Taj and Aero: Advent of the Feather King

Kol leaned back on his plush couch and sighed contently. He had been speaking with Talos and Lena, catching up on things he had missed while they were on the coast as Mai spent some quality time with their third child; Roselina. He couldn't even believe that nearly twenty years had gone by since his twins were born, and then eight children to follow. Kol hadn't changed much over those years, save for the lines of stress that were now etched on his handsome face. Raising nine children was hard work and when the twin boys turned into teenagers all hell broke lose daily. It was stressful, but Kol wouldn't take it back for anything. He loved his wife and children.

"I wouldn't suppose there would be any more children on the way for you, hmm?" Kol asked with a sly grin as he measured the couples reaction.

"Don't even get any thoughts into this little brain, Kol." Lena commented with a dry tone. "Oriana nearly killed me, and when Talos found out about Ryleon it nearly killed him. I think we've had enough." Lena said as she looked lovingly back to Talos. There was a hidden motive in her soft look, which clearly said if you opposed me I will have no reservations killing you.

~*~*~*~

Oirana frowned, her inky black hair spilling over her shoulders as she watcher her younger brother. "Ryleon...We are on vacation, at least take this time to stop working." She commented as her ice blue eyes looked around the kitchen.

"Aunt Mai asked to see the progress of my cooking last time we were here, so I am only fulfilling her wishes, my dead sister." Ryleon commented as he stirred a dark brown looking liquid. "Don't you have anything better to do than berate me?" He asked, turning an annoyed look in her direction.

"Fine fine, I was just trying to get you to relax while we were here. We don't have such finery at home, not that I could stand this much anyway..." Oriana mumbled as she walked out into the room and made her way to where Kol, Talos, and Lena were. She walked in and sat next to Kol, trying to figure out if they were more interesting then her kin brother.

"Why, if it isn't my beautiful niece." Kol said as he ruffled the girls hair. He got a glare in return but no protest.

~*~*~*~

Tristan dodge the attack that came directly for him and side stepped as the attacker and was quick to strike back but his plan was quickly foiled as his twin parried his attack. Tristan took a few steps back and grinned as he threw the stick he found back into the snow. "I think we are some of the best fighters in the land, brother." He grinned at Ilario as he took a large breath of the cold air into his lungs. The two of them had been sparring out behind the house in the woods for a little while now. It was training Kol had taught them to keep in shape and on their toes. On top of their lessons in textbooks the boys were given lessons in swordsmanship.

~*~*~*~

His dark hair fell into his face and his even dark eyes were filled with panic. There was a dragon after him, and what made it worse the thing was treating him like a play toy. The very moment Demetri had taken to the skies the dragon had followed him and was now spitting fire into his back and swatting at him with it's huge paws. "What did I ever do to you?!" He yelled back as he pumped his wings hard to keep his body in the air. The dragon had already landed a good hit on his leg and his back had scorch marks on it from the beasts fire.

Demetri thought he could keep away from the thing until he felt a heavy weight on his back and the slicing of his skin as the dragons paw hit him from the sky. The man dropped like a rock and fell onto the forest floor. Kol

Talos laughed out loud at the mention of more children. He didn't need Lena's sweet smile laced with deadly poison to let him know that a third child was out of the question. "No no, Lena's right. Ryleon nearly killed me, and we're getting a bit gray to be popping out any new ones." He grinned honestly at his wife and half-brother, chuckling to himself and ran his hand through his hair. He had a streak of grey hair at the temples now, the result of getting older and the stress of a lifestyle dedicated to stopping the shipping of human slaves. It was a hard-won life, but didn't come without it's own little pay offs as well. Trade of human slaves was getting slower and slower in the Southern coast region, and the monetary gains their little family had gotten from the raids was nothing to sneeze at.

He looked up when Oriana came in and watched with an amused look when Kol ruffled her hair and received a glare in return. Oriana hadn't been raised in a sheltered environment like Rose and Kol's other daughters. In fact, it was their son that was the least outgoing of the two. Oriana was no wallflower, and preferred to be in the thick of it instead of sitting passively on the sidelines. He was a little surprised that she hadn't tracked down the older twins to go spar with them, actually. The family reunion was broken up by the appearance of a worried maid who whispered something into Kol's ear.

*~*~*

"Hah, I'm sure that even father will have to give in soon." Ilario replied with confidence, twisting his sparring stick with a flourish. The twins often escaped from their home out into the woods to spar, rain, snow or sun. It was good for the mind and body to train in different weather conditions, and "every opportunity taken was an opportunity not missed", as their younger sister Roselina would say. She was always spouting philosophical nonsense like that, which was an even bigger incentive to get out of the house.

A loud roar echoed across the clear skies of the mountains near Turich, a bright red dragon flying haphazardly over the uneven green canopy below, the great big creature shooting out jets of white-hot flame at a smaller flying figure in front of it. Ilario looked up from his sparring match with his brother to watch the spectacle, shading his eyes against the glare of the snow. "That ruddy dragon is back again..." The elder twin muttered, leaning against his sparring stick. "I suppose it's a good thing it's here when everything is covered in snow... It always lights half the mountain on fire whenever it comes ripping through here." They watched as the creature swatted whatever small flying thing that it had been chasing and land. Apparently, it's prey was either dead or no longer interesting, for in a flurry of fire and with another roar, the dragon took off. "Come on Tristain, lets go see what poor creature got the dragon's attention this time." Dropping the stick, he crouched and flared his wings, launching into the air with a powerful stroke that scattered the snow at his feet, and then was off.

It wasn't hard finding the fallen creature that the dragon had been toying with, for the earth had been gouged by raking talons where the creature had landed and taken off. The snow was melted and the trees bore evidence of fire. Landing in the recently cleared patch of forest, Ilario paced around the downed figure, recognizing it now as a him, and an avian to boot. The man was face-down on the ground with twigs in his hair and wings, back burned and bleeding from multiple wounds all over his body. Under the grime on his face and body there was evidence of more wounds, though they were older in nature. He was about to assume the man dead when he groaned and breathed. Startled, Ilario stared at the man for a little bit before looking over at his twin. "He's alive! The lucky little bastard..." Scratching his head, he examined the man. "Well, I suppose that we should get him some help, huh? Luck can only get you so far." Heaving a sigh, he bent down and tried to find a patch of skin that wasn't burnt or cut up to grab and haul him away. Bloody bastard was hurt all over. "Good thing he's passed out..."

*~*~*

Mai hummed gently as she knitted, sitting the the library bathed in the sun of mid-day. Two of her four daughters were in the library with her enjoying the peaceful afternoon, the eldest of the two, Roselina, was singing softly to herself to the tune that Mai was humming. Many afternoons proceeded in this manner actually, especially during the winter. The library was for some reason or another one of the warmest rooms in the house and also the soul source of entertainment when things were going slowly during the days. Rose was always singing anyway, no matter where she was or what she was doing. A few lessons with Talos on the art of hexing had revealed that she had a talent for stringing the magical words together and making an effect. Her singing was always soothing, but more so than normal and many a screaming child had been put to sleep by her voice.

Mai's head perked up when a maid entered the library, gave a small curtsey and walked directly to her side, looking like something was bothering her. "Ma'am, young masters Ilario and Tristain have... brought someone home."

The intrusion did not go unnoticed by the others in the library. Rose's soft singing had stopped and all eyes were on the maid now. "What do you mean?" Mai asked curiously, setting aside her knitting and giving the maid her full attention. "They're not hurt, are they?"

"No Ma'am, nothing like that, I'm sorry to worry you." Again, the maid curtsied, but continued on in her lowered voice despite the increased audience. "No ma'am, they've brought home a wounded man-"

"A man?" Rose interrupted quickly, immediately perking up at the mention.

Mai frowned at the sudden interest and stood. "That's just like them, isn't it?" She muttered darkly. "Show me what they found, please. Rose-" Looking over her shoulder at her eldest daughter and seeing the hopeful look on her face, Mai didn't have the heart to tell her to stay. Kol would probably object, but oh well. He wasn't exactly here right now. "Come with. Your songs might come in handy in healing this mystery man."

More eager than she probably should have been, Roselina grinned from ear to ear, following her mother and the maid down the hall and through the corridors of their home. The smaller Serenoa house that her father had built for his new family wasn't nearly the size of the monstrosity across the lake, but it was still something along the lines of a castle. Newcomers often got lost in the maze of halls and interconnecting rooms, but for the residents, finding their way around was as natural as breathing.

They were guided to a small room off the main hall, a small group of maids, butlers, and young children gathered around the door. At the sight of their mistress coming, they scattered but remained within easy listening distance, every one of them looking incredibly curious. Mai gasped upon seeing the body of the man that her eldest twins had dragged in, staggering back slightly and grabbing Rose's wrist in surprise, her eyes flying to the faces of Ilario and Tristan. "I expected him to have a third arm, or a black eye or something b-b-but this?!" She hissed, quickly getting angry. "What have you done?! You've pulled pranks before but this man is nearly dead-"

"Whoa! Calm down mother!" Ilario threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender at his mother's sudden vehemence. "It wasn't us, mother! That big red dragon, the one that burns down everything when it comes by? He got attacked by it. I have nothing to do with these burns."

Rose appeared to have been unaffected by the state of the man after the initial shock of seeing his sorry state and walked toward him, her head cocked to the side like a child examining something new and strange for the first time. "He's got to be in a terrible amount of pain..." She murmured, touching his face gently with her slim ivory fingers.

Talos walked in at that moment and paused at the door, surveying the scene with a practiced eye. "Are you going to try and heal him?" His voice was carefully measured, flicking his gaze from the wounded unconscious man to Rose. He knew better than any that hexing was a risky business by it's nature, but Rose's hexes weren't like normal ones. They were generally helpful in nature, a strange combination of elemental and hexing magic that wasn't present in any of the other children, and he had never seen a spell of hers go wrong... but then again, she had never had to deal with anything quite so severe as what was lying before her now.

Kol hurried after Talos after he mentioned what the maid had said to him. Please. Please don't say his sons finally up and killed someone, that was the last thing he wanted to hear as he walked in the room after Talos. Mai looked like she was fuming and worry wormed its way into his gut. He walked over and placed a hand on Mai's shoulder as Ilario seemed to be claiming innocence. Tristan too then piped up after seeing his father enter the room. "Dad, we swear we didn't do this, we were sparring in the woods like we normally do..." He thought for a moment before raising his shirt slightly to show off a small welt he had received from his twin from the stick he was using. "See? Ilario has some too." He defended the both of them. They pulled a lot of stunts, but never would they nearly kill a man...not on purpose anyway. Tristan kept his last thoughts to himself looking back to Rose to see if she was gonna heal the weird man or not. "Wonder what he did to anger the beastie...." He mumbled.

Lena looked over the young man and suddenly felt sympathy pains from when she was attacked by Mai's dragon. She put her hand on the back of her shoulder as she looked at him with pity. "Mai, this looks like a dragons doing, I don't believe it was your sons....this time." She teased the boys as she leaned against the door frame. She thought it best to leave Talos be as he spoke with Rose, he was her mentor. Not only her's but Tristan's as well. Both of Kol's children had hexing magic and the only one they knew to train them was Talos. Talos seemed actually pretty enthused to teach the two children, probably because neither of their children had shown any hint of magic in them.

Kol took his eyes from his supposed innocent children to look at Rose. Suddenly he felt like he was punched in the gut. She was touching him with infinite gentleness and was softly speaking whether to herself or him, he didn't know. "Rose. You've no need to touch the man to heal him." Kol hissed in a dark voice as he took a step away from Mai and one towards his daughter. He didn't trust this man one bit, under the blood Kol could see the deep scars on his back, arms and legs and then an even deeper one one his neck. This man was for sure probably messed up, probably even at fault for messing with the dragon.

Demetri knew he heard people talking, talking about him but he couldn't find the energy to rise from whatever he was laying on. And the he felt someones cool fingers touch his face and something in him lept to the surface. He snapped his reddish brown eyes open and starring directly at Rose. He grabbed her small wrist with his large, blood covered hand and squeezed tight in a warning not to touch him. "You-" As he was about to complete his warning dizziness overtook him and he sunk back down into the darkness.

Kol nearly growled when Demetri grabbed onto Rose and he rushed over to her side just as the man passed out. He wrapped his arms around his daughter in a tight, protective manner and forced her to take a few steps back. "Heal him, from a distance, I told you." His voice was dark sounding as he never took his eyes from the man.

Mai calmed at the mention of the red dragon that seemed to like chasing people about the mountain side for no apparent reason, looking up at Kol when he entered the room. She had dealing with that demented creature before, and relaxed knowing that there was a legitimate excuse that didn't involve her sons taking things too far. Their claims seemed further backed by the welt under Tristan's shirt, and seeing his twins example, Ilario rolled back his own sleeves and showed them a fresh set of bruises that had developed there. With a relieved sigh, she surveyed the twins calmly and nodded to Lena's words. "You don't have to anger that one... breathing is enough of an incentive to prompt an attack..."

Rose looked up at the sound of her name, her honey gold eyes settling on her father. He had a look on his face that she had never seen before... was he... angry with her? She didn't get long to ponder the phenomenon, for suddenly the wounded man was startled awake, his iron grip on her tiny wrists. Fear flashed through her in that instant and their eyes met briefly. Her heart hammered in her throat, but not because she was afraid of him... she was afraid for him. For the few seconds that he had been conscious, the mystery man had sparked Rose's interest. She had never met a man so wild, intimidating and utterly off-limits as this one, and his very existence intrigued her to no end. And those eyes... There had been a deep pain in them that stretched beyond just physical, and he had almost looked afraid.

Once she got a hold of her racing heartbeat, she struggled out of Kol's grip, turning on him quickly. "Daddy! He's obviously delirious and in pain! If you had just been assaulted by a dragon, you wouldn't be kind either!" In fact, he wasn't being kind now. Rose looked down to her wrist that had been grabbed, and was slightly surprised to see that there was blood on it. Not her own, of course, but the stranger's blood had smeared all over her delicate white wrist when he had grabbed it. She would be careful not to get it on her dress.

Mai stepped forward, placing a hand on Kol's forearm to help restrain him a little. He was entirely too protective of his daughters, and this didn't seem like the time or the place to be getting into a tussle over it. "Kol dear, please calm down and let Rose do what she needs to do. He's bleeding everywhere..." She let a hit of a plea enter her voice, hoping to keep her husband from saying something incredibly demeaning about the half-dead man. "And what are you all doing just standing here gawking?" She asked of the small crowd of maids. "Go and get bandages and warm water! Someone summon the physician, while you're at it." They hopped to upon hearing the command, disappearing into the network of the house.

"Thank you mama." Rose said with a small sniff, turning back toward the wounded man and looking him over carefully. She had never healed anything this serious, so had to think if she could rearrange a few of the simpler healing spells that she had come up with with Uncle Talos's help. Even as she thought it, she could see his larger form looming over her shoulder, watching carefully. "It's a lot to heal." She muttered, wracking her head for rhymes.

"Just calm down and remember your training, and you'll be fine." Talos said softly, watching his niece carefully. He was reserving judgement on this new character and so wasn't about to react nearly as violently as Kol had when Rose was showing interest in the boy, but he didn't like it. Roselina wasn't like Oriana, his daughter had a good head on her shoulders and could look out for herself but Rose... well, she was a horse of a different color.

With a rustle of her dress, Rose knelt by the bed of the wounded man, carefully putting her hands over his chest. Not touching, for fear that she would startle him to wakefulness again, but only a few inches of air separated them. Taking a deep breath, she readied her voice and began a short simple song.


She exhaled slowly, feeling the energy drain from her as the healing spell began to take effect, her hands glowing softly with a white light.

Kol seemed to calm a bit when Mai approached him. It's not like he wanted the man to die but he had no right to lash out at his daughter either. Kol kept his peace as Talos hovered over Rose and kept an eye on her. He could only hope that his brother had the same mind set as him and would happily agree to kick the man out once he was healed. As Mai ordered the maids back to work a silly grin found its way on his face. "I always did like when you ordered people around..." He whispered to her and looked back to his daughter.

The room was filled with a soft melodious sound that comforted everyone who heard it. A peace stilled in Kol as he closed his eyes and listened to the gifts his daughter possessed. Joy filled his heart as he was reminded of how special Rose, all of his children were. The powers of her voice were strong, enough to give light to a dark room.

Tristan leaned against his brother in a playful manner as he listen to his sister. He couldn't help but admit that the girl had a good set of pipes, despite being so stuck up. "Think she can heal 'em?" Tristan whispered as as not to upset the parents or Rose, holding out two silver coins in an attempted to get in a bet with his older brother. The twin grinned and waited for his brothers response.

Demetri felt a warm sensation run through his body and it spread all throughout reaching all the way down to his toes. Suddenly, he could breath easier, the burns and the string of the deep lacerations lessened tremendously. The results of the healing was immediate as the wounds disappeared and the man was now soundly asleep and breathing softly.

"Wow, Rose, that is amazing." Lena said as she leaned down next to her now tired looking niece and put a hand on her shoulder. "You did a great job." she said with a large smile on her face, helping the girl to stand.

Oriana leaned against the door frame and watched the seen from afar. This whole magic thing wasn't her business and never had she displayed any interest in it, but she too could not deny the usefulness that the stuff occasionally had.

Mai thumped Kol on the forearm at his quietly whispered words, glaring at him. "This is neither the time or the place." She hissed quietly, resuming the tight grip she had on her husband to keep him from doing something stupid. Like interrupting their daughter in the middle of her hex. She had learned from Talos that hexing was a delicate business, and didn't want to see a healing spell gone wrong. Who knew what might have happened if she said something wrong, or her motivation wavered, or something equally terrible. Her eyes wandered from the golden head of her daughter to the mischievous looks that her twins were giving each other and narrowed her gaze. What were they whispering about?

Ilario took one look at his sister, the the downed man and shrugged, a playful grin on his face. "I bet she heals two scratches and then fails miserably." He whispered back, holding out two coins of his own for the bet. As Rose's voice rose and fell in the short sad but beautiful melody, he felt a lightness that seemed to spread from his very core. Blinking, he looked down at his extended arm and watched in amazement as the red welts and purplish bruises began to recede before his very eyes. Bewildered, he looked back at the downed man and saw him undergo a similar change. The bleeding came to a stop and the garish wounds that he had been sporting were closing up at an unnaturally fast rate. The burns were receding, and instead of looking like he was in incredible pain, his face relaxed and he appeared to fall into a deep sleep.

"Wow..." He muttered, exchanging a quick glance with his twin. "I wasn't expecting that one. Did you get healed up too?"

Heaving a small sigh, Rose stood and allowed her Aunt to get her to her feet. "Thank you Aunt Lena. I am just very grateful that it seems to have worked so well." Though exhausted, she turned a radiant smile on all of those in the room, lingering on her father and mother a little longer than the rest. Mai was on her other side quickly, helping her out of the cramped quarters and into the hall to be taken to her room to rest.

Talos took Rose's former spot, looking over the now uninjured but rather dirty and unconscious man. She had done a thorough job, it seemed. He could still see the thick scars under all the grime, but the new wounds had been put back together seamlessly. There would be no new ones added to his rather extensive collection just yet. The maids were returning now, ready to wash down the unconscious man and get him decent. Moving out of the way for them, he exited the room and came across Oriana, patting her on the shoulder and smiled gently. "Even your cousin has to have her moments."

Tristan looked astonished as he watched the marks on his brother's arm disappeared. After being asked if it had worked for him as well, he lifted his shirt to see the dark welt that was forming was now gone. "How interesting..." Tristan mumbled to himself as he marveled at the sight.

As Talos passed Oriana and made his comment she produced a rather unlady like snort. "Rare, might they be though, pa." She said and walked out with Talos to let the maids do what they needed to clean the man and be on with life. She shot a glance back to him and sighed, the man looked like trouble and even Oriana could see that. "You don't trust him, do you?" She asked her father as they walked down the hall.

Kol frowned as the maids had began to clean off the man. "Boys, out." He said to the twins as he kept an weary eye on Demetri. "He doesn't need the whole house gawking at him once he wakes." Kol grinned at the two, the smile on his face making him look younger then usual. After some time dealing with the boys' madness, Kol wouldn't have them acting like idiots, at least in front of him anymore. He rarely turned an angry eye on his children, but when he did they took him rather seriously.

Tristan looked at his father like he had lost a screw but elbowed Iliaro in the side to get him to scoot out of the room with him. "By the way, you owe me two silvers." He grinned, holding out his hand for the expected money he had won in the bet.

Talos couldn't help but chuckle at Oriana's comment, knowing that with Roselina's contact with the outside world being practically nothing, her chance to perform miracles was also pretty much nothing. "Trust him?" He asked, sounding faintly amused at the notion. "Only about as far as I can throw him. From what your aunt Mai has told me, all you need to do is simply be within seeing range of that red dragon to have it after you, so I can't blame him for that... But all those other scars? That boy's been in more fights than I care to think of." Looking over his shoulder briefly, he saw Rose disappear behind a pillar on her way back to her room to rest and sighed inwardly. He had a terrible feeling in his gut that the combination of his helpless niece and that new guy were going to be trouble. But for now, he could leave it to Kol. After all, the scarred up boy was no trouble when he was unconscious.

Ilario sighed and put the two silvers in his twin's palm, leaving the room side by side. "I didn't figure that she could pull it off." He said with a small shrug, looking again to his arms that had recently been healed. "Went a little overboard, methinks. Want to go back out and spar a bit? I feel naked without my bruises?" With a huge grin on his face, Ilario tapped Tristan on the arm with his fist and headed for the front door.

*~*~*~*

The next morning found the mansion in a calmer mood. Everyone had gotten to see the mythical man in the annex to the parlor, and so general curiosity had died down. For one member of the house though, curiosity was the least of her worries. Rose had snuck into his room earlier that morning to examine the man of his wounds. Well, if any were to ask, that's what she would have said. In all honesty, she just really wanted to see him again. He was so different from anything she had ever seen before that she just couldn't help but want to see him again.

Silently, she entered the small annex that he had been allotted, taking quick stock of him. There were no fresh wounds on him, all of them having been healed by her spell. He had on a fresh set of clothes and had been cleaned of the dirt and blood that was on him yesterday. Walking forward with timid steps, she stood at his side, looking over his sleeping face with more than just mild curiosity.

He was ruggedly handsome with a firm squared jaw and the barest hints of a five-o-clock shadow on his face. His hair was a deep red brown, almost purple in the sunlight that filtered through the heavy draperies, and it was long too, raggedly cut like he had been cutting his own hair without a looking glass. Most interesting were the silvery scars that appeared to be all over his body. One on his left cheek, another on his right jaw. A particularly thick scar on his neck appeared to go all the way around, ragged and painful looking. Her heart ached just looking at it, and she touched it softly with her fingers, unable to help the action, humming a little song that had unconsciously come to mind. If only she knew a healing song that could take away the scars too...

For the second time in two days, Demetri's eyes snapped open at the feel of someone touching him and this time it was his neck. Without conscious thought, Demetri grabbed the girl hovering over him by the shoulders and flipped her onto the bed that he had been laying on. His body tense, and hard was now laying directly atop hers to hold her down. He had no idea what the girl wanted with him, but he wasn't about to become yet another person's slave. He winced as her high pitched scream echoed throughout the room and into the hallway. Placing a hand over her mouth he glared at her. His eyes were as wild and untamed as he had seemed the first time he had grabbed onto Rose. "What do you want with me?" He hissed in a low whisper, he was close to her too close but he didn't care. Demetri had no idea where he was.

Kol dropped the glass he was holding that contained the juice he normally had when waking each morn. He heard a high pitched scream echoing through out the house and he knew exactly who it was. Rose. Over the years a parent comes to know their children's cries apart from another and this was definitely his eldest daughters. Rushing throughout the corridors of his home Kol headed in he direction of Roses' room and nearly tripped over himself when he skidded to a stop at the sight coming from the mystery mans room. He stood in the doorway for a long moment as the shock wore off. His daughter was being held down, mouth covered and a man laying on top of her. He...He was trying to rape her. A dark emotion began to stir within him as he stepped foreword. "What the hell do you think you are doing? Get off of my daughter now." Kol's face was twisted with anger as he put a hand on the hilt of his sword. Kol had not used his sword to kill for such a long time, but he would gladly make an exception for this little bastard. "Oi! Talos!" He knew the man would be coming in their direction and he wanted the man to see that his theories of Demetri were not incorrect.

~*~*~*~

Tristan had fallen asleep, rather soundly he might add on the couch in the living area last night. He and Ilario had been sparring all night and the twins found the couch a far better option then climbing the stairs to their bedrooms. Well, they could always demand the maids to carry them again but the last time they did that Mai had literally tried to beat the snot out of them.

His peaceful dreams had been rudely interrupted by the piercing scream of his kin sister. Tristan woke in a start and pretty much flailed into a sitting position. Little did he know his brother had been sleeping closer than he anticipated and one of his flailing arms had smacked the poor boy right in the face. Tristan, not really fully attuned to what was happening starred at his brother, not really understanding why he was sleeping so close to him. Wasn't he in his room?

Her world was quickly thrown into chaos when the sleeping man woke and again their eyes met. She was struck by their vividness, the thrilling wild element present in them again that had her heart racing. Without conscious thought, she screamed as she hit the bed, flailing around until the hard weight of his body pressed against her, his hand firmly clamped over her mouth. Rose's cheeks turned a bright scarlet, unable to breath now, not because he was pressing too hard or covering her nose, but because of a strange emotion she had never felt before that quickly rose to the surface. Those dark wild eyes were so close now as the man bent down low over her, close enough that she could feel his warm breath on her face. For whatever reason even though she was pinned down and had no chance of escaping from this insane man's grasp, she wanted to do anything but escape. She laid perfectly still and wanted to comfort him in some way. He was terrified, she could see that in every line on his face and the wild look in his eyes.

Things only got more muddled from there. She managed to turn her head when the door burst open revealing a very angry Kol standing there, looking ready to murder. The crimson blush on her face was quickly drained then, leaving her cheeks pale and white. Oh by the gods, she had just healed this man! Rose tried to speak and tell her father to put his sword away, but Demetri's grip on her mouth was unwavering, even when confronted with a new enemy.

*~*~*

Talos had been admiring the guilting on the ceiling that morning, Lena curled up next to him in their huge bed with a narrow beam of light filtering through the window. All in all, it was a normal morning so far, until the halls echoed with the sound of a woman's screaming. In a heartbeat, Talos had leapt out of the bed and was fumbling for his pants, which were lying on the floor. He hissed as he pulled the cold fabric on, grabbed his dirk, and was out the door and darting down the hall. Kol's voice directing him toward the action, and he was next to his half-brother in the annex, his short sword already drawn in preparation for whatever attack had befallen the house.

Instead of seeing an army at the door, he saw the stranger that they had rescued yesterday assaulting his niece. Cold fury blossomed in his chest at the sight, and he took a menacing step forward. "Get off of her right now, and I promise that I'll only cut off half of your dirty fingers!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Block the door Kol! We're not letting this scoundrel get away."

*~*~*

He was dreaming about something pleasant. Possibly pastries. Pastries filled with raspberry jam and magically floated to him of their own volition so that he didn't have to get up and eat them himself. It was a beautiful dream, until something loud and piercing interrupted the soft melody of the dancing pastries and a sharp pain woke him from his sleep. As a knee jerk reaction, Ilario swung his fist at the offender and felt his knuckles connect with something soft and squishy, a startled cry leaving his throat. He fell onto the floor having rolled off couch while he was flailing around trying to figure out what was going on. Leaping from the floor and onto his attacker, wailing away at whoever it was that had struck him.

Demetri's eyes snapped onto the two men standing in the doorway and onto Kol as he closed and locked his only escape route. The blonde men standing in front of him were rather angry, which would cause a problem if they got too close. Leaving the downed girl, Demetri pumped his wings hard to get him in the air. The closest thing he could find was a high bookshelf. There was around four feet of space that he easily slipped into and backed himself into a corner. At least now he could fight the two without having to worry about his back. Out of no where flashes of being back into a corner flooded his mind and he had to shut his eyes to escape the painful yet all to vivd memories.

Kol couldn't help think that the man looked like a cat, his wild eyes darting around the room in...what was that? Terror? Ah, who cares?! Only a guilt man would flee and no one was going to lay a hand on his daughter and live to tell the tale. "You coward, get down here and fight like a man." Kol could easily shoot off fire at the man, but then Mai would ban him from the bedroom for a week when she saw the burned interior. After he had discovered he had elemental magic after Talos lifted the curse, Kol had gone around burning things like a kid in a candy shop and would not hold back now if need be. When no response was forthcoming Kol took the chance to go to his daughters side. "Rose...Are you alright?" There was a gentleness in his voice that had not been previously there when looking at her supposed attacker.

~*~*~*~

Lena rolled...and rolled...and rolled on the huge bed and had not felt the warmth of Talos' body that had previously been there. "Where..did he get to...?" The woman mumbled in the pillows and wrapped the blankets further around her body until she was encased in the material and lightly dozed back to sleep.

~*~*~*~

"What the-?!" Tristan yelled as a fist came in contact with his face and that wasn't all. The fists came a flyin' and he wasn't about to let his attacker get away with beating him down. Jumping onto his brother without realizing it, Tristan let his fists do the talking and wailed back on his assailant.

Oriana walked in the room where the twins were going at it and stopped, staring in amusement at the spectacle of the boys going at one another. What ever could have spurred the two to attack one another was beyond her reasoning but she didn't mind the morning show as she munched on her bread.

The sudden weight was gone, and with it removed, Rose could now sit up. Her eyes followed the movement of Demetri as he fled to the top of the bookcase, feathers softly falling to the ground behind him, then moved quickly to her father and uncle. She wasn't sure which one she was more angry at for their over reaction, and stood quickly, coming close to her father. "Daddy! Put your weapon away! Can't you see he's terrified?" She yelled, gesturing toward the man perched on their bookcase. She turned her eyes on Talos then, honey gold eyes storming with anger. "You too! He didn't mean me any harm. Look look, I'm perfectly fine!" She gestured toward herself and her undamaged person. Only a few strands of displaced hair and a wrinkled petticoat were the evidence of the attack. She briskly walked to Talos's side, putting both of her hands on his sword arm and pushing it down with a bit of a struggle. "I just startled him awake is all. Put your weapons down."

There was a knock at the door then, actually, it was more of a vicious pounding. "Kol? Talos? What on earth is going on in there?!" A voice called through the door, immediately recognizable as Mai.

"Finally!" Rose sighed, walking over to the door and unlocking the door, swinging it open to reveal her mother, looking very worried. "A voice of reason! Tell daddy and uncle to put their weapons down! They're being unreasonable!"

"Unreasonable?" Talos scoffed, his sword lowered but not sheathed. "Rose, this barbarian attacked you! Incase you hadn't notice, he had you pinned to the bed. He could have done anything to you!"

"But he didn't!" Rose yelled back, spinning on her heel so fast that her hair flew out around her in a spray of gold. "He's just scared! Uncle, daddy, please believe me! Put your weapons down!"

Mai gave the two men a measured glance then looked up to their houseguest. He reminded her of a cat that had been scared up a tree with that stricken look on his face. It would take a fool not to see that the man was terrified. "Kol, Talos. Back off." She said simply, her golden eyes flicking now between the two armed men.

*~*~*

There was something familiar about whoever it was that he was tussling with, and now that Ilario was more awake, he recognized the blond figure on top of him, and flipped the boy onto his back, pinning his wrists. "Tristan?! Tristan! What in the bloody hell are you doing wailing on me this early in the morning?" Ilario yelled, struggling to keep his twin in check. They had about equal strength, but Ilario was a tad more adept at physical combat and so managed to get the upper hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something moved and whipped his head around to see Oriana calmly staring at them. Narrowing his eyes, he called; "I don't suppose that you had anything to do with this?"

Kol looked to Mai helplessly. "Mai...you would be upset too if you found your daughter pinned down by a strange..." His eyes flickered up to Demetri and then back to Mai, "Man who had touched your daughter twice now. You can not blame me for my anger." Kol reasoned with Mai but did sheath his sword. He felt he was totally justified for being angry with the man and couldn't see why Mai wouldn't at least concede to that. Talos, on the other hand didn't need a sword, simply his words could kill the frightened avian if need be and that comforted the grumpy man indeed.

Demetri looked at the woman who had entered and literally calmed one of the blonde men. She held power over him, interested indeed. He had no doubt now they were all somehow related. He mentally scolded himself for getting this terrified but his fear was working on his side now. The chattery blonde girl was on his side for some reason even though he was sure to have scared her earlier. Even more interesting. Demetri sat on his perch and watched as the scene unfolded, keeping on alert but feeling much more at ease.

~*~*~*~

Oriana blinked and then chuckled at the accusation towards her for having part in the twins attacks on one another. "No, dear cousin, I had no part in your bickering match with Tristan. I walked in and you two were already going at it." The girl mused over the two boys, taking another bite of her bread with a huge grin on her face.

"Iliaro!" Tristan wiggled under his brothers strength as he held him down and eventually was able to push him off. He rubbed at his now sore face and let out a frustrated sigh. "Why on Earth did you attack me?" He asked, continuing to rub at his jaw. There was going to be a pretty black and blue there for sure. Not like he wasn't already sore enough from sparring with him earlier.

Mai sighed gently and walked forward, wrapping her small hands around Kol's forearm and nodding. "Yes dear, I suppose that I would be upset as you... But all he did was grab Rose's wrist yesterday, hardly offensive. Now please Talos, put your weapons down. At the most, he could throw books at us right now. You don't need a sword against that."

Heaving a sigh, Talos put his dirk back in its scabbard, but had to keep the weapon on hand. When he had run out of the bedroom, he hadn't stopped to put on his sword belt, or even a shirt and shoes, and so couldn't simply buckle the weapon on. He kept a close eye on the cornered man as Rose walked forward toward him. Even without weapons, Talos was reassured in the notion that between himself and Kol, they could take out this wild man with a few words and a simple spell. He was already thinking up a hex that would disable the man if he proved violent.

Rose however was unconcerned with all of that, just glad that her uncle and father had agreed to put down their weapons and behave like civilized men. She slowly walked toward the bookcase that the man was perched on, holding out her hands in a non-threatining manner and to show him that she also didn't have anything in her hands to harm him with. "Won't you please come down now?" She asked softly, extending her right hand and gesturing for him to get down. "I promise that we won't hurt you. I am the one that healed your wounds yesterday."

*~*~*

Ilario snorted at Oriana's claim to innocence, rolling off his brother easily and sitting a small distance away, rubbing his now very sore jaw. Damn but did Tristan punch hard! "Attack you? You attacked me first!" He replied indignantly, wiping at the corner of his mouth and pulling away blood. Damn, he had bit his cheek during the scuffle. "I was sleeping and then all out of nowhere you decided to slap me in the face! What's a half-alseep man supposed to do?" He stood and brushed himself off, offering a hand up to his twin. "Do you figure that we could get Rose to fix us up?" He asked in a slightly lower tone. It hurt to smile, and talk in general. Mother would wonder why her two boys were beaten up so early in the morning.

Demetri looked at the girl, he knew she was harmless to him but the fuming men in the corner of the room would prove a hassle if they decided to act upon their feelings. Something told him that with the lady talking to both men though, no harm would come to him. Demetri took a moment before pushing himself from the book case and flying across the other side of the room, landing gently on his feet. "What is it you all want with me?" His voice was slightly more gruff than his norm from disuse. Of course they wanted something from him now. Expected something in return for healing his wounds. They didn't exactly look like the kind of people for torture strangers but he got a feeling this Kol and Talos fellow would if they got the chance.

Demetri stood at exactly six feet in height, his shaggy dark hair seemed to fall where is pleased and now that he was standing it showed off he had at least some muscle packed onto him. He was slightly pale which contrasted with his hair and eyes but there was a good reason for it. Demetri stood his ground, ready to fight as he leaned on the balls of his heels. He may not have a lot of experience in actual battles but he was a fighter for his life and wouldn't go down so easy.

Kol looked down at his wife and sighed helplessly in Talos' direction. There was no winning with Mai when she was like this and he simple took her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles. "I will attempt to control myself better around this...man, my love...but I will not allowed him to harm our family. I will hold no mercy if the time comes." Kol said as he pretty much gave his conditions to Mai and then stepped back next to his brother. He didn't like this and when the avian finally came off the bookshelf Kol kept an eye on his movements. What did they want? Well, that was a question Kol thought he shouldn't answer with the girls around, so he stayed silent.

~*~*~*~

Oriana rolled her eyes at the two idiots and made her way back to her room. There was no need to watch Rose berate the two for being stupid so early in the morning. Tristan took his brothers offering hand and stood, pondering his question. "Maybe if we don't tell her what happened. She'll just call us stupid again if we did...We have to come up with another reason." Tristan looked to Iliaro, his twin was good at giving them excuses so he might as well try now. Well, when he did fail to give a good excuse they always ended up blaming each other and ending up in another scuffle. Tristan grinned at the thought, they had always been like this since he could remember and wouldn't have it any other way. Brothers of mischief.

"I know love." Mai whispered back, squeezing his hand gently. "If he tries to harm any of us, you have my full permission to flay him, but until that time, please act civil."

"Want?" Rose echoed, folding her hands neatly in front of her and staring at the man curiously. He was even more impressive standing up, all muscle and flight, his whole body tensed to flee. Where he thought he was going to go, she had no idea, for even though the door out was now open her uncle, father and mother were now blocking the exit. She couldn't take her eyes off of him, taking every detail of his person in hungrily like how she would read a book. The collar of his loose shirt dipped a little, and she could see the beginnings of more scars on his chest. What sort of man was he to have earned all of those wounds? Even on his wrists and arms there were the same thin silvery marks, two particularly nasty scars that were thick and wide circled his wrists and looked like the one on his neck. Again, her heart went out to him, and her mind snapped back into the present, gold eyes meeting brown.

"We don't need anything from you, stranger. I lent you my healing services without thought of being repaid." She smiled gently, nodding to him. "But perhaps we might know your name? I am Rose." She dipped her head in a half-curtsy then gestured to the family members behind her. "My father and mother, Kol and Mai, and my uncle Talos. You've heard of him, perhaps? He was the leader of the Dragons Cove Defenders in the war against the Surhinian Zartear."

Talos sniffed at the mention of his former title, his eyes never leaving the stranger. If he had any knowledge of history, then the boy would certainly know his name. All that blood had not been shed too long ago for people to have forgotten the horrors that had been unleashed during the war. Though, the boy would have been little more than a babe at the time of the battle, like Oriana and the twins, so he would only have second-hand knowledge of things. Whatever the case, Talos hoped that his reputation alone would keep the boy from doing something incredibly stupid that would get him killed.

*~*~*

Ilario pondered their situation, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully as he tried to think of an excuse for their bruised faces that Rose wouldn't laugh at and reject outright. He was actually having a hard time thinking up something, and so shrugged. "I guess we'll just say that we were training and things got out of hand." He attempted a half-grin but stopped when it became too painful. "I'll bet I know where we can find her too. How long do you think it'll be before Rose tries a move on the new guy?" He nodded over his shoulder and began walking toward the parlor where the room of the wounded man from the day before was. It took someone who was completely blind to not see that Rose was incredibly curious about their newest resident. He'd even go so far as to say that she was probably infatuated with him already.

Demetri stiffened even more, if possible at the mention of who Talos was. Great, just great now he has some big war vet after him too. He had heard the stories about the war, what person hadn't? It was still too fresh of a scar in the history of Dragons' Cove for people to forget about. He had heard about the man leading a small army against all odds against a man named Zartear. He sighed. "Demetri." He said his name, but it sounded foreign to him. How long had it been since he had used his own name? Since someone else had said it? He shifted his weight as he looked around the room, there was no easy way to get himself out of this one.

Kol thought back to the time of war and sighed. At that point in time Talos and him were barely on speaking terms and Mai was pregnant with one of the children. It also ended up that when Lena forced Talos to let her join the war effort, Oriana ended up staying with them as well. He was too busy taking care of both their families to be of any help. But word had eventually gotten back to him about his brothers war efforts.

~*~*~*~

Tristan grinned, satisfied enough with his brothers plan to get Rose to agree to heal them once again. He really hoped she would comply this time his jaw had a dull throbbing ache to it. His grin widen for a moment until the pain caused him so cease such actions. "I bet you anything she is already half way in love with the guy. She made it seem like she had never seen real men before." Tristan stopped in the hallway and posed, showing off his 'guns' to his brother.

"Demetri then." Rose repeated, delighted that she had gotten him to speak his name. For a second or two, she had been afraid that he wouldn't respond at all, still frightened of her oppressive male relations. "Well, I will have the maids bring you something to eat then. You have got to be hungry, correct?" Offering Demetri her best smile, she walked out of the room, Mai following behind without reservation. Talos and Kol were more reluctant to leave the room but eventually they left as well and left Demetri alone.

!¡!¡!¡!¡!

The day passed in much the way that it normally did with the family members off in their own separate corners of the mansion doing whatever it was that they did to pass the time. Rose's day was a little different though. Every moment she could spare she was in Demetri's room, talking to the man about anything and everything that she could think of in an effort to get him to open up about himself. For whatever reason, the strange wild man wasn't prone to talking back, and she couldn't get him to say more than one or two words at a time in response. It made for a very one-sided conversation, but at least it was a conversation of sorts.

Everything was going fine and then suddenly all hell seemed to break loose. There was a loud slam from the parlor, like the sound of a door being opened too suddenly with too much force. Before she could even pose an inquiry, the window shattered with a deafening BOOM. Shards of glass flew everywhere, and with a scream, Rose ducked and covered her head, lifting her wings to deflect any of the oncoming shards. When she lowered her wing to see what had caused the explosion, she was met with a rather terrifying sight.

Whatever it was appeared to be some sort of man encased in armor, only there very obviously wasn't any man in the suit. Instead of flesh and bone, the golden heavy plate armor appeared to be held together by an opaque grey smoke. It was obviously some sort of creature of magic, and wasted no time in coming for the two of them.

*~*~*

Mai had been knitting in the library when she heard the resounding crash that seemed to come from the whole house. Standing in a flurry of yarn and feathers, she bore witness as several half-suits of armor crashed through the windows and floated toward her. Gathering her skirts, Mai dashed out of the library and into the main hall, where she saw several more of the creatures. Beginning to panic she ran up the stairs where her youngest children should have been playing, her heart racing when she heard one of her little girls scream in terror. "Kol!" Mai screamed as she ran, wide-eyed and looking for her family amongst the chaos.

*~*~*

There was a cut on his brow from where a shard of glass had cut him as it flew by. Talos had been walking the halls when the attack happened, and was grateful that he always kept his dirk and long knife on him. After knocking over one of the strange floating ghost-men, he had hightailed it for the inner halls of the house, looking for Lena, Oriana and Ryleon, wherever they might be. He came across his wife first, slightly out of breath but all business. Now was the time to fight. "Lena, we're under attack. I don't know what by, but they don't bleed when you cut them. We need to find the kids and get them out."

Demetri couldn't say he was pleased with the girls company. She had told him her life story, as bland as it might be, and asked questions about his over and until he had given her something of a reply. While she had said he had owed her nothing, Demetri felt otherwise. That was probably the only thing keeping the avian there, other then the insistent chattering from Rose.

As the day wore on Demetri just grew used to having the girl pop into his appointed room and was once again sitting with her when a deafening crash was heard and glass flew everyone. Demetri lifted his own wing to block the flying glass that came his way. As soon as his wing moved back Demetri thought he was in a nightmare. The floating creatures had finally crawled out of one of his nightmares and was now advancing fast on Rose. Biting back many of the curses he wished to say at that moment, pure instincts kicked into high gear and Demetri was up on his feet.

"Don't fight me." Demetri ordered as he grabbed Roses' slim waist and pulled her slight form against his own. He wrapped his other arm around her in protection as he ran across the room and out the broken window. As soon as he was clear of the home he snapped his wings open and strained to pumped his wings as hard as he could now that he carried another body. He would fly for at least twenty minutes away from the house before he felt safe to land in the middle of the forest.

~*~*~*~
Lena cursed inwardly as a loud crash came echoing through the house. She had been sharpening her weapons and the crash had startled her into cutting her palm. If it was one of those damn twins she would swear to knock their heads in for disturbing her. Opening the door to the room she was in she was confronted with a giant floaty armored man. Lena took a split second and then promptly slammed the door in it's face. Acting quick she grabbed her short swords, as she stood the door that she had just closed exploded into a thousand pieces as the magical creature came busting through. Lena lifted her wings to cover herself from the flying chunks of wood and as soon as she was clear she attempted to cut through the thing. To her dismay her sword went right through the smoke that seemed to be holding it together. The thing used some sort of magic to throw her across the room and she let out a startled scream as she landed on the plush bed. Lena waited until the thing was closer to her before making a mad dash for the hallway.

She was slightly relieved to see Talos as he ran up to her. He was as out of breath as she was. "I know, some freak of nature just attacked me. Let's stick together." She said, knowing he would anyway, but it was just a safety measure in case he thought it would be a bright idea to split of and look for the kids.

~*~*~*~
Kol was running about the house, his sword drawn and a panicked look on his face. He got come across the same magical begins everyone else had and was now on the run to find the rest of his family. He couldn't say he was relieved when he ran into Talos and Lena, he was looking for his wife and children. (not that he wasn't pleased his brother and sister-in-law were alright) "Talos. Lena. I can't find the kids-" Kol was cut off as he saw Oriana running towards them. She had a rip in her shirt on the shoulder and her hair was a mess but otherwise was fine. "Pa, mama. They..are everywhere." Oriana huffed as she spoke, trying to gain her breath.

As Kol was about to say something he heard Mai's scream to him. "Mai.." His face blanched as he broke off from the group and up the stairs where he knew he had heard his wife yelling for him. "Mai!" He yelled back as he grew close to her. All of a sudden a sharp, unbearable pain struck the back of his head. He stumbled forward, reaching for Mai but never made it. Pain took over in his head and Kol was out cold before he even hit the floor. One of the armored creatures picked Kol up by his waist and began floating off.

~*~*~*~

Ryleon was pissed. He had been in the kitchen when all hell broke lose. Weird monsters were all over the house and had ruined the meal he had been preparing for his aunt. He had grabbed the nearest frying pan and tried whacking at one. Luckily it was enough to hit the thing away from him but now there were three of them after him and he didn't have the power to fight them all off. So, he was now running about the halls only lucky he could run faster than they could float.

Rose gasped when Demetri grabbed her, clinging to him desperately as he carried her off and away from the dreaded creature. She nodded mutely at his request for her to keep still and not struggle. If it got her away from that thing she would do whatever he asked of her, and if that meant sharing the same breathing space with Demetri, all the better.

Cold winter wind rushed past her face as Demetri carried them both out the window and into the sky. She could feel the muscles in his body move as he struggled to get them both in the air, and she clung tighter to him, trying to make herself as small as possible against his body to make it easier for him to carry both their weight. Looking back, she watched as her house shrank into the mountain forest, the golden man-sized figures surrounding the entire perimeter of her house, filing in the doors and windows and any other opening that they could find or make.

At first, she could only squeeze her eyes shut and press her face against the warmth of Demetri's chest, silently praying that the rest of her family would make it out alright too. After a while of flying though, she began to get worried that Demetri would never stop flying. Looking up to his face, she realized that he had a sort of grim determination etched into the lines of his face, edged with a mindless fear that drove him further than had to be necessary for the occasion. "Demetri?" She asked timidly, but he didn't appear to hear her. Finally, he landed far away from her home in the middle of nowhere, and even though he was trembling, he didn't let her go at first, his gaze whipping around the clearing.

"Demetri." She said louder this time, gripping the front of his shirt in her small fists. "Demetri, what are you looking for?"

*~*~*

"Kol! Kol!" Talos yelled after the man as he ran down the hall. "Damn it all man! This is not the time to-" Meai's echoing scream after the silencing of Kol's calls for his wife cut off whatever Talos was about to say. He winced and drew a breath, but said no more. One of the dreaded floating suites of armor came toward them, and he came up from Lena's side, placing a kick squarely in the center of its chest. The being was knocked over, but certainly not destroyed. "Ryleon!" He yelled to the boy as he ran by in a parallel hall. "Over here!" Quickly he turned to Oriana, taking quick stock of the hall before grabbing her shoulder and roughly shaking her. "Oriana, I want you to take your brother and get out of here. Your mother and I will distract these creatures and give you a chance to run."

Rose's constant calling was the only thing that brought Demetri back from his state of constant alert. He realized then he was trembling and he cursed silently as he released Rose from his grip. "I was making sure those...things hadn't reached us all the way out here." Regaining his senses for the most, Demetri stepped back from Rose and refused to look her in the face. His already pale skin seemed to be completely blanched now as he found a tree to lean against. It was going to be a little while before they could go back. He couldn't help but to think this was his fault, and that made it all the worse.

~*~*~*~

Lena kicked another one of the beings as Oriana watched her back while Talos tried to retrieve Kol. She winced inwardly when he heard Kol go silent and Mai's scream. This was falling apart fast. She watched as Ryleon whipped around in the hallway, trying to make his way back to them and then to Talos as he tried to make Oriana go after him. He was right, if they could at least get the kids out she could get this over with a clear conscious.

"Pa...No...No! I can't just leave you guys here to be taken!" Tears began to form in her eyes because deep down she knew she would have to leave them. And that could mean this would be the last she would ever see them. "No..."

Lena gave another kick to one of the men and grabbed Oriana's arm hard. "Don't make your father hex you, he needs to concentrate! Get your brother and go!" With a hard toss, Lena flung her daughter into an open hallway where she saw Ryleon running down. Oriana gave one teary eyed glance back to her parents as she saw them being surrounded and ran after her brother. "Ryleon!" She yelled as she saw him being chased down by three of the magical men. She ran into the room and promptly drop kicked one. Oriana landed hard on her side, but quickly stood once more to kick the other two out of the way. "Ryleon, come on!" She grabbed his arm and fled out the nearest door and took to the skies.

Instead of flying towards the forest she flew toward Turich, maybe her grandparents could help. Her heart sunk as she flew over the small town, the strange men were all over the place as well. She felt so helpless and the few tears that were hanging on her lashes dropped freely.

"Sis..." Ryleon said as he flew next to her. He had no words to comfort her.

~*~*~*~

Lena looked longingly to where her daughter had been. The face Oriana had given her made it feel as if her heart had been ripped out. But it was no time to feel sad for her children. They were probably free by now. "Looks like we have a fight on our hands, my love." Lena added sarcastically as she whipped around her short swords.

Lena managed to put up a good fight before one of the magical creatures finally got a hit on her. A hard punch to the head by one of the armored clad hands led to a short scream from Lena before she fell unconscious onto the floor. The creature that had hit her picked her up and threw the woman over its shoulder.

Rose watched silently as Demetri stumbled away from her, going pale as he went to lean against the tree. Gathering up her skirts, she stepped over the snow drifts carefully and walked toward him, the only sound in the winter evening that of the crunching snow under her feet. Without Demetri holding onto her like his life depended on it, she was actually rather cold. Making her way over, she stood in front of Demetri and looked up into his face and met his eyes. With infinite slowness she reached up and touched his face, her eyes scanning every worried line that creased his brow, the helplessness that was in his eyes. "Demetri, what's wrong? What are those things? Have you seen them before?" Her voice was gentle and soft, trying to convey all of her concern for the frightened man to him.

*~*~*

Fighting these magical creatures was just like fighting pirates, but with a few key differences. They didn't bleed, didn't scream, and most importantly; didn't die. You could stab and slice them, knock them over even, but they just kept coming. Lena was at his back, the two of them fighting in tandem like they had for the past nineteen years on the decks of ships at sea. But on the decks, their enemies slowly dwindled in number. Here, there was no end to them. Eventually something had to break, and it did.

Lena was down behind him, consciousness leaving her body. "Lena!" He whirled around in time to see her body grabbed up by one of the creatures and quickly float away. "Lena!" He kicked at the magic man that came to take the other's spot, and it went down. But, there were more and more to take its place, and he found himself utterly surrounded by the creatures, all of them ready to take a swing at him and knock him out like Lena had been.

A low gravely chuckle left his throat as he spun his dirk and long knife, sizing up the crowd that was around him now. "Fine, if you want to play it that way." He growled, crouching low, balancing on the balls of his feet. "Come and get me!"

A maid came running in through the field she knew the twins to be in. She was disheveled and a sobbing mess but she had to tell the young masters about what just happened. She had brought lunch to them earlier so they did not have to come in. Holding her long skirt in hand and trudging the the snow she finally reached the two. They looked as if they were in epic combat with the twigs. "Masters! Masters, please!" Her words came out in great sobs as she reached them, falling to her knees in the snow.

"Kera, what's wrong?" Tristan asked, momentarily stopping his duel with his brother. He was covered in small welts and bruises again but a grin seemed planted on his face.

"Young master, the house has been attacked, I only saw Master Ryleon and Miss Oriana escape. I don't know where the rest are...Oh the poor children, some of them are still so small! The maid let out heart wracking sobs into her hands, unable to contain herself any longer.

Tristan eyed his brother in a moment of panic and then looked down to the maid. "Kera, get somewhere safe, alright?" He instructed and was going to leave but suddenly the woman grabbed onto his legs.

"Young master! No! Those monsters...They aren't human! They- they were like floating armor in smoke!" The woman seemed terrified as she recalled the memory. Tristan wiggled free from the woman and looked down at her once more. "Look, we need to go to them, don't stop me or I will hex you. I don't want to do that." He issued his warning and watched the woman sink back into the snow. He looked to his brother and then in a running leap took to the air back towards his home.

~*~*~*~

Demetri flinched at the sudden contact from the girl but did not pull away. He did know exactly what those creatures were, but he would not tell them. There was no way he could, not until he was sure he could trust them...if he even could. "No...I have no idea what they are..." He said while looking anywhere else but her eyes. They were far too innocent, too caring and just looking at her made his heart ache.

"We'll wait it out for a bit longer, then we can go back." Demetri commented with a dry tone.

~*~*~*~

Oriran and Ryleon were the first people back to the house. It was deadly quiet, the doors hanging off the hinges and large holes in windows and walls. No one was in sight. Not the parents, nor the rest of the children. None of Kol's children were in the house. "Oh god...They got them all...Ryleon..." She starred into the empty house from the outside feeling a cold numbness over take her. No way this could be real, right...?

Nodding, Rose dropped her hands and folded them together across her chest, feeling slightly foolish. She had seen his flinch, and wondered what in his past had traumatized him so badly that he couldn't accept a simple touch without reacting negatively. It probably had to do with those scars and the look that he wouldn't give her. She may not have known many men outside of the family, but she did have five brothers and a fair few more male cousins that she had been exposed to, and there were some things that she had picked up from their behavior. Demetri was hiding something, but with that stricken look on his face, she didn't have the heart to question him further about it.

Taking a step back, Rose looked to the sky where they had come from, noting that the sun was setting in earnest now. Her vision was starting to wane with the light, and she shivered, wrapping her wings around her slim body for warmth. "Demetri, there's a um... small problem with me flying at night." Rose dipped her head, her cheeks lighting up with color briefly that had nothing to do with the cold. "I have trouble seeing at night. It's a uh... I inherited it from my mother. During the day, I can see things from so far away, you would think that I was lying, but at night, I am all but blind. So... well, unless you guide me, flying is not an option."

•º•º•º•º•º•º•

Exchanging a quick glance with his brother, Ilario left the clearing with him, the pair flying back home, or rather, what was left of home. From their vantage point, they could see that the entire house had been decimated by some sort of external force. Shattered glass glittered in the dying light of the sun like bloody stars, and once, Ilario was certain that some of it was blood. "What happened?" He asked, looking around at what had been a proud and unmarred home before they left. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement, and drawing his sword, ran toward the disturbance in the ghostly still of the attack's aftermath.

When he turned the corner, he expected to see whatever or whoever had done this to his home, but instead saw a shocked looking Oriana and Ryleon standing amongst the ruin, apparently just arrived as well. "Hey, hey! What happened here?" He asked, running over to the side of his two cousins, both worried and curious. The house appeared totally empty, like everyone had been taken out of it.

Orirana turned to see her cousins running toward them, seemed at least someone wasn't captured. She opened her mouth to speak as a few tears fell from her face. "We were attacked. There were these...magical armored men who didn't bleed...or die when you stabbed them. I tried staying with my pa...but..." Orirana looked away as the knot in her throat threatened to bring a fresh wave of tears at the memory of being sent away from her parents.

Ryleon looked from his sister and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "They are all gone, all the kids, the parents. I don't even know where Rose and that guy went." He looked at the twins, hoping they had some news on their sister.

~*~*~*~

Demetri looked the girl over and then sighed, he had no idea how someone could be fine during the day but then go totally blind at night, but he had no reason to think she was lying. The bright crimson stain on her face was probably evidence of her truth as she fidgeted around. "I'll just carry you back then." He said in a nonchalant manner. What else was he going to do? Walk? Fly while holding her hand, the thought of it was so outlandish to him the moment he thought it, the thought was expelled from his head.

"We will probably be fine to go back now..." He said as his gaze slid back to her. For some reason he felt incredibly awkward about the idea of taking her back. Demetri wasn't one to touch people, let alone have them be so close. Sighing, once more he cast his thoughts away and quickly wrapped his arms around Rose and pumped his wings hard to get the two bodies into the air. Once in the air Demetri found it easier to relax and keep his thoughts of the flight. He knew it was going to take some time to fly back to the home, but he thought it all the better to ensure the magical armored men were no longer there.

By the time that Demetri had the house in his sights the last sliver of light was fading from the sky and the snow covered peaks of the mountains were a stunning orange color. But the beautiful sunset only brought back the attention onto the ransacked house. Coming in low, Demetri gave a final hard flap or two of his wings to slow his decent as he landed not far from Oriana, Ryleon, and the twins. It had seemed that most of the older children were able to escape. Putting a hand on the small of her back, Demetri led Rose over to her brothers and then stepped back.

Tristan turned to see his sister and let out a breath of relief he wasn't aware that he was holding. "Oh Rose..." He was more than happy to see his sister was safe, even if it was due to her new lover. He eyed Demetri but the man refused to make eye contact with him as he leaned against a near by tree.