Something Magic.... (3)

...'Captain AaChoo" as Artickat liked to call him, drew up and watched the party fade back into the bush. Several of his men pursued. They had better not fail him. Not if they know what was good for themelves.

His second in command moved up to his side. Rummell turned, "Have the men chase them for a while yet but whatever you do don't overtake them. They must think they've gotten away with their furry friend."

"Whoohoooo! We did it!!" "All Right! Good job!" "I don't believe we pulled that one off." The group start feeling extremely victorious after catching their breath.

"Not too bad for being kidnapped by a flying rock, crashlanded into a forest, and taken hostage by a group of smelly mercs and their ugly dog," she muttered. Looking up at the angel, she asked "How you been?"

Spyral did not know whether to laugh or what, so he settled for giving her a big warm hug. Pulling back after a moment, the angel looked up at the group. "This kidnapping crap has gotta stop. First Artic, now Sixth."

"Well, hopefully Rae can ascertain Sixth's location. My guess is, she has been taken to Lochinars Spire just like they tried to do with Artic.," Spyral said.

"This job is getting more and more personal the more we go on!" Ragnar said, hefting his twin axes. "I'm ready to find this Frellin' guy and deal with him."

A sudden crashing in the trees made the group turn and bring all weapons to bear in the direction of the noise. All relaxed and lowered their weapons as Sixth emerged from treeline. The 'Scapers all moved towards their friend eager to hear how she had managed to free herself.

"HEY! Rae said that she had lost you! How'd you get away from......" was all Mouse could get out before Sixth backhanded her with a lightning fast arm. Mouse went tumbling into the nearby brush. Sixth then grabbed KaraS by the wrist, twisted her around, kicked her left leg out from under her and as she collapsed to the ground, gave her a solid chop to the back of the neck, rendering her unconcious.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Spyral shouted as he rushed toward Sixth. As he attempted to grab hold of her, Sixth quickly drew her mace and swung it at the angel. Were it not for his innate agility, his head would have been crushed, but as he quickly 'ported to the side, the deathblow turned into a glancing one that caught the angel just above the forehead, opening up a deep gash that began to spill blood over his eyes.

Sixth drew her sword as well and intercepted Ragnar as he came at her. The two began a furious exchange of blows, but Ragnar seemed to be staggering under the impact of the womans' blows.

"What..." Artic asked as the spirit slowly wafted away. She watched as the very pretty shade made her way around the clearing so as to approach Sixth from behind. She stopped just behind the wildly swinging woman just as Sixth caught Ragnar with the pommel of her sword in the side of the head. The barbarian fell to his knees. As she raised her sword to deliver the killing blow, LurkingGhost seemed to melt into Sixths' body and she stiffened, sword raised high.....

6th screamed, reeling, her hands to her head. She staggered around, screeching at the top of her lungs as the rest of the gang hovered nearby, not sure of what to do.

6th crashed into Ragnar, knocking him over before he could get up. She staggered around in circles, weaving, her eyes tightly closed, her hands pulling her hair.

"Lochinar's magic is very strong," Falidor said to them all. "I doubt anything we could do would save her. You ought to just kill her now and be done with it." he looked up as Ragnar growled, starting forward towards the little man. The dwarf backed away, his hands held up, "Ok,ok, take her to Lochinar! Maybe you CAN get him to change her back! Who am I to say!"

Rae nods and prepares a spell. "This'll allow me to ascertain exactly what's been done to her." A soft green glow surrounds Sixth and Rae. "Okay, she's stronger, faster, more skilled, and can't be hurt by weapons or magic." Rae laughs.

"Whatever was done to her means she can't be HURT by magic. She's not immune to it, or I wouldn't have been able to do this spell. We can make her better."

"It won't be easy. I'll need all of your help, and the spell will leave us weak and vulnerable for some time. Also," Rae stares at the ground "I could die."

"I'm doing the frelling best I can!" Rae screams. She sighs. "Sorry. Look, there might be another way. The spell I did to make sure artic was okay. I can transfer myself into her body."

The others shake Sixth awake, and Rae begins her chant. As her body slumps to the ground, the look of rage on Sixth's face is replaced by one of horror.

"GET OUT!" Sixth shrieks. "OH, GET HER OUT!" Sixth struggles against her ropes, banging her head against a tree. Suddenly, she jerks away from the tree.

KaraS got stuff out of her backpack. She got her holy symbol and holy water. She used the holy symbol to mix sacred herbs into the holy water. She said a prayer to the goddess.

Ragnar watched as Kara poured the potion down 6th throat. The barbarian in him still had a strong inclination to thump on her or take her over his knee and knock some sence into her at the very least, yet he did as Kara bid and held her nose to make sure she would swallow. Almost immeadiately 6th stiffened and Ragnar let her drop to the ground. She began to wither and moan her voice changing between her own and Rae's

"Well it shouldn't, its not a killing potion, just a banishing one. The problem is in whether 6th has become evil or only taken over by evil." Kara explained.

"Guys somethings wrong..." Lurkingghost stammered, watching the writhering form as only she could. "Something's happening, they're all blurring together! And Rae!..."

"Oh guys I missed it entirely. Our magics here aren't the same! What ever was done to her was done by living magic of this world, Rae is living magic of our world and the potion I gave her is somewhere in between. There's no telling how they will mix together!"

6th continued to wail in pain, no voice was assendent now. Mouse leaned down over her friend. "Well we have to do something." She reached out to touch 6th brow.

Ragnar found something to do...Falidor squeeled as he was raised higher and found himself in the big barnarians grasp, over his head in typical wrestling body slam fashion!

"FOCUS!!!" Falidor screeched, "She needs a focus!" Ragnar paused. "Give her something from your world to focus on, something she's close to, that has meaning to her! If she focuses on that your other companion should be able to slip free and then the potion can work!" Falidor was rambling just as fast as his little mouth would move.

"Come on guys talk to her." Mouse motioned the others to gather around as she began speaking friendly words and reminders to the form before her.To what was at the moment 6th and Rae.

The others gathered around and soon they were all speaking kind loving words for their friend. 6th pain seemed to ease...*Guys help me... Raes whispered voice seeped forth.

*Maybe..... There was a pause as 6th color began to change. Her flesh rippled but then settled. * No. what ever was done to her won't let go. The potion seems to be weakening it but's it's settled into the part of 6th that IS evil and won't let me go!

Without taking time to think about it, least he talk himself out of it, Ragnar reached out, scooped up the form of 6th and planted a passionate kiss on her lips. Her body trembled...

The others looked on agast. What was he doing? Mouse and Jila both were ready to slap the big Viking, if Kara or someone else didn't beat them to it! 6th feet began to kick. Her arms reached up to grasp the viking.

6th body began to blur...suddenly Rae reappeared, rolling over, and out of 6th body. "Get out..."the voice of 6th intoned.."He's mine!" One hand actually pushed Rae away.

Ragnar was being hugged to...only 6th wasn't letting go! Squirming the big man began to pusdh, and prod, looking for a way to free himself from the suddenly amorous 6th grasp. He'd just wanted to help her focus not keep her!

Ragnar started to answer...then he noticed that one of her eyes had returned to normal, the other was still black. Oh no...swallowing hard Ragnar began to back away. 6th had other ideas....

"Right, sorry. Just..." Sixth shook her head in confusion. The evil was still there, and although she was better able to resist it, it was still strong. "You said you could help me."

with a raise of her eyebrows the ArticCat continues "sucking face...I think we should blow off this little toad dude, find a village, hang out and enjoy our powers. I mean...the Master won't bug us if we don't bug him. I say leave well enough alone." The ArticCat stands up with her arms crossed.

The ArticCat rolls her eyes and replies in a snutty voice "Please! Why do you guys always seem to think I'm joking?! And another thing...You must be the worst hosts I have ever meet! I mean, you save someone and you don't offer them any food or water? Instead you are sucking face right in front of me! Get a room already! How RUDE!"

Rae pulls a flask and some food out of her pack. "Cakes and ale. Enjoy. We were a little, um... preoccupied, you know. In case you haven't noticed, things have been going from bad to worse around here."

still tied up, and trying to think through the red fog in her brain. Half of her wanted desparately to kill all of the gang, and half of her wanted to apologize for trying to do so in the first place. And half of her couldn't stop eyeing Ragnar like a side of beef. She began pulling at the ropes that held her, picking at the knots with her teeth.

"That sounds...mumph...like a plan, Rae." she said, untieing one of the knots, thinking that SOMEONE should have read a boyscout manual on the art of knot tieing. She quickly got her hands free and began working on her feet.

"I'm..ahem, sorry about before. Don't know what came over me." She stood up, free from the ropes. Stretching, she looked around at the group, who were slightly distracted by Artickat's wierd comments. *Make a break for it?* she thought to herself, then *Wouldn't get far, I'll play along* then *What the FRELL am I thinking? These are my friends!* Then * I must obey the Master* then *Wait! I'm NOT a bad guy! What am I thinking?* then *Boy, does Ragnar look delicious in that outfit! What a nice...* then *Holy mother of crap! Where the frell did THAT come from?* Shaking her head, she managed to say "Look I don't know how trustworthy I might be...I still feel...something..."

"NO! Don't come any closer, Spyral. I don't...I don't want to hurt you. Just stay away." she put one hand on her forehead, sighing, closing her eyes. She opened them again, looking around at her friends.

"Oh my god..." Spyral trailed off, peering into 6th's face. The others gathered around, but not too close, looking at 6th's eyes. Blackness swirled over her eyes, sometimes normal, sometimes looking like an oil spill.

"Ok..." 6th said, her back to a tree, her hands up, looking afraid. "I know Lochinar's done...something to me. I don't know how to stop it, other than to focus on..." 6th blushed, "Ahem...er, eating Ragnar for breakfast. But the plan would work, taking you to Lochinar, except for one thing. He's watching us right now...He aaaauuuughhhh!" she screamed, holding her head between her hands. "He...sees through me somehow..." she gasped. "hears what I hear...sees...what I see...Can't stop it...ooooooh" she sagged down against the tree. "Must focus..."she moaned.

"Should we just continue traveling, and everyone do their best to keep her under watch?" Ragnar said, looking over his shoulder at 6th, his hand on the handle of one of his axes, should he need it.

"What if she goes bezerk again? Are you just going to kiss her back to normal?" Jila hissed, her eyes narrowing at the barbarian, who reddened slightly.

"Look guys, sitting here on our butts isn't getting us any closer to finishing this thing." Rae said, calmly. "We should just go on for a while like we are, keeping an eye on her. We'll need all the help we can get to make it to Lochinar's castle. When we get close to him, maybe we can stage a takeover by 6th, let HER believe she's got us under control, and let her lead the way to the castle. Then we can jump on the magician when we get there. We can't hurt 6th, but we probably can trick her. Until then, we've just got to help her focus on being good."

"Just two things," Ghost said, hovering between them, "One, how do we know that when we let 6th think she captured us, that she'll take us ALL to the magician? What if she only needs one of us, and the rest are disposable or something? And..."she continued before any of them could say anything, "What about Artickat? There's something up with her...She's not...well, she's not right." The gang all looked over at Artickat, none of them saying a word.

Rae whispers, keeping one eye on Sixth and one on Artic. "I wasn't going to mention this, but because of the spell I preformed on them I still have a very strong mental conection to both Sixth and Artic. If Sixth goes nutso on us, I'll know almost before she does. They're both in a lot of pain right now. Also, Sixth is horribly confused. Artic is afraid and irritated, but there's something else..."

"Old phone numbers, names, nursery rhymes, quotes from books. Things like that. It's what I've been doing to drown out those damned voices. It should work for you."

Sixth nodded and started thinking about old boyfriend's, thier phone numbers, the name of her kindergarden teacher, the liscense number of her first car. She smiled. "I think it's working."

*I thought about it, and I realized that HE isn't in my head. The evil is, but not him, he can hear us talk through my ears, and see through my eyes, but he can't read my mind, which is a good thing 'cause trying to think regular thoughts and junk thoughts at the same time is HARD. I don't know how you do it.*

*I...can't tell, really. She's just mad as heck, and eyeing Poor Rag like a 3-course meal. The part of me that's me is ok, just, it can't do much against the evil part, except kind of control it. I can't make it go away, though. If I focus on you guys it helps some, especially Ragnar. For some reason thinking of Ragnar appeases the evilness enough to keep it in control. The evil part of me wants to either kick his behind or... Oh, poor guy...* 6th trailed off, blushing in her mind.

*Sorry* 6th thought *The evilness in me likes that kind of stuff way too much. That's why him kissing...um, me seemed to work.* 6th sighed heavily, *I don't know how to work around this. Lochinar can see you guys, hear you talk. The only thing I can think of to do, is to tie me back up. Let me rant, let me be evil, but be your prisoner. That way it won't matter what I see or hear. I can try to keep it under control as much as I can, but tied up I can't hurt anyone. Or at least, you guys can stop me before I do. When we get near the castle, you can set me free, making it look like I broke free, and I can take you all to him. If I keep focusing I can probably keep the evilness under control enough to tie you up loosely. Breaking free won't be a problem.*

*I know I can't kill you and Artic, HE told me not to. I can focus enough where I shouldn't hurt the others then. But for now, I think I should go back to being evil, just a controlled evil, see?*

6th smiled at Rae *Have I ever let you down before? Trust me, ok? Just one thing. Tied up, I won't be able to help you guys in a fight. You can keep me hobbled so I can walk and no one has to carry me. But if HE sees what I see, and he sees me HELPING you guys, he won't believe me when I get you guys into the castle*

Rae slipped her mind out of 6th's, and stood. She walked back toward the gang, leaving 6th leaning against the tree, her eyes still closed, her hands still over her ears.

He must have been overwhelmed by the moment. That's it! Yet he still had unanswered questions. If Rae was in 6th at the time....just who was he kissing? Worse yet if the evil thingie was in 6th was it now in Rae as well?

sat munching while she eyed the group of misfits. *Of all the assignments the Master has bid of me this has to be the worst! This group is sooooo RUDE and this fur was making me itch!*

Squirming around because of the fur she sneezed "Aaachoooo! I hate this fur..." she grumbled to herself. She had listened closely to 6th and Rae but they hadn't said anything. *The Master sent me incase 6th fails in her mission.*

With Sixth tied up and artic under close watch, the intrepid group started out again. They had a lot of ground to cover. Jila rode high up on her dragon, scouting the terrain, guiding them around obstacles.

Ragnar tried to puzzle that out. Did Kara mean that Sixth liked him or that the goddess did. He turned to ask her but she had wandered off to talk to Spyral. Strange...

The something was making her very angry, but also afraid. Trembling, she sat on the ground, leaning against a tree, and began crying. "What's happening to you, Rae?"

"Archer." a voice rings out from the trees and three men step out into the open. One of the men walks up to Spyral with his hand extended. "Greetings to you and your friends fellow Archer. My name is Danilo. And these are my friends Corin and Rayn. You are new to this area, Yes? What brings you and your group to this part of the forest?"

The group looks at each other as if to say *Just what DO we tell them?* but before they can decide Danilo says "You all look like you could use some good food and rest. Will you come to our village for the night?"

This place was takling it's toll, what with everybody acting a little different than normal. He was having quite a ride skipping between being being, worried, irrateded, or just plain annoyed.

Rae reaches a decision. "Falador! Lochinar! Can you hear me?" she shouts, ripping off her wizard robes. "I'm done playing with BOTH of you. MY GAME! MY RULES!! I WILL SNAP YOUR FRELLING NECKS BEFORE I PLAY BY YOUR RULES!!! YOU HEAR ME? HUH? HUH?" Rae raises her hands and begins a spell. "By the time I'm through with those two, they'll wish they'd kept their feud to themselves."

Back at the village, a worried Ragnar had gone looking for Rae. When he heard her shouting, he broke into a run. He reached the clearing as Rae finished her spell.

in the square of the elven village, several beautiful elven females brought food and wine for them to drink. Spyral marveled at the extraordinary beauty and radiance of the elven people. They were beautiful in a way that defied explanation as if they emanated some aura that could be felt by all of those who came into contact with them.

"Thank you!" Spyral said to one of the maidens who handed him a plate. She smiled a ravishing smile and the angel felt himself begin to blush. He quickly averted his gaze.

"Frellin' buncha treehuggin' saps..." Sixth began. "Oh God! I'm sorry...Please...Just don't listen to me," she apologized. "I SAID NO FOOD! WHATSAMATTER TOO MANY LEAVES MAKE YOU DEAF?" she shouted at one of the elven maidens who offered her a plate. "ooohhhhh I'm really sorry, please come back."

"Your friend is quite bad off" Cayn commented to the 'Scapers. "Such an evil enchantment will be difficult to......break...." he trailed off raising his head slightly and looking off into the woods surrounding the village clearing.

Suddenly, Cayn stiffened visibly as if experiencing an intense electrical shock of some kind, as did the rest of the elves. Plates and goblets tumbled from the hands of the other elves moving about the feasting area as their gazes snapped to the direction in which Cayn was staring.

A gust of wind suddenly blasted thru the village scattering things everywhere, though not like a typical gust but almost like the giant exhale of a great creature. In contrast to the force of the wind, on it floated a sweet harmonic voice that almost seemed to be song. A gentle, almost loving voice that seemed to hold the entire village in thrall for the duration that lasted barely a second but seemed to last an eternity.

As the event quickly ended, almost all of the elves seemed to slump. The assorted 'Scapers quickly moved to grab the nearest elven villagers to them to keep them from collapsing to the ground.

Cayn looked at Spyral with eyes that showed a combination of fear and confusion. "Someone has awoken 'The Great Lady'. She who has not walked the planes of this realm since before time itself began."

"It is said that she created this very realm. On the ashes of the previous one. Legend holds that when she is awoken, she destroys what is...then creates what is not."

a sudden hiss from the Lynx, there they were, Rae and Ragnar, standing beside the end of the table where their friends are discussing the possible ending of this world with their hosts.

"I'm sorry Rae, I really was worried about you but I guess you were right. I am leading with my stomach again, and the thought of an actual bed instead of sleeping on the ground again.... I really am sorry." Jila looks at her friend with the hope that she will be forgiven.

Jila's eyes grow wide with an incredible thought. She turns to Kara quickly, "Could this "Great Lady" of theirs be your Goddess? Is there anything you can tell us?"

"Isn't that essentially what WE were brought here to do?" Rae asks resonablly. "Yes, things are going to change. Some things that are now will not be in a short time. Some things that are not now will be. And I vote that we start right here and right now." Rae rises and crosses the clearing. The elves pull away from her fearfully. She kneels next to Sixth. "How are you?"

Rae pulls free of Ragnar and helps Sixth to her feet. "Good to have you back with us, my dear." Rae turns to face the rest of the Scoobs, the elves, and a very confused-looking Falador. She points to the dwarf. "I want to make a couple of things clear to you. One: you are not as powerful as you think. You are NOTHING, less even than Lochinar despite your aspirations to greatness. TWO: I WILL NOT BE MANIPULATED BY YOU ANY LONGER."

"This is my game now, and my rules. We WILL destroy Lochinar, but not for you. We will restore the magic, but, again, not for you." Rae walks up to the dwarf and whispers so only he can hear. "I am the most powerful sorceress this world has ever known. You were a fool to attempt to decieve me, and even more a fool for attempting to control me. Do not repeat the mistake, or the worst Ragnar can do to you will look mild. Am I understood?"

The feathers on her head began making hand motions at him. There was something deffinately alive about those things! Now if he could only figure out what they were trying to say.

Rae was looking a bit smug and determined. The dwarf was quivvering...Ragnar didn't mind that at all. He knew the little man was up to no good, he just didn't know what!

over her shoulder and smooths back her feathers. Her sorceress gown has been replaced with a green, sleeveless shirt and leather pants, and she has abandoned much of her wizardly paraphenalia in the woods.

with a bit of confusion in her eyes. This whole trip, nothing has been as it seems. Artic was acting snooty, while was NOT like her at all, Sixth (at times) seemed to be two separate people stuck in the same body, and now Rae was proclaiming herself to be the greatess sorceress this world has ever known.

Mouse, Jila, Ghost, Kara, and Spyral sat at the table and were quietly eating the delicious food that was brought to them by their hosts. Sixth appeared to be herself again, thanks to whatever Rae did to her, but she looked pale and was not interested in eating at all. Artic was sitting as far away from the group as she could, studying them in a disconserting fashion, and the dwarf was busy shovelling food into his mouth. It seems his true colors were shown once Rae accused him of using all of the group for his own end. Rae and Ragnar sat at the head of the table, being showered with attention that seemed to please both of them.

picking at her food. She looked listlessly up at the gang, who all seemed to be quite happy. 6th stood, gripping the table to keep the others from seeing how shaky she was. Mouse looked up at her as she stood.

6th just looked at her, a strange expression on her face. Mouse noticed that 6th was a lot paler than normal. Her skin was almost grey, her hair hung limply and the color seemed muted, little of its fireyness remained. To Mouse, 6th looked faded.

"Outside, Rae." Mouse said cheerfully, "Spy and I want to check out the stars here. It's night you know, and the other nights we were too busy." but Rae had lost interest, and waved her hand as if to dismiss them from her presence.

Spyral and Mouse stepped outside. "Geez, what's up with her?" Spyral muttered. Mouse had been wondering what was up with Rae's behavior lately, but her friend had not let anyone close to her but Ragnar, and the Viking hadn't seemed any more willing to let on what was up if he knew.

"Are you sick?" Spyral asked putting his hand on her forehead. He jerked it away immeadately. 6th was cold. Very cold. And clammy. "6th, what's wrong with you?"

It...when Rae took the evil out of me, she...I think she took everything else too. I can barely stand up anymore." 6th said quietly. "I don't have any strength. My energy, my...my everything is gone!" a single tear slid down her cheek. "I don't have any will to live anymore, and that just isn't like me...and everything else that made me who I am is gone too. I can't remember my training, I can barely remember who I am, who anyone is, what we're doing here. And the men thing? It's gone too. I'm not me." her voice rose a little, but Mouse and Spyral could both hear the lack of any feeling in 6th's words.

6th sighed. "I was just evil 6th until she kissed my head. I felt the evil go, then everything else. I don't know if she meant it, but I heard her laughing inside my head when she took it." 6th leaned back in her friends arms. She was too listless to sit up on her own.

"Having an evil 6th was bad enough, but if Rae's evil now, worse, if she doesn't realize she's evil now, with the power she possesses..."he trailed off looking at Mouse and gulping.

"We need to have someone look at 6th. A shaman or something. Hey, Kara's a cleric!" Spyral said. He scooped 6th up in his arms, noting how light she was. He turned to go back inside to Kara, and Mouse grabbed his arm.

"If you take her in there everyone's going to notice. And if 6th isn't just sick, if Rae really sucked everything out of her, it might get ugly." Spyral nodded slowly.

"Ok, you go in and find an elf. Tell them you need some help identifying some stars or something. Get them out here and we'll get them to take us to a healer." Mouse nodded, and hurried back the where the others were. Spyral laid 6th down under a nearby tree and sat beside her. 6th was barely conscious, and Spyral brushed her hair gently away from her face, worried.

Mouse slipped back inside, making her way around the room towards a group of elves. She tugged on the sleeve of the nearest one, smiling prettily as they all turned.

"Um, excuse me, but I was wondering if you could help me?" Mouse asked, "My friend and I were star-gazing and we noticed several unusual constellations. Do you think one of you could come out and help us?" The elves looked at each other, then at Mouse.

"Here." came the call back to her. She grabbed the elf's arm and dragged her to where Spyral sat with 6th. He looked up worriedly as they stopped in front of him.

"She's getting worse." he said, his voice catching slightly. "I don't know what's wrong with her, but it seems to be sucking the life right out of her."

"Do you..." Mouse began to ask the elf girl, but the maiden took in the situation at once. "Our holy woman will know what to do for her." she said quickly, "Follow me."

They took 6th inside, where the elvin Holy woman, a wizened old lady, looked at 6th. "This was done with a spell. Not of our world. Very powerful. It has sucked everything out of the poor girl. I can't undo this. I can slow it's progress a little, but you must get the one who did this to her to remove it. There is no other hope for her."

"No,the question is," Rae's sultry voice came from behind them, tinged with malice, "What are you two complaining for?" she smiled at them, and Mouse found herself backing away involuntarily.

"Do you think that I, as powerful as I am now, don't know that already?" she shrugged, "Perhaps it is her time to die." she said, her voice sweet, her smile widening.

Mouse began to realize what had happened to Rae. The evil in 6th had taken over the sorceress' mind. But in the Rae's body, the evil had much more power, much more strength, and most importantly, magic. And Mouse had no idea what to do to stop it. "Now Rae, please..." she began. Rae walked towards her. No one noticed the elvin maiden slip out the door...