OOC: This is a continuation of "Merchandise" in the ThunderClap Hills.

Myrda was busily rigging up her tent. She finally got all of Tychicus' nifty iron poles in place and had just finished flinging the outer cover over it.

She dusted off her hands and sat down. Hmmm I can't just keep Naya in my pocket all the time...not a great idea. She fished some extra string out of her pocket and made a quick necklace for herself. Now Naya could comfortably hang around her neck.

Myrda stood up again and looked around, puzzled. Edrick, Axel... where's Tychicus?

Axel shrugged. "Probably went to the bathroom or something and tripped. I mean, it was dark last night, and he DOES have a blind eye. Worst of all, I cant sense his power, seems how its not really important enough to Zasafiel. So yea. Ask 'Edrick' over there. He seems to be everywhere now that you named him."

Edrick perked to attention at the sound of his newfound name. "Hey! I heard that emphasis on my name. Dont mock it or I will throw you again..." he shook his fist menacingly.

Myrda tuned out the boys and walked back to where they had landed, a little grassy hollow. Tych?

She stopped with horrow. She could see the indention in the grass where Tychicus had been lying. And the grass beyond it was broken and trampled, as though a whole score of men had come rushing through and... TYCHICUS?!

Boys, get over here!

Myrda started running. Tychicus! TYCHICUS!

Axel stood back, insulted. "Boys?!? I am old enough to be your father kiddo. And He... well lets just say that his age is messed. Alot." Walking up to the indent, Axel gave a shrug. "Well, it means one of two things. Either he Got in a brawl with some guys and was taken, or he got in a fight with a wild animal an is dead now. I doubt the latter of the two personally."

Edrick looked at the mark and sighed. "Well, its either split up, two groups looking for each person, or we choose. Tychicus or this mysterious Alexander your so obviously fond of."

Axel shrugged, backing up a bit. That was a stupid thing even for some idiot like Edrick to say. "Your call Mydra," he said, backing up a bit more.

Myrda had silently chosen to ignore just about every other word that came out of the guys' mouths. She stood for a moment, fists clenched. Tychicus was gone. I'll come back and find you Tych. I promise. I'll come back with Alexander and we'll find you...

She swallowed a sob and snapped We need to find Alexander first. I'm going to get some sleep.

Who's going to carry around a little iron cube for us? Who's going to snore and lull me to sleep? Who's going to make breakfast for crying out loud?! Ugh, this isn't fair... he was a nice guy. Myrda comforted herself with the thought of finding Alexander as she slipped into her tent and tried to get some sleep...

Axel sighed, sitting down. "Women. Always go and get emotional. He's gone. He is strong, so they wont kill him. That is, if its the group it think it is... if they send him to them..." he shuddered. "That would be worth crying over. A cruel way to go, I'll tell you that much.'

Edrick nodded as he munched on some jerky. "I have no idea what you are talking about," he said between chews. "But I bet its important."

Axel threw a rock at Edrick, and stared at the moon. "Now we have an adventure. Great."

OOC: I'm skipping to morning. Danno wants us to hurry up and rescue him so he can actually do some posting. Here we go...

BIC:

The next morning Myrda faced a dilemma. She couldn't do anything with the tent poles. She finally decided to keep the tent material and just leave the poles... They'll be a marker, so I know where to come back and start looking for him...

She crammed a biscuit into her mouth, forced herself to gag it down and growled at Axel So are we flying again?

"As long as i am not dropped again," he said with a meaningful glare at Edrick, "I am fine."

Edrick grined, and jumped into the air. With a quick spell, Axel was floating beside him as he propelled himself forward with his wings. "Lets race," he told Myrda, and took off.

Oh yes, let's!

Myrda roared after him. She had one hand clutched around Naya, and her other hand was clenched into a fist. [i]Hah, I knew you'd listen to me. Just a little emotional yanking and I knew you'd cave. Shut up. I just need to vent and Edrick gives ample oppurtunity. You don't use all of your oppurtunities. I shouldn't. Why not? It's wrong. Hmmph I still have work to do. Shut up. Just give me a power boost and shut up.

After an hour of the wind roaring in her ears and the grass disappearing beneath her to form into rocky crevices and finally the base of a mountain, Myrda felt sufficiently cooled down and more in control of her emotions.

Down there. Axel, we need to land and do a little planning.

Axl felt himself plummet to the ground again. "EDRIIIIIIICK!" he hollard ashe raced to the ground, feeling his body stop just before he splattered. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" he hollard, as his feet touched the ground.

Edrick grinned as he hovered just out of Axels reach. "Cant reach me now tough guy, can you?" he dropped his Bag on Axels head, laughing at him.

Shouting in frustration, Axel began throwing hunks of Jerky at Edrick, hoping to hit his eye or someother useful Body part.

Myrda sighed and rolled her eyes. Yeah, old enough to be my father and as petty as my little brothers... She set herself down and felt a little relieved to have solid ground under her feet again.

Boys, you're wasting jerky. She walked around to get a feel for the new area they were in. Definetly the Rocky Mountains. Nawwww, what gave you that clue? The rocks. I was being sarcastic. I know. Now... Alexander is in a cave... that could be anywhere... I can feel the hand over there. Just follow my lead, he's close. All right...

Naya was starting to glow faintly at Myrda's neck. Myrda scrambled up a tall rock and looked ahead, searching the heaps of stone ahead of her for anything that looked interesting. There... steps carved into the rock... they lead into a dark tunnel. Myrda looked around carefully and spotted three guards. They were men robed in black, holding massive scimitars and standing guard just outside the cave entrance. Oh this will be fun. Don't get out of control, now... Don't worry, I will.

Myrda pulled out her bow and took careful aim. She let the arrow fly straight at one of the guard's heads and CLUNK. Arrows don't go clunk. Really?! You idiot, there's a magical barrier around the place! So I can't fire arrows at the guards? Unless you want them to go CLUNK! Hide you fool, they've spotted you!

The three guards were running down the steps and heading for Myrda. She could hear shouting inside the cave. Oh great, reinforcements. I'm getting mad now. Yessss that's right. Let the anger kick in. FLAY THEM ALL! I gotta get Alex out of there. USE YOUR ANGER! I think I will. Sreeshcannayas allniven suterad...

Myrda stood up and held up her hands. The wind picked up dramatically, and before Myrda realized that she was starting to lose control she had started a tornado...

Axel sighed and quickly cast himself a barrier for the wind. "Edrick, Stop this stupid tornado. How am I supposed to fight with her wooshing wind everywhere!?" he shouted, but Edrick was already a step ahead of him.

Casting a small tornado to sorround himself, Edrick got to work on making another larger tornado. He doubted that he could make one as large as Myrda's ever-growing tornado, but if he made the winds go the opposite way, and placed it in the eye... Getting to work on the spell, he soon had a half decently sized tornado, in the center of Myrda's monstrous tornado. He even began to drop his protective winds to increase his other ones power. Soon the windbegan dieing down enough so that Axel could move.

Axel ran with all his might at Myrda and shoved her to the gground, his anger nearly to the top. "You stupid girl, do you want to kill us all! I understand that there danger, but that was the stupidest thing I have ever seen!!!" He shouted over the ever-so-loud wind. Pulling one ice crystal sword from his sheith, he turned to the approaching men.

Zasafiel analyzed Myrda's self control, jealous of his sister, the ring. If he could just manage to get this guy to wield him, they could be the most monstrous combo ever. But he was to stiff necked to even clean him. That and the fact that most rulers sent men to kill him as soon as he drew him, but that could be easily solved. The men that Axel was about to come in contact with were powerful and dangerous, so he might just need that extra boost. Then again he had another ice crystal sword for two handed melee, but that wasnt enough for what was to come...

Edrick was occupied attempting to still the tornado to fight with anyone, so he stayed back, not fullyexerting himself, but satisfied with the power of the wind.

Myrda narrowed her eyes. Come on, just kill him, you know you want to. Shut up. That's not the way to deal with things. Why not? He's slowing you down. Getting between us and Alexander! Alexander wouldn't be happy if I killed an ally to get to him. I'm sure he appreciates the extra rot time, too, sweetie. You're heartless! Quit messing with my emotions, I have to keep a level head here! Ahahahahahahaha... killing, isn't it so delightful?! No!

Myrda got to her feet and pulled out her bow. It took her a moment to realize that the magical barrier was gone... either the windstorm had ripped it down, or the black-robed men had taken it down. In any case, she had some room to work with now. She pulled an arrow back, took careful aim, and fired. She blew a gentle breath of wind to make the arrow fly true, and felt a slight surge of satisfaction as the arrow nailed one of the men between the eyes. He fell over and didn't stir again. She aimed again, and hit a second guard straight in the heart. She decided to leave the other one to Axel, just so he could feel good about himself.

Myrda ran up the stone steps and up to the entrance of the cave. She found that there were torches every ten feet or so, giving the cave plenty of light to see by. She stepped inside cautiously, an arrow strung on her bow. She paused suddenly when Naya started screaming Look! OVER THERE YOU FOOL! LOOK! It looks important! Get it, get it!!! Myrda turned around and saw what looked like a roll of papers frozen to a rock. That's weird. Grab it! Just grab it! But it's frozen... Alex? Looks like he left it here. He probably wanted to, uh, get it away from himself. Hang on to that thing!

Myrda bent down, and as soon as she touched the ice, a large chunk of it melted away, leaving her with a frozen chunk of paper. She shrugged, stuffed it into her pack, and walked into the cave again, hanging carefully on to her bow.

She took comfort from a slight breeze that blew past her and kept walking. She encountered a single guard, and shot him before he could comprehend that he was seeing her. There's got to be more guards around. We were attacked by a large group in the Frozen Flatlands. Where are they? I can sense the hand. Another hundred yards and we need to go right.

Axel ran past the man, not even thinking about the death spell he released. Running up behind Myrda, he glared at her angrily. "You are letting it control you. It doesnt take Zasafiel cheering it on to notice. Just stop and think. Alexander is important to you, I get it. But this is no way to rescue someone, just barging in and killing everyone you see. So far we havent reached anyone with the ability to kill yet. But soon more will come. Can you not feel them?!? Surely that ring must! Unless its just a stupid useless gem with attitude that is" he said, feeling Zasafiel burn his back in anger.

Edrick ran past the burning man, grining. If Axel wasnt taking time to play with his prey, it meant business. Catching up to Axel and Myrda, he felt the heat of Axels anger, and backed up a bit. If Axel snaps, will we be able to help him...? he asked himself, unsuprised at the answer back. If Axel snaps, you run you idiot. He will kill you without even thinking. Man, if i was controling this body, i would be outta here now

Myrda had to bite her tongue hard to keep back a retort. Come on! Kick him, bite him, fling him onto the sharp rocks, I'm not picky! Shut up. He's losing more control than you are, let him have it! No he's right, you took my magic and used it. Quiet down, I have to think. Turn right, turn right!

Myrda muttered This way. She turned into a dark cavern away from the tunnel they had entered. I can feel a bunch of guys coming this way. Let's just cut Alexander loose and fly out of here.

She stopped in front of a huge wooden door that was reinforced with iron hinges and locks. Axel, can you burn this down real quick?