Ghosts In The Darkness

Ghosts In The Darkness
(OOC: Combined threads from the previous site)

Corbin MacAirgead
Looming, thick branches of trees and leaves formed a nearly impenetrable wall that blocked most sunlight during the day. Now that it was nice, the canopy ceiling of the Forbidden Forest muted all but few silvery shards of moonlight. In the gloom, the trees stood like ancient sentinels and yet, an intruder was among them. An obelisk, blacker than the shadows within the late night undergrowth, stood straight and imposing. Far from it's native deserts, the alienation of the object from it's lush environment did nothing more than to instill a pulse of fear. A few moments passed and instantly a dozen figured appeared surrounding the obelisk.

Corbin took a moment to clear the mild dizziness from his mind. He stepped back after a breath and soon several more figures appeared surrounding the tall stone monument. The former mercenary had to admit, traveling by port-key was quite disorienting although the others seemed to be immune to it. Corbin took the moment to survey the men surrounding him. His, self proclaimed, "invincible team" broke off and began to chatter and chide as if they were at a reunion as opposed to a mission. Ever since Valentine had taken an interest in his prototype "magi-tech" weaponry, he had given Corbin more leeway with his research and, he could have imagined it, respect. The team was never of Corbin's choosing though. He had made it clear the types of people he required to pull off a team of effective magical combative troops. What he had received, much to his clear and open displeasure, were magical failures and drop outs that had, due to limited magical capabilities, become nothing more than thugs or petty criminals. The problem, as he had made it clear to his superiors based on his observations, was that they cling to what little magic they know and looked down on Muggles no less than a pure-blood. Many of them had even made a few run in's with him and still bore markings of those encounters. Needless to say, they lacked discipline, skill, and any respect for him. Still he trained them as best he could and mold them into a usable team. Sadly, even after roughly three months of training, they made little progress than when they began. Lessons were lost do to uncaring individuals and a few even made it clear they would rather kill him than learn to be a Muggle.

Corbin took a head count. including himself, they were at twenty-one in all.

This night was getting strange and exceedingly more dangerous as time progressed. When Julius, the leader of the Minotaur’s, saw the strange light burning in the sky he had sent all the females and the young ones to the birthing grounds which was the safest place. His mate Marta had at first refused to go, but she knew it was her job to protect the females and young ones. If he did not return it was understood by all she would be the one to choose the next leader. Julius stationed a few of the young ones who were just getting their horns, to keep tabs on the Black Rose Garden. He gathered the others around him and they set off for the edge of the forest.

They had made it just about to the thinner area of trees when Julius stopped everyone because of human voices just ahead. Quietly the group advanced to where they could see the humans but would remain undetectable.

The other five who were supposed to be with the team were still injured as a result of crossing Corbin. A month ago, The Shadow had asked him if his team would be ready for an immediately concerning mission. The Scot had no idea of the mission but honestly reported that the men were nowhere near ready for any mission. To his surprise, His uncle appeared to have respected Corbin's assessment because soon after the men acted more obedient and the Yank dropped all plans for whatever mission it was to be. At least that was Corbin's speculation. Either way his mind returned to the present and he surveyed his men. Ten groups of two was how things would work out. He began his briefing.

"Alright you wand waving idiots!" he growled "we have a mission to do. You all spread out and remember to keep your partner safe." All, except Corbin, wore wizard clothes charmed with magical protection. Over that, they each had some form of surplus ballistic armor and ski mask to hide their features. A few got a hold of helmets but overall they looked the part for a low level gang fight in South Africa than a trained unit.

"As of right now, your orders are to take up a defensive position, observe, and report any parameter movements unless otherwise ordered by me." one of the squad strolled forward with purpose.

"So our job is to sit down and do nothing? we have armor and wards, what do we need to worry about?"

Corbin leveled a vicious glare at the man. "Those are your orders, now shut it an move out"

"Well then I say to hell with your orders, and don't think that we need to fear you. I'm protect..." The man was cut off as he realized that Corbin and swiftly bounded the distance and his dirk was now buried in his chest. Corbin felt the blade and realized it was stuck in a rib. Slamming his other hand unto the pommel of the dirk sent the blade deep within the man's chest and, with an audible sound of splintering bone, he dropped and gurgled.

Julius was just in time to see one human, stab a knife into another human’s chest. The humans were such strange creatures. They seemed to enjoy killing each other. The one man who had used the knife was, apparently the leader. He was a strong leader, from Julius’ perspective, because none of the other humans had attacked him for killing one of their kind. The man was also dangerous.

"He's your partner" Corbin coldly told one of the men. "That blade pierced his lung, so you best get him back to base and healed otherwise his death is on you." It didn't take the man a second to realize the implications and hurried off to fulfill his orders. "Now, if anyone else decides to get pissy, I will kill you... NOW MOVE OUT!.

Waiting until all the humans left the area, Julius slowly advanced to examine the strange rock. He had seen one human carry the wounded human close to the rock, reach out and touch it and vanish. “No one is to touch the strange rock,” Julius quietly grunted. Just as he was about the take his second trip around the strange structure, he heard a familiar voice further down and on what could only be the edge of the forest. From the sound of the voices, several humans were entering farther away than where they stood.

Tia Andreas

Tia and the rest of the older Core had slipped out. The huge Seven in the night air had caused the Core to go into full alert. Looking back at her friends as she said quietly, "Knowing what we do, the forest is more and likely unprotected at least by wizards. That will be where we will guard at least until morning. Agreed?"

Starling was about in the middle of the group, right behind Luke. She was watching every move he made because he had not been out of the hospital for very long and to Star he still looked weak. Over the past few days she had discovered if she even mentioned the idea he should take it easy still, he would get upset with her. Luke had changed after his ordeal with Shadow's torture. He was still very caring, almost to the point of distraction. If she left her dorm he was there, walking to classes he was there. Sometimes she would try and sneak away a bit, for herself and to give him some free time, but Starling would catch a glimpse of him around a corner or sitting off in the distance, just staring at her. He was short tempered more than usual, which Star tried to put off to him still being weak, but deep down she knew it was more.

When the signal to join the others came, Star did not even have to go looking for Luke, he was outside of her dorm room. They had joined the others and slipped out of the building. As they followed Tia and Landon and the rest of the Core toward the Forbidden Forest, Star saw Tarik and Professor McChey, levitating a man toward the Castle; Brennan appeared to be supported by Professor Greene.

Before she could worry about the group headed for the castle she turned her attention, back to Tia. “Agreed,” she whispered. Luke also chimed in with, “Agreed Tia. The Aurors will be guarding the gate, and will not even think about the Forbidden Forest.” Luke looked back at Star and gave a small smile. In the dark she could not read his eyes, but she knew that constant look of worry was there when they landed on her.

Hearing the sound of each member's feet as they sloshed in the ground, Tia's face cringed. The third year Slytherin realized that she needed not voice her concern that the team was announcing their arrival. She smiled as she watched the boys do a quieting spell on both the soaked ground and each of the members' feet.

The boys had become a tight knit protection squad, trained by Darik to set up as much protection around the group as possible. They had become good at their duties.

Tia realized that now they made no noise as their walk was as silent as their mentor Tarik's.

Tia frowned as she wished that the Medjai could have been with them. She had last seen the Medjai as the Core sled pass him and her aunt Sasha. Tarik, Sasha, and Greene had been headed to the Hospital Wing with Their friend Brennan and an unknown man. Tia voiced her fears, "Do we have anybody headed to the Hospital Wing? We need to understand what this was all about. Isn't Bren still suppose to be confined? Also who was that guy that Tarik and aunt Sasha was helping?"

Luke turned back toward Tia and answered her question. “Marshall and Mika are running interference with Jackson so we could get out hopefully unnoticed. Silvia went directly to the Hospital to see if she could help there and to check on what might need to be done. The three of them will handle what they can with the help of Brennan as soon as he gets back there. They have been told if they are told to leave then to leave the Hospital wing and set up an observation station somewhere close, letting us know what is happening.” Most of what the youngest members of the Core were doing was part of a scenario, Darik had presented them with in case of attack. The youngest took their job seriously. Luke smiled knowing Marshall and Mika would enjoy, intercepting his older brother Jackson.

Tia smiled as she realized what Jackson was in for. Nodding as she heard Landon say, "He better not touch them!" Tia knew that Landon was still furious with his brother for the incident outside the Great Hall. Being Prefect had gone to Jackson's head and made him worst instead of straighten him out.

She pointed to where the Mark had been as she said urgently, "Though at the moment, finding out who made that Mark is the first worry." Tia was not about to voice her fear. She hoped that the Mark had not been meant for her. Inwardly she was terrified that her reprieve was over. Tia looked at her friends and wondered if she was endangering them by having them with her. Her eyes landed on Luke and remembered how he had been tortured by Shadow. These guys were no match for Shadow and she was being irresponsible in asking them to come with her. She had to do what was right, especially if The Dark Shadow was waiting.

Tia had to give them a way out as she said, "Since it is only checking the forest for areas unprotected, it won't take all of us. You guys can help the younger members with checking out the inside of the castle. It will only take a half of a hour at most."

Star was quick to say, “I’m staying. The young ones can handle the hospital. They will have adults there to help them. Brennan knows how important it will be to them that they stay.” Since Star had spent that short time looking for Luke the day he had went to the Shrinking Shack and was captured by Shadow. It was at that point she realized just how much she really cared for Luke and she would stay if he did. She also knew he would not leave, so she was staying.

Luke turned to Starling and said, “Star, why don’t you go back and help the young ones. They will listen to you and you would have more authority with the adults.” Luke had to try and get Star to return to the Castle. He had become petrified she would get hurt. The look she returned him, took all hope of her leaving out of his mind. He just looked at the ground and then turned away and looked toward the front of the group.

Not waiting for a verbal answer from Star he turned back to Tia, “Tia, Star is not going to go and I am not going to go. I've tried dealing with Shadow on my own and all it got me was….” Luke stopped in mid sentence as the pictures of the torture, shot through his brain.

Tia listened and remembered. When Luke stopped, Tia said as she still tried to get them to understand her fear, "Luke, you above all should understand. I don't want any more of my friends in the Hospital Wing thanks to Shadow. They are not ready yet and I am afraid..." She stopped as she saw a image of Mir against a wall dead. Shaking her head as she knew that was not real. Miranda wasn't dead, she couldn't be.

Luke also knew they were not ready to fight a large battle with adults, but they were good enough to spy and check out locations of the enemy. They had been taught by Darik how to use each other’s strengths and recognize each other’s weaknesses, so they could work together.

They had also been taught by Darik to recognize their own weaknesses and accept them. This way each of them did not spend valuable time and effort in trying to prove someone else wrong. Their time and effort could be used in following the person who did posses the expertise for any given scenario. “Tia we may not be ready t fight an adult war, but Darik has made sure we had abilities to help with information gathering, so lead on….”

“Well you know what happened there. From the experience I learned we cannot fight Shadow individually, but only as a group.” Looking around at the group he continued, “Whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, Tia Andreas, you are our leader and we will follow you where you lead, but we will not abandon you or any member of the Core because you personally are worried about one of us getting hurt. I am pretty sure the rest of the group would agree.”

Tia cringed as she said, "It is not that you could get hurt that terrifies me but the fact that he almost killed you Luke! It is not you guys he is after it is me. No more are going to die because of me!"

Luke looked at Tia and told her, “Tia, you may have been his main target when all this started, but you are not the only target anymore. We have all gotten on the wrong side of Shadow. Each and every one of us has become part of his ‘must take out’ group. Even the school is in danger now, and most of the students do not even know there are problems like this in the world. So we do what we can do, learn from our experiences and do some more.”

Star vigorously nodded her head in agreement to what “her” Luke had said to Tia.

Landon grabbed her hand and said, "Tia, Stop and listen. They are not going back and neither am I. So how about us figuring out what we are going to do if it is Shadow?"

Tia gave him a look of what she thought but was stopped by his next words, "Tia Andreas, don't you dare say that you will handle it alone! Luke is right and I am glad he sees it. The only way we are going to deal with Shadow is as a group and that is final! The Core is a team and you are our leader so lead. But don't even consider leaving us out! Tia, I know he did a number on both you and Luke. But you guys were alone and did not have backup. Let's see what happens when he has all of us, okay? Tia, if we are out gunned than we will get help, okay?"


Star had quietly listened to the exchanges between Luke and Tia and Landon and Tia. She was so proud of Luke. When Landon had finished she added, “Landon is right Tia, The Core is a team, we have learned about each other.” Smiling she tried to act confident, and not show the feeling the butterflies in her stomach were creating. “Lead on Tia and we will follow.”

Tia watched as the others nodded in agreement. They were great friends and had no intention of taking the out. Nodding as she said, "Okay team, the first order of business is to ask permission to enter and give a heads-up to the Centaurs and Julius. Then we enter, with wands drawn and eyes open. If Shadow is responsible then we need to figure out how to lead him to where they can deal with him. Any ideas?"

Tia hoped the others understood that she had to at least offer them the out as Shadow, in her mind was not their fight.

Stopping at the edge of the forest as she showed honor to the Centaurs and asked permission before entering the forest by saying, "Centaurs, we are not meaning any harm. We are only asking for permission to enter and insure that any area unprotected is brought to your attention. We, The Core know that the Centaurs are not involved and understand that any actions in the forest will need to go though you or the Minotaurs. You have our word!"

Corbin blanched as he heard the voice calling in the night. {i}Tia?Centaurs? Minotaur? What the hell is going on?!.{/i}He could barely hear everything that was said but the voice sounded very similar to Tia's and the words Centaur and Minotaur were unmistakably clear. A chill ran down his spine as he remembered the girl's rendition of her encounter with one. If there were several in the forest then not only were they in trouble but so also was the girl, Tia or otherwise. His mind raced at the thought and to plan, but he was given no time.

Waiting several minutes until the signal that permission had been granted was given. Tia wondered if it would be Duskheart or Julius who granted them entry.

The Minotaur group had cleared the distance from the strange rock to where the humans were entering in record time. It was the pack of human young ones who had visited the forest before. They knew how to act and the young female leader was respectably asking permission to enter. Julius reached into the small bag he had tied to the cord holding his toga together and took out a bit of fire-sand which he squeezed in his hand and then through into the air where it glimmered like a thousand firebugs.

"Damnit!" Corbin hissed. His team had already split off a bit but were still within line of sight and all turned to see the strange happenings. Not wanting to risk giving away anything, he touched the ear piece and spoke into the mic,

"Change in plans, spread out but keep your eyes open. You should have your thermal sights so keep those up and do not, I repeat, DO NOT engage unless whatever is out here engages first."

"What's a thermal sight?" The mercenary felt a migraine begin to form as one of the squibs spoke.

"The thermal sight," He began "is that little scope you were issued that detects heat. If you see an object with a different heat reading than the terrain and it's moving then chances are it's alive and stay clear of it. now you lot get into position, I'm going to scout behind and see who just came on our 6"

The same question repeated itself in response "What's our 6...”

"Never mind. I'm going to check it out. You all just follow your orders and for god's sake don't piss anything off". Corbin removed his thermal scope from his rifle and began to backtrack through the trees in the direction of where the voice was heard. The lack of screaming meant that either there was no threat or else...Corbin didn't bother to think of the alternative.

Watching to see which way they were heading, Julius left two of the Minotaurs who had expressed interest in learning more about the humans, to watch the small band of young ones. Taking a moment to send a messenger off to the Centaur enclave, he took the rest of the group, after explaining to the guards they were to silently protect but not interfere, to find the humans who had come out of the strange rock.

Smiling as Tia told the Core, "Remember we gave our word. Any area unprotected needs to be marked on the map and then given to Darik, or one of the leaders of the clans. We are to be very careful and not to enter any protected areas. Also if we are told to leave, we do so in a moment's notice, understood? It has taken three years to get this truce and nothing is going to destroy it, especially Shadow!"

Starling reached into her pocket and pulled out the map. Enlarging it and unfolding it carefully, she looked at the drawing. The mapping of any of their adventures was one of her duties. She had been mapping various parts of the school since her first year, and had become good at locating areas of interest from the history of the Castle.

The map she had at the moment was of the Forbidden Forest. Darik had offered her a special class on mapping the terrain around the school. He had showed her some special symbols to use and even filled in some of the areas she would have to know about a head of time like the protected areas. The map was only readable by Darik and anyone he designated to be able to read the drawing. The protected areas were parts of the Forbidden Forest, such as locations of villages of Centaurs, the Black Rose Garden, special herbs grown for the creatures of the forest, and areas where some of the rarer animals could be found. The areas were protected by the Centaurs or Minotaurs, never to be touched or entered without permission by the protecting group.

“Tia, I have the map Darik gave me. I will also add new areas if we find them.” Starling smiled, because Darik had come up with an ingenious plan, so she told Tia and the group, “If I enter something on the map, Darik’s copy of the same map will also show the addition and will register when the correction was made.” It had not taken Star long to realize Darik used this procedure to keep track of the Core, but that was fine with Star.

Luke stopped and let Star catch up to where he was standing. Looking over her shoulder, he pointed to one area of interest on the map. There were no makings there to designate anything protected, but there was a symbol designating a small cave. It would be a good place to set up a check point. Star nodded her head to let him know she understood and marked a small “x” with a question mark next to it on the spot Luke had indicated.

“Tia, up ahead, about 500 yards is a small cave which I think would make a good check point,” Her cousin Luke said to the group, as he placed his hand on Star's shoulder and squeezed slightly. The gesture had only lasted about ten seconds, but it was his way of letting Star know he cared.

Tia nodded as she said calmly, "Thanks Luke, we check it first. Is it in a clan protected area? Luckily, it is not a full moon, or we would not be doing this. I for one have no intention of running across that werewolf that changed Gab."
Star pulled out her map again, to look for an answer to Tia’s question. “According to Darik the main chamber of the cave is about the size of the Great Hall. There are several small branches off of the main area, but he has them marked as dangers because of beings and possible cave-in’s. A special note says, “ Luke hold you wand here a bit closer so I can read, please,” Starling looked closer at the map inscription, “It says….two heavies and one small, floor moves, dirt falls. This could mean cave-in’s or even landslides. Either way, Darik has a large ‘no’ on all tunnels.”

Studying some of the smaller symbols, Star added, “I see no clan markings on my map, but it is a good place to hide, so we might expect some clan to lay claim.” Star sounded a little worried when she finished the last sentence.

Tia drew her wand as Rosa said, "Julius, gave the signal. There is where we can enter. If I know him, we won't be alone. I recommend a few of us use wand light but not all."

“That is a really good idea Rosa,” Starling agreed as she lit her wand. She was not going to give Luke the chance to light his. It would be better for her to be the target, and have him be able to react from where ever the shot or spell came from. She noticed Lily and Miley had also light theirs. When she looked at Luke she noticed he was not happy.

Letting Star know how unhappy he was about her lighting her wand, Luke whispered, “Star put out your wand. I will light mine. With your's lit it makes you too much of a target. Put it out.”

Luke had never come this close to ordering Star to do anything. At first Star only looked at him with a questioning look in her eyes then she pointedly said, “Luke you know I would do anything you ask me, normally. This time I am going to disagree with you.” Getting up very close to him so he could see her eyes, she finished, “You have quicker reactions than I do and can send off counter spells quicker than I can think of them. So no, Luke, I will not extinguish my light.”

As Star stood so close, Luke wanted to protect her even more, but he was slowly finding out Star had a Scottish temper. If she put her foot down, even figuratively, then it was down for good. He would just have to concentrate on be more observant to protect her. “Okay Star, I will agree to it, but you must follow my directions, if I tell you to get down or run, without hesitation, ok?”

Star nodded and smiled, silently telling him she would agree to those terms.

After her team voiced their ideas, Tia pointed to a part of the forest that the signal had come from, as she said, "We enter there and be careful not to mess up the plants or creatures." She knew that Rosa had insured that the plants were marked as to insure that the team avoided them.

With that the young third year Slytherin entered the forest with her wand drawn.

Star allowed the self-folding map to close and put it in her pocket. Rosa, who was a frequent visitor to the Forbidden Forest, much to the chagrin of the adults and some of her friends, had marked areas to stay out of and Star had been able to get with her and add most of them to her drawing.

As Tia headed into the Forbidden Forest, Star caught up with Luke, lightly rubbed his arm and squeezed his hand. Then she drew her wand and followed closely behind. Luke had returned the hand squeeze and he was now about two feet ahead of her, wand drawn and eyes scanning both sides of the trail.

Tia entered into the forest and hoped Landon was right. Her friends might not be ready individually but as a team, they just might. She noticed that one of each row had wand-light to guide them. Star, Lily, Miley and Telk all had their wands glowing. Tia was unsure if the idea would work but from a far it would make anybody think they were up against only four instead of eight. This might be the only thing that tipped the scales. If it was, then Tia would be thankful as she knew that she could still be leading them into a trap...

The whole group had followed Tia into the Forbidden Forest. The Minotaur's had made it known they were near. Star hoped very near. Darik trusted them and so did The Core, after some of the stories he had told them.

TIA


Tia was worried as Rosa had went to Simon alone. After a while, Tia saw Julius approach and stood though one of the Minotaurs tried to pull her back down. Tia shook her head as she said worried about the impulsive Hufflepuff, “Julius, what happened? Rosa went to help Simon. We came in the forest to warn you that Shadow might have been here. A man was found right at the front gate and above him was the mark of the Seven. We decided the Aurors would not cover the Forest so...well here we are.”

Tia looked at her team and signaled them to get into defense positions. The one thing Tia was not about to do was show weakness.



Tia finally noticed Corbin and grinned. She started towards him signal her group to stay put. Ryan shook his head as did Luke. Tia smiled as she said, “He is a friend guys. I will be fine.”



What happened next was too quick for Tia to stop. She saw in a matter of seconds Corbin be captured by the Minotaur's. Tia shook her head as she said running to where they held Corbin, “No Julius, Corbin is not a part of this. He is my Friend!”



Tia shook her head standing near the edge of the trees in between Julius and Corbin. With determination, she said, “No Julius, The Core is staying. We are friends Julius and I understand your pain because of Simon but understand the Core is not running.”

Turning her face towards Corbin, she said, “Corbin, You have got to forgive Julius. As leader of the Minotaur's, he gets very upset when one of his clan is attacked. I am sure you had nothing to do with those that attacked and explained you are a friend. What is going on? Did the Ministry send you for the man that was found at the gate?”

Just then she heard laughing as she heard a branch snap behind her.

CORBIN
Corbin had barely a moment to make eye contact with Tia before a forceful impact sent him to the ground hard. His head rang and jaw felt lack, The creatures pinning him prevented him from being able to move. He tried to respond to Tia but found speech difficult. He must have dislocated my damn jaw. He groaned to himself. There was nothing he could do. Either Tia convinced the over sized steak to let him go, or else his cover was blown and that was the end of everything. He had to admit, it was almost heartwarming to have her trying to jump in and save him, if it wasn't for the fact it was supposed to be the other way around.



Roderick stepped out from behind the brush with two others. While the others had ditched their rifles in favor of wands, Roderick kept his firearm trained on Tia. "The princess is coming with us. Anyone moves, and she dies."

"They have one of ours." Said one of the other men, pointing with his wand toward the rifle and feet visible from under the minotaur.

"That rifle looks familiar..." as the minotaur slowly started to get their weight off of him, Corbin Kicked out with the heel of his boot Connecting solidly with the nose of one. The surprise caught Roderick's attention Corbin drew his dirk and spun to face the man. He flung his weapon sank into the man's unprotected neck. The other two wizards kept their wands trained on him, but a peppering of bullets from behind dropped them. one of the young men he had trained stood there holding the gun, shaken.

"Are... Are you ok sir?" He asked wide eyed at the surrounding company. Corbin felt at his jaw and confirmed it was dislocated. He inhaled deeply, then forced the joint back in place with a stifled scream. He nodded to the young man and, drawing his Messer, staggered to recover his dirk. He awarded Julius a dark glare, keeping his dirk in his left hand, and strode purposefully next to Tia.

"Damnit girl..." He groaned through gritted teeth. "What... are.. you... doing... here?!"

JULIUS



Sometimes Julius was frustrated with the young humans, especially the princess. They foolishly thought they had to be brave and stay in danger. He had yet to figure out how to get them to listen to him. He understood the Princess was someday going to be a great ruler, according to his friend, the elf named Darik, but she had to get to that point in her life alive first.



The moment the branch broke Julius knew more humans were coming into the clearing. He shoved the Princess back toward her friends, simultaneously signaling his clan brothers to jump the man who presented the biggest problem at that instant. The man was down on the ground and Julius waited to see what else was in store for them.



Julius stood stock still, silently telling his members to get off the human slowly and back up. Even if these new men, one who had a fire stick and two with the magic sticks, took the Princess they wouldn't have her long. They were in his forest and he could take them out easily. Julius preferred to let the humans take care of their own, but there was times they took way too long to accomplish what even the youngest calf of his clan could take care of with a sling shot.



Julius motioned for the other three minotaur of his clan to step behind him. The human fire stick had killed two of the humans. The man whom the human Princes was telling him was a friend had taken out one human. That human was still alive. Besides the Princess friend another man young human stood off to the side his fire stick still pointing toward him and his clan members. Tia called the one they had taken down, Corbin. Julius knew Corbin's face was hurt. Julius had a lot of respect for the man as he fixed his own broken face, but that respect was not going to keep him from protecting the Princess. When the human looked at him with the glare in his eyes, Julius stood to his full seven foot height and fisted his hands at his side. "As long as the Princess and the other young ones are in my forest they are protected. Hurt the Princess, human Corbin and you will not leave this forest without visiting my Clan home and learning what we do to those who harm the human's we protect."



Julius watched every movement of the human Corbin and the other man who had lowered his fire stick. He did not miss the fact the human took great pride in his knives. With that much pride in them, Julius knew the man was good. It might be interesting at a later date, if he was allowed to live and leave the forest at this date, to have a small contest. Julius and his clan learned many things buy letting the humans show their expertise in different areas. If the man made a move he didn't like he would have him tied up and on the way to the Clan home immediately, no matter what the Princess or the other young ones said.

TIA


Tia smiled as she watched the leader of the Minotaur's. She knew he was trying to figure out how to get Tia to understand that he thought she should leave and return to the school, to safety. The fourth year understood all too well. She tapped Julius on the arm as she said calmly, “Julius, I know you just want us safe. We will listen to your wisdom on anything but us leaving. Julius, Dar’ik trained us and if we run now...” Tia stopped wondering just how to get the Minotaur to understand what she feared more than fighting.

She looked to Luke and the rest of her friends. Luke and Danny nodded as if to encourage her to continue. She looked back at Julius as she continued, “If we take the out you are giving, when does it end? If we don’t stand up for what the Core stands for and help our friends, how can we expect others to stand up against the darkness in the world? Julius, do you understand? I am expected to lead the Medjai when I become of age. But, how can I get them to follow me if at the first sign of trouble I run instead of showing by example what should be done?”




Tia held up had hands as a sign of surrender and also to let the other members of the Core know not to move. She look closely at the man with the riffle and shook her head, “I remember you! You tried this in Knockturn Alley. I will say this only once fool... You are a real slow learner! I am going nowhere so leave as this Forest is forbidden to anybody but those invited! Should you not heed my advice then your fate is your own doing.”

The expression on the man's face told her he was not going to heed her words. Tia might not be able to do anything at the moment, but it was an absolute certainty, Julius had other surrounding them just waiting for their leaders directives.




Tia looked at Corbin as she remembered his battle in Knockturn. The new man was saying Corbin was one of their men. But that couldn't be true. She knew Corbin was a Mercenary but so far he had acted like he was on the right side of the law.




Tia noticed the man that had tried to kidnap her try to flee. His rifle lay on the ground. Corbin had taken out one man with his Dirk and the young man had taken out the other with bullets. The third man was running. Tia threw her blade on instinct at the fleeing man but the knife sailed wide. She looked at the older boys of the Core as she said, “Find him and bring him back alive.”

She stared in disbelief at Corbin. Had she once again trusted the wrong person, Tia prayed that Corbin had a good explanation. She had vouched for him and still hoped he was a friend.


.

As he walked closer to her she kept repeating to herself, he was a friend. What she was seeing worried her though. “Was I wrong and all along he was only setting me up?” Tia thought but shook her head. “No! Corbin or the man that called him sir would not have attacked the other two. Yes he needs to explain but I know in my soul, Corbin is a good man and even a better friend.”




Tia looked skyward at the burning seven. She had drawn her special wand when the older boys took off after the fleeing man. She decided it was time to show the trust she still had in both Julius as well as Corbin. She especially needed Julius to understand she trusted Corbin. She placed the wand back in her special pocket.




“This is where I go to school, Corbin,” Tia said.

“Corbin, I vouched for you with Julius but yet I can’t help what I heard. One calls you sir and most importantly the man who was killed by your dirk said you were one of them. Corbin, I know I trust you but with the Seven’s calling card is still in the air, an injured man lies in the hospital wing. Simon’s being shot needs me to ask, Corbin were you a part of that?” Tia pointed both to Simon and then to the burning seven in the sky.