Krazy Kitty: Hi, I'm Krazy Kitty, also known as KK.

Panda: And I'm Panda, for lack of better name.

Fiona_da_fox: Ya. Hi, ya'lls, I'm baaaaack!!

Krazy Kitty: *whispers* she did another story with me once. If you like Sonic the Hedgehog, then read our other story. Also, just so you know, she is crazy. *winks + giggles*

Fiona_da_fox: *glares* hey, I heard that!

Panda: *rolls eyes* They're always like this. Anyways, this is my first fic, so I hope you like it! Please review after you finish, it makes us all feel really good.

Fiona_da_fox and Krazy Kitty: *stops fighting* You said it, Panda! *resumes argument*

Panda: Okees, whatever. So Krazy Kitty and I will be writing the fic (alternating chapters) and Fiona_da_fox is the evil mastermind here.

Fiona_da_fox and Krazy Kitty: WAHOO!! LET THE FIC BEGIN!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer: Don't sue us, it's all Tamora Pierce's (so far, heheheh,) oh, except for Enemaldae. It's ours!!! Err, and the hand. Muahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *chokes and dies*

Enemaldae

By Krazy Kitty, Fiona_da_fox, and Panda

Prologue (by Panda)

The starling glided silently through the forest. This was not a place to make a racket. An evil stillness seeped into every nook, every cranny, filling the place with an almost unbearable feeling of emptiness.

Seeing a pond, the bird landed beside it, filling itself full of water.

Suddenly, a bony hand shot out of the nowhere and gripped the unsuspecting bird by its neck. The bird emitted a strangled shriek, but no one was around to hear it.... No one except for the owner of the hand.

The bird fell limp. He was still breathing, but barely. 'The hand' carried him through the forest and into an old cabin.

This cabin reeked of moldy wood and rotting food. The starling jerked into consciousness and began thrashing madly for all it was worth. The hand thrust the poor creature into a cage and set to work.

The prisoner bird lay dazed inside the cage, eyeing its captor suspiciously. It noticed the hand had a body—how interesting. The body was tall, with a hunched back. But this person was covered in a long, dark cloak. The only parts of them uncovered were the hands. These hands were all skin and bones and boils. Something glinted magically on his right hand: a ring. The ring was made of gold and something the half-dead bird couldn't identify. The starling was mesmerized by it, trying to tear its eyes away from it and failing miserably.

The human sat down on the floor, surrounded by candles. In front of him was a shallow plate of water. The back facing the starling, it meditated, focusing all it's strength on the surface of the water. The owner of the magical ring thought of a distant land, unknown to anyone, where animals served him and him only. There were no meddlesome humans, no one but themselves. The water parted, revealing a portal of some sort.

The man, for the abused starling could see now it was a man, turned and grabbed the bird once more. He then dropped the creature into the portal.

As Shriek, for it was also he, whirled through the portal, he could hear an evil cackle emanate from the cruel man, and thought that though the voice was distorted and cracked from strain, it still called to him from some distant part of his past.

"Welcome to Enemaldae, my precious minion."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter One: Musings of the Great (by Panda)

Sandrilene fa Toren shrieked and sat up in her bed at Discipline. Gasping for air, she thought about the nightmare she just had. It was about Shriek, a starling whom Tris had cared for a few years back. She let him go after he could take care of himself, and they hadn't heard from him since.

That's gratitude for you, she thought bitterly. And from an animal! They were Tris's only friends back when no one wanted her, when humans let her down. She acts like she's gotten over it, but back then when it was fresh, she acted like the whole world let her down, like she couldn't trust anything anymore, not even a plant. Sandry got up and opened the window, hoping the fresh air would cheer her up. Voices drifted in, a skill transferred from Tris into all of them. They couldn't hear the voices as clearly as Tris could, but they still could hear. Most of the voices carried in by the cool spring breezes were fuzzy and muffled, but one was not. It was a cold, cruel, cracked cackle that sent shivers up Sandry's spine. The cackle from her dream!

Suddenly, a hysterical laugh was heard from above. Who would be up there on the roof around third bell in the morning?, thought Sandry. She climbed the ladder to the roof and quietly looked around.

Tris and Briar were there, talking quietly. All of a sudden, Tris grabbed Briar's hand, pulled him down to her level and whispered something in his ear. Sandry was glad to see that Briar looked distinctly uncomfortable. Another mad giggle erupted from Tris, making Sandry cringe. If they were going to flirt, couldn't they do it somewhere else?

Shaking her head and quietly climbing down the ladder so they wouldn't hear her, she made her way back to her bedroom.

"Spying on anyone, saati?"

Sandry nearly jumped out of her skin. "Oh, Daja!" she put a hand over her heart. "I nearly died!"

Daja smirked and stepped out of the shadows. "See anything good up there?" she teased, walking Sandry back to her bedroom.

"I practically gagged," Sandry confided in disgust.

The four were all around the age of sixteen now. They all came back to attend the funeral of Dedicate Skyfire, the brave man who had saved them from the pirates before. He had passed away on a ship going who-knows-where. The funeral was to take place in a week while mages from all over the world came to pay their respects to him. Sandry and her student Pasco arrived only yesterday. Arrived to see Tris making stupid goo-goo eyes at Briar.

Sandry shook her head, trying to make those thoughts go away. No, she thought, Tris's my friend, I shouldn't be jealous!

Shouldn't, but was. Tris had everything she didn't. She wasn't afraid of anything. She had freedom. She had good looks, even if she was a bit chubby. She had Briar.

Sandry wasn't mad at Briar. It wasn't his fault he was so heart-stoppingly-trip-over-your-heart-fly-through-the-air cute.

She could've slapped herself. They were nothing but friends. Sometimes she wondered if they were even that. They were both so busy with their students, Sandry had all her Royal Duties and Briar spent all his free time with Tris that she couldn't really tell.

She wished Daja good night and went into her room. She turned and closed the door behind her, catching a fleeting glimpse of the empty room across the hall. It made her heart ache and whimper. Wait—whimper? Wheeling around, she saw a golden head rise from the bed. "Oh, Little Bear," she sighed, "are you feeling left out too?"

Little Bear's curly head bobbed up and down in a sort of doggy confirmation, and he whimpered again. He was feeling left out. He had always considered himself to be Tris's dog, even though technically he belonged to them all, and now she didn't have the time to give him a pet and tell him he was a good dog. His beautiful brown eyes glistened.

"Ah, I know how you feel." And that was how Little Bear and Sandry became the best of friends.

"Little Bear, you're a good dog."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trisana Chandler awoke in the morning. She felt great, despite her lack of sleep. It was nice to see her friends again. Especially Briar.

He had grown so tall and had become somewhat muscular, much unlike the skinny street rat she had met years ago.

When she was around him, her stomach did flip-flops and she felt like she was walking on air. Time flew by and Tris couldn't get enough of him.

Someone knocked on the door. Expecting it was Briar, Tris opened the door and smiled brightly.

Her smile faded when she saw Daja and Sandry. "Good morning," she said, trying not to sound disappointed.

"You don't sound too happy," commented Daja.

"Why do you say that?" asked Tris, smoothing her unruly curls.

But before Daja could answer, Niko called them downstairs. The two left Tris daydreaming and went to Niko.

Rosethorn called up the stairs in her snappish way, "You'd better get going before Niko gets grumpy, Tris," seeing Sandry and Daja without her.

She hastily called back, "Coming, Rosethorn, coming," and rushed downstairs. Niko, Sandry and Daja were there, making a circle on the floor. Seeing Tris, Niko got up, holding his back and groaning, "I'm getting to old for this. Sandry—" he nodded at the as-always perfectly groomed young girl sitting on the floor—" and Tris, could you fetch Briar? He's taking to long to come back from the Hub."

Sandry nodded and unfolded her legs gracefully, getting up without a wobble or wiggle, and glided through the door with Tris following to look for Briar.

They found him under a tree snaking on a cupcake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Your food can wait," they teased, "but Niko can't."

Briar couldn't be happier. Or could he? He was walking with his mates,* the sun was shining, his belly was full ... if only it was the stitch witch walking beside him ...

Briar pinched himself mentally. What was he thinking about? Sandry had said 'Hi,' to him once, and introduced Pasco to him while he did the same for Evvy, and that was it. And he liked Tris ... but then why was he imagining her with light amber hair and bright cornflower-blue eyes? The stitch witch had cast a spell on him. But what about Tris? She was practically throwing herself at him.

His eyebrows were knit together in frustration and he didn't notice the tree he was about to walk full-speed into.

WHAM! Briar collided with the willow tree head on! He fell backwards and landed on his back. Everything went blurry.

Tris gawked and then ran, holding her hands over her mouth, while Sandry took action.

"Briar!" What was that?, he thought.

"BRIAR!" An angel?

"BRIAR!" He opened his eyes. Kneeling beside him was a vision more beautiful than an angel. A look of worry, then of relief, spread across her face as he got up.

"Ooooooh ..." moaned Briar as he leaned against the tree. His hand felt a nasty bump on his forehead. How could he be so careless? He slid back down and rested his sore legs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sandry could have sworn she heard a crack as Briar collided with the willow. She was now on her knees beside him, hoping he didn't lose his memory or something like that.

"Let me see," she whispered as she carefully pried his hands off his forehead.

Ow! Sandry thought; the bump was worse than she thought. Suddenly, Briar looked up. Piercing green eyes met her blue ones. Sandry's heart beat faster than it ever had before. Her face was level with his. Her small, delicately boned hands were in his, and he gently pulled her closer. Without knowing what was happening, their faces moved slowly together ...

"Oh, my gods!" Tris was behind Sandry. She bit her lip as she stared at the purple-green ... thing that was on Briar's face.

Sandry and Briar shot away from, hoping Tris didn't suspect anything. Apparently Tris was too fascinated with the wound to notice what was going on around her.

She helped Briar up, and slowly the three made their way back to Discipline.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daja almost burst out laughing when she saw the three. Briar looked like he just got beat up by a goat.

"Sandry, what'd you do to him?" teased Daja. Briar tried to scowl at her, but instead winced in pain.

Watch it, Trader girl! He mind-spoke with a mind-scowl.

Evvy, Briar's student, came bursting into the room. She pushed Sandry away politely and gently and looked at her pahan. "Oh, well, it's not that noticeable," she managed through her giggles.

Pasco, who had followed Evvy in, took one look at Briar and was on the floor in an instant, rolling around and choking on his own laughter.

"You two leave him alone!" Daja scolded, biting her tongue so hard it almost bled. "It's not funny," she gasped, trying her best to not break out in giggles. She failed.

"Now, now," Niko reproved, "we don't have that much time. Evvumeimei, Pasco, would you please leave us? And make sure no one disturbs us."

Evvy grumbled and slinked out the door, Pasco following.

Niko turned to the remaining four and told them very seriously, "Listen carefully now, this is extremely important."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Krazy Kitty: Ooooooo, a cliffhanger in your first fic, first chapter ... not bad, Panda.

Fiona_da_fox: When will there be more? There was like nothing for me to do this chapter. No fair!

Krazy Kitty: Hey, c'mon, it's her first! She's a newbie, a rookie! Give 'er a break, will ya?

Fiona_da_fox: Well why should I?

Krazy Kitty: Because she deserves it! This is good stuff here!

Panda: Okay, you guys scare me. Whatever. So remember readers, upgrade from just reader to reader-reviewer by reviewing! If we get ten, we update. Ya.