Knight Shift is still unedited and hasn't been touched in months except for a few minor errors that I remembered about in the middle of the night. Help would be much appreciated as well as an editor. I have no time due to school. If you can help, email me or go to my Xanga page. Information is posted on my profile. Thanks!

Tri

Knight Shift

I: Castle Eran

In castle Eran, life was peaceful, so peaceful in fact, that only the blacksmith's apprentice, Ren, saw the girl walk in to the stable in full armor. When he told his master, the smith said, "Nonsense, boy! You know well enough that girls don't wear armor!" Ren still wasn't convinced; he had seen her! He was sure of it! He glanced toward the stable, looking for the girl, but he didn't see her again. He put it in the back of his mind, and went back to work.

╪

The next day, Ren went to the jousting tournament. He had been looking forward to it for the last six months. He had met several of the knights that come into the forge to repair their armor after practice. It would be a close tournament, with many contestants. He was scanning the stable wall for his favorite knight, Sir Jeran's, colors, when his eyes came across something he did not expect: the colors that the girl was wearing! He didn't even bother telling his master, but went straight over to the stable. He met Jeran on the way over and stopped to ask him a question.

"Jeran, sir, do you know which knight is wearing black and red?" he asked.

"You know, that's something. He never showed himself at practice, or any other time for that matter. Why do you want to know?" Sir Jeran replied.

"I think he may actually be a girl, sir. I saw a girl wearing those colors by the stable yesterday," Ren knew Sir Jeran would believe him.

"You don't say! It would make sense. She used more tactics than any of the rest of us. She actually tried not to get hit!" Jeran looked around for her colors, and when he spotted them, he started walking toward her stable. Ren followed, wanting to find out who this girl was who thought she could get into a tournament.

When they approached, the knight was situating her saddle and lances so that she could ride easily. She looked up when they came near.

"Hello," she said, simply acknowledging their presence, not really welcoming them.

"Hello, I'm Sir Jeran, and this is Ren, the blacksmith's apprentice. I don't believe I caught your name after practice yesterday." Jeran said conversationally.

"I didn't give it," she replied icily.

Ren gave a low whistle at her impertinence. No one spoke to a knight like that! He didn't think much of her manners, even if she was a good jouster.

"No offence meant, I just like to know the names of my opponents," Jeran was trying to be civil, even though she wasn't.

"Why, so you can find them again if you loose?" this girl was really starting to get on Ren's nerves, talking to his friend like that! He was a little surprised to find himself referring the Jeran as a friend, but then again, they were about the same age with similar interests.

"No, and I don't intend on loosing today, or any other time, so you needn't be so impertinent," Jeran had finally lost his temper and reprimanded the girl. Secretly, Ren was proud of him, but he would never let the girl know it, not after the way she had treated Jeran!

"My name is Sabre, and I meant no offence, but I rarely find worthy opponents." Jeran was instantly cooled by this compliment. Ren was impressed by her sudden change of moods. She was definitely a girl; no boy he knew could change moods that quickly. He hoped that he could stay with them, and maybe watch the joust from ground level.

The joust was close, just as he had predicted. It eventually got down to Jeran and Sabre for the win. Ren didn't know who would win. This Sabre girl was good, but Jeran also beat everyone on his side. He also noticed that Jeran was riding his best horse. That was honor in itself! Blade was Jeran's favorite horse, and he only rode him when he expected to win, but knew he couldn't with any other horse. Blade was the fastest, most agile horse Ren had ever seen, and that was saying something, since the forge was right next to the stable.

Just as he was thinking this, he saw Jeran's mistake, which lost him his horse and eventually his title (in jousting, when you get knocked off your horse, your opponent gets to keep your horse.) Jeran was riding toward the center, turned to set his lance in position, but did not put his feet back in the stirrups to brace him. Sabre saw it instantly, and adjusted he lance to exactly the right height to knock him off without hurting him too much. Ren thought that was strange of her, since Jeran would not have thought of doing the same. Ren could almost see Jeran's surprise as he sat on the ground, slightly dazed, and listening to the crowd applauding for Sabre. He got up and walked out of the arena. When he came over, Ren went to him to see if he was alright.

"I'm fine, just a little dazed. I can't believe I lost! On Blade too!" Jeran grimaced, "That Sabre was definitely good, though." Jeran said. He wasn't too angry; he knew that Blade was going to a good knight and someone who would take care of him.

Sabre walked in to the stable after getting her award. She looked around, when she spotted Jeran and Ren, she went over to them.

"I wanted to make sure you didn't get hurt. Sometimes falling can be hard, especially if you don't often," she said concernedly.

"I fell enough times in training to know how to fall correctly. Thanks though," Jeran was a little surprised by her concern, most knights ended up hating each other after a tournament.

He smiled, "You're lucky I didn't brace myself, or I'd be the one with the metal."

"You can have it if you want, it won't do me any good," she held the metal out to him.

Jeran shook his head, "You haven't been in these parts long, then."

"No, and I won't be staying either, I just needed some one to come with me on my journey, and see the world. I don't stay in one place for very long, so the two of you can make as many enemies as you want."

"What makes you think we're coming?" asked Jeran, his smile widening.

"Well, I figure, I looked in all the towns from here to the High North, and only found two people who could possibly understand some of the things that I come across, but you don't have to come if you don't want," she said sweetly.

"Don't count me out so quickly, girl!" Jeran said indignantly.

"What about you Ren, you've been rather quiet?" Sabre asked.

"Anything to get out of this town! I've always wanted to see other places than just the river towns," Ren said, almost too quickly, "but, I'm already apprenticed." Ren frowned and looked down at that.

"Oh, I can sort that out in no time. Just watch!" Sabre started walking to the door.

"I'll have to explain to the duke why I'm leaving," Jeran whispered to Ren. He carefully did not say that they were in a similar situation, Jeran having pledged allegiance to the duke, thus getting his knight's title.

╪

When Ren got back to the forge, the blacksmith took him a side to ask him a question.

"Ren, Sabre, the champion knight, wants to take you with him on his journeys and train you to be a knight. I'll let you go, if you are sure it is what you want to do," he said.

"Yes please, sir! It would be an honor to go!" Ren was excited that Sabre had convinced his master to let him leave! He was a little disconcerted by the fact that she didn't let him know that she was female, but it didn't matter. He couldn't wait to tell Jeran and see if the duke would let him go. He was slightly worried, because the duke was known for his temper, and he didn't want Jeran to get hurt, either by the guards, or the duke himself. Before now, Ren hadn't believed the various stories about the duke, but now they crept up in his mind and seemed much more believable. He started off for the stable, after he had collected the few things he had.

╪

"Hello, Ren. Are you ready to go, we're leaving as soon as Jeran gets here?" Sabre said as he walked in.

"Yeah, what's taking him so long?" Ren asked, puzzled. He figured his friend would be done with the duke before he was done with the blacksmith.

╪

As a matter of fact, Jeran was having some trouble with the duke…

"What do you mean 'I'm leaving'?" the duke screamed.

"I've gotten an offer better than the one you're offering. I only need an hour to collect my things," Jeran said coolly. He was getting annoyed by the duke's actions. He had already thrown an ink pot, a book, and several quills.

"You can't leave!" the duke was red from screaming now.

"I am leaving!" Jeran had lost his temper.

"You will be killed if you ever set foot in this town again! Guards will escort you to the stable. All your property belongs to me now. Leave!" with that, the guards seized Jeran and dragged him out of the castle. By the time he got to the doors he had gotten himself together and was walking. The only thing he had with him was hid father's pendant, not even his sword or armor. He didn't know how he would manage now, with no horse, no sword, and no title. He had lived in the castle all his life. As he walked by, a silent crowd gathered. He looked at no one, but he felt their gazes. Few were banished from the castle, and never had a knight been banished. It was always a criminal or prisoner. Jeran heard his mother cry out and try to run forward, but his father stopped her. Jeran hung his head. He had brought his family shame and his father wouldn't accept him any more. It was worse than he thought it would be. He knew his father would be angry that he was leaving, but he had never expected this. As he approached the stable, Ren ran out with Sabre close behind him.

"What happened? Are you alright? Where's your stuff? Why the guards?" all these questions were bombarded at him by Ren and Sabre. They had been worried. The tales of the dukes temper racing through their minds.

"I'm fine, we have to leave. I'll explain on the way," he said as they ushered him inside the stable. Sabre had three horses saddled, two of hers and Blade. He glanced at her and she smiled and nodded.

"Mine's faster anyway," she explained.

The mounted and rode out past the gates, Jeran and Ren looking for the last time at their home. As they left, a cheer rose behind them from every man, woman and child.

II: Breanna

It was noon the next day when they finally stopped to rest, and get the story out of Jeran.

"I'm banished on pain of death. We'd better not go back anytime soon," Jeran said in reply to their queries.

"Why would he banish you, just for wanting to leave? Lots of knights break their contracts," Ren asked, puzzled.

"I suppose I should have told you before you agreed to come," Sabre said reflectively.

"Tell us what?" Jeran and Ren both say at the same time. They look expectedly at her.

"Well, why do you think no one has ever left the river towns before?" Sabre asked. They look confusedly at her. "Come on, surely you've wondered why I'm the only visitor you've ever had…well?" She grimaced, "Do they beat all the curiosity out of people in Areas like this?" She was really pleading to them now.

"Sorry, I don't think we've ever had the chance to be curious before now. No one knew about the outside world, so there wasn't any point in talking about it," Ren apologized.

That got Jeran to thinking, "I once asked my father why no one left the castle, and he just whipped me and told me not to ask stupid questions."

"Did your father work with the duke?" asked Sabre.

"Yeah, he was always in the duke's office, why?" Jeran replied.

"The duke probably told him why," more to herself, "They let people know in some of the other Areas."

"What do you mean by 'Areas?'?" Ren asked.

"There is a lot more to the world than you think, it's really very complicated. The only way I can tell it is in the same way I heard it…

"Long ago, there was a world with everything you can imagine. There was machinery to do everything: cook, clean, send letters, etc. No one had to do anything on their own, so they had time to develop new and terrible things. They had weapons that, if used, could kill millions of people, and genetically affect the descendants of any who survived. This obviously caused problems beyond those that had ever been dealt with before. Different countries, groups of towns and castles all unified under a ruler, started fighting and destroying each other. The nuke bombs, the weapons that could kill millions of people, were only used twice before people started working on Areas. Areas are pieces of land surrounded in electromagnetic fields to keep people either in or out unless they had a permit. The point of an electromagnetic field was that if you tried to pass through it, you would die, fried to a crisp. There were gates to let people in or out if they had permits. Each Area had a theme, depending on what the Maker wanted. This particular one is a recreation of medieval Europe. That is where the original knights and blacksmiths were. In some of the more modern Areas, people knew about the existence of Areas and the fact that they were being held there, not allowed to leave. Several rebel groups started to try and break out of the Areas. I am one of the first, and only, six to ever escape. The six of us are known as Iresens. Our job is to find people in the different Areas and free them so they can help us over throw the Makers and re-unite the world. None of the Makers ever got along, and so there is no contact between them. Ren, you complained about only knowing about the river towns, that's because there are only river towns in this Area. The Iresens are trying to get people to realize that they are being denied things. If they know, then they can create their own government and rule themselves instead of having to listen to a duke, or a king, or an emperor. People deserve more than that! If we unite, then we can fight off anything. The Makers are using the things you make to fight each other, and not benefit you in any way."

"So, if people find out that they are being used as slaves, we will be able to over throw the Makers?" Jeran asked.

"Yes!" Sabre replied.

"Wow, I had no clue before now. Its strange thinking that there is another world, so different from the one I've always lived in that we don't even know it exists," Ren said thoughtfully.

"The Makers, the duke in your case, don't tell the people." Sabre said. It was almost dark now, so they decided to ride a short distance to the nearest tavern and get shelter for the night.

╪

As they approached the electromagnetic field, they could see it shimmering. It was beautiful, with an opalescent shine, yet deadly to any who touch it. Sabre picked up a stone and throws it through. It never touched the other side.

"That's not good," Ren said.

"No, it's not. Usually it won't affect stone. It usually makes a hole where the stone went through," Sabre was worried now. Had they found out about her and strengthened the field? She looked quizzically at the field and rode closer.

"What should we do?" asked Jeran.

"I don't know," said Sabre.

"Let's try lots of things to see what can and can't go through." Ren suggested.

"Good idea. Does anyone have any metal to try?" said Jeran.

"Only my sword, but it's the only weapon I have," Sabre replied. Ren was digging around in his bag for something. When he pulled out a rod of iron, Jeran and Sabre praised him for his resourcefulness.

"We can try this, and if it works, we'll keep it and use it later," Ren explained, he then un-mounted and walked toward the field. Sabre tried to stop him but he shook her off. He put the rod in the field, and when it didn't burn up, he started to draw a circle in it big enough for the three of them to ride through. Sabre was staring open mouthed at him. This shouldn't be happening! The electromagnetic waves would travel through the iron into Ren and kill him! She knew because one of the original seven Iresens died that way. He had tried to open a portal in the field, which was exactly what Ren was now succeeding in doing. The sky outside was grey and cloudy, a sharp contrast to the clear blue sky in the Area. Ren had opened a portal big enough for the three of them to ride through now, and was re-mounting. His rod, which he was still holding, was glowing white with all the electromagnetic energy. She was astonished that he could do that.

"What?" Ren asked in reply to her stare.

"That shouldn't have happened. The electromagnetic energy should have traveled up the rod and killed you, just like it did Eric, but it didn't even seem to affect you," Sabre said, still almost in a trance.

By that time Jeran was staring at him too, "That is strange," he turned to Sabre, "who is Eric?"

"There were originally seven Iresen, but Eric was killed doing just exactly what Ren just did," Sabre replied. Eric had been a very good friend of hers and she was worried that she would loose Ren too.

They rode out into the real world. Sabre had to explain what each of the different things was that they passed. By the time the sighted a concrete building in the distance, they new more about the modern world than a computer programmer that was in politics.

"What's that building?" Ren asked.

"It used to be a bomb shelter, but now it is the Iresen head quarters. That is where we all meet and talk, not to mention research, and try to find new ways to help people escape the Areas. You are the first to successfully escape, other than the original six. The others will probably want to make you Iresens as soon as possible. We can also get food in there," Sabre explained. They hadn't eaten all day. It was almost dark. They'd been on the road for two weeks now, and hadn't been eating much anyway before they ran out.

As they approached, a woman came out of the shelter and yelled, "Sabre, 's that you? I'll tell Liza to cook more!"

Sabre grinned, "That was Mia. And Liza does all the cooking; she's the best cook in the world. The others are Kale, Brian, and Lyes. They're all cool."

"OK, lets go in now, its starting to rain," Jeran said. He was cold and hungry and could get introductions inside.

They went inside, and met everyone. Kale was tall, with sandy-blond hair and blue eyes; Brian was just as tall as Kale and had short black hair. Lyes and Liza were both African American, siblings by the look of it. Mia was small with red hair and green eyes. Ren and Jeran had never seen anyone with more freckles on their face. The mot amazing thing was that they were all between sixteen, and twenty, Sabre's age. Mia was sixteen, Liza and Lyes, who were twins, were seventeen. Brian was nineteen and Kale was twenty. Sabre was correct in predicting that they would be inducted into Iresenship soon.

Right after and excellent dinner cooked by Liza, Kale stood up and said, "Congratulations to Sabre for being the first to bring people back here, and welcome Jeran and Ren! I hope Sabre has warned you about us because it can be rather a surprise."

"Oh, be quiet and sit down," said Mia, "What he was trying to say was that you'll have to be one of us if you don't want to be left out in the rain and cold, away from all the Areas for the rest of your lives, so how about it?"

"Mia is quite an elegant speaker," said Kale sarcastically.

"You!" Mia threatened, "Just 'cause you're the oldest and the leader doesn't mean that you have to go talking the rest of us down!"

"Well, if you'd just…" the rest of what Kale had to say was cut off when Sabre clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Let's finish this argument before it gets too far. Mia, Kale is the oldest, and we all voted on who should be leader, so he has the right to speak first at a meeting, and Kale, Mia is right, you could be a little less sarcastic with some of your comments," Sabre said to stop them from going at each other full throttle. In a side note to Ren and Jeran she said, "Mia and Kale are always arguing, because he won't let her do anything, since she's the youngest, and she doesn't like it. It's not usually this bad, but as you know it's been raining on and off for the last month, and they haven't been able to get out."

"That's what I expected; I think Kale was in the right here, because she really is too young to go out and do work, plus, she has to do what he says, he's leader after all," Jeran replied.

"Maybe, but Mia has a point too. You've never had to do everything someone says, so you naturally wouldn't get her point. There's no use in arguing about it anyway," Ren said calmly.

"True," Jeran replied.

"So have you decided if you are going to join yet?" asked Liza.

"I don't think it was ever a question," Jeran said, grinning.

"Good! Now we can get down to business. First of all, the name of our base is Breanna…" Lyes dropped off as he saw Kale standing. Kale nodded to him, opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he was going to say was drowned out by a deafening explosion overhead.

"To Arms!" yelled Kale. Another explosion followed the first one.

Sabre pulled out two swords and hands one to Jeran. "Ren, use the rod like a club!" she shouts over the commotion. Several people grabbed guns or other weapons.

Mia picked up a pistol, but Kale said, "Mia, stay here! Defend the base, and the files. If anything should happen to us, destroy the files! Don't let them get them!" Mia nodded and the rest of the Iresen went outside to fight off the Makers.

Jeran and Ren saw the duke of Castle Eran in the group of Makers. He looked around and, when he saw them, he raised his gun to shoot. The impact hit Ren so hard, he was knocked back. Jeran ran forward and killed the duke with a single blow of his sword, then ran back and carried his unconscious friend into the base.

"What happened? Who shot him? I need to know so I can know how to treat him," Mia asked when they had Ren stretched out on a table.

"The duke of Castle Eran shot him. Will he be alright?" the worry in Jeran's voice made Mia turn her head. "I've known him all my life," he explained.

"I should be able to keep him alive. Get my satchel from the first shelf, will you," Mia said. Jeran nodded and they spent the next hour getting him conscious. He was sitting up when the others came back in.

"We could have used your help out there, Jeran," Kale said as he walked in.

"You can't expect him to leave when his best friend was dying!" Mia retorted.

"Dying?" Sabre said feebly.

"Yes. Jeran risked his own life bringing him in here; he could have been shot at any time. He even dropped his sword!" Mia said, starting softly but gradually getting louder.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. Is he alright?" Kale really meant it. He had been devastated when Eric had died. Eric was Mia's brother, and she almost killed herself when he died, that was partly the reason Kale wouldn't let her fight. He was worried that if one of them died, she might try again. He walked over to the table Ren was laying on and bent down to talk to him, "You'll be out of action for a while, my friend. I'll keep Jeran safe, but meanwhile, I have a job for you. Sabre's told you about Eric?" Ren nodded, "He was Mia's brother. I want you to keep her from falling completely into despair. She almost killed herself when he died, and, as you saw, she's the only one of us who hasn't recovered. I remember once, when Lyes had pneumonia, she worried over him for a month. So just watch her for me, will you?"

"Sure. I'll make sure nothing happens to her," Ren replied. He remembered how Sabre was when she first told them about Eric and he wasn't sure they had all recovered as well as Kale had thought.

"It's strange. Usually the duke doesn't ever shoot anyone," Mia said to Jeran.

"Ren and I come from Eran. I was a knight there and Ren was a blacksmith's apprentice," he replied.

"Ahh," she said.

"I wonder, since he'll be here for a while, if you have ant blacksmithing equipment, he has some iron that he probably wants to make into a weapon?" Jeran asked Kale.

"Yeah, actually Brian used to be a blacksmith in one of the medieval Areas. He makes most of our mêlée weapons. I'm sure he'll let Ren use it," Kale said, then louder, "Hey, Brian! Come here for a minute, I have to tell you something." That got everyone's attention, but Kale grinned and started whispering, "I was wondering, could Ren use your blacksmithing stuff. He was an apprentice in Eran,"

"He was? Sure, he can use it anytime. It'll be good having someone around who I can talk to about medieval times and everything. Is Jeran from Eran too?" Brian said excitedly.

"Yeah, Ren and I lived in Eran all our lives. I was a knight," Jeran said.

"Cool," replied Brian. He went over to Ren and said, "Kale tells me you were a blacksmith's apprentice."

"Yeah," Ren replied, almost sadly. He had liked blacksmithing.

"Care to continue your training?" Brian asked.

"You're a blacksmith?" Ren asked, amazed. When Brian nodded, he grinned.

"I'll take that as a yes. My forge is behind that door," he pointed toward a door in the back of the kitchen.

"I don't have much metal, and what I do have was messed up by the field, so only I can touch it now. I want to make a sword out of it, but it might mess up your anvil," Ren said.

"It'll be fine, and if you're talking about that glowing rod you had, I was wondering where you got it. Most iron doesn't glow," said Brian reassuringly.

"I used it to make a portal in the field, and it evidentially collected some of the electromagnetic energy," Ren explained.

"I see Sabre has you using her vocabulary. It's much easier to say EME for electromagnetic energy. I can also tell you about the different EMEs. I wouldn't tell Kale that you can touch the field either. He might use you to get at some people he has personal problems with. Lyes tried to tell you why our base is called Breanna before the fight; it's named after a prophet, the same prophet that found the six of us and helped us escape. She has had a prophecy out on the internet for about four years now, which means she put it out one year after we escaped, that an Iresen will find someone who can touch the field, and electricity itself. Kale went wild when he found that prophecy. He's been sending us to the different modern Areas, thinking that you had to be in one of the Areas that had electricity. Sabre disobeyed him and went into Eran, partly to get away from technology, and partly to get me some more metal, 'cause I prefer the non-nuked stuff. That's why he was a little bitter when he congratulated her," Brian explained.

"Alright, but why can I touch the field? I mean, why am I the only one? Wouldn't it make sense for others to be able to touch it too?" Ren asked.

"I don't know. Just make sure you don't tell Kale if you want to live as normal a life as possible in this place," Brian said, with a hint of bitterness on his tone.

"You don't like it here, do you?" Ren asked.

"I can't say I don't like it, it's just a little disconcerting to be thrown into a highly technological society, if you can call it a society at all, when you lived all your life in the Middle Ages. Kale doesn't understand; he came from a modern Area. He thinks that no one can be happy in an Area, and it took him a while, but he convinced Sabre too. Mia, Lyes, Liza, and I still miss our Areas sometimes. I don't blame Kale for hating his, it was pretty bad by what he said, but still, If I wasn't outlawed, and I had the choice again, knowing what I do now, I probably would have stayed. That's another thing not to tell Kale," Brian looked down, "Why don't I show you the forge now?" he said slightly louder. Ren nodded, and Brian helped him up. Mia was instantly over by them telling Brian to be careful, and not let him get hurt. Brian just smiled and nodded. Ren looked over to Jeran and saw him grinning. He knew how much blacksmithing meant to Ren. He grinned back. Then he and Brian walked into the forge. It was so like the forge in Eran that Ren was taken aback. "I come from Castle Keros and the dukes of Eran and the king of Keros are brothers. They planned the two castles identically," Brian explained.

"It's just like my forge! You made it like yours', didn't you?" Ren asked.

"Yes, it reminds me of my home." Brian replied. The two of them started to get to work turning the rod into a sword. Brian couldn't touch the rod, but Ren could and Brian helped him with the bellows and the water. After and four months of hard work, they had a beautifully crafted sword with an engraving of a wren on the pommel. They used what was left of the little metal Brian had, but it still made a full bastard sword and wire for the handle. It was perfectly balanced and cut cleanly. They tried with some scrap leather. Jeran looked into the forge to find his friend covered in soot and wielding the most beautiful sword he had ever seen. He was proud of Ren, one for the excellent craftsmanship and speed, but also for his skill and dexterity with a sword. Ren was probably better than he was. The sword no longer glowed, but as he swung it, it left a trail of light, barely visible in the fire light from the forge.

"It's a beautiful sword, isn't it?" Mia asked from behind him. He turned to look at her and nodded. Ren saw them at the door when he spun to hit the next leather strip. He pulled away and didn't hit the leather. He smiled and walked over.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked Jeran.

"You're better than me," Jeran said. Ren shook his head.

"It's true. Jeran was showing us some of the techniques to sword fighting while you were in here. You're better than Sabre too," said Mia.

Sabre walked over. "Why don't you come out and show us all your sword?" she asked. When he walked out, several people came over to see it. Kale commended him on his craftsmanship.

"He made it himself. I didn't help him," said Brian. Ren turned and grinned at him.

"You helped with the bellows and water," he said.

"You did all of the actual forging," Brian replied.

"It's really good," Sabre said.

"Yeah!" said Lyes and Liza at the same time. "I have to start dinner now," said Liza. A loud cheer went around the base. They had all finally gotten rid of the tension that they were feeling before and right after the fight.

After dinner, they all settled down and discussed what had happened that day before going to sleep.

╪

The night after the sword was made was as uninterrupted as their first day had been. They woke to the sounds of Kale and Sabre arguing.

"Why did you go to an Area I specifically said not to?" Kale asked in a whisper.

"Brian needed metal, plus I was sick of you sending us to the wrong Areas! Who said that the person who can touch electricity was in a modern Area? More people die from not being able to get through the fields every time you send us to an Area. I was the first to bring people out, and they weren't from a modern Area," Sabre replied sharply.

"What do you mean 'weren't in a modern Area?'" Kale said, almost too loudly.

"Why don't the two of you stop fighting and get some sleep?" said Brian at exactly the right time.

"Sorry," said Kale, but the two of them just leaned down so they couldn't be heard any more. Brian rolled his eyes at Ren and turned back over to go to sleep when Sabre stood up, got her sword and armor, and left. Kale watched her go, saying, "Fine, go ahead and take the knight shift. I won't stop you!" Brian was watching again, and when he didn't move to stop her from leaving, Ren stayed put. Jeran wanted to follow her, but Ren held him back.

"Maybe she's just out for a ride," he tried.

╪

In the morning, it was Lyes who first asked where Sabre was.

"She had to leave on an immediate mission," Kale replied sullenly.

"Out for a ride, eh?" whispered Jeran to Ren.

"We should find her," he replied.

"Not you, you're injured. I'm not risking it," said Jeran, a little louder than he thought it would be.

"Not risking what?" asked Kale sharply.

"Ren wanted me to train him in sword tactics, but I told him that it would be dangerous with his injury," Jeran replied smoothly.

"Which it would be!" Mia glared at Ren. He smiled wryly in return.

"Nice going," he whispered to Jeran.

"Thanks, it would be dangerous for you, you know," Jeran replied.

╪

Kale was rather defensive for the rest of the day. Ren and Brian stayed in the forge, and Jeran was teaching Lyes how to swordfight out side. Liza and Mia worked in the kitchen. At one point Ren and Brian heard yelling from the main room, and then Mia came storming into the forge. She sat down on one of the stool to watch them work.

"What's up?" asked Ren.

"Kale won't tell me where Sabre is. She came from my Area, and she knew my brother, so she's the only one I can talk to!" she said.

"You seem to be talking pretty freely in here," observed Brian. She gave him a withering look and went back to watching them, asking occasional questions about the metal and how you heated it and pounded it into the right shape.

By the time Liza called for dinner, she had completely cooled down. Kale was still as surly as before, if not more. Mia sat between Ren and Brian, and for the first time, Sabre wasn't there, in body or in spirit. Usually they could sort of sense her presence, even when she wasn't there, but now they couldn't. There wasn't much talking at dinner, and everyone went to bed straight after dinner. It was like this for about another month before one night, Ren couldn't get to sleep, so he was lying on his cot wondering where Sabre was when he saw a dark figure slip in the door. Kale was instantly awake, and was about to wake the others when the figure pushed down her hood. Sabre was back! Ren thought of waking Jeran, but decided against it when Kale whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"You never said I couldn't ever come back, just not until I followed orders, which I did," she replied.

"You brought someone back from a modern Area?" he asked excitedly.

"No, but I did go to one. The people I tried to bring back didn't get passed the field," she was tired and sad from her adventure.

"Then go and try again!" he said, exasperated.

"NO! Isn't it obvious, none of us can get anyone out, except for Jeran and Ren," she replied. Ren saw that Brian was up also. How did he always manage to be up when things were happening?

"Then tell me how they got out of the Area if no one else can!" Kale said in the loudest whisper he thought wouldn't wake anyone.

"You know I can't," she said sadly.

"Why not? How can I find the field person if you won't tell me how?" he asked.

"I have told you. He isn't in a modern Area," she was speaking quietly, and sadly, now.

"You know who he is, don't you?" he accused.

"Yes," she said proudly, "and so do you."

"Who then? Why won't you tell me?" he pleaded.

"I don't care if you want to get back at your father. I wouldn't have gone along at all if Breanna hadn't supported you!" she looked angry, but Ren didn't know why.

"You mean you don't actually follow me?" he looked so sad, it almost made Ren get up and comfort him.

"I do, and I want to, I just can't sometimes. The others don't like it here. Mia's too young and so are the others, except for Brian, who I know was happier in his Area. Fighting the Makers is not what I think Breanna had in mind for us. She wanted us to educate and liberate people, not risk their lives getting them out of somewhere they probably want to be and forcing them to fight their former protectors," she said fervently.

"They can go back if they want," said Kale dejectedly.

"They can't! That's the thing, I felt like a traitor when the guards escorted Jeran to the stable to say that he was banished on pain of death. It was even worse when I saw the look on the blacksmith's face when I told him I wanted to take Ren away from him and train him to fight. Incase you don't know, If Lyes and Liza ever go back to their Area, their own parents won't accept them, they don't know it yet, but I've been there. Brian can't go back, not since the duke of Keros found out that he was an Iresen. He even burned down the forge at the castle!" Brian's face turned white at her words, "and Mia won't ever go back, not with all the memories of Eric. None of them know yet, but I do—" she stopped short when she saw the pained look on Brian's face, he had his eyes closed now, but she knew he had heard.

"You can get up, Brian, I know you're awake," she said. Kale looked around sharply.

"Did you see the other meeting too?" he asked briskly. Ren thought it was rather rude, since Sabre's news had obviously affected his new friend. Brian nodded. "What's the matter?" Kale asked, still brisk.

"He burned down the forge," Brian said haltingly.

"So, you're not there any more. It doesn't matter," he said. Ren knew that Kale had just lost what was left of Brian's respect for him. Brian shrugged and went back to bed. When they were sure he was asleep again, they continued their conversation.

"If you hadn't told about the forge, I might still have had some respect around here," Kale snapped.

"You don't deserve respect any more," she said, then got up to leave.

"If you leave, you can't come back ever," Kale threatened.

"Don't let Brian follow me then, Ren needs him," she said, then closed the door behind her. Kale sat there until Ren couldn't stay awake any longer.

╪

In the morning, Liza saw that Kale hadn't gotten any sleep. She told Mia and she asked, "Sabre came didn't she?"

"Why?" he asked in return.

"When is she coming back?" she asked, for once trying not to get on his nerves.

"She's not," he turned away from the rest of them.

"What? What do you mean? She has to come back! She's an Iresen!" between Mia and Liza they managed to splutter out a reply.

"Not any more," Kale then went outside.

"Only Breanna can make someone not an Iresen! You can't do this! We need her!" Mia yelled after him.

Ren hadn't seen Brian anywhere that morning, but when he went into the forge, he found him there, sitting on the edge of the anvil.

"She's right, he can't through Sabre out with out Breanna's permission," he said.

"I think she left on her own," Ren replied.

"Good for her, she has somewhere to go," Brian looked at the hammer he was holding. He swung it experimentally, trying to decide what to make today.

"She doesn't want you to leave," Ren was concerned for his friend now.

"I know. She'd told me long ago, I just didn't know about the forge," he looked up at Ren, and he understood perfectly. Brian had lost the only true home he had. He'd tried to recreate it here, but it was just a copy when the real thing was destroyed.

Kale walked into the forge, "Brian, I need you to go on a mission."

"Who gave you permission to be in here?" he asked.

"What? Oh, Brian! You never keep anyone out of here!" he cried, confused by his sudden hostile nature.

"I only keep people out when I can't trust them. That's what I did at home too," Brian was not in the mood for sweet talk.

"Why can't you trust me?" he asked, obviously not wanting to make Brian mad.

"It isn't funny, and it never was, so cut it out!" he snapped.

"Well, sorry, I didn't know you were so attached to your stupid forge," Kale snapped back.

"It was my home. You wouldn't know, you've never had a home," Brian replied coldly. It was almost the tone Sabre first used when Jeran and Ren met her. Brian's tone was colored by anger, which Sabre's had been hinted with distaste.

"This is my home, and yours too," said Kale, trying to cool down.

"No, my home is in Keros," Brian could be very stubborn.

"Was. They don't want you any more," Kale said cruelly.

"Alright! I don't care what Sabre said!" Brian exclaimed, then to Ren, "Do you want to come. Maybe we can get into Eran, now that there is a new duke; Jeran won't be banished any more. Mia and the twins can come too if they want."

"You can't take all the Iresen!" Kale yelled.

"Then let Sabre come back—" he started.

"Anything!" Kale exclaimed.

"—and let her be the leader." He finished. The stricken look on Kale's face was more than Ren could handle. He burst out laughing.

"What? Leader? Stop laughing! Do you really mean it?" he asked.

"Yes. She does everything anyway. It would also be to our benefit to have a leader who knows who can touch the field," it was all Ren could do to keep from making a fool of himself after Brian's last statement.

"You know who he is, don't you?" Kale asked.

"Yes, I do," Brian was trying hard to keep from laughing. He didn't trust himself to look at Ren.

"Who, since I'm not going to be leader any more?" he asked.

"We'll let Sabre decide whether or not to tell everyone when she gets back. It doesn't work to have secretes in a secrete society," Brian grinned.

"Someone has to find her," said Kale.

"I was thinking, it'll take more than one person, so send Mia, since she knows Sabre the best, then Jeran and Ren, since they know Eran the best, then I can go along to keep an eye on them, and to get out of here. I haven't had a mission in two years," he said. Ren agreed with his plan whole heartedly.

"What makes you think she'll go to Eran?" asked Kale, now laughing just as much as they were.

"It's a guess, but it makes sense. You won't follow her there, but Ren and Jeran will be able to get there if they need. For all we know, she could be duchess there! She did win the tournament, and the medieval people take that very seriously," laughed Brian. Jeran poked his head in to see what was up, and Ren went over to tell him the news.

"We may get to visit Castle Eran!" he said.

"But, I'm banished," he replied.

"Not under the new duke. Everything is cleaned then. You didn't commit any crimes with the new duke, or with the old duke for that matter, but that's a different story," Ren explained excitedly.

"Hurray!" he cried.

"What?" asked Liza, Lyes, and Mia at the same time.

"We may get to go home for a bit!" Jeran replied.

"I want to go home!" said Lyes, "I haven't seen New Africa in six years."

"I'm afraid you can't," said Kale, who had come to the door talk, "They will be on a mission, anyway, so it's not a break. Oh, incidentally, I'm sending you also, Mia."

"What, me?" she asked, not sure if she had heard him correctly.

"You know Sabre the best, so you'll be able to find her. Speaking of Sabre, when she gets back, she'll be giving all the orders," he said. His temperament had improved tremendously since he knew that he'd only be leader until Sabre got back.

"You can't turn over power with out Breanna," said Liza.

"Brian, will the four of you find Breanna on your way?" he asked.

"Sure," was Brian's quick reply, "Get everything you're going to need for a long search."

"It won't be hard for me to find Sabre!" said Mia indignantly.

"But it'll be considerably harder to find Breanna," he replied.

III: Keros

They had been on the road for three weeks when they reached the field. Ren dismounted and drew his sword.

"This'll be interesting," Brian said to Jeran.

"What's he doing?" asked Mia.

"Wait and see!" Brian taunted.

Ren approached the field warily, not sure if he could do it this time, but as soon as he put the sword in the field and felt the electricity like nothing more than a light breeze, he knew it had worked. Mia screamed, but when he turned to see what the matter was, she stopped. He tried to act like nothing was happening, but the effect was rather ruined by the fact that he was trying to suppress a grin. She scowled at him. He then cut a whole in the field, finding it thinner in one place, probably where he cut the hole last time. He made the hole big enough for four horses to ride through comfortably. When they rode into Eran, Ren and Jeran grinned, recognizing it instantly. The castle was in the distance, and sure enough, it was flying new colors, not red and black, though. It only took them one day to ride to the castle, and when they got there, the blacksmith was at the front market buying iron from the miner. When he saw Ren he nearly fell down in surprise.

"Ren! Sir Jeran! It's been terrible here without you. I never get any work done in the forge now," Brian grinned at the blacksmith's words, "The old duke stormed around the castle for about a month, then a messenger came and he left. After a month, someone came back and said that the duke had been killed. I want to personally thank the one who killed him, he nearly put my smithy out of business, remember that, Ren?"

"Yeah, and actually, it was Jeran who killed the duke," said Ren.

"Ren, you weren't supposed to tell!" Jeran exclaimed.

"It was an act of good sir, I assure you. Now there's a joust to see who'll be the next duke!" the blacksmith was very excited.

"You wouldn't perhaps have any spare armor or lances, would you?" Jeran asked slyly.

"I still have yours, the duke told me to melt the armor and burn the lances, but there was no point in that, was there?" he replied.

"It's at your forge?" Jeran asked.

"Yes sir, it is. On the way, who are your companions?" the blacksmith asked.

"I am Brian of Keros, and this is Mia of Breanna. We met Jeran and Ren when they were out traveling," said Brian.

"I have never heard of those towns, they are far from here?" he asked.

"Yes. I am quite interested in going to a forge, being a blacksmith myself," Brian said. He could hardly keep his excitement down.

"Ahh! Has Ren continued his training?" the blacksmith asked.

"Yes, he's doing quite well," he almost mentioned Ren's sword, but he knew the blacksmith would want to see it.

"Here we are. Ren, why don't you run Sir Jeran in and get him armored while I show Brian and Mia around the forge," the blacksmith said. Ren nodded and he and Jeran went into the armor room.

"It's a good thing Sabre doesn't have Blade!" said Jeran. He was extremely excited that he would get to joust again, and possibly become the duke. That would help the Iresen wore than anything else.

"The armor still fits you. Can I squire?" asked Ren.

"Sure," replied Jeran, "It'll be great to joust again!"

"Yeah!" Ren said through closed teeth, since he was holding one of the arm pads in his teeth so he had both hands free.

╪

The joust was masked. No one knew who they were fighting. It was really interesting. Ren told Brian and Mia to look for Jeran's colors, blue and gold, and Sabre's colors, red and black.

"She would use Rien colors, wouldn't she?" Mia said, laughing.

"Where's Rien?" asked Ren.

"It's where Sabre and I came from," Mia explained.

"There!" exclaimed Brian.

"What?" asked Ren, but then he saw the colors black and red fighting Jeran, "Let's see if he can beat her this time."

Sure enough, it was Jeran who fell to the ground. He came in rubbing his side, "She hit harder this time."

"Did she know it was you?" asked Mia as she got out her satchel to put a salve on Jeran's bruise.

"I'm fine! It was just unexpected," he said, stepping away from her. She glared at him.

There was a loud moan from the crowd as the announcer said that the knights were going to take a break before the ceremony. Sabre walked in and took off her helmet. She didn't see them at first, so Jeran decided to follow the tradition and go congratulate her. He shoved his helmet back on and walked over.

"I'm sorry if my lance hit you hard, my horse tried to buck," she said, obviously not recognizing him.

"It's ok, I've taken harder hits," he said, removing his helmet.

"Jeran! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed.

"Actually, we're looking for you," he replied.

"Who else is here?" she asked.

"Well, there's Ren and Mia and Brian," he said, pretending to have to think about it.

"I specifically told Brian not to follow me, but this is Mia's first mission, isn't it?" she smiled.

"Yep. You're coming back, aren't you?" he asked.

"I can't! I won the joust, now I'm duchess," she replied sadly.

"You don't have to take it, lots of knights refuse the rewards," he said.

"But then it would go to the running up knight, you," she pointed out.

"I'll be hiding by the time your speech is done, and Ren will tell them I've left," he explained his plan.

"Alright, but why should I come back?" she asked.

"'Cause nothing gets done when you're gone. Kale agreed to let you be leader, if you come back, and we find Breanna," he told her.

"Really? He'll let me be leader?" she asked, not believing his word.

"Yes. Ren saw the whole thing. It was Brian who made him say it," he assured her.

"Is Brian here in the stable?" she asked.

"Yeah, they're all over there trying to look like they're not listening," he turned his head toward them and grinned as they suddenly crouched into a group so they couldn't be seen. Sabre laughed and shook her head. She walked over to the group.

"I thought I told you not to follow me," she said.

"Well, we figured that it might be as well that you come back so that we don't have to take orders from Kale anymore," Brian replied.

"I thought you and Kale were friends?" it was more of a question than a statement.

"You know why we aren't," he replied cryptically.

"We don't!" interjected Mia.

"Yeah," said Jeran.

"Kale tends not to accept the fact that we want to go back to our Areas sometimes," Sabre replied for Brian.

"What do you mean?" asked Mia.

"Kale and I had an argument over a certain smithy that was burned down in Keros," Brian replied.

"Ohh. He must have been looking for trouble to have fought with you over the smithy," she said.

"I'm still confused!" cried Jeran.

"I used to live in Keros, right, and the duke burned down my home, otherwise known as the smithy," he explained.

"Ahh, now I understand," he replied. They heard trumpets blow from outside.

"I have to go decline my title of duchess," Sabre said as she put her helmet back on.

"Ren, stay here. I'll be at the smithy, but if they ask, tell them I left. Make up some reason if you have to," said Jeran. Ren nodded and they went to the door to watch as the crowd realizes that she's a girl. The reaction was quit different then they had predicted. They thought that it would be a shock, and then they would get over it, but no! The acting-duke wouldn't let her speak.

What's going on?" asked Brian.

"I don't know," said Ren. Mia was just watching, not saying anything. A messenger came over from the stand.

"Are you Sir Jeran's squire?" he asked Ren.

"Yes, why?" he replied.

"Where is he?" the messenger asked.

"He left, why, is there a problem?" Ren was making a good show of not knowing what was going on.

"The champion was a girl!" Ren's eyes opened in amazement. Brian was impressed with his acting.

"Sir Jeran left, and he doesn't know when he'll be back. You'll have to bring in the third-runner-up," he said. The messenger nodded and went to the third-runner-up.

"I wonder what's taking Sabre so long?" asked Mia.

"Yeah, she should be over…" Brian dropped off as he saw the guards coming around the side of the stand. "I think it's time for a little rescue mission," he said. The others nodded. They arranged it quite cleverly and it would have worked if one of the guards hadn't stopped Ren.

"Where are you going?" he asked in a voice that was obviously being lowered on purpose. He was probably too young to be in the guard, but had joined, saying he was older than he really was. Ren couldn't see inside the helmet to be able to see how old he really was.

"I asked ye where you were going?" he asked. Ren noticed that he had changed dialect when he saw Ren's face. Could this guard have recognized him?

"I'm goin' to see the trial," he gasped out. The guard was holding him rather tightly.

"Ren, you coming—what? What is the meaning of this? Put my apprentice down!" Brian made a show of it.

"Why would you be a goin' to see this gel hunged?" he asked.

"Hanged?" cried Mia feebly.

"Don't we have as much right as anyone else?" demanded Brian.

"Aye, but why're ya goin' in through the back?" near the end of the question Ren thought he almost recognized the voice. The guard had let go of him and was talking directly to Brian.

It was Brian's turn to catch the guard, but he lifted him off his feet, "How long have you been in this town?"

"All me life!" he gasped out.

"Then you would have known that Ren's not my apprentice. How long have you really been here?" Brian demanded.

"I just got here! Now put me down…" he couldn't get out the rest of sentence because Brian had lifted him higher.

"Put him down and let him talk," said Mia. Brian lowered him a little and gave him a little more air so he could talk.

"Come on. Listen to Mia—" he stopped short as he realized that he had not only used his real voice, but that he shouldn't have said Mia's name and blown his cover.

"Kale!" Brian put him down in surprise. "Why didn't you let us through? We were trying to help Sabre."

"I…I…you have to leave," he stammered.

"What, why? We can't leave! Sabre's in trouble," Brian exclaimed.

"I can't explain, just all of you, get away from here!" Kale was running out of excuses of why they couldn't help her, and then he suddenly realized his mistake: if he made them leave, they'd find Breanna! That was the last thing he wanted. "On second thought, stay here, but don't let her see you. Go to the smithy or something, but stay there."

"What's going on here?" asked Ren. He suspected something. You don't tell someone to leave, and then tell them to stay. The only thing he was being consistent on was that they couldn't help Sabre! "You don't want us to help Sabre!" he accused.

"I never said that!" Kale retorted.

"Then let us help her!" Mia practically screamed. That drew the attention of all the others. It did delay them from killing Sabre though.

"No!" he yelled back.

"Why not?" asked Brian.

"She knows too much," Kale said that last very fast.

"About what?" demanded Ren.

"He betrayed us!" yelled Sabre over the commotion of the crowds. By that time Jeran had heard what was happening and ran when he heard Sabre. He got there with sword drawn to see a wide circle around the three of them. Mia had gone and untied Sabre. Ren and Kale both had their swords in hand, but Brian was still unarmed. Then Jeran remembered I don't need a weapon. There'll be no fighting. He regretted Brian's words. They might cost him his life.

"Brian! Draw a sword!" yelled Mia.

"I don't have one!" he yelled back.

"You idiot! Here, Jeran, get Brian out of there! I can't believe he's unarmed." She was disgusted at his lack of planning. Jeran ran into the circle, but before he had gotten halfway to them, he felt something hit him hard in the stomach, and he almost fell down with shock and pain. Brain ran to him and pulled him back toward Mia and Sabre. Ren couldn't because he was in the middle of parrying the first blow from Kale. Jeran safely got back to the sides and Mia treated him, but she was preoccupied with watching the fight.

Again and again Kale would attack and Ren would parry. Jeran didn't know why he didn't attack, and then he saw, as Ren fought, the sword started glowing intensely. He was charging up the sword for the most powerful attack Jeran had ever seen coming. As he whirled near the crowd, Ren heard someone whisper in his ear, "Believe," and then it was gone. He didn't dare look around incase Kale killed him. The EMEs were building up in his sword and it was getting hard to control, but he didn't really want to strike. He didn't know what it would do to Kale, and he had never killed anyone before. Then he thought of how Kale had thrown a knife at his friend and nearly killed him. For all he knew, Jeran could be dead now. That fired up Ren's anger and power. He saw Kale lunge at him and side stepped, cutting cleanly into him. It would not have been a fatal blow, except for the ten-thousand volts of electricity flowing out of the sword at contact. The last expression on Kale's face was one of surprise and astonishment. In his dying moment, he had the time to appreciate the electricity for the first time. Ren immediately went to where his friend lay.

"That was awesome! You really are better than I was," said Jeran feebly.

"No! Not was. You're still better than me!" Ren wouldn't believe that he was dying! He couldn't be!

"He'll be alright. The only reason he's this lethargic is because I gave him a medicine to put him to sleep so he wouldn't fight the other medicine healing him. He still managed to stay awake long enough to watch the fight, though. And it was superb!" Mia whispered to him.

"We should probably get going now. I'll buy a wagon to take," said Sabre quietly. "Breanna will be able to help."

╪

Mia was reassuring Ren the whole way out of Eran that Jeran was only sleeping, he would be alright. Brian helped keep Ren on his feet, and they didn't even look at the sword lying in its scabbard in the back of the wagon. In fact, the only time Ren got it out was to make a hole in the field for them to ride through. Jeran woke up not long after that.

"How long 's it been?" he asked.

"About three weeks, we've been taking it slowly," replied Mia.

"Where's Ren?" he asked.

"He's out hunting with Brian. We had to send him out to stop him hovering and getting in my way," she said. It was true. Ren had wanted to help with everything, showing true loyalty to Jeran.

"How long will it be before I can hunt?" he looked outside.

"We won't have to by the time you can. They say fresh food's the best, but I really miss Liza's cooking," she replied.

"Mmmm," he was looking outside the wagon again, "Ren!" he tried to lift himself up, but Mia pushed him down. She wasn't going to let him hurt himself even more.

Ren through Brian his reigns and jumped into the wagon.

"Don't fall out!" exclaimed Mia, who went over to catch his arm. He hadn't been in any danger, but Mia worried about everyone.

Ren grinned as Mia moved back to the medical supplies, "I see you're getting better." Ren looked older to Jeran. He had always thought of him almost as being younger, since he had been relying on Jeran so much, but now that was different. After all, they were almost eighteen, and Ren was out on his own, sort of. Well, Jeran wasn't helping him anymore.

"Yeah, so where are we headed?" asked Jeran.

"I don't know, Sabre hasn't told us. It's been nice out, though! I can't wait until you can ride." He replied.

"Maybe it'll be soon?" he asked hopefully.

"Not until we get there," said Mia. Jeran grimaced.

"So you know where we're going?" asked Brian as he swung up into the wagon.

"Yeah, and don't worry, it'll only be another week or so," she replied.

"Where are we going?" asked Jeran.

"Ask Sabre," she teased.

"You know Sabre's not talking!" Ren complained.

"Why not?" asked Jeran.

"We don't know, she hasn't said a word except to me for the entire trip," replied Mia.

"I'll go see if she'll talk to me," said Jeran, as he tried to get up.

"I don't think it'll work, she won't even talk to me," warned Brian.

"Just incase though," replied Jeran.

He walked unsteadily to the front of the wagon where Sabre was driving them.

"Where are we going?" he asked her. She looked at him, but didn't say a word. "Come on, Sabre! Why won't you talk to anyone?"

"I have no reason to talk," she said emotionlessly.

"What's up?" he asked, Sabre was never this depressed.

"Nothing," she replied.

"I don't like accusing people of lying, but if you're going to go on like this," he threatened playfully.

"I knew Kale had betrayed us, and I didn't tell anyone," she said without even looking at him.

"You told us in time for something to be done about it," he said quietly.

"He nearly killed you!" she exclaimed.

"That was after you told us. You can't keep blaming yourself over something you had no control of," he reassured her.

"I could have told you he had betrayed us when you asked me to come back, but I thought, maybe, he had changed. You did say that he would have let me be leader," she replied sadly.

"Stop blaming yourself. It wasn't your fault," he reprimanded. She smiled for the first time since the fight. "Better?" he asked.

"Better," she replied.

"They've been worried about you," he said.

"I'm fine," she replied.

"So where are we going?" he asked.

"Don't tell Brian, but we're in our way to Keros," she said quietly.

"Cool," he replied, just as quietly. When he walked back into the back of the wagon they all asked him what happened.

"She was feeling guilty about not telling us that Kale had betrayed before she left for Eran," he said in reply to their questions.

"So, where are we going?" asked Brian.

"I'm not supposed to tell," he replied.

"Why not?" Brian asked.

"It's sort of a surprise," he then sat back down and drank the cup of water that Mia handed him.

╪

Three days later, they saw a cart stopped in front of them, in the distance. When they caught up with it, they saw that only a woman had been driving it. There was something in the back, but they couldn't tell what because there were blankets covering it. She had stopped because, apparently, the mule that was pulling it had broken its leg.

"Do you need some help there?" called Brian. He and Ren had been riding in front as usual.

"If you can, he broke his leg," she explained. Ren thought he recognized the voice, but he couldn't tell from where. Brian told Sabre to stop the wagon. Jeran and Mia came out to see what was wrong. Mia started attempting to put the mule's leg in a cast. Brian looked strangely at her.

"What?" she asked.

"You can't put a mule's leg in a cast," he said.

"I can try!" she retorted.

"You'll only put him in more pain," he replied.

"What do you suggest I do, then?" she asked sarcastically.

"Well, you could let me take care of it, you wouldn't want to be there," he replied evasively.

"He was getting old anyway," the girl said.

"What, what are you…NO! You can't do that! That's cruel!" Mia exclaimed.

"I didn't want to have to do it myself," the girl said.

"I'll do it," said Brian. He then took the mule and carefully walked behind the wagon. Ren heard him go into the wagon to get something. Back in Eran, they used rat poison in concentrated amounts to kill the horses quickly and painlessly. That was probably what Brian was doing. When he got back, he started asking the girl some questions as he and Ren put her cargo, which they found out was very high quality steel and other metals. They were very careful with the metal, knowing that it was probably already tempered, and denting it would have required long hours over a forge to re-melt it and re-temper it.

"So, what's your name?" Brian asked.

"Rain, or, that's what everyone calls me at least," she replied cheerily.

"Where are you going?" Brian was interested in why this girl was traveling alone, in between areas. She was probably seventeen or eighteen, with sandy blond hair and grey eyes. She had more freckles that Mia, and was tall and thin. She was probably about Brian's height, but as thin as Mia. She wore medieval peasant clothing, greens and browns. She had a rather lanky appearance, which would have made anyone else look awkward and clumsy, but she moved with an incredible grace, which betrayed her peasant appearance. She wore no hat, leaving her face open to burn, which it had slightly.

"Well, I was on my way to Keros from Eran, when my mule broke his leg, as you know," she spoke with a grammar that was definitely uncommon for a peasant.

"So, you know about the Areas?" he asked.

"I know most of the Makers, too," she laughed.

"How long have you been traveling between Areas?" Sabre asked. This girl could be helpful in finding Breanna.

"Ten years; I was seven when I first started out," that concreted her age at seventeen. Sabre was surprised that she had been traveling alone for that long.

"We were on our way to Keros, if you wanted to come along," Brian grinned at Sabre's words.

"I don't really have any choice, all my wares are in your wagon," she replied.

"How do you get through the field?" Ren thought maybe he wasn't the only one who could touch the field.

"I have a pass. It's come in useful, especially lately, when one of my consorts was killed. Served him right, the git! You don't disobey Breanna's orders. I'm the only one allowed to do that!" she said with much emotion.

"So you know of Breanna?" Mia asked excitedly.

"Who doesn't? She did start the Iresen after all. I've always wanted to meet an Iresen," she said wistfully.

"You wouldn't tell the Makers?" Brian asked. Jeran was sitting next to the wagon, listening to the conversation with interest.

"No, I think that the Makers and the Iresen should work together, but in the mean time, I won't tell," she replied.

"What if someone you met turned out to be an Iresen?" Sabre asked. She was being careful not to say too much.

"I'd ask your names, since I know that the Iresen are Sabre, Brian, Liza, Lyes, Jeran, Ren, and Mia," she replied. That was when Ren caught what she was saying. This girl already knew who they were! How though?

"How do you know all our names?" Mia exclaimed. Sabre and Brian glared at her.

"I've met Breanna," she replied, confused.

"She didn't even know about us," said Jeran.

"She must have, because she told me all the names while we were in Eran a month ago," she replied.

"And what about Kale?" asked Sabre.

"He was that git that got killed in Eran. He was working for the Makers," she said.

"Yeah, we know. Was Breanna at the fight?" asked Jeran.

"Yep, and so was I," she turned to Ren, "That was some wicked fighting, Ren!"

"Thanks," he said. That confirmed it. She knew exactly who they were. She was also the one who told him to "Believe" during the fight.

╪

The next day, they were riding out in front as usual, when Ren decided to ask Brian about his theory.

"I think I met Rain during the fight," he said.

"How?" Brian asked.

"Someone told me to 'Believe' and when I looked, she was gone. It was Rain's voice, too," he replied.

"Wow. Why would she say that?" he wondered.

"I have a theory, but it's pretty far fetched," Ren said.

"Lots of things are far fetched," Brian reassured him.

"Well, I think that Rain is—" he was cut off by Rain riding up and hailing them.

"I'm sorry, was I interrupting?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

"No, it's okay," Ren replied. Brian smiled. "Do you know where Breanna is?"

"She had to leave Eran after the fight. Maybe to get to Keros before you, all I know is that she was going to Keros," she replied. She had an irritating habit of never letting Ren know if she really was Breanna. She never said she was, but she gave so many clues, he was surprised that Sabre, or one of the others hadn't guessed and asked her. She had even said that Rain wasn't her real name. He was almost sure, now, that she was Breanna, but he needed just one more confirmation to be able to bring it up with her. It was like trying to solve a mystery without enough clues and time running out.

"Sabre says to come back to the wagon for diner," she said.

"You go on ahead, I'm going to look for some sweet grass to feed the horses," Ren said. He needed a little time alone to think thing through.

"I'll help!" said Rain excitedly.

"I'll tell Sabre why you're late," laughed Brian. He wondered what Ren was going to say about Rain, but he knew, what ever it was, he would find out soon.

As they found and collected the sweet grass, Ren tried to phrase his question in his mind. He finally decided to ask it bluntly.

"Are you Breanna?" he asked.

"Yes, I was wondering when someone would figure it out," Breanna replied.

"Why didn't you just come out and say it when we met you?" he asked.

"Something is going to happen in Keros that Brian has to see. Actually, it won't happen without him there and it must happen. For the good of the people, if no one else," she replied.

"What is it?" Ren asked.

"Brian's going to kill the new duke of Keros," she replied. They were heading back, now. They had collected enough grass to feed the horses for a week.

"Why?" he asked.

"Duke Errol has been oppressing the people of Keros. He had it all the information about the Areas and Makers, not to mention everything else. The people know about the Iresen now, too. He started by burning everything that was a representation of the medieval times, you've heard of the smithy. Then, when people still didn't believe him, he told them about the fields, then took them down near the fields and had them walk through. After the first couple of 'demonstrations' the Kerosians decided to just believe him and hope that the Iresen would come and save them. I just had to make sure that the five Iresen already on the road to Keros make it there," she explained.

"Hmm. Brian won't be happy about this," he replied.

"And also, I need them not to know who I am until after the duke is dead, at least. They may find out long after that, I don't know yet," she added.

They walked back to the wagon, and if anyone noticed that Ren was being slightly more respectful to Rain, then no one said anything. Brian cocked an eyebrow at Ren when they came in, but didn't say anything. They all sat down to eat, praising Sabre on her cooking.

"It's as good as Liza's cooking!" proclaimed Brian.

"Yeah right. No one's as good as her," she said.

"It's definitely close," said Mia. Sabre shook her head.

"You're all just hungry from the trip," she retorted.

"This is the best I've ever had, and I'm not used to travel food," said Rain.

"Thanks," said Sabre.

"So you'll take praise from her, but not from any of us?" asked Jeran.

"I know all of you too well," she explained. Rain smiled. She tried to imagine how they would act if they knew that she was Breanna. Even Ren was acting normal again. She mentally exalted Sabre on her choice of people to take from their Area. After all, they may help find the Field-Walker. That was the official name for the one who can touch the fields. That was one of the few pieces of information she was not permitted to know ahead of time. Usually information just came into her head when she wanted to know it. That is what makes a prophet. There had been a few others, but they had been long before her time. One of the things she knew was where they really were, not in terms of distance from Areas, but what the ancient people called the places. Currently, they were traveling in what used to be Ireland. If they all knew that the British Isles were just a small part of the world that they had to discover, they would probably start out right away. The reason she hadn't told them yet was that they need to have an established place to work from, and she wasn't thinking of a base and a few people, which they had, but a real country and an established government and economy. What she really wanted was to turn the individual Areas into entire countries by grouping them together. She also wanted to completely get rid of the fields. All they caused was sorrow and destruction. She had been there when Eric had been killed. None of them knew, but she had been there much more than they had thought. She wouldn't really have left them all alone for that long. She hadn't interfered until know because things had been going fairly well, but apparently Kale had misunderstood her wants and decided that the Makers were enemies and everyone should be "freed" from the Areas, but that wasn't what she wanted. It might have originally started with just a misunderstanding, but it definitely ended as purposeful twisting to get the others to trust him above anyone else. Mia might have known, but, then again, she might not have. She could have just resented Kale's role as leader, and the fact that he didn't let her do anything.

"Rain?" said Ren.

"Yes?" she asked.

"It looked like you spaced out for a minute," he explained. All the dishes had been cleared up and she was the only one left at the table. Sabre and Mia were outside setting up the beds, and Jeran and Brian were Feeding and brushing down the horses.

"I was thinking," she replied.

"About what?" he asked. He sat down across from her. She'd never known anyone who understood her thoughts before, but Ren might. After all, he did figure out who she was. She then told him all her thoughts. He seemed to understand everything, even about Ireland and the British Isles, and about the rest of the world. She hadn't meant to say everything, but he never questioned her word as Kale had. Kale hadn't believed her on many points, but Ren was willing to accept any new idea. Such an open mind was very rare. She could tell that he did things on impulse, but they usually ended up being the right thing to do. He grinned when she mentioned the part about the Field-Walker.

"A few of us know who the Field-Walker is. Actually, Lyes and Liza are the only ones who don't know, but there's no reason they can't be told, now that Kale's gone. He was the only one who we needed to keep it a secret from," he said once she was done.

"Who?" she asked excitedly.

"Well, me, actually. It's not really anything, I don't know if I can touch the field itself, maybe just my sword can," he said.

"Was that the sword you used in Eran?" she asked. He nodded. "Did you make it?" He nodded again.

"I was surprised that it didn't mess up Brian's anvil, but it didn't seem to," he said.

"I figured you were a blacksmith, you seem like one," she said.

"You don't just know?" he asked teasingly.

"That's the strange part; I don't know anything about you or Jeran. There's probably some reason, I just don't know it," she replied. Ren grinned.

"Could it possibly be because we're both from Eran?" he asked.

"Maybe, but it usually doesn't work like that. It probably has something to do with you touching the fields," she said.

"That would make sense," he said.

"Is anyone coming to bed tonight?" yelled Mia.

"Coming," yelled Ren in reply. He and Rain got up and walked to the edge of the wagon. Ren jumped down, and then helped Rain down.

"Thanks," she said quietly. They all got in the beds that Mia and Sabre had set up.

╪

Things went fairly well for the next week, until they reached the Keros field. Rain walked up to the guard at the gate. Ren and Sabre followed her.

"Halt," the guard said tersely.

"I have my pass," she said. The guard pulled out a book after taking the pass.

"This pass has been declared voided by Duke Errol," the guard said.

"What? He can't do that! His father gave me this pass, not him!" she exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, miss. We cannot let you pass," the guard then turned back to his post and refused to talk to her, or even acknowledge her presence anymore. She tried to get his attention again, but he didn't notice her.

"Well!" she exclaimed when they got back to the wagon, "We'd better try it your way, Ren. I have to get these metals into Keros!" They rode just out of sight of the gate guards, when Ren brought out his sword and walked toward the field. He hadn't gone ten feet when four guards jumped out from behind the bushes and attacked Ren. Before Brian could get out to help him, one guard had knocked Ren's sword out of his hand and was wrestling with him on the ground. The other three came towards the wagon, one swinging his sword at Brian, who completed a perfect grappling move, twisting his arm and taking his sword. The guard fell to the ground, Brian hadn't actually broken anything, but his arm still hurt. Sabre and Rain came out to help fight with swords drawn. They had no trouble incapacitating the other two guards. They started off to help Ren, but froze when he and his opponent rolled right through the field. On the other side, Ren and his opponent had no clue that they had gone through the field. The guard was still fighting just as hard, when he looked around and realized that they were in Keros now. He stood up and walked over to the field. Ren sat up in a crouch, ready for him to attack again. The guard bent down to see where they had rolled through, and touched the field.

After Ren had dragged the body of the dead guard to the nearest tree so no one would see him, he went back to the field. He had seen the guard fried after touching it, and was nervous about touching it. He was called the Field-Walker, but does that mean he can touch it with his skin? Then he remembered Breanna whispering to him, telling him to believe, and now he knew why. She wanted him to believe in himself, but she hadn't known that he was the Field-Walker. Maybe it was just an impulse that would explain itself later. He had a lot of those. He realized, now, that he wasn't nervous about touching the field. He started by just barely touching it. It was much the same as when he touched the field with his sword, but much less controlled. It was then that he realized that it wasn't the sword taking the EMEs, but him. He stood up, braced himself, and then walked through the field. He saw the others sitting on the ground. Jeran and Mia didn't know what had happened; they had stayed in the wagon. Rain was the only one still watching the field, and when she saw him come through, she smiled, stood up, and walked over to him.

"What was it like?" she asked. Brian and Sabre both lifted their heads, stood, and walked over.

"It was really weird. Almost like, when you've been hanging upside down for too long, and then you suddenly turn right side up," Ren was swaying a little from the sheer force of pure EMEs. Rain and Brian caught him before he fell down, and practically carried him back to the wagon.

"What happened? Is he hurt?" asked Jeran as they came in.

"No, I'm fine," replied Ren.

"He had ten-thousand volts of pure EMEs running through his body at the same time," said Rain. Jeran's eyes opened in amazement. Ren managed a weak smile. While he had been in the field, he'd had more energy than he'd ever had before, but as soon as he stepped out, it seemed like the field had taken all of his energy. He fell asleep quickly, and when Rain woke him up for diner, he was still extremely tired. He did manage to eat, though.

╪

They waited by the field until Ren had enough strength to make an opening. When they travel into Keros, the sky changed to an unnatural blue, almost like the duke had been preoccupied when he was choosing the color. As they rode toward the castle, they saw people camping outside. It didn't look like an army, but they were trying to set up forges and make weapons.

"This is why I need to get the metal into Keros, not the castle, but to the people. They're planning a revolt. The new duke, Duke Errol, had been oppressing the people," she said.

"Duke Errol? What happened to Herds?" asked Brian.

"He went mad after you left. His son took over and started burning the town," she said. Brian thought of the forge, and how these people had no blacksmith to make them weapons and shoes for their horses.

"Ren, we have work to do," he swung down from his horse. Ren followed him. Rain started getting metal out of the wagon. As they walked, they saw people leaving the road quickly. Brian caught one person by the shoulders. He wouldn't turn his head toward Brian.

"Lee, it's me, Brian," he said.

"Brian?" the boy turned to look at Brian and smiled, "The new duke's gone as mad as Herds, but Herds never hurt us. He's burning everything that isn't 'modern.' He came up with this crazy idea about Areas and Makers and fields, but none of us believed him until he started taking people down to the field and sending them through," Brian's eyes widened, "and when people wouldn't go through when he told them, he had guards carry them through. Brian, he sent Frez through" Lee looked down.

"Frez," Brian looked like he had gone numb, but then he said, "Well, you will need a couple of blacksmiths, wont you?" he put almost no emotion into that sentence. It was then that Lee saw Ren. He nodded.

"Mary's been trying her hand at it, but she can't seem to get it right," Lee smiled, so did Brian. As they were walking, Brian explained everything to Ren.

"Mary is my sister, and Frez and Lee were my brothers. My mother always used to say that we were inseparable," he said. Ren nodded, and then he and Brian got to the makeshift forge.

"Brian!" a girl, Ren suspected it was Mary, through herself into Brian's arms.

"Mary! How have you been?" he asked, holding her at arms length.

"Not so good, Lee's told you about Errol?" she asked.

"Yeah. Ren," he looked at Ren, "and I came to blacksmith for you." She looked a little sheepish when she saw him. Ren smiled, bowing his head to her. She was probably about fifteen, with Brian's black hair and black eyes. She wasn't as tall as him, but that didn't matter. She was as fiery as any girl Ren had ever seen, including Mia. "Ren, why don't you go get Sabre and the others while I clean this place up," he said. Ren nodded and left.

When he got back to the wagon, they had unloaded all the metal. Rain handed him a bundle wrapped in blankets.

"Brian's cleaning up the forge. I met his brother and sister," Ren said.

"Didn't Brian have two brothers?" asked Rain.

"Frez was killed by the duke," he replied.

"I didn't know Brian had any siblings," said Mia.

"That's probably why he didn't want to leave his Area," Sabre said.

"Probably, but how did you know that Brian had siblings, Rain?" Mia asked.

"I've met them. Mary and I are really good friends," she replied. They carried the metal down to the forge. Lee and Mary looked surprised to see so much good metal.

"This is Sabre, Mia, Rain, and Jeran," Brian said, pointing to each of them in turn, "and you've already met Ren."

"I know Rain," Mary said. Mary and Rain rolled their eyes at each other to say, "Boys!" then they started laughing.

Everyone got settled and Ren and Brian started making weapons.

"We've been waiting for the Iresen to come and help us. Errol says that they are enemies, so maybe they'll help us," Mary said to Sabre, Mia, and Rain.

"You silly! Your brother's an Iresen! So are all of us, except for me," said Rain, laughing. Mary looked so surprised that Sabre couldn't keep from laughing.

"Brian?" Mary called.

"Yes?" he answered. He hadn't heard their conversation.

"You never told me you were an Iresen!" she said.

"Oh no, now the entire Area's going to know," he whispered to Ren. They grinned. Neither of them would really mind helping them kill the duke.

╪

It was a week before word finally got to the duke that the Iresen were here. When he did hear, they had used all the metal and every man, woman, and child over twelve years of age had a weapon and a very basic training in the weapon. The duke and his troops came down to the camp to kill the Iresen, but they were ready. Brian was at the front, with the others close behind him.

"Hail Errol, usurper of the throne of Duke Herds," Brian called.

"Hail Brian, traitor of Keros and ally of the Iresen," replied Errol.

"Actually, I am an Iresen," said Brian.

"And I am no usurper, my father was crazy, more so to have ever given your family refuge here in Keros," Errol called back.

"Herds was no more crazy then yourself, and much less destructive," Brian retorted.

"Do you deny what I have told them, and call yourself an Iresen?" Errol asked.

"I deny none of what you have said, but," he paused, "I do detest the way you have gone about telling it."

"And what say do you have in this affair, traitor?" asked Errol.

"I speak for the people of Keros!" Brian's voice rang out across the valley.

"Then, I, Duke Errol of Keros, challenge you, Brian of the Iresen, to a duel to the death," at Errol's words, it was all Ren and Rain could do to stop Mia and Sabre from stopping him.

"I accept your challenge, false Duke of Keros!" Mia sank to the ground at Brian's words.

"At sundown—" he was cut off by Brian.

"No, we shall duel here and now, with no time to poison weapons and adorn armor," he said.

"He doesn't even have a sword," Mia whispered. Ren drew his sword and handed it to Brian. He nodded as he took it. Mia, Sabre, and Jeran looked confused, and then understood that the EMEs were in Ren, not the sword. None of the Iresen saw exactly what happened during the duel, it was all a blur. Errol and Brian were moving too fast to be followed easily; also, the sun shone on the swords and made it impossible to watch for long. After what seemed ages, Errol was on the ground, Brian's sword at his throat.

"Do you yield?" he asked.

"Yes!" the false duke cried.

Rain whispered to Ren, "The treachery," but it was too late. The moment Brian lifted his sword; the duke pulled a dagger and thrust it at Brian. He side stepped, causing the duke to miss Brian's midriff, but score heavily on his right leg. Brian lifted his sword and decapitated the duke in one strike. Even at that distance, Ren was able to see the white of bone as Brian fell to the ground, his leg no longer able to support him. As the rest of the Iresen and Rain rushed forward to help him, a cheer rose from the people of Keros. Brian was unconscious from blood loss. Mia quickly tore the bottom of her dress to make temporary bandages until they got him back to the wagon. Ren and Jeran carried him back, with the girls trailing them closely. As they crested the hill between the valley and the wagon, they heard the people of Keros winning the battle against the demoralized guards. When they got back to the wagon, Mia put clean, medicated bandages on Brian's leg. She also prepared a drink for him to help him recover from his blood loss.

IV: Dublin

They were had left Keros and were well on their way to the base when Brian woke up. Rain was the only one in the wagon with him, the rest were outside, setting up for diner. Brian saw that it was almost dark. They never rode in the dark, but it sounded as though they had just stopped. He could hear Ren and Jeran demounting and tying up their horses. He then realized that he hadn't opened his eyes, and did so.

"How long have you been awake?" asked Rain as she handed him a glass of something.

"Not long," he tasted the liquid in the glass, which he had thought was water, and grimaced, "What is this?"

"It's medicine. Mia had the hardest time getting the original dose into you while you were unconscious," she replied, "You lost a lot of blood there."

"Where are we headed?" he asked.

"Back to base," she said.

"But, we didn't find Breanna! We can't go back yet!" Brian was still weak from blood loss and couldn't put much feeling into his words.

"Hmm, I have thought Ren would have told you. I told him not to, and that would have worked with anyone else. He's probably the first person to ever follow all my orders," she said.

"You're Breanna?" he asked. She nodded. "But, why didn't you say so before?" he asked.

"Would you have gone on to Keros if you'd known? I was expecting to meet you in Keros, not before," she replied.

"But, then—Ren knew?" he sounded surprised.

"Yes, I don't know why I told him, but he had it mostly figured out already," she said.

"Ren's smart, I'm not surprised he figured it out. He was about to tell me once," he replied.

"I know, that's why I interrupted him," she said.

"So, did you ever actually tell Ren, or did he just figure it out?" he asked.

"He asked me while we were getting sweet grass. That's where I told him a lot of things about this quest. After that, and after diner when I spaced out, he knew as much about it as I did," she replied.

"Ahh, I thought, well, anyway," he said unsurely. She laughed.

"No, we just talked," she said.

"I just thought…because, well, he acted different," he said, still a little uncoordinated.

"Wouldn't you if you finally met Breanna?" she laughed.

"Well, good point," he said, "Are you going to tell the others?"

"Once we get back to the base. You really must get a new name for it, or it will be very confusing," she replied.

"Yeah, it will. What should we call it?" he asked.

"It's your fort, you get to pick a name," she said.

"It's actually Sabre's fort, now that Kale is gone," he said.

"Really? You've done more than Sabre and Kale put together," she said.

"Wouldn't you make Ren leader?" he asked slyly.

"No, because, if he's leader, he won't be able to travel," she said, laughing.

"Good point, Sabre won't be happy," he said.

"Why not? You make all the decisions," she asked.

"Not really," he said wryly.

"How many decisions have they made without your consent?" she asked.

"They didn't tell me that we were going to Keros," he said.

"But you found out in time to turn them around if you'd wanted to. They'd have listened to you too. You should hear Ren praising you," she retorted.

"Kale never listened to me," he said.

"He betrayed the Iresen before you even knew him. He didn't know until about a year ago either," she said. Brian really didn't have any defenses left. It wasn't that he didn't want to be leader; it's just that he'd never thought of it before. He'd always considered Sabre and Kale to be the leaders. He supposed that if Rain told him to be leader, he would. For some reason, he still referred to Breanna as Rain. It seemed more natural that way.

"It always does. Ren still calls me Rain, even in private," she said. He stared at her.

"How…but…what!" he gave up.

"When I want information, usually it just comes into my head," she explained.

"Usually?" he asked.

"Sometimes, things don't appear, and I have to find them out the normal way," she said. It didn't seem as natural to talk to Brian as it did to Ren. That was strange, because technically, she had known Brian longer.

"Like what?" he asked.

"Like the fact that Ren was the Field-Walker," she said.

"Ahh. So basically, it's stuff about this quest," he said.

"No, because I knew that you were going to fight the duke and that you would trust him and he would break a yield," she said.

"What? You knew?" he asked.

"Yes, I even told Ren," she said.

"Rain—Brian! You're awake!" Ren came into the wagon. For some reason he looked older to Brian, or at least more mature. Brian smiled.

"Now you both know my secret, so let's not tell it, alright?" she asked. They nodded. "I couldn't believe you didn't tell Brian!" she said to Ren.

"Well you told me not to," he said defensively.

"Don't do what everyone says, someone might tell you to do something stupid," she said.

"I wouldn't do something stupid!" he replied. It was almost funny to Brian to see them arguing. Ren was right though, he wouldn't do anything stupid; he's just very trusting. He hadn't been exposed to enough lies to not be.

"What if I told you to do something stupid?" she asked.

"I know you wouldn't, so it doesn't matter," he replied.

"But what if someone was making me do it?" she asked, testing him.

"Then I would know," he replied simply, "Sabre has the beds ready."

"I suppose I can't come ride tomorrow?" Brian asked hopefully.

"Not in your dreams," said Rain.

"Mia would kill you," said Ren at the same time.

"I'm gonna kill the two of you for not getting out here!" called Mia.

"See you tomorrow, Brian," said Rain and Ren as they left. He laid back and tried to analyze what he had learned that day. He gave up. There was just too much. It'll be simpler tomorrow, he thought, and then he drifted off to sleep.

When Brian woke in the morning, Jeran was the only one in the wagon with him.

"I thought you'd be out riding with Ren," he said.

"No, we sort of take turns. Except Mia won't let Ren stay here because he gets so worried about you. The rest of us ride, drive, or sit in here," he said. He nodded.

"Do you know when I'll be able to ride?" he asked.

"With that wound, not for a while," he replied. Brian looked disappointed. He'd liked riding, it reminded him of living in Keros when Herds was duke.

"Well, maybe when we get back," he said.

"Yeah. It's kind of strange that we're going back already, without finding Breanna and all. It was Ren that said we could. I think he knows something, and he's not telling me," Jeran had been troubled by his friend's secrecy for some time.

"He actually can't tell. He's not trying to keep a secret from you," Brian reassured him.

"Do you know what it is?" he asked.

"Yeah, but like Ren, I can't tell. You'll find out when we get back to base though," he replied.

"Okay," he said.

The rest of the way home, things went pretty much the same. Mia told Brian that he could ride once they got back to base. Ren and Jeran had ridden ahead to tell Liza and Lyes that they were back. Liza had quite a meal set out for them when they walked in. Ren and Jeran supported Brian in and they all sat down and introduced Rain to Lyes and Liza.

"Liza, Lyes, this is Rain. Rain, you've already heard their names," said Sabre.

"Well, everyone calls me Rain," she said as they shook hands.

"What's your real name?" asked Lyes.

"Lyes!" exclaimed Liza.

"Breanna," she said simply. Ren and Brian started laughing, but the rest of them stared at her.

"Breanna? But you never told us," said Mia weakly.

"Ren figured it out, but I told him not to tell, but I thought that he would tell Brian at least, but as it turned out when I told Brian, he was the first person to ever do exactly what I told them," she said. Sabre glared at Ren and Brian, but they were laughing too hard to see her. Jeran started laughing as soon as he figured out that that was what Ren had been keeping secret. They finished the meal, and then each went to their usual places. Sabre, Liza, and Mia talked in the kitchen while cleaning up, Lyes just walked around, straightening things up, since Kale wasn't here to talk to him. Rain decided to follow Ren and Brian into the forge and watch them work. Once, when Brian sent Ren to get some metal from the back, he didn't come back for a while. Brian and Rain went back to see what was wrong. They saw him looking at a very old book, rebound several times in duct tape to keep it from deteriorating. There was even clear tape on the pages, so the pages looked new. Apparently the taping had been done soon after it was bought. Brian had no clue what the book was of, since it was mostly pictures, and very few words. Rain looked interested though.

"Here," she took the book, "It's an atlas, a book of maps. It shows you where things are. This is an old one, probably before World War 4, there are no dead spots. I could probably find the base," she laughed.

"Hold on a minute. I've never heard of a book of maps, and what's World War 4, and what are dead spots?" asked Brian.

"It's called an Atlas, after the ancient Roman or Greek god. I can never remember which. World War 4 is, well, you know about war, right?" when they nodded she went on, "Then a World War would be one involving the entire world. Do have any clue of what I'm talking about?" she looked hopefully at them.

"Wait, does this have anything to do with what you told me about there being more places than just this island?" asked Ren.

"Yes!" she said excitedly.

"What island?" asked Brian.

"We're on a very large island, called Ireland, in the Atlantic Ocean. Here, it'll be easier to show you than it will be to tell you," she took the atlas and turned to the page on Ireland. She pointed out where they were and then she showed them a world map, and where Ireland was, and its size in relation to the rest of the world.

"Ahh, so, Ireland is really very small?" asked Brian.

"Yep. Eventually the Iresen will reunite the world," she replied.

"That's a lot to do," said Ren.

"Yeah, but you can do it. You have to get Ireland united first and gradually work your way out," she said.

"How do we unite the world, and Ireland?" asked Brian.

"You get all of the Areas to take down the fields and work together to make a country. Then you put someone in charge who you can trust, then move on. I was originally thinking of letting each of the Iresen have one of the seven continents to rule," she said.

"I don't want to rule a continent!" cried Ren.

"Even to keep it out of the hands of someone like Errol, who is only out for their own good?" she asked.

"Well, in that case," he said, "Can I keep the atlas?"

"Sure. We'll probably have to use it a lot," she said.

"I doubt that we'll get any more welding done today anyway," Brian said as Ren bent down to look at the atlas in detail. By night, he was a geography expert, or at least, he was better at it than any of the rest of them. He stayed up late with a candle looking at it, until Rain made him go to bed. He was the first one up, and was looking at the atlas when the rest of them got up.

"Hey, what is that anyway?" asked Jeran. The rest of them crowded around as he explained what Rain had the night before. When they sat down to breakfast, Brian brought up a question.

"What are we going to call our base now that we found Breanna?" he asked.

"How about Dublin, then we can unite Ireland under its proper capitol?" supplied Ren.

"That would work, what do you think Rain, or Breanna, as I should say now?" replied Brian.

"It's you're base, you name it. And you can still cal me Rain, it's less formal," she replied. They all grinned.

"Dublin it is then!" said Brian decisively. They got to work cleaning up the base; it had gotten fairly dirty without Sabre or Mia there. Liza only kept the kitchen clean, and Lyes had a hard enough time keeping his bed area clean, there was no possibility of him being able to keep the entire base clean. Rain made them work a little harder and really clean it out and get it livable. When they were done, the base looked a lot bigger and much more comfortable. They had the table in the middle, and they separated the bed areas with pieces of cloth, so they were more like rooms than camp spaces. They put down a rug that they had found in the back and painted the walls with some paint they also found in the back. That got them all interested in what was actually back there. They found famous paintings, which only Rain knew were famous, and more books that were as well taken care of as the atlas. They also found photos encased in the clear duct tape. They mostly showed a family, or children playing out in the grass. All of the photos were bound together in books, carefully placed in chronological order. They saw pictures of the children growing up, one of them becoming a soldier, one a doctor, and one a teacher. In another book, they found pictures of a funeral. The grave and the coffin each had an Irish flag draped over them and the photos had a name below them. It was the same name as that below the picture of the boy who became a soldier. It showed all of the rest of the family crying and standing around the grave. On the next page, dated some years to the future of the last, it showed a baby, being held by the teacher, and many names and notes, but then it had a picture of the doctor, and in the background, there was something exploding. There were several pictures of explosions and other destructive things. Some were so over or under exposed that they could barely see them, but all the same, the family in this photo album, who started very happy, had a tragic end. It made them all realize that people had willingly given their lives for a cause that was never carried out. Ren was the first to speak.

"These people died to keep their country safe, and now look at it: Areas separating the people and Makers denying them knowledge. This is why we have to unite the world."

"Yes," said Rain. Even she was shocked by the pictures. They finished putting things up and put the photo album on a special shelf to always remind them of their purpose. Over the next six months they built an above ground story to the base and some other buildings around it. They also saw more people passing by and watching them work. It used to be that they had been the only ones out of the Areas, but now they saw as many travelers as any farm house would. The boys still went out hunting for their food, and once when they got back, Rain stopped them before they could leave again to go get firewood.

"I want the four of you to go and see what's going on with the Areas. You've seen the travelers, and I know that the makers wouldn't give out that many passes," she said.

"Sure; Ren and I can go to Keros and Jeran and Lyes can see about Eran, then we'll figure out the rest when we get back," replied Brian.

"Yes, do. If you leave the atlas, I can draw the locations of the other areas on while you're gone," she offered.

"Alright, when do you want us to leave?" asked Ren.

"Would tomorrow be too soon?" she asked.

"You're really worried about the travelers, aren't you? Yeah, tomorrow's fine with me," said Brian.

"Not worried as much, but excited. It might mean that the Makers have taken down the fields," she replied.

"So, we set out tomorrow, and get back in about two months?" asked Jeran.

"Yeah, I'll explain to the girls, so you can get an early start," she said.

"And so Sabre doesn't insist on coming with?" asked Lyes.

"Actually, I was more worried about Mia. You know how she is about letting the four of you out on your own," she replied. They all grimaced. They were allowed to do things away from Dublin, apart from hunting and gathering firewood, but only if Mia helped. She'd hate letting them go as far as the Areas on their own. They were all rather pleased by the idea for some reason.

The next morning they set out before dawn. Rain was up and already had the horses saddled and packs of food in the saddlebags. She also had a warm biscuit, probably stolen from Liza's bread box, for each of them to eat while they rode. She waved as they rode into the distance. She sighed. It would be a little different not having their humor to lighten to Dublin. Sabre, Mia, and Liza were good company, but sometimes they took things a little too seriously. That was good when they were still fighting a war, but she was almost sure that the fields were down and the Makers were finally intelligent. She'd had to deal with so many idiots that she had almost given up hope. Not quite, though, and now things were righting themselves. Well, she thought, I have to think up something to tell them for why the boys are gone, and I have all the chores, so I don't have time to start contemplating the meaning of life. She went back inside and got to work. She already had a fire going when Liza got up to start cooking. They had enough meat salted to last them until the boys got home again, and so Liza had no reason to think they'd gone hunting. It'd only be a matter of time before—her thoughts were interrupted by Liza.

"Where are the boys?"

"I sent them to the Areas to see what's going on with the travelers," she replied, giving up on every excuse she had.

"Hmm, Mia won't be happy," she replied.

"I know, but I needed to know what was going on," she sighed and sat back, trying to catch up on the hour of sleep she had missed that morning. Mia was the last to get up, and when she found out about the boys, she almost shrieked.

"What! Why though? We have to get them back here!"

"I told you, I need to know what the Makers are up to. They'll be fine, plus, at the rate they're riding at, you might meet them on the way back," Mia had started for the door.

╪

Jeran and Lyes's journey was fairly uneventful. When they got to Eran, they found that the duke, Ren's old master, the blacksmith, had indeed gotten rid of the field. He had told the people of the outside world, warned them of the other Areas, and encouraged them to spread out. They were mostly content to stay where they were, but a few had moved farther out.

╪

Brian and Ren's journey was not so peaceful. There was a huge storm about a week from Dublin, but fortunately, and strangely, they spotted a farm house not a mile off. As they approached, they saw the light in the windows and the welcoming warmth of a fire. Brian knocked at the door, and it was opened by a man, who immediately ushered them inside. He called to a woman named Karie, and told her to dish up two more bowls of stew.

"So, I'm Greg O'Lein, who are you?" he asked them as he took their soaked cloaks and hung them up.

"I'm Brian of Dublin, and this is Ren of Dublin," he replied.

"You still say your names the old way? Where I come from, we'd say it O'Dublin. It's easier to say," he replied conversationally. They grinned.

"So, where do you come from?" asked Ren.

"Well, I was born in Keros, and moved out about eight months ago, after the new duke let down the field," he replied.

"I originally came from Keros, as well. So, who's the duke now?" Brian asked.

"His name's Lee. Apparently he used to be one of the commoners, and after an Iresen killed Errol, he took control. He really fixed up Keros. He's probably the best thing that ever happened to the place since it was set up, and from what I hear, that wasn't a good time either," he replied. Brian and Ren exchanged looks.

"Lee's my brother. Ren and I are both Iresen," Brian said in reply to Greg's questioning look. A woman walked out carrying two bowls of stew. She put them in front of Ren and Brian, and then went back to get her and her husband's bowls. They exchanged names when she sat down, and Greg added that they were Iresen, and had been at Keros when Errol was killed.

"Actually, Brian defeated Errol," Ren said before Brian could stop him. Brian smiled self-consciously.

"It's an honor to have you in our house, Master Iresen," she said to them. They grinned. After dinner, they sat around the fire talking.

"So, what brings you out this far?" Greg asked.

"We were actually on our way to Keros, to find out why there had been so many travelers lately, but with your information, we may not have to continue. We may anyway, just to see Keros again," replied Brian.

"Well, Karie and I aren't the only ones who spread out. Lee met with as many Makers as he could get a hold of and they all decided to let down the fields. There have been houses being built everywhere. It won't be too long before there are entire towns," he replied.

"We're trying to get people to start a city around our place, so if you can pass the information on, we'd be very grateful," asked Brian.

"Where is it?" he asked.

"Well, it's about a week and a half's easy ride to the east," he replied.

"Karie and I might come ourselves. She hasn't been happy being so far from other women, and she'd be right willing to help you start your city," he offered. They grinned. They talked for a wile longer, and then went to bed. In the morning, as they were getting ready to leave, Brian offered to pay Greg and Karie for their kindness, but they wouldn't take the money.

"It's a treat to have company. No, we won't take any money. It'll be good to see the two of you back at Dublin," said Karie.

"Yes, well, we'd better get going. When you get to Dublin, ask for a woman named Rain, and tell her we sent you. And if you come into contact with a little redhead who won't let you in, tell her that I'd have a word to say to her when I get back," Brian said, then, swinging onto the horse, they rode off toward Keros. When they got there, Lee came out to meet them. They told him about Dublin, and he said that he would send people in their direction. When they got back to Dublin, it was quite different from when they left. People were building houses and other buildings all around. Jeran and Lyes were already there, helping people with their things and buildings. They saw Greg coming toward them.

"There you are! I met the other Iresen, and you were right, that little redhead, Mia, wouldn't let us in, even when we told her you'd sent us. We weren't allowed to go in until a woman came out and asked what the problem was. We told her that we were sent by you and we wanted to speak to Rain. As it turned out, she was Rain, and she showed us where to start building. I've almost got the house done. Once I'm done with mine, I'll probably help the others with theirs, at a small price, I am a carpenter, after all. Lot's started showing up, you probably have about a hundred now," Brian and Ren were surprised at that. One hundred people! And so soon! They never thought that so many people would come. They set to work helping people, after stopping at the Town Hall, as they were calling the original base now, for a bite to eat. They ignored Mia's rants when they got in.

"Anything on the fire, Liza?" called Brian. She came out holding a tray of food.

"Rain said you'd be back today, and seeing how much Jeran and Lyes ate after their considerably shorter journey, I was prepared," she said as they grabbed biscuits and pieces of venison. It took them about a year to get the city really started, and to get communication out to the more remote towns. Ren and Brian went around making a map that would have copies available to all of the towns and farmsteads. They realized for once how big Ireland really was. When they got back to Dublin, there was a messenger just arriving. He looked as if he'd been traveling a long way. When he saw them, he hailed them.

"Is this the city of Dublin?"

"Yes, why?" asked Brian.

"I bring a message from the King of England!" he said. Ren and Brian exchanged a look of surprise. The Irish people knew about the other countries, but they all thought that they hadn't been united yet.

"Has he heard from any other countries?" asked Ren as they led the messenger to the Town Hall, where the Iresen lived and conducted the government from.

"Yes, Africa has united to become one giant country. Most of the European countries did the same. Scotland and Whales are part of England, and the United States and Canada still have their boundaries. Most of the west stayed the same, except for some small Central and South American countries. The west wasn't hit as hard as we were. When his Majesty's royal fleet came upon your fishing boats, we questioned them about Ireland's state," he explained. By that time all of the Iresen were around him, listening to the news.

"So we aren't the only ones uniting!" exclaimed Brian.

"Send our greetings to his Majesty, and tell him that we are currently sorting out our government," said Rain.

"I will, upon my immediate return," he replied.

"You must stay for a while, after such a long trip!" said Liza.

"I am afraid I cannot. I have been ordered to return after discovering the state of Ireland," he said rising.

"Well, at least take some food with you," said Liza. When he had left, the Iresen sat down to discuss the government, a subject they had been avoiding.

"Brian's the leader, so he should be the king," said Mia after much thinking.

"I'd rather be off as an ambassador," said Brian.

"Maybe Sabre could be Queen?" asked Lyes.

"I'd be terrible at it, I have no head for reason or politics," she replied.

"Who does?" asked Jeran. He was being sarcastic but it started them thinking. Who had always done the right thing, and who had never given up or turned them wrong? Who would be able to stay in one place long enough?

"Ren," said Brian and Sabre at the same time.

"I couldn't do it alone," he said.

"Well, Rain got us started in the first place, so both of you could rule," supplied Jeran.

"That would work," said Mia.

"Yes, will you do it?" asked Liza.

"Together, I think we can," said Rain.

"What about you, Ren?" asked Brian.

"I'll try," he said. They all grinned, "So, I assume you all will want to be ambassadors?"

"You know us too well," said Sabre.

"Well, where are you going to send us?" asked Mia.

"Hmm, Brian, why don't you and Mia go to England and the other European countries," he said. Brian looked dismayed, "don't worry; you'll be able to work together fine."

"Lyes and I will fit in best in Africa," inserted Liza.

"Alright, then Sabre and Jeran, since you both like roaming," they grinned, "you can have North and South America."

"With him in charge, we may turn little Ireland into a major world power," said Brian. They grinned.