answers

 The warriors of Lethia prepared to charge Vabesh’s walls. Their faces were grim as they sharpened their blades and tested their shields. They knew what the scouts had found. The army of Ovaria was behind them, the near-impenetrable walls of Vabesh in front of them. They were trapped, and the scouts’ requay of the amount of the Ovarians was not encouraging. 

“Like hordes of wasps coming from a disturbed nest,” the scout had requayed with eyes wide with fear. “Their horses are strong, and are coming faster then the wind, with clouds of dust behind them!” 

Elden and his generals, along with King Haro, rode proud horses around as the warriors assembled in lines. Their spears fifteen feet long extended like a forest of trees into the air. The sun glinted off their shining armor and weapons. There were thousands of them, preparing to storm the powerful walls of Vabesh. Atop the walls, the King of Vabesh oversaw the warriors of Lethia preparing for the attack, a wind snapping their banners and robes. 

“A magnificent sight,” one of the generals said as he looked at the soldiers falling into line.

“It will be magnificent when they are dead or being sold in the markets,” the King growled. 

***

A powerful jolt shot through the wagon, ditching Nevara off the bench and onto the floor. She was already covered in bruises from such dumps. The wagon they were being pulled in lurched violently with every bump. Lyri, Mina, and Nevara were already somewhat battered. 

“Can’t we go any slower?” Mina gasped, trying to stay upright as the wagon tilted alarmingly and then fell back with a crack!

“Of course not,” Lyri snapped. “This army is about speed.”

Their feelings for the war and the painful ride was getting on their nerves. 

“Speeding to death,” Nevara muttered. 

“Please tell me we are almost wherever we are going,” Mina moaned. 

“I don’t-” Lyri began, but all of the sudden they went over another rock, and the wagon careened to one side. A large cupboard on the side swung open, smacking Nevara on the side of her face painfully! A couple pillow and two bodies came flying and landed on the couch on one side. The wagon straightened and Lyri stood up and gasped as she saw the stowaways. 

“Who… who are you?” she asked frightened.

“Oh settle down,” a male voice said sarcastically. Zable popped his head up. Noticing Nevara’s look of surprise he added, “You didn’t really think I was going to miss the battle did you?”

“And you didn’t think I would just leave you?” Veil pushed the cushions off herself and came up next to her brother.

Nevara introduced the two to Mina and the one to Lyri, but was cut short as they went over another bump and they were sent flying again. Finally, everyone calmed down and found something to stabilize themselves with as they went flying over the desert. 

“My husband is not going to be happy about this,” Lyri said, glancing at Zable suspiciously. She had noticed the knives gleaming on his belt. 

“Don’t worry I won’t hurt you. The king is dead so there’s no point in kidnapping you now if there’s no one to pay me,” Zable shrugged. Lyri looked horrified. 

***

Daron urged his horse on faster. He could see faintly the clouds that marked the oasis next to the city of Vabesh. They would be there in an hour at most. Behind him were several sailors who had volunteered to help in the battle as well as some of the citizens of the village they had landed on, eager to throw off the cruel chains of Vabesh that had enslaved them for so long. They came with pitchforks, rusty swords, and kitchen knives, but they were eager for revenge, and Daron was going to make sure that they got it. He was given a sword by Garin. He hoped he wouldn’t have to use it. Kethias had never told him what the prophecy said he would do, but he knew that it would involve a wind master, and he knew that it must happen at Vabesh. If it didn’t then he hoped the combined forces of Novost and Lethia would be able to destroy the armies of Vabesh. 

***

“Charge!” Elden screamed, pointing his sword at the walls. “Charge for revenge! Revenge for your property! Revenge for your families! Revenge for your fallen king!”

A terrifying war cry burst from the mouths of the warriors! All had lost something in Ovaria’s raid and the invasions of Vabesh, and they were ready for revenge! Elden urged his horse forward, never letting his sword point move from Vabesh. He jerked back the reins and the horse reared in the air, it’s own blood stirred up by the fierceness of the cries around it! Elden let its front legs come back to the ground and the horse tore towards Vabesh like an arrow from a bow! Witha  noise like thunder, the army of Vabesh surged forward! Great walls of wood pushed by oxen and horses went in front of them shielding them slightly from the arrows fired at them by the Vabesh archers. Behind them, dozens of trebuchets and gigantic crossbows fired bolts and large stones, hurling through the air and into the walls. The bolt landed towards the top, shattered the thin wall and walkways the archers stood on, killing many and sending the rest plummeting hundreds of feet to the earth. Another salvo of bolts came as the engineers systematically attempted to clear the walls out of arrow range. The trebuchets launched boulders again and again at the base of the wall, crashing into it with force of a hurricane. Gradually, as the great army moved forward, the outer brick was dented, and finally was no longer able to supquay the brick on top of it! A large section of the wall crumbled away, sending the top pieces smashing into the ground in front and behind it, sending dust clouds into the air as screaming archers fell to their doom. The walls of Vabesh were constructed with a thick layer facing out, and a thinner layer facing in, and in between these was filled with gravel. When the outer wall crumbled, the gravel fell down and made hills, so when the army came to the walls they were forced to leave the cover of the great wooden shields behind them and run pell mell through the small breach made by the trebuchets. Only a dozen or so troops could get through at a time, so the Vabesh warriors fired arrows and poured boiling oils and liquids on their heads. With a shriek, the first wave. The second wave to go through carried their shields above their head, and most made it in to face the pikemen of Vabesh. More came quickly as they could, and though some fell, gradually a small force came inside and fought the pikemen. Elden leaped off his horse and joined his men, screaming like a phantom. His blade had never fallen away from Vabesh, and now he drove it home, sinking it into the chest of a pikemen! He pulled it out and slashed the chest of another. More and more came at him but the blade sang with even more fury as their corpses began to litter the field around him He was wounded in six places, blood streaming from his wounds and staining his clothes and armor, but he seemed not to notice. He seemed undefeatable, and he inspired the warriors around him! HTey formed a formation and charged forward, their long spears had been exhausting to carry across the sands to the city, but now they proved their usefulness as they stabbed forward, far out of reach of the pikemen. Elden paused as the pike men retreated, leaving many of their comrades dead or dying. Elden took a torch and threw it onto a nearby hut. It quickly lit, and with a rush of heat incinerated. His forces began to regroup, flinging torches on nearby buildings. The smoke made it difficult for the archers to aim, and the arrows came far less frequently and even more less accurately. More and more of Elden’s warriors came through the breach. Elden could hear more of the walls crumbling as the trebuchets continued to batter down even more breaches, so even more of the vast army could get in. 

“What are your orders commander?” a captain asked. 

“Send out the signal to form a formation with the shields,” Elden said, breathing hard, leaning on his sword. “The Vabeshians will have retreated to another wall, and we must not be caught unawares by arrows or trebuchets. Burn everything to throw off their aim and give us cover, but leave a large building to lock the male citizenry in, we can’t have them attacking us from behind, though I think this place was mostly evacuated.”

“Aye sir!” the captain saluted and raced off. Trumpets sounded giving orders to the other men. 

Elden was exhilarated that they had gotten through the first wall. The second would be easier. Perhaps they could win this war without the water master after all. 

***

Daron and his company left their horses behind, tied to some cactuses and walked to a small gate. They knocked, and a soldier opened a small window on the door and glared at them suspiciously. 

“Who are you?”

“Friends,” Daron answered. 

“You look like Lethians,” the soldier glared at him. “All of ya do.”

“We are Lethians that supquay the King of Vabesh,” Daron insisted. 

“Who do I know?”

“Take me to you're captain, I’ll explain everything to him.”

“Well, I guess that can’t hurt anything.”

The soldier opened a small door built into the large main door and let them in glancing at them as they passed him into a small gatehouse. 

“Leave your weapons in that barrel,” he ordered rudely. 

“Like this one?” Daron asked, holding up his sword. 

“Yeah, like tha-oof!”

Daron slammed the pommel into the guard’s helmet, knocking him out. 

“Nice job kid,” one of the sailors turned warrior grunted. Suddenly a trap door opened in the ceiling and another guard looked down suspiciously.

“What's all that racket-Lethians!” The trapdoor slammed shut. Before they could move, more opened and boiling hot oil was spilled through, scalding one of them to death. The rest leaped wildly away, but more opened and more and more came pouring down. Three more men died as the boiling oil engulfed them. Daron saw a well in the corner, and quickly forced some water out of it, forming a shield over their heads, and sent some blasting through each of the  murderholes! Cries of pain and surprise burst from the other end. SOme of the men broke the gatehouse down and burst into the street, only to find themselves surrounded by a hundred pikemen, their weapons poised towards them. 

“Well, that's unfortunate,” one of Daron’s men sighed. Suddenly, a pillar of flame shot down the middle, setting many of them aflame! The earth rippled, sending them crashing down and a wind forced pike out of their hands. A group of teenage warriors raced towards them, their hands spread out. They were the masters from the beginning of the war, and in their ranks was Klarin!

Daron let out a shout and ran forward. 

“Daron!” Klarin shouted, wrapping an arm around him. “I thought you were dead when that crazy old man took you away!”

“And I thought you had died in one of the battles!” Daron laughed. It was so good to see someone he knew, even if he hadn’t had the best relationship with him, that they acted as if they were best of friends their entire life. 

“How’s the battle going?” Daron asked. 

“It’s going well,” Klarin said as the masters escorted Daron and the rest of the men through the smoking and burning huts. “We’ve already breached the first wall, as you can see, and Elden is preparing an assault on the second. Most of our forces survived, though some didn’t. The Vabeshians put up a fight, and I expect they’ll put up an even bigger fight on the second wall, but with the Novost army pressing them from the back, I don’t think they’ll be able to do much. I’m surprised, this whole battle has seemed kind of easy, and yet people always said the Vabeshians were more skilled than us. Either they were wrong or-”

“Or it’s all a trap,” Daron finished.

***

The wagon jolted to a stop, spilling all five of it’s occupants onto the floor. Nevara peered out the window. A few miles away reared the place she had been dreading. 

Vabesh. 

It was smoking. 

“The battle’s already started!” she gasped. 

“Alright!” Zable pumped his fist eagerly. “I finally get to see some real action!”

“Calm down,” Lyri moaned. “I wish this war had never even started!” 

“Our army will be destroyed!” Veil cried. “With your army here, my countrymen have no way out.” 

“We must talk to Drake!” Lyri said determinedly. “Everybody out!”

“Suit yourself!” Zable cried. “I’m going to the battle!” 

***

The second wall was thick, though not as high as the first. Strangely, it had archways all along it, as if they were doors, but there was stone in between them. 

“See if you can find something to use a battering ram,” Elden ordered. “Or ladders. We need something to get over that wall. There’s too much rubble for us to move in our trebuchets again as we planned.”

“There seem to be many archers and warriors on the walls,” Daron said anxiously. “Shouldn't there be at least only half of these here, because of the Novost armies attacking from the south?” 

“Aye,” Elden said. “But we can’t worry about that now. Most likely they just have more troops then we thought they did. Faulty intelligence is not uncommon.”

Elden moved on to issue more orders. 

“They have ladders,” Klarin observed. “That must be how we are going to scale the walls.”

“That seems like it would cost a lot of men,” Daron said unhappily. “Though I don’t see how else we could get over those walls.”

“Well, me and the masters are ready,” Klarin said, drawing flame from a nearby torch and cupping it in his hand. 

“I am with you my brother,” Daron said firmly. 

***

With another cry like an eagle the warriors of Lethia raced forwards, their blades bared and gleaming in the hot desert sun! Showers of arrows cut down the first row, but the second wave arrived, and quickly raised ladders that they had been carrying. The ladders hooked onto the second wall and they quickly climbed up. Vabesh’s soldiers desperately hacked at the ladders with their curved swords, but the sharp, thin blades weren’t heavy enough to cut the thick wood. Some set to stabbing the soldiers as they came to the top of the ladders with pikes and spears, and this stemmed the flow of warriors. Angered, Elden clambered onto a ladder and dashed up, he jumped from the ladder, drawing his blade with one movement. A pike pierced his side, but he barely noticed as his blade sliced the offending pikeman. The pikemen backed down, afraid of the furious warrior that had already slain so many of their fellow soldiers. 

***

King Darcis of Vabesh watched as the armies of Lethia tried to breach his second wall. He saw a warrior, wearing shining armor and valiantly battling the pikemen back. Another warrior crawled up behind him.
“That knight that just came up that wall,” Delthor pointed. “Who is he?”

“He looks like Elden, the general, he is very likely to become Lethia’s king if they survive,” one of Darcis’s generals said. 

“Capture him!” King Darcis ordered. “Bring him to the chamber.” 

***

Elden slashed one of the pikemen, they back up terrified. A horn blast echoed over the walls, and the pikemen retreated. Elden stopped breathing hard. Why had they retreated? Were they all running from him? Suddenly, he saw what they were doing. A group of warriors were approaching, javelins poised. Elden paused, realizing what they were doing. He was exhausted. Now that his initial fury had worn off, his exhaustion was apparent. A javelin hissed towards him, catching a warrior on the ladder. Soundlessly, the warrior fell backwards, a light, thin javelin protruding from his chest. Another hissed towards Elden, crashing the sonte floor beneath him, spraying stone on his ankles. Elden fell to his knees and raised his shield. Another javelin hissed into the shield, it’s sharp end protruding from it. Elden held the shield up bravely as another hissed into it. The third wrenched it from his hands! Elden cried out, his hand was broken. He raised his sword, but it was no use. The javelin throwers were too far away,and no one was close to him. A javelin hissed into his stomach. Elden gasped, and fell to his knees. Another hissed into his body, and another, and another. Then, Elden, champion of his people, fell backwards onto the stone floor. 

***

King Darcis walked down a ladder. He walked around a large building built of the typical white dusty stone. Soldiers fell into line, flanking him as he came to the entrance. It was huge. Large wide doors, at least thirty feet by thirty feet. There was a grumbling sound, a grinding, crunching sound. They were gears, and they slowly swung two large stones out. King Darcis strode in. Inside was smoky, lit by torches, and seemed to be filled with large stone lumps. The room went along the entire wall, with the stone lumps placed periodically along the line. The room was filled with warriors, archers, and slaves. Elden was brought in, bleeding freely and thrown at his feet. He rose and spat at Darcis’ feet. 

“Bow before your king!” the captain leading the group that had pulled him threw him on the ground again. Elden rose, and quickly and violently swung the chain that was tied around his arms and sliced the captain on the cheek with it. The captain shouted, and with murder in his eyes rose with a dagger clutched in his hand. Darcis nodded slightly at one of his guards. The guard stepped forward and swung his sword at the captain, cutting him open. The captain screamed and stumbled backwards.

“Leave him alone,” Darcis warned. Then he looked into Elden’s defiant eyes. “You think you still have a chance General Elden?”

“I always have a chance,” Elden snapped. 

“No,” Darcis said slowly. “You have no chance at all this time.”

All of the sudden, the two mounds of stone next to them exploded! Flames licked around them, glowing, and lighting up their structure. They were huge stone boxes, with enough room to carry dozens of armed warriors, with even huger stone wheels big enough to crush! Spikes studded all over the place, needle sharp, ready to impale any who got in their way! They were designed like a bull, with huge horns jutting out of the front, a mouth carved into it, with eyes, glowing like flame, and it was flame, they were lit on fire. Archers stood ready on the top of the vehicle. They were menacing, radiating flames, suffering heat, mence, terror, and death. 

And there were hundreds of them. 

“No,” Elden whispered in horror as all along the corridor the stone vehicles were lit on fire. Slaves were herded into them, screaming and crying. 

“They are unstoppable,” Darcis told Elden. “We have tested them before. They incinerate everything in their path, and the archers take care of the rest. The slaves are forced to rotate handles that turn the wheels. There are more warriors inside, which will be unleashed when they charge. I call them Collossusses. At my command, they will break through the wall, which has been built with thin sections that will crumble as the Colossuses roll into them. Then everything in front of them and around them, will burn. Your countrymen will burn. You masters will burn. Everything you once knew,” King Darcis flashed a malicious smile. “Will burn.”

***

“Storm the walls!” Daron shouted, his voice joining that of hundreds of captains as they urged on their warriors over the wall tops to rescue the general. They had all seen them fall, and they were all furious with revenge. Daron and the masters had feverishly been working on creating paths for the catapults through the chaos, but there was so much wreckage it was difficult. None of them could move wood at their command, but the earth masters could move stone. The wind masters tried to use their powers to blow away wreckage with their combined force. Daron and the other water master and fire masters worked on the furious flames, but they were making slow progress. Daron moved water from a well and into a billowing pillar of fire. Klarin parted the flames, allowing Daron to land the water directly on the base of the fire. A hiss of steam and smoke gushed as the fire vanished. Klarin peered through the vapors. 

“Hey is there someone over there?” he asked. 

“Let’s go see,” Daron said, drawing his sword. Daron threw more water down, cooling the surface and they walked through, their eyes piercing the smoky fog around them. The burned out skeletons of homes and fences met their eyes. It was eerie, as if a monster or spirit was lurking behind every charred timber.

“What are your thoughts on ghosts?” Klarin asked nervously. 

“Well… I’ve never seen one,” Daron whispered back anxiously. “But if they do exist, they’ll be out for revenge.” 

“May-maybe we should go back,” Klarin whimpered. He would face the terrors of the battlefield, but the possibility of facing the dead was to much for him. 

“You two!” a voice shrieked. 

Daron and Klarin screamed and jumped backwards, their eyes darting around trying to find the owner of the voice, their eyes wide. 

“Did-did that sound like a ghost’s scream to you?” Daron asked. 

“I bet it was!” Klarin whispered. 

“Co-come out and-and show yourself!” Daron stuttered, pointing his sword here and there. He had no idea where the voice had come from or who it was from. 

A wall crashed to the ground with a creepy thud, casting up ashes and smoke and shattering to bits, as a man came out. 

“He needed to push the wall down so he can’t be a ghost,” Daron whispered relieved. 

“Yeah but if there ever was a ghost I bet it would look like him,” Klarin looked at the man, his eyes wide. The man was not old, maybe thirty, but his hair like stubble, singed with bits of it missing. His clothes were ripped, and armor, jangling like bells, hung in shards off his body. He was bleeding from many different places, and horrible burns and gashes could be seen on him. One of his arms hung limp from his side. He was bent as if a hundred years was lying on his back. He kept grimacing as if he was in pain.

“Are you from the Lethian army?” he croaked, extending his arms out to them for help. Daron and Klarin, seeing a sign of a golden sung on his armor, the symbol of Novost, rushed over and helped him to stay upright. He swayed, as if his legs were about to fall out from under him. 

“I-” the man started and gulped. “You must run! Run away from here! Get away! This place is a death trap!”

“But we’ve almost breached the second wall!” Klarin said amazed. “We can’t go away now!”

“No,” the man screamed. “It’s all a trap! Run! The Vabeshians have,” the man dropped his voice down to a whisper, his eyes rolling crazily, spittle forming on his chin. “They have demons on their side,” he whispered. “Monsters from the underworld! Fly! Fly! Run! All of my fellows, the whole army of Novost burned and crushed beneath them! Run for your lives!” Suddenly the man’s eyes rolled back in their sockets and he fell down at their feet, dead. Klarin and Daron looked at each other in shock for a moment. 

“What-what do you make of that?” Daron asked. 

“I… I don’t know,” Klarin said. “I… I think I’d rather have seen a ghost.” 

“The Vabeshians can’t have monsters on their side though,” Daron argued. “I mean, that’s ridiculous.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Klarin agreed, though he sounded unsure. They turned and walked back towards where the other masters were hard at work. Through the creepy burned out skeletons of houses, leaning to one side. Over the rubble,through the place where flames had once burned. Suddenly, a heatwave, a crashing sound as if the earth was ripping apart, and screams. Coming from the battlefield. Klarin and Daron took one look at each other. Then turned and sprinted for the walls.

***

Lyri, Nevara, Mina, and Veil all spilled out of the wagon and raced to a group of stallions holding the king and his officers. Lyri ran straight for Drake, and falling on her knees she begged him, tears falling from her eyes.

“You can’t attack the Lethians!” she cried. “They’ve never done us any harm.”

“I know,” Drake said angrily. “But I am doing what must be done. It is my duty.”

“Your duty is going to get your country enslaved!” Lyri said bitterly. Drake had no answer for this. He turned his stallion and looked at the city, smoke rising from it, the rubble heaped around the walls in piles. He drew his sword. 

“Forward!”

***

The four girls went back to the wagon. Bitterness, sadness, and terror all mixed into one emotion was like a plague. Zable was back at the wagon, bound and gagged. He insisted that the soldier he had stumbled on hadn’t obeyed the laws of combat and had cheated. 

“But you're an assassin,” Veil pointed out. “That’s how you fight.”

“Yeah, but he wasn’t an assassin!” Zable grunted. Lyri and Mina got back into the wagon as Veil whispered some harsh words to Zable. Zable whined back, but a stinging slap from Veil got him to listen. Nevara was pulled back as she tried to get into the wagon. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked. 

“The mark on your head,” Veil said. “You need to get to the battle! You’ve been chosen to do something there.”

“No,” Nevara was broken. She didn’t want any part in the slaughter. She tried to get back in, but Veil pulled her back insistently. 

“Go! You’re the only hope to save those lives. King Drake won’t listen to us!” Nevara shivered. Her body was getting cold, and the mark on her forehead grew brighter. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. ”But that’s ridiculous. I’m not chosen. I was a slave!” 

“But the mark!” Veil cried. The mark was glowing brighter, and all of the sudden, Nevara’s eyes began to glow too! She stood up tall. Something was urging her, calling her to go. She couldn’t ever explain it, but was like something was pulling her towards the city.

“OK, this is just getting creepy now,” Zable complained. Veil slapped him again. 

“Take her there Zable!” 

“Alrighty,” Zable said cheerfully. He grabbed Nevara’s hands and pulled her along until they came to a horse. Zable tapped the rider on his back. The soldier turned. 

“You again!” he scowled. “I though I-hey the girl’s glowing-oof!” Zable rammed his fist into the soldier’s stomach, knocking him off the horse and jumped on, pulling Nevara up with him. The burst forward out of the ranks and towards the infantry lining up and preparing to charge! The thundering hooves of the war horse grew louder as they approached the lines of soldiers like a comet! They parted out of the way with shouts as they burst through the lines na draced towards the city. Then there was a blast of heat, more smoke billowed up and a huge crashing sound. 

“What was that?” Nevara asked, amazed. 

“No idea,” Zable replied. “Let’s go find out.”

***

Daron stopped in horror. The strange archway like parts of the wall had crumbled, and out of each one came something he could have only thought up in nightmares! The huge stones beasts crushed everything in their paths, arrows flew like hornets from a nest , slaying hundreds! The ladders were crushed beneath them, along with dozens of men, and dozens more were burned by the flames! They were huge stone bulls, their eyes burning like rubies! They were unstoppable, nothing could stop them! THe rest of the master arrived. Klarin ran for the nearest monster and raised his hand, bending the flames back inside the stone beast, but nothing happened, it continued forwards as before! Klarin turned and ran as the stone wheel nearly crushed him. Daron threw his sword at it in frustration! It clanged off the side harmlessly. Spears, arrows, rocks, everything they could find was thrown at them, but they didn’t even slow down! 

“We’re doomed!” Daron moaned. 

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” a nearby earthmaster cried. He ran forward, his hands pointed out the wheels. The stone wheel he was aiming at stopped, trembled. The stone monster, it’s other wheels still turning, started to rotate diagonally. THe wheel trembled,rolled forward a little bit, then stopped! The flames engulfed the earthmaster as he shrieked, and was gone. 

“Run!” Daron screamed. “Run! Get out of here escape! Run!” The soldiers fled, leaving weapons, armor, helmets, anything to lighten their load strewn behind them! Trumpets rang out and cheers came from the Vabeshian wall! Banner where unfurled and fully armed Vabesh warriors ran out as the invincible stones beasts rolled forward. 

“All this way,” Daron moaned as he ran, Klarin at his side. Screams could still be heard, and the sights and screams of before were scarred in his mind. He would never forget that, they came back to haunt his nightmares long into his life. “All this way and defeated. We’re retreating! No hope…”

“Buck up,” Klarin panted. “We’re not retreating, we’re just charging backwards!” 

“Very encouraging,” Daron groaned. A fresh row of screams broke out,a dn thumpings and crushing sounds broke out behind them, heat licking their backs! Klarin and Daron, terrified, raced forward all the more. 

“We’ll never out run them!” Klarin gasped for air. 

“This way!” Daron shouted, changing course. “To the oasis on this side of the city! They can’t go in water!”

“Yeah!” Klarin said, remembering what Daron had said before. He followed his friends as the stone monsters continued rolling on past them, crushing their fellow warriors. 

There was nothing they could do.

Yet.

***

After a wild frantic ride with arrows whistling over their shoulders, Nevara and Zable arrived at the wall, and they could see the flames and smoke. They could hear the screams and crashings. 

“Not going that way!” Zable cried, and swung the horse around and sent him dashing next to the wall. 

“Where are you taking me!” Nevara cried. She was so confused, she didn’t know what was happening. 

“The oasis!” Zable yelled back. “If we go in there we’ll be killed.” A frantic ride sent them to the corner of the wall, they found the wall was built like a quay into the lake. The walls sloped down into a quay with stairs leading up to it. Palm trees were everywhere. All along the quay were houses built into the water. They appeared to be baths, and others seemed to be boat houses. Here and there boats were tied up without the shelter of a house. Zable steered the horse up the stairs, but it stopped after it had ascended, then panting heavily. It stopped, then fell down. It staggered back up and took a trembling step. Nevara jumped off and Zable slid down and took off the saddle and threw it to the side.

“I’m surprised he didn’t break his leg,” Zable patted the horse on the back. “Let’s go.” 

“Go where?” Nevara anxiously followed Zable down the quay. 

“To find some Lethians. Hopefully we don’t bump into any Vabesh soldiers, I don’t have any weapons so we have no way to protect ourselves.”

***

Daron arrived panting at the quay. Klarin was panting too, but he grinned.
“We escaped!” he gasped. 

“Great!” Daron gasped back. They crouched panting for a few moments, then got up and looked around. 

“Now what do we do? There’s no one around here.” 

“What’s that noise!?” Klarin suddenly shrieked and turned. Daron whipped around and saw, to his horror, one of the stone bulls moving in their direction! Flames gushed from its side, incinerating the huts and buildings about it, sending acrid black smoke spiralling into the sky!

“Run!” Daron shouted. He turned, and ran to the end of the quay, hopelessly. What was he going to do here? Klarin, spying a rowboat, jumped into it and yelled. 

“Come on help me here!” Klarin held up a chain that held it to the dock as the roaring of the stone bull grew louder! Daron leaped in, and tugged on the chain. It didn’t budge. Daron drew his blade and wildly hacked at it, Klarin as well, but it didn’t help. The chain was too strong. Suddenly, they heard creaking noises, and shouts! Soldiers peered down at them. Daron and Klarin froze. 

“Well, well, what have we here?” the soldier grinned cruelly. 

***

“What’s that up in the distance?” Nevara asked. Zable peered at it.
“People!” he said happily. “Let’s go!”

Zable and Nevara ran as fast they could towards them, and saw to late their spiked helmets.
“Their vabeshians!” Nevara cried, and turned around to race away, only to run into a breastplate! A big beefy Vabeshian soldier, missing a few teeth, picked her up and grinned at her.
“What have we here!” he said leeringly. 

“Put me down!” Nevara writhed in his grasp. Zable jumped up and rammed his fist into the soldier’s face. The soldier dropped Nevara and stumbled back. 

“Why you!” he hissed, and drew his blade. He walked towards Zable the curved scimitar poised to swipe! “You’re going to lose your head for that young’n!” 

Nevara rose from the stony ground, her eyes blazing! All of the sudden she seemed to explode! Blue blazed out of her with a radiance like the sun. A powerful wind, stronger than a hurricane, blasted with the force of an avalanche into the soldier! He shrieked, but it rapidly faded as he was blown hundreds of yards backward, over the quay and into the water. He fell into the waves with a cry, and didn’t come back up. 

“Wow!” Zable said admiringly. “Maybe you are chosen like Veil said.” Nevara didn’t say anything, but she turned and looked at Daron, glowing brighter every second. 

***

 The Vabeshian soldier raised his javelin. The point glittered as it arced up and then was aimed at Daron’s chest. Daron raised his fist, and blasted a powerful stream of water into the soldier! He fell over, and Klarin leaped out of the boat and jabbed downwards, burying his sword into the soldier’s chest. Daron rose into the air, glowing brighter and brighter. He pointed both hands towards the monstrous stone vehicle, rolling forward gradually, and mighty, unstoppable tidal waves rose over him and Klarin, falling like lightning upon the stone monstrosity and crushing it into pebbles! Daron glided, ignoring everything around him, he was focused on one thing, Nevara, and Nevara was focused entirely on him. They glided to each other like ghosts, while Zable and Klarin watched, dumbstruck. They came close to each other, and at the same time rose each others arms, and with a fell cry, a wild wind blasted through the city, answering the call of it’s mistress, and the waves roared and swirled in response to the commands of it’s master.