"Well that was fun," Jenny laughed, wringing out her wet jacket and sloshing up the stone path to the backdoor.

"Even if it does cost a good talking to."

Sunrise was just about fifteen minutes away and Miss Lester would be in bed, giving them a couple of hours to clean up and pretend they were home almost all night.

"Don't worry about it. I'll make of some kind of excuse. Miss Lester will be more than happy to put all the blame on me," Deirdrie answered, turning the handle on the back door and slowly pushing it open.

The two young ladies snuck in through the kitchen and up the circular staircase to the long hallway of rooms that were completely unnecessary. 

"Alright, see you in a couple of hours," Jenny said cheerfully.

Deirdrie smiled and pushed the door open, walking over to her dresser and lighting an oil lamp.

"You're not doing so bad yourself are you?" a teasing voice said from the rocking chair near the window. 

Deirdrie spun around rapidly and nearly fell over her wooden chest. When she looked up all she saw was a silhouette of antlers by the window, but that was enough for her to relax.

"Where on earth have you been? I haven't seen you in three years!" Deirdrie scolded.

"And before that another three...Sorry, I've been busy," Adrastea answered in a lower voice.

"Busy doing what? Hiding from people?...Anyway, its good to see you," Deirdrie smiled before Adrastea could reply.

She had a knack for making arguments Deirdrie knew and if she was only staying one day or even a half hour she did not want to spend it arguing.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but this really isn't your style," Adrastea said, motioning around the room.

"No but its Miss Lester's idea of what a high class girl's room should look like...Now tell me, why did you just decide to show up now?"

Adrastea grunted a little and motioned out the window, getting up and peaking around the curtains. Deirdrie followed suit and looked down at the moonlit streets below. 

"Who's that?" she asked with a sly sideways glance.

"His name is Dagon. I thought you might recognize him."

Deirdrie frowned a little, trying to get a good look at his face. After a few minutes Dagon turned their way and Deirdrie shook her head.

"No. Should I?"

"Not necessarily. Just a hunch I have. He has a twin brother and I was just guessing that they came from here, or around here," Adrastea answered with a shrug.

"How did you get mixed up with him? I always thought you stayed away from people."

"I do...Most of the time. I met this man called Cephalus a while back and he wants to find the Rinopenya stone."

Deirdrie stepped back in shock with wide eyes. The last time she had heard that mentioned was by her own father back when the feuds had just begun.

"And?" she persisted.

"I'm going to show him where it is."

"What? Why?"

"Someone has to do something...Not to mention he won't be able to get it out of its chest," Adrastea said calmly.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Look I know all about the stone. Trust me, he can't get in."

Adrastea looked back down at the street but only Dagon's horse remained in place. Dagon however was running towards the door like the devil himself were after him. Suddenly a knock resounded through the house and Deirdrie flinched, rushing out the door before it Miss Lester woke up.

Not far behind Adrastea was leaping down the stairs, skipping the last few and rushing in front of Deirdrie to open the door.

"What do you think you're doing?" she hissed at Dagon.

"Come on, we have to leave," he answered, dragging Adrastea out the door.

"What? Why?"

"I can't explain right now. Come on!"

Adrastea looked from Dagon to Deirdrie frantically and pulled away, quickly running back to her friend saying, "Get your horse. You need to come with us."

"She can't come!" Dagon argued.

Adrastea snapped her head in his direction and stared at him in an argumentative manner.

"Why not?...Get your horse Deirdrie."

Dagon opened his mouth to stop her but one glance down the road told him there was no time.

"Come on! We've already spent too much time here," he hurried Adrastea.

The two young ladies mounted their horses quickly and rode off after Dagon who had wasted no time getting out of the town, as if he were scared of something.

Adrastea was started to warm to her theory about him and every minute that passed made it grow to the point where she almost wanted to ask. But she did not. It was not the way she liked to do things. 

They had stopped at their camp but Dagon was still on edge, constantly looking into the trees and refusing to build a fire. It made both Adrastea and Deirdrie nervous as well.

"Why did you want me to come?" Deirdrie asked quietly while Dagon was occupied trying to find something that was not there.

"Him...Are you sure you haven't seen him before?"

Deirdrie quickly cast a sideways glance at him and nodded once more, positive that she had never seen him.

"Why? Is he an outlaw or something?"

"Hah, no...At least I don't think so. He's keeping a secret and I want to know what it is before something bad happens."

Deirdrie raised a skeptic eyebrow and leaned back against a fallen log chuckling slightly.

"I think you're being a bit hypocritical," she told Adrastea.

"Not in the least. If you really think about it I'm not a danger to anyone in the way of my secrets as appose to Dagon, who is likely to get some of us killed."

"And what makes you so sure that your secret isn't a danger to anyone?"

"Look, I know where the stone is. As long as no one else knows where it I'm safe."

"And you want to go looking for it?"

To Deirdrie it sounded like an idiotic idea and that Adrastea was out of her head - which was no surprise - but helping the world survive did not sound like her at all. Adrastea did have her moments but one of her worse traits was that she did not like to help people. Deirdrie was not sure if it had to do with her actual personality or just the fact that it had always turned out bad before. Which ever one it was she was sure that Adrastea would never tell her.

"I told you before, there's no way we're going to get that stone off the mountain. I think this trip will force everyone to stop depending on legend and taking matters into their own hands," Adrastea answered.

"That is if someone doesn't ruin the whole thing."

Deirdrie looked to where Dagon was still on edge, completely oblivious to what they were talking about.

"Do you really think he's dangerous? He doesn't seem like the type," Deirdrie said quietly.

"Maybe he doesn't know it himself. Look I'm going to go to sleep, we can talk in the morning."

The two went to sleep faster than the blink of an eye but Dagon refused to close his eyes, making the excuse that he was not tired - which was a blatant lie - and stayed awake the rest of the night. He constantly turned this way and that, jumping at every noise, keeping his fingers tight around the hilt of his sword, and not even daring to blink.

We shouldn't have come here, Dagon thought.  I should have known better. How stupid can someone get? Of course he would be there, he practically owns the town. Although not by rights. I guess Adrastea really did do me a favor by insisting on camping outside of town.

Several times Dagon thought about packing up a leaving right then and there, but it was best for them to stay and save Cephalus the trouble of trying to find them. Aileen had probably already sent Cephalus' men back to the camp and by the time Dagon and Adrastea made it back they would have already left. 

Dagon knew that Diomedes was more nervous about Rubin Soth than he made out to be, and for good reason, but now his brother's behavior had rubbed off on him. Before then Dagon had always been the careful one. It came as a bit of a surprise to him finding out that Berglund actually searched the streets and alleys every night, but than again it made sense. After all, the twins being discovered by someone else could lead to terrible troubles for both Berglund and Dagon, at least to his way of thinking. Nothing had ever gone Dagon's way and he started to except the fact that it probably never would, so the best chance him and his brother had was to hide for as long as possible could without dying.

Chances were they would make it to their thirties, but that was about it.

Maybe you should deal with him yourself, Dagon thought carefully. If you got rid of him then your problems would be over.  

"What was that?" he suddenly said out loud as a twig snapped.

Adrastea and Deirdrie rolled over to look at him and shook their heads, Adrastea mumbling something about Dagon having an overactive imagination.

"There it is again!"

"Okay I heard it this time," Deirdrie told him, slowly getting up.

It was lighter outside and the sun would come up soon, but that did not change the ominous air that had settled over the camp. Adrastea had obviously heard the last twig snap for she immediately drew the dirk from its sheath and slowly stood up. 

"No one can get a decent night's sleep these days," she muttered.

"Oh goodness!" a flustered voice said from the tree line. 

Only a moment later a tall lady dressed in purple stumbled into the camp, readjusting her veil and brushing herself off.

"Well I'm glad I found you. These woods are not really my environment," she laughed lightheartedly.

Adrastea glared at her, trying to asses the new arrival. She seemed incredibly out of place and somewhat aristocratic, almost six foot.

"Who are you?" Dagon asked suspiciously.

"My name is Laura. I heard from someone in town that you work for Cephalus."

"You know Cephalus?" Adrastea stepped in, surprised by the remark.

"Well I don't know him personally. A friend of a friend you see."

Dagon sort of half nodded and scratched the back of his neck, not sure what to do. First of all, a complete stranger knew where to find them, second of all, someone in town was tattling on them, and third, Laura did not seem like the type Cephalus would converse with...or do anything with really. Which only made her remark 'a friend of a friend' even more believable than before.

"What do you want with Cephalus?" Adrastea asked in a biting tone.

"Oh nothing much," Laura answered, flicking the wrist of her right hand back and forth in a very irritating manner...at least for Adrastea.

"I just need an escort to take me into the mountains and I thought to myself 'who better than Cephalus?'. After all, he did pick such...lovely, people to be in his company."

Deirdrie rolled her eyes and sat back down, knowing Laura's type the second she said that phrase and heard the tone of disgust.

"Dagon, could I talk to you for a minute?" Adrastea asked, not even waiting for an answer before walking out of ear shot of Laura.

"I don't trust her."

"Well I'm not exactly falling at her feet either," Dagon answered glumly.

He was still in his suspicious mood and had a feeling that Laura was with Berglund. But how could he figure out if she was?

"What do we do?" Adrastea asked.

"I don't know. Play along I guess until she does something wrong."

"Why don't we just tell her to leave?"

Dagon sighed and almost wanted to leave that for Adrastea to guess, but they did not have time and it was best just to tell her.

"Well for one, she could be telling the truth. And second, I think I might know who she's working for - if she is working for anyone - and I don't want anyone spoiling my chance. Especially you!" he answered, jabbing a finger in her shoulder and walking back to the fireplace.

"Especially me?...What's that suppose to mean?!"