Serena's POV:

We camped about four hours away from the Council Building in a rather remote camping spot that looked like it hadn't been used in a very long time. Saphira came out of the trees with a small bag of fruit; she no longer cared if our new two members saw her now that they knew she was around. She placed the bag by the fire and Lucas put the fruit into a bowl before passing it around.

I picked out a pink oblong fruit that I had tried in the past. Darien chose some weird lumpy purple thing. Saphira came over to us and sat on her heels, "The woods are quiet, although there is a pride of felines to the east."

Alex inquired, "Brown or black, do you know?"

"Black."

He frowned, "Those things could be trouble if they attacked. Even just two or three are dangerous. How many are there?"

"We will keep them away from the camp. Don't wander too far though."

I found it interesting to watch Alex and Fiona. The Tarulk usually were not much for contact, but these two were never really apart. Their eyes always trailed towards one another and the love in their eyes was unmistakable. No wonder Darien and I had stood out.

I murmured to Darien, "Were the two of us that obvious?"

He glanced towards the two lovebirds, "I hope not..."

Alex must have overheard us since he looked our way with an amused expression, "You two were often worse. Most of the time you glared at anyone who even came close, and you barely let her out of arm's reach, let alone out of your sight."

I leaned my face into Darien's shirt to try and hide my rising blush. Fiona spoke quietly, her voice amused, "She is so shy that she is cute."

That did not help the heat rising on my cheeks. Darien merely chuckled and wrapped his arms around me as he held me close.

I tried to control my nervousness as we kept travelling. Soon, far too soon, Darien would leave me in Saphira's care while he went to confront the Council. Rare glimpses of blue in the trees beside us showed that Saphira was close by.

We were passing more traffic now, as well as one or two groups of fighters, but I kept my eyes down and none of them so much as paused in their journey. It looked like I had better get used to wearing this hat if it made travelling so much easier.

Several small carts and a covered cart were approaching and I closed my eyes once more as I leaned against Darien as if simply relaxing without a care in the world.

"Halt. Pull over for an inspection." I tensed up slightly as a stranger spoke loudly.

Alex sounded slightly irritated, "What is the meaning of this? We are clearly not hauling any cargo."

"All people along this road are being stopped for an inspection by order of the Council. It won't take long and you can be on your way."

I opened my eyes up slightly to watch the soldier through my eyelashes. Alex growled as a soldier got too close to his mate. The guard eyed him up, but gave them a bit more space as they checked the cart. They didn't open or even really look at our bags of supplies, so I wasn't too sure what they were looking for as they checked under the cart and around the wheels.

Darien watched them closely as they turned to our cart and started checking around the wheels. Lucas gave the guards a mild glare of dislike as they checked the underside of the cart. The one guard looked up, clearly inspecting us. His eyes widened as he got a close-up look at me.

My jolt of fear and unease rippled through the bond and caused Darien to growl at the man. He backed up a few swifts steps, "She's a human!" His tone of voice showed that I was what they had been truly searching for all along.

Darien snarled as he swiftly pushed me to the floor of the cart just before an arrow plowed into the seat above me. Darien left the cart as he raced in the direction the arrow had come from. Saphira's battle cry to the side was followed by shouts from several Tarulk as she joined the fight.

This cart was built differently than others I had been in, and I was still visible to at least a third of the fighters. I saw Alex and Fiona jump off of their cart. Alex pushed Fiona towards the cart and she crawled under the low object, shielded from the bowman.

Lucas jumped down to the side of the cart, "Quick! Get under the cart!" I needed no further urging as I scrambled to my feet. Lucas went to help me jump down, before quickly pulling his hands back with an exclamation of pain as my skin burned his at the mere touch. I slid down to the ground, letting my knees give way to keep me close to the hard packed dirt.

I quickly rolled underneath the cart and flattened myself to the ground as I saw Lucas' boots charge towards the boots that belonged to more fighters. The bond twisted in my fear and Darien's rage. I could see at least a dozen fighters were already slumped on the ground in death, but many more boots were scattered around us.

Arrows whizzed through the air as the other Dranek guards joined the battle, although the Tarulk fighters were sturdy and kept fighting if they were able, returning fire on the Dranek, Darien, Alex, and Lucas. The creature hitched to the cart squealed in sudden pain and bolted, taking the cart sheltering me with it.

I glanced around wildly, unsure of where to run with so many arrows flying through the air and hostile Tarulk outnumbering my allies. There were attacking fighters in several directions, which limited my options.

A log rolled over near the side of the road as a grey furry creature rose out of the concealed hiding spot with a crossbow. The Valrid aimed his bow in my direction as he bared his sharp teeth at me. My breath froze in my throat as I desperately tried to scramble to my feet. There was no way I was going to be able to dodge an arrow...

Saphira skidded into the line of fire halfway between us as she screamed at the Valrid while blocking me from his sight. I looked around hastily for a better hiding place and saw a shallow cave between two boulders on the other side of the road. Thankfully, there were no fighters between me and it. I kept low as I raced over and rolled into the crevice.

I hurriedly pushed a few flat rocks upright to act as shields to mostly protect my curled-up form. I looked up in time to see the Valdrid collapse with three Dranek arrows showing how he had met his demise. Darien was further down the road attacking more bowmen.

Saphira was still uninjured and I was relieved to see that. She glanced back at me, making sure I was out of the line of fire. The only warning I had was a faint creak before the ground under me gave way.

I fell down as a scream escaped my lips. My scream cut off as I hit the bottom of the hole. I gingerly sat up as I checked for injuries. The floor was some sort of metal... The light dimmed and I looked up to see Saphira's panicked face appear, "Serena!"

She rolled through the narrow opening and dropped down beside me, landing with far more grace than I had. A grinding sound made both of us look up as the entire slab of rock above us dropped down. At this angle, I was able to see that it was rectangular and almost the exact same size as the rectangular hole we had fallen into.

The room was plunged into darkness with an echoing boom as we were sealed inside of what was now clearly a small chamber. Fear made the bond twist and I could dimly hear Darien's roar. I took a deep breath, even though it wanted to hitch in my throat, as I started to hum to let Darien know where I was.

A cranking noise came from below us before the entire room dropped, distracting me from my hum. Saphira grabbed me and held me tight, but we were both falling. Saphira managed to land on her feet, although there was not enough room for her to stand up. She snarled at the walls and shifted me to one arm without relinquishing her hold on me.

A jolt upwards, and a resounding thud, marked her attempt to get the lid off, but it was on solidly. Dim light suddenly shone through a small hole in the lid before a small canister dropped down, spewing some sort of colored gas into the air.

It was the exact same smell as whatever chemical Clair had used on the cloth. I quickly tried to hum a purification hum. Purifying air must not use the same notes though, I quickly tried to discover them, but my head became hazy as my concentration wavered.

Saphira staggered to the side before going down on her knees for stability as the room suddenly started moving once more, but to the side. It felt like I was on a fast roller coaster heading in a mostly straight line, and it was going very fast judging from how the distance between myself and Darien grew. My head was too heavy to hold upright and I leaned my head against Saphira as I fought to stay awake.

"Serena! Are you okay? Answer me!" Saphira's panicked and worried voice started to grow distant as my muscles relaxed on their own accord.

Darkness moved in.