The five teens left the two horses where they were. Leaving footprints in their path was bad enough, but a horses print? That was even worse. Leaving Philly behind was hard for Saphira to do. She could only think the worse of something happening to him instead of something positive.

   The three Light Beings could tell that Priella and Snyder were ready to go home. They hadn't known each other for even a whole day, yet Saphira was still sad to see Snyder go. She couldn't explain it, but for some reason, she felt drawn to him. As if something was connecting them, but she couldn't make out what it was.

   The heat was beating down on the teens as they were trudging back toward the coast, back toward the direction of home for the two Dark Beings.

   Snyder was trying to wipe the sweat off his brow, but he only felt the cloth of the bandage around his head. He pushed his thumb under the cloth and ripped it from off his head.

   "Snyder, what are you doing?" Saphira questioned, concerned. "You need to give that wound time to heal."

   Snyder threw the bandage on the ground. "The bleeding has stopped," he argued. "It's not helping me anyway."

   "I told you I would look at it," Briar complained from behind the small crowd. "I am our physicians apprentice after all."

   Briar pushed through Saphira and Mike to walk beside Snyder. "No, that's okay," he said pushing her helping hand away. "Nothing's going to help me here anyway."

   Briar frowned slightly and let herself fall back behind her two friends. If he didn't want her help then she couldn't make him.

   "How much longer is it to this coast of yours anyway?" Snyder asked. "I feel exhausted!"

   Mike glimpsed over Snyder. He did seem pretty tired. Priella and him both did, actually. He could understand Priella and the long journey she probably had, but Snyder? Maybe his head was more messed up then he realized.

   "Are you doing okay, Snyder?" Saphira asked the Prince, reading Mike's thoughts. "You and Priella seem like you're about to collapse."

   Snyder stopped in his track for a moment. "What is it to you, Princess?" he asked angrily. "Why do you care?" He rubbed his head. "I feel like I haven't slept in days, which probably isn't true. I had a little shut eye this afternoon."

   Priella stopped and rested her hands on her knees. "Lucky for you."

   Saphira and Mike exchanged glances. "What's going on with you two?" Mike asked puzzled.

   Priella sucked in a deep breath before standing straight once more. "It's Arie," she began. "We sleep while Arie is awake and come out once Nara has taken her place." She gestured toward the sky as Aria began to set. "Nara is just now coming out. We should have been asleep this whole time."

   "Maybe we could take a short break," Snyder suggested as he began to lean against a tree.

   "Wait!" Priella shouted thrusting a hand his way, but she was too late. As soon as Snyder's skin came into contact with the bark on the tree, a jolt sent through his body. Mainly staying in his head.

   Snyder grunted in pain as he fell to the ground clenching his aching head. "What was that?!" he asked with gritted teeth.

   Saphira gasped. "Snyder, are you alright?" She knelt down beside him along with Priella and Mike.

   "I'm... fine," the Prince replied, a little disoriented. "Head just hurts a whole lot more now."

   "Sorry, Mate," Priella apologized. "I tried warning you."

   Snyder narrowed his eyes and huffed. He ripped his hands away from the Princess as she tried helping him to his feet. "I said I'm fine!" he yelled. "Leave me alone!" As he stormed past Saphira, he pushed her shoulder causing her to stumble to the ground with a pained expression.

   "Hey!" Mike shouted as he withdrew his sword. Snyder flung himself around with a dagger raised. "You dare touch my Princess again and I will cut off your hand!"

   Snyder snorted with a smirk. "I'd like to see you try, Micah," he teased.

   Mike raised his sword and anger and advanced toward the Prince. Saphira, thankfully, was able to jump to her feet swiftly and step in between the two.

   "Enough!" Saphira screamed. "Now both of you, drop your weapons." She turned to her left to look Mike in the eyes. "I'm talking mainly to you. We're not here to hurt them."

   Mike clenched the hilt of his sword before he shouted and threw it to the ground. "Why are we even helping them?" he asked with rage. He bent down and picked up his sword before pointing it toward Snyder. "I should've killed you when I found you. A Knight wouldn't have had a second thought the moment they saw a Dark Being."

   Once again, Snyder snorted at Mike's ignorance. "Well then," he began placing his dagger back behind his back. "I guess you'll never be a Knight then."

   Mike sheathed his sword angrily and stormed off in the opposite direction of the Dark Beings.

   "I'll go after him," Saphira said softly before taking off after her friend.

   "Be nice, Mate," Priella told her Prince sternly. "These people are trying to help you."

   Snyder pushed her hand away roughly. "I'm still the Dark Prince and I will act like him. Last time I checked, you were the one who didn't trust them." He stormed off in the path they were continuing on.

   "Snyder, wait!" Priella shouted out chasing after him.

   Saphira pulled against Mike's shoulder trying to get him to stop walking. "Micah, will you please wait."

   Mike flung his body around to face her. "What is it, Princess?" he asked angrily.

   Saphira was take back by his outburst. "Look, I understand why you're angry. You don't want anything to do with these Dark Beings, I get that... but would you please calm down? Stop trying to hurt Snyder. I didn't drag him across the sand and dirt just for you to kill him." She placed a tender hand on his arm. "I understand if you want to turn around and go home, I'll be right behind you shortly, but please let me do this."

   Mike lowered his head down to look at her hand before gently covering hers with his own. "You are my Princess, Saphira. Wherever you go, I follow."

   Saphira didn't respond. She simply smiled and nodded her head before turned around to limp after the two Dark Beings who had no clue where they were going.

   When the two finally reached the Dark Beings, Saphira stopped and glanced around worried.

   Mike reached for her shoulder and turned her around. "What's wrong, Saphira?"

   The two Dark Beings turned around at Mike's voice.

   "Where's Briar?" Saphira asked still frantically searching with her eyes. Everyone else did the same at her words.

   "I thought she was with you two," Priella answered as she stepped up toward the Light beings.

   "And we thought she stayed behind with you," Mike argued.

   "She's going to turn us in," Snyder spoke up from behind Priella. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted her! Act as if she knows what I'm going through." He pointed toward his head. "She probably was trying to make sure I didn't heal from this wound more then bandage it." He withdrew the dagger from behind his back once more. "I will find her. I won't allow her to tell anyone else we're here." He began marching back toward the hut hoping to find tracks.

   "What? No!" Saphira stepped in front of him and pushed her hands on both his shoulders trying to hold him back. "She's my friend. You can't do this!"

   "I should've never trusted you either," Snyder shouted as he forcefully threw the Princesses hands off his shoulders. "I should never have let you leave. You brought with you a traitor! You may have thought you could trust her, but she turned on you!"

   Saphira shook her head slowly. "No," she could barely whisper.

   "I refuse to believe it," Mike stepped in. "Briar wouldn't do that. She's not that kind of person. You don't know her like we do."

   "And you apparently don't know her like you think you do either," Snyder replied softly yet sternly.

   "Let's just move on," Priella interrupted. "They can't get to us if we're not here."

   Snyder glanced from Priella, to Saphira, to the forest in which they came. "Fine," he said through gritted teeth. He turned back toward Priella and began their walk once again.

   Saphira limped beside Priella as Mike led the way. She tried to think of some conversation to start with the Dark Being. Hopefully, Priella wouldn't slit her throat for trying, yet somehow, Saphira knew she wouldn't. There was something different about this girl. Priella could have easily killed Mike back at the hovel, but she didn't. Why not? What was so special about this girl that Saphira couldn't put her finger on?

   Saphira took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Why didn't you kill us back at the house?" she asked the girl trudging next to her. Priella turned her gaze toward the Light Princess with a questioned brow. Saphira didn't know if she was going to get an answer or not. "You had us three at the mercy of your sword. You could have easily taken care of us and made Snyder come home with you."

   Priella returned her gaze forward. "I wouldn't have been able to get him to do anything by force," she said with a straight face. "It was Briar who persuaded him to return home." She looked back at Saphira. "It was never my intention to kill you three, my lady. That is not who I am. Not all Dark Beings are as evil as you think."

   Saphira rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Call me Saphira. I hate being called my lady."

   Priella couldn't keep a small grin from escaping her lips. "If that is what you wish."

   Saphira, herself, grinned. "You're not like any other Dark Being I've ever met," she said skeptically, trying to figure Priella out. "You act way to— I don't know— nice? Even Snyder isn't acting like the Dark Prince." She turned to look at the young man ahead. "If so, Mike and I would've been dead the moment he laid eyes on us."

   Priella sighed. "Snyder's been going through so many things at home with his family and himself. He's too heart broken at the moment to even think about being the Dark Prince." Saphira lowered her head and frowned. "But my explanation is easy," the dark girl continued.

   Priella reached into her right pocket and pulled out a small, black book. Its binding was worn showing that it had been read numerous times. She moved her hand away to uncover the wording. On the front of the book in a gold font was the words, "VULGATE".

   Saphira looked at her astonished. "The Latin Bible?"

   "Someone gave me this book," Priella told the Princess. "Someone in my village was teaching about this Creator that would save people, my people, from our evil ways and by repenting and believing in the Creator, we could have an eternal life with Him forever. It was a life that would never end, and he told us we had the choices of going to Heaven with the Creator or burning for all eternity. Of course, I wanted the better of the two choices and so I asked him how I could obtain such life.

   "The man decided to dig into this this Bible and he began telling me that I was a wicked sinner who had violated a holy Creator and he taught me about a Creator that would save me from my sins to live forever with Him." Priella's voice rose with excitement. "I started going to his house every night with a few other people, and each night, he would teach us something new about the Creator." She paused and a tear escaped from her eye. "When he came to the part about our Creator dying on a cross for us, and all the terrible torment He went through, I finally realized that I was unworthy of His Salvation but I so terribly wanted it. I accepted Him as my Savior that night.

   "I don't want to live in the ways of a Dark Being anymore," she told Saphira. "I don't want to be a murderer or someone who deserts their friends. I wanted a change to happen in my life. I wanted to put away who I was and the life I was living... and I'm going to keep it that way. It's just hard to move on completely when that's been your life for sixteen years." She glanced back down at the little book in her hands. "That man showed me how to study for myself so I could one day take this message to the rest of our people."

   "How did that man find one of those?" Saphira interrupted with a shock expression on her face. "I thought no Dark Being had ever be taught about our Creator or anything about Him. So how did that man get this?"

   Priella sighed and lowered her Vulgate. "I don't know, nor will I ever know. King Neptune had the man put to death for teaching 'blasphemy' against him. Telling others that there was a King greater then he. That man gave me this book right before his death." She studied the black cover. "I wish I could learn more about Him," she admitted. "I don't have a full Vulgate. I only have half and anyone caught with one will be put to death." She sighed. "That is why I haven't had the courage to tell others in my Kingdom."

   Saphira smiled and placed a gentle hand on her back. "Don't worry. I'm pretty sure I have one I can give you."

   Priella looked up into her eyes and smiled. "Thank you," she said, softly. She lowered her head back down to her Vulgate. "I would love to get the chance to be a witness to my little sister and my parents. To bring the Gospel to my Kingdom." She placed the book back in her pocket. "The only thing I could think of was what if I were to die here? All my friends and my family would die never knowing about Him and His power to save us. As far as I know, I'm the only who still believes in our Creator."

   Saphira wrapped an arm around the Dark Beings shoulders. "I understand that. Honestly, I do." She lowered her head to the ground as she thought of her maid. "Even I have friends who refuse to believe." She dropped her hands down to her side. "It is our job to tell them and believe when I say I'm just as scared as you are. I've never been good at it. We can't make them believe in our Creator, but at least they have been told. They choose to believe or not to believe."

   Priella sighed heavily. "I know," she said with sorrow. "I just wish Snyder would come to understand and believe." She raised her head up to look straight. "He was trying to take his own life back home." She could barely get the words to leave her mouth. "That is when he jumped into the sea hoping it would kill him."

   Saphira gasped at her sentence. "What?" she shouted in a whisper. "Why would he do such a thing? Are things back home really that bad?"

   Priella shrugged. "It's too complicated with him. He fears that he is changing. That is why he doesn't act as a Dark Prince should. He is obtaining feelings he's never felt before and it's scaring him. If he only believed in the Creator his world would be so much better. I mean sure, believing in the Creator doesn't mean you're never going to have bad days ever again, but it gives you stronger faith to make it through."

   Saphira nodded her head in agreement. "Sometimes, the Creator is going to put us through trials. Many times, it's to draw us back closer to Him. When we've wondered astray from His side, He chastens us and puts us back in our places."

   Priella stopped for a short second before starting to walk again. "What must I do to be a witness to my family? How can they, too, come to believe in our Creator?"

   Saphira pointed to Priella's pocket that held the Vulgate. "You keep witnessing," she encouraged. "You keep praying about their spiritual need. Prayer does a bigger difference than anything else in this entire realm. You just have to continue on trusting in the Creator. He will make a change. If not in their lives, then He will in someones." She looked forward toward the Dark Prince that acted like he knew where he was going. "Maybe in Snyder's life," Saphira finished softly.

   Priella nodded her head in gratitude. "Thank you, Saphira." She grinned. "I believe the Creator put you in my path to keep me going. To encourage me to never give up."

   Saphira once again thought back to her maid who had turned away and ran from them. "Likewise," she said turning her head back toward the girl beside her. Saphira sucked in a deep breath of relief. "The coast isn't too much farther now."

   Priella nodded and strode up beside Snyder.

   Saphira didn't want to admit it, but she was going to miss the two Dark Beings for some reason. Both of them had tried to kill her, but she still felt some deeper connection with the Prince. She, again, just couldn't place her finger on it, and Priella... Saphira knew that the Creator was going to use her in a special way back home. She was thankful for the few shorts moment she got to spend with Priella just to be able to talk with her about the Creator. Saphira needed that refreshment, and perhaps, so did Priella. Now, Saphira was finally ready to try to witness to Briar once more without being frightened.