A hand quickly reached out and pulled Marcy through the door, slamming it quickly before that thing came through.

"What was that?" Marcy asked urgently, trying to catch her breath.

"A tree," Weland answered nonchalantly, sitting back down in his chair.

"A tree? Trees don't move. They're, they're not alive."

"Hah, who told you that?" Adrastea snorted.

"They're about as alive as any of us. Well some of them are. Some of them are just trees, like you said."

Marcy tried to comprehend what was being said but she could not quite grasp the concept.

"What happens if someone is out there?" she asked.

"You die...Unless of course you're a tree nymph. But there aren't many of those."

"Well Agnar should be back with the Marinos brothers shortly," Cephalus mused quietly. 

"How can they get through that?" Marcy exploded.

"Simple. Agnar is a tree nymph and therefore safe from harm. Now I can be sure the twins will come."

"How can you insure that?"

"If they don't. They'll die."

...................................................................................

"Dagon, Dagon wake up," Diomedes hissed quietly to his brother.

Dagon groaned inwardly and rolled over on the grass, immediately regretting it. A throbbing sensation started up in his head and Dagon knew exactly where it came from.

"Why did you wake me up?" he mumbled.

"Well I'm sorry for wanting to know if you were dead!" Diomedes answered sourly.

He folded his arms and leaned against a tree, pretending to ignore Dagon. Sighing Dagon stood up and rolled his eyes.

"You couldn't have just checked my pulse?" 

"Why would I do that when I could just wake you up?"

Dagon thought it best not to answer and started to take in his surroundings. They had not moved from the spot where Dagon had been painfully knocked over the head and a rock was not his idea of a pillow. It was a small clearing pretty much the same as any other with overgrown grass, ferns, wild flowers, that sort of thing. 

"Come, we must go," a deep voice said from the trees.

Dagon snapped his head toward the voice, finding it belonged to a tall man with huge shoulders, messy brown hair and a short beard, giving him the look of a mountain man...which he probably was. 

"Who are you?" Diomedes asked skeptically.

"Agnar Clausen. Cephalus sent me to take you to the cabin."

"Who's Cephalus?...What happened?" Diomedes asked rubbing his head gingerly.

"Cephalus will explain himself in time. Sorry about your head. Sometimes I get carried away."

"You hit me?"

For a minute Dagon was not willing to believe it but as he took another look at the burly man he realized that was very possible.

"How long have we been here?" Dagon asked quietly looking up at the sky.

Then another thought struck him and he layered on top of that, "Why haven't the trees gotten us?"

"That's the best part," Diomedes grinned.

"Agnar here is all full of surprises...The secret is 'tree nymph'."

Dagon's eyes grew wide and he looked from his brother to Agnar with astonishment.

"You're a tree nymph?"

Agnar nodded expressionless and made his way out of the clearing towards three horses, two of which Dagon recognized as Diomedes' and his own.

"Get on," Agnar ordered, tossing the reins at the boys. 

"I'm not going with you," Dagon exclaimed.

"You hit me over the head!"

He could still remember that frightening moment when his sword had been smashed to bits and he thought longingly about his prized possession. Dagon still did not know how it had happened and he intended to find out...but not at that moment. Agnar was obviously in a bad mood and not to be messed with. 

"Dagon, maybe we should go," Diomedes suggested quietly. 

"Why?"

"This could be our ticket out. We're in the forest and its getting dark again. Agnar is a tree nymph so they won't harm him. Why don't we just stick near him  until the opportune moment."

Dagon looked from his brother to the impatient Agnar, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"For once in your life Dio you've come up with a good idea!"

"Excuse me? I come up with good ideas all the time!"

"Yeah, yeah, okay Dio. Whatever you say," Dagon teased patting his brother on the shoulder and walking over to Agnar.

"We've decided to go along. Until we figure out what we're wanted for at least."

Both Dagon and Diomedes mounted their horses with great ease giving off an air of casualty. However on the inside both of them were thinking about writing their wills...very quickly. 

Riding down an overgrown trail the small group made their way through the forest painfully slow. Agnar did not seem to understand the urgency of the situation and daydreamed almost the whole ride, looking at the trees above him and the dancing shadows. After a while however Dagon realized that it was probably because he was a tree nymph. They lived side by side with the trees.

"So where are we going?" Diomedes eventually asked.

"The cabin," Agnar answered quietly.

"The cabin? We were going there in the first place! What did you have to hit me for?" 

Dagon rubbed his head once more as the memory came back and he once again felt sorry for himself.

"You would never have made it to the cabin before the trees woke up. You know that."

Dagon was going to counter with a sarcastic remark but decided not to. He knew Agnar was right...as usual, he began to figure out.

.............................................................................................

"They're here!" Aileen called from her position by the now uncovered window. 

"Well its about time," Adrastea mumbled to herself, getting up and walking towards the door.

As Agnar walked up she opened the door rather forcefully, almost knocking Angelica in the back of the head. Chandra chuckled but Angelica just glared at Adrastea for the hundredth time that night. 

"What took you so long?" Cephalus inquired with a calm tone.

"He had a bit of fun with my head," Dagon mumbled as he and his brother walked in.

Chandra giggled and for the first time the twins noticed how many people were actually in the building.

"Wow this place is like the tavern back home," Diomedes laughed.

"I thought this was a secret hideout."

"That's what I said!" Adrastea declared, slamming the door shut.

Dagon however was not in such high spirits and sat down sulkily in the corner of the room, right next to Marcy. He glared at no particular object for several minutes before he realized that Marcy was there and when he opened his mouth to ask the obvious question she quickly answered it.

"I'm Marcy. No I have no idea what's going on."

Dagon was a bit perplexed at her remark but did not ask any further questions. He knew what it was like to constantly be answering the same question so he left well enough alone.

"Was there any trouble?" Cephalus asked Agnar quietly.

"Not to speak of."

"What did Dagon mean by you had some fun with his head?"

"Oh I gave him a slight hammering of the head. Nothing to speak of."

"Well obviously he thought it was something to speak of," Cephalus hissed, trying not to raise his voice.

"We need those brothers bad so next time you feel like hitting one of them please try and contain yourself?"

"Yes sir," Agnar mumbled.

Cephalus sighed and ran one hand through his hair, turning to the rest of the group and motioning them forward.

"Each of you take a seat around the table," he ordered.

"Agnar would you go grab my saddle bag?"

Agnar nodded and ran out the door while everyone else took their seats. Naturally most of them sat next to the person they knew; Angelica and Fennel with Adrianna and Chandra; Aileen and Weland with Marcy and Adrastea; and then finally Dagon and Diomedes sat together at the end of the table. Cephalus did not sit. He simply moved the chair out of his spot and when Agnar came back in passing him the saddle bag Cephalus pulled out a folded sheet of paper, laying it out on the table and placing candles on each corner.

"Well everyone I am finally ready to tell you what you're here for," he started.

Adrastea mumbled something about having to wait too long while everyone else let out a collective sigh of relief. 

"Right here I have a map of the surrounding kingdoms just about as far as we all know...Well, some of us," Cephalus corrected himself, glancing at Marcy.

"Rogue parties have been pillaging and burning villages everywhere as most of you know. Wars are not a new concept for any of us sadly. Its time we did something. Forests have gone savage, people start to act like animals, everyone is scared to walk out their front door. We all know there's only one thing to do...The Rinopenya stone must be found. We have no other choice."

Of course Adrastea was the first to explode, as usual.

"The Rinopenya stone? ARE YOU CRAZY?...It was hidden for a reason."

"Yes but I'm quite sure you know where it is."

"I never said that," Adrastea hissed.

She had stood up and now made a very menacing picture...especially since she had about twenty knifes hidden everywhere.

"Of course you didn't. You're not that dumb. However that's one of the reasons you're here. Being the soul person who knows where the stone is you're valuable to our quest...In fact we need you."

"Well that's very flattering but I'm afraid you're mistaken. I have absolutely no clue where the Rinopenya is."

Cephalus leaned across the table to make himself level with her and in a low voice he growled, "Don't lie to me Princess."

Adrastea's hand shot out and struck Cephalus across the face like a hammer and Weland jumped out of his seat, grabbing her wrist before she had a chance to do it again...which she would have.

"I wouldn't do that again," he warned.

"Its fine Weland," Cephalus said, wiggling his jaw a bit before straightening out.

"She had good reason."

"You bet I did!" Adrastea shot back.

"What's going on?" Marcy asked, getting up herself.

"There's no use denying it Adrastea. We both know you're lying and we both know that the stone is our last hope."

"No it isn't," Adrastea countered.

"How do you know that?" Adrianna put in, standing up to almost Adrastea's exact height.

"You've been hiding away in your mountains so long you probably don't know who runs half the kingdoms now."

"I know enough."

"Sure you do. Like the Cievo, for instance?"

"That's none of your business!" Adrastea spat.

"People are dying out there! People are loosing everything and you don't have the decency to do something about it!"

"I REFUSE TO BE PART IN A WAR MY OWN KING STARTED!" Adrastea shouted, loosing her temper once more and throwing her chair across the room.

"We don't want a war," Adrianna told her quietly, trying to keep her composure.

Adrastea rolled her eyes and peered at Adrianna, burrowing down into the very pit of her soul.

"You already have one."

"Please, if you two would just get along, we might be able to solve this," Chandra tried to reason.

Dagon looked at Diomedes with a confused expression, than turned his attention to Adrastea.

"If your own king started this war, as you say, then why are you not part of it?" he asked reasonably.

Adrastea snapped her head in his direction with that same cold gaze, but he remained completely calm.

"He may be my king, but it makes my stomach lurch to have to admit it," Adrastea told Dagon in a low voice.

"Everyone! Calm down! I know it's a mismatched group, but you're the best we've got," Cephalus interrupted, seeing where this was heading.

Marcy swallowed hard and walked slowly behind Weland. This was not what she had signed up for.

"Huh, yeah," Diomedes mumbled.

"If they don't kill each other first."

"Cephalus, is the Rinopenya stone really the only option?" Weland asked quietly.

"I swear. Its the only option."

Weland nodded and then turned to the rest of the group.

"If everyone would just sit back down, Adrastea, then we can rationally and collectively go over the facts and Cephalus' plan like civilized people."

Marcy let out a gasp of frustration and slouched in her chair.

"I am never going to figure out what this is all about," she mumbled.

-Here is the next chapter everyone! Finally things are starting to happen XD What did you peoples think? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks again :D - Anna