Chapter 21

****

Eve looks a Sylvia and Fynn, she looks down and smiles, "I appreciate the offer. But I don't think I'll do it."

"Xenix is willing to give you a cell where you can see and feel the sun, better food."

Eve shakes her head, "I don't mind this cell. I don't mind the food, I'd feel bad if I sold out the Earth Watchdog."

"I assure you, I won't feel bad for spilling your blood on the floor?!" Fynn laughs,

Her smile fades, "I know you won't. That's okay, they must be quite a threat to you if you're this desperate? You've already filled me with so much joy. I know whatever you do to me, I can take it."

"What are you talking about?" Fynn asks,

Eve looks up at him and to Sylvia. "You've told me they're fighting, you're worried. Which means putting aside your deal, soon I will still get to see the outside world."

Sylvia clenches her jaw, "They'll never find you, even if they win! We'll lock you up somewhere they will never find you!" Fynm spits,

Eve smiles again, "Xenix will be dead? I guess I'll be able to eventually leave, and see my sisters."

"Break her." Sylvia says,

Eve takes a deep breath as Fynn walks in the cell, he grabs her by the throat, lifts her up and throws her against the wall. Her already raw skin screams with pain.

She screams for hours and hours, till Fynn is breathless. Eve whines on the floor, shaking and breathless.

"Well?" Sylvia asks,

"D-do.....w-what...y-y-you-"

Sylvia doesn't give her the chance to finish, she marches in and yells as she slams her foot against her back. She tortures her with her pathways over and over, relentlessly. Eve falls to the ground, her torso and arm charred. Again.

She whines and moans loudly in pain, Sylvia heals her again. "We're going to keep you nice and safe. We'll make sure you never see the light of day."

She rolls to her side and spits out blood. She huffs against the cold floor. The two finally leave, she lays on her side until she catches her breath. She sits up against the wall and closes her eyes. Her head spins fast as her heart threatens to beat out of her chest.

"I know you can do it." Eve says weakly,

She takes a small rock in her cell, Fynn must have broke it off when he threw her against the wall. She smiles, she turns and with the rock, draws a sun into the wall. She draws clouds and grass. She closes her eyes, the smile twitches. Tears roll down her cheeks, "I can't see your faces anymore." she mumbles,

"Please can I see them? One more time?" she begs,

But her wish is vain. She cries for a while, at last the tears stop coming and she wipes the rest away. She forces herself to smile and draws five bodies, standing in the field.

"I'm glad you're all happy. Please don't dwell on my pain too much. I'm okay."

She bows her head, "They're coming for me."

She grins, regardless of the cold, her joy makes her feel so warm. She's so close to being free. She's so close. Chills run up her spine and down her arms.

****

"We're such criminals." Rola laughs,

"We needed the carriage." Violet says,

"Still, even if we left money for it, it's not right. But I agree, it had to be done." Roux says,

They take turns with the reins. Riding to Hagref town. They take what food they can afford, then steal two bags of apples and ride off without anyone knowing.

"Now this is wrong." Caroline says,

"We needed food. We can't afford to stop." Lydia says,

"What's the rush?" Adam asks,

"Xenix is spreading fear fast. If we convince the Fire watchdog to join us, we could use three watchdogs to earn favor and maybe even raise a rebellion or army against him." Lydia says,

"Makes sense, so if we don't act now, then people may be too afraid."

"Exactly." June says,

"Well let's go find this girl and pound a hole into Xenix."

They pass through town after town through the days to follow. Stealing what they need. Lydia and Adam sit next to each other, talking all night.

He leans over quickly and kisses her, she jolts but accepts. She pulls lightly on his neck, she's kissing him. Like an actual kiss.

Her body is flooded with chills, every part of her tingling with nervousness, but it's all quickly overtaken by feelings of peace and joy and love and warmth.

She pulls away to catch her breath and smiles, mentally screaming with joy and excitement. He smiles back and clears his throat, both blushing.

"You're so adorable."

Both jump and gasp, "Rola you jerk." Lydia says smiling back at her,

Rola sits crisscross with her chin on her knuckles. She smiles, "Oh sorry please continue. Pretend I'm not here."

Lydia rolls her eyes, grinning. "You were supposed to be asleep." she says,

"So was Adam? Oh wait...oooooh I see where this was headed, alright I'm going to sleep."

They both turn red as a tomato,

"It's not like th-" Adam starts,

She holds up a finger, "Sh. You're gonna wake them, don't be too loud." she says and lies down,

Lydia drops her face into her hand, "Ugh. She is something else." she whispers,

"Thank you." she whispers back,

Adam snorts and laughs, Lydia giggles. Five more days pass and they make it to the city Pelium, one city past Recvan.

"She's here, somewhere." June says,

They leave their carriage at the city's entrance and explore the city searching until they come to a big house in the rich district.

"Oh great. A rich brat." Rola says,

"Can you please filter your thoughts?" Violet asks,

"I mean I could, but it's not fun if I do."

Adam rolls his eyes and leads the way to the front door and gestures to June. She walks up and knocks on the door several times.

They wait, and wait, the door clicks and opens, a very pale young blonde with brown eyes opens the door.

"Hi can I help you?" she asks,

"Hi are your parents home?"

She frowns, "U-um no? Why? I-I can pass a message on?" she says,

"Oh forgive me, I'm June." she says extending her hand,

"Uh, Margaret."

"Margaret, I'm the Water Watchdog, this is Rola she's the Earth watchdog."

Her eyes widen. "...H-he said you'd come. Holy crap. Uh-uh c-come in, come in please." she says throwing the door open,

They all walk in, thanking her as they pass her. "Yes of course. S-so um....I'm really scared right now. I just appeared in a waterfallish place that was like under the ground and this big guy said I was one of four watchdogs that could control elements and I'm freaking out right now and I don't know what to do-"

June takes her hand gently, she squeaks and slowly bows her head, "I'm sorry...I ramble when I'm nervous."

"Dude no sweat, we know what you're talking about okay? We were there, most of us anyway. But look, we need your help."

"Yeah-yeah I know-I know...to fight Xenix." she mutters,

"I know it's scary. But you won't be alone, you got all us. And we are going to try and convince people to join us."

Margaret leans against the door. "I feel sick. I've never even used a sword before." she says,

"We'll train you, Margaret we really need you're help. He must have chose you for a reason." Violet says,

"Margaret look, this is big, we won't force you. But if you're against Venix we could really use your help. If we don't stand against him, the killing won't stop." Caroline says,

"You're blind! You're talking about fighting the guy every living creature is afraid of!" she says,

"She's...another story, she can still see. But Margaret she has a point, like she said, we won't force you. But just think about it? We'll let you know where we will be staying for a few days, in case you change your mind okay?" Adam says,

"Margaret, you're what nineteen?"

"I'm twenty."

Caroline smirks softly and continues, "Can we leave with this? There are many people, young and old who have died. We are all scared, terrified even. I was horrified when they found me, and I'm still scared to fight Venix, but if you come with us, we will train you, we'll all fight together, with the strength of dragons! We will make Venix pay for the unforgivable damage he's done." June says,

Margaret marvels at her, "I'm not even a soldier."

"Neither was I, I'm from a place where we never used swords for anything, in fact you never saw them where I'm from. I never knew how to fight, but we've all trained together." Adam says,

"If you decide to join us, I can help you learn to use your Element, I'm very good at mine." Rola says,

"What about my parents? I just leave them?" she asks,

"Yes." Roux says,

"Like we said, it's a big deal, we'll let you know where we are staying."

They thank her, turn and walk out. They find the silver knight inn and inform Margaret. Caroline stays in case she comes looking, while the others go to different courtyards, bars, pubs and inns recruiting as much as possible.

"You're all insane." a woman spits,

"Please listen to us, we can win this! We can finally, after so many years of suffering, put an end to Venix!"

"Your going to suffer for denying him!" someone laughs,

After two days of trying unsuccessfully, they give up on the town. But that same night that they return for the final time, Margaret and Caroline wait at the inn's entrance.

Margaret looks up at the others, "I've thought about it, what you said was inspiring, and you're going to fight him either way. So...I promised myself if you didn't recruit anyone, I would recruit myself, and...I believe I know how to convince the military."

"How?" Violet asks,

"Your help means a great deal to us. Thank you." Adam says,

She nods, "But I need you all to approve in battle ready before we attack. I-if I'm going to do this. And, with the military, it will have to be the next town, or so, seeing as you haven't had much success here."

"Then Rola, June and I will be your trainers, I'll train you to foggy physically, they will help with your element."

Rola smacks her first against her palm, "We're gonna friggin destroy them."

Margaret smiles, "I left a note for my parents, telling them I was going to fight Venix with you. They were on a trip and return tonight."

"So you'd like to leave time as soon as we can." Adam says,

She nods, "Yes please."

"Well we are leaving tonight anyway. You ready."

She nods, "Yes! I have my sword, I'm not sure what else I would need though." she says, her voice fading,

"That's enough, travelers, travel light. A sword and your element is all you need." June declares,

"I got this." Margaret says,

"I'm not good at magic either, I haven't been able to use it for a while so Roux and Violet are helping me."

Margaret smiles, they start off, find their carriage and ride off further north. "Don't worry, we'll build up your confidence too." Rola says patting her on the back,

Margaret leans forward and winches but quickly smiles, "Thank you."

Lydia narrows her eyes, "Margaret?"

She looks at Lydia, "Yes Lydia?"

"You're being a little improper lately."

She jolts ever so slightly and straightens herself. "W-what?"

"Lydia?" Roux complains,

Lydia sighs through her nose, "It was a test Margaret. You winced when Rola patted your shoulder. They're beating you aren't they?"

Margaret turns pale. She opens her mouth but no words come out, a lump forms in her throat, her heart pounds. She closes her mouth and nods slightly.

"They wouldn't even let me move away."

"Well from now on, your life is different, we'll help you stand up for yourself and show them how amazing you are." June says,

Margaret smiles at her, marveling. "Thank you all again."

They ride for a few hours and decide to stop a few more before the sun goes down. And the training begins, Adam runs, jumps off the tree and kicks out, electricity shoots out of the tip of his shoe and to the ground like a small bolt of lightning minus the boom.

Margaret turns and swings her stick down against Lydia's stick, then swings at Lydia's side, Lydia moves and blocks it and she repeats the process.

Margaret trains with sticks all night with Lydia, engraving it into her brain. The next morning her body is sore, but gets up and practices again, they continue again in the carriage down the road, everyone sits against the front while Margaret and Lydia train in the back carefully.

"Oh wait! Duuude idea!" Rola says,

They all look at her Lydia and Margaret pressing sticks together. "I need to practice too. Since it's stupid and risky to practice while the carriage is moving, here."

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Rola opens her eyes and throws her hands out. She slowly brings them close to her, thick and wide platforms of earth rip out of the ground around them and fly over to the perimeter of the carriage, incase they want to use it or they fall over the edge of the carriage.

"I'll hold it up so you can train a little more intensely." she says,

"How long can you hold it?" June asks,

She shrugs, "I haven't simply held earth up before, probably about half an hour?"

"Let's do this." Margaret says holding up the stick, Lydia raises her eyebrows and smiles,

"Alright. Watch me move carefully."

Margaret nods, Lydia dives at her, Margaret jumps back and swings down and sideways, hitting her stick against Lydia's.

Margret lands on the floating earth and swings out at Lydia's torso, swings her stick against hers, spins inward, stepping over the carriage wall.

Margret gasps, she pushes Lydia's stick away as it slides across her hand. Margaret simultaneously moves her armed hand so her stick whacks against Lydia's leg.

Lydia jolts and smiles, then lets her go. "Not bad, but in a real fight, my sword would have cut your hand, and you would've reacted differently."

Margaret blushes and shows them her bleeding hand. Lydia frowns and looks at her, then back to the deep cut.

Margaret throws the sword into the carriage and heals her own hand. "That really stung, heh I guess you're right though, being a sword I would act differently."

Lydia smiles, "You got guts Margaret. The fact that it still cut you and you hit me in the calf, I might have gone down. I'm proud of you."

Her eyes light up, she grins at her. "Thank you Lydia."

"Alright, now that you've made some damage with sword and hand to hand fighting, if you got the energy, let's excersice that peewee little sack of white plasma you got." Rola says,

Margaret smiles, "Actually I'm pretty expanded in white plasma. I did a lot of magic back home for shows and parties."

"Well show us what you got, shoot a ball of fire into the air." June says enthusiastically,

Margaret nods, courage and confidence swirl inside her, they are gonna do it! They're gonna kill Venix...she'll be a hero, just like in the books she always read!

She bites her cheek. 'Okay Margaret, deep breathes, stay calm.' she thinks to herself,

She takes a deep breath and calms herself, she raises her hand and pushes it forward, a huge fireball, the size of the carriage, shoots from her hands and into the air.

"Whoa!-"

"Shoot!" Violet shouts,

Margaret's eyes roll back, she grunts and falls back into Lydia's arms.