"Lost but Now Found"

Chapter 6

It's true that, in your last moments, your life flashes before your eyes. A lifetime passed in the blink of an eye as Malone waited for the swift death that Gressan's sword promised.

"Stop! I will not let you kill an innocent man!" A voice was raised from within the crowd.

Malone opened his eyes and saw Ilaya emerge from the throng of people there to witness his execution. Gressan stopped mid-swing and turned to face her.

"You! I have had enough of your meddling, woman!"

Syko nodded, "As have I. Kill them both."

"You filthy coward! She hasn't done anything! Let her go! You have me already!" Malone struggled to save Ilaya but he was powerless.

Syko rose from his seat and addressed his people. "This woman is a traitor to us all. She has been plotting against our kingdom for years. She is most likely a spy for our enemies and she must be punished. It is time for her to pay for her crimes." He turned to Malone and smiled. "I will let Gressan kill her first so you can see what awaits you." Syko laughed maniacally and once again took his seat. "Get on with the show!"

Gressan sneered in delight. "I have been waiting to shut that mouth of yours, old woman. This will be my pleasure."

Ilaya did not struggle. She sent a fleeting smile towards Malone as if she was saying goodbye. She had accepted her death, but Malone hadn't.

"Why are you doing this! She's harmless! The very idea of her being a spy is ridiculous! She loves this city. She would never to anything to betray it or any of you!" Syko ignored Malone's words and gave Gressan the signal to proceed.

Malone's words, however, struck a chord with the crowd. Their city had been plagued with endless violence and death long enough. Their children were dying needlessly, and now a defenseless old women; enough was enough.

As Gressan raised his sword in triumph, chaos broke out. Several people from the crowd charged Gressan while several others attacked the guards. Ilaya was set free and amidst the panic, made her way to Malone and managed to free him of his bonds. "Thank you. That is twice that you've saved my life. I'll repay you one day."

Ilaya smiled sweetly at Malone. "You do not need to. You helped show my people Syko in his true light. I would have gladly died to make sure they saw it. Now here, take this sword. You still have to get that book and get back to your beloved." She winked and handed him the sword.

The battle was slowly shifting in the direction of the people. There were not many guards in the square to begin with, and those that did not turn tail and run when they saw the insurmountable odds were easily taken care of. They were easily caught off guard by the sudden attack and swarming mob.

Malone looked up and saw Syko fighting with a young man half his size. He had knocked him down and was about to run him through with his sword when Malone intervened. "You coward! Try fighting someone who can fight back!" Malone struck Syko in the midsection and watch him slump over in pain.

He looked up and lunged at Malone with his sword drawn but Malone easily deflected his act of fury. "Looks like you're a little rusty Syko. Maybe all those shiny jewels are weighing you down." Syko once again threw himself at Malone. As both of them were scuffling, they both saw the book fall and land with a thud in the dirt. Both forgot each other as they both made a mad lunge for the book but Malone managed to get himself there first. He smiled and held up his prize. "I believe this is mine."

Malone looked into his eyes and he could see the wildness and desperation in his eyes. Syko growled and grabbed a fistful of dirt and launched it into Malone's face. "It will never be yours! Everything in this city belongs to me!" he shouted as he barreled at Malone. As Malone cleared the dust that was impeding his vision, he saw the charging figure of Syko set on a collision course with him. He realized he couldn't get out of the way in time but he decided to take Syko down with him. Blow after blow was exchanged and neither man had gained the upper hand on his opponent. Syko spotted his sword out of the corner of his eye and tried to gain the advantage.

Both the men ran for the sword and Malone kicked it out of his grasp. Syko realized that he was tired and defenseless and wasn't making any progress against Malone. He huffed as his shifty eyes looked around for more options. His face wore a sneer as he turned to look at Malone with a gleam in his eyes. Malone wondered why Syko could be looking around as if he had won somehow, but wrote it off has a delusion of his twisted mind.

"Gressan! Gressan!" Malone looked to his left and saw Gressan quickly approaching him with his sword drawn. He looked back at Syko and saw him sneer once again and bow before he ran in the opposite direction.

"You gutless coward!" He stared after Syko as he saw him weave through the fighting mob and make his way inside the sanctuary of his palace.

"It looks as if we meet in battle once again. This time, I will not let you live."

Malone turned to face his opponent and prepared to once again due battle. He was already heavily fatigued but he pushed that to the back of his mind. He placed the book in the back of his trousers for save keeping and picked up his sword. As they began fighting, Malone saw that he was easily overpowered by Gressan yet again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the running figure of Ilaya running toward Gressan with a sword in hand.

"No Ilaya! Stay back!" Malone took his eyes of his opponent and that was his last mistake. He saw the look of horror flash across Ilaya's face and saw her mouth form something but he never heard what it was she shouted. There was nothing after that…

…. "And that's it."

Malone looked at his friends. Marguerite was the first to snap out of her daze and pick her jaw up off the table. "That's it! What do you mean, that's it? What the bloody hell happened?"

Malone tried to explain. "Well, that's just it. I don't know what happened after that. That was the last thing I remember before I woke up at the tree house with Veronica."

Challenger was silently fingering his beard and trying to come up with a theory that explained everything. He stood up and started pacing. "Well, from the other's experiences, as well as my own, I have come to believe that Veronica and her trion must have saved the plateau. When she used it, she must have ripped all of us out of whatever time or place we were in and therefore, saving each of us from our untimely deaths. I am not all that certain that all of this is scientifically possible, but I am sure it has a core basis in science. I will have to ponder the possibilities down in my lab." Everyone laughed at Challenger's predictability and watched him walk down the stairs to his lab muttering about scientific things they didn't understand.

Malone looked at Veronica and smiled. "I'm glad you made it back safely. I'm sorry I couldn't find out more about your parents for you."

"Well actually," Roxton interjected, "quite a bit has happened while you were gone but I think we'll let Veronica tell you. Marguerite and I will leave you to talk." He winked at Marguerite and offered her his arm to escort her to the balcony.

"Oh wait! Marguerite?" Marguerite turned around. "Yes, Malone?"

"I forgot something," Malone stood up and pulled out the book he labored to get. "When you get a chance, do you think you can take a look at these symbols and see if you can make any sense of them? I know you couldn't make out these symbols before on the journals, but I don't know, do you think you could give it a shot? I'm sure you could figure something out."

Marguerite took the book and smiled brightly at his confidence in her. "If there's any chance of finding Avalon and Veronica's mother, I'll find it." She held onto the book and went to join Roxton out on the balcony leaving Veronica and Malone to resume their conversation.

They talked for hours and Veronica filled him in on all that he missed: Finn, finding the trion, finding her father and also about her mother being in Avalon. "I'm sorry I wasn't here to help your through those times, Veronica. It must have been so hard." He took her hand in his and smiled at her.

She smiled back. "It's all right. I wasn't alone. I had friends with me and I did think of you everyday you were gone." She looked down and sighed.

Malone reached over and gave her a reassuring hug. "Don't worry, we'll find her one day, together."

THE END

A/N: Now you all are probably wondering why I ended this story like I did. I tried to give it enough closure that I don't get any threats ;) but left enough of an opening that I could do a follow-up story later on. This story was supposed to be about Malone and his journey so I couldn't turn it into an Avalon fic. If people are interested in that, I'll write one but right now I'm working on a different fic so it would have to be after that one. Let me know what you guys think! Thank so much for reading and reviewing I appreciate it!