when he looked of and gave them all a nod.  "Let's not waste anymore time.  Come on,"

    Everyone focused back on Lucis and finally agreed, entering the cave as a group, starting down the single tunnel.  Quickly, they were met with a split.  Uri had mentioned that this cave had hundreds of winding tunnels throughout.  Only a few elves knew their way around it, including their cold, spiky elf companion, who apparently used to be a guide through these caves.

    Uri now drew Opal to him and whispered in her ear.  The words Evabelle caught, were once again elvish, but they quickly turned back to the group, gesturing silently about who would be going down which tunnel.  They had decided at this point, there could be no speaking, considering the elves' advanced hearing.

    Evabelle, Opal, and Del went down the right, while Uri, Faux, Lucis, and Aza went down the left.  Evabelle watched Lucis disappear down the dark cave, feeling cold, even with the warm draft traveling though the tunnels.

    She followed her group, stepping closer as the way got darker the further they went.  The walls started to feel like they were closing in around her.  Dark enclosed spaces had always bothered Evabelle.  She thought she might have a bit of claustrophobia. 

    Del didn't pull out any munera to light, since they didn't want to give away their position if there were any elves out there.  But even the dark Anahalian's hunched outline didn't appear to be enjoying the cave either.

    Evabelle gripped the Duren-dal's hilt tighter, taking strength from Lucis's blade, while at the same time, feeling shame that she could still not make one for herself.  She stared ahead, to Opal's faint form, who seemed fairly confident striding in the darkness. 

    The shadow suits kept their footsteps hushed, but it didn't stop Evabelle from stubbing her toe at one point.  She bit her lip hard, trying painfully to not make a sound as she tried to catch up to Opal and Del. 

    Evabelle eyes semi-adjusted to the darkness as time drew on, but at the same time, it just continued to grow darker.  Finally, after what seemed like forever she ran into something hard, but that something turned and caught her, before she fell.

    She gave a grateful nod to Del, not sure if he could see her any better than she could see him.  Opal's slender hand touched Evabelle's shoulder and drew her to one side.  "You and I will be taking this way."  Her words were so soft, Evabelle had to strain just to hear her from right beside her.  "Del, you will take this left cave.  You will reach a fork before you reach the cavern, take the middle path."

    Del put a hand on Evabelle's shoulder before following Opal's instructions.

    Evabelle swallowed as his shadowed form, completely vanished, leaving her alone with this elf woman that Evabelle was now acutely aware that she did not know that well at all.  She followed her partner into their cave, making a sharp turn right into it.  Opal seemed nice, and little clumsy like herself.  Thus far she had distinguished herself as kind and pleasant, but there was something Evabelle wasn't quite sure about.  The elf obviously liked Faux, but there was something about the way she had soothed him about going with Uri that seemed...

    Evabelle shook her head.  She wasn't sure what she was thinking.  Obviously, she was not an expert on feelings.  The lump in Evabelle's throat grew as she thought about how she wasn't with Lucis.  Something was wrong with him.  There had been something wrong with him for a while.  She remembered being with just him by their campfire when they had crashed on the island.  Lucis had expressed how he was afraid of telling her the truth.  What could he possibly be afraid of telling her? 

    Lucis had been nervous telling her that he loved her, but it had to be more than being afraid of Evabelle rejecting him over that.  But now he was treating her like she was nothing but another comrade on a mission.  No, he was purposely avoiding her.

    Again, she clenched her hand around the knife.

    The heat increased as Opal and Evabelle began up an incline.  Evabelle could definitely hear voices, most of it was probably being spoken in elvish, but a few words she caught were definitely English. 

    The roof of their cave got lower for a ways to the point where they nearly had to crawl upward.  Evabelle felt cold sweat trickling down the side of her face, having a harder time breathing as the space continued to shrink. 

    Hot, orange light started to glow, and shadows danced on the ceiling in front of two girls.  It didn't make Evabelle feel any better. 

    At the peak of the slanting stone, the smoke was strong, and Evabelle was grateful for the cloth covering her mouth and nose. 

    Opal began to slide slowly and carefully down the steep rocky hill toward the opening to the cavern, Evabelle could only assume.  She edged her way down after the elf woman, doing her best not to disturb the any rocks on her way. 

    At the bottom, and enormous fire blazed high.  Fissures in the ceiling of the high cavern ventilated the space that to Evabelle's horror held at least thirty elves with large sacks, that when one elf stumbled over some stone revealed to be holding crossbows.

    Evabelle and Opal easily slipped behind a partial wall of stone near the bottom of their tunnel's mouth, carefully peaking out to watch and listen.

    Elves walked around and lounged by their bonfire, talking casually.  So they had gathered a lot of weapons.  Were they selling them to vampires?  Vampires, with super strength and speed didn't need weapons like that.  But Evabelle remembered how the werewolves they had faced back at Kalas Hem had had crossbows to fire the darts holding the Annihilator toxin. into them...so maybe this really was what they had been looking for.

    Evabelle swallowed, her heart hammering.  She prayed that elves weren't that good at hearing.  She glanced around, catching several entrances into this cavern just as Uri had explained.  There was large boulders, and stone that reached all the way up to the ceiling, not quite stalagmites, but reminding her of them, where their friends could hide.  Narrowing her eyes, Evabelle tried to find a trace of them, a shadow, a flicker of movement.  She didn't see any of them.  Perhaps and her and Opal were the first ones here.

    Taking a deep breath, Evabelle carefully adjusted her position and decided to listen to see if these elves really were working for this vampire king.  As she had thought, elvish was primarily spoken here, but there were a few surprising individuals that were actually speaking her language. 

    "I hate this, we're way too obvious."  A dark-skinned male elf with short bubble-gum pink hair grumbled, his legs curled up to his chest, his arms wrapping around them as he stared into the fire.  "We've never met all together like this."

    "This was the perfect opportunity to."  A tall female Japanese looking elf snapped as she paced around the man.  "And if the plan goes accordingly, then we're supposed to get a bigger haul then we ever had."

    "The one boy was luck, he's the first person we've ever had to hand over."  Bubble Gum guy said.

    "Well if all goes to plan, we'll get two more.  That's more than our crossbows.  Can you imagine the reward?"  The woman stopped walking staring up, a grin marking her face.

    "If all goes to plan," Pinky elf repeating, shaking his head.  "We'll get a big reward, if not, then we're outed, finished, Kira."

    Kira glared at him, but he went on as if he didn't notice.  "We've never handed anyone over to this guy.  We've technically never handed anything to him."

    Evabelle narrowed her eyes.  They'd never handed anything over?  And now they were talking about having people.  What did that mean?  Where were these captives?  A flicker of movement caught the girl's attention.  Across the wide cavern, beyond the blazing fire, she saw two shadows slipping behind a boulder.  Catching a glimpse of their heads, she figured out they were Uri and Faux.

    She couldn't tell if they could see her and Opal, but it's not like she could wave to them or anything.  Instead, Evabelle just stared as hard as she could, hoping that somehow, her gaze would somehow be felt and they would know that they were there and look at them.

    Faux's attention seemed to be on something else entirely, though.  His green eyes were wide, staring directly into the flames of the big fire.  The suit's black material covered most of his face, but from what Evabelle could see, he looked sick, pasty white.  Evabelle's heart skipped a beat.  Was he okay?

    From beside her, Evabelle sensed Opal shuffle a bit, but before she could look to see what she was doing, she gasped as an elf on the other side passed close by their hiding spot.  She ducked behind the wall completely, slapping her hand over her mouth.  Shaking and slamming her eyes shut tight she waited for them to be discovered, but no one came. 

    A brisk voice, called to another instead, and Evabelle slowly peaked out again.  "Siika," An elf man with shoulder-length tomato red hair approached a shorter elf with a buzz-cut of orange fuzz for hair.  The short elf stood extremely close to that large, blazing flame, facing it, without any sign of discomfort, his arms tucked behind his back, not giving any physical impression that he had heard the other.  "The others are taking a while.  Do you think they were discovered?"

    The one called Siika shook his head.  "No," A grin curled his lips.  Evabelle could only see this one's profile, but shadows bouncing off his face from the fire, made him appear far more sinister, even for being such a small man.  "In fact, they've just given me the signal that they're here right now with our special delivery."

    A sharp prick in the side of Evabelle's neck made her flinch and jump to the side.  Her hand instantly went up where she felt the glossy material of the shadow suits, but through it a bead of blood formed underneath.  Her head whipped around to see Opal, slipping a dart back into a little pouch.

    It took a moment for Evabelle to understand.  She stared at the woman, affronted.  Why the heck would she... But then horror started to ooze itself around her.  Suddenly, she found it extremely difficult to breathe.  Had she just been infected?  Was it poison?  Was she going to become an Annihilator?  Could she even become one without her wings?

    Evabelle's other hand managed to pulled out the knife that Lucis had given her, but the flickering cavern was starting to stretch and look a little out of focus.  She brought the blade up, but Opal easily caught her hand and pulled it away from her.  The elf woman gave a little shrug and what might have been described as an apologetic smile, as Evabelle's vision tunneled and she fell to her knees.

    A cry from somewhere far away met her ears.  Evabelle turned and squinted hard across the room, but all she could see was red and orange light slowly dimming.  Her head, feeling heavy, fell hard to the rocky ground, where pain was conveniently numbed, but then the rest of her consciousness quickly puttered out.