A low moan came from where Joshua last was. I pushed away from the arms that held me and found myself staring up at my father.

He didn't meet my eyes, in fact, he let me go.

Thank you, Baupa, I thought.

"Josh? You alright?"

Joshua pushed himself from the ground. "Perfectly fine, Zara. I get slammed into walls by invisible forces on a regular basis."

He's fine.

"I need to get out of here." I grabbed the jail bars frantically. "I have to warn him."

Joshua grabbed my wrist. "No, Zara. You don't owe anybody anything."

I opened my mouth to respond, but was cut off by the quiet grinding of the door. Baupa, Joshua, and I all focused our attention toward the sound. 

A boot, then a leg, then a full body appeared. I scowled, waiting to cuss out Vadik.

But it wasn't him.

"Hurry," Camden whispered. He ran over to our cell and fumbled for something attached to his belt. The keys jingled as he unlocked the jail bars. "You need to go."

At first, relief washed over me at being free. Then, doubt.

"Why are you doing this, Camden? How do we know that you won't just kill us?"

He gaped at me. "Do you honestly think I'd free you, just to kill you?"

"Yes!"

"Pridurok," he muttered. He threw his arms into the air. "Fine! Just stay here then. When everybody goes insane because Vadik brought vespers with him, don't say I didn't try!"

"Vespers? Vadik has vespers?"

Camden stopped his ranting and nodded his head. "He figured out how to use them, somehow."

Joshua piped up curiously. "What do you mean, 'Use them?' They're people!"

I turned around, staring at Joshua and Baupa in fear. "No. They aren't. They're animals--animals that show your worst fear."

Or greatest desire.

Joshua shook his head. "But--"

I grabbed his wrist, not letting him finish. "No time! If Vadik is using vespers, then we need to stop him."

Neither brother nor father moved.

"Now," I added for emphasis.

That woke them up.

I nodded to Camden, telling him to move on. Joshua, Baupa, and I stood at the edge of the cell, waiting to for Camden to give the okay. He cracked open the dungeon door, peeking out to see who was where.

The thundering of boots reached my ears almost immediately. There were frantic shouts of "you go here" and "hurry up" ringing through the halls.

Vadik is bringing an army...

Why on earth would Vadik be bringing an army? Is Brennen really that powerful? Has he that much control over this land?

Through the dim light, I saw Camden wave his hands. I bolted up to the stairs and stood behind him. Joshua and Baupa were a bit slower.

"When I say so," Camden whispered, "go left. You can get to the stables that way."

"Wouldn't Vadik be at the stables?" I whispered.

Camden shook his head. "He's already gotten the horses he needs for his soldiers. Besides, he'll be at the castle without a horse if that necklace does what he claims."

Camden took a deep, shuddering breath. "Now go!"

He moved to the side, letting us pass him. I checked behind me as we ran, seeing where he was.

And, sure enough, he was following, guarding us from behind.

We rounded the corner, and I suddenly found myself getting a really good look at Joshua's back.

I looked around him. "What is it... oh."

About ten soldiers were blocking the door to the stables. And they saw us.

I smiled a little and held up my hand to wave. "Hi?"

They started to charge.

Joshua and Baupa turned around and ran backward. I stood still.

There is no way I'm not getting to the stables.

I thrust my arms out in front of me and yelled at the top of my lungs, "Pagoma!"

And, whaddya know, it worked.

The guards froze in their tracks, unable to move. All their mouths were open, half in shock and half in a frozen "Charge!" scream.

"Josh! Baupa! Camden! We're good, come on!"

I turned around to see if they were following me. All of them stood stock-still in awe at my handiwork.

Joshua was the first to move. As he ran by me, he called, "You have got to teach me that."

I grinned and followed his lead.

As soon as the stable doors opened, the smell hit me. It wasn't just the normal horse-poo smell you get with stables, it was stronger, darker.

It smelled of death.

I covered my nose, grimacing at the stench. "What is that?"

Joshua answered my question first. "Zara," he called.

Terror hit me. His voice wasn't the joyful "I found it" sound, it was the "Oh no" sound that no one wants to hear.

I walked over to him, the straw crunching below my feet louder than any straw I'd ever heard.

I froze when I saw it. A large beast, bigger than a horse, lay on the ground. Its thin hair was torn off in patches over its dark skin, leaving red rashes across its body. The snout on the thing was flat, like a pig, but it was a deep violet. The ears looked like they used to be large and pointy, but were cut off in the middle.

But the cut ears didn't kill it. No breath came from the creature on the ground, no air entered and left its lungs.

And that was because its lungs had been cut out of the thin chest and were laying across the stall, resting on a pile of white sticks.

White bones.

I gasped and stepped back, the straw crunching under my feet again.

Straw doesn't crunch this loudly.

It wasn't straw. It was the same that thing the lungs were on. It was bones.

"It's a vesper. That thing's a vesper," I gasped.

Joshua's face paled. "They killed it?"

Camden pointed to the ground. "More like it killed them."

Why would there be a dead vesper here?

I gasped and stumbled back. "Oh no..."

Vespers kept Brennen trapped in the castle. They were in the forest to stop him from getting out. Which meant that they had some type of power over him.

A dark splotch appeared below his kneecap.

"You are hurt!"

He looked down at his leg and mumbled something unintelligible. The black cape under his fur one got pulled in front of it.

"I'm fine."

I bit my lip.

"Zara?"

I ignored whoever said my name. He wasn't hurt when I stabbed him, yet he was hurt when the vespers attacked him.

His hand.

It was like a million puzzle pieces fit together, forming the complete picture. When he hurt his hand, he had just saved me from drowning. He saved me from a vesper, which means that he was more that likely bit by it. He had venom in his system.

"They can kill him..." I mumbled.

A sliced open animal on the ground would never look so daunting.

Camden looked at me like I sprouted an antenna.

If I wasn't already terrified, I definitely was then. "He--Brennen--your beast--can't be killed by normal swords." I stared back at the dead animal. "But I think I figured what what hurts him."

I ran one of the stray horses left and grabbed its name. "I have to stop Vadik."

A hand seized my shoulder roughly and threw me away from the horse. I lost my balance and tumbled into the buckets of food left for the animal. Pain shot through my wrist, causing me to cry out. Through my watering eyes, I looked up to see who had thrown me.

Joshua, stood against the horse, his body shaking. "No, Zara. You will not go."

I swallowed and rose to my feet. My wrist wasn't broken, but man, did it hurt. Holding my arm close to my chest, I took a step toward the mare.

"Joshua," I said shakily, "move. I don't want to make you."

"No."

"Yes." I lifted my uninjured arm towards my brother. "Move."

"Lizaveta."

I turned, unknown tears falling down my face. Baupa stood next to me, getting ready to spring.

I choked on my tears. "Don't pair with him, Baupa. I have to go back. I'm not under any type of spell or hypno--"

He hugged me.

Baupa hugged me.

"What is the be--the man in the castle to you?" he whispered. His warm breath tickled my ear.

I sniffled. "I--I don't know."

Baupa shook his head and held me out at arm's length. "No, Lizaveta." Gently, he pushed a lock of my hair behind my ear. "There is always an answer to this."

I stared into my father's eyes, the eyes that for so long weren't able to recognize me. The eyes that were always clouded over with alcohol.

The eyes that, then, were filled with a wisdom that I had only seen once.

"He's my friend," I whispered. "I can't let one friend kill the other."

He nodded as if my answer was what he expected all along. "Joshua, move."

Joshua opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. "What?"

"Move," my father repeated firmly.

Baupa stepped up and grabbed Joshua's shoulder, pushing him gently to the side. He took my hand and placed it on the neck of the horse.

"Go."

Without a second thought, I pulled myself up onto the horse. It nickered at the weight of an unfamiliar person, but quickly calmed down.

I looked at Baupa. "But what about you? What'll you do?"

He coughed again, this time louder than before. "We'll be fine. Now go."

I ran my hand over the neck of the horse, feeling its prickly hairs under my palm. My eyes found their way other to the dead vesper again.

"If you see what you would believe is your worst fear, it's not really there. It's an animal. Just remember that."

Camden went over to the stable door and opened it. Bright light poured into the room, illuminating everything that had been dark.

With my final warning to my family being said, I kicked the side of the horse and took off through the door way.

Wind rushed through my hair at the speed the horse was moving. I bent down, close to its neck. When I went out the stable, I went out the side entrance and not the front, so I wouldn't be horribly noticeable to the guards.

That is, until I glanced to the side.

My heart sank. That's a LOT of guards.

There were no more than thirty of guards, but they were huddled close together, in a pack. Their auburn color armor shone brightly in the sunlight, catching every ray that hit them. Even from the distance I was, I could see the sword in each scabbard they had.

I squeezed my legs tighter around the horse. "Come on. We need to go."

We reached the woods much faster than I remembered reaching them before. The trees formed a canopy over my head, blocking out all but the bravest little rays of sunlight. The farther into the forest I rode, the darker it got. Small, thorny bushes barged their way onto the thin path. Branches fell lower to the ground, covering the view into the rest of the woods.

A howl of a wold penetrated the uneasy silence that had been broken only by the clopping of the horse.

The animal nickered and reared back onto its hind legs in terror. I grabbed at its neck, unsuccessfully trying to find something to hold on to.

And promptly found myself on my back gasping for breath as the horse ran out of the woods as quickly as possible.

Smart horse.

I sat up on my elbow and took a slow, shaky breath in. My ribs twinged, just barely.

Well, that's bruise number something-or-other-I-stopped-counting.

My legs shook once I stood up. While on the horse, the forest looked pretty big. While off the horse, the forest looked huge.

An owl flapped over to the branch beside the one it was on, rustling the tree limbs. Another howl cut through the trees, sending shivers up my spine that seemed to start from my toes.

Onward to the castle.

I hiked up the blasted skirt to the green dress I wasn't smart enough to change out of and started to run through the woods. I passed by tree after tree, dead tree after dead tree, owl on a branch after owl on branch.

Soon, sweat poured down my face. I had long since dropped the skirt of the dress because my arms ached so badly. The point of not wanting to trip already passed by me in a blaze of glory.

I'm not getting anywhere. Why?

"Whooo, whooo."

Dread filled my stomach. An owl.

Except it was the same owl I passed many times before.

Oh no.

I had been going in circles.

My heart pounded in my chest. "No," I whispered.

As if I would prove myself wrong, I took off running through the forest, along the straight path in front of me. Branches cut my cheeks, vines twisted beneath my feet.

And I wound up back at the owl.

"Come ON!" I screamed. "I need to get to the castle!"

"Once you leave, you can't come back. The only way is with the necklace."

I touched my chest, knowing that there would be no necklace. The forest suddenly seemed to go on forever--never ending, the blackness engulfing anything once it tried to move.

Panic flowed over me like water. Would going off the path work?

Deep down, I knew that it wouldn't work. I still had to try, though. I ran off the cleared path and onto the dirt. A chorus of howls sounded through the trees once my foot hit the cool ground. I ignored them. Some deep part of me was ready to burn anything that tried to stop me. 

The bushes and brambles, the trees and thorns all seemed to close up the farther I went. The sharp points stabbed my arms and tore through my flesh. The ground became rocky, so the stones dug into my feet. Vines grabbed the long skirt and pulled back. Everything closed up, boxing me into one small space that I could barely move in. Every time I tried to move, the thorns snagged on me, or yanked the dress.

I was stuck.

Unable to turn around, because the plants held me in place so tightly. Unable to fall to my knees for risk of having an eye poked out. Unable to cast a spell. Still--like a puppet on strings, waiting for the lines to move so I could.

"LET ME GO!" I screamed. "Let me go, let me go!"

Every movement pinched or stung. With each breath, the thorns dug deeper into my ribcage. Every spoken word was like a pinprick to my chest.

"Let me go," I mumbled, finally exhausted from my struggle. Small lines of blood trickled down my arms and chest, making little red rivers all over my body.

The rain that fell down my face wasn't from the sky.

"Please," I cried. "Please, I have to go. Brennen won't know what Vadik is doing. He'll think he's safe."

My sobs shook the branches like an earthquake.

I lifted my face to the sky, yelling at the unseen. "HE WON'T KNOW, DO YOU HEAR ME? He won't know..."

"Please," I whispered. "Please."

Through a shaking breath, a spoke again.

"They will both die if I can't stop it. Brennen will be dead and Vadik will be gone because of me. He will be lost to the magic I gave him--they both will be."

The vines that held me slowly snaked backward. The thorns that pierced my arms retracted, leaving no sign that there was any damage.

Like a gate being opened majestically, the wall of plants before me opened up. All the trees and bushes moved away from me, making a path of white stones.

And at the end of the white stones was the castle.

I gathered the remains of the dark green dress in my hands.

"Thank you," I whispered.

Then, I started to run.

_______________________________________

I can't figure out what to say in this author's note...
Erg.

So, what do you think is going to happen?

Thanks for reading!

Noa.