Quietly, Myrkr woke up Shimmer and they snuck out of the room before Luna or Maple were awake. They went to the older hallway where the Order was, since, as Myrkr stated as she shifted her emerald-dust bag, "They probably have some form of surveillance. They'll know when to show up."

     The words were more of a bluff, a way to not-entirely convince Shimmer to wait with her. The surprise she felt when, after only a few minutes of waiting, a quiet voice could be heard, "Enter."

     "Hmph. I guess you were right, Myr — they have some kind of way to see who's entering," Shimmer said quietly as she started forward. Myrkr watched her vanish into the brickwork and followed — only to run into the actual brickwork. She took a few steps to the left and tried again, this time entering the impenetrable darkness, hoping no Mythic noticed her mistake. If any of the Order noticed, they never spoke of it.

The voice that had allowed them to enter belonged to a young but scarred dark-gray wolf, Myrkr assumed one of the Wí'chú. His eyes were a shimmering gold, she noticed, once he led them into a room where they could see. "Chivriel will be here soon to speak with you," he said. "But even if you," — he looked at Myrkr — "are the Emerald, I must stay to supervise you."

"So be it," Myrkr said. "Hope you're not one for idle chit-chat."

"On the contrary," the Wí'chú said smoothly, and with the last word he shifted to his Hybrid form, complete with a mottled green tee and some kind of loose, black pants. He seemed older than Shimmer and Myrkr, and the scars from his wolf form transferred to his face and arms. One went across the bridge of his nose, and the hump there led Myrkr to assume he had it broken by the same scar. Even with the souvenirs of past battles, he was quite handsome. "I was hoping I could be of assistance, or talk as we wait, at the very least."

"How so?" Shimmer asked. "For the help, I mean." It was as if her aloof and rude airs had been shed, traded for curiosity.

"It was discussed before you came knocking that we allow the Emerald the Eye, and due to your noble and honorable status, it would also be offered to you."

     "Ah, the elusive topic of this 'eye' you want to give us," Myrkr said dryly. "Care to elaborate?"

     The Wí'chú seemed to consider, but the look in his eyes was playful despite all other rigidity of his body language and tone of voice. He knew exactly what he was doing, Myrkr decided, and he was probably bored, with the rest of the Order dealing with a war. He was toying with them. "Sorry, no-can-do."

Myrkr was about to growl something about the Wí'chú needing to have more respect for the Emerald of Ysamaldrí, but the door opened and caught her attention. Of course, she couldn't see out, so she figured it was Chivriel finally showing up. But two things quickly disproved that theory. First, the Wí'chú's startled bark-turned-growl. Second, the scent was not Chivriel's or even remotely wolf-like.

Then the assassin who tried to kill Delrahj stepped into the room, wearing exactly what she had then.

Myrkr lunged at the Cí'mehia woman, the Wí'chú and Shimmer close behind. The Cí'mehia easily sidestepped Myrkr's attack, and as Myrkr passed her and dived into the dark hallway, she followed, essentially making the Wí'chú the only one who could see her.

"Left!" the Wí'chú called, and as Myrkr rolled to the side, she heard Shimmer do the same maneuver loudly, wings, talons, and all. Myrkr also scented the Cí'mehia woman as she passed by, and heard a yelp. She assumed Shimmer must have rolled onto some part of the assassin.

Shifting into her cheetah form, Myrkr launched herself after the scent of the assassin, and managed to catch her leg. There was a growl from the assassin, and Myrkr dug her claws in deeper, and tried to bring herself toward the Cí'mehia. It almost worked, but Shimmer was there when it didn't, and Myrkr heard an "Oof," as talons and scales could be heard close on the stone floor. Myrkr retracted her claws, the right paw that caught the assassin's leg now wet with blood.

"Got her," Shimmer said unnecessarily, her voice just slightly more rumbly in her dragon form. "Mind if I slit her throat?"

"Yes," a calm male voice came from down the hall, the way that headed deeper into the Order's hideout. "Please don't slit her throat." He said something in a rushed whisper and Myrkr heard the Cí'mehia sigh in relief. Did he just heal her?

"About time you got here, Chiv," Shimmer said disapprovingly, as if she didn't notice what Chivriel had just done. "Your security must be terrible, it's a miracle this hasn't been discovered yet."

Chivriel sounded amused as he gave a short huff of laughter. "How about we all go back into the room and I can explain a few things. One of which will be the Eye."

"Damn right you have things to explain but it won't be just 'a few,' " Myrkr growled. "First thing you'll explain is the return of this assassin."

     "If we go back into the room, I'll tell you."

     The four of them and the assassin, in Shimmer's grip, went back into the room. The female Cí'mehia made no move to struggle or attack, or little more than breathe.

     "So?" Shimmer prompted, tail flicking. "What's the deal?"

     Chivriel cleared his throat. "The 'deal,' as you say, is a test. That isn't Delrahj's would-be murderer. That's my gracious wife who volunteered for this. Say hi, Vedri."

     "Hello," the Cí'mehia said, her calm voice only slightly muffled through the face mask she wore. "Pleasure to meet you all. Especially you, Myrkr."

     "Do me a favor and don't treat me like I'm special," Myrkr said dismissively. "The second thing. What the hell kind of stunt was this?!"

     Chiv looked to Vedri, who Shimmer was putting down, then the other Wí'chú, before facing Myrkr again. "It was a test of sorts. We wanted to see you in combat, and how you also fought while angry, as that is when Mythics get sloppy. We also wanted to see your reaction to the assassin's 'reappearance.' "

     Myrkr's tail flicked madly in irritation and anger as she crossed her arms and glared at him. "You want another kind of test to see how I fight while angry, Chiv? Because I would be too happy to oblige with that."

"Not required," Chivriel said, as if the offer was only to see the results. "However, we did want to speak with you about the assassin. We've had other hits from the Shal'jí on Revak Feykro Isle, though nothing significant was damaged, or anything close to the Immortal Oak." He started to pace. "We believe the one who attacked before is still somewhere in the mountains. Maybe she reported back somehow between then and now, but we're sure she's here somewhere."

"How does that involve us?" Shimmer said, shooting a glare at Myrkr. "We've got academy work to do, you know."

"They want Myrkr," Verdi offered. "What better bait than her? And you fight very well," she added.

Myrkr sighed. "When and for how long? Like Shimmer said, we've got work to do ourselves."

"Tonight, if you can spare it," Chivriel said. "Ovietkú will take you down the mountain. You might want to let your friends know so they don't start a search party for you."

The Wí'chú, Ovietkú, nodded. "The paths down were made by us," he said proudly. "I'll make sure you don't fall when I lead you."

✦ ❦ ✦ ❦ ✦
So this is the last bit I wrote for this first version of Revak Feykro. With the timeline all messed up and too crunched, I lost inspiration... But I've already written a new first chapter, and am a decent way through the second, not to mention a little history that will act as a prologue. I will leave this up, as this is something I'm quite proud of — but I'm afraid this is the end of this book. Maybe I'll get ideas and continue to write this, just to get an idea of how to get to the end. But until that happens, if ever, this is it. Sorry for the odd cliffhanger, if it helps I'm not really sure where I want to go from here.