"Wow, those farmers were really not friendly. I somewhat feel sorry for them. It must be so awful…" Puzzle intentionally interrupted his half-sister to keep her from prattling on, "But, Willow, at least it shows we're on the right road." He massaged his shoulder as they walked. An old farmer had taken offense their questions and their heritage and thumped Puzzle on the shoulder with a rake. "We know she came this way and, it seems met up with some friends." "Right. Jeb said…" "Jeb?" "Oh, the man who hit you with the rake. I talked to him later on. He said she was carousing with the blackest fairies he'd ever seen. That probably means she was with dark elves, doesn't it?" "You went back and talked with him? He attacked me!" "He was just angry. He calmed down when he was with me. I think the wine helped his nerves." "You got him drunk?" Puzzle asked incredulously, almost feeling proud of his sister's devious mind. "No, silly. He was already drunk. I just saw him sitting near the millsteps and talked with him. He told me all about his crops and the mortgage, oh and his wife, Levia. They had a daughter and two sons but they are all grown now…" "Willow, get to the point please." He rubbed the bridge of his nose and thought No, not devious. Still Willow. "Well, he said that she was with a bunch of black fairie sorts and that they had to chase them off their lands to keep them from poisoning their crops." Puzzle cocked an eyebrow. "Hmm, our sister sounds like quite the shady and adventuresome imp." He worried for a moment as to the wisdom of trying to track her down in the first place. "Puzzle, should we really be looking for her? I mean, *Dark Elves*! Maybe she's even part of all the evil things that are happening." Willow's wrung her long and sinuous fingers for a moment. "Well, what do you think? We've walked a long way so far and we don't really have anywhere to walk back to." She pursed her lips and considered it all. "I think," she began slowly, "I think that if she is part of this, we've got to find her and stop her and if she's not part of the darkness, all the more reason to think she needs our help." Puzzle was actually impressed. His sister managed to construct a reasonable argument. * * * They topped the hill and saw a blasted clearing in the distance. They shot each other a glance, sharing a thought of tragedy. They wanted to find their sister but hopefully not as charred remains. From what little they knew of the group she was traveling with, it was likely this was related to them. Keeping an easy pace and trying not to let panic or despair take hold, they made their way from the roadside and wove through the sparse woodlands to investigate the clearing. The stench of ash and cinder still hung in the air and saturated the damp ground. Thankfully, there were no bodies on the ground. Willow looked aghast, "It's almost like a dragon blasted a hole in the woods!" and she craned her head to the sky as if half expecting to see a black form swallow the sky. Not all dragons are ridden, she knew. And the few dragons that she had seen back home in Moss were fierce beyond her imagining even despite the powerful knights that reigned them. "Hmm, I think you are more right than you know. It really might be from a dragon. I can't think of anything else that could raze a clearing like this and I doubt an army could maneuver a catapult close enough to drop oil barrels. Even so, it would look differently." Puzzle hoped what he was saying sounded good. It sounded logical to him, despite that he'd never seen a dragon, a dragon blast or what happens when an army launches flaming barrels of oil. "Puzzle, here!" Willow was pointing to hoofmarks, deeply cutting into the ruined soil. "They left in a hurry, she might be in trouble!" She ran off in a dash. "Willow! Wait! Damn fluff headed…" Puzzle grumbled as he took off after her. They soon came to a stop as the tracks nearly vanished. They searched and found only traces of markings, a faint scuff or a tiny divot of overturned soil. It was almost as if the horses had been ridden several inches above the land. The trail pointed straight to a pillar of black smoke rising from the distant city. The tall half elf breathed in a hushed voice, "She certainly is making it easy for us to follow her." Puzzle nodded in agreement. The two of them cautiously returned to the road and followed it towards the smoldering remains of the city. * * * The two of them had stopped for the night and Puzzle was dreaming. Beautiful flames lept and licked all around him. It was warm and the crowd was cheering. They loved him and the fires chased away all the loneliness and demons. It was beautiful. Then a knife tore through the curtain of flames, cutting off their life and leaving cold embers, furiously smoldering and trying to fight against the cold. Puzzle shot up in a sweat and called out in a weak voice, "Willow…" He looked over to see his sister already sitting up, hugging her knees to her chest, her face wet and pale in the faint moonlight. "I know. I felt it too." Wordlessly, they packed their tiny camp and were on the road again while still under moonlight. Fueled by the anxious knots in their bellies, Puzzle and Willow made suprising time towards the remains of the city. The plume of dust and smoke was a flag that ran up the mast and showed the landscape from miles around that the once mighty metropolis had fallen into ruins. The siblings pressed on and saw the blackened remians looming. They held each other's arms. Willow breathed fearfully, "Puzzle..." He squeezed her arm tighter. "I can't even imagine" he said, shaking his head, jaw hanging loose. He'd never felt more grateful to have another person close by his side. "Puzzle, that was Blade. What is happening?" Her mind was filled with all the stories she'd heard from the court about the merchants and their far reaching travels. Caravans riding off to far and distant lands to trade in mighty cities, pillars of civilization... like Blade. She felt cold. They cautiously followed the road towards the city, hoping to find a clue but secretly hoping for an excuse to run away. They passed a bend in the road and saw a small party of three frightining looking people meeting up with a fourth. The fourth man made even Puzzle freeze. Scarcly a half mile down from them, the fearsome four were seething with a rage that flowed from hot to cold and back again in an almost palpable way. Willow silently squeezed Puzzle's arm and motioned for them to leave the road and hide. Perhaps to find a way to cut across the landscape and avoid the road until they were clear of, who would for now be known as, Them. Praying they hadn't been spotted, Puzzle whispered through clenched teeth to his sister, "Willow, I don't think we should go into the city. We didn't see anyone coming down the road the way we were coming. If there were any survivors, they probably went the other way up the road." "Towards Shuva?" It couldn't be any worse than this, he thought, grateful that his sister had a better sense of the cities than he did. They continued to creep unobtrusivly but it was difficult, there not being much more than scrub to hide behind. Willow felt naked under the eyes of the man, no, The Man. What she saw, even from where she stood, he had a face like a corpse: white, expressionless, empty. It had chilled her. "Puzzle, I think there's a temple near Shuva. Please, I don't feel safe with... him... so near. Can we try to reach the temple. They might know what happened." Puzzle nodded. She always found a way to surprise him. Despite all other things about her, she was one of the more resourceful folks he's met in a long time. They gauged that by the road they could have reached the temple within a day. Going across country would take much longer. They decided to try and cut back onto the road after a while, hopefully having made enough clearence between themselves and them.