Neville walked with a spring in his step as he made his way towards the Room of Requirement. He knew Romilda would have the room ready, and waiting patiently for his arrival. She was proving to be a most agreeable girlfriend. Far less troublesome that Weasley proved to be. Romilda was always interested to what he said, what was important to him. Never once did he catch her rolling her eyes at what, unlike some redhead, which was rather fond of doing so on a regular basis. When he touched Romilda , her reaction was always gratifying: as well as very satisfying. When Ginny repeatedly denied him his rights as her boyfriend, he often sought out copulation from other girls. He was a Noble Lord with needs after all. Honestly, who wouldn't want a night with the Chosen One? Some girls were willing, while others need to be convinced. But as Dumbledore always said, it was for the greater good…more to the point, his personal good. Oh some claimed they weren't ready, but they got what they wanted just like he did. If they planned to stay pure for their future husband, then they should have protected their virtue better. It wasn't like he physically forced them. Years of watching Albus manipulate people served him well, plus Dumbledore always was able to set them right one way or the other.

Was it his fault Weasley was a frigid bitch? No, she only pretended to be one. Potter certainly thawed her knickers in that respect. They were all over each other and in public no less. He couldn't walk to class it seemed without bloody seeing or hearing gossip about their latest exhibition. She was like a bitch in heat, the way they carried on. Flaunting their relationship in front of him, and after everything he had done for her dirt poor family. One would think the slut would be more grateful.

Neville thought that he had at least had Molly on his side. He had sent her several letters telling Molly of her daughters questionable exploits. The one howler was all she ever sent. The greedy woman must have decided to whore off her daughter to the Potter family so she could have a shot at their gold. Gran did say Molly was willing to go the extra mile when she was younger. It was one of the reasons he got with Ginny in the first place. Prewett women were known for large breasts, which only added to their licentious ways. It was just his luck that Potter was now reaping the benefits of her linage. He would have at least liked to have played with them once before she ditched him.

He shook the unpleasant thoughts from his mind. Potter can have her. Romilda was better in his opinion. She knew her place and never refused him. She was game for anything and quite easy on the eyes. If she played her cards right, he might even make her Lady Longbottom. That is if she passed Grans approval. He would have to deal with that later; right now they had all day to make each other bodies feel good.

Neville opened the door to the room of Requirement to see Romilda standing next to a plush, comfortable looking, king-size bed. On a bedside table were bottles of oils and other goodies to ensure that they had a very memorable day. The door behind him disappeared, but he paid it no notice. He missed how he was now in a sealed room with no visible exit. His attention was on his girlfriend, who stood with her back to him.

There was something different about her. He eyed her up and down more keenly. Her hair was straight instead of her usual wavy curls. She also looked to be about 6 inches taller. Then he caught the unique aroma of Polyjuice Potion in the room. He let out a small chuckle. So it was going to be one of those days?

It wasn't the first time they roll played. She was after all a very imaginative girlfriend. Romilda had nicked quite a few witches hairs since they had gotten together. Because of that, he had gotten to shag the forms of Hermione Granger, Susan Bones, and Luna Lovegood. He would have preferred Weasley's just so he could get her out of his system, but he knew better than ask that of Romilda. He knew how touchy witches could be and didn't want to mess up a good thing. Oh well, he's had girls from three of the houses at Hogwarts. It looked like today's flavor would be from the house of the snake. He was proven right when the face of Pansy Parkinson looked over her shoulder smiled at him. Romilda even had her evil grin down to a tee.

"You just couldn't let it go!" Harry snapped at Remus with such intensity that everyone in the room winced. The harshness of his tone cut Lupin more deeply that Harry's words.

"Cub-" Remus started but he was quickly cut off by Harry.

"Don't call me that!" Harry snapped at the old wolf before he looked in the eyes of the closest thing to a father he had. "You told me I would have to make hard choices if we came back."

"I didn't think killing your own father would be one of them. How could you even consider it an option to begin with?" Sirius asked and couldn't hide the anger in his voice. Ginny and Daphne looked at each other in disbelief. That was why Harry was tiptoeing around the identity if the man that was being programmed. Both of their hearts broke for the position Harry was now put in.

"YOU THINK I FREAKIN' WANT THAT! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I WANT TO GO AND BRING HIM BACK! GIVE MUM THAT HAPPILY EVER AFTER SHE DESERVES! I WOULD KILL TO HAVE JUST ONE FREAKIN CONVERSATION WITH HIM THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE LOOKING AT AN OLD PICTURE! I WANT HIM BACK SO MUCH IT HURTS, BUT THAT…ISN'T…MY…DAD! IT'S A PROGRAMED ASSASSIN IN MY DADS BODY!" Harry slammed his fists on the table to drive his point home. He hoped the act would alleviate the need to rip something apart. His inner beast was raging to get out, and Harry shared a like mind at that moment. He didn't know how much longer he could or wanted to keep Shadow at bay.

"You're right Padfoot about having to make a decision." Harry continued before he could be interrupted. "So here's my choice. From this point on I give no quarter. I take no prisoners, I only leave corpses." Harry growled out so viciously that the rooms temperature dropped more than a few degrees. Before any of them could say another word he stormed out the room. Ginny went to follow him, but Sirius blocked her way. The man himself had a rage building in him for what those bastards had done to his best mate. Deeper anger filled him at what the situation was doing to his son in everything but blood. Sirius was pretty sure what is godson needed right now. Hell he needed it just as much as the pup, but Harry needed to be alone right now. No one was safe near him. The last thing he wanted was for Ginny to see him this way.

To gain the power he did from Shadow came at a price. The balance of power between man and beast was a delicate thing and one not to be taken lightly. When the panther needed to hunt he could not deny it, and often there was wisdom and always a purpose behind it.

"Give him time; when he's ready Harry will seek you out," Sirius told Ginny before looking at his other best mate. "That goes for you to mate. You did the right thing. This burden was too heavy for him to bear alone. It was just a bitter potion to take. Just give him time to see that for himself," Sirius reassured his old friend.

"Do we have positive conformation on any of this, or just strong suspicion?" Tonks asked as she tried to comfort her husband. She knew what Harry said had ripped into him deeply. She was hoping against hope that this was all just a horrible misunderstanding. Knowing her psycho aunt was involved gave her little hope it was.

On the outside Remus looked like he was taking it well, but internally was a different story. Harry was like a son to him and he loved Lily like a sister. They were both hurting and he was the one who brought it down upon them. He would gladly suffer the brunt of their rage if it eased them in the slightest.

"I heard Harry asking Sasha to go check on something for him. Perhaps she's looking into it?" Daphne said to the group. She was having a hard time wrapping her mind around what just happened.

"If what we suspect is true, she would be the best suited to uncover the truth," Sirius confirmed. When he got confused looks from most of the people in the room he elaborated. "If they did take James's body, an open grave would draw attention. They would need to hide their crime, and possibly set up a warning system to alert them if it was discovered. Sasha is gifted in this field. Plus, she's not emotionally tied to the mission, therefore, indifferent to the outcome."

"Perhaps we should assign Harry's task to another. As you said, Lord Black, it's too personal for him to be objective," Amelia advised in a kind voice, but Sirius shook his head at that idea.

"This whole bloody war is personal! Everyone in this room knows that Shadow has the best chance of success. I know my godson, Madame Bones. If anyone tries to get between him and what he sees as his duty, they will be met as an enemy."

"You can't take that from him," Ginny implored. "Make no mistake; I don't want him to go. This isn't about me, it's about him. He would never forgive himself if he didn't go."

"If what we fear is true and he has to do the worst; he's not going to came back to you the same way as he left, my dear," Amelia advised in a compassionate and sympathetic voice. She had seen far too many good men and women and Aurors walk this path. It was never pretty and almost always ended badly. She did want that fate for the young couple.

"You think I don't know that? I don't care. I'll still love him and i will help him learn to live with it. During the worst time of my life, he was my rock. When I thought I was going to be a scarred freak and wanted nothing more than to curl up and die, he wouldn't let me. He refused to let me despair. H-h…" Ginny had to stop when her voice faltered. Once she found her center Ginny finished. "He healed my soul. I won't abandon him." Ginny argued on in a firm unwavering decree, even though every fiber of her being was against him going. She ignored the looks her brothers were giving her. For now they were remaining silent, but she knew that she would have to answer their questions before the day was through. So this was what it was like to be an adult, she would have to say it sounded a lot better in the brochure.

"Don't worry, Ginny, he's not going without Remus and I. He just won't know we're there," Sirius proclaimed with upmost certainty. She looked at him with a mixture of hope and confusion. He gave Ginny a wink and told her one work that said it all. "Marauder."

Harry was on the edge and he knew that he needed to get some air. He had been keeping everything in and was in desperate need of release. Shadow needed to run, to hunt, and to kill. Down to his core Harry felt like he needed that, too. They took his father from the ground, experimented on him, corrupted him, and planned to use him to hurt his mum. Nobody fucks with his family! He wanted blood…blood like a river, and by Merlin's left nut he would claim it.

Once he made his way out of the house and into the back yard, Harry roared out all his fury. The widows of the house shook from the intensity of it. He took two steps then Apparated away.

Looking out a window in the house stood silently a sobbing Lily Potter. Her cheeks wet and her eyes red from crying. She watched her son go, knowing that he was hurting just as much as she was. How did everything get so bad so quickly? She wished for the days when she would rock her sweet innocent baby boy to sleep in his nursery while her James read him a bedtime story. Back before everything went tits up.

The door opened and two women walked in. She had hardly registered in her mind that she wasn't alone until Cissy gently took one of her arms as Gabriella took the other. She afforded no resistance as she was guided to a nearby sofa and gingerly seated in it. Lily looked utterly trounced. Cissy went to work silently wiping the tears from her cheeks as Gabriella rubbed small circles on her back in an attempt to comfort her. The three sat in silence until Lily was ready to return from where ever her mind had gone. They were kind and patient with her, and slowly the redhead became aware of the world around her. After blinking away what remained of her tears, she looked at the two that were by her side.

"They had no right." The words slipped out of Lily's mouth in a scarcely audible whisper. Her fingers in interlocked with those of the two women that sat next to her. She started to tremble and was quickly engulfed in a comforting hug. The three of them huddled together for the support of one. It would be years before she could put in words what their support meant to her at this moment.

"They had no right," Lily declared more firmly this time. Her tone was not one of despair but anger. Then she was on her feet and seething. "THEY HAD NO BLOODY RIGHT!" She shouted out as she spun to face her best friend, and a woman that understood her pain better than most. Both women sat there silently and let Lily rant for what seemed like hours, but only lasted about twenty minutes. Somewhere in that time a silencing charm was put up to protect the ears of the children. Cissy didn't realize Lily knew half the swear words that she was throwing around the room. Finally having gotten everything out of her, Lily plopped down on the sofa between the two of them exhausted, both physically and mentally.

"We should have never come back." Lily confessed with a sob full of self-pity. She buried her face in her hands wishing for nothing more that today never happened.

"How can you say that? Look at all the lives that have been changed since you lot have returned. I have my best friend back, and possibly my son as well. That in itself is my own personal miracle. I know I'm sounding like a selfish bitch. You know I don't care! I deserve to be a little selfish sometimes, and so do you!" Cissy snapped at Lily, and before she could stop herself. Cissy's grabbed Lily by her shoulders and shook her hard. She wasn't going to let Lily do this to herself. It was like she was giving up, and would be damned if she was going to let her best friend do that to herself let alone Harry, Emma, and most of all Jimmy. Lily needed to snap out of this melancholy, or she never would. She had to battle back from this. Lily needed to fight for what was hers by right before it was too late.

"What the hell was that for?" Lily asked breaking herself from her friends firm grasp. She was shocked and a little hurt by her friend's sudden outburst and shaking her the way she did. Gabriella decided to step back and let Cissy try some tough love. It was like Lily was traumatized by everything that had just happened. She knew that Lily must feel that her life is falling apart. After all the two people she has loved the most in her life are destined to fight to the death. That would send anyone off the trolley. To anyone with eyes it was obvious that she was the glue that held her family together.

"I'm trying to shake some sense into that thick Gryffindor head of yours, that what!" Narcissa scorned her before her tone took a more gentle, understanding tenor. "I know what you and Jimmy had together. You had a man that would move heaven and earth for you. I used to be so jealous of you, because I wanted that for myself. I don't really know what Charlie and I have yet. Its different from what you had with Jimmy, but its excitingly brilliant, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I think I'm falling in love with him a little more each day. Merlin that sounds so sappy." Cissy finished with a glowing blush radiating off her beautiful face.

"I'm happy for you Cissy. You deserve to be happy, but that doesn't explain why you almost shook the pee right out of me." Lily inquired rubbing her temples to ward off a headache that was building.

"Harry is the most protective son a mother could ask for. I truly believe that he wants to bring James back to you. I saw it in his eyes. He loves you so much, however, if for the briefest of seconds, he thinks that James is a danger to you…he won't hesitate to kill him to save you." Gabriella added her own outside observation to the mix. Lily looked over at her and it seemed like she was about to start crying again.

"Then I lose them both! As strong as Harry thinks he is. This will destroy him. He will never believe that I could ever forgive him, and more importantly, he will never forgive himself." Lily sobbed out and buried her face in her hands again. What she didn't tell them was when that happened Harry will surrender his free will to Shadow. It would be the second time they took his father from him. She knew her son better than anyone. He wouldn't stop until they were all dead or (and to even think about it was like a hot dagger in her heart) he was.

"Precisely, plus he doesn't know Jimmy like we do," the Lady of the house pressed on, desperately trying to pull her friend from her self-imposed devastation.

"Cissy?"

"No listen! From what Harry said, Jimmy is resisting what they are doing to him, right? If he's fighting back, then perhaps your James is back? He's battling for you! Dammit Lily! Fight for him too!" Cissy seethed at her friend. Wasn't the solution obvious?

"It's not just about me anymore! If I go and die Emma loses another mum! I can't do that to her," Lily's last statement came out in a whimper. She promised Petunia.

"Then I'll be her mum! I know I won't be as good as you, but she will know she is loved. I will never falter in that task, I swear to you. Harry, Ginny, Daphne, Sirius, Tonks, Remus, Sasha, and the list goes on. There are so many people who will love and care for her. She's not alone in the world anymore. Besides doesn't she deserve a father as well? Doesn't Jimmy deserve to experience the joys of raising a child? He was robbed of that with Harry," Cissy pleaded with her and she saw her friends eyes widen with realization and a what looked like a sliver of hope.

"What kind of example are you setting for your daughter if you do nothing? I say you take back what they stole from you. You never struck me as a damsel in distress type, Lily," Gabriella added to drive Narcissa's point further home. Lily for her part looked from one woman to the other in astonishment and disbelief. Then as if a light had been turned on, her expression turned to one of anger and unwavering determination. She rose to her feet and marched towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Cissy asked although she was pretty sure she and Gabriella already knew her destination.

"To get my man back." She shot over her shoulder with a look in her eyes that was pure determination. Gabriella let out a sign of relief that they had gotten threw to her, while Cissy smiled boldly with the knowledge that her friend was truly back.

"Good, I think I have a plan that just might work," Gabriella told Lily as her hand grabbed the doorknob.

"What do we have here Gor?" Asked a six foot six ork, while he circled a female centaur. She couldn't have been more than a few seasons old. Not quite an adult of her race, but definitely of fighting age. They had relieved her of the burden of carrying her bow and quill of arrows, as they had caught her hunting alone. Since their kind usually hunts in packs, she was most likely performing some rite of passage. How quickly she was turned from hunter to hunted.

"Looks like dinner to me, Hondo." The larger of the two orks laughed out as he advanced on her. The young dark haired centaur, to her credit showed no fear, although internally she was very frightened. Her father had told her to stay within their territory, but she had a curious nature;given who she was, she had something to prove. Her grievous mistake could soon very well have her on a serving plate for these vile creatures. Ever since they and the other dark herds have arrived in the forest , they corrupted it with their unwanted presence and murderous ways.

"My father is the chief of my herd! Touch me and you will bring war!" She warned hoping she expressed the authority of her status in her herd. They, however, took it as an insult; as if she thought she was better than them. A few more orks appeared from behind trees and she was soon surrounded, nine in all.

"You are in no position to make threats youngling! You are not in your territory anymore. This is our land and we are within our rights!"A rope was thrown around her neck and pulled tight. She tried to remove it. A whip to her back conveyed that she would not be permitted to do so. Her only hope now was to try to talk her way out of becoming their dinner.

"This land belongs to the spiders. You have no claim to it," she tried to sound respectful as her father had taught to be when dealing with another herd, especially if you were outnumbered. For the life you save may very well be your own, she heard her father's words echo in her head.

"They have fled their lands for fear of the witch with fire hair and her pet snake. We fear no snake and have claimed this land as our own!" Gor declared with a puffed out chest. He yanked on the rope around the youngling's neck. Her body was jerked forward and she almost lost her balance but caught herself in time.

"Squatters! You won't last a season. Mark my words!" She spat at them as she was lead deeper and deeper into their territory and her ultimate doom. She tried to drag it out in hopes that her absence would draw the attention of her father. It would be a great dishonor to have to be saved on her first solo hunt, but she preferred it to death. Unfortunately, her actions were for naught, the almost constant lashes of a whip kept her moving forward.

"It is your herd that will not last another season! The Dark Lord will reward those that fight for his cause. We will use this land for now, but we have our eyes set on land closer to the watering hole. The north side will serve us nicely," he taunted and the others started to laugh robustly at her indignant gasp.

"That is our land! We have not taken a side in the wizards war, we only wish to be left alone. They have no right to take what was never theirs to begin with," she snapped at the lot of them. She was rewarded with another snap of the whip, this time it was across her face. She cried out in pain as she cupped her wounded cheek. She prayed that her scream would travel through the forest and find receptive ears.

"Picking no side is picking the wrong side. The snake-faced wizard rewards the brave, while the weak and timid lose what they could not keep in the first place. That is the fate of all cowards," the one called Gor sneered at their future dinner. He laughed when she didn't respond and saw that blood was seeping through her fingers. Which only made them laugh that much louder, but it was short lived when a roar suddenly filled the forest and effectively shut them all up. Weapons were drawn and they instinctively formed a defensive battle circle to keep their prey secure and keep their backs protected. She wasn't expecting an answer to her silent prayer quite so soon.

"That came from the direction of camp," Hondo told them as his eyes scanned the area around the small band of orks. He sniffed the air and detected the distinct aroma of blood…ork blood to be more correct.

"OVER THERE! I saw movement over there!" one in the back yelled out and pointed between two shadowy trees.

"No! It's over there! Something black and red!" another from their rank yelled while pointing in the opposite direction. Nothing could move that fast without making a single noise.

"Show yourself coward! Face us like a warrior or die like a worm!" Hondo bellowed out loud enough to be heard all the way back at Hogwarts. It was met with silence which sent an icy chill down his spine. By the look of his men, it wasn't an isolated incident. A twig snapped to the left, and then a second later the right, another one behind them, only to be followed by something flying through the air directly in front of them.

It handed only a few feet away and rolled to the feet of Hondo. The leader of the troop of orks looked down and saw a blood covered battle helmet. Four claw marks were gouged into the side of it. He recognized the helmet immediately. It belonged to their leader, Jaxmu, the strongest of them all. Upon picking the helmet up it was discovered that poor Jaxmu head was still inside of it.

"You talk a lot of smack for someone that needs eight other butt ugly orks to keep control of one feisty centaur," a voice came out of the blackness from where the helmet came. Then a pair of green eyes could be seen out of the thick darkness of the forest. They were cold, deadly and predatory. Slowly more could be seem of what the deadly eyes belonged to. A creature none of them had ever seen before emerged from the shadows of the forest. Its fur was as black as midnight with a head of a panther and a body similar to that of a werewolf. It was understandable why one of his numbers mistook it for red. Two-thirds of its body was covered with the blood of his kind. In its clawed hands were twin blood stained curved blades that glowed with power and made him think of a crescent moon. Even they had heard stories of this one.

"I smell the blood of my kind on you. The masked ones may fear you, but I do not," Hondo announced boldly. He removed Jaxmu's head from the helmet that symbolized leadership and put it on his own head. "I now lead my Clan."

"And you picked the wrong side," Shadow growled out with merciless eyes. The young centaur knew if there was a time to run it was now, but her legs stayed where they were. The movement around her was happening so fast, yet it seemed to also move unnaturally slow as the same time. Her every heartbeat could be felt pounding in her chest, the booming sound of it thundered in her ears. She wondered if this was going to be the last precious moments of her life.

The rope around her neck suddenly went limp and fell, just like the one holding it did. This slayer of orks descended on him first. One second, he was in front of the group and then the next came out of the shadows. He decapitated her captor with a single strike. The beasts movements flowed as water in a stream, around all obstructions. Its will and path refusing to be denied. He twisted out of a strike that would have hit him in the back, and removed his attackers arm for the insult. A thundering kick sent the screaming ork into another one of his comrades in mid-charge. The charging ork's blade was the one that silenced the armless one as the two fell to the ground behind her. The last thing the fallen ork saw was a pair of centaurs hoofs bucking him in the face only to be followed by the cracking sound of a snapping neck.

The dark furred one crossed swords with another ork, while the others closed in on them. They soon had him surrounded, but he showed no alarm. Before any of their diminishing numbers could deliver a killing blow, he leapt out of the circle of death. His body flipped through the air with grace and agility that all predator cats seemed to have. He landed behind one of those vile creatures and took both of his arms with dual downward strikes from his twin blades. He kicked the now armless one in the back and into the blade of another. While the ork tried to remove his sword from his slain comrade, the dark cat advanced in a twisting move which built up his momentum. His sword cut through the night air and took two heads, with one devastating blow.

The one that had whipped her struck next. The target was not the slayer, but one of the dark warriors own swords, which was cutting threw them like her hoof would stomp through mud. The curved sword went soaring across the forest and landed somewhere in the unknown darkness. The one they called Gor took advantage of his sudden loss of a weapon and slashed his own sword across the dark one's empty arm. A long gash opened where he was struck and blood flowed freely from the wound. The panther-man roared out in pain, but it didn't slow him down in the slightest. If anything it only made him wilder. He ripped Gor's face off with the claws of his still very functional arm.

Swords clashed as their owners danced around the other looking for the opening which would end the other. The sound of metal clashing echoed through the forest as they fought with tenacity. On opening was revealed and the green eyed one buried his sword into the chest of his enemy.

A whip whistled then snapped as it wrapped around the dark one's free, but wounded arm. His body was pulled back and his remaining sword slipped from his grasp. Grabbing the whip attached to his arm, the dark-furred one released a crackling coil of light. It traveled down the whip and to its wielder. The owner of the whip screamed out as his body was engulfed by the avenging light. His armor started to glow red and smoke seeped from what it was meant to protect. The horrendous stench of burning flesh soon filled the forest and the young centaur's nostrils. The slayer pulled on the whip and sent its master airborne until he collided with a tree thus giving him a quicker death then he deserved.

When a remaining ork tried to pull the slayers sword from his fallen comrade, he was immediately repelled, His hand rotting before his eyes. His flesh darkened, slowly working its way up his arm to the shoulder, neck, chest, and finally his head. His cries for the help were answered by Hondo. The last ork standing, the one who had lead them to this fate, drove his dagger between his friend's eyes. He fell to the ground at last free of his agony.

The remaining two started to circle each other in a final clash that would end only in one of their deaths. Hondo was beat, he knew it, the beast knew it, even the inexperienced centaur knew it. His clan lay dead around him and back at his camp, of that he no longer had any doubt.

"You are the bringer of death, the devourer of souls, the killer of killers…you are the Shadow Fiend," Hondo finally said to his enemy desiring some form of conformation from the beast. A slow drawn out growl was the only response he got. Hondo turned his head, looking directly at the young female centaur. "You girl! Let it be known that we fought to the very end! That we died in glorious battle! That we kept our honor!" With those final words he charged the slayer of his clan with his last battle cry. The two collided somewhere in the middle.

Even among the centaur's the name Shadow Fiend was known. Her father said that if it ever appeared, she was to run and never look back. She was disobeying her father now, because she couldn't look away. With every strike of the Shadow Fiend, ork blood flew. Even to fifteen feet in the air, landing on the branches high above them. Long after Hondo's life left him, the beast continued his onslaught. Ripping away at him until he reached the blood soaked earth beneath. Only then did he throw his arms back and howl out its rage. What struck her odd was that it wasn't a howl of victory, but anguish that she felt down to her very being.

He kneeled on the soft ground of the forest, His arms dropped as if they were made of stone. He was staring down at his bloody claws as they lay on his lap. The youngling knew she should leave while he was distracted, but something inside said to stay. He was hurting just as surely as the wounds that the whip had done to her back.

"Are you alright?" She was startled by the question, even more that it came from her own mouth. She silently scolded herself for drawing attention to herself. She should have gone while she had the chance. It seemed she was destined to be someones dinner. To her relief he didn't attack her. Instead he chuckled. It then dawned on her that if he wanted to kill her she would have already been dead by now.

"Darlin', I'm hell and gone from alright," he snorted out and turned his head to look at her. A feeling of ease made her tense muscles relax at his levity. She felt a giggle escape her lips as well. It was an odd and welcome sensation, considering all the death that surrounded them. She was alive and the air in the forest never tasted quite as sweet as it did right now.

"Your arm is injured. I know where there are some herbs growing close by. They could ease your pain and help you heal that injury," she advised, while slowly moving to him. She was still a little cautious. The hand of his good arm covered the wound and a soft light glowed between his claws. She gasped when the bleeding stopped immediately.

"Thank you for your concern, but I've had worse. You are very kind, and brave. A lesser centauride would have run when I first gave her the chance," Shadow informed her as he slowly got to his feet. An impish grin graced her young face. The murderous aura which had surrounded him was replaced with one that put her at ease.

"Perhaps the stars wanted me to bear witness and return to my people that you are not the evil beast the masked ones say you are," she explained while still moving closer to him, just a little more boldly than before. He called her kind, brave, and a centauride. He didn't see her as a foolish youngling as her father usually did. If anything won her over, it was most likely that.

"Only to them M'lady, oddly they got my name almost right. I fear we have not had a proper introduction. I am Shadow," He said with a respectful and slightly overdone bow.

"Charmed," she giggled out before bowing to him as well before saying: "I am Helgiotus, daughter of the Chieftain Bane, but my friends call me Helgi."

"May I be counted as one of them?" Shadow asked and placed his claws over her whip wounds. As the same light as before illuminated, her pain thankfully subsided and the open wounds closed.

"After saving my life and now healing my body; how could I possibly refuse?" she answered and in the distance the sound of many hoof falls could be heard. Soon the clearing was filled with centaurs. A large black bearded one led the group and his bow was drawn and his arrow aimed on Shadow.

"Father no! He saved me from the orks!" Helgi yelled as she positioned herself between Shadow and Bane.

"Do not judge him harshly, Helgi," Shadow explained. "It was an act of war to come here. He did that for you. There is no truer exhibit of a fathers love. Cherish it, for many in this war have never know it." He whispered over her shoulder. She looked at him with a look of confusion that developed into understanding. She gave him a nod to let him his words hit their mark.

"Until our next meeting M'lady," Shadow said before disappearing into the darkness of the forest. His departure left many of the warriors of the herd gasping in shock. Bane slowly descended to where his only daughter stood, taking in the dead orks scattered around the clearing. She expected a reprimand from the Chieftain for putting herself in such danger. What she got was a fierce embrace of a fretful father. When he did pull away, his eyes were glistening with repressed tears. It was something she was not accustomed to seeing with her father.

"I thought I lost you," he choked out.

"I was lucky this time, but things must change father," Helgi pleaded with him. Instead of dismissing her suggestion, he seemed to weigh each word with new-found pride and trust. She was right, and he was ashamed it took almost losing her to finally make him see it.

"Send messengers to every free herd! I'm calling for a Council of the Elders! It's time we take back our forest!" Bane yelled over his shoulder at his warriors. Several centaurs sped off in different directions, while the ones remaining reared up and lifted their bows to the heavens. Many of them were yelling; "FINALLY!"