To Find Friends

Act 1: The Old Homestead

Chapter 1: Prologue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRj5BQk4Y7A A cart rolled into a small, lonely looking homestead in the wide-open fields south of a terrible fortress that was set around an active Volcano, just barely noticeable on the edge of the horizon. There was a small, perhaps 2 or 3 room house, with a tin roof extending from the right side, where a horse stood, tied up. A stone's throw away from that was a barn, which was laughably bigger than the house. All around the outer fence, there were small patchwork areas that were once fields of something. Inside the fence line was various farmers tools, from various centuries, lying everywhere. Most of them showing early signs of deterioration.

On the cart were a number of people. A old, Easterly-dressed, dark skinned woman shared the driver seat with a young fair-skinned man in burnt, ripped, torn servant's uniform. Behind them, in the bed of the wagon were five others. All of them were as battered and disheveled as the young man driving. There was a cyborg sitting next to a silent-type young man, with a light, altogether fine, but unkempt, beard who watched a snoring, more heavily bearded man twitching on the floor of the cart. Across from the cyborg and the silent man sat a slightly younger man with a significant goatee dwarfing all other facial hair, and a young dark-skinned lady (who obviously had no facial hair,). Of those five, only the lady was not wearing thin gray prisoner's garb. 

They had all just escaped prison. Thunderclap Prison.

The old, dark skinned woman, Mrs. Richardson, also known by her Easterner persona, 'Sandhya', pointed to the overhang. "Park there, Carson."

The driver, Carson Flemming complied.

"That's not good," from the back of the cart, Peragrine Wanderthistle, the young man sporting the goatee, indicated the one horse. "Where's the other horse?"

Next to him, the young woman, Emily, also known as 'Yasmine' responded. "I think that's Tain's horse." 

'Tain', another escaped prisoner, had gone ahead with two other fellow escapees. 'Loden', a rather roguish and mysterious blonde fellow,  and Peter Silverstine, Emily's brother, who had ridden on the back of Loden's horse. They had left with two horses. . .

And now there was only one. 

"If he's here, he'll know. Let's find out," Emily reasoned, quelling the unease in her gut.

The silent one next to the cyborg kicked the sleeping one on the bed of the cart. He muttered something about rice cakes, and rolled over.

As soon as the cart stopped rolling, Peragrine hopped out, followed quickly by Emily. The others followed more slowly.

Peragrine hopped up the two steps to the door and knocked. "Hello? Tain? Anyone home?" he yelled.  Behind him, some shushed.

Nothing happened for a moment, while the silent one, going by the name 'Vorpal' helped the cyborg, 'Burnie' out of the cart. It was clear Burnie needed medical attention. 

When they had found him in Thunderclap Prison, Burnie was actually an integrated pilot of what could only be described as an advanced BarneyBot. During the escape, he had been forcibly extricated from it by a Red Mythran, then ran over by the cart. Thankfully, the cart destroyed the Red Mythan's glasslike physical structure when it took it by surprise. Unfortunately, though being made of mostly metal as cyborgs commonly are, Burnie was further harmed. His face, with it's only human feature being his left eye, betrayed very little emotion as his mechanical legs audibly whined and shifted, as he got up and, with Vorpal's help, carefully climbed out of the wagon. 

The opening of the door refocused everyone. Tain stood in the doorway with a rusty spear. 

"Get in."

Chapter 2: Falling Apart.

"Get in."

Emily rushed past Tain, her sari snagging the old rusty spear he had found over the other doorframe as a decoration. He understood her behavior; she needed to see her brother.

Peragrine followed. "Nice to see you too, buddy!" he said. Tain just patted him on the back to move him along. 

Mrs. Richardson followed after. "Where are the tenants?" she asked. Tain shook his head. 

"Place was abandoned." 

Carson followed in next.  "Great, and I was looking for a bed and breakfast." he snarked. Tain shoved him to move along. Suddenly the snoozer in the cart poked his head up. 

"ARE WE THERE YE- oh, we're here." 

Vorpal, of whom Burnie was leaning heavily on as they went up the two steps to the door, turned his head and remarked smoothly, "Oh, so you decided to get up."

"You say that like it's a choice!" remarked the sleeper.

"Get in," repeated Tain. Behind him, Mrs. Richardson stopped Peragrine from lighting a fire in the stove, while Carson began rummaging in an adjoining  room. A kitchen. 

"You. Better. 'get in.' No-Name," voiced Burnie, his speech tremulous and vibrating, hidden behind a warped faceplate. "Or. We May. Leave yo- uhg. Leave you. Out Here."

'No-Name' seemed to give it an extended think as Vorpal and Burnie made it up the steps. Once they began stepping across the threshold, No-Name hopped out of the wagon and zipped in behind them. Tain closed the door.

Peragrine pulled a comfy-looking chair from the wall of furniture around the room. "I take it you re-arranged the furniture, Tain?"

Tain nodded. "For security."

"What about the other young man? What was his name...?" Began Mrs. Richardson.

Burnie shoved off of Vorpal and used his chipped metal claws to grip the leg of a table that was on it's side, blocking a window with it's flat surface. "Loden. Blonde, Approximately in his 30s. Did well with a sword. Limited data," he spewed. 

"Yes, him."

Tain shook his head. "Said he had to be on his way. I do too."

Peragrine stood up. "Wait, now?"

"I was just waiting for the rest of you to get here."

"Wait, but-"

"Makes sense," No-Name said, as he stood by the wood stove. He held up a already packed sack. Tain gave a start. "Thanks, bro." said No-Name. Then he threw something on the ground, and disappeared in a cloud of soot. 

Of course, this caused some light coughing, as everyone's vision was obscured for a moment. There was some scuffling around, and Peragrine heard Tain mutter "That was MY pack," but Peragrine noted a heavier thud from Burnie's direction.  Once eye and lung cleared again, Peragrine saw that the 'thud' had been Burnie collapsing onto the ground.

"Woah, hey, buddy, get up." Peragrine rushed over and wrestled the heavy Burnie into a sitting position. Only then did he notice that Burnie was hardly responsive. 

"Burnie?"

His human eye was glazed over. Peragrine wondered if he was even breathing, but with that facemask, he couldn't tell. 

Vorpal rushed over next, and everyone else circled in, even Carson, who was munching on a potato while pouring salt on it.

"Burnie, what is wrong?" Vorpal asked, voice low with concern and urgency.

Burnie's eyes focused on Vorpal for a moment, before wandering to everyone else. "I will not survive."

"What?!" cried Peragrine. "No, you'll be fine! Just tell me what you need."

Burnie turned to Peragrine. "No. It is. One Hundred Per Ce-"

"Nonsense, don't talk like that, I'll just-" Peragrine began as he got up.

Burnie gripped the young man's shoulder before he could continue. "I. Am not. Meant. To Function without... External Resources."

Vorpal nodded. "You said you were the 'heart of the machine' when we found you."

Burnie nodded.

"Well, what if we got you a Barneybot shell? Would you work then? I can go get one now!" Peragrine suggested, pulling on Burnie's iron grip.

Burnie shook his head. "It would take too-" suddenly a red light lit on Burnie's chest, accompanied by a small whine. Burnie appeared to have run out of breath.  He began pressing buttons on his right arm, the arm that was holding Perry.

Tain finished for Burnie. "Too much time to modify."

Burnie nodded, then pointed to his arm. An LED readout read: "!t ha5 833n a pl3a5ur3 2 8 0f 53rv!c3. Thank y0u f0r fr33!ng m3."

More lights appeared, and more warning signs went off, and the readout began giving system errors, such as 'LOW OXYGEN', '0% POWER' 'EXTENSIVE DAMAGE' 'INTERNAL FAILURE'...

Burnie tilted his head back and closed his natural eye. Finally, the grip on Peragrine's arm loosened, and clanged hollowly on the floor. The warnings and lights all wore out, and all was silent in the house.

...

Until Carson spoke.

"Well, that sucks."

"Shut up," was the reply Tain gave.

The harsh words stirred Mrs. Richardson. "I am going to check on Emily," she said, and she excused herself, disappearing into the bedroom. "Emily, dear..."

The four remaining men fell back into silence, except for the occasional sniffle from Peragrine. 

Vorpal looked up at the others. Carson was frowning as he stared at the last bite of potato he had. Tain had a similar expression as he stared at Burnie's form, deep in thought. Peragrine's gaze was also transfixed with Burnie, but it showed emotional confusion instead of deep thought. 

"We should bury him." Vorpal directed his words to Tain. Tain nodded curtly.

Wiping his nose on his frayed prisoner garb, Peragrine stood up. "I'll help."

Vorpal nodded his thanks, and the two tried to lift Burnie.

"Oof!"

But to no success.

Tain moved forward to help. 

"Good, we shall each grab a limb." Vorpal suggested.

They all looked at Carson expectantly, as he was wiping his hands of potato.

Carson did not appear to notice. A moment later, Tain 'ahemed'.

"Got a frog in your throat, Doc?" Carson muttered, crossing his arms and turning away casually.

"Carson, could you, ah-" began Peragrine, thinking maybe he just didn't understand they were waiting for him.

"No."

Vorpal glanced at Tain, and saw his brow furrow ever so slightly. Tain repositioned and squatted with his back to the body, grabbing the legs on his sides. 

"We'll try with three," he said to Vorpal and Perry.

Peragrine, after a moment's hesitation of staring at Carson, nodded to Vorpal, who replied. "Agreed."

"One. Two."

They lifted on three, and Tain threw the legs over his shoulders as the other two jointly carried the shoulders on their shoulders. Tain opened the door, and they went down the steps, out from the overhang and behind the house.

(\\\}======>

Chapter 3:Family

"Get in."

Emily needed no second persuasion, and rushed past him. She had to see her brother. She was standing in what appeared to of been the main room, but all of the furniture had been pushed to the walls or up against windows. However, the entrances to the two other rooms and a small area around the unlit wood-burning stove were still clear. She peeked into the tiny 'bedroom'. 

"Brother!" 

He lay on the bed, surrounded by a makeshift apothecary. Kitchen herbs, a water basin, ripped up shirts and rags. He turned his head and when he saw his little sister, he smiled.

"Oh Peter!" she breathed. "You're alive." She ran over and dropped to her knees to wrap her arms around her eldest brother on the bed, so glad that she would be able to cherish him a little longer on this plane of existence.

"Ow." He replied.

She let him lay back down, and noticed the pain in his 'smile' for the first time.

"How bad is it?" she asked.

"Pretty bad. But now I understand why Carson kept calling Tain 'Doc'," Peter said. "He may not be one by trade, but he should consider it!"

They both laughed softly, and a quiet pause followed, in which they heard the others in the main room conversing. 

"So, did you ev-"

"So, how did you an-".

"Oh, go ahead," said Emily.

"No, ladies first!" smiled Peter.

Emily opened her mouth for a retort, mildly irritated by her brother playing the propriety card, but she acquiesced. "Ok... I was going to ask... if you're ok talking about it..." 

"Yes. Father was captured." 

Emily nodded. She was thankful for the blunt answer.

"He did not make it."

The concern in Emily's eyes disappeared. It was replaced by an impassive stony gaze as Peter continued.

"They interrogated him for information. They wanted our mines, people, locations, techniques, alloys. They needed the raw materials for something... something massive."

"Or Barneybots," she interjected. 

Light coughing emanated from the other room.

"Right, or more of those monstrosities," Peter agreed. "Either way, they were only going to harm people with whatever we told them, so Father wouldn't give them anything. So they tortured him. A bit too far, apparently." Peter began staring at the wall behind Emily as he continued to ramble. "When I'd hear them torturing him like that, I knew that once they'd tried everything with him, they'd go onto either me or Uncle."

"Uncle Jean?"

"Yeah, Uncle Jean. He... Oh my God." Peter sat up, pale as paper. "We left him there."

"No, no, Peter. It's not like that. Jean's actually quite..." She stopped him from trying to stand. 

"What do you mean? Jean escaped too?"

"No. He's actually really well off."

Peter frowned, confused, but allowed Emily to lay him back down. Of course, the pain in every movement also aided in taking him down.

"He didn't escape but he's well off; explain that to me."

"Jean is the reason we found the rest of you. But he doesn't know that."

"So, wait, you know where he is, but we just left him there?" 

"Peter, it's compli- he wouldn't have wanted to come!" she barked.

"What do you mean, Em?" frustration and confusion was getting the better of the both of them.

"I mean that he's in a cushy apartment, and we were pretending to be Persian Carpeters from the far east, and that's why I'm wearing this stupid, thick tanning lotion, and we've been trying our best to not be found and yet find you, but of course that meant disappearing for forever till we could look where you were most likely to be, which is in the middle of it all, and then Uncle Jean gave us just the in we need, and we were able to get all the prisoners of thedude out, but JEAN IS NOT A PRISONER!" she explained, ending with more exasperation than she really meant. 

Peter regarded his little sister anew. She wasn't so little anymore. Not that she ever had been. Emily had always been the most responsible of the four of them. He and Austin had a bad habit of getting into trouble together, and Stirling was prone to going off by himself, while Emily always knew where everyone was and what was going on. And in the few times where it was just the four of them in some situation, and Mother and Father were not around, their little sister always knew what to do.  Sure, Peter was the oldest, but he certainly wouldn't say he was the wisest. That was Emily.

But something was different about her now, and he wasn't just talking about the insane tan. Right now, she didn't seem so wise. She didn't know what to do. She sighed deeply, and her frustration disappeared from view. 

Ah, but it did not disappear altogether. He could tell that she was still very tense. Irritated, perhaps. 

"I'm sorry, Sister." Time. Time had changed her, he decided. Life and hope and goals and everyday living may have stopped for him and the others in that prison, but not for others. "It appears I have alot to catch up on."

Emily smiled softly, and nodded. 

All was quiet in the house.

...

A Moment later, the door swung fully open from it's mostly closed position.

"Emily, dear."

"Mrs. Richardson!" Emily beamed.

"How is your brother?"

"Peter is well. Or rather..."

"Well enough," finished Peter as he craned his neck to see who he was talking to. "Thanks to you, I think. You brought the wagon, right?"

"That's right," Mrs. Richardson confirmed.

"Peter, this is Mrs. Richardson. Mrs. Richardson, my brother, Peter." Emily introduced, not wanting to forget basic manners. "She's been a good friend to me and Mother since we found her and ... Bethany ... at an inn on the edge of the Fire desert. "

Mrs Richardson nodded and smiled, but it was tempered at the mention of 'Bethany.'

Peter nodded in understanding. He hadn't known the girl's name till now, but she was memorable enough. From what he could understand, Bethany had used magic to create a shockwave of some kind, but it has exhausted her very life, or something like that. But he could be not remembering correctly. He had been having a mental breakdown induced by the evil Warden, Malesius. He shivered at the collective memory of it all. Already, their escape seemed ages ago, even though it was only just yesterday. 

"Bethany... Yes, I think I remember her. She was very brave to help us escape."

Emily smiled. "She'd blush to hear you say that."

"I am glad you remember her, Peter," Mrs. Richardson said. "Even more so that her sacrifice was not in vain, and that you and others live."

Peter smirked weakly. Then he blinked. "Wait, Fire Desert?"

Emily nodded.

"Is THAT why you're all dressed like easterners?"

Emily laughed. "I thought I just told you!"

"And how long ago was all that?"

"14 years ago."

Peter shook his head and sighed. "I..." He tried to get up, but both women kept him down before he hurt himself. "Tell me everything," he whispered. "Please."

Emily sat on the bed next to Peter. "Well, it's a long story, but I'll te-"

Right then, the door opened, and Carson popped his head in. He looked more dour than usual. "They're burying Burnie. You'll want to pay your respects."

"What?!" Emily and Peter barked as the latter craned his head around again.

Chapter 4: Farewell.

It was about 25 or 30 paces from the house. Not nearly far enough, Peter thought. But what was he going to do about it? Nothing. He was too exhausted to say anything, much less argue they needed to dig again.

And the worse part was that he had just watched them dig. 

Sitting in a chair that his sister had gotten him. Bless her, but it was so humiliating. So torn up was he, mentally and physically, that all he was good for was to just sit here and watch the others toil in the dirt. Nevertheless, they had all dug a hole deep enough. Even Carson had (halfheartedly) helped by clearing the dirt piling up on the edge of the grave. It had taken a few hours, but with everyone pitching in, as well as the need to do it to stay warm in the cold air, and the soil thankfully getting softer the deeper they got, it was done quickly.

Now that the grave had been dug, everyone looked at each other... 

Someone had to say a few words before they lowered him in.

Well, at least he could do that.

"I didn't know Burnie very well. Of course, I don't think any of us did." Peter began. Everyone agreed.

"All we really know about him was that he was a cyborg, wasn't liked by thedude, and was denied his freedom. Like the rest of us. He helped us to get free, once he understood. Like anyone, Burnie had hopes and dreams. While he probably didn't get to do all of them, I think we can take comfort that now he can do those things knowing his shell here is free. It won't be taken apart, or studied, or dissected. He will be given a proper burial, and we shall leave it at that." Peter stopped to check with his audience. Some were getting disinterested, most were deep in thought.

"I'm not sure what everyone's stance is here on 'the afterlife'..." 

That brought their attention back.

"... But I, for one, believe there is life after death. I believe Burnie is free-er than any of us here. He has achieved more freedom than any of us here."

Peter's eye was caught by a tear from Mrs. Richardson. And that reminded him.

"Let us also not forget those we've left behind. Bethany, and Mo- erm, Mrs. Silverstine. Is there anyone I am missing?"

They all thought for a moment, but only Emily responded. "Just Jean, but he will be... alright."

"Can someone say a few words for Bethany?" Peter asked. "I am afraid I do not have perfect clarity on what happened."

Peragrine stepped forward, as Emily nodded.

"Bethany was a-"

"Yes, Beth and I-"

Emily glanced back at Peragrine. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

"No, go ahead, you knew her longer, I think?"

"...Thank you." She replied. 

"Beth and I go way back. Almost a decade ago, I and Mother, that's Mrs. Silverstine to the rest of you, met Beth and Mrs. Richardson far to the east, right outside Morcia's eastern Border on the edge of the Fire Desert. Together, we disguised ourselves as Easterner Merchants and took refuge from thedude's influence in the east. That worked for a time, and we became successful and rather well known in that region. All the while, we did not forget our family and kin here in Morcia. Mrs Richardson expected her husband to come after them, but he never did. Eventually, we garnered enough reputation and respect to be commissioned a caravan to the West. We hoped to cater to thedude himself, and perhaps 'furnish' his very demise." She laughed. "But then my Uncle, Jean-Claude Silverstine, somehow found us by a stroke of luck, called us, and we were diverted to Thunderclap Keep, where he was being kept. Once there, we performed much of our original plan, but once  we heard about dungeons... Of course we had to get in there, save who we could, map that as well." Here she withdrew a notepad from her ever-constant satchel. "And with a little math and artistry, we can have a detailed map of thedude's Fortress!"

Peter had to admit, he loved her zeal, but he also had to steer her back to the main point. "What does this have to do with Bethany?"

Emily cleared her throat as she tucked the precious notepad away. "Right. Well, thanks to Carson here-"

"You are NOT pinning any of this on me!"

"Shut up." Said Peter, Emily, Tain, and Vorpal.

"Yeah, be quiet." Finished Perry lamely.

Emily continued. "...Carson got us into the dungeons. There, Bethany activated a trap, which nearly extinguished her spark. She was so exhausted from... 

"She should have collapsed there." Carson interrupted.

Emily was furious. "Carson, will you PLEASE respe-"

"No, I'm serious." Carson's tone was soft. "She should have been done for right then. That trap was designed by some very devious people. It supposed to crush your very reason for living right out of you. Maleisus explained it to me in detail so that I could know how grave a mistake would be." He looked up at Emily. "I did try to stop her."

A pause. Then, "That's right, you did."

Carson continued. "Anyway, while she sat there trying to recover, I led her," he motioned to Emily, "on her crazy suicide mission deeper into the prison, where we found THIS maniac," he shoved a thumb at Peragrine, who grinned maniacally, and playfully shoved Carson away. "Who scared the LIVING DAYLIGHTS out of me, then promptly 'healed' me, quote-unquote. Oh, and by the way, I'm STILL numb there." He motioned to his back.

"Really?"

"YES."

"How odd. Maybe I could fix that..."

"NO! just..."

The two quickly derailed into a heated conversation about his back, and Emily picked up where Carson left off.

"Since Peragrine had seemed to help Carson, I asked him if he could help Beth. And he did, sort of. She ended up having the same effect as Carson, but since she was hurt all over, so to speak, Peragrine appeared to 'numb' her hurt... all over. She said she couldn't feel anything. But there was no time to worry about that, since you guys arrived where we were waiting.

Mrs. Richardson had been paying close attention, but now she interjected. "Who arrived?"

Emily named them off. "Tain arrived with Peter, Loden, Burnie, Carson, Vorpal and No-Name. He met up with Beth, Perry and me who had stayed behind in the main room to take care of Beth."

Mrs Richardson nodded her understanding, and Emily continued her narrative.

"Once Carson got the door open, the Warden came in, and he had terrible power. He seemed to exploit a weakness in all of the prisoners that he knew of beforehand, like a sadistic... well, Warden." Emily recounted. "One of those was when he threw some sort of gem at Perry, who then collapsed in apparent exhaustion."

Hearing his name, Peragrine broke from his conversation with Carson to listen.

"The important thing is, though, that the gem stayed suspended in air. Moments later, the Warden noticed Me and Beth, and he shot at us with lightning. Bethany actually jumped in front of it, saving me. Only after I've had time to think about it do I realize why she survived it." Emily turned to look at Peragrine.

"Your numbing of her senses allowed her to not feel any pain."

Peragrine looked up, seemingly subdued. "Yeah. I guess so." 

"Anyway, right after that, Bethany noticed the Gem, and... She grabbed it, and it started to emit a ringing, which grew more and more..." Emily's recounting of events slowed. "I don't really know what happened next, or why, but there was an explosion of... air?" She directed her next words to Perry. "And while everyone else was knocked back, you were standing up. Why?"

Peragrine shook his head. "The gem he threw at me captured my energy." He clarifed. "I guess somehow that when Bethany touched it, she was able to make it release somehow, but I'm not sure. Either way, I was, uh... Recharged, which allowed me to capture the Warden with my magic!"

"But whatever Bethany did to release your... energy," Vorpal spoke. "exhausted her very spark."

Peragrine bowed his head. "For all I know, there's alot I don't. I wish I knew how that all worked."

Mrs. Richardson, lips pursed, asked another question. "From there, what happened?"

No one immediately answered, except for the wind, which rustled everyone's hair and clothes.

"From there, we went up the stairs and fought our separate ways to the stables and gatehouse, when you and Carson came barreling in with the wagon!" Emily finished succinctly. 

Carson's eyes went wide with terror. "YOU JUST LEFT HIM THERE?!?"

"The Warden? No, we-" Peragrine blurted, but was interrupted.

"We smashed him." Tain assured the ex-employee of the Warden.

Carson tried to hide his relief. "Well... Good!"

Emily looked at Peter, who was staring at his hands folded in his lap.

(\\\}======>

Shortly thereafter, they finished the memorial for Burnie and Bethany and filled up the hole. Three shovels made up the 'headstone'.

After yet another quiet silence, Mrs. Richardson said she was going inside to fix a little something for everyone. Peter asked if he could come, and Peragrine rushed over to his other side. Emily grabbed the chair, and those four went inside.  Shortly after, Carson muttered something about 'slim pickings' and hurried inside. Tain and Vorpal stood alone in front of the grave.

"I intend to leave." Vorpal declared.

Tain nodded.

"I do not need rations, but I would like your permission to take a horse. However, only the carriage horses are left."

"Don't need my permission."

"Nevertheless, I thought you deserved to know." 

Tain made no response. 

A minute later, he was alone, and the sound of receding hooves was the only other sound accompanying the blustery wind.  

Chapter 5: Oral History

Peter had refused to be put back to bed, so instead Emily had set the chair against the wall in the main room where he could see almost every door in the house. He could see part of the kitchen where Emily, Mrs. Richardson, and Carson were busy making something that smelled profoundly delicious. Peragrine was currently being ousted from there after a profoundly loud 'WHUMP' followed by what sounded like muffled profanity from Carson.

"Peragrine, tell Peter what you told me about Austin!" Emily yelled, smiling as she appeared in the doorway shoving Peragrine into the main room. He was covered in sugar, (or was it salt?) and looked clueless. 

Peter had nearly fell out of his chair at that. 'Peragrine knew about Austin?!'

"Oh! OH!" Peragrine shook himself, and white powder wisped off him, but he was still quite white. (it must have been flour) He magically dragged an armchair to himself and plonked down next to Peter. 

"I know about Austin!" 

Peter smiled large, his first big smile in a long time. 

"And Stirling!" Perry added.

Peter's face froze. "What?"

"Your brothers?"

"You... know Stirling?"

"Yeah! We're best buds! I've known the guy for decades! Well, I mean, did."

"YOU KNOW ABOUT MY LITTLEST BROTHER?!" Peter grabbed Perry and shook him like a ragdoll in his excitement. "HOW IN THE BLUE BLAZES IS THIS POSSIBLE?!?" Every muscle was screaming in pain at this exertion, but he didn't even notice, so shocked was he by this extra revelation.

"I-yi-yi-yi kn-ow-ow-ow hi-yi-iy-m -fr-ou-ou-ou-m the-e- NE-e-X-Uy-Uy-S F-Oo-Oo-Orce!!!" he replied as best he could.

"Peter, stop scrambling those brains of his!" Emily barked quite sensibly from the kitchen.

"Um, right." He glanced from Emily back to Perry apologetically as he settled back into his chair.

Peragrine settled back into his own chair, as his eyes slowly stopped spinning like slot machines. "Um. Yeah. So, what do you want to know?"

"EVERYTHING!" cried both siblings.

Peragrine thought a moment, shrugged, and began telling them... 'everything.'

"Well. I met Stirling in Nexus Tower, while I was Janitoring. I had my jams on, so I was sorta distracted, and I guess Strider was also beca-" 

"Wait, you call him Strider sometimes?"

"Oh yeah, he hates it, so sometimes I do." Perry grinned mischievously. Peter shook his head, smiling.

Over the next few minutes Peragrine had related his first meeting with Stirling, and how that tied in with their next two meetings which made them fast friends, on and off the battlefield.  Emily and Peter were both sitting in the chairs, with Peragrine standing and in full storytelling mode to his captive audience. Meanwhile, Carson and Mrs. Richardson were continuing to make impressive mouth-watering aromas emanate from the kitchen. 

However, when Tain came through the front door accompanied by howling icy gusts, everyone turned around.

Even though Tain had changed out of his prisoner garb into old farmer's clothes, he was shivering as he held a single log under his arm. Mrs. Richardson and Carson poked their heads out of the kitchen at him.

"Where's Vorpal?" asked Peter.

Tain shook his head. "Left."

Peter grimaced in irritation, but bobbed his head in understanding.

Tain walked past Emily, Peter, and Peragrine towards the stove.

"Are we going to have a fire?" Asked Peragrine excitedly.

"Yes."

"But, don't we want to be inconspicuous?" reminded Emily.

Mrs Richardson came out of the kitchen with more logs and handed them to Tain who began arranging them in the stove. "I've been watching the windows in the kitchen that you didn't block up, Tain." She said. "The smoke soon won't make us any more visible than mist in an ocean. The weather's getting bad."

Carson laughed, but it was dry and sounded more like a dog barking. "Does that mean I can fry something on the stove in the kitchen?" 

Mrs. Richardson turned around and raised an enterprising eyebrow, with her fists on her hips. "It means our menu has expanded, Carson. To the kitchen!"

Carson weighed the work against the payoff, then followed the woman into the kitchen. So long as he could sneak pre-emptive bites.

"Matches," Tain requested.

Emily was already looking. "I don't see any."

"Flint?" Peter fielded. 

"No...?" 

"Oh, just let me!" Peragrine said, as he strutted over to the stove. He pulled up his prisoner's sleeves even further up past his elbows than the ill-fitting garb already had them. Tain looked back at Peragrine, who had a smug look on his features.  But right then, the sound of crackling wood was heard from the kitchen, and Carson came out with matches. 

"They were in the cupboards." He said, before his eyes alit on Peragrine with hands outstretched. "Dear God, you wern't going to have HIM light a fire?"

Tain shook his head.  Peragrine frowned mockingly. "You guys are no fun!" 

Tain took the matches and began kindling the fire. 

"Peragrine, please tell me how you came to Militeregnum. Is Stirling here too? And how did you learn about Austin?" Peter asked.

Peragrine snapped his fingers and turned back to his audience. "Ah yes! Well, Stirling had shore leave, and so he decided he would come home, since it had been so long and he hadn't heard much from you all. So I offered to be his pilot, and we drove out here in a shuttle."

"Shuttle?"

"Yeah, a shuttle, you know? A..." It took Perry a moment to realize Peter didn't really know what spaceships were. "Ah, we used a spaceship. A metal ship that can travel space- Travel the stars." He pointed up.

Peter nodded vaguely, as Emily watched silently. "Continue." 

"When we got here though, the Nexus Force had put up a blockade!" He stretched his arms out. "All around the planet, to stop thedude from leaving the planet. Or from people getting onto the planet. Anyway, that was the first sign that things were really wrong. At Strider's request, I flew expertly through the blockade- it was very impressive, you should have seen it- and then we crash-landed on the planet.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Crash-landed? Clearly, there was something to be desired on your... expert flying?"

There was an awkward pause, and Emily stifled a laugh.

Peragrine shrugged. "We landed on the planet, pretty much ok. The ship was destroyed though." He stared off into the distance for a moment. "Cosmic Brownie, I will never forget you!"

Tain closed the glass door of the stove, having successfully gotten the fire going. Without a word, he glanced out one of the partially covered windows, then went into the bedroom.

Peragrine continued. "From there, we met a farmer, who brought us up to speed, where we actually met his wife, which is Mrs. Richardson." He turned back to the kitchen. "Which reminds me, where is Mr. Richardson?" 

An abrupt silence rolled out from the kitchen.

"Oh."

"Peragrine," began Emily, but Perry already understood.

Mrs. Richardson came out of the kitchen. "A few days after you and Stirling left, a group of Paradox came. My husband had me and Bethany leave with the remaining horse while he dealt with them. Later, we saw smoke, and knew that the house was burning. So the next day, we went back, and... It was all gone."

Peragrine bowed his head. "I'm... I'm sorry Mrs. Richardson."

"Don't be. It's not anything you could have prevented. Not then. But now!" she gestured to him. "Now you are equipped. What will you do with it?"

Peragrine glanced down at himself. He knew no one else could see it, but his power would glow bright green to him, framing himself in a thin shell, and welling around his hands, in massive jelly-looking spheres. 

"I want to do what I've always done. Try to help. To make things better. But first of all, I need to find my partner. I need to find Stirling.

"Tell us how you got separated." Peter suggested.

"Ok." Peragrine agreed, looking up, and blinking a few times to clear the green tint everything had taken on when he had tapped into his magic.

"After a few days of travelling, in which we had a few other adventures, we got to a place called Calibus Tower." Various amounts of recognition alit in Perry's audience. "There, we stayed for the night, and also met Stirling's brother, Austin!"

Peter shook happily in his chair, as Emily beamed.

"Austin was there as part of an effort to mine all the way to Mount Thunderclap, and collapse it from below, where thedude would never expect. I don't know exactly how he got there, he told Strider all that in detail. 

The next day, though, Strider got me and Austin together, and he said he wanted to check on Silverstine Keep. Austin warned him there wasn't anything worth checking out, but Strider wanted to go anyway. I offered to go with him, but Strider wanted to be able to stay in contact with Austin. So I offered to stay with Austin. We all agreed, and Stirling left later that day for his home up in the northern mountain range."

"On Mynydd Tiwna..." Peter murmured.

"Anyway, a few days after that, I was in the mines with Austin, when suddenly we were attacked. Paradox came in from a bunch of different directions, and I lost sight of Austin in all of the fighting." Peragrine's eyes flashed with the memory of the literally dark encounter.  

"The Raid of Calibus Tower..." Mrs. Richardson whispered.  Emily nodded, as Peter and Perry glanced up at the woman inquisitively. 

"I remember. Calibus Tower was attacked." Mrs. Richardson said quietly. "The news about it when J.C. Merchants passed through that area was something about rebels being put... down. This 'Lady Charlotte' was supposedly 'saved' from revolutionaries holding her hostage..."

Worried looks spread throughout the room. Emily turned to Peragrine. "Are you sure you don't remember anything more?"

Peragrine shook his head helplessly. "I don't. Shortly after that, I was captured by a Paradox Sorcerer, who... I think is the reason I can do magic." Peragrine began fiddling with his goatee as strange memories of his imprisonment began stewing in his mind. "I think her name was Menaya Ryffyd. No, that's not right. Steffan Kull? Maybe?"

Peter waved his hands to get Peragrine back on point. "So, the last time you saw Stirling was when he was heading up to Silverstine Keep, and the last time you saw Austin was in the middle of a battle at Calibus?"

"Yes." Answered Peragrine.

Peter glanced down, worry plain on his face. "Neither of those bode well."

"Well, Calibus Tower is now some sort of base for thedude," Emily mentioned, looking to Mrs. Richardson. "It's a big metal tower now, and relativly well guarded. At least, that's what we saw when we pasted by it as J.C. Merchants." Mrs. Richardson agreed.

"HEY BOZOS." Yelled Carson. "Dinner's ready!" 

Chapter 6: Dinner and a Show

A table was set up, silverware was found, and chairs were pulled up quickly.

Carson and Mrs. Richardson had done magnificently with what they had. Potatoes. Really REALLY dried jerky. Herbs and spices galore. Beans. A few dozen carrots. From this, there were spiced potatoes, baked beans, and a tasty, if very watery, stew. Which worked out, since all there was to drink was water.

And of course that 3 out of the 6 sitting there had been eating prisoner food for nearly ten years, give or take.

At first, the table was quiet, as certain of the group silently prayed, and as food was passed about. Then, after everyone had gotten a little something in their stomachs, and the smell of food was no longer torturous, there was room in between bites for words.

"So!" Peragrine said around a mouthful of beans. "Whatcha been doing in the bedroom, Tain?"

"That sounds so wrong," muttered Carson.

"Planning." Tain answered.

"Ok... What about?"

Tain stopped eating. "There's something I need to do".

"And you're leaving to do it, right?" Peter asked.

"Yes", Tain answered simply.

The conversation lulled, and everyone busied themselves with another bite.

"What sort of something?" Perry asked.

Tain examined Perry for a moment with a neutral expression -not that his expression wasn't usually neutral. Why did they have to be so inquisitive?

"Something I should have done before I got captured".

"Oooh. So cryptic," Carson mocked behind a bowl of stew.

Mrs. Richardson regarded the 'cryptic' man quietly.

Undeterred, Peragrine asked, "And how long ago was that?"

"About a decade".

"Huh."

"And you will leave as soon as the storm had abated, I assume?" Emily asked, finishing her meal.

"The sooner the better".

"What, you don't like out company?" "Well arn't you a ray of sunshine." Perry and Carson replied.

Now, the signs of annoyance at this questioning although discreet had become visible on Tain's face, "I don't have the time to play friends, I'm sorry. There are serious things to be done".

"If that is how you feel, we will respect your wishes, Tain. But you should not push away free friends in this land. After you leave here, they will come at a cost." Mrs. Richardson spoke softly.

"I don't... I can't..." Tain tried to speak, but couldn't find the right words. He contemplated for a moment and started again, "I don't have the luxury to... to all of this, like you do", his hands made circular movements as in to point to the whole room or the people within it.

Everyone paused as they tried to understand what he meant. They were all staring at him to continue. Tain's shoulders tensed as everyone's full attention was directed to him. His eyes darted from person to person like those of a cornered animal; he didn't know what to do.

"Well, I, for one, intend to stay here for awhile longer, at least till Peter's stabilized a bit." Emily said abruptly.

Next to her, Peter nodded with mild irritation.

"And of course, I will stay with you, Emily," Mrs. Richardson added.

"What about you, Kid?" Carson asked Perry.

Peragrine's eyebrows shot up. "Me? Uh, well. . . I'm not sure yet. I know I gotta find Stir, but, I also want to make sure you guys are going to be ok, and that I can contact ya'll later." he directed his last words to the Silverstine siblings.

"That's ok, Peragrine. We will be fine. I would rather you found Stirling and Austin that have you sit around with me," Peter replied.

Tain looked at Perry. Calmer now, his eyes did not seem to focus on him entirely, though. He seemed to be considering something.

Having Peragrine tag along would make his life a lot more complicated than he wanted it to be. However, he'd certainly be a useful asset to a mission that might be impossible for him alone. And he'd probably be willing to come. And Mrs. Richardson was right when she said friends would be scarce... Tain's fists clenched and with a great feeling he would come to regret his words he spoke, "Maybe... we could team up".

Peragrine redirected his gaze on Tain. "Wat?"

Carson glanced back at Tain in confusion. "Are you crazy? The Kid's a walking time-bomb!" Then he paused... "On second thought, yeah, take the walking time-bomb."

Peragrine eyed Tain 'critically'. "Hrmm... Well, as long as you don't snore!" He declared.

"I don't... I... Hmm. I don't know if I do".

This elicited laughs from Emily, Mrs. Richardson, and Peter. Carson just looked bewildered.

"That's what's important in a traveling buddy to you? Snoring?" he asked Perry.

"Oh yes! If they snore, it affects my snoring!"

Carson tried to make sense of that, but failed.

"What about you, Carson?" Peter asked, as he stiffly turned in his chair to look at him.

Carson darted his gaze to the bandaged wreck at the end of the table. "It looks like I have two unsavory choices now. Go with 'Doc' and 'Kid', or stay with you guys." He paused. "Or I could just go off by myself."

"Well, you can't do the last one", Tain replied matter-of-factly.

Carson turned back to Tain. "What? Why not?"

"You've previously worked for thedude. You also helped us escape, so contacting his officials might not be the wisest plan, but we couldn't possibly know what you would decide to do. You may think that ratting us out will bring your comfy life back. That's not the optimal scenario for us, whatever they do with you".

The room was suddenly taut with tension. "So you're saying I'm a prisoner with you or them?" accused Carson.

"I'm saying you need to prove we can trust you before we can let you go".

Carson worked his jaw. "Huh, I don't think so. What about all those other guys? Were they trustworthy?"

"They were prisoners."

"Pfft! Real trustworthy." Carson scoffed.

"In that case, you should take him, Tain. I am in no shape to keep him, and I wouldn't ask my sister or Mrs. Richardson to do so," Peter suggested pointedly. 

Tain made a curt nod. He had come to the same conclusion, and as much as he disliked it, all other alternatives had now been done away with.

"No!" Carson stood up. "No, no, no!"

Emily stood up, a wry smile on her face. "Well, Carson..." She picked up a butterknife and fingered it. "I guess you could stay, if you rea-"

"TAKE ME WITH YOU, DOC!" Carson cried, diving at Tain. Tain shoved him off.

Emily laughed.

"Emily, dear?" Mrs Richardson was confused at this strange behavior.

"I stabbed him in the back when he tried to run away in the prison." Explained Emily, returning to her seat.

"At least 'Doc' has never harmed me!" Carson barked, hiding behind Tain's chair. "Physically, anyway."

Peragrine smiled. "Awesome! Three and three." Getting up, he peeked out the closest window. "I still have time to change, right? I'm going to raid the closet." He skipped into the bedroom and closed the door.

Carson, now all scowls, retreated to the stove, and sat there, stewing. Peter was content to stay at the table. A minute later, he asked if there was something he could write with. Mrs. Richardson found an old typewriter with a few sheets of yellow brittle paper. Peter began fiddling with it.

Meanwhile, Emily and Mrs. Richardson began creating rations for the leaving company, as Tain asked them a few guarded questions concerning what had changed in the past 10 years. What towns were 'safe'. What symbols or phrases were common with dissenters. Where known strongholds of thedude were. Safe passages, secret ways, hidden paths... The women did not have answers to all of his questions, but more than he initially had hoped. In that time, Peragrine came out, with a large, billowy, faded green shirt pinned down at his waist with a simple brown cord, and equally simple brown leggings and short poulaines on his feet. 

"Look! Just look at these shoes! These little pointy things are ADORABLE!"

Peter spared a moment to look up at Perry from his typewriter. He chuckled. "Looking fine, Peragrine."

Carson looked. "They make you look like a stupid leprechaun. Missing a hat."

Peragrine gasped. "You're right! I MUST FIND A HAT." He disappeared back into the bedroom.

Tain peeked out of the kitchen too late to see Perry. He glanced at Peter, busy typing away, then at Carson, who glared back. Tain stepped back into the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Peragrine stepped out, a little downcast. He tossed a straw rice hat behind him. "Nope. No hats today."

Carson just rolled his eyes as he continued to stare at the fire.

"What about you, Carson? I mean, that uniform looks comfy, but maybe take a look?"

Carson muttered a reply, but got up and elbowed past Perry to the bedroom, which he then closed.

Happy that Carson had taken his advice, Perry puttered over to Peter. "Watcha writing?"

"A Letter, now that I've learned how this contraption works," he replied, as he poked keys on the typewriter. "It's a brilliant piece of machinery."

Peragrine looked at what Peter had typed so far. On the top margin was a bunch of scrambled letters, some layered on top of each other. Peragrine pointed at the literary mess. "Was that your practice?"

Peter's lips twitched in derision. "The ink was dry," he replied sarcastically.

Peragrine grinned. "Riiiight." He read the actual type.

'Dear Brothers,

If you are reading this, then Peragrine has proven to be a true friend. First, let me tell you that I, Peter, am alive. Having only recently escaped from Thunderclap Keep, I and Emily are currently in hiding on a small farmstead a hard ride's south of Thunderclap Keep. By the time you receive this, we may have left, but we will be sure to leave notice in some discreet way only our family may know. Now let me put to rest the burning questions: Father is dead.'

"Wha?!" Perry's eyebrows popped up. "Mr. Silverstine is-"

Peter turned from his typing to give Perry a sad glance. "Yes. It is true."

Peragrine became downcast. "Gee... Strider's not going to like that."

Peter nodded. "I am sorry that it may fall to you to deliver that news. But I hope this letter will help with that."

"Thanks. Yeah, that should help."

"I would deliver it myself, but," Peter shrugged helplessly. "It looks like I won't be able to do that for some time yet." 

Perry smiled. "Don't worry, I've gotcha covered."

Peter nodded again, then turned back to the letter, as Peragrine continued reading over his shoulder.

'Mother, it is believed, was captured during out escape. Also, our Uncle, Jean-Claude is '

Peter had stopped typing. He leaned back in his chair and sighed softly. His back was tingling from scrunching over on the keys. "Emily, could you describe our Uncle's status to me again?"

From the kitchen came the reply. "Living comfortably at the expense of thedude, somehow."

"We don't know why?"

"We don't know why."

"Not very comforting, is it?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"I'm typing a letter of reassurance."

"For whom?"

"For Peragrine to give to Austin or Stirling, whome'er he finds."

Emily emerged from the Kitchen, wiping her hands clean with a towel. "Ah, good idea."

Peragrine stroked his goatee. "Now, you said he's living at Thunderclap Keep, but would you say he's free?"

"No," replied Carson, having silently come out of the bedroom, now wearing a cardigain over his Caretaker's Uniform, and some heavily padded woollen pants which only billowed more oddly due to him layering them over his uniform. "No, he's not free. He's working for thedude, in fact." A malignant smile twisted his features. "He's helping thedude." 

Something in the two Silverstine siblings snapped. Peter lifted himself out of the chair, and held onto the table as he stood, as he glowered at Carson. 

"Liar!" yelled Emily.

"Oh-ho, definetly not!" Carson said, suddenly jovial. "Why would I tell you the truth, knowing full well it would make you mad?" he questioned. 

"Because of your sadistic pleasure in it, that's why!" Emily snarled. Tain and Mrs. Richardson came out of the kitchen at the sound of her raised voice. Peragrine simply stepped away from Peter's side and flickered his gaze between the three akwardly.

Next to her, Peter noted his sister's retort in surprise. Why was she so mad? This was not the cool and collected sister he remembered. He put a hand on her shoulder, and felt her tension before it faded a bit under his touch.

Refocusing on the antagonist, Peter replied. "Whatever you have to say about Jean, you may do so now." Emily looked back at Peter, irritated, but did not say anything.

Carson chuckled. "My, but you're giving me the floor, Mr. Mummy? Very well."

"Let me start with that Jean-Claude is one of my most... trying... Patients. His constant jovial mood and perfectly polished manners are constantly something I'm trying to avoid. I dread going to deliver anything to him because then he tends to keep me there with 'tea' or some pipe that needs fixing, or just 'for hospitality's sake' or any other number of reasons. But what he does for thedude is why I put up with him for so long."

Carson checked with his audience. Emily and Peter were both staring at him with the same nearly impassive stony gaze. Turning to his right, Perry stared idiotically, and to his left, Tain dropped his disquieted gaze, while Mrs. Richardson continued her pathetic sad stare.

"Have any of you heard of the Knights of the Olde Speech?"

No one responded, but there were a few lights of recognition, namely on everyone but Peter.

"Well, Jean-Claude was going to just be left to rot in the dungeons like the rest of you, but he made a bargain to use his head-knowledge to help decode some mysterious messages that thedude's minions had been intercepting. Written in a strange dialect, no one could decipher it. Of course, Jean has done other things that just translate intercepted messages since his first day in office, but his key job remains to translate the strange code known as 'Olde Speech' into basic English for us. Since then, rebels such as yourselves have had no and I mean NO co-ordination at all. Because we don't act on most of what we gather. Oh no. We just make sure that those messages disappear. Heh. If thedude's forces acted on every dissident message we've intercepted, there would be nothing left to rule. No. Maleisus only reports incidents if we stand to take immediate and... profitable action on it. Say, if the force was big enough to be a threat, or unguarded enough to vanquish without any... leaks." Carson smiled devilishly at Peter. "He was a brilliant man, Grand Warden Maleisus."

The squeak of nails on wood resounded as Emily placed a hand on Peter's shaking shoulder now.

"That's enough, Carson." Sighed Mrs. Richardson. She stepped towards him to steer him away from center stage.

"Just a minute, old woman. One last thing," he said, holding a finger up to her. She held, shocked at his behaviour. 

"For his services in clerical, Jean-Claude recieves gifts in return. Curtains, furniture, fine dining, slippers; Really, he's living like a duke up there, aiding in thedude's total takeover of everything and everyone. From what I know of the man, I highly doubt he cares. He's just an old, senile, old, stuffy, shut-in who's going to die as he lived; Pointlessl- m, mrm murrmmng mrmrmn mr...MMRH?" 

Peragrine lowered his hand as Carson futily tried to regain speech. "Mrs. Richardson is right, buddy. That's really enough." He whispered.

Carson clearly didn't like this. Going red in the face, he charged at Peragrine. However, the wizard boy merely waved a hand, and Carson fell just short, unconscious. Peragrine sighed. "Sorry 'bout that."

Peter and Emily relaxed visibly, and both returned to their previous tasks. Mrs Richardson turned to Tain. "Please. Take him." Then she hurried back into the kitchen after Emily.

(\\\}======>

Final preparations were made, and the storm lessened in its intensity. Looking out the window as he scoured the house a final time in search of anything else useful, Tain guessed they might be able to leave within the next few hours, if the storm did not pick back up.

Carson had yet to wake up where Peragrine had placed him, which was next to the wood stove in the armchair. Peragrine himself kept pacing between everyone, watching curiously, and occasionally muttering to himself in the middle of the main room. Peter finished his letter and folded the two papers in thirds. 

"Peragrine."

The wizard boy bounded over. "Yeah?"

"Here you go. Keep that safe." He handed him the yellow slip.

Peragrine took the letter. He began to unfold it, then paused. "Is it ok if I read it, Peter?"

Peter chuckled. "Don't be silly; of course." 

Peragrine perused the letter. "Hmm... Alright. Sounds good." Then he folded it back up, then in half, and half again, so it was a tiny yellow square. Then he slipped it into the chest pocket of his tunic.

"Safe with me, Pete!" he assured, patting the pocket.

(\\\}=====>

It was very dark, and still windy, when Tain decided to leave. But Tain didn't care. The icy sleet had stopped, and that's all he needed. According to the women, there was a small town a day's ride to the southeast, which lay alongside Morcia's great southern road. It was small, inconspicuous, didn't show on any map, and could maybe supply all their needs, including more horses. However, this course gave Tain pause, as that took him in the exact opposite direction of his objective. Where he needed to go was Northwest, to the Moorlands.

However, once it had been decided that he would be bringing a young man with insane magical abilities, and a prisoner with an insanely barbed tongue, he knew he was going to have to look after their needs as well as his own. So as Peragrine said tearful goodbyes to the Silverstines and Mrs. Richardson, he oriented his one pack-horse and a rope-bound Carson to the south-east. He would be heading to the small town of Wishwell, to better prepare himself and his travelling associates for the trials ahead.

After what seemed like forever to both Tain and Carson, Peragrine finally stepped off the porch. "Bye, guys! I'll be sure to write and send messenger pigeons, if I find any!"

"Which I'm sure Jean will read!" yelled Carson. Tearful goodbyes turned into frustrated 'shut up's directed at Carson. 

With the clothes they had on their backs, their one horse, and the meager supplies scavenged by Tain from the house, Peragrine, Carson, Tain, and the horse set off into the night. The other three, Mrs. Richardson, Emily, and Peter, stayed on the porch, straining their eyes till could see them no more in the dim light before dawn.

"Lord, watch over them," whispered Peter from his chair. Behind him, Emily patted his shoulders reassuringly, as Mrs. Richardson gave a teary 'amen', before suggesting they all head back inside before they caught a cold. 

<======{///) End Act 1 (\\\}======>

Act 2: Wishwell

Chapter 1: Walking

Tain already regretted having not left by himself when he'd had the chance.

They hadn't been walking more than an hour, Carson was complaining that his feet hurt, Peragrine was already singing '99 cans of cola' for the 7th time, and the sun still hadn't risen to give more light, which left them all stumbling in the long grass. Oh, and it appeared that their horse was actually a mule. Not that this last point mattered, but it was simply another thing that Tain had not accounted for. 

Despite all this, he kept them marching, as the sun finally dawned.

"Isn't that beautiful!" exclaimed Peragrine, waving his hand at the rising light. "Do you realize we haven't seen a sunrise like that in years???" he said, directing his words to Tain, who gave a small smile in response. Honestly, he was just glad that the sunrise had stopped the incessant 'cola' song. 

"It's the same sun as it was yesterday," bemoaned Carson. "And actually, since the dawn of time. No pun intended. Can we take a break? Unlike the sun, I can't go on."

Tain didn't think it was necessary to take a break, however, before he could form the words to disagree, Peragrine interrupted. 

"Oh yeah, we should stop a bit, watch the sun rise!"

"Couldn't we do that while walking?" Tain sighed, but Peragrine had stopped walking, and Carson has already flopped down in the grass, neither having apparently heard him. 

Reluctantly, Tain acquiesced and checked on the mule as he waited. 

Meanwhile, Peragrine stood with eyes closed and arms outstretched, feeling the soft warmth of the sun for a few solid minutes. There was still a very chilling breeze, but Peragrine found it all thoroughly glorious and reinvigorating. 

Opening his eyes, he glanced back at Carson, who'd swiped away some of the tall grasses so he could see. He looked bored. Which was to say, he looked in a pretty good mood! 

So Peragrine decided to go sit down next to him.

"Heya, pal!"

Instantly, the bored expression was blown to bits and revealed an annoyed factor of 10. "I'm not your pal. Otherwise, I wouldn't be bound by rope." He raised his tightly-wrapped hands in evidence.

"Hmm. You're right about that!" Peragrine said. "Pals don't tie up pals."

And with that, he raised his hand in a karate chop, before using his magic to burn right through the rope like butter. Exactly like that, actually, as the entire section of rope that was touching Carson or Peragrine's hands melted away into a warm liquid puddle at Carson's feet.

"I dunno about you and Tain, but I like to think we can be friends, Carson." With that, Peragrine beamed a genuine smile, and stood up. "Ready to go?"

Mildly stunned, Carson didn't immediately have a retort. Instead, he rubbed his wrists, and looked back at Tain, who had been watching the two of them intently, but redirected his attention to the mule before he was caught staring.

"See, here's someone reasonable!" the newly freed prisoner yelled.

Tain gave no response, instead focusing on securing the mule's one burlap bag.

Peragrine rolled his eyes good-naturedly, proffering a hand-up to Carson. "C'mon, Carson, let's go."

Carson took it, and they all resumed their pace. Only this time, Carson and Peragrine walked together ahead of Tain and the Mule.

For Tain, the next few hours were quiet and calm. Which was exactly how he preferred it, except now he had to remain vigilant not only for incoming threats, but for outgoing ones. Namely, Carson. However, Peragrine seemed to be sticking very close to the would-be escapee, talking in low tones, acting very friendly with someone who appeared to deflect all basic conversation, except when he was complaining. There were a few times that Carson suggested another rest, but Peragrine would find some way to distract him, which later on in the day consisted of him good-naturedly threatening to numb his feet like he had the small of his back during their escape.

Thankfully, before that threat wore off, Tain caught up to them with provisions for lunch, and since Carson insisted he had to sit down to eat, Peragrine pointed out a small boulder in the distance that rose out of the sea of grass. 

"Let us make for that distant cove!" he yelled like a captain. "Eh? Whad'ya guys think?" he asked, looking back at them. 

Carson groaned and muttered something along the lines of 'if I must', while Tain considered it thoughtfully, before giving confirmation in the form of a single "Sure." 

It did not escape Tain's notice that Peragrine was helping to motivate Carson's forward movement. As Carson began trudging towards the distant goal, Tain made to grab Peragrine's shoulder, but stopped as the young wizard turned to him instead.

"Lookit that, I think that's the fastest he's moved all day!" he exclaimed.

Tain gave a small smile. "Yeah, I..." suddenly he lost what he had about to say.

Peragrine's eyebrows raised in question. "Yeah?"

'Something about appreciation,' thought Tain, desperately trying to remember how he was to finish this conversation. How to get out...!

"Thanks." He deadpanned, before striding off after Carson.

Slightly nonplussed, Perry mentally and physically shrugged before saying "No problemo, Doc!" and taking off after them.

The small boulder in the distance turned out to be a very large one, large enough for all of them to clamber up onto and enjoy their meal. As it was the middle of the day, the sun's heat was at it's apex, and the stone reflected the heat, giving them a slight, but welcome warmth from the ever constant wind, which continually stole through their layers to try and snuff that warmth out.

The meal was void of verbal communication. Tain and Peragrine's tastebuds were still recovering from prison, meaning everything was still so delectable that there was honestly no conversation better than just eating. As for Carson, he'd never done anything as strenuous as what he'd done in the past 3 days, and in a stroke of luck he would never realize, his body had reacted well, giving him a stronger appetite to be better fueled for further adventure. Not that he had anything to talk about with his captors, anyway.

Peragrine and Tain finished rather quickly, while Carson still had yet to finish his meal. As Tain repacked the provisions, he called Peragrine over, out of earshot of Carson.

"Yeah, what's up?" Peragrine asked.

Tain pointed at the strap on the Mule. "Why did you let him loose?"

Peragrine glanced at the strap. It was a leather strap, with a simple buckle, most likely bronze. It looked tight to him... 

"I'm sorry, I don't follow."

Tain fiddled with the buckle and motioned to it again. "I'm not talking about the horse. Mule. I'm talking a- Carson." He physically had to restrain himself from pointing at him.

Peragrine's eyes lit up. "Aaaah." He scratched his head as he looked at the buckle. "I let him go because... Well, because it's the right thing to do." Peragrine fiddled with the buckle now, as Tain let his head drop in exasperation.

"He must not escape." He said with conviction. "He will rat us out. All of us."

Peragrine let his head drop now, having finished with the buckle. Looking up at the hors- mule, he patted it comfortingly. "Listen," he said with equal conviction. "He won't escape, I promise. But I don't want him to be a prisoner either. Otherwise, we're no better than the Warden."

Upon hearing this, Tain felt as if something had just slammed a red-hot anvil down his throat. 'I am NOTHING like the Warden!' he wanted to scream. Yet, deep down, he knew he had once been on the same team as him. He had once been a Paradox Rogue...

But not anymore.

"Don't let him out of your sight," Tain concluded.

Peragrine turned around and faced Tain with a strange smile... "Don't worry, Tain. I'm not as young and naive as I let on." He looked up at the sky. "And actually, you're the first person I've ever admitted that to! Wow!" he walked past Tain, slapping him heartily on the shoulder. "Good talk, man, Good talk." Directing his next words to Carson, he hollered, "Heya, slowpoke, now how much longer you've got on that lunch break of yours?!"  

Chapter 2: The Huntress

"Hey look! A town!" Peragrine pointed to the town in question, and Tain followed his gaze.

"That's our destination," he said. "Wishwell." And not a moment too soon. They had made surprisingly good time, and the sun was just beginning to set over their right shoulders, casting the world into evening light. Pretty soon the first stars of the night would shine.

Mrs. Richardson’s description hadn't done the town justice. It was rather small, with a decent-sized mud wall hemming it in entirely, except off to the north, where it connected to a large hill that on one side sloped gently into town, but on the other, was so steep as to form a cliff, which acted as the rest of the town’s wall. Wooden buildings 2 or 3 stories tall rose visibly above the approximately 1 and-a-half-story tall mud wall. 

However, as interesting as the town was, Tain's attention was brought to a thinly forested area to the Northeast, behind the town. From there, he saw a thin column of smoke rising just above the treeline.  It was clearly a controlled fire. Most likely a campfire. Having taken in the view, the group continued down from the rise they had crested, and began walking down the slope, as Tain began to consider how they were going to get into town without being apprehended by the local authorities, who were no doubt already notified of escaped prisoners from Thunderclap....

Suddenly, all three of them noticed a little orange dot bounding through the tall grass toward them. Tain reached for his spear that was on the mule, but Peragrine chuckled. 

“Relax, it’s only a fox.” 

Tain frowned, but he still grabbed the spear. Looking around, he didn’t see any other threats, but he didn’t like how friendly this fox was. It was bounding directly at them. Clearly, something wasn’t natural about it, if it came up to people so readily. As the fox came closer, it barked and sniffed.

Tain didn’t like this at all. He didn't want it to bark and bring attention to their group! It was almost guaranteed that the town guards were looking for them! He raised his spear threateningly, attempting to scare the fox away, but this only served to excite the fox, and it ran up to him, passing Peragrine, who turned to see Tain. “Woah! Woah! Hold on, what are you doing?!” He grabbed the fox bodily, snatching it away from the sharp end of Tain’s spear. In response, the fox slightly clawed Peragrine in warning as it squirmed, trying to free itself.

“He has to shut up,” explained Tain. “We still have to figure out what we’re going to do with Carson, and how we’re going to get into town without being seen.”

“What do you mean, ‘what we’re going to do with me’?” Carson barked, bewildered.

“I don’t trust you to not give us away.”

The fox began yipping even more excitedly now, and this grabbed everyone’s attention, but especially Perry’s. “Huh…?”

The fox was now yipping quietly, staring at a wide-eyed Peragrine.

“Oh great, the kid’s got puppy-love,” Carson groaned.

“It’s talking to me!” he cried out, so surprised that he dropped the fox. “His- oh, whoops. Sorry, Furor.” He looked up at the others. "His name is Furor."

“Oh no, it’s alrighty,” Furor's voice was deep, yet lilting, as it echoed around in Perry’s head.

“Seriously, neither of you hear him?” Peragrine asked the other two men.

Tain shook his head, beginning to realize that Peragrine’s magic probably had something to do with it.

Carson rolled his eyes. “Kid, it’s a fox, yipping and barking up a storm.”

The fox yelped at him for the insult. “I CAN HEAR YOU!!!!!” 

Peragrine translated. “He can understand you, y’know, Carson,” 

“Oh, can he?” Carson grinned wickedly. “The mangy, off-yellow...”

“I CAN UNDERSTAND YOUR WORDS, YOU-”

“...pea-brained MUTT-” 

“-THAT’S FOR DOGS!!”

“-Can understand every word I say?”

“Ohh… YOU TWO LEGGED... MUTT! IF I’M PEA BRAINED, YOU’RE HALF A PEA! MY HEAD IS ACTUALLY MORE APPLE SIZED, BY THE WAY!” Furor tackled Carson, biting and clawing him.

Now Carson was yelping, but not for long as the other two tried to separate them.

“Furor!! Get off!” commanded a new, feminine, voice. All present turned their attention to a new figure. 

She wore a tunic and pants, her light brown hair went a little farther than her shoulders. She looked to be in her late 20’s. Maybe 30s. It was hard to tell since she looked very stressed out as she dismounted from a bay horse, which snorted.

Furor yipped and happily returned to her, while the others scrambled to their feet. Tain also leveled his spear warily.

She walked up to them. “Sorry about that…” She said, petting Furor. “Anything I should know ‘bout these guys, Furor?”

“I and the green-eyed one can talk!” he told her, waving a paw at Peragrine.

She nodded her understanding.

Who are you?” questioned Tain.

“I’m Sara. And in case you didn’t know, this is Furor Fiddlefun.”

“We’ve met,” Carson groused, picking himself up.

“Furor takes things a little too personal…” Apologized Sara.

“Ehhh, you didn’t hear what Carson said,” Peragrine said, wincing apologetically at Furor.

“He deserved every last word and more,” growled Carson, feeling his scratched up face. “I think my nose is broken.”

“I’m sorry, He deserves… a hug from you now.” decided Sara, as Furor hopped out of her arms and onto Carson, hugging him with his tiny forepaws and licking him.

“Gah!” He gently but quickly put the fox back down on the ground. “No, thank you, stay away, you fil- um… you fox.” Furor gave him the puppy look. Peregrine heard the fox admonish Carson with a whine.

“You should feel guilty now.” 

“No, don’t give me that, I’m immune to puppy love. Especially because you’re not a puppy.” groaned Carson.

“We should probably leave these three to do what they have to do, Furor.” Said Sara. “Have a goo-wait.. Don’t tell anyone that you saw me nor give any clues okay?”

Tain shook his head. She probably was some sort of fugitive. Perhaps she could help them...

“Wait, do you live here?” Peragrine asked.

“I used to live in Wishwell… then- nevermind.” Sara said, picking up Furor again. He snuggled close to her.

“Ma’am, is there any other way into town other than the front gate? I’d rather not be seen by thedude’s forces, but we need supplies for a long journey.” Normally, Tain wouldn’t be so blunt, but by her attire, and the way she handled the fox, he could tell she had been living rough for quite some time. Hopefully, that meant she didn’t have many friends in town to gossip with.

Sara considered them carefully. “So.. you’re against technology?”

“Huh?” “Pardon?” “Um, what?” Tain, Perry and Carson were nonplussed in this sudden shift.

“I said what I said and you know what I said.”

Peragrine tilted his head. “I heard what you said, and I know what you said, but what you said doesn’t make sense with what I’m thinking.”

“And how is she supposed to know what you’re thinking, idiot?” Carson.

“I’m not,” Sara answered. “I suppose I’d have to go into detail to explain…” She paused, before apparently deciding something in her head. “I lived in Wishwell my whole life… My parents, Franklyn and Laura were in the army and fought in the Grammar war, but… They died in that battle. Ever since, I’ve… Had a harder life, you could say.”

“Did I ask for your life’s story?” muttered Carson, but no one appeared to hear him as Sara continued.

“A couple years later, thedude sent a mayor  to make sure we did things his way, but some of us disagreed. However, I was the only one who was willing to do anything about it. Ever since, I’ve been wanted by the Parodox rogues and thedude’s forces, since I didn’t accept what they were doing to our town. I had to move out and.. I lived life in the forest. I’ve been living in the forest for around 14 years.”

“Why haven’t you moved away?” Peragrine asked, entirely captured by her story.

“I can’t let Wishwell fall.”

“To what?” scoffed Carson. “Technology?”

Sara frowned, her brow knitting together deeply. "Yes, exactly, how can you not see that?"

"See what?" Peragrine asked.

“DON’T YOU SEE!” she exploded, taking them all aback. “WHEN HE GETS TECHNOLOGY EVERYWHERE HE’S GONNA TAKE OVER AND DESTROY US ALL!”  

Furor yipped in agreement.

Tain shook his head. None of this had anything to do with them. “Can you get us into the town?” 

“Why should I? You’re just like the rest of them!” she cried, throwing her hands up. Furor fell out of her arms with a surprised yelp.

Tain’s gaze dropped. Clearly, she was a fanatic. If she could help, it would take a lot of work to find out. Taking the mule’s lead rope, he began to walk past her, towards the nearest group of trees. He needed to detain Carson before they went into town, and the trees in the distance would provide cover and a safe anchor to tie him up. Ironically, Carson scoffed at Sara and followed.

“Wait, Tain, where you going?” Perry called.

Before they had gone too far away, Sara sighed before she called after them. “Wait… I'm headed into town later today anyway. If you want to come with me, you need to tell me what you are.  You’ll need a disguise, and I'm pretty much the only one who can provide one."

Tain stopped and half-turned back towards Sara. "I am against thedude. I have nothing against technology, except when it is advancing thedude's cause."

Sara looked back at him, stopping. "It always is." Then she swung up onto her horse with practiced ease and began riding slowly towards the forest, just a bit ahead of the others.

“C’MON GUYS!” she called after them.

“Whadd’ya have in mind, Sara, you fantastic lady?” Peragrine called.

She gave him a look. “Uhh. We’ll see.”

The fox barked, outpacing all of them. and Peragrine laughed at what he’d apparently said.

“Silly boy!” Giggled Sara at Furor, who was quickly little more than an orange dot bounding through the tall grass.

As Peragrine passed by Tain and Carson, Tain caught his attention, and he slowed down. The three of them huddled briefly as Sara slowed down, looking back.

“Perry, be careful. I don’t trust her. There’s a reason why she’s not allowed in town. While it may be true she’s against thedude, I think she may be more dangerous than she looks.”

Peragrine raised an eyebrow, but had to admit there was some truth to it when Carson added, “Uh, DUH, she’s got a feral animal as a pet, and it viciously attacked me!”

“I’m right here y’know. I can hear you, and Furor isn't my pet by choice."

The three turned around to look at her. Tain couldn’t make eye contact, instead focusing on Carson and Perry. “Are we clear?”

Peragrine nodded for Tain’s benefit, but focused on Sara, giving a big smile. “Sorry, Sara. We’re a tight group, and we like to be on the same page. Didn’t mean to exclude ya’.” Waving a hand, he finished with “Lead the way!”

Sara nodded and continued on, looking back to make sure she didn’t outpace them.

“ ‘Tight-knit group’, my foot.” Carson muttered.

Sara stopped. “You alright, Carson? That's your name, right?”

Momentarily surprised at being noticed, Carson looked up at her and waved her off halfheartedly. "Yeah, yeah. Lead the way, crazy lady."

Sara shrugged. "Well, you could say that."

Chapter 3: Proper Attire

Eventually, they reached the shadows of the thinly forested area.

Sara began walking. “We should be there in around 5 minutes.” Sara finally said after a lot of silence.

Tain began looking around for a suitable place to leave the mule and Carson. Or maybe just Carson.

After a few minutes they finally reached a campsite. It consisted of a large, well-laid campfire with a spit, a tough leather tent, and a wash bin and clothesline, with plenty of clothing drying in the soft breeze. 

“We’re here.” said Sara, dismounting the horse.” Any specific requests?”

“For a disguise?” Tain asked. “Anything that will blend in.”

Sara handed Tain a tunic and some regular boots. “As a disguise. Peragrine, Carson?”

The two came up to the clothesline and considered.

“Never thought I’d see the day where I was looking at woman’s clothing for myself,” Carson muttered.

Peragrine heard him and laughed. “Unfortunately, I can’t say it would be my first time.”

“Don’t worry. I sewed and knitted most of this, and I’ve never been good at making a very tight fit,” assured Sara.

Peragrine pulled down a leather overcoat dyed a deep forest green. “Saaay. This is nice!”

“It's all yours! But you’ll need something to go with it…” Sara handed him some rather large boots which where a bit scratched up.”

“Why do you have so many boots!” Peragrine exclaimed, happily taking them and kicking off his poulaines.

“Someone like me does a lot of rough terrain walking. Also, Do you even know how much bears think that my boots are tasty?”

“Both excellent points.”

Meanwhile, Carson had picked out a warm and cozy padded cotton shirt, some simple shoes that any townsperson would wear, and some very thick, more modern sweatpants.

“Nice!” said Sara as she fed the horse some oats. “By the way, this is Arrow.”

Tain spared a glance for the horse, before tying up the mule and going behind the tree to dress.

Peragrine was a bit more enthusiastic. “Oh, hello, Arrow!” he crooned as he slipped the overcoat on. As he did, he felt like a million bucks. It was somewhat tight, having presumably been fitted for Sara, but he loved it.

“You alright, Peragrine?”

He stretched experimentally. The old leather didn't’ squeak or chafe in the least. “Sara, this is perfect. Are you sure I don’t owe you anything?”

“I’m sure. We’ll have to go in teams of two, Arrow can only fit two," she said as she mounted Arrow.

“So, then, you do know another way in,” Tain said as he stumbled from behind the tree, and the Mule. He was fighting with his tunic.

“Yes, I do. It’s dangerous though. But very fun!”

Peragrine nearly guffawed as he pointed at Sara. “Tain, this gal is awesome!” He turned back to her. “Is it more fun or dangerous than escaping Thunderclap Prison???”

Tain, having finally pulled the tunic on, facepalmed.

Sara looked at him. “What did you d- nevermind. I am glad to say I wouldn't know."

Carson laughed harshly. “HA! Ha, ha, ha, Peragrine, you and your fat mouth. You just admitted to being a wanted convict!”

Peragrine blushed.

“Hey!” Sara leaned forward. “What about me? I'm wanted too! We're so alike!" Sara smiled conspiratorially. 

Carson shoved his hands into his new pockets. “Whatever.”

Tain considered her for a moment, making sure this didn’t change how she would act, but when he realized she considered herself one of them- that is, a convict- he was immensely relieved. Tain motioned to the Mule. “He could carry another person.”

“We should probably get focused, who’s going with who?” Sara said.

“I’d like to go with you, Sara!” Peragrine said.

Carson glared at Tain. “Well, I’m not going with him.”

Tain looked back at Carson, but seeing him glaring, he refocused back to Perry. “You’re not going anywhere, Carson. You’re staying here. I already told you, I don’t trust you to not rat us out to the first person we come across.”

Sara stared down from Arrow, confused. 

“Well, then why don’t you stay with Carson here, Tain? I can get the supplies with Sara, and we’ll be back in a jiffy!” Peragrine suggested.

Tain pondered this. While he did personally want to get the correct supplies, he firstly didn’t want Carson to escape. Otherwise none of the other planning mattered; they would be heading back to Thunderclap before they would know it.

“Alright, Peragrine. We’ll need two horses, some bedrolls, replenished provisions-”

Peragrine raised two placating hands. “Tain, Tain, buddy. I know what to get. Not my first road trip.”

He frowned, uncertain. But after a final thought, he agreed.  “But, be careful, Peragrine,” he added, shifting his eyes to Sara for a brief moment.

Peragrine nodded, understandingly. 

Carson sighed loudly. “Great. So instead of being stuck with him while he shops, I’m stuck with him here while he paces around like a worried mother hen.”

“Ya’ can’t win them all, buddy!” Perry offered, as he swung himself up behind Sara on Arrow.

“Let’s go, Peragrine.” Arrow began galloping out of the forest.

Chapter 4: The Secret Way:

As Sara and Peragrine rode Arrow out of the forest, Peragrine realized that Furor was on her shoulder looking at him.

“Oh! The fox comes into town too?”

“He travels with me everywhere, Peragrine.”

“Wow, so sorta like a familiar.”

“You could say that... But he follows people because he likes to sight-see."

Peragrine nodded, even though she couldn’t see it. “Makes sense.”

Sara quickly changed the subject to something she was very curious about. “ Why were you so persistent to come with me?”

“I was persistent?” 

“Sorta kinda.”

He shrugged. “I dunno. I’d rather go into town than have to wait…?” said Peragrine. “Plus, you’re super cool.” 

“Thanks.” Furor jumped over to Peragrine; nearly blowing away because of their speed. He patted the fox’s head as it curled up between the two people, hiding from the wind.

Arrow came to a sudden stop.

“We’re here.” Sara dismounted next to a small cavern carved out of the sheer side of the hill that Peragrine and Tain had seen earlier when they’d first arrived. 

Sara led Arrow into the cavern. Inside, it had the basic amenities of a stable, including a trough filled with water, and a small haybale. Furor jumped off of Arrow. Sara offered a hand to help Peragrine get off of Arrow because there was no saddle or stirrup, and he gladly took it.

“What a convenient cave!” 

“Yup.” Sara placed down Furor to guard and she walked out and closed a gate after Peragrine came out.

“So, what’s our path, fraught with peril?”

Sara shouldered a length of rope and pointed to the left of the cave’s entrance. West. “That way. We’ll reach the beginning of Wishwell’s wall, and we’ll climb above it with this,” she said, motioning to the rope. “Normally I do it freehand, but I don’t know how well your climbing ability is, so I’m bringing this, just in case.”

Peragrine frowned. “Well, that’s not very perilous!”

Sara smiled dangerously. “Oh no, the dangerous part begins once we’re inside Wishwell!”

Peragrine raised an eyebrow, but quickly had to run to keep up with her and Furor, as they followed the rocky hillside around to the Eastern side of the town.

In no time at all, Sara slowed down and began studying the cliffside next to them.

“I though you said we were scaling the wall?” Peragrine asked. 

“We are, but sometimes there are guards on the mudwall, so we have to climb above the wall and them, which means we start here, and climb up and above them and the wall.” she explained as she fiddled with the rope.

Peragrine looked up. “So, we’ll be climbing sorta diagonally?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmmm.” Eyeing the cliffside again, he considered if he was up to the challenge. Ideally, he’d say it was no problem, but it’d been awhile since he’d done any climbing, having just escaped prison, and this climbing surface had a lot of soft soil, which didn’t make for very solid footing. Still, he was willing to give it a shot, especially with rope!

“How many times have you done this?” he asked.

“Countless times!” Sara assured him, as she threw her finished lasso up into the air. A few moments later, rope rained down all over them. “... Without the rope,” she reminded him. She though for a moment. "Once, a while back, I fell from WAYYYY up there. Good luck." She gave a discouraging smile, as a joke.

Peragrine chuckled.

It would be getting dark soon. The sun was no longer visible to them from below the low rolling hills all around them, but sunlight still hit the upper edges of the cliff face, far above where they intended to climb.

“What are you aiming for?” Peragrine asked.

“It’s hard to see unless you know what you’re looking at, but there’s a little hook I hammered in a long time ago, somewhere around 30 feet, which is where we’ll want to start moving left,” she said. She threw again, and this time the rope snagged. “Aha, got it!”

After pulling to make sure it was tight, she began scampering up the rope with expert skill. Peragrine followed suit, albeit a tad slower. A few minutes later, Sara reached the hook. Letting go of the rope, she waited for Peragrine, who was only a moment behind. 

“Ok, I need you to get off the rope now, so we can pull up the other end.

Peragrine nodded. “Okay… Let me just find a good handhold…”

“Use the hook, and put your foot over there on that rock.”

Peragrine followed her directions, and was soon free of the rope. 

“Great, now we need to pull the end of the rope up, and I’ll take that to another hook, and then you’ll be able to use it to climb along that way. Hopefully the coming darkness will make sure no one looks up and notices us.”

Carefully, with one hand each, they hefted the length of rope up till Sara was able to grab the end of it, and tuck it into her belt. 

“Okay. Hold on, I’ll be right back.” 

“No problem, I’ll just be hanging out here. Chillin’.” Peragrine quipped. 

Sara scurried away with uncanny speed along the cliffside, and soon she was around the bend, out of sight. Peragrine glanced down at the ground below. It wasn’t too far away, he’d probably survive if he fell. Not that he intended to, but his arms were burning, and his hands were freezing. He wondered if Sara intended to leave this way too… Well, he probably wouldn’t be, since he and Tain needed horses for their trip. Hopefully Sara had a plan for that, but if not, Peragrine was certain that leaving a town was always much easier than entering one. He’d had plenty of experience in that in his life, let alone his latest adventure leaving Thunderclap keep only the other day! 

He looked out at the horizon, as the sun gave it’s last hurrah for the day, surrendering to the night. From where he hung, Peragrine couldn’t see the moon, but seeing as how dark it was, he was willing to bet there wasn’t much of one, if any. Or maybe it was being covered by cloud. There were still a few of those from the storm the night before.

The sound of Sara’s return interrupted Peragrine’s pointless musings. “Peragrine, are you here?”

“Yup. Still hanging.”

“Good. Use the rope, come with me, we’re almost there.” 

Chapter 5: Into Wishwell

As they went over the wall, and the town came into view, Sara began muttering to herself.

“This isn’t right… “

“What do you mean?”

“There’s… We’re too late…” 

As she looked down at the town, Perry could tell she was pretty much terrified. He followed her gaze, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The town below seemed quiet and peaceful. Lights shone out of house windows, and the occasional small car puttered along the well-lit main street. “I don’t see the issue…?”

Sara withdrew a weapon from her back, that Perry had not noticed before. It appeared to be a short, double-bladed-dagger of a type.

“Hey, fancy!” Peragrine crowed. “But, still, what’s the big hullabaloo?”

Sara stared at him for a second. Then she jumped down to the rooftop of one of the taller buildings. 

With a mental shrug, Peragrine leapt after her. “Geronimo!” he thought to himself.

Unfortunately, he did not land as gracefully as Sara, and crashed right through the roof.

Sara would normally giggle a bit, but she was anything but in the mood. She jumped down off the building.

“I’m ok!” came Perry’s voice.

When Sara landed, she left Peragrine behind and went straight to a specific house and knocked three times. Then four. And lastly, another three.

A person answered. Without a word they let her in.  Inside, there was only candlelight from its source on a large table in the middle of the room. There were chairs all around it, and a number of people hid in the shadows on the edge of the light.

“It’s about time, Sara!” said one voice, sounding young and masculine.

“They didn’t send this shipment to the mayor, it came with it’s own construction crew, and they set it up all in one day!” another voice whimpered, over the sound of frantic knitting.

“That was Friday. Three days ago.” a third voice grumbled. 

“Anything else I should know, Steven?” Sara asked.

The grumbler replied. “There’s too many lights to destroy one by one. We need a way to get rid of them all at once. Now, we have a plan, but you might not like it.”

“Build a giant thing of water and knock it down? I’m all for it.”

“Oh heavens no!” cried the elderly woman with the knitting sounds. “That would wash out tons of the town with it!”

“Take a look here,” said the young voice that had let Sara in. A young man set a metal orb on the table. “This is something I created from scrap. It’s called an EMP bomb. It’ll burn out all technology in its radius. Now, the idea is, since I only was able to make one, we get this into the small power-station they’ve set up, and blow that up. From there, it will cause a cascade failure in all of the lights all over town, and they’ll be back to square one!”

“Sorry, Yarnell. I can’t. Its technology.” Sara said.

“I told you she wouldn’t go for it, Yarnell,” growled Steven. 

“But, Sara, it’s using tech against itself! And it leaves no tech afterwards!” 

“It’s still using it,” Sara frowned. “I won’t do it.”

“But-” began Yarnell.

“Your other option, Sara,” interrupted Steven, “Is to go to the Power Station, and find some way to destroy it yourself, but without the EMP bomb, it won’t destroy all of the lights all around town. They’ll find ways to power them up individually or in batches sooner rather than later.”

Sara paused, half listening as the others began arguing different ideas… Finally, she broke in.

“No. That’s it. Enough is enough. This needs to end.” Sara looked around the table at her in-town contacts, half-hidden in shadows. She wished she could call them friends, but they just didn’t understand each other…

“What are you going to do, Sara?” came the elderly woman’s voice.

“Mrs. Berreto, I’m going to pay the Mayor a visit. Tonight.”

~~~~~

“I’m ok!” Peragrine yelled, getting up from his crash landing. Thankfully, he’d landed in a large stack of cardboard boxes filled with… shoes? As he got up, he heard footsteps coming up to what he recognized as an attic of some type. Not wanting to have to explain his name and business, Peragrine scrambled to get out of sight, and in the process, made a much bigger mess. Not a moment too soon, he fell behind more boxes, just as someone came up the stairs on the other side of the room. 

“Oh my lands, what happened here?!” yelled a man.

“I don’t know!” Peragrine blurted from his hiding spot. In hindsight, he realized he should have stayed quiet. 

“What do you mean, ‘you don’t know’?!” yelled the man to the supposedly empty room. “It’s a mess in here!”

There was a brief silence as Peragrine considered what to do next. He heard the man sigh. “An’ don’t tell me it was raccoons again.”

“What if I promise it was an accident, and help clean up?” Peragrine suggested.

“Hmm. Well, it’d be a start.”

Peragrine peeped out from behind his cover, and saw a man in brown overalls. He had stains all over it, and a few tools hung from pockets and loops on him. His hair was thin and grey, and he generally looked like a grump.

Stepping out, Peragrine said, “Here I am!”

“Gaugh!” the man reacted, pulling back. “Where did you come from?”

Peragrine pointed at the hole in the roof.

“Oh.”

“But I promised I’d clean up, and so I will!”

The old man scratched his head, but quickly conceded. “Alright. But it better look just like it did yesterday!”

“How was that?”

“Spotless, and without that hole in the roof.”

Peragrine gave a thumbs-up. “No problem!”

The man nodded, muttering to himself as he went back downstairs.

“Well! That couldn’t have gone better!” Peragrine decided. However, before he could start, he heard a bell downstairs ring, and Sara’s voice drifted up.

"Hello, Ronald. Have you seen Peragrine?”

“Is that the strange kid in my attic, Sara?” the old man said. “He made a mess of my cobbler shop, and he promised he would clean it up!”

“Okay, thanks!” a few footsteps later, and Sara’s head popped up into the attic. 

“Peragrine, when did you get so many shoes?” she joked.

He shrugged, smiling. “You can never have too many shoes, or so they say.”

Sara laughed. “Let’s go get supplies.”

Peragrine shook his head. “First I’ve gotta clean this mess up.”

“That’ll take forever!” Sara groaned, even as she began assessing how best to clean it up. “It’s not like we have magic or something.”

“Aaactually… “ Peragrine grinned as he twirled a finger. 

Sara raised an eyebrow, as first one, then two, then four, and then many more shoes began to ‘walk’ around, gathering themselves up into overturned boxes. In between it all, Peragrine began moving his arms around as if directing traffic.

“I hope your friend downstairs didn’t have this organized, or anything,” he said.

“Soo first, lights all over town, next, my contacts all arguing about terrible plans, EMP bombs, and now magic. I’ve seen everything tonight.”

Peragrine spared her a glance. She looked really stressed out. “And we’ve only just arrived!” he quipped. 

She gave a small smile, but he could tell she was still thinking about all the things she had to do. Whatever that was. He was only here for supplies. Well, that, and help, if he could.

“One thing I don’t think I can do with magic is patch that hole,” he said, pointing at the hole, and accidentally sending a boot out of it.

“Oops.” 

A cat yowled in the distance.

“Careful, Peregrine. There’s mice in here, don’t send any of them flying.” Sara laughed.

Having finished re-packing the boxes, some of them having been crushed and then reformed by Perry, he considered the splintered wood and the hole. “Any ideas?”

“Ye- Why did you have to tell your friends we would be back in a jiffy?!”

Peragrine shrugged. “I always say that! Plus, Tain likes to worry, and assuring him I’ll be back soon alleviates it a bit!”

She nodded. “We’ll put bear skins down until we can get a construction crew over here, how’s that?”

“You have an extra bearskin on you?” Peragrine asked.

“Nope but I will! Stall for me please!” Sara went outside through the hole.

~~~

A few minutes later, Sara returned from the cave-stable that Arrow was at, with a bear skin and a few nails. Inside, she found Peragrine and Ronald the Cobbler talking downstairs over some late tea. 

Sara went back up without disturbing them and put the bear skins on top with the nails. Then she headed downstairs.

“All fixed,” she announced. Only Peragrine turned around to look at her, as the old cobbler had fallen asleep in his chair.

“Awesome!” Peragrine whispered. “Thanks a ton.” Getting up, he set aside both cups of tea, and joined Sara as they stepped outside. “Ronald was really helpful, telling me where I should go to get everything I need. Though I’m sure you could have told me too.” he amended.

Sara shrugged. “Perhaps, but I’m glad you made friends with him, anyway.”

“Yeah, he’s a reall- woah!” exclaimed Peragrine as Sara yanked him out of the road and down a dark alley. She held her hand over his mouth as a spearman walked by with a flashlight.

“This way, Peragrine. We don’t want to be seen by the night patrols.” Sara pointed up a service ladder. “To the rooftops.”

Peragrine nodded. “Thanks, that was a close one.”

When they were at the rooftop of the cobbler’s shop, Sara looked off of the edge.

“Have you ever jumped off roofs before?”

Peragrine nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yes. I have lots of experience roof-running.

“Awesome! PREPARE YOURSELF!” Sara jumped off the roof heading further into town.

Chapter 6: The Perfect Steed

The two made their way through the town via Sara’s stealthy routes. They would make their way into a shop, grab their supplies, and Sara would leave her payment in place of the merchandise. Sometimes this was coin, other times it was barter. As for Peragrine, who did not have any money, Sara helped him with a few purchases, but ultimately he was stealing, and they both knew it.

“I’ll make it up to these folks, I swear,” Peragrine said to himself. “As soon as I can.”

“Don’t worry, Peragrine,” Sara assured him. “I can repay them. Plus, you and your friends will be leaving soon.”

“Aww, that’s really sweet, Sara, but it’s no fair to you!” he replied.

“I’m used to it, Peragrine. You shouldn’t have to worry about my town. You and your group seem busy.”

He shrugged. “Not that busy… Yet.”

Soon enough, they had gathered multiple packs well-stocked with their respective supplies. It was time to get some horses. 

Jumping from a nearby roof into some hay-bales, Sara picked the lock to the barn doors.  Once through, she searched around with the help of a convenient lantern, looking for a good long distance traveler among the horses. “How’s this little guy, Peragrine?” Sara showed him a brown thoroughbred stallion. 

Peragrine ambled over. It was a strong looking fellow, on the smaller side, with a bright attentive gaze.

“Yeah. This one’s perfect for Tain.”

Sara looked at the golden metal nameplate on the stall door “The nameplate says its name is Cooper.”

The horse nickered in response to it’s name. 

“It seems really smart for a horse that’s for sale. Are you sure it’s for sale?” Peragrine asked.

Sara checked for any identification, but other than the nameplate, there was none. “I think he’s a courier. You know, a messenger’s horse. We could check for his tack, in the tack room, to be sure.”

Peragrine grinned. “That would be perfect. ‘Steal from thedude, give to the, uh, poor?’”

“Penniless, would be more accurate.” mocked Sara, smiling.

Peragrine shrugged as he inspected the other horses. “Alas, only too true!” His eyes alit on a shaggy, blue-eyed horse, also of a shorter stature. “What do you think of this one?”

Sara came over with her lantern and read the nameplate. “Pablo.” They both looked up at the horse, who stared back at them. Pablo was, in both mood and appearance, much like a dairy cow. Vacant stare, black and white splotches, and fat.

“No,” they both said, turning to other candidates. 

“Here’s an idea!” Peragrine exclaimed. “Do you think the Mayor’s horse is here?”

Sara considered as she scanned the stalls. “Yeah, probably.” Sara walked over to a Speckled Blue Roan Arabian mare. “Yuuuuup! Right over here.” Sara looked at the nameplate. “I’m certainly gonna have to get naming advice from Mayor Guy!” The Arabian looked up from it’s feed, surprised at Sara’s appearance. Then, as Peragrine came up behind Sara, the horse gave out a whinny. Sara stepped aside so Peragrine could see.

“ ‘Betsy?’ “ Peragrine read the plate. “That is a pretty name.”

The horse eyed Peragrine warily.

“Hullo, Betsy!” he said. The horse nickered and backed up away from Sara and the lantern. Her dark coat seemed to meld with the shifting shadows in the back of her stall.

“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. But do you want to go for a ride?” 

“Peragrine!! Do you know how menacing that sounds?!” Sara interrupted jokingly.

“Not to a horse!” Peragrine defended. 

Sara laughed.

The horse tiptoed closer as Peragrine refocused on her.  

“I’m going on a long trip, and I don’t know when I’ll be back here, but I promise it will be very exciting, and you’ll see lots of new places. Plus, you won’t be cooped up here…”

“Peragrine, you’ll need to be gentle with her. The Mayor stays in his house all the time. She hasn’t been ridden in a very long time.” Sara informed him.

Peragrine nodded, entirely focused on Betsy, who was slowly coming back up to the door. “Alright. Sounds good. Doesn’t that sound good, Betsy?” The horse nickered a warning upon hearing it’s name, but Peragrine continued to talk in soft tones, while Sara drifted off to look at the other horses. 

She thought they were very beautiful animals. A dapple grey, looking very thin, nickered and put his head up to see if Sara had a snack. Sara peeked in to the stall and saw something that astounded her. There was a sticky note on an empty feed bucket, reading NOT TO BE FED. Sara looked at the poor Stallion’s face, half of which appeared to be scarred by some old injury. She looked at the nameplate, ‘Typhoon’ was its name.

“Don’t worry, Typhoon, I’ll be right back.”

Passing Peragrine and Betsy, who appeared to be having a conversation of some sort, she went into the tack room, grabbed a sack of grain, and hefted it back to the horse.

At the sight of the bag Typhoon pranced excitedly. Letting herself in, Sara cut open the bag, and Typhoon began scarfing it down directly from it. Smiling, Sara shrugged to herself. “I was going to put it in the trough, but I guess this wouldn’t hurt you either."

Now that she was inside the stall with it, Sara noticed multiple scars all along Typhoon’s body. Tracing them with her eyes, she noted how it followed the horse’s skeletal anatomy.

“What were they doing to you, you majestic creature?” The horse eyed her gratefully. It seemed like he was saying, ‘Thank you, thank you!’

Sara heard another stall door opening, and peeking out, she saw Peragrine leading both horses, Cooper and Betsy, to the tack room. 

Turning back to Typhoon, she sighed. “Sorry, boy, but I can’t have you eat the whole bag, or you-” 

The horse screamed, as it reared up. Sara pulled out a plain dagger from her belt. “Typhoon, what’s wrong buddy?”

The horse’s head whipped around, and Sara saw something truly despicable. One side of the horse’s face was glowing cherry red, as if there was something underneath it’s skin.

“PERAGRINE, COME OVER HERE!” She yelled as she vaulted over the door. 

With Typhoon’s scream, panic overtook the entire stables, and multiple other horses began screaming bloody murder as well.  Peragrine shot out of the tack room with the two chosen horses, only partly ready.

“WHAT’S GOING ON?!”

“TYPHOON’S EEEEEEVIL!”

“Who?”

Suddenly, Typhoon bucked the stall door off it’s hinges, and it flew across the aisle, into the stall across, Pablo’s.

“TEAAPHOOOOON!!!” Sara screamed, pointing.

Peragrine followed her direction, and saw the ‘Typhoon’ in question. The creature’s whole right side was glowing cherry red, and the one remaining natural eye on the left was rolling in agony.

“Oh my stars…” Peragrine began.

“I should have never given him food.” Sara said starting to calm down.

Peragrine dropped both the horse’s halters, and reached out with his magic towards the furious beast. He quickly understood what was happening.

“They’ve made you a cyborg!” he realized. “Just like Burnie…!” 

While Peragrine stood there, with his arms outstretched and eyes closed, Typhoon was rearing and kicking, while Sara evaded him, and ran towards Peragrine, catching Betsy and Cooper before they ran. She glanced back at Peragrine, hoping he could help with his magic.

Thinking fast, Peragrine felt the energy contained within Typhoon’s cyborg frame, and attempted to pull the energy out of it. Turn it off. Shut it down! TAKE THE BATTERIES OUT, MAN!

Sara saw the effect immediately. The evil eye shut down, and now that Sara had seen it activated, she could see what she had mistaken for a scarred eye was actually a mechanized one. She ran to Typhoon and began to pet him, and he trembled under her touch. 

Meanwhile, Peragrine was still standing. In his mind’s eye, he still held a large ball of energy in front of him. But what to do with it? 

Suddenly, his focus was broken by the stable doors being thrown open on the far side.

“What in the blazes is going on h-” began a guard, before they were all blown away in a sizable explosion rendered by Peragrine and the ball of Typhoon’s energy.

Peragrine snagged Betsy and Cooper’s halters, before running forward to the blown open doors. “Come on, Sara! We’ve got to go now!” 

Sara led a very weak Typhoon after Peragrine. However, she had barely gotten him out of the stable, when he stumbled and collapsed into the dirt.

“Typhoon? You alright?” Sara knelt down next to the horse. He was shivering , and terribly cold to the touch. “Peragrine, can you watch him for a second?”

Peragrine stopped, a few yards ahead already. Turning back, he blinked, and he saw that Typhoon’s energy, his life force, was a dreadfully small flicker compared to his actual physical size.

“What do you have planned?” Peragrine asked, as he looked around worriedly.

“Getting a crazy friend named Yarnell who has a EMP bomb!” she said.

“What?!”

However, as soon as she disappeared into the shadows, guards, including some Paradox Rouges, came from around the corner, and upon seeing Peragrine with three loose horses, as well as the blown out stables, they attacked. Peragrine had no choice but to stand and defend himself and the horses and his supplies. . .

Chapter 7: Messy Getaway.

Sara sped back to the meeting place, leaping from roof to roof. She hated to use Yarnell's awful technology idea now, but a life hung in the balance. Hopefully, she thought, she could use the EMP bomb to disable the technology inside Typhoon. She held back her revulsion. Putting electronics inside that helpless creature…! ‘When does it end?!’ she thought.

‘Not tonight’ she realized. ‘The town's going to come alive very soon with us escaping...’ 

Landing on the roof of the meeting place, she burst through an open window to find Mrs. Berreto knitting. 

“Where is Yarnell, and his awful bomb?”

Mrs. Berreto pointed out the room and across the hallway. Sara rushed past her with a quick “Thanks,” and found Yarnell asleep in his bed.

“Yarnell! Wake up!” Said Sara as she shook him.

“Wha? Huh? AHH!” he cried. “What are you doing here?!”

“Do you still have the EMP bomb?”

Still barely awake, Yarnell motioned to his desk, were, among many other technological marvels half assembled, the EMP bomb sat.

Sara’s eyes widened as she looked at it, then looked back. “Can I use it? A Cyborg needs saving.”

Yarnell rolled his eyes. “Of course you want to use my idea now,” he muttered.

“Yarnell, A cyborg horse’s life is at stake!! It’s been tortured all its life!”

“A Cyborg what?” Yarnell began. Then he shook his head. “Nevermind. Just take it. Press the green button and the lights will count down 10 fast seconds, and then everything in about 3 yards will fry.”

“Thank you!!! I’ll be back to tell you a long story!!” Sara jumped out a window with the EMP bomb.

As quick as a squirrel, Sara bounded back across the rooftops to the Stables, but once she arrived, there was no one there.

Only wreckage, which left a trail leading down the road.

“They must have had to fight, and the battle went this way…”  Sara sprinted along the road, not caring about being seen now. There were wounded soldiers and rogues here and there, and though she wasn’t happy to see people hurt, she was also glad that there didn't appear to be any townsfolk in the street, and that Peragrine and the horses were not captured. 

She followed the destruction all the way to the main gate, where the damage gave her chills.

There was absolutely no semblance of the small mud gate anymore. Only a circular crater cut into the dirt, and the walls on either side. There were scorch marks everywhere, and there were over a dozen Paradox rogues and guards lying all about the area. One Paradox member, a Sorcerer, stood up with help from his staff. 

“Halt, Sara Pineword!” he yelped. “You- Gah!” he clutched his burnt right side.

“That's Pinewood to you!” 

The Sorcerer painfully limped forward. “You… are under arrest… for crimes against-”

Sara brought out her double bladed dagger and pointed it at him. “I won’t come with you. I’m just trying to protect this town.”

“A real good job you’re doing of it,” the rogue said, motioning to the ‘gate’.

"That’s not what I protect. I protect the people. That what makes a town, a town. thedude WILL betray you in the end. He’ll destroy everyone who refuses to serve him and torture the rest!  Even if I’m in a jail cell I will do whatever I have to in order to end this all!"

The Sorcerer straightened up, visibly in pain, but pride shining through his features. “And I… will do everything in my power to stop you.” Turning to others in his group, he added, “And I’m not alone. What about you?”

“I’m not.” Sara gave a long, sharp whistle, and stabbed him.

The others leapt at her, but she quickly evaded, backing away. It was 4 on 1, and more were getting up all around her, recovering from their wounds. She slowly backed away, wondering how she could stall them… as they slowly cornered her in…  

“Come on, guys, she’s only one!” said a regular guard with a sword.

“We’ve got three blasters trained on your head, Sara,” said a Marauder. “Don’t try anything funny, or I might ‘forget’ that the Mayor wants you alive… “

"Good to know! Thank you."

The Marauder seemed to pause and consider. “Hmm. Might be worth it. I hate this stupid posting anyway.”

“Hey, watch it,” said one of the town garrison. “This ‘stupid posting’ is where I grew up.”

“I grew up here too. When it was a nice medieval town. But then you guys ruined it.” Sara added, annoyed that they sympathized over everyone ELSE that grew up here.

The marauder suddenly yelled and fired, hitting Sara in the left shoulder before she could duck. However, she still did, and two more shots and a thrown knife appeared in the wall where her head had been. Rushing forward and going low, she tripped them and got in between them all, where they couldn’t shoot her.

“You guys can torture me all you want. I’ll keep trying and keep winning.”

Suddenly, amid the ensuing chaos, Arrow and Furor arrived, having heard her whistle. Sara fought her way through to Arrow and mounted, galloping out into the field, rapidly outpacing the blaster fire of her enemies, and made her way back to camp, with the first light of the not quite visible sun.

Chapter 8: Twisted Surgery

“Tain, Carson?!” said Sara as she, Arrow and Furor galloped into the camp. There they were, all three of her guests, as well as the horses. Tain and Peragrine were inspecting Typhoon by lantern-light, as he lay down. Carson was tied to a long rope, where he sat and stared at all the other horses tied to other trees on the other side of the camp.

Sara leapt off Arrow, rolled, and regaining her feet, she cried, ”EVERYONE, STEP 3 YARDS AWAY FROM TYPHOON!” Sara threw the EMP-bomb at Typhoon, as everyone else, including the horses moved away from her and Typhoon in alarm.

‘CRZZZZZACK!’ The sound echoed throughout the forest, causing all of the birds to take off for fear of their lives. In the camp, Tain and Peragrine were blown back, mostly unharmed, if a bit frizzy. 

However, for Typhoon, the consequences lasted a bit longer. He emitted a low scream, more like a bellow, and his cyborg right side erupted in sparks and lights. 

“SARA, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Peragrine cried, rushing forward into the electrical firestorm with his eyes glowing green.

“My friend, Yarnell, invented a thing called an E.M.P. Bomb! He says it fries ALL technology within 3 yards! He originally made it to save the town, but right now, this is more urgent! I thought it might fry his electrical side! 

The sparks had died down, and now Peragrine and Typhoon were locked in some sort of silent conversation. The horse stared at Peragrine, and Peragrine’s eyes were closed.

Tain and Carson stood off to the side, both stunned. But Tain snapped out of it first.

“He needs that technology to survive,” he said, staring at the horse in question. 

“I know for sure that he doesn’t need the evil side!!!” Sara snapped. ”I never thought I’d say this but, who knows how to handle technology?”

“Tain, I need your help!” Peragrine suddenly barked. 

Tain froze for a moment, before stepping forward. “What is it, Peragrine?”

“Do you know anything about Paradox Tech?”

Tain glanced at the horse’s scorched right side, metal showing through holes in it’s hide. “I… Yes.”

“Typhoon’s showing me memories of the various stages they implanted all of it. I think we could deactivate everything but the essentials but…”

“Difficult,” Tain replied. 

Arrow just watched, wide-eyed. Furor barked loudly and began sauntering off, but not before Sara picked him up. “All right, but be careful,” she said to the fox. “They might be out looking for us since we caused a bit more damage than usual.” He yipped his understanding, and she let him bound off into the trees.

Peragrine opened his eyes briefly, and looked up at Tain. “Please? Otherwise, this creature will die.”

Sara interrupted. “Please Tain, if you don’t, I’ll have to! Then he’ll have a even worse chance of living!”

Tain frowned, and while he didn’t look directly at her, his tone showed his emotion. “I think you’ve done enough.” With this, he sat down by the side of the horse and began ripping off the loose hide to get to the metal machinery beneath. “I need tools."

Sara went into her tent, shuffling through things and finding various tools, which she brought back to Tain.

Tain nodded. “These will work.” With this, he opened the largest panel, just to see what he was dealing with.

While Tain began identifying components, Peragrine closed his eyes, and everything melted away except himself and Typhoon’s energy. Typhoon didn’t use words, but past images and sensations. Peragrine hardly felt his lips move, barely heard himself speak, as he basically translated this constant stream of information into directions that Tain could use to discover and piece together the individual systems and how they interacted...

They spent all day in this twisted form of surgery. Tain and Peragrine worked in tandem, working to save Typhoon, who was strangely calm throughout the procedure. When Sara was not nervously watching them, she was setting up extra tents for them to stay, if necessary. 

A few hours in, Furor returned with a rabbit. As Sara was still setting up tents, she unbound Carson, and he proved to be an expert chef, turning the rabbit into a delicious roast. All the while Furor begged for his rightful portion.

Well after the sun had passed it’s zenith and began it’s decent to the western hills, Peragrine let go of the horse’s head, and flopped back in exhaustion.

“Bro-hinny-hinny,” he muttered, still mentally stuck in Typhoon’s mind. “I mean… That was exhausting.”

“Neigh, Peragrine, Neigh.” Sara face-palmed, hovering over Tain’s shoulder. ”Is he… going to be okay?” Sara said.

Tain set aside the sewing needle he had been using. His features were disheveled, and filled with worry. He couldn’t say for certain that the horse was saved. But now that they had spent so much time on it, he hoped it didn’t all come to naught.

Peragrine directed his gaze towards Sara. “We’ve done all we can. Tain, you’re a wizard.”

“Magicians are grumpier, therefore, he is a magician, not a wizard.” Sara pointed out.

Tain waved them off, muttering something along the lines of ‘needing rest’. Finding one of the tents Sara had set up, he went inside and quickly became dead to the world. So tired was he, that he’d forgotten to talk to Sara about having untied Carson. 

Meanwhile, Peragrine leapt upon Sara’s comment. “Oh? Have you met many Magic-Users?”

“Yeah, you.”

“Oh.” Peragrine tried to hide his disappointment. 

“I’m not saying you're grumpy, but most are.” Sara stated.

“No, it’s not that. I’m just trying to learn more about magic. I’m not really a master at it yet, but I want to be!”

Sara thought for a moment. “Well…  In Wishwell, if your planning to stay for a day or two, you can get some books on beginner's magic...."

Peragrine facepalmed. “Duh! I should have thought of that last night.”

A squirrel climbed up unto Peragrine. “Squeaka?”

Surprised, Peragrine still had the presence of mind to remain still. “Hey there, little fella!”

“Squeeeeakers…” The squirrel rubbed her head against Perry, who looked in askance at Sara. 

“Meet Furor’s new best friend.” Sara said dryly, shaking her head. ”Twig.”

“Since when?” Peragrine asked, looking around for the fox. “I haven’t seen him since he left early this morning.

Sara pointed to a pile of feathers meant for arrows that was being fluffed around by Furor.

“Oh, hi, Furor!” Peragrine called. 

Furor stopped slaying the feathers and skipped up to Peragrine. “Hello! “I see you’ve met Twiggy!” he barked.

Peragrine glanced down at the Squirrel on his jacket sleeve. “Yes, I suppose I have!”

Twig made her way up to his shoulder and sat down, as if it was her throne. 

“You should probably get some sleep,” Sara interrupted, changing the subject.

Refocusing on Sara, he sighed. “You’re probably right.” Looking down at the sleeping Typhoon at his knees, he added, “I hope Typhoon pulls through. But even if he does, I don’t think he’ll be up for any big adventures anytime soon.” He turned to Sara. “Assuming he gets better, can you take care of him?”

Sara glanced at Arrow, then looked back. ”Sure. Oats will help his coat get…” Sara turned to his bald right side. “Growing? Maybe, I think.”

Peragrine grinned. “I mean, he looks pretty fierce right now, just add some flames- You should have seen him fighting! It was spectacular! The guy could shoot LAS-”

“DON’T REMIND ME!!” Sara looked at her shoulder, which she had bandaged. 

Peragrine stopped short, realizing he was making Typhoon out to be nothing more than a weapon.

“What I mean to say is... he fought bravely.”

“We don’t know, his life has been controlled by- you-know-what.” 

Peragrine hadn’t thought of that. He considered what he knew from being inside Typhoon’s memories. Feelings and emotions had not been the point of their bizarre conversation, mostly sight and sensation.

He didn’t know what to say to Sara’s rebuttal, so instead the two fell into silence.

“I guess I should get some rest,” Peragrine admitted.

“First tent to the left.”

“Ok, thanks, Mom.” he muttered, before realizing he’d said it aloud.

“I heard that. And you’re welcome.”

Peragrine was relieved she wasn’t offended or creeped out. He was probably older than her!

Chapter 9: The Right Thing.

As the sun went down, Carson awoke. Smacking his lips, he realized with irritation he’d fallen asleep with his mouth open. Now he had an awful taste in his mouth. 

Getting up, he stumbled out of the tent to see Sara and Furor cooking more rabbit, only this time as a stew, and… Hot dogs?

Sara greeted him. “Late evening! How are you? You seem like normal; Let's see, ahh yes, Grumpy. You're okay.”

Carson walked forward, snatching a HOT dog from one of the sticks stuck around the fire with his hands, before stalking off towards the horses. However, before he’d gotten out of polite earshot, Sara spoke again.

“Can I talk to you? I promise it’ll be worth the time.” 

Carson considered how worthwhile his time was, right now. Seeing as he literally had nothing else to do, it wasn’t worth much, which made him wonder if it would be worth listening to the woman.

"All right. Fine." He walked back over to the campfire and sat down on a log. Furor snuggled up next to him, which made him wrinkle his nose in disgust, but he didn't move away. The fox would probably just snuggle up next to him again anyway.

Sara began to whisper. "Do you like your life currently?" she asked, motioning to the rope that he had been tied up with yesterday, where it hung from the mule.

Carson leaned in, also whispering. "What sort of idiot question is that?"

Sara ignored his caustic comeback. "I mean, I could smuggle you elsewhere. Or, just get you out of this whole situation. Would you got for that?"

Carson could barely contain his surprise. Of course he could go for that... She was offering to get him out of here... Away from Tain, away from constant running...

But where would he go?

He leaned back, trying not to seem too interested. "Why? What's in it for you?" he asked.

"Nothing, and that's fine." Sara's face was brutally honest. Carson could hardly believe it.

He thought about it. If Sara could smuggle him anywhere, where would he want to go? He couldn't go back to thedude. Contrary to public opinion, he didn't want to risk ratting out the escaped prisoners. After all, it was largely his fault they'd escaped in the first place!

But he didn't want to go with some underground resistance or fight against thedude either. That was a losing battle that he wanted no part in. thedude was well on his way to controlling the whole world, after all.

Sara interrupted. "Normally, I'd give you time. But Tain wants to leave, and Peragrine... is creepy. He called me 'mom' last night." She paused, staring into space for a second. "So, 'time to decide' isn't something you have."

Carson looked out towards the big hill that represented what he could see of Wishwell. Perhaps he could hide there, as neither for, nor against thedude.

But is that really what he wanted?

"I'd have to start a whole new life," Carson thought out loud. "Maybe change my name. Forget everything I ever was."

"Well, your name could be..." Sara thought for a moment. "Nosrac!"

Carson turned back, annoyed. "That is the stupidest name I’ve ever heard. Ever.”

“It’s Carson spelled backwards!”

“Yeah, I got that.”

“Carson, do you want to live your life in utter misery and utter ugh or actually have a life?”

Carson frowned. “What I want is people not pushing me around,” he muttered. 

“I can do that. I think. If… it works.”

Carson stared into the fire. For some reason, he felt ill. His stomach was rolling over, and he felt a lot of pressure. This decision could quite possibly change his whole life… He looked at Sara, scrutinized her face for any deceit. He could barely believe the fact that all he saw was complete and brutal honesty. Really, somewhat caustic. Kinda like him, only... better.

“All right. Fine,” he said, standing up. “Let’s do it.” And the weight was lifted.

“Get on Arrow, left side, and sit on his rump.”

Carson did so. Arrow nickered.

While Carson did that, Sara pulled something from out of her pocket, and strode into the makeshift tent where Tain was sleeping. As she pulled the tent flap aside, Tain awoke, and spun around, grabbing his spear from where it lay next to him. But before he could point it at Sara, she covered her mouth with her left hand and threw down a leather pouch on Tain’s face. A cloudy mixture of herbs and spices billowed throughout the tent, and Tain quickly lost focus and fell back unconscious. Before she too fell asleep, Sara ducked back out of the tent, smiling.

Jumping onto Arrow in front of Carson she immediately spurred Arrow to a full gallop out of the camp.

“Tain’s going to have some very nice dreams for awhile! Plenty of time for you to get away!”

Carson grinned wide. The first time in a long time. Literally, he was riding like the wind, away from all of his problems. It was a wonderful feeling, but before he could stereotypically spread his arms wide or get bugs in his grill, Sara brought him back down to earth.

“Now, this is the hard part, Nosrac. Finding how and where to get you a house, We’re making a stop at the Berreto’s.”  

“I am not using that name,” Carson said.

“Alright, Sacron.”

The two rode on till they reached the little cave-stable. There, Sara helped Carson dismount, and she grabbed the same rope. “I hope you can climb,” she said, eyeing him up and down worriedly as they walked to the climbing point

Carson shook his head, saying, “I’ve never done it before, but if it means I can be free, I’m willing to try.”

Sara nodded, and soon she was giving pointers to him as they reached the climbing point and started moving up. “Ok, hold the rope with both hands, and pull yourself up with your arms. Your legs should only be stabilizing you, not pushing off. Right here has good footing to start.”

They would spend a considerable amount of time climbing up, with Sara giving him plenty of help and pointers. As they continued up the surface, his face slowly turned into a furious snarl as his body screamed in agony of this new exercise. His thoughts wandered as he rose up the cliffside. From thoughts of freedom ahead, to intense hatred of what lay behind him. Being a prisoner to Tain. Having been a servant to countless bureaucrats. Being told all his life that he could be more. Should be more NEEDED to be more. 

No more. 

He would choose how much he wanted to live, if at all. A dingy little town like this, forgotten by the side of the road. It would be the perfect place to fall into blissful obscurity. . . 

When Sara looked back to check on him, his visage was truly frightening. “You ok, Larson?”

“FINE!” he yelled back. “Just. Fine.”

“Alright, Nosral.”

All she got back in return was a growl, as he focused on catching up to her.

“Y’know, Your very fun to mess with.”

“It’s all fun and games till someone loses their livelihood,” Carson said, before realizing that Sara probably didn't understand the threat. So he amended it. “Or a fox.”

Sara’s eyes were wide as she looked back down at him. "No. No one harms Furor."

Carson shrugged as best as he could. “Don't push my buttons, is what I’m trying to say,” Carson said. “I don’t take guff from anyone. Not even from… friends.”

Sara nodded, understanding flooding her still wide eyes. “Wow. I should get a title. ‘Carson’s friend’. Pretty hard to get.” She paused, then added. “But, seriously, don’t hurt Furor, otherwise.... I’ll… do something…”

“Makes… Perfect sense…” Carson said, running out of extra breath to talk AND climb.

The two continued to climb in companionable silence.

Chapter 10: Life of Carl

Peragrine waved his tent flap out and stretched. 

“Aaaah. What a beautiful day.”

Having slept in his new coat, he looked around the tent, and saw no one but a pacing Furor next to a dying campfire with Rabbit stew, cheerily bubbling.

“Morning Furor! Where’s everyone else? Not still asleep?

“I can’t tell you!” The fox said mysteriously, looking everywhere but Peragrine. “Just don’t think about it! Eat something! Anything!”

Peragrine smiled curiously. “O...kay… Is it a surprise?” he asked as he sought a bowl to get some stew.

“Sure!”

Peragrine waited for the fox to elaborate, but when it didn’t Peragrine asked: “Can I try to guess?”

“Uhhh….. Sure!”

Peragrine thought for a moment. “Did Tain and Sara go into town for wizard books?”

“Maybe!”

“ ‘Maybe’?” Peragrine echoed. “So, like, partially correct?”

“No. It’s top secret, Maybe.”

Peragrine pursed his lips. “You won’t tell me even if I do get it right, will you?”

“Maybe.”

Peragrine groaned good-naturedly. “That’s a no,” he said, as he sat down to enjoy his stew. ‘All well,’ he thought. ‘I guess I’ll just have to wait then.’

~~~~~

Sara landed on top of the Cobbler's shop. “Down here, Carl.” 

Carson looked down at the roof Sara was standing on. There was a big patch of hide covering one side of the roof, and he knew he didn’t want to land there. So he pushed off with his legs and threw himself at the more intact part of the roof where Sara stood, intending to land on all fours.

Unfortunately, his arms were about as useful in stopping him as wet noodles, and he nearly landed on top of Sara, but she side-stepped just in time leaving him to land flat on his face.  

“Seriously!” Sara laughed. “Can no one make the jump?! First Peragrine, now you!” 

Carson groaned pitifully, as he tried to get up, but his arms trembled horrendously, and wouldn’t even support his weight. He managed to roll over and sit up. His entire body felt like jittering putty. It was then that Sara noticed how ragged he looked.

“...Need any help, Lrac?”

“Call me Carl, that fits.” Carson wheezed, waving an arm disjointedly. 

“And what about a last name? How about Phlegmson?”  

Carson shook his head. “Too close to Flemming.”   

“Ok… Well, since your free now, how ‘bout Freeson?” 

“Freezing?” come to think of it, he was freezing, up here on the rooftops.

“No… How about Freeman?”

“Like the actor?”

“What’s an actor?”

Carson smiled. “Yeah, I think that fits. Carl Freeman.” With this, ‘Carl’ attempted to stand up, but he was still quite unsteady, and extremely pale. However, sitting still was making him want to hurl. Better to keep moving.

Sara helped him up, and together the two made their way down a service ladder, into an alleyway. Here, Sara stopped him.

“Ok, ‘Carl’. You’re not known here, so you can walk the streets. I’m going to take to the rooftops, but what I want you to do is walk left down this street till you reach a large two-story yellow house on your left. It will have a garden gnome out front. Knock four times, then three, then four. I’ll meet you inside.”

'Carl' nodded. “See you there.” Then he put his hands in his pockets, and stepped out into the light of the street, as Sara climbed back up the ladder.

Once on the roof, she kept a close eye on Carl. More than once, she thought she had lost him, so easily did he blend in to the others walking or driving through the street. 

'I guess that’s a good thing,' Thought Sara. 'Since he’s going to have to hide here for a long time, I guess.' 

Her thoughts sped forward to how she was going to explain all of this to Mrs. Berreto

'Hopefully, they’ll be able to lodge him till he gets his own house and on his own feet.” she thought. “It’s not like he’s invalid either. He’ll be able to help and pull his own weight. Hopefully.' She glanced down at him as he stumbled on the ugly black asphalt road.  He turned around and glared at the pothole he'd tripped on before continuing.

Pretty soon, Sara reached the house. Finding an open window, she swung through. Right into Yarnell’s room. However, it was lacking of Yarnell. Sara considered the time of day. “Must be eating.” She headed out of his room, and down some stairs. There they were, both of the Berretos. Yarnell and the Widow Berreto.  “Hi.”

“Wauh!” exclaimed Yarnell, turning around to see Sara come down the stairs. “How did you get in?!”

Mrs. Berreto was just as surprised, but not as agile, and only her face showed her surprise. “Miss Pinewood, what are you doing here??? And in broad daylight…!”

“A window, Yarnell, what else? And I’m here… I’ll explain later. Someone by the name of Cars-Carl Freeman is coming. Don’t worry.”

Yarnell raised an eyebrow. “Like.... The actor?”

“For the second time, what’s an actor?!”

Just then, someone knocked on the door. Three times. Then four. Then three.

Mrs. Berreto stood up. “I suppose we’ll be needing two more settings?”

Yarnell went to get the door. “Should I let whomever it is in?” he asked, not directing his question to either woman in particular.

“Yes.” Sara said. “It’s Carl.”

Mrs. Berreto shrugged as she shuffled off to the kitchen.

Yarnell opened the door, and saw a man with baggy sweats, a baggy cardigan sweater over a puffy cotton shirt, and normal leather shoes. He looked like a total vagrant, and about to pass out.  

“Hey kid,” the vagrant said. “I’m here to see Sara.”

Yarnell nodded. “She’s here.” He stepped aside and let him in, closing the door after him.

“Hi, Carl.” Sara said.

“Sara.” he replied. “So why are we here?”

“So, first of all, is Steven here, Mrs. Berreto?”

Mrs. Berreto shook her head. “No. He’s pretty busy… Since yesterday, you know…” 

Sara winced.

“The grumpy ole’ doctor’s been working non-stop after your escape blew up all those people at the front gate,” Yarnell said. “Which reminds me, how did you make such powerful explosives?!”

“Oh. Right. I told you I’d explain.” Sara sighed. 

“You said something about a half-robot?” 

As briefly as she could, Sara told the tale of last night from the moment she’d woken up Yarnell, (and the reason for it) to when she’d escaped on Arrow. Several times throughout the story, she cast an apologetic glance to Carl, who had gotten a glass of water from Mrs. Berreto, and was sitting in a comfortable chair, regaining some of the color in his face. Surprisingly, he didn’t interrupt, and in fact shared a (very small) interest in the story with Yarnell and Mrs. Berreto. Eventually, she finished.

“Anyways, Carl’s house-hunting, and while he’s doing that, can he stay with you guys?” 

Mrs. Berreto turned to Carl.  “You’re new in town?”

Carl didn’t miss a beat. “Yeah. Been on the road for a long time. Need to settle down. My old life’s gone up in flames during some rebellion riot. Your town seems pretty quiet. Maybe I can start over here.” He couldn’t help the hint of a smile play on his lips as he told his half-truths.  

“Normally, I’d let him stay with me, but...” Sara paused. “I’ve got a mayor to deal with.”

Yarnell nodded. “Since you didn’t get to it last night. Steven’s still really upset about that. He says you shouldn’t go to Mayor Guy directly.”

Mrs. Berreto nodded. “Not sure what you hope to accomplish, but I- we- all don’t want you getting hurt or captured.”

“I know you don’t. But honestly, I don’t really care about what happens to me," Sara replied.

“Well, others do.” Yarnell squeaked.

Carl raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, no one else finds this as important.” retorted Sara. “If I don’t, no one else will.“  

This silenced the other two. Carl crossed his arms. When no one said anything immediately, he jumped in, feeling much better. “So, can I stay here for a few days? I’m a real good cook, and I’ll be out of your hair most days, looking to get myself set up here in town.”

Yarnell turned to Mrs. Berreto. “Mom?”

She pursed her lips as she looked Carl up and down. Something didn’t sit right with her about him… But she couldn’t pin it. Perhaps it was how he’s been brought in by Sara. How he’d just be thrusted upon them. Perhaps it was his strange non-traveling attire. Perhaps it was because it was clear he hadn’t bathed in awhile. 

Ultimately though, none of these were reasons to say no. 

“I… don’t see why not. There’s a spare room upstairs, past Yarnell’s and mine. It’s surely full of cobwebs, but a little bit of elbow grease will make it decent again. Let’s see your work ethic.”

Carl’s nose wrinkled momentarily at the mention of work ethic, but he quickly swallowed it, turning it into a determined frown. “Very well.” he groused, as he followed Mrs. Berreto up the stairs. 

Sara nodded. “I know this is sudden, but, Yarnell, he really is a good cook. I guess I should head back now.”

Mrs. Berreto stopped halfway up the stairs and looked back at Sara. “Is that all you came for, Sara? Sure you don’t want to stay for lunch?”

Sara thought for a moment. She didn’t want to go back and deal with Tain. No, She REALLY  didn’t want to. 

“Sure.” She decided.

This caught Mrs. Berreto and Yarnell off-guard. 

“Really?” Yarnell asked.

“If you’re alright with that, I think it’d be a nice change.”

“Oh, OK!” he replied chirpily. 

Soon, all four of them were sitting down to the Berreto’s lunch.

Chapter 11: Gut Reaction

Tain awoke with a start. Sitting up, he realized he was covered in sweaty grime. His tent was unbearably stifling. He immediately crawled out of his tent for fresh air. He was panicking, but he couldn't remember why. 

“Oh, hey Tain! Wow, you slept LATE!” Peragrine’s voice called out. Tain looked towards the voice, but everything in his vision was still blurry. He remembered a washbin being next to his tent, so he turned there and dunked his head in, rubbing the strange grime off of his face.

When he pulled his head out of the water, Peragrine had come over. 

“...so I just had second breakfast! Seriously, this stew is out of this world. Or maybe I’m still just getting used to non-prison life; not sure-”

Suddenly, with the clarity of his eyes restored, all the rest of Tain’s memory came rushing back to him.

“Where’s Sara???”

“Sara? Probably still sleeping, Carson too, neither of them have got up,” Peragrine yammered, a soup bowl in his hand.

Tain shook his head, ran to Sara’s bear-hide tent and threw the flap open. “Empty.” he declared. He dashed to Carson’s tent.

It too, was empty. 

“Crux,” Tain whispered.

Furor whined, pacing again.

“CRUX!” Yelled Tain, running to his horse. “SHE TOOK HIM!”

Peragrine didn't connect the dots quite as fast, turning to Furor. “Furor…?”

The fox jumped in alarm at seeing Tain move so fast. It barked at Peragrine, who turned back to Tain, but he was already mounting Cooper. 

“Tain, wait! Furor says h-”

“Diversion!” Tain barked back at Peragrine, as he spurred Cooper to an impressive full speed. Behind him, Furor was barking and yipping up a storm.

Peragrine did a double-take, listening to his two friends at odds he didn't understand. “Furor, what is going ON???” he asked, his words echoing in his head like Furor’s did.

“Are you for Tain who is grumpy and knowing full well he’s ruining someone's life or for Sara, who’s just trying to do something good?!” the fox said with all the conviction of a innocent child.

Suddenly, it all clicked for Peragrine, and his heart dropped into his fancy new boots.  

“Oh no.”

~~~~

Tain and Cooper streaked across the field towards Wishwell.  Only now that he was riding somewhere did he think about where he was going. 

“Where would she have taken him?” 

His first thought was that she’d given him a horse and had him ride off to wherever he liked. But then he remembered that all the horses were there except for Arrow. That meant she’d taken him somewhere. 

And the only place he knew of around here was Wishwell. 

He’d start there.  If he didn’t find him there… well… Then he and Peragrine would be found soon enough.

As he neared the town, he pondered how he was going to get in. Peragrine had mentioned in passing how they’d climbed over the wall and into town… but he didn't know where that was.

Suddenly, Peragrine and Betsy sidled up next to them. “This way…!” he said, seeming just as tired as his horse, strangely. They took off along the left of the cliff-face, and Tain followed them on Cooper.

Soon, they were at the spot. Peragrine pointed up.

“This is where I scaled the wall with her and some rope. There’s a little hook up there, if you can see it?”

Tain peered up. “Yeah. I see it.” They stared at it together, then he shook his head. “That will take too long.” He turned his horse around. “There’s no other gate except for the main one, right?”

Peragrine nodded slowly. “Yeeeah… Actually, yesterday, me and Typhoon kinda blew it to bits…”

Tain brought Cooper up to speed again, and Betsy strained to match the courier horse. “Then you’re going to blow it up again!” he yelled back.

~~~~

Sara started to get up from her chair. “I’d better head out now.”

The other three stood up. “It was nice having you!” Yarnell said. “For lunch, I mean. Instead of for the stuff we usually do. Like tense meetings or missions stuff. Though it’s nice to see you then too…” 

Yarnell stopped talking and started picking up dishes. 

Carl rolled his eyes. “I think I should head out too. There’s still plenty of daylight, and I want to get a good look at the town,” he said. “I’ll be back a bit after dark, I think.” he turned to Mrs. Berreto. “Thank you very much. I’ll see you later.” 

Mrs. Berreto nodded as she walked over to her chair with her knitting. “Take care, both of you.”

Carl left out the door like a normal human being, while Sara headed out the way she came in. Up the stairs, turning a right into Yarnell’s room, and juming out of the very convenient window. 

She looked out across the rooftops for any prying eyes. Nope. Nothing up here but distant screams and explo- wait, what?

Sara looked out towards the west gate. The main gate. The only gate. There were explosions and fires starting up…!

Sara’s eyes widened. This wasn’t Tain… WAS IT? If it was, he'd clearly lost his mind!

She couldn’t let them find 'Carl'.

Or could she? No, preferably not. She'd gone this far, it would be a waste to stop now.

Rapidly, she began forming a plan. “CARL!” she yelled, catching his attention on the street below, she motioned for him to go back inside.

In response, a confused Carl looked around before ducking into a nearby general store.

Sara simply facepalmed. "I guess that works," she muttered, pulling out her double-bladed dagger, and heading towards the sounds of destruction.

Chapter 12: Final Scene.

Tain tore through the town, with Peragrine right behind him, blowing away anyone who tried to stop them. 

“SAAARAAA!” Tain yelled. “COME OUT, SARA!” 

He had considered calling for Carson, but he knew that Carson wouldn’t come out. However, if he’d learned anything about Sara’s characteristics over the past 2 days, he guessed she’d respond to someone tearing through her town. From her, he’d be able to figure out where Carson went. 

At least, he hoped. Right now, it was his best shot, and time was against him. The longer Carson was missing, the longer he had to hide or get away.

“I WON’T STOP TURNING WISHWELL UPSIDE DOWN TILL I FIND YOU, SARA,” he continued.

They were right around the middle of town now. The very well the town had been named after stood in sad disrepair in the center of what was a partially-constructed vehicle roundabout.

Suddenly, Sara came crashing down on top of Tain, taking him right off his horse. She attempted to pin him to the ground as she thrust her double-bladed dagger right at his heart. However, a burst of wind tossed her aside like a ragdoll. 

Sara immediately figured it out. “PERAGRINE!!!” she cried, seeing the Wizard boy ride up and snag Tain off the ground in an amazing display of trick riding. Now Tain and Perry were riding double atop a frantic Betsy.   

“YOU SAID YOU’D BE GENTLE WITH HER!!! LIAR!” she said, changing the subject.

But Tain wouldn’t be deterred from his mission. As Perry steered a nervous Betsy in circles around Sara, Tain questioned her. 

“Where did you take him, Sara?”

“BAH-HUMBUG!” She yelled.

“Did you bring him to the authorities?”

“FETTUCCINE ALFREDO!”

“Is he here?”

“NI.”

Tain nodded, her 'no' meant 'yes' to him. His eyes burning with frustration, he continued,  “Which way?”

Sara looked around wildly for an incorrect answer. She pointed at the sky. “POTATO!”

"Underground??" In this case, the reverse didn't seem to make much sense. One thing was clear, Carson was near, or she wouldn't be so desperate-sounding.

Unfortunately, this insane interrogation was cut short by Paradox Rogues finally catching up with Tain and Perry.

“Halt! In the name of the Law, I order you all to GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!!!” A Shinobi announced, holding two sharukins. 

Tain pointed at her. “IT’S THE FUGITIVE SARA, SHE STOLE MY- uh.” Tain’s adrenaline-fueled bravado faltered as he realized he didn't know exactly how to describe Carson without sounding incriminating himself. Peragrine was about to whisper him a pointer when--

“THEY’RE THE GUYS WHO ESCAPED THUNDERCLAP!” Sara said, pointing her dagger at the two men on the finally still horse.

Silence rolled out from the three surrounded fugitives. Sara stared at the two on horseback with a straight face and wide eyes. Peragrine too, had wide eyes, but they were deeply hurt and disbelieving. Behind him, Tain’s anger and frustration bubbled over out of every nuance of his demeanor towards Sara.

“Sara…” Peragrine whispered. “Why?”

Sara looked at him. “Because your wrong. Everyone in this town is wrong.” She looked as if she wanted to say more, but... the guard piped up again.

“I want you all down on the ground, with your hands on your heads where I can see them. Otherwise, I’m afraid things are about to get messy.”

Peragrine’s gaze dropped. He whispered something to Tain, and they seemed to agree on something. Tain looked back at Sara.

“What do you need, Niat?” Sara snarked.

Tain shook his head. “Nothing from you. I only need Carson.”

“THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING; DOWN ON THE GROUND, NOW.” the Shinobi yelled. The sound of guns and other weapons priming or being aimed echoed throughout.

Sara rolled her eyes at the guard and ended by looking at Peragrine.

“So. Where. Is. He.” Tain growled at Sara.

Sara shook her head, and mouthed, “I’ll tell you later. Just shoot him.”

Tain scoffed. “Now, Peragrine.”

“NOW!” yelled the guard.

“DO IT NOW!” Sara yelled at Peragrine, as she pulled out her bow and shot randomly at the crowd of Rouges.

Just as countless dangerous missiles flew at the three, (and one arrow flew away, shot by Sara,) Peragrine threw his arms up as if he was tossing glitter, and a bright, spherical wave of magic reflected all of the dangerous implements...

Right back at the attackers. 

Dozens of Paradox Rogues, Town guardsmen, volunteer militia, and bystanders went down with gunshots, arrows, spears, and other reflected implements shot back at them.

As the bright light faded, Peragrine opened his eyes, and saw all of them knocked over, many badly hurt.  However, before this realization really sank in, Tain yelled from right behind him on the horse, “THERE HE IS!”, and reached in front of him for the reigns to yank Betsy into movement down the road. Peragrine followed his gaze, and saw it too.

There was Carson, standing a ways away, on the porch of a general store, appearing shocked at the scene that was playing out before him.

Sara saw him at the same time as Tain, and started to run after Tain and Perry, but someone in the crowd caught her attention.

“Ouuuh.”

“YARNELL!!!!” 

There he was, face up in the dirt road, at the back of the crowd. He’d been shot in the chest by a blaster. Or, a reflected one, anyway. Not that it mattered. Sara ran immediately to his side. 

“Yarnell, what happened?”

Yarnell opened his eyes, and as soon as he saw Sara, he valiantly began to speak, even though it clearly hurt to do so. “...Heard trouble.  Came out of the house to take a look. Ah! Bright light, and then I got shot!” He tucked his chin, trying to get a good look at it, but let his head fall back as the extra effort was too much. “Auh!” he cried, turning his eyes to Sara. “Is it bad?” he asked through tears.

“Don’t move, Yarnell…” Sara spoke as calmly as she could, but her eyes were also tearing up. But before she could continue, she heard a sharp whistle, and the sound of horse-hooves coming back down the road.

“LET ME GO, YOU INSUFFERABLE BIGOT!” screamed Carson as Tain rode Betsy with Carson slung across in front of him. Peragrine had somehow recovered Cooper and was riding him as well. They were charging back along the road, and would be passing Sara any moment…

She stood up. “One second, Yarnell.”  As they stampeded by, Sara grabbed Carson’s hand, and pulled, HARD.

Carson came tumbling off of the horse, down into the gravel that would make the paved roundabout. Tain reared Betsy up, to turn her around, as any of the wounded still laying around scrambled to get out of the way.

Right behind Tain, Peragrine came on Cooper, attempting to scoop Carson back up, but Sara simply said, “Just one last word, and that's not a request.”

This gave Peragrine pause, and he slid his mount next to Tain, giving him a ‘wait’ signal. Tain visibly scowled, a frightening sight, but he lined Betsy up next to Cooper, and both horses and riders appeared to hold a furiously whispered conversation.

Sara helped ‘Carl’ up off of the ground from where he’d fallen off of the horse into the asphalt. He looked the absolute worst she’d seen him yet. And yet, there was definitely something different about him now.  A defiance in his eyes that had been hidden before.

“Carson, I’m sorry. It didn’t work.” Sara now whispered. She didn't know really what or how to say what she... wanted to say, but didn't know? So it all came out in a strange rush. “But stop letting them boss you around. You can literally say, `Hm… No thanks.’ if they go against that, tell them I told you, and I’m right. And, while you’re at it, sneak in an, ‘I’m awesome’. Got that?” 

Carson stared at Sara for an uncomfortably long time, as others around them began to get up and recover, and as Tain and Peragrine watched a few feet away.

Finally, he put a cut and bleeding hand on her shoulder. “Thanks.” Then he let his hand drop, and limped over to his captors.

Without a word, Tain dropped off his horse and bound Carson with rope. Then the two re-mounted.

Sara pointed a finger at Tain. “What you’re doing is wrong, and I think you know it.” 

Tain made no reply.

Then she looked at Peragrine. “You’re a little bit better. But if you don’t fully agree, you should tell him. And if he’s upset about that, that’s his problem.”

Peragrine’s only response was the pained and haunted look he gave Sara. 

Then the three turned their horses around, and rode unopposed out of the wreckage known as Wishwell.

They took the east road, never speaking a word, nor stopping... Not until night had fallen, and Wishwell was far out of sight.

<======{///) End Act II (\\\}======>

Act 3: The Legend of Iron Crick, Part III

====

====