~Chapter 35~

"There's the gate!" I yelled as me and Rin ran for all we were worth. Amanda flapping helplessly behind us still half paralyzed.

"Whatever Phoebe did it must've been REALLY bad, practically the whole towns after us!" He said, looking behind us at the giant mob.

"Yeah!" I panted. "Looks like we're gonna have to break through the gate to get out though."

"And how are we going to do that?" He said as we approached the heavily guarded gate.

"Take Amanda for me." I said shoving her into his arms. "Agrios Choiros." I felt my body shrink and bulk up as I transformed into a giant boar. I charged at the gates as the guards jumped to get out of my way and I felt the wood shatter under my weight.

"Astria?!" Said the air as I turned right. Phoebe, Dena, Vivian and Nymph all appeared on Pixies back from under an invisible veil.

"Guys?" Rin ran straight out of the dust cloud and tripped over me. Sending him and Amanda flying into the sand.

"Anthropos. Sorry guys." I said as I ran over, now a human again, and picked up Amanda, putting one of her arms over my shoulder so as to carry her.

"Get on Pixie so we can move." Said Dena as she levitated the half limp Amanda up onto Pixies back.

"Gotcha." I jumped up and then helped Rin up.

"So where to now?" Asked Rin as ran across the desert plain.

"Well no thanks to our pickpocket here." Vivian jerked her thumb at the sac slung over Phoebes back. Phoebe smiled guiltily. "We now have to find some where else to stay the night."

"I couldn't help it." Said Phoebe innocently. "If I see something cool then I want it."

"What did you steal exactly?" I asked curiously.

"Well..." Something inside the bag moved.

"You kidnapped someone?!" I said shocked.

"Not exactly." She opened the sac and a chickens head popped out.

"Why the hell did you steal a chicken?!"

"Its actually the Kings prized pet." The chicken belched then ducked back into the bag.

"I can see why." Said Rin, amused.

"Guys next on the map is a large kingdom called Fiore. Sound good to you?" Said Dena from the front, opening up a giant map.

"Finally we can sleep in a decent bed and eat normal food." Said Phoebe leaning back and relaxing. We all glared at her. "What?"

"It's because of you that we couldn't spend the night in an almost normal bed." Said Nymph angrily.

"Unfortunately we won't be able to reach the kingdom tonight, so guess we'll be camping out again, hooray." We all looked down gloomily.

"Hey Astria wake up!" Said Rin as I was shook violently.

"I'm not asleep!" I said snapping up immediately and then sliding off the side of Pixie. "Where are we?" I asked as Rin helped me up.

"We've stopped next to the path that leads up to the kingdom for tonight." Said Dena throwing down a fur sleeping bag. Nymph was curled up next to Pixie with a blanket and Vivian had fallen asleep on a tree branch, her wings balancing her. Phoebe was sat next to Amanda playing with the kidnapped chicken.

"I shall call you Morece." Said Amanda patting the chicken on the head with a limp hand.

"Phoebe you must've stolen more than just a chicken right?" I asked.

"Well now that you mention it..." Phoebe pulled open the sac that Morece had previously been kept in and tipped out a bunch of scrolls.

"You stole...scrolls..." Said Rin disappointed.

"They have a golden trim." She said as she stroked the parchment.

"Let me see those." Said Dena immediately standing up and rushing over to the pile of paper.

"Hey, where did Morece go?" Said Amanda suddenly. We all looked around.

"Astria here. You should find this one interesting." Said Dena chucking me a scroll, completely uninterested in a missing chicken.

"Thanks." I tucked the scroll into my breast plate. Pixie suddenly belched and a bunch of feathers fluttered down.

"Pixie did you eat Morece?" Said Nymph suspiciously. Pixie whimpered. "Spit him out right now!" She demanded. We all watched in awe as Pixie began regurgitating and eventually threw up a steaming pile of flesh mingled with bloodied feathers. I slapped my hand over Nymphs eyes.

"Oh my god!" Said Amanda horrified. Rin turned around retching violently.

"What, what happened?" Said Nymph bewildered as she tried to remove my hand from her eyes. "Is Morece okay?" There was a long pause.

"Yes Morece is perfectly fine, but Amanda's just going to take him into the wild where he'll be safer." I said eventually. I leaned over to Amanda and whispered. "Dispose of the body quickly." She nodded, pale faced, and rapped the bundle in the sac and then tromped off into the forest. Everyone remained silent, just staring at the ground. "Well goodnight then!" I said loudly and curled up on the floor, using my rucksack as a pillow.