Gilan, Elaine, Milo, and Humphrey sat in a circle in a corner of the small wooden cottage. They had become good friends since Gilan's and Humphrey's truce.

Now, a couple of weeks later, they were telling each other tales of their past. The atmosphere around them was light, and the cult was temporarily forgotten.

Gilan suddenly burst out laughing causing Milo to grin and Elaine to smile. Humphrey, who was telling a story, looked at the three with confusion. "What's so funny?" he asked. "This is serious. She scared me. It took me a week to get over it."

He was telling a story of him and his two younger sisters playing a game of hide and seek. The youngest of the sisters was the seeker, and she had somehow terrified Humphrey by jumping down from a tree on top of him during the game.

Elaine's green eyes were dancing when she spoke. "What are their names?" she asked with curiosity within her voice.

Humphrey smiled at the thought. "The oldest of the two is called Zoey. The youngest..." He faltered, thinking about the day she scared him. "The youngest is called Mia."

"Zoey and Mia," Milo murmured. "Pretty names."

Humphrey nodded in agreement. "Beautiful girls too."

"Tell us about them." Elaine pushed on.

Gilan raised an eyebrow, taking a like Halt's expression. He had noticed that Elaine had been unusually interested in Humphrey's life, but then, she was also into theirs. Saying nothing, he turned to Humphrey, who had began talking.

"Zoey is older than Mia by two years. She's compassionate, helpful, and very friendly."

Gilan snorted. "The opposite of you."

Humphrey glared at Gilan before continuing. "But it grieves me to say that she is virtually vulnerable in the wild."

"Vulnerable?" Elaine echoed, concern evident in her voice.

Humphrey nodded. "She doesn't know how to hunt or defend herself, nor does she have the interest to do so. Mia, however; she's reckless, fierce, observant, resourceful, and sassy, but she's also very, very stubborn. And unlike Zoey, she does have an interest with weapons."

Milo frowned. "With their descriptions, I cannot imagine how they survive without you." He paused. "I mean... you said it yourself. Zoey doesn't really know anything about survival. And Mia, well she's young."

Humphrey sighed and leaned back against the wall, worry creeping back into him. "I'm hoping that there are enough edible berries for them to gather until I get back to them. But as last resort, Mia can hunt. I've given her one or two lessons before."

Silence came across the friends. Humphrey frowned and after a moment, he looked around at the other three. "Come now, enough about me." His gaze landed on Milo as little stories have been told about him. "Tell us about yourself, Milo."

Milo blinked, his face slowly turning red. "Well... Erm..." he stuttered. "I-I really have no interesting stories."

Gilan raised an eyebrow. "There has to be something to tell. Any siblings? Friends? What do you like to do? Where are you from? Tell us anything."

Milo bit his lip. "Well... I have no siblings." he paused. "And no friends for that matter... B-besides you guys of course."

Gilan placed an arm around Milo's shoulders as Elaine spoke. "Aw Milo," she said. "You have to get out more. Meet some people, have fun. You can't just spend your life indoors with your head in a book."

Milo blinked. "I already am."

Elaine sighed, exasperated. "It's not good for your health."

And then yet again, the friends were in silence. Suddenly, the door burst open. Raphael stood there, his eyes sharp and cautious. Next to him stood Kyli, looking ominous like always.

"Out." Raphael growled. "All of you."

Gilan stood up, his eyes flashing. "What are we doing?"

Raphael hissed. "You'll find out."

The kids were soon gathered outside, in front of the wooden platform. Looking around, Gilan gulped. He had seen Kyli slip off right after Crow Man gave her a nod. That couldn't be good.

Then he realized the stage looked familiar. Not because he saw it every time he walked out of his prison, but because of something else. That's when Gilan realized what was happening. He recognised the setup.

Someone was about to be killed. And Gilan was right. Crow Man stood on the platform, yelling out his usual speech. And with a flick of his hand, Raphael grabbed a random child, a boy barely ten, and set him in front of Crow Man.

"The Goddess shall love us all!" Crow Man shouted, before grabbing the nearest weapon, which happened to be an axe and hacked down on the poor child.

Elaine softly whimpered as she covered her eyes and moved behind Humphrey. "I can't watch."

Humphrey watched his father in anger. He clenched his fists, and made a move to march up to him, but Milo grabbed his shirt sleeve.  "Don't. You'll only cause more trouble."

"Right," Gilan nodded. "Which is why, we need a plan."

A/N:

I have just successfully somewhat planned out the rest of the story. I can now say that this story isn't going to be last much longer. It'll end in late June or July depending on how much I update in the summer.

Yay me for almost finishing my first real and edited fanfiction, that isn't something I wrote in a couple of days, published it, and never edited.