"And you really think i'm going to believe that?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Mistress I-don't-trust-thieves."

-Meilin-

"You-" Meilin started but was cut off when Roll shushed her. He shushed her.

Meilin was about to say something when Roll whispered, "Conquerors."

That made her keep quiet but not once had she left her glare on him. A bunch of questions were already gathering in her mind.

What is he doing here? Why was he here? Is he hiding from the Conquerors? Why would he?

The crunching and conversations of the Conquerors began to fade away until it was gone completely.

That's when Meilin finally demanded, taking out her staff, "What are you doing here?"

There was movement behind her and the rest of her group emerged from the bushes behind her, stopping dead when they saw Roll.

"Um...I...-" his voice trailed off.

The bush behind him moved wildly and there appeared the Euran boy, Conor. As he spotted them, his eyes widened in surprise.

"No wait," Conor exclaimed, running to stand in front of him, "He's, uh, with me."

"He's with you?" Abeke echoed in confusion.

"We should never have trusted him," Meilin snapped, "He's working for the Conquerors."

"Jumping to conclusions already, are we?" The thief mumbled.

"No i'm not," Conor protested, "I broke him out and led him here to you guys."

"And why would you do that?" Tarik asked in suspicion.

"Because I know that you need him," Conor replied, firmly, "I know why you need him." He glanced at Meilin and Abeke, "You need him like them. Like those who summoned Great Beasts as well."

"How do you know all of this?" Meilin demanded.

"Wait, are you the small source that Shane kept talking about?" Abeke added.

"Shane?" Conor echoed in confusion until his gaze landed on the blonde boy who had stayed silent.

Shane was actually looking at Conor in disbelief. She thought she saw a look of shock in Conor's eyes which quickly turned to unease and uncertainty.

"Um, no...that's actually my friend," Conor admitted, his voice filled with uncertainty, "He was the one who told your...Redcloak friends but he...he got caught."

"Caught?" The thief echoed in confusion which made Meilin wonder if Conor was actually telling the truth.

"He was forced to drink the Bile," Conor explained further and Meilin saw Tarik and Shane froze, Roll included, "Roll was going to go next but I managed to reach him first and break him out."

"The Bile," Tarik murmured, "That must mean they must've discovered Gerathon's talisman."

"If the talisman gets into the wrong hands, the person who has the talisman will be able to control those who drank the Bile," Shane said in a serious tone and once again, Roll flinched, "Not even the summoner or the Great Beast can stop. It's almost impossible to resist the Bile..."

"How would you know that?" Abeke asked him.

Shane flinched at the question and hesitated before speaking with an edgy voice, "I've seen it for myself but let's not dwell on that."

"We'll need to go soon," Lishay spoke, "There are still Conquerors patrolling the area and we'll need to reach the Arctic."

"You're right," Tarik nodded, "Let's go."

"Wait, they're coming with us?" Meilin exclaimed, glancing at Conor and Roll with suspicion.

"We need them on the team," Tarik replied.

"You mean you need Essix on your team," Roll muttered.

Before Tarik could reply, Meilin snapped, "Yes we need Essix on our team, not a thief. Thieves should never be trusted. All they want is money, that's why they steal instead of earning it themselves."

Roll met her gaze and she could see anger in his eyes, "It's so simple for you! You were born into a wealthy family. You're the daughter of a hero. You were already born into the good side! You regard yourself better than people lower than you because of their background."

Meilin was getting angrier from every word that was coming from his mouth, "I bet you don't even care about saving Erdas. All you care about is getting revenge for your father's death. All you care about is probably just to become a well-known hero like your father-"

"Roll, I think that's enough," Conor cut in but that didn't made Meilin stop.

"You know nothing about me, thief," Meilin muttered coldly, "So why don't you think before you actually make the right choices instead of using greed."

Something flashed into the boy's eyes and his mouth tightened, "You know nothing about me as well. You think thieves only steal because of greed? You know nothing."

"Stop," Shane finally snapped, "We're wasting even more time. We need to start working together if we're to save Erdas."

"I can't work with a thief," Meilin muttered, glaring at him who answered back with a glare of his own.

Shane then grabbed his saber then started to walk towards Roll who looked back with nervousness and fear. For a moment, Meilin thought that he was going to kill him until Shane had done a clean cut and had sliced the rope around Roll's hands. The thief only looked back at him in surprise.

"Starting at this point," Shane told both of them firmly, "We're working as a team. But in order for that to happen, we need to know if we could trust each other."

Tarik then spoke up, "I believe Roll isn't your real name, boy."

The thief rolled his eyes, "You call me Roll, you call me thief, now you call me boy. How many more nicknames are you Greencloaks going to give me?"

"We're going to keep giving you more nicknames until you tell us your real name," even Tarik was getting a bit impatient.

"I only reveal my real name to those I trust," Roll narrowed his eyes, "So, as a fact, I don't trust you."

"Who else could you trust when no one trusts you?" Meilin sneered.

He glared at her then whistled. A moment later, there was a screech and Essix the Falcon had glided down and landed on his shoulder. The falcon seemed to narrow its eyes at them. Clearly she trusts him and it's obvious she doesn't trust them, even though they're the good guys.

"Did that answer your question, oh great General Teng's daughter?" He asked in an exaggerated and sarcastic matter.

Meilin only glared at him and didn't reply as Tarik announced, "We must leave right this minute. We have wasted too much time."

"But what about the Great Wolf?" Shane then glanced at Conor, "Did your friend say anything about Briggan's whereabouts?"

Conor's mouth tightened into a grim line but shook his head and avoided eye-contact, "Sorry but he couldn't."

Shane's shoulders drooped but Abeke, who had mostly been silent, spoke up, "As long as the Conquerors don't have him, we're fine."

Tarik nodded, "She's right. Now we should get moving. We'll talk more on the way."

- - -

I know that Rollan and Meilin currently don't like each other yet. YET. So just wait cause you know it has to happen at some point.