Glub—or Pervinca, as she was now—was running like never before. It almost felt like she was escaping; the faster she ran, the harder the wind blew in her face, and the more she tried suppressing the bewilderment threatening to overwhelm her. Her feet hardly seemed to touch the ground, thoughts and fears fueling her. It was nearly three miles from her house to town, and another two miles to get to the opposite side of town where the barracks were located, and where, she assumed, the council was being held. Five miles was a long run any day and being forced to run the distance would double the pain of it, but today Pervinca simply let herself go. It was her last day as herself, her last few hours as a simple Liean girl without a care in the world—on the outside, at any rate. She was simply dressed in a pair of trousers reaching just past her knees, a loose white shirt, and a maroon vest that had once belonged to Porto. Her hair was loose and flew behind her as she ran, and she had been running for nearly a mile before she realized she wasn't wearing any shoes. 

She stopped abruptly in the middle of the path and gazed at the beautiful forest surrounding her. For a minute nostalgia filled her and tears once again welled in her eyes, but she wiped them away furiously; she was still here, and the forest would still be here when she got back. She didn't have time for emotions right now.

And I am coming back, she thought fiercely. Mother never said I had to leave forever. I'll go as a simple messenger and come back right after I give my message.

She refused to think about what would happen after that. She knew too little of the prophecies to guess exactly how her fate was supposed to come about and didn't want to guess. Life would go on as it always had, and things would come in their due time—no need to rush anything. For an instant the image appeared in her head of herself wandering away and disappearing into the forest, leaving the world to its own problems and never bothering about it again. But she shook her head—it was impossible. And suddenly she had the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched.

A thought flashed through her mind, and strange energy mingled with excitement rushed through her. "That's just it!" she declared to the birds and trees. A squirrel froze and looked at her, his frightened gaze questioning almost. She gave a little laugh—of triumph rather than amusement though. "I can't stay in one place, because the longer I stay in one place, the closer they come to finding me. Which means that they don't know yet. They know I exist; they know I'm here, but they don't know it's me! For all I know, they could still think that they're looking for my brother, and why shouldn't they? Just because the Lieans know I'm the one with the powers, why should the Makezens? They've never met me; they've got nothing to guide them but some silly magic-sniffing soldiers who know nothing about me."

This revelation caused her to give a little skip and start running down the path again, only to freeze once more a moment later. "But supposing they do catch me," she murmured, "what then?"

A tiny voice whispered inside her head, But I've got Powers, according to everyone else. Powers. What exactly can I do with them? Anything, or just certain things? I can find out...

Her conscience seemed to go against it, but Pervinca shook her head, "No, I'm doing it." She declared. "Just a little, but I want to find out what I can do—I've got an idea, but maybe I could do more..." Suddenly she stopped talking, feeling ridiculous. She was alone in the woods, but that was hardly an excuse to start arguing with herself. She was closing her eyes and trying to figure out how one went about summoning magic, when a soft, airy voice interrupted her.

"This is not magic, this is power. Power does not die as its holder does but passes on to an heir. On the other hand, magic will fail. Do not play with this; power is simply what it is—and I fear it could become so powerful as to kill the young wielder. You are raw, young, inexperienced. Wait, and the time will come for your power to be unveiled. But not yet. Not just now."

All the blood had drained from Pervinca's face upon hearing the Voice. It was the same voice that had spoken to her in her bedroom that morning, but as then, there was no one around to see.

"A-alright," she stammered after a minute, "I won't use it then..."

There was no response, and she spun around, then around again, trying desperately to see who had spoken. She could almost have sworn the Voice was only in her head, but it certainly was not her own voice.

"Who are you?" she called desperately, "where are you?"

There was no response, save a red squirrel chattering angrily to his neighbor.

"What are you?" Pervinca whispered to herself, and suddenly fear clutched her heart—the word ghost filling her mind—and she took to her heals and fled down the path, all thoughts of power and magic abandoned for the time being. The warning had taken root.

~*~*~*~

"The messengers have been chosen." Rasa stood and walked slowly to the front of the crowded room; hands clasped tightly behind his back. A small stage was at the front of the room and Rasa climbed the few steps onto the stage upon reaching it. "There will be four, two sent to the south, to the Hidden Valley, and two sent east, to the Hawk Hills. Any questions concerning the messages and the messengers will be directed to me and me alone, and from this point onward the aforesaid messengers must acknowledge that under no circumstance are they to speak to anyone regarding the messages, save their partners and myself, understood? It is now my duty to introduce to you the chosen messengers.

"We have assessed our youths in recent days, and have this morning been forced to what I will admit was a premature choice, but I also will say that I trust these youths and I for one am confident in their abilities. The choices were made carefully considering the duos, however. Trust and confidence in each other are an essential part of such crucial expeditions.

"The first messenger—Auora Eglantine Roper, if you will join us, please."

A little smirk appeared on her face as she tried to suppress a smile, but the pride and excitement bursting inside her colored her cheeks and put an extra bounce in her step. She jumped up out of her seat and forced herself to walk at a reasonable pace towards the front of the room. She had known about this beforehand, the General arriving at her house shortly before dawn wishing to speak with her parents. Despite the quite serious threat of a war, Auora had never been more excited for something, and in all truth, a war seemed impossibly far away and not something that would affect her in the least.

"Auora will be traveling with my daughter, Pervinca Haolims, who was unable to join us this morning. Our next group consists of Sancho Hardwater—" he paused while Sandy made his way to the front of the stage and Eggs suppressed a scream of shock and delight. "—and Camden Greenholm."

Pervinca, pale and shaky from her assumed ghost encounter, slipped into the council just in time to hear her father announce Trout as the final messenger and see her three friends standing on stage beside him. Her brow wrinkled in confusion—it made no sense. She had envisioned tall, strong young men or women who could lead her through the land and protect her; but certainly not her young friends who had only as much experience in the outside world as her. Less really, though the time when she was an infant hardly counted.

Pervinca slipped outside and waited until the meeting had ended and the room cleared before going to find her friends.

The three of them and the Twins were gathered in the center of the room and Rasa was explaining something to them. The Twins were sprawled on benches; Sandy stood nervously, chewing on his lip while Trout sat hunched over on a bench with his chin in his hands. Eggs was seated on the floor leaning back against Porto, who was laying on his stomach on the bench, and was the only one facing the door. She looked up and jumped to her feet when Pervinca walked in.

"Glub, thank goodness you made it!" She exclaimed, rushing over, and hugging her out of pure excitement. "Can you believe it? We're going to be messengers and go to—" she turned back to Rasa, "where are we going again? You were about to tell us,"

"We're going to the Hawk Hills," Pervinca said quietly.

"Right! It will be such an adventure, I'm a little frightened, but I can't wait! I don't believe this is really happening!" She was practically bursting with excitement.

Pervinca nodded and looked at her brothers inquisitively. There was no way that Eggs knew everything if she was as excited as she was, and Porto shook his head, implying that their father had not told them about her. She raised an eyebrow—was he planning to? Porto shrugged, then gave another gentle shake of his head. It wasn't likely. And judging by the look on their father's face, he didn't want them to either. Pervinca scowled; she didn't care what her father said, or if that ghostly voice interrupted her again, she was going to tell her friends about it—all of it. She just had to wait until Rasa was gone.

"Ah, Pervinca," Rasa walked quickly towards her and wrapped her in a hug, then pulled her away and looked into her eyes with such concern that she managed a weak smile in return. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Better," she whispered, blinking away tears. She had thought she was done crying, but evidentially not.

Eggs watched the exchange in confusion, had Pervinca been ill? She had never been sick before that Eggs could remember, but she supposed there was always a first time for everything.
Rasa nodded, "I should see how your mother is coming along with the packing, I could bring you all with me if you wish."

Pervinca shook her head, "That's alright, we'll walk home."

Rasa was clearly hesitant to comply, but nodded at last, then hugged his three children, told them not to be to long, and left. The six stayed silent for a little while before standing and heading outside to walk home. They were scheduled to meet at the town square by three that afternoon where they would be given their equipment and then hitch a ride to the Fort. Until then they had time to burn, and as Pervinca and the Twins knew, a long story to burn it with.
Somewhere in the middle of the woods the group turned off the path and settled down on a massive fallen tree.

"So..." Sandy broke through the silence at last, "What's going on exactly?"

Eggs opened her mouth to ask him where he had been all morning, when Ponto spoke up instead.

"It's a long story...and more than a little confusing."

"What's a long story?" Trout asked.

All eyes turned to where Pervinca sat, chewing her lip with a pale face and hands clasped tightly together in her lap. She gazed off into space and jumped when Sandy said her name.

"Glub? What's she got to do with anything?"

Eggs winced and muttered "ouch," expecting a biting retaliation from Pervinca, but was surprised when Porto simply looked at his sister nervously.

"Would you like to explain, or shall I?" Ponto asked her. Pervinca sighed, and he said quickly,

"Porto and I can do it,"

But she shook her head, "No, I'll do it. I have to, I mean, it's my history. And I won't cry again, I promise, so you don't need to worry about that."

Ponto and Porto looked doubtful, and the other three thoroughly confused. Pervinca closed her eyes and began the tale. She told it in a narrative as close to what she had heard the previous night as possible, along with several interruptions and corrections given sporadically by the Twins.

The silence that followed was heavy, and broken at long last by Trout, who simply breathed,

"Oh...I see."

"So..." Sandy hesitated, then his curiosity got the better of him, "What exactly are your powers?"

Pervinca frowned then hopped up off the log where she had been seated and began to pace.

"Well, there was the night when—" She stopped abruptly and looked around, brow furrowed.

"What is it?" Sandy followed her gaze, "I don't see anything,"

"Me neither..." Pervinca murmured, which only heightened her confusion, "But I could have sworn I heard—" Suddenly she screamed. The woods seemed to swirl around her, and the faces of her friends flickered and shimmered before disappearing entirely.

She closed her eyes against the dizziness of the swirling forest until she was quite certain that it had stopped moving. One eye carefully opened a slit, then the other, and Pervinca gazed around herself in bewilderment. She stood in a forest still, but it was certainly not the Liean Woods. The ocean waves crashed against rocks in the distance, but near enough for her to still clearly hear them. A little sunlight streamed down through the branches of the tall pines surrounding her, their long, soft needles blanketing the ground. Pervinca bent down and ran her hands through them, letting her fingers dig into the rich, red soil. It was real, she was there, but where exactly was she? A strange sensation, almost as though someone was watching her, caused the hair to stand up on the back of her neck, and she spun suddenly, barely suppressing another scream.

Just behind her stood a tall, menacing figure, dressed entirely in black, loose clothing with a hood and gloves. His hood was down enough for her to see a little of his face, and what she saw haunted her.

The living dead, she thought, the phrase coming unbidden. I wonder can he see me?

Because it certainly did not seem as though he could, given the fact that he seemed to be staring right through her, as though he was trying very hard to see something beyond her. Then suddenly he blinked and gave a little yell, wrenching his sword out and thrusting it towards her shoulder. Just before the blade pierced her skin though, a misty figure blew into her and threw her down on the ground. A reprimanding voice hissed from it; "You should not be here! What were you thinking? I said do not summon them—you are not ready!"

"But I didn't try too!" Pervinca gasped.

The forest swirled again, fading away in shimmering bursts of light, the Voice calling after her,

"Didn't you though? Because it certainly looked as if you were trying to show your friends what you could do. Don't test the limits! You don't know what could happen, you cannot control where you go yet—wait for the opportune moment!"

~*~*~*~

Back in the Liean Woods, the Twins and the messengers stood for an instant in shocked silence, because right after she screamed, Pervinca had begun to flicker and shimmer, and then had disappeared.

"Glub!" Sandy shouted, and soon all five were running around frantically, shouting her name and pleading with her to come back. They were on the verge of panicking and sending someone to find Rasa when abruptly, with a thump and a cry, she was back. She had appeared lying flat on her back and shielding her face, pale and frightened.

"Glub!" Sandy yelled, running over and dropping to his knees besides her. "What was that?! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" He had grabbed her shoulders and was shaking her as he hollered.

She shoved him aside and sat up shakily, "I'm fine, Sandy." She looked around at them, and slowly her terror dispersed into relief, and she laughed a little, almost not believing it. "I'm really fine! Alive and in one piece...thank goodness!"

"What just happened?" Trout looked like he might get sick.

Pervinca shook her head, "I don't know...I was here, and then I just wasn't. I was in this other forest, with this awful creature, and when he saw me, he pulled out a sword and tried to kill me, but then there was this funny misty—almost ghost-like—thing which shoved me out of the way and saved me. And then I was back."

"What kind of awful creature?" Porto wanted to know.

"It was almost like...it was alive, I think,"

"Well I hope so!" Trout exploded.

"But then it's body was mostly dead," She was struggling to explain, and the details were rapidly fading from her mind. Besides, the image had been so disturbing, she hardly wanted to recall it.

"Dead?" Trout gasped. "Glub..." he swallowed hard. "Did you kill it?"

"No, I didn't, because it wasn't exactly alive to begin with,"

"You killed a dead person? How does that even work?" Tout's eyes were bugged out and his mouth open now, attempting to shake the confusion and alarm threatening to tear him apart.

"No, it wasn't dead—well, it certainly looked dead—but it wasn't. Actually, it didn't look like much of anything. Black robes were basically all I could see, but you're missing the point. I didn't do anything to it. I saw it, it saw me, it tried to skewer me with its sword, and then this misty thing came, and I was back here. That's all."

Eggs was pacing and looking even more agitated now, "That's all? That's all Pervinca?!" she shrieked. Suddenly she stopped and turned to Pervinca. "You had better not be blinking in and out of reality our whole trip,"

"But I didn't really try to, it kind of just happened," Pervinca mumbled.

Eggs sighed, "Well, I hope it doesn't just happen ever again, or this could be a very long trip."

~*~*~*~

"Blankets are here, they can be easily folded into the packs, and do nottake up too much space, but they are thin, and will not provide protectionagainst rain or the hard ground, I'm afraid. Money has also been provided, butI will warn you not to use it on things besides necessities; a room at an innperhaps, food, certainly, clothing, or a doctor if something were to happen.But there is not much, only what we could spare, so be careful and pray thatnothing goes astray. Each of you has two water skins and a compass, and one ineach pair has a short length of rope and a map. The other carries the matches;small bits fuel to help start the fire is included, but you must be carefulwhen burning, understood?" Rasa was handing out satchels and heavy packs toeach of the four messengers along with some last-minute hurried instructions.

Thefour nodded, looking at the large packs with distaste, and desperately tryingto register all the information being hurled at them.

Rasatried to smile encouragingly at them; they looked like lost puppies, withwide-eyes and confused realities. None of them noticed his attempt to cheerthem, all being lost either in thoughts of the trip to come or the incidentrecently past. Pervinca had asked them not to mention it, and so far theyhadn't, though some were less willing than others.

Therehad been a brief argument concerning weaponry; all the messengers wanted tobring their swords and cloaks, but Rasa wouldn't hear of it. Then the locksmithhad been brought in, and unwillingly admitted to having aided in the children'straining with the weapons.

"Butbelieve me when I tell you that I had no knowledge of the midnight meetings andtraining sessions," he added, "and would never have let them use real weaponsunsupervised. And in the dark nonetheless,"

Thepleas of the soon to be messengers won out eventually, and Rasa gave hispermission for some weapons to be brought on the journey's. But with theweapons came greater responsibility than before, and he warned them about usingthem.

"Donot ever draw your sword against a person, unless it appears they areattempting to kill you. Your messages are your main concern, and the chances ofyou coming upon a person with murderous desires are less than slim—they arenigh impossible. If by chance you need to use it to ward off a wild animal, sobe it, but the instant I see or hear of a sword being drawn outside of the mostabsolute need, you will all be forced to work penance. And I will remove theoversized knives from your possession at once. Is that clear?"

Theynodded, then Trout added, "What exactly is this penance?"

"Youdon't want to know," Pervinca whispered, then added forcefully, "and you'dbetter not make us find out!"

Troutshrugged, "I was just wondering, because I don't think that it could get anyworse than my parent's punishments, but then again...I've been wrong before."

"Andtrust me," Rasa laughed, "you are wrong now. Does everybody have all theirthings?"

Theynodded, not wanting to bother digging through each pack and its items one at atime, then Pervinca hugged Rasa and nodded solemnly to her twin brother, and thequartet heaved their packs into the back of a wagon then crawled up besidesthem. The whole town was there, wagons and horses loaded with Lieans and theirbelongings. Tearful goodbyes were said, numb children watched their weepingmothers kiss their fathers farewell, as the men tried to hide the fear in theireyes. Fear that when all was said and done, and the women returned, there mightbe nothing to return to—or worse, no one. Eventually the wagons pulled awaydown the path and rattled out of sight.

Riderspassed them, flying through the forest on horseback with word to bring to theother Provinces, summoning all guards and able-bodied male Lieans over the ageof fifteen. Nurses were also called for; medical professionals, weapon smiths,architects who could assist in the placement of trenches and structures ofencampments. It was the beginning of a war.