A/N I know I should be apologising for the lateness of this, but if you haven't forgiven me by now, you never will. I'm a horrible, awful, slow person and my chapters are always far too late. Sorry. We've had a bit of an epiphany, too, and the plotline's changing. If anybody has any questions about what's happening so far, please ask them in case there are issues that need to be addressed that we've overlooked. This story's growing, and there's likely to be a lot more to come. And don't worry… no matter how slow I am (and I am going to try to be quicker next time), we will never give up on it. My chapter's here now and, in case any of you have forgotten (which is likely… again, sorry), here's a summary of what's happened so far:

Shera leaves home with the intentions of becoming a travelling saleswoman, and finds her way to Morwen, to whom she sells a trowel and learns of a prophecy possibly involving herself. Gavin leaves home, reluctantly, to find and rescue the princess Aerida, with a mysterious stone, given to him by his fairy godmother. When Suz sees the stone, Gavin is sent to see Cimorene and Mendanbar, and then, via Morwen's house with Daystar, to Kazul. There he meets Shera and the trio travel to the MoM. Along the way, a wizard who tries to kidnap Shera because he thinks she is the Guardian stops the trio, but the stone breaks his staff and Daystar melts him.

At the Mountains of Morning the three meet Shiara and Aerida, Gavin's princess who refuses to be rescued, and then go and see Kazul, who suggests that Gavin is the Guardian, but is uncertain about Shera, and says that the stone is a part of the Trinity. Gavin and Daystar leave to find other parts of the Trinity, while Shera, Shiara, Aerida, and Belvio go to find out Shera's place in the whole mess. They meet Darella, who confirms that Shera has a part in the prophecy but won't say what, and a magician named Remanan joins their group. They are attacked by demon imps, and Belvio gets Avendascura to heal the demons' poison. He also finds a Vambanwerefrog, who is actually an extremely unlucky prince named Jinx. Jinx hops along for the ride with them, hoping to find a cure. (and hoping that Shera will realise that she has an undying passion for him).

Meanwhile, Gavin and Daystar go to Gavin's kingdom, Arsta, with Cimorene and Mendanbar accompanying them as far as the border, and find themselves in the middle of a dry patch in the forest. The king and queen of the Enchanted Forest leave to talk with Telemain and Morwen, and Gavin and Daystar go into Arsta, invisible so Gavin won't be recognised and sent back to finish his quest for Aerida. After sneaking in through the dungeons of his castle, Gavin recognises Warkund torturing an innocent boy, Dafyyd, and he jumps into the fray. He is easily overpowered, and throws the stone to Daystar before he falls unconscious. When he wakes up, Gavin learns that his father is dead, and his uncle, Hornbalt, rules in his place.

The group including Remanan, Belvio, and Shera are attacked yet again by demons. When Remanan comes to, Aerida tells him that the wizard took the bodies of their friends away.

Chapter 10: In Which Questions are Answered and Problems Arise

Shera sat up slowly and rubbed her pounding head. She ached all over. Cautiously, looking around, Shera winced as the movement caused fresh pain to sear her brain and examined the room. She appeared to be in a damp dungeon of sorts. The dimly lit stone walls were covered in mould and illuminated, barely, by a skylight in the distant ceiling high above.

Turning to her right, Shera saw an unconscious body with bright red hair. With a gasped, "Shiara!" Shera scrambled over to her friend's side. Ignoring her aching muscles, she forced herself to check her friend's pulse rate. Shiara appeared to be breathing normally so Shera sat back with a sigh of relief. What exactly had happened to them? And, she wondered, where are the others? Beside her, Shiara stirred.

"Ow, my head!" the fire-witch moaned. Then she caught sight of Shera and smiled weakly. "I feel like I've been trampled by a horde of demons," she informed the princess. Shera smiled wryly.

"Ironic, isn't it? Do you know how we got here?"

"No clue," Shiara admitted. "There were so many of them, and they swarmed past my fire spells. Last I remember, some wizard was laughing as I got pounded by demons."

"That's all I can remember, too. Do you think the wizard brought us here, then?"

"He must have," Shiara replied after a moment's thought. "This doesn't look much like the underworld to me. What about the others? What d'you think happened to them?" She bit her lip, a worried frown on her face.

"I saw Remanan go down," Shera replied, trying to keep the tears threatening to spill down her face in check. "He was badly poisoned. I don't… I'm not sure if he could have recovered without immediate attention."

The girls sat in silence for a while. At last, Shiara shook her head and slowly rose to her feet.

"There's not a whole lot we can do, now," she told Shera. "We'll find them once we get out of here. Is there any chance of escape?"

"Escape is not an option," a cold voice said from one of the deeply shadowed corners of the room. Shera peered into the darkness in an attempt to discern a shape or form. Her heart started to beat harder; she wasn't afraid, not for herself at least, but for the others. What had happened to them?

"Who the hell are you?" Shiara snapped. Shera smiled nervously and her fears were somewhat quelled. Shiara had no reservations about being rude when it suited her.

"My name," the cold voice said abruptly, "is Abraxus. You will come with me. My master will wish to see the two of you shortly."

"Who is your master?" Shera asked him.

Abraxus emerged from the shadows, and Shera found herself gazing up at his ornate black and silver gilded robes. Quite dusty around the hems, the princess found herself thinking, silver is quite the impractical colour; every speck of dirt shows. The man had brown hair and a thick build; his eyes gleamed with fanatic zeal for his mysterious 'master', the only element that drew away from his almost-handsome looks. Well, that and his look of disgust at the two ladies in front of him. Shera had the feeling that she had seen him before, something that puzzled her. She tried to keep away from wizards as a matter of course; even the supposedly 'good' ones had a tendency towards unpleasantness.

"My master," Abraxus replied with a fervent look of adoration in his eyes, "is the most powerful being in creation!"

"Why'd he have this brainless idiot kidnap us, then?" Shiara muttered to Shera.

"Silence!" Abraxus thundered. "I will not have my master insulted like this! You will show him respect. He will one day rule the entire kingdom! The Enchanted forest will be his!"

"And this is where he bursts into evil maniacal laughter," Shera commented dryly in an undertone to Shiara, rolling her eyes.

Shiara suppressed a laugh and said to Abraxus, "Take us to this master of yours, then." Sobering, she added, "I would very much like to talk with him."

With a disdainful sniff the wizard placed his cold stare on the princesses, Abraxus gestured peremptorily for the girls to follow him and exited the room, his wizards' robes swirling dramatically. He appeared not to hear Shera's muttered "melodrama!" as he led the way to his evil overlord.

They made their way out of the dank dungeons, climbing damp staircase after damp staircase until they finally reached a huge, mostly empty, room. The gave off the muted glow of polished marble, black against the dim light. The large windows lining the sides of the room let in the last rays of the setting sun, providing just enough light to show that the room was mostly bare, with what appeared to be an empty throne as its only piece of furniture at the far end.

Abraxus indicated that they should precede him and the two girls made their way over to the chair, casting puzzled glances at one another. As they approached, the throne showed itself not to be empty. Rather, it was occupied by a lizard, which appeared to be sleeping contentedly in some sort of sword sheath. It was strangely reminiscent of Suz.

Shera could not help herself; an "awww" escaped her lips before she had a chance to keep it in. She looked guiltily at Shiara, but the fire-witch did not seem to have noticed. In fact, she, too, seemed to be looking at the lizard with soft eyes and an adoring smile curled at the corners of her lips. Then she shook herself and turned to look at Shera.

With a rueful grin, she said, "He is cute. But where's the evil overlord?"

Making them both jump, Abraxus, from right behind them, said, "Snuz, I present to you these two ladies."

From the throne, the lizard stirred. It cracked an eye open. "Why are there two of them?" it asked in a cold voice. Both Shera and Shiara jumped.

"You're the overlord?" Shiara blurted out. "But you're…"

"Far too good looking, yes, I know," the lizard interrupted wearily. He had an air of resignation surrounding him, and a melancholia that was oddly incongruous in the small lizard. "I have tried to make myself ugly, but to no avail. It seems I must bear my curse with the dignity appropriate to one of my station." Suddenly changing tone, his voice sharpened abruptly. "Abraxus! I ask you again, why are there two of them?"

"The… the red head is Shiara, my lord, princess to Kazul and Daystar's future wife. I… I thought you might… that is… I mean… well, sir, she could be useful."

"I see," Snuz replied doubtfully. He turned his head to the side comically, looking at Shiara. "Very well then." He turned his scrutiny to Shera, and said, "Guardian! Where is the stone?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Shera told him flatly. Inwardly, her mind reeled. She had suddenly remembered why Abraxus looked so familiar; he had tried to kidnap her that day when she had set out for the Mountains of Morning with Daystar and Gavin! They thought she was the Guardian, and they thought she had the stone. And it must stay that way, she told herself firmly. They must never find out that she, in fact, did not have the stone. If they were to hunt down Gavin…

"I think," Snuz told her coolly, "that you do. You fit all the prophecies, and you must certainly have figured it out by now. You are the Guardian. Abraxus himself saw you throw the stone at him." Snuz shot an icy glare at Abraxus. "Yet he somehow managed to not only lose the stone but get himself melted in the process. You had stone, you threw it at him, and you know where it is. Tell me!"

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about," Shera repeated stubbornly. "I never threw any stone at Abraxus." That much, at least, is true.

"Do not lie to me," Snuz told her, but he was beginning to look slightly worried.

"I'm not lying to you!" Shera snapped back truthfully.

Snuz's eyes narrowed, then he blinked. "You're not! You're really not! How strange."

"Suz!" Shiara said suddenly. He was remarkably like the friendly lizard, save in colour and, of course, in overall manner.

"How do you know about Suz?" Snuz asked, surprised. Then he shrugged, an action that looked extremely strange in the bronze-coloured six-inch-long lizard. "Unimportant. You did not throw the stone at Abraxus, perhaps, but you had it then and you have it now."

"Shera!" Shiara whispered urgently. "I think he can tell when you're lying. Don't say-"

"–Silence!" Snuz bellowed. The sound was remarkably loud for such a small lizard. "Abraxus!" he commanded.

"Yes, sir." With an unpleasant smile he pointed his staff towards Shiara and began an incantation. Seconds later, Shiara was clutching at her throat, glaring at Abraxus. Her mouth was moving, as if she was shouting, but Shera could hear no sound.

"What did you do to her?" Shera demanded furiously. A situation that had seemed unreal and slightly comical was suddenly serious. They were in very real danger.

"None of your concern," Snuz replied coldly. "You will tell me where the stone is, now."

"I will not tell you where the stone is! Fix my friend!"

"Perhaps a little persuasion is in order," Snuz said after brief contemplation. "Abraxus? See if you can't change her mind." Abraxus raised his hand and approached Shera. "No!" Snuz shouted in a tone that made the wizard grimace. "The fire witch, you idiot, not the Guardian."

His face cold as sculpted marble, Abraxus approached the fire-witch. The Shiara stood her ground, but fear flickered in her eyes. Shera made a sudden movement and a wordless cry as Abraxus grabbed Shiara's hair and drove his knee into her stomach.

"I do not have the stone!" Shera shouted. "I don't have it, I don't know where it is, and I don't know what the other part of the Trinity is!"

Abraxus continued, yanking Shiara's face back brutally as she struggled. He dealt a heavy blow to the side of her face, and she sank to the ground in pain, blood trickling down her scalp.

"Make him stop!" Shera screamed.

"You know something," Snuz said with narrowed eyes. "I'm not sure what it is, but there's something you know that you're not telling me. Very well, if you insist in withholding information… we'll see how long you can last without food and water before you're willing to talk. Abraxus! Take Shera back to the dungeons… we will keep the fire-witch here until the princess is ready to speak."

Meanwhile, Belvio had made his way to the Mountains of Morning. He narrowly missed Cimorene's sign as he crash-landed; he hurried into the caves, shouting for the King. Belvio, for the second time in two days, was rapidly approaching full panic mode. The dragon was in a state of despair. He had been the protector of his friends – and his princess! And now a Demon Lord had attacked them, Shera and Shiara disappeared, and his princess and Remanan were gone without a trace as well.

Could Aerida, his first and only princess be dead? NO! Belvio internally screamed at the thought. Not my princess! He had flown to the Mountains of Morning in constant agony. What if she was still alive? What if he had left her wounded amongst the demon corpses? But I looked, Belvio argued with himself, I looked for hours and I couldn't find her... maybe she went to find help. The thought brought his spirits up. Yes, that was it. She had left to find help.

Belvio flew through the corridors while asking frantically for Kazul. The dragons he passed looked at him with shocked expressions. Finally, he was able to discover that his grandmother was in her private chambers.

He screeched into a halt as the Kazul herself opened the door in front of him, looking at Belvio with concern in her large eyes.

"What has happened?" she asked. Belvio noticed that there were several people behind her, trying to see past the King of Dragons to find out what was happening.

"Demons," Belvio panted. "Attack… princess… disappeared… dead…"

"Take a moment to gather your breath," Cimorene advised, her voice floating around Kazul in the entrance. Realising that she was blocking the doorway Kazul retreated into the room, allowing Belvio to enter and catch his breath. Cimorene, Mendanbar, Telemain, and Morwen were all with Kazul, peering at Belvio and looking both frustrated and worried.

"Are you all right?" Mendanbar asked, trying to keep the impatience of his voice. It was of course, considered very bad manners to be rude to a dragon – and Belvio was Kazul's grandson.

"Yes," Belvio said, still out of breath but not panting quite so loudly. "I was with the princesses and Remanan and Prince Jinx, when these demons attacked and I couldn't find the Avendascura in time and then the wizard took Shera and Shiara's bodies and Jinx told me to come and find you but-"

"That's almost as bad as your panting," Kazul informed Belvio, not unkindly but with worry in her eyes. "You were attacked?"

"Yes. Demons came, they attacked us. Remanan and I tried to hold them off, but there were so many, and their king was there."

"Remanan?" Cimorene inquired.

"Yes, Darella introduced him to us," Belvio explained.

Kazul's eyes glittered. "Perhaps you'd better explain from the beginning."

"King Hugo's dead," Gavin repeated numbly.

"I'm sorry, your highness," Dafyyd replied, still trembling at Gavin's feet. Ignoring the muttered "I'm not a royal" of the other man, he whispered "I… I saw it… your uncle…" he took a breath, looking up at Gavin. "Your uncle hired the assassins. Hornbalt wanted the throne."

"I… oh god… f – King Hugo, dead…" Gavin put a hand to his forehead, trying to think. "What about m – the Queen?" he asked urgently. "And their… other sons? Are they okay?"

"Queen Isabelle, she… died along with the King," Dafyyd replied. "And your brothers," he gulped, "disappeared." Dafyyd was slowly recovering from his hysterical panic and now shot appraising glances at Gavin. There was still the odd twitch in the bard's eyes, and his muscles were still taught, but he gathered enough courage to ask, "how is it that you are here, your highness?"

"I'm not 'your highness,'" Gavin replied automatically.

"No, your highness," Dafyyd replied.

"Don't call me that!"

"Yes, your high-" Dafyyd stopped suddenly at Gavin's glare.

After a short pause that convinced the prince that Dafyyd wasn't going to shout out his royal identity he answered, "A Quest." Then he said: "Did they capture my friend?"

"When he caught whatever it was you threw at him it looked like he was going to come over here. Then when you said his name Warkund stiffened, sort of, and told the guards to chase him. That man – Daystar? He put the thing in his pocket and ran. I thought it was cowardly, but… what was that thing you threw at him?"

"Something important," Gavin told him. "And try not to say that name out loud. Did they catch him?"

"I don't think so. One of the guards came back just as Warkund was about to take you somewhere. They talked, too quietly for me to hear, and then Warkund began swearing. They left us on the floor and ran out, slamming the door."

"Ohh," Gavin groaned. "If they've caught him…" he was interrupted by the sound of stamping footsteps coming closer. Dafyyd shrunk into the wall, his eyes widening in fear.

"Don't… your highness, don't tell them I told you anything!" he begged.

The door slammed open. Warkund entered, accompanied by King Hornbalt.

Daystar stood hidden behind a tapestry, holding his breath as the boots of soldiers marched by. Please don't let them find me, he thought. Something was very definitely wrong with Gavin's kingdom. Think, he told himself. There's obviously been some sort of coup d'état. I'm going to have to get Gavin free, somehow, and we're going to have to get out of here. But how?

Their original purpose had been to search through the castle's armoury. He could do that now, he supposed, but the very thought of leaving Gavin to the dungeons and Warkund's men cast a heavy weight in Daystar's stomach. Yet what could he do? If Gavin escaped, knights would scour the castle even more. Together, they would have a much higher chance of detection, and would probably never be able to check the armoury. Alone, Daystar would be able to sneak through the castle, since barely anyone knew what the prince of the Enchanted Forest looked like. At least, he hoped barely anyone knew how the prince of the Enchanted Forest looked like. And he had the stone. Though a fat lot of good it does me, Daystar thought sourly, the darn thing only works for Gavin. Still though, the prince supposed the stone would at least recognize one of its own.

With a sound of frustration, Daystar decided to search for the castle's armoury. The constant thought that every moment he spent searching for the Trinity could very well be the last moment of his friends' life made the half-hour it took to find the armoury much longer than it really was. He was anxious and bone-weary and had almost run into groups of knights twice. Edging the door open, carefully in case there was somebody inside, Daystar slipped into the room. The door closed behind him, leaving him in the dark. As his eyes adjusted he saw that the room was full of shelves, tables, and chests that contained daggers, swords, knives, and armour of every shape, size, and description. The walls were lined with clubs, staffs, maces, axes, and even, in one corner, what looked suspiciously like a scythe. Daystar suppressed a cry of despair. It was going to take him hours to sort through all the weapons to find one missing a stone! Stay alive, Gavin, Daystar thought urgently.

Three hours later, Daystar turned to the last chest, and found it to be full of boots. Reflecting that it would be highly unlikely that the second part of the Trinity would be a boot, Daystar sorted through the chest anyway. The stone remained a foggy white diamond. He scowled at the boots, closed the lid then sat on the dusty oaken chest. A small part of his brain told him he should eat, but after withdrawing a sandwich from his pack, he found himself absently turning it into a ball of mush. He had searched the entire armoury, and not a single sword or knife had been missing a jewel. Daystar wanted to blast the entire armoury into a million microscopic pieces. A small part of his brain told him that doing so probably wouldn't do Gavin any good, though. With a sigh Daystar raised the soggy sandwich to his mouth and froze as he heard the squeak of the armoury door open. Ducking hurriedly behind the chest, he held his breath as his heart seemed to have jumped to his throat.

"Nothing here, m'lord," Daystar heard a voice call out. "Nobody's been here in years, by the looks of it." Daystar heard a muffled reply, and then the voice shouted back, "Of course sir. He's prob'ly fled the castle by now anyway, the way he came in. Dunno how he managed it, though."

A bubble of hope seemed to grow in his mind. Daystar waited for the door to close and then sat still for a few more minutes just to be safe. After a silent sigh of relief and an easing of his chest, his heart rate seemed to return to its normal pace. Now he had to find his friend and get out of there, before something bad happened. Something worse, he amended grimly. Being held prisoner in one's own castle was hardly a good situation to be in. Cautiously, he stood and made his way to the door.


A/N Okay, I've gone through and made a couple of mini-changes… nothing huge, just enough to satisfy my obsessive tendencies. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, but hopefully it won't take as long as I managed to take with this one. Forgive me!