Vaile

Aislinn VII

It was a familiar dream.

The woman's voice

The haunting song

Of words she'd never known

Or had she?

The world was upside down and spinning.

It was impossible to tell who was who

Who was enemy.

Aislinn wasn't sure she had been dreaming this time. How could she be sure with everything that had happened?

The city was gone. Everyone in it. The merchants, the thieves, her aunt and uncle and cousins. In a single searing instant thousands of lives disappeared.

As she stared at the empty plain where her home stood just hours before, Aislinn sobbed until the tears wouldn't come anymore. What kind of evil could do this?

And more importantly, how had Mavis known?

She looked around. With the many trees forming a border between the plains and still more trees, she appeared to be at the edge of a forest, but her companions were nowhere to be seen. "Mavis?" she called hesitantly. "Ma-vis!"

"Aislinn?"

Aislinn's heart leapt and plunged just as quickly as Zoe emerged from the deeper brush. There were leaves caught in her red hair and a few cuts marred her face. "It's really a jungle back there. Thank goodness I found you when I did...Have you seen Zel or your cousin?"

Aislinn shook her head mutely. She hadn't even thought about Zel and the boarders. The boarders. A vague image of the girl with pinkish hair placing her under a spell surfaced and sharpened. "Zoe, I think your boarders were the ones who separated us." (Hey, Lys, see what I did there?)

"That's quite an accusation to make. Why would they do something like that?"

It was an excellent question, and one worth considering. The only motive Aislinn could find in the situation was a likely-fulfilled promise of greater compensation for throwing away people who could help them survive.

A loud rustle and a cracking noise startled Aislinn out of her reverie. Zel pushed free of a thorny vine and immediately ran to his sister. "Zoe, did they hurt you?"

"Did who hurt me?"

His seemingly natural scowl deepened. "Orpheus and Cherokee. I don't know what they're up to, but it's nothing good," he grunted, wiping blood off her cheek.

"Well, what do you know. Looks as if you were right, Aislinn."

"Ace?" Zel whipped around, having evidently not noticed her.

"The same. Did you find Mavis in the woods?

"No. Wasn't she with you?"

Aislinn buried her face in her hand and sobbed.