There once was a famous sorceress named Lina Inverse....

...But this story isn’t about her.

THE TORCH HAS BEEN PASSED AND NOW SHINES THE DAWN OF A NEW GENERATION, DEDICATED TO THE CAUSE OF JUSTICE, FUN...
AND FOOD!

DEPART!
(two little birds leave the nest!)

Sol: Little?

        Sol made his bed with a smile on his face. It was not normally a chore he enjoyed, but for some reason it held a special interest to him today… maybe because he wouldn’t be sleeping in it for the rest of the summer. Starting today, leaves would be his blanket and moss his pillow.

Yes, Sol is actually anxious to be lying down on rocks and dirt.

Why? Because he will be able to sleep anywhere he wants. He will get to do whatever he wants.

        He shoved a crude map, his money bag, and other essentials into his large leather pouch. And food. LOT’s of food, all of which he’d stashed under his bed. At age 9, Sol had a teenage appetite. While shifting through his messy closet, he pulled out a finger-paint picture he’d made in kindergarten. He would have laughed if it hadn’t been a picture of his entire family. He was drawn twenty feet tall with fiery red hair, with his mother and father on either side. He wasn’t sure when he’d see all three of them together again. His mother was the orange stick figure to his left, and his dad the green smudge to his right. Green? Why the heck was he painted green? he thought to himself. His hair is -

" SOL!!!!” cried mom from downstairs. “ Get your butt down here, or I'm eating all your pancakes!"

        And she meant it.

“SURE, MOM.”

        Standing in the kitchen as he came downstairs was Lina Inverse; not that it was a surprise to Sol, he’d seen his mother every day of his life. At first glance, one would hardly guess that she had been the fearsome Bandit Killer in her youth. She was now in her mid thirties, and there was still some of her irresponsible flightiness that her sobering age hadn’t stifled.

“You all ready to go?” she asked him after he speared the short stack with one swoop of his fork.

“He better be,” replied a stern voice behind him.

Sol spun around to see Val standing behind him. Though he was 12 and acted older still, the spearmint-green haired dragon Val was Sol’s best friend in the world. And Oddly enough Sol was Val’s best friend as well, even if Sol was occasionally greedy, foolish, and impatient.

“How long have you been here?” asked Sol, maple syrup dripping onto his glove.

“Too long. If we want to stay on schedule, you better eat those pancakes...“

        Sol’s jaw almost unhinged and the poor hot cakes were forced down his monstrous gullet in milliseconds.

“...quick.” Val looked to Sol’s mom for help in reprimanding, but she just shrugged and slugged her son on the back, since he had stopped breathing.

“You’re sure you know the Heimlich Maneuver, right?” she asked Val in earnest, who nodded. He had had years of experience as Lina well knew, but then, she was a little edgier than usual today. She wrapped up some remaining pancakes in a napkin and gave them to Val.
       
“Well, you two better head out already,” said Lina with a forced smile. “It’s a long way to Aunt Luna’s House.” She suddenly thought of something.

“Val, where’s your mother? I didn’t see her, when you arrived.”

Val suddenly lost his collected composure, and his vocabulary.

“Uh…well…she…said…well, she was , busy and I….um”

"Val!"

Val lost all courage as he jumped behind Sol. His Mother had come looking for him…Normally he would have jumped behind Sol’s MOM but he knew in this case that both mothers would band together against him. Mothers were like that. The door was suddenly blown off the hinges by sheer force of anger.

“Why Filia, Hello.” Said Lina, well aware that Filia couldn’t hear her. Lina Was tired of losing doors.

Filia il Copt, was in the doorway, breathing steam. While in some stories, this might have been an exaggeration, Filia was a Golden Dragon, and Val was lucky it was only steam.

Now, Dragons age very slowly, and when last we saw Filia she was several hundred years old and looked in her early twenties. However, Filia had aged at least ten years in the last twelve with Val, and looked like your average mother of a fire-breathing, troublesome preteen. She had exchanged her flouncy pink dress to a more sensible grey one, with a high collar. Grey hid most of the stains she encountered in her daily life. Right now her mouth was screwed up in a vicious knot, much like her hair.

Val watched his Mother with butterflies in his stomach. He wasn't terribly afraid of her, she had never struck him, or punished him at all in fact! Filia had a way, however of making Val feel really guilty. I mean penatively, horribly, miserably guilty! Val really didn't want that kind of mind trip. Especially not today, on this Day of Days! Today was HIS day!

"Sol, help me out here!" he whispered pleadingly.

"What, did you fly out here on your own again?" asked Sol.

".....yes." Val said Lamely.

Sol swallowed hard before replying:

"I'm your best friend, so I'm not going to lie to you:
You are dead where you stand, and you'll have to find loonier friends than me if you want back up against your mom."

"... At least it's been nice knowing you," he added, with a slight pat on Val's shoulder.

Val's heart sank.

"Gee, thanks a bunch, 'OLD PAL!' I'll remember that the next time you eat yourself into trouble again." he hissed at him.

Filia in the meantime was busy shouting her complaints at Lina...and Lina was pretending to care. To Lina, raising a kid was like raising a monkey....that talked back...To Filia it was like guarding a priceless glass figurine.


Lina was getting a headache, so she interrupted Filia momentarily.

"Sol, there's one more thing I need to give you...its outside."

Sol got the gist immediately and flew to the door after his mother. As he turned to close the door, he felt a pang of guilt as he saw Val looking to him for assistance. His eyes were pleading and full of fear. Sol felt horrible. This is when Val needed him the most. He should stand by his friend in his time of need.

He then shrugged and slammed the door on Val who's jaw had dropped down to his chest in disbelief.

Sol then ran out towards his Mom and covered his ears, while the roof leaped up a couple of feet.

"YOU KNOW BETTER THAN TO FLY ON YOU OWN WITH NO SUPERVISION! YOU COULDN'T WAIT FIFTEEN MINUTES?!! YOU WANT ME TO START TREATING YOU LIKE AN ADULT, YOU HAD BETTER ACT LIKE ONE AND FOLLOW THE RULES! I HAD NO IDEA WHERE YOU HAD GONE AND I WAS WORRIED OUT OF MY MIND! TRUST IS A BIG ISSUE, MISTER! I’M SUPPOSED TO TRUST YOU TO GO OUT ON YOUR OWN TO CEIPHEID-KNOWS-WHERE FOR MONTHS AND YOU GO AND RUN AWAY ON ME! I'M BEGINNING TO THINK YOU'RE NOT RESPONSIBLE ENOUGH TO GO, LET ALONE LOOK AFTER LITTLE SOL! (Sol Frowned; little?) IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO? TO SAY YOU CAN'T GO AT ALL?"

Sol was starting to get a little nervous. Not go? But they had to! This was their big chance! It had taken months to convince Val's mom to let him go! And he had to blow it by breaking the one rule she was immobile on...Way to go, Valsky. -_-;;

"Mom? Is the trip canceled?"

Lina shook her head.

"We'll think of something." she said reassuringly with a wink and Sol grinned back at her.

Filia finally emerged from the cottage with Val in tow. Val's face was red with tears but he held his head up like a dying gladiator as he was being dragged by his wrist. Filia came to a halt in front of Lina, so abruptly, that Val walked right into her rear.

"Lina, Sol, I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid Val won't be going." Said Filia in her most severe voice. Her face showed plainly that she was very serious about this.

Sol gave a little gasp and Val fought back another onslaught of sobs. Lina frowned a little and stared blankly, she was thinking.

"I just need to talk about this with my son. Can you hold on for a moment?"

"Of course." said Filia tersely. She shot Sol a small sympathetic smile; she was sorry for ruining his big day, but discipline came first. Sol gulped and looked away quickly. Having Filia smile at him was like fraternizing with the enemy!!

Sol followed his mom behind a tree so they could talk privately. He could see the gears turning in her head and knew that everything would be all right. Sol was still young enough to believe that his Mom could fix anything.

"Well?" she asked. "What do you want to do?"

"Huh?"

"I could let you go by yourself."

"By Myself?" Sol couldn't believe his ears.

"Don't see why not. Well?"

Sol looked back to Val. He was no longer the cool, confident, mature, condescending older kid with whom Sol liked to hang out. He was a twelve-year-old kid whose one chance at freedom had been squelched by his impatience, and his bailiff of a mother. He was also Sol's best friend.

"Mom, I wanna go with Val." he said finally

"Alright then." said his mom simply.

They returned to Filia and Val. Val had thought that his mom had loosened her grip and tried to ease his wrist away. However, sensing his attempt, Filia only tightened her hand and jerked his arm little; a warning meaning, "Don't you try anymore funny stuff!" Val only sulked and wiped his nose on his vest. He looked up when Sol approached. When he saw the big grin on Sol's face, Val straightened up a little and lost his weepy attitude.

"Filia, I really think you should let Val go. " said Lina plainly.

Filia bristled a little and shot a dark look at Val who was grinning with new hope. The smile was wiped clean off his face.

"Why? He has already proven to me that he's not responsible enough!"

"Well first of all, its not fair to Sol. He's been really well-behaved these last couple of months and he deserves it."
(This was a half truth. Sol was well behaved...for Sol)

Filia looked a little guilty and glanced at Sol who was wearing his best puppy-dog face. His mother had taught him well. But Filia straightened up again.

"I'm very sorry, but the trip will have to wait! Val simply cannot follow instructions, and Ceiphied knows what kind of trouble he'll get into! I won't have a moments peace!"

"With all due respect Filia, this is about Val, not about you. We both talked about this, and we decided that this would be a good thing. We've marked out checkpoints for them to report to, and informed our friends. Each station is only three days apart and our friends will help them out."

Filia was starting to weaken

"Well...I don't know."

"You can punish Val some other time. But not today. It's their big day! If it'll make you feel better, lets make them contact us at each checkpoint."

"I promise, I'll call you!" said Val enthusiastically. Filia jerked his arm again. she didn't want to be disturbed while thinking.

"well....."

        Sol quickly picked up the trend.

“And-and...we’ll follow the route exactly! I promise we won’t go wandering off!!”

“I-“
        And Val went in for the coup de grace.

“And- I PROMISE NOT TO FLY ON THE ENTIRE TRIP!!!!” he blurted out, quite surprised with himself as he did.

        Filia swung in his direction and glared him straight in the eye.

“Never?”

“Not even for practice.”

“You Swear????”

“I swear on my honor as a dragon... I will not fly on this trip.”

        Val’s gaze was strong and steady, without blink, twitch, or wince.


“all right,” said Filia, making sure that her posture didn’t sag with her willpower.

        As strong as Filia Il Copt was, even she tended to fold under the most powerful force in the universe: Peer Pressure. (Don’t miss out! Use peer pressure on your friends today! ^.^)


"YES!!!!" both boys jumped up and high-fived each other!
They were going!!

Filia reached into her pocket and pulled out a large bag of coins. She plopped them in Val's hand.

"You will CALL me at EVERY town you come to, understand? This money is for the TELEDICTER! Not to spend."

The boys’ eyes boggled at the huge pouch. They were already concocting brilliant schemes on how to get free access to teledicters. Lina saw this and swelled with pride.

"Are you listening to me?" demanded Filia, still annoyed.

"Yeah, Mom." Val was getting impatient. "Okay! Lets Go!" he cried, taking up his pack.

"Wait!" this time it wasn't Filia, but Lina who stopped them. "I have something for you, Sol."

Sol's eyebrows raised. "Something for ME?"

Lina dashed inside the house and came out a moment later. with a black bundle in her arms.

"What is it?" Cried Sol running to her.

Lina shook out the bundle to reveal shoulder armor and a long black cape. The armor was scratched and had scorch marks on it, and the cape was faded and a little threadbare, but Sol's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Your old cape and armor!?? I can have them??? Really?!?!"

"Yup." Said Lina with an odd catch in her voice.

"They're all yours, kiddo. My adventuring days are gone, so I'm giving them to you."

Sol ran his hand over the gold trim with reverence.

"Go on! Try it on!" said Lina, her eyes shining with excitement.

Sol, didn't need to be asked twice. He thrust his head through the neck-hole and let the weight of the armor sit on his skinny shoulders. It was FAR too big for him. The Cape was at least a foot too long for him, and the armor stuck out a good twenty inches on both sides, but he was too happy to care.

"Is it too heavy?" asked Lina anxiously.

Sol shook his head. The armor was hardly light as a feather, but not uncomfortable. It was a friendly weight that made him feel secure, protected...invincible!

"HEY VAL LOOK AT ME!!!! I AM SOL, THE SORCERER!"

The boys laughed and then ran around the front yard throwing harmless lighting spells at each other, pretending they were deadly balls of fire. Then Sol tried to back up, and stepped on his cape, yanking him to the ground.

Lina picked him up and dusted him off, smiling.

"You'll grow into it. Just try to concentrate on walking forward, okay?"

"I'll try, Mom."

Sol beamed at his mom, but then his smile faded. Lina was staring at him with a strange expression and watery eyes.

"Mom? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I was just thinking about how big you've gotten."

"Aw, Mom!" Sol groaned. Why did adults always get so sentimental about this stuff.

"Hey Mom!"

"Mmm?"

"D'ya think Dad will get to see me like this?"

"I don’t know...I guess you’ll find out." said Lina Quietly.

Lina helped sol get his pack on, under the cape, and rumpled his hair affectionately.

"See ya, kiddo. Good luck. Say hi to your Aunt Luna for me."

"You bet! C'mon, Val!"

Val was in the middle of an embarrassing goodbye with Filia, who was sobbing uncontrollably, and kept repeating,

"MY BABY IS LEAVING ME!!!"

After Sol and Lina managed to pry Val away from her, the two boys marched triumphantly down the hill to the main road. The sun was now climbing above the treetops and the heady scent of Summer was in the air. They turned to wave one last goodbye, and then disappeared into the forest.

Lina and Filia sighed with heavy hearts. They were both going to return to a house with no children.

"............"

"..........."

"You want to stay for some tea?" asked Lina

"I thought you'd never ask." replied Filia.

The two walked up to Lina's cottage in silence.

"Do you really think they'll be okay out there, Lina."

"Filia, these are OUR BOYS."

"Yah, I know....thats what I'm worried about!"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Wow,” said Sol as the two strolled down the country road, glancing up at the sky. “Notice how everything just seems more open then before? More... free?”

“Mmm,” was the only response Sol received.

“I mean, you never notice so many things before. The clouds, the sun, the birds.”

“Mmm.” Val was in rare form today.

        Sol began staring very intensely at the cheerful songbirds as they playfully hopped from branch to branch.

“I wonder if you can eat ‘em,” said Sol.

Val clapped a hand to his face in frustration and whirled on his companion.

“Not EVERYTHING in this world is EDIBLE, Sol…Geez!”

“Well,” he replied unperturbed, “I’ll find out. A man needs Goals, y’know.”

Val rolled his eyes and sighed, exasperated.

“MY goal is to get you to shut-up for more than two minutes.” Said Val irritatedly.

“Not gonna happen.” Sol replied bluntly.

“Yah, figured.”

“Sorry, but I’m just so Excited!!!” cried Sol leaping a few feet in the air.

“Well cut it out.” Val hd lost a good deal of his coolness after the incident with his mother. He was trying to become “cool” again. That meant criticizing everything Sol did. Sol hated that.

“Why shouldn’t I be excited? We’ve broken loose! No more parents for the whole journey! It’s just you, me, and …….. XELLOS??”

“Hel-lo!!” the Purple-haired priest replied nasally. Out of the blue, he was walking alongside the two.

“So today’s the big day, I see! Boy, kids grow up so fast these days!” he said with a friendly smile. Val’s hair started to bristle. Sol just fought back a bored yawn.

“Yup.” Said Sol, casually, as Val shot him an angry look. “We’re off to see the world just me and Val!”

“Val and I,” Val corrected him automatically.

“Whatever.” Sol yawned. “So what are you up to today?” he asked Xellos

“Well now THAT-“

“IS A SECRET,” chimed the two boys in perfect unison.

Xellos was a little flustered.
“Have I really become that predictable?” he asked with a disappointed laugh. The boys nodded. Val was still glancing warily at Xellos. Xellos noticed this and smiled in spite of himself.

“So Val, how are you?” asked Xellos, pushing more buttons.

“Fine.” Val said tersely.

“And your Mother?”

“FINE!” Val shouted through his clenched jaw. Filia had thoroughly warned Val about the dangerous Mazoku Priest, Xellos. She advised him to just;

‘answer him with one-syllable words until he goes away. And don’t lose your temper. That’s all that he’s trying to do. The HONOR OF THE DRAGON RACE LIES WITH YOU!!!….no pressure.’

Val pointed his nose in the air and tried to ignore Xellos.

“Heh-heh. Just like her,” muttered Xellos, amused, and he turned his attentions to Sol, who was unaware of any animosity.

“And how’s your mother, Sol?”

“She’s just fine. “ Sol replied grinning. “She’s by herself now.”

“By herself?”

...

Sol wondered why Xellos seemed so interested in that. “Yah.”

“And she doesn’t mind you talking to me?” Xellos tossed this out casually, but he had a funny grin on his face.

“Mom says she doesn’t care to see you, and that you’re a bad influence on me… but I guess not. I don’t see why everyone acts so funny around you. I don’t think you’re so bad. “ Sol wasn’t even looking at Xellos, he was talking to the sky, it seemed.

“Well,” said Xellos. “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me. I’m more dangerous than you think.” Xellos was still wearing that funny grin of his. It gave Val the creeps.

“I doubt it. You look like such a wuss,” said Sol flatly.

At this, Xellos fell over and Val burst out laughing shamelessly, while Sol stared down at this strange adult unaware of what was so funny.

“Just for THAT ,” said Xellos as he rose huffily. “you don’t get your Going-away present!”

Sol’s eyes shot open in realization. He jumped onto Xellos’s ankle with crocodile tears pouring down his cheeks

“AW C’MON! BE A SPORT! GIMME MY PRESENT! PUH-LEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!”

“NO.” said Xellos, still affronted.

“ YOU’RE MEAN!!! Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please……”

Val was embarrassed for the both of them. It was bad enough to have Xellos pestering them but it was worse to have Sol lower himself to this level to get something from him!

“Sol! Where’s your pride!!!!????”

“I don’t have any when it comes to presents!” cried Sol and then continued with his “please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please……”

Xellos was eventually worn down, but he was smiling which made Sol think he was going to give in anyway. Sol would get even with Xellos for that...after he got his present.

“Here,” said Xellos kindly as he held out a maplewood staff that was smooth, sanded and nicely polished. At the top was a carved ornament that represented a dragon head belching fire. The staff was a good three inches thick (at the top) and six feet in length. Sol didn’t try to hide his disappointment.

“A stick?”

“Its not just a stick!” cried Xellos, insulted. “It’s a staff! It will slightly amplify your spells, and help you repel magical attacks…little ones.”

Sol stared at the staff in awe, but then frowned.

“So it’s a magic stick. Whoop-dee-doo,” said Sol, not amused.

“I’m serious!” Xellos couldn’t believe the ungratefulness of this kid!

Sol took the stick and tried to picture himself with his giant armor and the giant stick …just like another guy who carried a stick.

“great…now I look just as lame as you.” He muttered, sweatdropping.

“FINE!” Xellos had HAD it! “You don’t like it, I’M TAKIN’ IT BACK!”

Sol clung to the stick like it was made of gold. It may be a stick, but it was his stick now!

“NO! I LIKE IT! I LIKE IT!” he cried, seeing Xellos reach out his arm. “MINE!”

“Heheheheh. I would expect as much from Lina’s son,” said Xellos. He then turned to Val.

“I have something for you, too.”

“I don’t want it,” said Val with his back turned.

Xellos just shrugged. “Perhaps, maybe another day,” he said quietly and disappeared. Val turned around on where Xellos had stood, now openly angry.

“FAT CHANCE! I DON’T WANT ANYTHING FORM YOU! YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME! Y’HEAR!!!!???”

There was only the chirping of birds and the humming of insects. Unexpectedly, Val rounded on Sol.

“And YOU! Why did you take it!?” he demanded hotly.

“Well, I just don’t say no to free stuff,” Sol said very matter-of-factly.

This seemed to anger Val even more. “Well, maybe Xellos can buy YOU with presents, but I’M not gonna fall for it.”

“You’re just jealous ‘cause you don’t have a stick,” replied Sol, sticking out his tongue.

Val resisted the urge to punch his friend’s face in. Sol now realized that his friend was very upset about something, and looked at him with concern. Val finally softened, and let his fists fall limp at his sides.

“Geez…we haven’t been walking for an hour, and already we run into trouble,” sighed Val.

“Uh, Val?…one trouble, plus five troubles, plus one more trouble…that’s seven troubles…right?”

“Huh? What are you babbling about, Sol?”

Sol only pointed. Following his finger, Val saw straight ahead of them five large TROLLS and a girl with an eye-patch, perched a top one of their shoulders.


The fifteen-year-old girl sighed and rubbed her forehead wearily. Of all the creatures in the world, trolls? And five of them too. Everyone knew that trolls were stupid. And their stupidity was multiplied by their numbers. Thus, five trolls were more stupid than one troll. Wait… Did that make sense? Shaking her pretty head, the girl was just about to blast them away with several fireballs but changed her mind when she saw two boys approaching.

Hmm… an audience, she thought. Another chance to show of my prowess… not that I really need to do that, since almost everyone in the wilderness knows and fears my name. But then, those two look like ignorant village bumpkins and probably haven’t heard of me yet. And they probably won’t appreciate my subtle art of fighting anyway. Maybe I’ll start with a little speech about ridding the world of evils before going on to the real action. Nah, that may bore them. They don’t look very intelligent. Oooh, but the green-haired one looks kinda cute! Actually, they’re both cute. Perhaps I’ll do the speech thing after all… Ah! But what if they become too fascinated by me and decide to follow me wherever I go? That won’t be very convenient, but I guess there’s no other choice. On the other hand—

Meanwhile, the five trolls had gotten tired of waiting for her to make up her mind and decided to attack at this point. The girl only had a chance to yell, “Fear the wrath of Midnight Thorn!” very quickly before she was caught up in the thick of the battle...

“What’d she say?” asked Val, baffled. ’Shear the cat of moonlight horn?’ That makes no sense.”

Sol shook his head. “Nah she said somthin like...’Dinner’s ready, lets have corn!’ I think that was it.”

“Sol you think everything is food.”

...Not that it was much of a battle. It was more like a very short skirmish. When the last troll was beaten to an insensate state, Midnight Thorn dusted off her small hands, sticking out her tongue cutely at the fallen trolls. The boys were still debating what she had yelled.

“Well, so much for that,” she said, fingering the bag of gold that had cost her all this trouble. She calculated that the amount of gold the bag contained would last her at least two whole weeks. “Not bad for a day’s work, don’t you think?”

Whirling around to face the two sufficiently awestruck (or so she thought) boys, she gazed at them quizzically, waiting for one of them to speak.

The boys stared back.

“Hi,....” said the redhead. “....uh...Is this the right road to Glistle Village?”

The green-haired kid smacked the redhead kid upside the head.

"What’d you ask that for, you moron!! This IS the right road!!! I already told you fifty billion times, Numbknob! You're gonna ask a total stranger instead of listening to ME!!!??? Geez you're thick, Sol! I oughtta...."

Val trailed off, noticing that the Girl was staring at him funny, causing him to blush redder than Sol's hair. Midnight Thorn couldn’t help but giggle. He WAS cute. Val yanked Sol aside, speaking in a low whisper.

"Hey, Dummy, I think this girl is gonna try and rob us next...she's staring at us...probly calculating our strengths."


"By 'strengths', do you mean mine or yours? I mean, I can hurl fireballs and arrows, but all you can do is move heavy things."

Sol turned and looked at the girl. He was far too young to be interested in girls, but not young enough to lose his boyish fascination.

"Do you really think she'd rob us??"


"Do you weelwy think she'd wob us??" repeated Val in a high whiney voice. "You are so naive. If she took the trouble to knock over five TROLLS for money, she certainly not gonna pass over a young man and a dopey little kid."

....

"Oh, and your 'fireballs' couldn't light a CANDLE. I say we find some way to lose her."


A vein bulged in Midnight Thorn's forehead. She was not appreciating their discussion of her.

She coughed rather deliberately. "Look here, boys, I have no intention of robbing you." She paused, then added in an undertone, "Since you both don't look like you have much money anyway."

“YES WE D-mphhht!!!”

Val had clapped a hand over Sol’s mouth. Thorn raised an eyebrow.

"Ahem. Anyway, since the both of you are heading to Glistle Village, which was where I had originally intended to go, I shall accompany you. What do you think?"

The fifteen year old smiled in her friendliest manner at them. "And don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you or anything like that," she said, rolling her eyes at their shocked expressions. "I just think that the two of you need some protection, since there are really bad bandits in the woods. I mean, two young boys, traveling all by yourselves to some far village. What were your mothers thinking?"


"BOY!??" Val screamed indignantly. "I am almost TWELVE...years old!!! I'm practically a MAN! My voice is getting way lower! EVEN AS WE SPEAK," he squeaked. His hair was bristling and the sinews in his skinny arms were bulging.

"Show her your ONE chest hair, that'll really WOW her," said Sol, not helping.

"Bishonen don't GET chest hair!!" squawked Val, getting irate.

"So you're still standing by that excuse?" said Sol grinning.

"And my mom says I'm very mature for my age," continued Val.

"Ooh...there's a good reference. You should put that on your resume."

Val smacked Sol good. He then spoke to him again in audible whispers.

"Sol, I don't think we should get mixed up with this girl."

"Oh yah, at least not till the next chapter," chirped Sol.

"....." Val just looked at him funny.

"Anyway," Val went on. "We need to ditch her and fast. I don't think your Aunt Luna would like another house guest."

"Best not to push it. What do you suggest?"

"Escape plan 7?"

Sol, fell over and groaned.

"Nooooo-ho-ho-hooooo....Not SEVEN!!!"

‘What’s plan seven?’ thought Midnight Thorn.

"Its never failed," protested Val.

"That depends on your point of view," quipped Sol.

"Its never failed me."

"That's what I meant."

"Shut-up. We're doing it." Val got ready, as he locked his fingers together.

"Errunnnngh..." Sol reluctantly shuffled to where Val stood and put his foot in Val's hands.

"Hup!...Un! Due! Tre!" shouted Val as he launched Sol with incredible accuracy fifty feet into the air. However, Sol flailed gracelessly as he arched high over Midnight Thorn's head, and continued into the distant foliage. From his dizzying height, those on the ground could hear Sol screaming..

"RAYWING!....c'mon, dangit!.....raywiiiiiiiiing!"

Val used this diversion to his advantage and.....

ran.

Zooming faster than a speeding fireball, he ducked past Midnight Thorn and didn't stop until he was twenty leagues away...just in time to witness Sol's landing.


"-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!" *SPLAT*

"You okay, Buddy?" asked Val, poking him with a stick.

"Jolly Good, Duchess Fwiply. I shall alert my servants to the threat of a military insssserection. I trust you will watch the cookies, in the oven. I don't wwant them to burrrrrrn....."

"Okay, whatever." Shrugged Val as he peeled his friend off the ground, and resumed running.

"The sooner we get to town the better."


Xellos watched the two as Val made tracks on the winding dirt road, with Sol trailing behind him like a kite. He chuckled. This job was going to be a laugh fest! He then disappeared.

Midnight Thorn frowned and folded her arms in a huff at their departure.

"Hmph! Well then, have it your way! I'll just be on my own way and not care about you two idiots any further."

She took one step in the opposite direction, then another. Then she stopped and tugged at her short hair. "Mou! Those two idiots!!"

With that, she ran after them as fast as she could, taking care to keep out of sight.