Omal

Saol has a little incident with Ven, and Dantaus is still struggling with his helplessness.

In the morning, Estïqiã and Tiran left right away, early in the morning. Pandorå had no wish to see the belligerent giant, so she stayed with Ven, Saol, and Ava. The two traveled in silence, both dreading the upcoming confrontation.

The morning was misty and cold, and Estïqiã blew on her hands from time to time to keep them from freezing. The brittle twigs cracked underneath their feet, and the forest was quiet, undisturbed, save for a few noises here and there.

A sudden crash and muttered cursing broke the silence. Tiran and Estïqiã looked wildly around them, but saw and heard nothing.

"Who's there?" Estïqiã shouted angrily. "Show yourself, coward!"

"I'm not a coward!" a voice came out of nowhere, then fell silent, regretting their mistake, but it was too late.

"Ava!" Tiran cried triumphantly, then became upset. "You followed us!"

"Of course I did." her voice seemed to come from everywhere, and echoed slightly. "You really thought that I'd let you go alone?"

"Come out from wherever you're hiding, and go home." Estïqiã ordered her sternly, but Ava just laughed.

"Really? You really think you can just send me home like some disobedient child? I'm coming, whether you like it or not. You'll never find me, unless I decide you can, and I will follow you, like it or not." Ava said firmly. Estïqiã looked at Tiran and nodded silently, and she began to move around, looking for Ava with the stealth only an elf could acquire.

"Ava, why didn't you just stay home?" Tiran began to speak to hold Ava's attention.

"Because I'm old enough to go with you. I needed to prove that." Ava replied, her voice distant and detached. She must be using an echo spell, Tiran realized, annoyed.

"You most certainly are not ready to do anything. You're sixteen years old, and you have absolutely no experience." Tiran rubbed his temples in annoyance. Estïqiã looked at Tiran with an expression of helplessness as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Estïqiã, you'll never find me." Ava sighed. "And don't think you're so sneaky. I've been watching you the entire time."

"Ava!" Tiran snapped. "You cannot handle this situation!"

"Then who's to say I can handle Ekzema?"

"You'll learn. Later. Eventually." Tiran tried.

Ava's face materialized right in front of him, and he jerked back involuntarily.

"Best way to learn is to do." she smirked, and vanished into thin air again.

"Invisibility spell?" Tiran cursed. "Avaline, show yourself right now!" Ava did not answer, and Estïqiã suddenly burst out laughing. Tiran glared at her, but she ignored him.

"Ava, come out." Estïqiã called, still chuckling. "You can come. Whether we want to or not, you're going to come, so might as well come with us."

"Promise?" Ava asked after a pause.

"I swear." Estïqiã responded, and Ava became visible, a few feet away from Tiran, who crossed his arms in annoyance.

"Oh, don't be that way." Ava begged him. "I'm ready, really."

"I'm not upset that you're coming." Tiran told her. "I'm upset because now I have to pay Saol. We made a bet, on whether or not you'd be coming." Estïqiã laughed again.

"That was a stupid mistake on your part." she chided him, then picked up the trail again. "Come on. We've go to hurry if we're going to make it back by nightfall."

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Ven poked the needle through the white fabric and pulled it through, finishing the second to last pink petal on the embroidered flower.

The piece was almost finished, save the last petal on the flower. The green stem curled around the ß in the gold lettering on the embroidery, which said, ''¥∞ £∂ ß∆Ω.' That was her father's maxim.

The piece was almost finished, save the last petal on the flower. The green stem curled around thethat was her father's maxim.

Ven snipped off the thread, then tied a knot at the base to secure the petal, before rethreading the needle for the last petal. Embroidery helped her think, and soothed her nerves. She had never felt so alone before. At home, there were balls and frequent meets with other princes and princesses, both unicorn and other species, who she felt comfortable with.

With Tiran, Saol, Ava, and Estïqiã, she felt ill at ease. She had come to be with Tiran, and she would always feel happy when around him, but the others were different.

Estïqiã scared her. She was cold and unfeeling, and seemed to have absolutely no emotion at all. Even when they were children, Estïqiã had been a serious, foreboding child, that most people avoided because of her chilling presence, and she never seemed to care. As if that wasn't enough, she had a dragon. It could swallow her in one gulp, and Ven didn't particularly feel safe around it.

Ava was technically a princess, but not really. As hard as she tried, Ven could never imagine her going to any kind of ball, even if it was the most fashionable one of the season. At least not willingly. The way she bounced around with a seemingly endless energy was definitely not a common trait of royalty. Her huge, animated green eyes, thick wavy hair, and petite body just moved with a that didn't seem dignified enough for royalty. She wasn't meant to be a princess.

Saol gave her a bad feeling all the time, like he was evil, even though he had always been polite and considerate to her. He just was scary.

"What's that?" Saol's voice broke into her thoughts, and Ven jumped almost three feet off the chair, dropping her embroidery frame on the table.

"Oh, my. You startled me!" Ven fanned herself, trying to hide her absolutely terrified expression.

"Sorry." Saol grinned and sat down on the chair across from her. Seeing her face, he looked concerned. "Are you all right?"

"Fine, fine." Ven quickly assured him. "You just.......really startled me." Saol laughed, and she weakly joined in as her heart slowly went back down to a normal rate.

"So, what is it?" Saol pointed at the embroidery frame, and Ven picked it up again.

"Embroidery." Ven told him, showing him the picture. "It's a popular hobby." Saol raised his eyebrows. "Among royalty." Ven added, and he nodded.

"Even Ava?" he asked. Ven couldn't help but crack a smile at that; the image of Ava throwing an embroidery frame at the wall was all too easy to picture. But she quickly smothered it, as it wasn't proper to laugh at such occasions.

"She was probably instructed on it, yes." Ven said seriously, and Saol grinned again.

"Probably." he agreed, then touched the embroidered symbols lightly. "'What does that mean?"

"'Intertwined, We Are Strong'." Ven translated. "It's in Unokia."

"I know what it says. I understand Unokia, but what does it mean?" Saol asked. Ven frowned. Unokia was a very complex language that few outside of the unicorn clans knew, but common courtesy prevented her from asking how he knew it.

"It's referring to our horns, how they're two pieces of  minulucity, spiraled together, which creates a powerful magic element. Our horns are arguably our most important part." Ven told him.

Saol suddenly stiffened, his eyes wide, and snapped into some sort of automatic reaction.

"Separate a unicorn from their horn, and they become severely weakened, if not killed, by division. Retrieve horn from unicorn form with allolite weapon, or retrieve horn from human form by breaking Porl necklace. If victim survives the separation, finish task quickly. Human form, cervical fracture. Unicorn form, impale with detached horn." he recited.

Ven stumbled backwards off her chair, as Saol relaxed again and looked like nothing had happened.

"Oh, gods, Ven, are you okay? Did the chair tip?" Saol rushed to her side, and she threw herself away from him. He stopped, confused, as Ven stared at him, horrified and frightened.

"Ven? What's wrong?" Saol asked worriedly, and his brow suddenly darkened. "Did I say something about killing someone?" Unable to speak, Ven only nodded, and Saol sighed, straightening.

"I'm sorry." he offered her a hand, but awkwardly withdrew it when she did not take it. Her shock and fear overcame her to the point where she could not bring herself touch him, or be near him. 

Saol paused a moment, then quickly went to the room he shared with Ava.

"Sorry." he apologized again, before slowly closing the door. Ven shivered a  rubbed the thin sleeves of her dress. Unlike Ava and Estiqia, she couldn't bring herself to wear leggings, tunics, breeches, or any of those kinds of clothing. Those were men's clothes.

After a while to calm herself, Ven slowly picked herself off the floor. A muffled creaking noise told her that the ceiling doors in that dragon's cave were opening, most likely opened to allow it to go hunting.

Fanning herself, Ven glanced once more at Ava's closed door, before picking up her embroidery and starting on the last petal.

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Dantaus signed his name at the bottom of the parchment, then stamped it with the royal seal. Rolling it up, he then handed it to the boy standing next to him, who was trying as hard as he could not to stare at the king.

"Take it to Zancastle, then find the tutor, Finneaus. This letter is for his eyes, and his eyes only. Understand?" Dantaus asked, and the twelve year old boy nodded earnestly.

"I'll get there real fast, promise. My horse is faster than the wind itself." he bragged with the characteristic overinflated ego of his age. Dantaus smiled.

"I don't doubt it." he assured the boy, then dismissed him.

The kingdom's duties prevented him from going to Zancastle at the present moment, but he was definitely planning on it. His own common sense kept him from deciding an exact date, despite his readiness and anxiousness for battle.

He was sending a letter to Finneaus, telling him that he required his presence at Islan, and telling him that if he did not return, he would assume that he was being held hostage at Zancastle, and would attack.

"Your Majesty, the diplomats are awaiting your arrival in the meeting room." Bartram reminded Dantaus, and the king sighed heavily.

"Oh, yes. The 'diplomats'." Dantaus attempted a smile, and started for the door.

"Wait, Your Majesty!" Bartram ran in front of him. "You forgot your crown." The portly manservant placed the golden circlet on Dantaus's head and straightened the tunic, attempting to make the best of his master's slightly disheveled appearance.

"You could try and wash up every once and a while." Bartram hinted.

"I would, if I had the time." Dantaus retorted, and Bartram kept silent, choosing not to reply. Dantaus sighed.

"I'm sorry." he amended. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

"Don't worry about me, sire." Bartram brushed crumbs off the left shoulder. "I'm more concerned about you."

"And I'm more concerned about Ava." Dantaus exhaled tiredly.

"I don't see why." Bartram said forcefully, surprising Dantaus. "If anyone can make it on their own, it's Ava. That girl's got a streak of stubbornness in her. If she didn't want to die, she would argue Death until he just left out of frustration."

Dantaus stared, and Bartram realized he had just lectured a king.

"Sorry, Your Highness." he quickly apologized, pale. "I-I won't let it happen again."

"You better let that happen again!" Dantaus corrected him loudly. "No one, I repeat, no one talks to me like that, Bartram."

"I'm sorry....."

"No, Bartram." Dantaus laughed. "That's just what I needed. Thank you."

And with that, the king of Islan straightened his crown and set out for the meeting room.

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"We're here." Estïqiã said, unnecessarily.

The three of us were standing in front of a very, very large cave, with hundreds of thick vines draped over the entrance. The vines covered the entrance enough that I couldn't see inside, but I knew someone was in there.

"So..........do we just go in?" I asked, but for a time, nobody answered my question. Finally, Tiran spoke up.

"Let's go." he said, starting for the vine tangle. "No point in making him wait any longer."

"Oh, no, we wouldn't want that." Estïqiã rolled her eyes and followed him.

Pushing aside the vines, we entered the cavern.

The floor sloped up towards a huge wooden door, with a metal knocker bigger than me. As we walked towards it, I wondered how we'd ever manage to push it open, but a smaller door, human sized, became visible. A small key hole sat in the center of the door, and 'GO AWAY' was scratched into the wood.

"Not very social, I take it?" I traced the rude warning with my fingers.

"Definitely not." Tiran agreed.

Estïqiã pulled a key out of her shirt that hung on a piece of twine around her neck, inserted the small metal piece into the hole, and twisted it.

The door silently swung open, and Tiran, Estïqiã, and I cautiously entered the giant's cave.

Author's Note

Invisibility.......I've always wanted that......:). Anyway, Saol's weird killing things are pretty scary, and Dantaus is practically sick with worry over Ava and Pasquel. I guess we'll see what happens, yeah? Reviews are welcome!!:)