One bitterly cold day, several days after my little bout of sickness, our relative peace was disturbed. I was sitting in front of the nice warm fire. Christen was in between staring at the wall and working with the latest mass of fur Rico had brought in. Then Rico burst into the door. The fire flickered, as he entered, which I learned to be a sign of his irritation, or fear, or anger.

Or he was just messing with me.

“Ha?” I grunted. Ok, I admit, I had been half asleep.

“I was in the tower.” He stated. I nodded and lay down on the rug again.

“Good for you”

“I was in the tower” he said slowly, “When I saw armies coming from the mountains and entering the forest.

That got my attention. “Armies?” I repeated. “How big?”

“Not very. Mostly warriors, but a few mages. I think they're from Baliancia.”

“Yes, of course.” I sighed. I sat up and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Because Kos would send mages or his halfling birdbrain.. and the wall would have nothing to do with mages... Save for you.”

A log sparked in the fire. I ignored it. I sighed, and got up.

“And Baliancia means Almond.”

“If Almond wants to kill you so badly-” Christen said, an edge to her voice. “Maybe you should just kill him.”

I shook my head slowly. “No. Even if I want-...Even if I were paid to, Almond is much stronger than I am. No, our best chance is...”

“Stronger than you... Is he stronger than me?” Rico asked.

“Yes.”

“... Ok, but stronger than you and me?”

“Possibly.”

“You, me and Christen?”

“Why does that matter? You don't like killing people...” I snapped. Rico shook his head.

“No, I don't” He said. “However, Almond is also with the enemy, and he wants to get his hands on that pendant you happen to have around your neck. So long as you have that, My only concern is making sure that no one else gets it. I have to concern myself with your survival.”

I sighed. “Fine, Fine.”

“It shouldn't be too hard.” Christen said softly. “We are in a castle. Castles were meant to protect people from attacks, right?”

“Only when they're protected by soldiers, guards. We have no soldiers, and no guards.”

Rico nodded. “He's right. This place isn't ready to defend against anything anymore. A stiff wind could likely knock this place down.”

I sat down on the rug a moment and pondered. Something was forming in my head.

“What is he doing?” Rico asked.

“Thinking.” Christen said. “He gets that look just before an epiphany.”

“And epiphany is not the right word, I think.” I said. “Inspiration. Epiphany is more.. spiritual, I think.” I pondered a moment longer. Inspiration came quickly. “You know. I don't think the three of us could kill Almond. Not if we fought him in fair grounds-”

“You never fight on fair grounds.”

“- and he also has his little shadow with him as well...And an army. More then a match for a thief, a magician, and an assassin.”

“Stiri,” Rico said, “I heard stories, You've killed armies before.”

“Exaggerations. Very small armies, with a lot of trickery. Anyway... To get to the point of the matter, let's trap them.”

“Where?”

“Here, of course.” I grinned, “First we trap them, then we kill them.” I pointed to Christen. “You, oh depressed one, are to pack up all of our stuff, including whatever food and drink we can find, and put it all in the wagon. Then you are to take the wagon, and the horses through the forest. At the edge of the forest, there is a very large tree with a large rock near it. You are to wait there.”

“You're sending her into the forest?” Rico exclaimed. “There are armies in the forest! She'll be killed!”

“No she won't.” I said.

“Why won't I?” She asked. I smirked

“Because the soldiers won't just kill you. You will tell them the entire truth of your being out there. You will tell that that you hired me, and traveled with me for a short time for the sake of revenge upon Lord Necanda. The three of us stayed here because of the inclement weather. However, I'm a bastard, and suddenly told you to go away, and kicked you out of the castle...” I pondered. “Then you're going to lie and say you took my wagon and horses as revenge. You will say you went to the tower to figure out the best way to flee, and saw the armies coming. You took the wagon to trap me there, so that I might be at their mercy.”

“Will that work?” she asked. I nodded.

“Most likely, Almond already told them all what a treacherous bastard I am. The worst they'll think of you will be that you're a vengeful little sprite, but they likely won't care because some of that ill will is making their job easier.” I shrugged. “The worse that will happen is that they'll ask to search the wagon. Let them. What will they find but some old clothes, weapons, potions... All things they would expect me to have. They won't take it, because it will make it to difficult to get through the forest, and they already have their own wagons to worry about.”

“And as for us?” Rico asked. “What are we to do, trapped in the castle?”

I smirked. “We turn it into a trap, of course.”

***

Christen was leaving the castle as Rico and I made our way back to the dungeons. A thin layer of ice had frozen over the still flowing river of water, which was beginning to flood the dungeon. I carried in my arms a well wrapped package, containing the remainder of the firepower I had. Rico stayed a fair distance away from me with the torch. He had been hesitant to approach me once I explained what the fine black powder could do.

I went to the far side of the dungeon, where the water was running against the wall. I took great handfuls of the firepower in my hands and stuffed every crack in the wall full of powder. Then I stood back.

I waved my hand carelessly at the wall. “Flame it.” I said.

“What?”

“Flame it, spark it, whatever you do, make it hot!”

Rico looked at me in silence for a moment. “You're insane.” he said finally. “The entire castle will fall on us!”

“No, it won't” I said. I pointed up. “ Look, the wooden beams here aren't broken. they'll hold the ceiling.”

Rico glared at me.

“If we die, I'll blame you.” he snapped.

“Then you can visit me in the afterlife and whine about it.”

He sighed, and sent a small wave of flame at the wall. There was an explosion, and the rocks disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The great stone foundations of the castle creaked and shudered, and for a moment I was worried that Rico was right, and that the castle would fall down upon us. However, after a moment the castle seemed to settle, and we were safe. Cold air and the last of the evening light glittered in. The ice broke as the water from the dungeon rushed out into the open air.

“Good.” I said. “Now, let's finish the job.”

***

As the sun went down and the moon came up, we heard the soldiers ram their way into the castle. The walls shook and dust fell out of the cracks of the dungeon's walls. I cringed, but it went unnoticed as I was wrapped in my nice, warm cloak. Rico and I stood, listening to the soldiers storm the castle. I had reminded Christen to tell them exactly where Rico would be to the best of her knowledge. She didn't know we would be in the dungeons.

“The castle won't hold up.” Rico said, looking at the shaking wooden beams. I ignored him and went over to our little wooden raft, made from broken tables we took from the castle.

“It will.” I finally replied. “At least as long as we need. Give it more time. I want as many soldiers in the castle as possible.”

“This isn't going to work.” Rico said. “We're going to die.”

“No. We're not.” I sighed. “I've been doing this for a while, Rico. I generally don't take unnecessary risks.”

“What about the time you thought you could take Tenlon on all alone, and Christen and I had to drag you from the house?”

“... I locked the door! How did you get in anyway!”

Rico gave me a look. “The door was made of wood.”

I glared at him. “That doesn't count. Besides, this time I thought it through-”

“For five minutes!”

“- and I think the castle can take this... at least for a while. Besides, if it collapses, then we still have time to escape.”

“You're insane. We're going to die if we don't leave right now!”

“No. We're not.”

“We will!”

“I'm not going to argue with you. We will be fine! We won't die.”

“Oh... yes you will.”

The bright moonlight was suddenly cut from us as a shadow stood in front of the hole in the wall.

Not just a shadow. The Shadow. Almond's shadow. And of course, Almond stood nearby.

“You're slipping, Stiri.” Almond said. “Did you think I would just believe the girl? The others did, and fell into whatever trap you have set. I, On the other hand...”

“They were following you!” Rico said. “Those soldiers, they followed you here-”

“-and refused to listen to me when I said it was a trap. It's their problem now. I have no responsibility over them. However, that is fine.” he drew his own dagger, much longer and thinner than my own. “I have time to pursue my own interests.”

Almond was the talker, and my only hope was to keep him talking until I could think of another way to get out of the dungeon before the castle collapsed.

However, the shadow seemed to like talking a lot less. He threw himself at me, wielding an ugly steel dagger.

I moved without thinking. I fell to my knees to avoid the slashing of the dagger, the rammed my head into his stomach. That hit him hard, but he quickly recovered and grabbed me by the neck. He squeezed, and suddenly, my entire body felt numb and my legs gave way.

There was a sudden burst of flame, and the shadow was off me. The feeling had already come back to my legs, so I leapt up and drew my own dagger. However, I wasn't fast enough. Almond was already coming at me himself. Swift and graceful, unlike the shadow, he seemed to glide through the water as he came at me with his dagger.

This is who I had aspired to be.

Another shot of flame went at Almond, but he seemed to glide out of the way, just in time. I dove out of the way just as his dagger sliced through the air where I had been. I wasn't killed, but Almond moved fast, and my leg was sliced. I cried out in pain and fell into the water.

I stood up, soaking wet and dragged myself from the new river. My leg throbbed, and blood poured into the water. I looked around, and saw that Rico would be little or no help, the shadow had already knocked him out.

I cursed to myself. I needed Rico, or else I would be trapped here.

I stood, my back against the moonlight, glaring at Almond and his damned shadow. I might have been able to escape, but as it stood, Almond simply would have followed me and hunted me down easily because I was injured. I was out of ideas.

I fell to my knees again, half by my own will half the throbbing pain in my leg. I clenched the rubble under me, as though trying to cling to this world.

“Don't tell me that's it, Stiri.” Almond said. He walked slowly over to me. “I know you have more than that.”

Slowly, I shook my head and clung even tighter to the rough, dry rubble under me.

“Is this it then?” Almond demanded. “Did you think this would work? If I guess right, you thought that you could lead the army into the castle, as you did, and the castle would fall down on them, while you and your little friend here ran away from a hole in the dungeon's wall.” he shook his head. “You didn't think that you might get caught up in the wreckage? You didn't think maybe the castle wasn't quite as weak as you assumed?”

I said nothing. I knelt there, glancing over at Rico. He was coming too, but he still couldn't help me.

Almond advanced upon me, his dagger drawn.

“Almond.” I said slowly. “ I have one question for you before you slay me.”

“You won't distract me.” he said. I shook my head.

“That.. is not my intention.” I looked up “Do you remember when I was very young... the first time I had to sharpen my dagger?”

Almond nodded. “I do.”

“And do you remember...We had taken shelter in a very small, dry little cabin.. and I started to use a rock to sharpen my dagger... You got angry with me. Do you remember?”

“Of course I do.” he said. “You were an idiot.”

“Tell me..” I said. “Why did you get so mad?”

“You know why.” he snapped. “Rocks make sparks when you hit them together. In a small wooden cabin, you could have set it aflame!”

“Ah...” I said. Slowly, I stood up, taking a dry rough rock in my hands. “I thought so.”

Quickly, I threw the rock over Almond's head. He dodged, and ran at me. I moved out of the way, but still got another deep slice in my arm. Of course, Almond wouldn't have thought to have stopped the rock. It was only a rock in an old stone dungeon. I didn't even have good aim, so it seemed, as it flew over Almond's head, and passed by the Shadow, hitting the cracked stone pillar. One of the many pillars that Rico and I had spent so much time stuffing fire powder into each and every little crack.

The pillar exploded, and rock struck at the shadow. As the Shadow fell to the ground in pain, so did Almond. I squeezed my wound and limped over to the opening in the wall.

Rico was up, and faster than I was now, and in better health. He took the wooden table, and pulled it to the opening as multiple explosions rang out around the dungeon, all caused by the original explosion. Rico pulled me from the ground, and towards table. He set me down.

“The explosions stopped.” I said. “It wasn't enough.”

“It will be.” Rico said. He turned around, and lifted his hands up in the air. His hair glowed like fire around him and wavered as though in a wind. Fire rose from the wet rubble around him, and he shot a great ball of flame into the dungeon, striking the wall above the leak where the spring forced it's way into the dungeon.

There was a much bigger explosion. Water rushed from the now broken wall. pulling Rico and I quickly away from the falling castle, as well as the debris launched into the air. As we were pulled into the cold, snow-covered woods, I caught one last glimpse of the castle, and I saw the tower fall.

***

We rode the new river as far as possible, but the river lost It's power. Christen hadn't quite made it out of the woods either, because we caught up to her, still struggling with the wagon.

I knew it was hard to get through the forest.

“What happened?!” she cried once she caught sight of me. I shrugged Rico off and limped over to the wagon.

“Almond happened. Hand me a concoction. The green one.”

Christen quickly took a bottle from under the seat of the caravan and tossed it to me. I slathered it over my wounds. They burned badly, but I knew it would help them heal faster. I pulled myself up on the caravan. Christen stared behind us, horror plastered on her face.

“What have you done?!” she cried out.

“Escaped the castle. Why?”

She pointed, and I turned around and looked.

Behind us, black smoke started to curl up into the sky. The forest was burning.

There was a moment of confusion as the three of us worked to pull the caravan, and the horses through the forest as quickly as possible. However, the flames were to much for us, and soon, we saw their gleaming red light, we felt their hot breath.

“I overdid it.” Rico despaired.

“... Can you undo it?” I asked sarcastically, “Because if you can't, then theirs no point in-”

Rico's eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment, then he stared at me, with his mouth half open. Without an explanation, he leapt up onto the Caravan, and then crawled to the roof. He stood up and lifted his hands to the sky.

The fire raced to us, but not in the wall that it once had seemed to be. Now, little tendrils of flame encircled Rico. They gathered and swirled around him creating a great ball of fire that lit up the forest, and which would leave Christen and I with red burns for days later.

Then it stopped. The fire sucked itself into a small little flame in Rico's hands. His hands shook with the effort to keep it so.

“Hand me that bottle you had, Christen.” he said, his voice tired and strained. “The perfume bottle.”

Christen quickly took it from her pocket and threw it to him. He caught it in one hand and quickly bottled the flame. Then he put the stopper on it, and held it tight until the stopper melted into the rest of the bottle.

The forest was silent. Rico stood still shaking atop the caravan, then fell. He had captured the flames.

***

Tired, hungry, and for the most part in a great deal of pain, Christen, Rico and I made our way to the mountainside just outside the forest. We set up our camp there, and slept all day, and most of the night. Christen was tried from traveling through the woods all day, I was wounded and burned, and Rico had exhausted himself.

It had been a very long day.