Chapter One

-Chapter One-

Two Years Earlier

--Tyson was bleeding. Grasping his left hip with his hands and cursing under his breath, he stumbled out of the debris. He'd been rummaging around in the attic when the floor gave way beneath him. As he fell, something had tore open a small, mediocre gash in his side. Though it was only skin-deep, his carelessness pestered him.

--“I've got to be more careful,” the man reminded himself. Injury would slow him down, and he was barely fast enough to avoid them as it was.

-- With a deep sigh, he sauntered through a space where the front door would have been, had the place not been rotting to the ground. He hated staying in places like this, but there was no telling when he'd wander upon shelter again.

--Lazily, Ty's feet grazed over the wooden steps of the porch which was, surprisingly, still intact. There was a jingle of forgotten jewelry: He had wandered over a trinket of metal that had been lying on the steps outside the front doorway. 

--“What is this?”

--He glanced around, half-expecting the owner of the trinket to snatch it out of his hands, but the only thing that glared back at him was the sweltering, never-ending sea of sand. Maybe the charm necklace was something the previous owner of this deteriorating shack had misplaced there some days before. Keeping his shirt pressured against his scraped side, Ty dropped down to his knees and inspected the tiny object. It seemed safe.

--He rolled the shining thing around in his hands although the hot metal scorched his palms. Dangling the thing in front of him, he pondered the chances that it was a magical object. Perhaps someone had placed it here as a charm to protect the house. He shook his head. If so, it hadn't done a very substantial job. 

--The ornament looked normal, felt normal, as he rubbed it between his fingers. Ty closed his fist around the necklace and glanced around once more, but saw only sand.

--It was lonely here. And hot. The melancholy clawed at him. For a moment, his mind drifted to times before the Boundary had been placed, before getting to the Outside was impossible and unlawful, before things became empty and barren . . .. Lazily his lids fell over his hazy green eyes, and he faded away from the unwelcoming desert. A moan from the steps yanked him back to the porch in front of the house.

--As he combed his fingers through his spiky golden hair, he grunted. Something smelled . . . odd. 

--“Smoke.”

--Quickly the man jumped to his feet, scurrying to get the the kitchen where the smell of fire came from. Panic flooded his mind. Had they found him? Once he bounded over the pile of debris, he carefully scanned the area, keeping his hand over the hilt at his thigh.

--“Nienna?” His voice revealed more surprise than he would have liked.

--A small creature with fire-red hair, glanced up from where she sat cross-legged on the floor. In one hand she held an incredibly charred piece of bread. 

--“Oh!” she said cheekily. “Hi Ty!” Without another word, Nienna tore off a section of the blackened toast with her sharp teeth and munched on the snack rather happily. 

--He regretted ever meeting the creature. Since the day Richard had introduced them, it seemed she would scramble in at the most inconvenient times, causing jumping to conclusions and unecessary stress.

--With one hand on his head, Tyson groaned, “What are you doing?”

--“I was hungry,” she said, her mouth still full of food, “so I warmed up some of your bread. It turned out a little more scorched than I expected, but I like it.” Black crumbs sprinkled the area around her bright lips.

--Ty growled. This was certainly not the time for Richard to send a fire nymph to him as a babysitting assignment, especially since his dietary provisions were so low already. 

--“What are you doing here?” 

--“Oh! Richard sent me.” Plastered onto Nienna's face was a toothy, half-crescent smile.

--He knew it. A sigh swirled out of his lips, which were turned in an grimace.

--“Why.” The word was curt. In his mind, the man decided not even to disguise the aggravation he felt at present.

--Nienna shrugged before plunging her hands into the leather bag in front of her.

--“Hands out of my things, nymph!” Tyson snarled as he jerked the duffel towards him, the words spewing from his mouth like poisonous snake venom. “Now why did Richard send you to me? And how did you find me?”

--“The finding part was easy,” giggled the fire nymph, playing with sparks between her fingers. “You're impossibly easy to track, especially since your smell clings to the sand.”

--Ty nodded. He should have expected that one of these desert creatures would have hardly a problem snuffing him out among the few other things scattered along the desert. 

--“But why did he send you?” the man pressed again, becoming more angsty with every question he had to repeat.

--“I'm not sure.” For a moment, the nymph seemed captivated by a blue flare of fire on her palm. “He told me to keep you at bay until the twins got here.”

--So the twins were coming? That was good. Years had rolled by since the last time he'd seen those two. No doubt, they'd have a message from Prince Richard himself. But what could he want?

--“You know they're still hunting you.” Quite inconsiderately, the nymph interrupted his train of thought.

--For a brief instant, confusion flashed over the man's face. “The twins?”

--As she reclined onto her back, Nienna rolled her eyes. “No. The Ethereals. Or their apprentices are, rather.” After a few moments of silence stumbled by, the nymph continued, “I saw a few of them flying towards here on the way over. They didn't recognize me from the air though.”

--It'd been at least a couple weeks since Ty had ambushed the Enemy's council. Their relentless pursuing of him was what had drove him to flee around the country, what had brought him to this sorry excuse for a house in the desert. Curiously, he wondered why they'd still be searching for him. Tyson shrugged. They'd probably heard from the country folk that he planned to attack again, or that he frequently met with Richard, who was a highly wanted prospect in the Enemy's eyes.

--“The twins are here. I smell them,” said Nienna, bouncing nimbly onto her feet and racing for the porch with Tyson following behind her.

--In a few steps he rounded the corner and tried to hide a smile as he looked up for the visitors. Before Tyson had a chance to glimpse the twins, the nymph pounced upon him.

--“Run!” she yelled.