Spellbinder Notes (Day 18)

Species (according to Ursa):

18) Whisperers

- Origins unknown

- Talents unknown

o Although unknown, some Whisperers have shown the ability to

§ Move things through telekinesis

§ Teleport

§ Speak unlimited number of languages

- Appearance unknown

o ?- okay what do we know about them?

- Mysterious creatures who keep their true forms hidden under full body clothing and head wraps

- Called Whisperers because they only speak in whispers

o ? – isn't that a little too obvious of a name then?

- Outsiders have never been able to witness their culture

o People have visited and stayed in the Whisperers' cities but either remember nothing significant or saw nothing significant

§ ?- could they have had their memories wiped?

- They appear docile and nonviolent

- Lifespan unknown

-

"How do we do this?" Chenoa asked after several tense minutes.

"Vhat do you mean?" Lieben inquired in return, his own body locked from fear and excitement.

"Do we go at the same time?"

"No…ve go one at a time."

"Okay. Who goes first?"

"I vill, of course. I vill make sure it is safe and send something back through to tell you it is clear."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, Senoa. No worries."

He gently bumped his fist against her chin in a jesting fashion before approaching the portal. Knowing they had to move quickly before the portal moved again, Lieben took a deep breath and stepped in. Chenoa blinked and felt her heart skip as Lieben disappeared. Pacing back and forth, Chenoa chewed on her nails as she waited. Lieben was putting himself at risk for her sake and it made her feel guilty and nervous. Silently praying, Chenoa hoped that Lieben was okay.

There was a popping sound and beautiful flower floated down out of the portal. It looked like a star with fuchsia petals and a deep yellow center. Picking it up, Chenoa smelled it and grinned. That must be his sign, she thought.

"Now or never," Chenoa said aloud to herself.

Shaking herself off, Chenoa stepped closer to the portal, feeling its pulsing energy hit her. It was very intimidating, but she knew it was the only way to get to Gabby. Giving herself a quick pep talk, Chenoa held her breath and stepped into the portal.

It was a good thing she did take a breath, because once she entered the portal, she felt as if all the air around her was sucked away. Her body was compressed and stretched at the same time as she fell wildly through vast space, darkness and light woven together in a fathomless chasm. Chenoa barely glimpsed the sight of several other portals in the distance before she was thrown out of the portal head first. Stretching her arms out to break her fall, Chenoa inhaled fresh air.

"'Ello, poppet," a heavy Cockney accent laughed as Chenoa found herself caught mid-fall. "Are you trying to fly, lil' bird?"

Rough hands gripped Chenoa under her arms. Looking at the person who held her up, Chenoa tried to scramble away from him in mid-air. The man, if he could be called a man, was tall and large with oversized, bulging muscles. His eyes were sharp diamonds roughly cut into his face and his smile was wide, thin and cruel, exposing ridiculously sharp canine teeth. This man's facial structure was similar to the few Middle Eastern people Chenoa had met in the cheek bone, nose and jaw structure, but his other features made the man look too monstrous to be human. His skin was a deep burnt red with thick navy-blue veins etched across his chest and upper arms. The veins looked more like tattoos than real veins, but from the way they pulsed, Chenoa knew what they were. Holding her were hands as large as her face and thick with even more muscles. Observing her, the man's sharp eyes reflected Chenoa in the dark purple of his irises while his vertical pupils took in every inch of her. Pulling her closer, the man looked more closely at her face as if he was looking for something. Chenoa took this time to look more closely at the man and she saw that he was covered with scars, ranging from fine, paper thin scars to ones as thick as her wrist, their color a pale red.

"Not much to ya, lil' birdy," the man sneered, grabbing one of her ankles and flipping her over mid-air.

Chenoa yelled in protest, holding her top down so that she did not flash the man. He chuckled at her protest as he poked her like a kid with a new pet. Hanging upside down, Chenoa saw that the man did not have a single hair on his body, minus his eyebrows, which were etched perfectly with coarse black hair.

"Let go of me!" Chenoa ordered, swinging her arms out at him, causing him to move his head to the left slightly.

"Why? I am having so much fun," he snorted, grabbing her two wrists in one of his massive hands and pulling her upright.

Yelping, Chenoa felt her shoulder tug as her arms pulled up and her body went down. Twisting her around by her arms, the man enjoyed her visible pain. He kept studying her as if trying to find something secret on her. Footsteps approached cautiously.

"Sir," an even voice spoke up. "Perhaps you could finish playing with her later? We should get back to camp.

"Fine, Oric. I'll carry the lil' birdy. You grab the mutt and we'll head back."

"Yes, Quälen."

The person backed away and Chenoa looked around. The mutt had to be Lieben. Sure enough she saw Lieben's limp body on the ground, his skin ashen. Oric had her back to Chenoa as he bent to pick Lieben up. With a grunt, Lieben was lifted in the air and thrown over Oric's broad shoulder. Before Chenoa could get a look at Oric, Quälen tossed Chenoa over his shoulder and started walking. As a result, Chenoa saw only Quälen's bare back, the muscles and his odor filling her nose. Posting her arms against his back to gain some distance, she ordered to be released.

"Put me down, you oversized thug!" she shrieked, slamming her fists against his hard back.

With a swift movement, Quälen lifted Chenoa back over his head and dropped her painfully onto the ground. Yelping, Chenoa rubbed her backside, glaring up at him resentfully. Grabbing Chenoa by the back of the neck, he lifted her up and placed her on her feet.

"If you don't want to have the honor of being carried, then you will walk."

Pushing her forward, Quälen forced her to walk. Stumbling Chenoa quickly found her feet as his hand squeezed her fragile neck. Yet he forced her forward so hard and fast that Chenoa found herself continually stumbling and tripping. Snickering, Quälen shook her a little.

"You know for such a little thing, you sure are clumsy."

"Maybe if you stopped pushing me so hard!"

"Oh, you poor little thing. Am I being too rough on you? No wonder you are with that little pretty boy. You couldn't handle a real man like me. But that's none of my concern. I just am looking for my bounty."

"Your bounty."

"Oh didn't hear, lil' birdy? There is a bounty on your head, alive unfortunately"

"What are you talking about?"

"You, lil' poppet! You! I am talking about the money that is being offered for your capture."

"What money? Who's offering it?"

"Oh, a grand amount. One hundred thousand gold pieces. Quite a lot for such a bitty thing. I keep looking and can't see what the big deal is."

"Who is willing to pay that much for me?"

"Some trader I know. He didn't say more than that and I don't really care to know more. All I'm interested in is the gold."

"I see that greed is the same in all worlds."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing."

Shoving her, Quälen snarled. He didn't like how this girl acted so superior to him. While he would never pay so much gold for a scrawny female, someone was. It was probably some rich person with too much time and money on his hands. There was no accounting for taste. As a general rule, Quälen liked his women to have big hips and full bosoms; after all he was a big man himself and he didn't want to worry about breaking his woman, especially when he lost his temper, which happened quite often.

"You know what I am going to do with my share of the gold?" He murmured in her ears.

"What?" Chenoa rolled her eyes, not really interested.

"I'm going to buy a bunch of slaves like you and enjoy being waited on and pleasured…"

Revolted, Chenoa gagged a little. He chortled to himself, his free hand running down her spine.

"Don't be jealous," he teased. "I know you must wish I could keep you for myself, but I'd be too afraid of breaking you."

"You are so considerate," Chenoa managed to say.

"Glad you see it."

Quälen kept talking about all the great things he would do and buy with the money he was going to get from Chenoa. By the sounds of it, he would be broke in a week. Staggering along, Chenoa felt boredom seeping into her. The only thought that kept entering her mind was concerned for Lieben. Chenoa did not like the ashy tone to his skin when she had last seen him. Once and awhile she tried to turn to look back at him, but Quälen kept her head straight.

"You might as well forget about that pretty boy. The trader didn't want you and some mutt. We shall sell him off separately," Quälen informed her in a snarky tone.

"You could let him go," Chenoa suggested as they approached an enclosure.

A small group of men stood in the enclosure, watching them approach. Four men stared sternly at them, though some of them were closer to beasts than men. The far left man stood at five feet seven inches with a reptilian head on top of a human form that was covered in thick scales. A forked tongue flickered in and out as his black eyes narrowed at the sight of Quälen and Oric. To his right was a large man, who towered at least at six feet eight inches with a lumberjack body and the head of a grizzly bear. Snorting the bear-man, crossed his arms impatiently. A lean built Firedweller put a hand on the bear-man's shoulder to offer comfort. He had the same visage of the large one who had invaded Chenoa's school, but seemed younger in some way and slimmer. Finally, the man on the far right stood at six feet even and somehow seemed the strangest of the four.

The fourth and final man was of medium build and wearing nothing but a loin cloth that reached mid-thigh. His exposed skin was unusual, to say the least. It looked as if he was a giant yin-yang sign. Half of his body swirled a rich indigo color while the other half swirled a maroon red. White spirals were painted down his arms and legs, evenly spaced. The indigo half of his face possessed a maroon colored eye, with a pupil in the perfect shape of a yin sign, while his maroon half had an indigo eye with the iris in the perfect shape of a yang sign. Attached to his loin cloth was a small, delicate looking harp.

"Oric was right about the portal," Quälen announced, lifting Chenoa up and carrying her in the air like a prize. "See, we found our lil' birdy."

Tossing Chenoa to the four men, Quälen guffawed boisterously as his teammates inspected her. She called out in protest but the reptilian man secured her arms so the rest could look at her.

"She is a small thing for such a price," the bear-man grunted. "Are you sure this is the right one?"

"Oric says she is, and he is never wrong," Quälen said confidently.

"Huh."

"She does have a nice heat to her body though," the Firedweller cracked a grin, causing visible cracks in his dry face as he touched Chenoa's cheeks.

"She has a nice taste," the reptilian added as his tongue grazed her shoulder.

The yin-yang man waited his turn quietly. He looked her up and down and when the others had moved away, he lifted her shirt up and looked at her belly as if he expected to find something. His companions laughed at her discomfort as the yin-yang man ran his hands across her stomach and down her legs.

"Hypnoticas really have no manners," the bear-man snorted as the yin-yang man played with Chenoa's hair, a frown on his face. "Sänger, you are scaring our prey. Play nice."

Sänger looked back at the bear-man and frowned. Turning back to Chenoa, he ignored his companion's request and continued to explore her gently. After a moment he stood back and looked at her seriously. Then he approached and got very close so that their faces were inches apart. Lifting one finger, he touched her nose.

"Boop," he said as he pressed on her nose.

Not sure if she should laugh or think this creature was crazy, Chenoa raised her eyebrow at him. The men all took a step back and turned their gaze to Sänger, who grinned proudly. Slowly all their eyes returned to Chenoa, fixing on her forehead.

"What?" Chenoa asked hotly, rolling her eyes up to see what they were staring at.

Yet her eyes could not see the electric blue symbol that appeared on her forehead. It was the familiar square with the continuing spiral inside of it, although one edge of the square seemed to have a small crack in it. Quälen pushed forward and stared intensely at the symbol.

"What is that?" he questioned, touching the symbol with one his large fingers.

The symbol instantly vanished as frightened away by his touch. Scowling he looked back at Sänger, who shrugged noncommittally. Backing away, Quälen motioned for the man called Oric to come forward.

"What do you think, Oric?" he smirked, his sharp eyes never leaving Chenoa.

Oric approached, setting Lieben down on the ground. For the first time Chenoa got a full view of the man. He stood at five feet three inches with rich, midnight blue skin and three dazzling green eyes. Two of the eyes were in the normal place and were large and round, but the third rested in the middle of his forehead, sharper edged, beautiful and unblinking. His hair, a purple so dark it looked almost black, was cut shaggy and loose strands of it rested over his unblinking third eye. Velvety black-purple cat ears protruded out of the side of his head, about the same place human ears would be, only a little higher. A long tail draped over his shoulder, swishing ever so slightly as if Oric was thinking. He stood shirtless with tan, loose pants, held up by a thin black belt. As he looked at Chenoa, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. Yet despite his bizarre and intriguing appearance, Chenoa was most startled by the fact that he looked no older than twelve.

"I don't know," Oric sniffed, tilting his head in a very cat like fashion. "She has too many veils on to see her properly. It's giving me a headache to look at her."

Stunned Chenoa felt as if she had been insulted but didn't know what to say. Sänger turned to Oric and touched his own nose. He repeated the noise he had when he had touched Chenoa and Oric smiled knowingly. Quälen grew impatient at Oric and Sänger's unspoken conversation.

"If there are veils can you remove them?" Quälen growled.

"Maybe. I would have to take a closer look," Oric sighed as if he were bored.

"Then take a closer look."

"It's little difficult when she is awake. Jeez."

Quälen ground his teeth together and Chenoa thought they were thinking the same thing. This Oric kid was a brat. Yet Quälen snapped his fingers and Sänger appeared next to him. Pointing at Chenoa, Quälen grunted.

"I need her asleep," he barked, his eyes narrowed.

Sänger made a short movement with his head, which Chenoa took for confirmation. Struggling against the lizard man, Chenoa did not want to see what the Hypnoticas did to put their victims to sleep. Yet he never touched her. Instead he lifted his small harp off his hip and strummed it gently. Opening his mouth, the most glorious sound drifted out. It was intoxicating and mesmerizing. Chenoa didn't even blink as she watched the Hypnotica sing. Her body felt light and weightless as he got closer, his voice ensnaring all her senses. She didn't even notice that the reptilian man had released her to cover his own ears. In fact, all there had covered their ears. Oric had his folded against his head. Chenoa teetered on her toes for a few second before falling forward into Sänger's arms.

In her sleep Chenoa felt sparks and saw brief glimpses of electric blue. Oric's three eyes stared at her from the darkness and Chenoa had the urge to touch them. Reaching up, Chenoa felt someone pushing her arm back down. Yet she reached up again and the person pushed her arm back down.

"So pretty," Chenoa mumbled in her sleep.

The eyes blinked in her mind, then disappeared. Darkness enveloped Chenoa and she remembered no more. Sometime later Chenoa awoke in a shabby tent. Voices were talking outside of it. Stirring Chenoa missed the beautiful music that Sänger had produced. Sitting up, Chenoa suddenly remembered Lieben was unconscious somewhere in the camp and she was sleeping soundly while he was drugged or something.

"Damn it," Chenoa scolded herself, heading towards the tent entrance, but the voices outside made her stop.

"What do you mean you couldn't get rid of the veils?" Quälen's voice snarled.

"Exactly as I said. I cannot remove the veils. I have spent the last hour trying. If it were possible, I would have, but the magic that placed them there is too old to be stripped away."

"I bought you because you are supposed to be immensely powerful. You are not living up to your value."

"I am very powerful, but not even I can alter ancient magic. And if this girl does have such powerful and ancient magic on her, I would recommend you leave her and her friend alone. It is not something you should mess with."

"I am not afraid of anything."

"Then you are a fool."

"Sir," the bear-man has approached, looking uncomfortable.

"What?" Quälen growled irritably.

"There is a problem."

"What is the damn problem?"

"That boy that came with the girl. He isn't looking good."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"I don't know what's wrong with him, but I think he is having a bad reaction to the knock out potion you gave him."

"What makes you say that?"

"He's gone white…like literally and his veins look purple."

"What?"

Quälen turned abruptly and stomped over to where Lieben was lying motionless. They had not even given him a tent to lie in but rather had him laid on the ground like a piece of luggage or a slaughtered animal. Chenoa quietly snuck out of her tent and edged closer. She wanted to see what was going on with Lieben. Jamming his foot under Lieben's chest, Quälen lifted, then kicked Lieben onto his back. Chenoa, unnoticed a few feet behind the men now, covered her mouth in horror. The bear-man had been right. Lieben's warm brown skin had faded into a pale milk color with sharp, venomous purple veins running up his arms, neck and face. It was disgusting and unnatural.

"Damn weakling," Quälen said, annoyed at the inconvenience. "Well, get rid of the body before the little princess sees. I don't want to deal with the crying and shit that is going to follow if she sees her pretty boy is dead."

"What will you tell her when she asks about him?" Oric asked, his eyes on Lieben's face, his face flat and stoic.

"That he ran away and abandoned her. Females hate men who do that so it she won't ask a lot of questions about it."

"I do not think that is a going to work."

Stepping on a loose twig, Chenoa stopped dead in her tracks. Everyone looked at her, their expressions a large mix, varying from surprise to concern to contempt. Taking a trembling step forward, Chenoa looked at Lieben around Quälen. Chenoa tried to rush forward but Sänger appeared and grabbed her arms. Shaking his silent head, he looked sympathetically at Chenoa.

"Let me go!" she demanded, struggling against his strong grip.

"Great, now we are going to have to deal with the dramatics," Quälen rolled his eyes.

"What did you do to him?" Chenoa asked, her voice trembling.

All she could think about was how Lieben had only been trying to help her. That he had been a good innocent boy. It was all her fault.

"We did nothing. Its fault his body is too weak to handle a little sleeping draft."

Swiveling away from her, Quälen directed his next words to the bear-man.

"Get rid of body. Might as well just burn it so it won't be eaten by the wild animals."

"Uh, are you sure we can't do anything to help him?" the bear-man inquired, appearing uncomfortable as his eyes darted from Quälen to Chenoa.

"I am not going to waste my time trying save some mutt who isn't even going to earn me any real money. You heard me. Burn the body."

"Uh…"

Still the bear-man hesitated. He could see the tears brimming in Chenoa's eyes as she struggled against Sänger. Sure he was a slave hunter and he dabbled in mercenary work but he never killed pointlessly. Even he had his limits. Plus, there was something about the girl. The bear-man didn't want to hurt her. It felt like he was disappointing his own mother.

"Fine. I'll do it!" Quälen rumbled, bending and picking Lieben up.

With a snort of disgust, he carried Lieben in his arms over to the large green fire that burned in the middle of the small camp. Everyone turned to watch, except Oric. He trained his eyes on Chenoa, who had started screaming at Quälen to put Lieben down. Of course Quälen ignored Chenoa, his eyes narrowing in disgust at her pathetic pleading. Tears started to pour down Chenoa's face as she fought harder against Sänger. One particularly sharp tug wrenched Chenoa free of Sänger and she sprint, jumping onto Quälen's immense back. Clawing and screaming, Chenoa smashed her fists and nails into Quälen's massive back and shoulders.

Roaring he reached up with one hand and grabbed Chenoa by the hair, tearing Chenoa off his back. Holding Chenoa in one hand and Lieben in another, Quälen roared in Chenoa's face, his blue veins bulging. Reaching up Chenoa dug her nails into his arm, her own face now red in anger and despair. Releasing Lieben, Quälen grabbed Chenoa by the throat with his spare hand. Ripping her off his arm, Quälen howled as her nails tore his skin and blue blood seeped slowly from his arm.

"You bitch!" he yelled, backhanding Chenoa with his wounded arm.

There was a sickening crunching noise as Chenoa was thrown feet into the air, landing on the other side of the fire. Her skull rung with pain and Chenoa could have sworn one of her teeth was broken. Coughing, Chenoa rolled to her belly and coughed up a small amount of blood.

"Tsk…tsk…" a voice sighed in her mind. "Already in trouble."

Groaning in extreme pain, Chenoa could not even register the voice for a long moment. Turning to Lieben, Quälen muttered about crazy mongrel bitches as he picked Lieben back up. Crawling on her arms, Chenoa kept trying to blink back the pain. Quälen held Lieben's body over the bright green flames. She saw the flames lick at Lieben's tunic which hung down into the flames.

"No…" Chenoa thought desperately.

"Pity that your little pet is going to die," the voice said in her mind, though it sounded more amused than sorry.

"Osiris…" Chenoa finally moaned in her mind.

"Hey cutie…how ya doing?"

"Please not now, Osiris…Lieben…pain…"

"I know I can see. That Djinn-Dedkin hybrid is a nasty piece of work. I see he broke some of your bones. Your jaw is fractures and so is your neck. He must have been holding back."

"Shut up…please…"

Chenoa dragged herself, suppressing a scream with each movement of her body, closer to the fire. Everything hurt but she had to save Lieben. He would have done the same for her. Lieben had already saved her twice. Once from being lost forever in Portae and once from Osiris. In her mind she should could feel Osiris sitting and watching. He could no longer force himself into her body and mind, but he could still sit and watch. Part of him was amazed by her stubbornness. Being in her mind allowed him to see the extent of the damage Quälen had done and he could see the neurons in her brain firing rapidly from the extreme pain.

"Lieben…stop!" Chenoa tried to yell, though her voice was weak.

"Are you that determined?" Osiris asked thoughtfully.

Ignoring him, Chenoa dragged herself a few inches more. Quälen had lowered Lieben a little farther, then dropped him. Lieben's body was being consumed slowly by the flames. A golden aura surrounded Lieben, wavering and shimmering. It momentarily was protecting him from the hungry flames. Tears were pouring down Chenoa's face. She finally reached the fire pit and plunged her hand into its burning center, grabbing hold of Lieben's hand. A scream tore through her whole body as her flesh burned from the vicious green flames. Yet she refused to let go.

"Are you crazy?" Quälen and Osiris hollered at her.

"Let him go!" Osiris ordered, frustrated by his limitation created by the amulet that hung around her neck.

"What are you doing? He is as good as dead! Let go!" Quälen shouted, seeing his finder's money burning with the flesh on her hand.

Crossing quickly, Quälen had the full intention of pulling Chenoa from the fire, but a white hot light sprung around Chenoa, flickering and hissing like a fire. Quälen may not have been the smartest creature in creation, but he knew that if he touched the light, he would disintegrate.

Oric's eyes widened as he saw what no one else did. In the gaze of his third eye, Oric saw a tall looming figure that towered even above Quälen. Its presence was dark and light mixed together and its eyes flashed like silver slivers. One of its massive hands was extended towards Chenoa, encasing her in the white light. Dread and absolute fear engulfed Oric. Without knowing what the thing was, Oric knew he was looking at the source of the ancient magic and he wished to never see it again. While the light protected Chenoa from Quälen, the light did not extend to the fire. The ghastly creature watched, emanating a vibe of sadistic pleasure as Chenoa's scream became piercing, her body too weak to pull Lieben from the flames that were finally eating through his own gold aura.

Inside Chenoa's mind Osiris had been yelling at her to release the damn boy, but she refused. Suddenly Osiris stopped speaking though. Something else was inside of Chenoa's mind and it was not limited by the amulet. It was something that made even his skin crawl, though he knew that he was protected since he was not really there. The thing filled Chenoa's mind, a weighing, oppressive force. Osiris's instincts told him to flee and quickly.

"If you survive, I'll be back," he snapped, his body crawling as the presence became stronger and stronger.

Fleeing Osiris didn't even look back, feeling the intense fright that threatened to consume him. Chenoa, blinded by her pain, did not even notice the presence. Her whole being focused on saving Lieben. Oric, stuck to his spot next to the bear-man, swallowed as the immense presence turned and looked at him. Despite it not having distinguishable features, Oric knew it was looking at him.

Real power, something cooed in his bones. Witness real power, MagicTeller.

Chenoa's body shot up into the air, her body consumed now by the white light. There was the distinct sound of something tearing; then the light blared so brightly that everyone had to cover his eyes. Screams warbled through the air, echoing as if from somewhere in the ancient past. Chenoa's eyes blazed an electric purple, her arms stretched as if calling the universe to her.

Quälen, for the first time in his life, trembled in panic. However, at the same time he felt pure exhilaration. Such power was exciting and enticing. He wanted it. Now he understood why this pathetic looking human was worth a hundred thousand gold pieces. Yet he knew that was a fraction of her worth. If such power could be forced from her, then she was most likely the most powerful creature in creation. Staggering to him, Oric grabbed ahold of Quälen's arm, yanking him backwards.

"We must get away!" Oric yelled above the screaming pitch. "We must run or else she will kill us all!"

"Did you see this when you saw the girl? Did you see this power in her mind?" Quälen asked mesmerized.

"This is not the time! Quälen, we must run!"

The other men in the group did not hesitate. They fled as if their lives depended on it. Closing her mouth, Chenoa looked down at Quälen, who stared up with great passion. Despite the blazing purple of her eyes, she now appeared calm. With a wave of her hand, the fire blew out, leaving Lieben laying on the charred wood. Tentatively, Quälen approached her, longing to touch her. Oric took a step back, too terrified to run.

Who am I? an eerie, distant voice floated from Chenoa's mouth.

No one spoke. Blazing, Chenoa bared her teeth.

Who am I!

A large black blast of energy shot out from Chenoa's body, smashing into Oric and Quälen. They flew across the encampment and crushed into two trees, their bodies cracking with a sickening crunch. Both were instantly knocked out. Yet Chenoa still blazed.

Who am I!

Her voice now seemed to be weeping. A longing, bitter edge slipped into its tone. Cor suddenly appeared in the circle. His face was dark with concern. Zipping up to in front of Chenoa, he grabbed a hold of her and pulled her tight to his body. Her light soaked into his body.

"You are Chenoa Rose. You are a Spellbinder," he whispered as Ursa landed in the enclosure. "You are my friend and pupil."

"I know you…

"Yes, I am Ventus Cordis. I am the heart of the winds. You call me Cor. We are here to save your best friend Gabby."

No…you are something more…

Gently touching Chenoa's face, Cor sighed miserably. Hugging her tight to him again, Cor shuddered as his body absorbed more of the light. Her body started to feel heavy and weak. Leaning into Cor, Chenoa sighed herself.

I remember you…she whispered tenderly before closing her eyes and collapsing, unconscious in Cor's arms.

Lowering them to the ground, Cor lay Chenoa on the earth. Ursa dragged Lieben next to Chenoa as Chris jumped around on his tip toes. He knew that the boy next to Chenoa looked deadly ill and Chenoa has just had some kind of breakdown. Kneeling next to Cor, Chris saw how pale Chenoa was as she pulsed a soft white light. Cor brushed back Chenoa's damp hair. Ursa lifted a claw and bit herself until her scales broke and blood dripped from her wound.

"Chris, open that boy's mouth," Ursa instructed briskly.

Jumping, Chris switched to the boy and with great effort pulled the boy's jaw open. Shrinking, Ursa stood as tall as an average man. Holding her dripping wound over Lieben's open mouth, she allowed five small drops of blood to fall into his mouth. Taking a step back, she licked her wound until it healed over. Chris gazed at Ursa, stunned.

"Dragon blood is a great cure for poisons," Ursa explained, setting her claw back on the ground. "And dragon's saliva heals minor wounds."

"That is convenient," Chris nodded fervently.

"It comes in handy," Ursa couldn't help but smile. "How is Chenoa?"

"She is fine. She was just pushed too far. She went into survival mode," Cor said, not taking his eyes off her face.

"Are you sure? She looks really pale?" Chris asked, wringing his hands.

"I am sure. Ursa, please take that boy and Chris back to the fields and make camp. I need to let Chenoa rest a few minutes before I move her."

Without asking any questions, Ursa picked Lieben up in her jaws with great caution. Reluctantly Chris followed as Ursa left the encampment. As they were about to leave encampment, Ursa stopped, glancing at Oric and Quälen.

"What about the MagicTeller and Djinn?" she snarled contemptuously.

"They will be fine. Her magic is for healing so whatever of her magic is still in them will heal the injuries they received when they were blasted."

Snorting, Ursa left, leaving Cor alone with Chenoa. Waiting for at least five minutes, Cor wanted to be sure they were alone before he leaned down and smelled Chenoa. His nose twitched as he sniffed her. Twisting in disgust, Cor jerked away. He'd recognize that odor anywhere.

"Why did you awaken her powers?" he asked the dark presence still in the enclosure.

Flickering near Cor, the thing said nothing, though it gave off a smug vibe. Bending, Cor kissed Chenoa's delicate lips, pulling back slowly as he sucked in air. A white shadow slipped between Chenoa's lips, being sucked into Cor mouth and body. The dark presence flickered and disappeared. Gulping, Cor sat back on his heels, closing his eyes as he suppressed the thing he had consumed from Chenoa's body. Inside him, it writhed and fought his body. Exhausted, Cor transformed back into a wolf. The extra strength from his wolf form allowed the presence to be suppressed in him. Picking up Chenoa in his massive wings, Cor held Chenoa to him, cuddling her in his wings and fur.

"I am trying, Leiht," he sighed, exiting the encampment. "But he is so much more stubborn than I remembered."