Force of Magic

Surrounded

Chapter 16

A/N: hey everyone, glad to be back! Remember, I'm just the writer. Gabeherdon308 owns the OCs.

"So, he had a whole day of training. Can he fly now?" Rayla asked as she and Trezac stopped in front of Zym and Ezran as they approached their lodgings for the time being.

"No, not yet," I'm doing my best guys," Ezran replied before turning to Zym and kneeling down, "and so are you. I know you are."

"Either way, we're leaving tomorrow," Rayla reminded. "There's danger coming. I know it. We have to get moving."

"Then we should all get some rest."

"You guys do that, I'm going to stay up and keep watch, something's wrong," Trezac crossed his arms.

"That danger you said you sensed earlier?" Rayla inquired.

Trezac nodded, "It feels closer. And I'd rather not be ambushed in the middle of the night again."

"I was planning to do one more perimeter check, two sets of eyes are better than one."

"And you should have an advantage since you're a Moonshadow Elf?" Trezac inquired.

"Yes, thank you for noticing!"

Trezac rolled his eyes, "C'mon. Let's get started."

-.-

The caws of crows echoed down the hall as Lord Viren approached followed by the Inquisitor. "Sound's spooky."

Viren ignored her commentary, entering the chamber and focusing on the figure petting one of the caged birds. "Crow Lord." The man didn't appear to hear him, causing Viren to clear his throat, "You! Crow Lord!"

"Oh! Sorry. I heard you calling for the Crow Lord," the man apologized taking a seat. "He's not hear right now."

"So who are you?"

"Oh! Well, I'm...I'm the Crow Master."

"Can you still do the tasks of the Crow Lord?" the Inquisitor asked.

"Well...it's like Assistant Crow Lord—I just got promoted—"

Eleven interrupted, looking annoyed, "Congrats, but can you do his job? Sending...mail?"

"Sure! Of course!"

Viren set down a tray with four letters on them. "Good. Send these."

"Um...oh...These...these, uh, seem to have the seal of the King on it."

"And?"

"Well...uh...yikes...the King is...you know..."

"We know he's dead," Eleven groaned. "Just send the stupid letters."

"I-I can't."

Eleven gave a pretend pout, "Shame, cause he was really insistent on getting these letters out. I mean are you going to deny a man's last wish? Not to mention...you were just promoted. I'm sure that means you're...current position is very fragile. And I'm sure you can be easily replaced!"

"What my assistant means to say here, it that your new position is delicate," Viren rephrased watching the man tremble in fear towards Eleven. "You want to do a good job, I understand that. But understand this," he slammed his hands on the table, "fail to do send these letters, and you could be charged with treason! Which well...you know what happens to traitors."

Crow Master gulped, shakily grabbing the tray, "Now that I think about it. I'm just gonna go ahead and take care of these for you."

"Wise choice! Hope to see you again!" Eleven cackled as she skipped down the hall.

-.-

Trezac crouched on a rock overlooking the grove. Closing his eyes, he could feel the presence of something nearby...something dark. Whatever had been warning him, he knew this was it, whatever the threat was it was here.

So where was it?

He almost missed it, but a soft melody began to flow through the night air. Stifling a yawn, he reached down and scratched Agir's head as the fox crawled up to join him.

What he didn't expect, was the infernal little creature to bite him.

Now, wide awake, Trezac glared down at the firefox holding his hand. "Hey!"

Instead of whining like he usually did when chided, Agir simply lit on fire, leaping down from the rock, before stopping and looking at him, then back in the direction of the eerie melody. The same one that had started when he started to feel drowsy.

Damn, his master wasn't kidding when he said the Force worked in mysterious ways. He just never mentioned it sometimes came up and bit you in the ass.

Leaping from the rock, Trezac silently landed behind Agir, and the little fox doused his flames leading him through the brush. As they moved, Trezac could feel it, the presence of the Darkside was getting much stronger here, as was the haunting song.

A flash of white caught his eye and the padawan dove behind a tree, grabbing his lightsabers, but not activating them. Peering around, he saw Rayla. The Elven girl was dragging her feet, clearly affected by the music. Shaking her head, she stumbled over to the bushes, picking up and flower before promptly passing out.

Once she was out, three figures emerged from the woods: Claudia, Soren, and an Inquisitor standing behind them with a triumphant smirk on his face.