"Is she awake?"
"I don't know. What should we do?" Liana could hear voices speaking, but she was unable to open her eyes.
"I'm not sure. She looks pretty bad. Do you have a healing amulet with you, Trowa?"
"No,"
"Well then, we should at least get her to a town and find someone to take care of her."
"The next town is a three days walk, Quatre, and with an injured girl it will take even longer. I don't think its safe."
"I guess so, what do you think we should do?"
"First we should wait until she wakes up. That way we can figure out how bad her injuries are."
"Good idea Trowa, should I get some herbs or something?"
"Just water, Quatre."
"Right." There was a shuffling noise as the boy named Quatre apparently searched for water.
Liana moaned and slowly opened her eyes.
"I think she's waking up!" Said Trowa suddenly. Liana saw a boy her age hovering over her face. She jumped when she saw him.
"Calm down," He said softly, "We're just trying to help."
"Here," Said the second boy, Quatre. "Drink this." He handed her a canteen of water and she drank it greedily.
When she was finished she looked around at her new surroundings. There were two boys there, dressed in capes and earth colored clothes that looked like homemade burlap.
Trowa had brown hair with one huge spiky bang hanging in front of one of his eyes. He had probing green eyes and a calm but serious expression. The other boy had golden blonde hair that was cut short. His eyes were deep aquamarine and were filled with concern. He gave her a soft smile as he took the canteen back from her.
"Where am I?"
"In the Forests outside Maroon." Trowa answered.
"Where?"
"How did you get here?" Quatre asked suddenly, "What happened to you?"
"I-I got struck by lightening, but I wasn't in a forest."
"Then where were you?" Asked Quatre.
"I was in a field by my house."
"Where is you house?" Trowa asked, "We'll take you back if we can."
"I-I live in the western side of Berlin."
"Berlin? Is that a city?" Quatre asked, his deep eyes reflecting a great deal of confusion.
"Are you for real?" Liana nearly shrieked. "You've never heard of Berlin? It's a very big city in Germany!"
"G-Germany?"
"ARGH! You are in serious need of a geography lesson!"
"Maybe we should start with some easier questions." Trowa suggested. "What is your name?"
"Liana," Liana sighed, "But you can just call me 'Lee', everyone else does."
"Lee, well, I'm Quatre and this is my friend Trowa." Said Quatre.
"Hi, nice to meet you..." Lee said uncertainly. She looked around her again. How had she gotten into the middle of this strange forest? The trees were so tall they touched the clouds and the trunks were big enough around to fit a transport truck through. The branches of the trees didn't start until about fifty feet above the ground. The roots rounded out nicely to make it feel like you were walking through a huge tube with the top cut off. The dirt was packed tightly and the underbrush was almost non-existent, as if the trees never lost their leaves.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" Trowa asked.
"Hun?" Lee suddenly became aware that she was wincing. She reached down and rubbed her ankle. With her touch came a shock of pain. "OW!" She shrieked. Her voice echoed through the trees.
"You should keep it down," Quatre warned as he pulled some things out of his bag. "We don't want to attract any attention."
"Sorry," She watched as Quatre rubbed something on her ankle. "This will help with the swelling," He explained. She nodded and felt a tingly sensation climb up her leg.
"My leg just went numb." She muttered.
"Yes, but at least it won't hurt anymore."
"But how am I supposed to walk now!" She fought to keep her voice down.
"Don't worry about it," Trowa said. "We won't be going anywhere for a while anyway."
"Why?"
"Until you feel a bit better we won't be able to find you a doctor. The nearest town is at least three days from here."
"Oh, right."
Trowa took over Quatre's job of healing her and stared inspecting her body for cuts and broken bones.
"Anything else we should be aware of?" Trowa asked.
"Besides being tired, scared, alone, hungry and stuck in some strange forest who knows how far from my home with a couple of guys I don't even know with a sprained ankle?"
"Yeah, besides all that." Trowa smirked as he felt her ribs for fractures.
"Just a splitting headache."
Quatre laughed and shoved something at her. "Eat this," He said.
"What is it?"
"It's a redberry root. It should help with your headache. With a rather bothersome side effect of drowsiness."
"Wonderful," Lee muttered while taking a bite of the strange, twisted brown root. The insides of it were a strange yellow color and the texture reminded her of a raw potato, but the taste was satisfying. "Hmm, tastes like cashews."
"So what do we do now, Trowa?" Quatre asked, turning to his friend. "The sun is starting to set. We can't stay out here in the dark, and we haven't found a place to camp yet."
Trowa looked up at the sky as it turned red and then he nodded. It was as if making a decision. "I know where we can go." He said.
Lee munched on the root and felt her headache disappearing. She watched as the two boys talked. She was blocking out their words as the root kicked in and she started to feel drowsy.
Trowa leaned over and picked her up off the ground. "Whoa! What's going on?"
"There's a village nearby Trowa knows about."
"I thought you said there weren't any villages nearby."
"Well, we were kind of hesitant about it at first. It's an elfin village and the elves don't really like humans too much..."
"ELVES!" This time she wasn't about to control her voice.
"Stay quiet," Trowa said lowly, "Don't you know what lurks in these woods after dark?"
"Killer elves?" Lee asked sarcastically. "Are you guys crazy or something?" At first she had thought they were joking, but seeing the serious expressions on their faces made her think otherwise. These guys really were crazy!
"I thinks she's had a little too much stress today." Quatre said to Trowa, who nodded. "You think I should give her some more of those roots?"
"I don't want to go to sleep!" Lee cried, fully awake again. "I want to know what is going on!"
"We're just going to take you to get some help." Trowa sighed. "Now calm down or I'll drop you!"
"Is that a threat?"
"No....I'm just saying that I can't hold on to you if you keep squirming like that."
"Well then put me down! I can walk!"
Now Trowa grinned, "I'd like to see you try." But he complied with her request and placed her back on the ground, and then he continued walking.
Lee promptly fell over and twisted her sore ankle while doing it. "Ahh!" She cried as she fell to the ground. She clutched her sore ankle and started to weep.
Now the two boys stopped and made their way back over to her.
"Are you alright, Miss Lee?" Quatre asked worriedly.
"No," She sniffled. "I'm lost, I'm hurt and I'm confused. I want to know where am!"
"Dragon's forest." Said Trowa matter-of-factly.
"And where is that?" She asked, wiped her eyes, her body shaking from sobs.
"Just outside Maroon, in the Kingdom of Sank."
"WHERE? What PLANET are you two from?"
Trowa looked totally confused. "Mythrill. What planet do you think we're from, Earth?" He started to laugh.
"Well that was what I was hoping..." Lee muttered sourly.
Trowa stopped laughing and he and Quatre exchanged a look. "Uh-oh," They said in unison.
"What?" Lee asked urgently. "What is uh-oh? Uh-oh, to me, is really, really bad!"
"We'll explain everything later." Quatre said, this time he picked her up. "Now that we know where you're from it will be easier to make you understand."
"First we need to get you to that village." Trowa cut in, "And hopefully before something a lot less friendlier than elves finds us."
Quatre nodded in agreement and followed Trowa down the well-worn path. Lee was too dazed and confused to say anything, so she leaned against Quatre and eventually fell asleep.
Lee woke to the sound of shouting. She opened her eyes slowly and saw a village built up in the trees. Houses were carved right into the trunks and built in the branches and connected by an intricate system of rope bridges.
"What do you want, humans?" A voice shouted from up in the trees.
"I, Trowa Barton and my comrade Quatre Winner, seek the aid of the elfin people." Trowa said formally.
A small body leapt from out of the trees and eyed them suspiciously. Lee forced her eyes open so she would know what was going on. She had never seen an elf before. She never even believed they existed.
The elf wasn't as short as the elves in some stories she had read. He was still short though. He looked almost normal, if it were not for the pointed ears and short body. He only seemed to reach just below Quatre's shoulders, and compared to Trowa he was exceedingly short.
He had short blue hair and big-framed glasses. His expression was speculative, and he crept up next to them and examined them closely.
"Who is the girl?" He asked. Sniffing at Lee. She unwillingly cringed, and he seemed offended and snorted.
"Her name is Lee," Trowa said. "She was injured very badly and we ask to see your doctor."
"Hmmm, I don't know if she will see you...but I will check and see."
"Thank you,"
The little elf disappeared in an instance.
A few minutes later, he returned. "She’ll see you." He said grumpily. He led them over to a bucket-like elevator attached to a pulley. They all got in and the elves pulled on the rope, lifting them up to the level where the houses were. Once they got off, the elves crowded around them, apparently intrigued by the taller people in their midst.
"This way," the elf said. He took them over a bunch of bridges and into a small hut in the upper branches of the trees. Trowa and Quatre both had to duck to get in.
"Welcome, put the girl on the bed." A young woman elf come out of a back room and motioned at the bed near the corner.
The woman had sandy colored hair in two twisted pigtails and was a bit taller than the other elf. Obviously, the blue-haired boy was still growing.
"Thank you, Eli," She nodded. Eli nodded back and disappeared out of the hut. The woman elf waited patiently until Lee was lying on the bed before speaking. Lee was glad that the bed was big enough to fit her.
"My name is Sally," Said the elf, "what happened?"
"She says she was struck by lightening." Trowa said, then he exchanged another glance with Quatre. "She's uh...from Earth."
Sally frowned, "I see. How could she have gotten here then?"
Lee was extremely confused and disturbed at how they were speaking. But the woman noticed this and shooed the boys out of the hut. Then she turned to Lee and smiled. "Your name is Lee?"
"Yes,"
"Just relax Lee, and I'll see what I can do for you." She moved her hands in front of Lee's eyes and blue sparkles floated from them. Lee gasped as the funny sparkles swirled and darted around her face and then settled over her eyes. Lee instantly fell asleep.
That night Lee had a very strange dream. She was in a forest, like the one she was in now but she was very small. She was a baby, in a basket, and the woman holding her was singing something. She couldn't even make out the tune, but she knew she was singing.
Lightening crashed in the background and rain was pouring down. The woman started to cry and picked up speed, running towards an unknown destination. She saw something coming into view, but just as she was about to be able to make it out...
"Lee? Miss Lee?" A voice brought her out of her fevered dreams.
"What?" Lee mumbled as she slowly opened her eyes. She saw Quatre leaning over her, looking thoroughly afraid.
"We have to get out of here." Quatre hissed, "How's your ankle?"
Lee sat up and rubbed her ankle, "Its better," She said.
"Can you walk on it?'
"Yeah...I think so..."
"I think 'run on it' would be a better way to put it." Trowa growled, peeking out the window of the small elfin hut.
"What's going on?" Lee asked as she crawled out of the bed.
"No time to explain," Quatre said, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the door.
They stopped as they met Sally near the door.
"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Trowa asked her.
Sally nodded slowly. "They don't really like elves that much." She said, "It’s you they're after. You should get out of here while you can."
Trowa nodded and started through the rope bridges and back towards the elevator barrel. Lee didn't say a word; she could sense the seriousness of the situation. She just wished she knew what the situation was.
"What's going on?" She whispered fiercely to Quatre.
"The elves spotted a band of vampires heading this way." Quatre explained. "They don't drink from elves so they've no doubt found out we're here."
"How?"
"They can smell us," Trowa said as he stopped and peeked around a corner and down to the ground. Then he checked the skies and started rushing towards the barrel again.
"THEY'RE HERE!" Came a shrill voice. Instantly, small elves from all over the place darted out of their homes. Some were running away while others were preparing to fight. The calm before the storm had passed and the elfin village was in complete hysteria.
Lee saw Eli, the small blue-haired elf, running towards them.
"You need to hide." He gasped. "There's a secret exit back this way, hurry!"
Trowa nodded and the three of them followed Eli back towards the way they came. Lee's ankle was beginning to throb; it was obviously not completely healed. She soon started to limp but hurried to keep up with the rest of them. And besides, Quatre was half dragging her anyway.
They pushed through the crowds and Eli took them to the other side of the village and into a small hut carved into the side of the most enormous tree in the village. He took them inside and locked and bolted the door.
Lee heard a blood-curdling scream from close by and instinctively peeked out the window. She saw several caped figures flying around and landing on the bridges. When they landed, the elves shot away from them, leaving huge empty areas around the figures. She watched as a closer figure grabbed a slow elf around the neck and picked him up off the ground. He bit the elf's neck and the elf went limp. The vampire, she was sure that was what it was, tossed the body aside and stalked after the other small creatures that were scurrying to get away from him.
There were at least half a dozen or so more vampires flying around and spreading havoc through the peaceful elfin village.
Two more vampires came and landed just outside the shack. Eli gasped and threw his hands in front of him and started murmuring under his breath. The three humans, however, were too busy worrying about if they would be caught to pay any attention to him.
"They're here," Said the woman vampire. "I can smell the humans." She sniffed the air and looked around. Lee ducked under the windowsill and listened to the voices of the two.
The male vampire sighed. "What are we doing here, Dorothy?"
"Those two who were hired to find the dagger are here, I know it. Our spies have never been wrong before."
"Why do we care?"
"If they get it, we'll be doomed!"
"So?"
"Stop being so selfish, My Lord. Don't you care what happens to our race?"
"No,"
"It's the Dark Lord himself!" Trowa gasped. Eli, Quatre and Trowa all looked completely horrified. Lee knew better then to be asking questions.
The Dark Lord was speaking again. "This is stupid, Dorothy. I'm calling them off, let's go home."
"No, My Lord. As your trusted advisor I insist we stay until we find those two humans!"
"Fine," The Dark Lord snorted. "You can take care of them if you want, but if you find them, bring them to me alive. I'm going home. I'm leaving this in your hands, Dorothy."
"Thank you, My Lord. You will not be disappointed."
"We'll see," The Dark Lord flew off and Dorothy sniffed around for a minute before leaving again. Eli gasped and fell to the ground, finally getting some attention from the rest of them.
"Eli!" Lee gasped, she ran over to help him up.
"What happened?" Quatre asked, joining her by the fallen elf.
"You humans are so blind," Eli muttered. "I was reciting a masking spell so the vampires wouldn't find you. I'm just tired. I'll be fine."
"Thank you, Eli." Lee said softly. She helped him back to his feet and waited for him to catch his breath.
"I won't be able to do that again, and your scent will carry quickly. Come with me." He went into a back room and opened a panel in the floor.
"This will take you to the ground. Go as quickly as you can to Maroon, it's the closest town. I heard there was a slayer staying over there. He may be able to help you."
"Thank you, Eli. We will never forget what you have done for us." Trowa said, shaking Eli's hand.
Eli only nodded and urged them down the ladder in the vertical passageway.
"Go quickly," He said again, "and don't look back!"
Lee climbed down the ladder first, followed by Quatre and then Trowa. She waited for them at the bottom, unsure of where to go.
Quatre dropped down beside her and shooed her out another door. They checked around the corners and saw that the vampires were preoccupied. They were setting fire to the elfin huts and Lee knew that they would all soon be ablaze. Without looking back, they hurried through the forest, Quatre leading the way and Trowa bringing up the rear.
"We'll stay off the main paths and hide in the trees." Trowa said as they ran. "That way we'll have some cover."
Quatre and Lee silently agreed and kept running. Lee found it strangely hard to run, because here there was thick moss growing all around and the tree roots did not curve as nicely as those along the main path did. Lee stumbled over one root but Trowa swiftly caught her and they kept going. They ran until they couldn't hear the crackling of the fire and the screaming elves anymore. All they could hear was the faint rustling of the wind in the trees.
Finally they slowed to a stop to catch their breath. "That was the scariest thing I've ever encountered in my whole life." Lee gasped, leaning over against a tree.
"I think the vampires were looking for us." Quatre said, looking at Trowa.
"Without a doubt." Trowa replied.
"Why would vampires be after you guys?" Lee asked, surprised.
"It's a long story," Quatre smirked.
"We'll explain on the way to Maroon." Trowa added. "We need to get there before the slayer leaves town."
"Then lets get going," Said Lee, "I don't want to run into any vampires or whatever."
"Good idea," Said Quatre, continuing to walked through the thick underbrush of the forest. Lee followed them for nearly an hour before she began asking questions. "So where exactly am I?" She asked, hoping it would get her the answers to most of her questions.
Trowa sighed and started to explain. "You're on the planet Mythrill. Mythrill is Earth's sister planet. Every planet in the universe as an alternate or sister planet. One planet is magic, while the other is not. Understand so far?"
Lee nodded.
"Well, I'm guessing that someone from this world brought you here for reasons that are still unknown. Only magical people can travel between sister planets or transport things or people from Earth. Have you ever wondered how storytellers came up with unicorns or vampires or dragons?"
"No, not really," Lee said truthfully.
"Well, for your information, they came from Mythrill. They came from magical people from Mythrill who traveled from Mythrill to Earth. They must have accidentally let out about some of our creatures. But thankfully people accepted them as myths."
"Why wouldn't you want people to know about Mythrill if you know about Earth?"
"People were afraid that if Earthlings knew about us, they would start searching for a way to get here." Quatre said. "That would cut off any vacations to Earth, and it's not really fair since Earthlings cannot possibly get to Mythrill without help from a wizard or something. We don't want some of most powerful sorcerers being mauled, now do we?" Quatre laughed.
"Hn,"
Trowa chuckled and picked up from where Quatre left off. "Quatre and I were hired by the ruler of the Sank Kingdom, which is the most powerful country on Mythrill, to retrieve an ancient artifact which was hidden by a powerful magician over a thousand years ago."
"So why do those vampires want it?" Lee asked, still rather confused about the flood of new information that was being dumped on her.
"Because," Said Quatre, "They want to destroy it."
"Why?"
"They say that this artifact, a dagger, is the only thing that can kill the dragon of prophecy which will swallow the sun and let vampires be the dominant species on this planet."
"So when does this dragon come out of hibernation? I mean, is there something that can raise it up?"
"No one knows for sure." Said Trowa. "Some people believe that there is a deity who will breathe life into the dragon."
"A deity?"
"Yeah, the deity was supposed to have been sealed away somewhere to protect it from someone who would want to use it to raise up the dragon."
"Interesting..."
"But others say it will awaken when all the planets align." Trowa continued.
"And the alignment is soon, I guess."
Trowa nodded. "Only a few months away."
"I see, so you two were hired by the ruler of some powerful country to stop the end of the world, right?"
"Right," said Quatre.
"Hmm, then you two must be pretty good, hun?"
"That's right," Quatre grinned, "You couldn't be in better hands."
Lee opened her mouth to say something but Trowa cut her off.
"Perfect timing," He mumbled. "The sun is just beginning to rise and we've made it to Maroon."
"How did we get here so fast?" Quatre wondered.
Trowa shrugged, "Elf magic," He said simply. "I used a transport spell while we were running from the village. Sally gave it to me before we left."
"Wow...I hope we get a chance to thank her." Said Quatre.
"Come one, we can see it but it's still quite a walk to Maroon."
They walked silently towards the distant town; each of them lost in thought.
