Sage stared at Rowen's form. He had left Rowen's side since he had brought him up to their room. Ryo and Kento came upstairs about an hour ago to tell him that Dais, and the new warlady, Delia were gone, and that Cye was missing. Sage felt concern for the young warrior, but he did not want to leave Rowen's side. Mia had come, and had wiped Rowen's face with a cool, damp rag, while Kento and Ryo and White Blaze went out to search for Cye. They had returned empty handed. "Man, I know the Dynasty's got him, Ryo!" Kento bellowed as the two teens and tiger headed up the stairs. Mia heard them coming, but didn't leave the room. She looked back toward Sage. Sage and Rowen were such good bestfriends that it almost seem like they were brothers. She knew that Sage was not going to leave Rowen's side until he woke up. Ryo, Kento, and White Blaze entered the room. They both had downcast looks on their faces. Ryo looked toward Rowen. "How is he?" asked. "He hasn't woken, Ryo," Mia answered softly. Ryo nodded. He could feel his friend's pain. And he hated to add more, but... "We didn't find Cye." Now Mia and Sage looked at him. "We looked all over for him. We found footprints in the sand down by the beach, but there was nothing there." Mia was silent, as she looked down at Rowen. Kento was pacing back and forth angrily, pounding his fists together angrily. "I know they have Cye!" he said loudly. "We have to go and rescue him!" "Just chill, Kento!" Ryo snapped. He was feeling quite frustrated, and he was starting to blame himself for everything that had happened. He should have sensed that Cye was in danger! Why hadn't he? "We have to think about this." "No, we don't!" Kento yelled back, his face turning dark with anger. "I say we go in and bust Cye outta there!" "Kento, did you forget what happened the last time you went to free Cye and Sage? You were captured too!" Kento was ready to hit Ryo, but Mia intervened. "Stop this! Fighting is not going to solve our problems. You two seem to forget that Rowen is out, and Sage is not going to leave his side until he wakes up. All four of you are going to need to be together to rescue Cye." Kento and Ryo backed away, mumbling apologies to each other. Sage had heard their words, but he didn't add to them. He kept watch over his friend while Ryo, Kento, and Mia went downstairs. White Blaze stared at Sage for several moments, before he too turned and went downstairs. Sage continued to keep his watch. Please wake up, Rowen.

Cye looked up when he heard his cell door opening Four soldiers stood at the door while Delia stepped inside, carrying a bowl. "Dinner time," she announced with a growl. Cye stared at her as she came closer. He looked toward the soldiers. They were there to make sure he didn't try anything funny. Delia held up the spoonful of food to his face. Cye turned his head away. "Come on, eat!" Delia demanded. When Cye didn't turn his head, she forced him to, glaring into his seablue eyes. "If you don't eat, I swear to you that you will suffer for me having to come down here, and wasting my time, understand fish boy?!" Cye glared at her, now suddenly feeling angry. He wasn't going to eat no matter what she did to him. For all he knew it could be poison, or something to control him. He wasn't taken the chances. "I'd rather starve, then eat something that looks like garbage!" he spat. Delia struck him hard across the face, her eyes blazing with anger. "You're lucky you're being fed at all!" she snapped. "You're going to be here for a very long time, you know, so I suggest you eat if you want to keep what strength you have!" Cye's face hurt, but he didn't care. He wasn't eating, and that was that. Delia was getting very impatient. Torrent was being very stubborn, and she didn't like it one bit. With an angry cry of rage, she suddenly smashed her fist against the side of his head, knocking him into unconsciousness. "That's what you get for wasting my time!" she snapped before leaving the cell. The soldiers followed her, locking the door tightly, not glancing back at the helpless warrior who hung there on the wall.

Rowen's eyes fluttered a few times, and he groaned. Sage watched him closely, hardly breathing. Come on, Rowen. And then finally the bearer of Strata opened his eyes. "Rowen!" Sage leapt from his chair, knocking it backward, and looked down at his friend with joy. Rowen stared weakly up at him. "Sage," he managed to say. Sage hugged his friend tightly, then let him go. "I was so worried about you. I can't believe you did that!" Rowen grinned stupidly. "It was either this, or you getting blasted away by Cale. I'm sorry I worried you." Sage glared at him. "You should be!" But then he smiled. "Don't scare me like that, ever!" Rowen smiled back and nodded. Three sets of footsteps paraded up the stairs, and Ryo, Kento, and Mia came into the room. They were all happy to see that Rowen was awake. White Blaze came into the room, and gently nuzzled him with his big head. "Hey, Ro, how you feeling?" Ryo asked, quietly. "I'm fine, Ryo," Rowen answered, and then he looked around. "Where's Cye?" Silence. You could cut it with a butter knife. Kento's fists clenched tightly at his sides, Sage looked down at his feet, Mia looked away, and Ryo's eyes flashed dangerously. Rowen knew something was wrong. "With Talpa," Ryo finally managed to answer. Rowen sat up in shock. It was a bad mistake. A sharp pain ran through his head, and he laid back down. His friends stared in concern at him. "How?" "We're not exactly sure," Sage answered. "While were being attacked by Cale, Dais, and that new Warlord..." "Warlady," Ryo corrected. "Whatever." Sage waved his hand carelessly, and continued on, "Someone else was busy capturing Cye down by the beach. We don't know how they did it." "I'd say it was Sekhmet!" Kento grumbled. "He's after Cye most of the time." Rowen was shaking his head. "How on earth did he manage to capture Cye when he was near the water? He would have to been in armor don't you think?" "You're right, Rowen," Mia spoke up. "Someone must have been helping Sekhmet. Someone with a lot of power." "Whoa, wait a minute, Mia,"Ryo said, as he looked at her. "What are you saying?" "I'm saying there could be another Warlord or Warlady out there," she continued, eyeing all four boys seriously. "We know that since Talpa is back, he probably found more help, since Anubis is no longer there to kiss his rear." "That is possible," Sage said, nodding his blond head. He looked at Ryo. Ryo was silent as he stared off into space. "Ryo?" Ryo snapped back to reality. "Uh? What?" "You OK?" Ryo shook his head. "I was just thinking." "About what?" "About busting Cye out of the Dynasty."

Kania stared unhappily at Delia who laid on the comfortable bed in their room. Both were dressed in robes. Kania was wearing a beautiful dark blue robe with white stars, and Delia was wearing a royal purple robe. Right now Kania wasn't too happy with Delia, and Delia was ignoring her unhappy looks as she read her book. "Did you have to knock him out?" Delia?" Kania finally asked. Delia lowered her book and glared at her. "He wouldn't eat," she growled. "I do not tolerate people wasting my time." "Well, what did you expect? He's a prisoner here! Dang it, Delia! If you were a prisoner, and someone tried to feed you something, you'd think it was poisoned!" Delia rolled her eyes. "It wasn't poisoned," she seethed. "It was just gruel." "Gruel? Yuck! No wonder why he wouldn't eat! I'd starve too!" Delia glared at her. "Shut up, Kania, and just leave me alone!" Kania stared at her in shock. She shook her head and vanished from the room. She walked down the long hall. Sheese, what the heck is wrong with her anyway? Ever since they joined Talpa, Delia had changed. She wasn't the fun-loving girl anymore. She was grouchy constantly as is she was having her period. What happened to make her like this? Kania decided to pay Torrent a little visit. She grabbed a candle and lit the wick, and then headed down to the dungeon. She peered through the bars, at the still figure hanging on the wall. His head was down, and if she hadn't seen his chest rising and falling, she would have believed that he was dead. As she stared at him, she couldn't help but almost feel sorry for him. What was it about him that made her have an eye for him? As if he could tell someone was watching him, Cye slowly awoke. He managed to his lift his head to stare at her. "Kania," he said weakly. "Hello, Torrent," she replied with a smile. "Glad to see you're awake." "What do you want?" Kania snapped her head back a bit. She hadn't expected that. "Oh nothing," she retorted. "Just came down to see how well you're suffering. Oh, did you know that Master Talpa has great plans for you?" "Yippe do da dai!" Cye mumbled sarcastically. He lowered his head, feeling the pain there. He knew that if Talpa was planning something for him, it wasn't great. He would have to escape, and soon. Who knew what that demon was up to? Kania stared at him, smirking a little. "Well, I better go, and let you suffer in peace." She turned to walk away, then looked over her shoulder at him. "Try to get some sleep," she said gently, and then with a harsher tone, "You might be hanging there for a long time." She walked away, leaving him alone in that miserable cell. Cye watched her go. Not if I can help it, he thought.

Kento was more than ready to go after his best buddy. Once Ryo had mentioned it, he began to think of what he would do to the ones that captured his friend. They would die, a slow and painful death, caused by his hand. "So when are we leaving?" he demanded. Ryo looked back at Rowen and Sage. Sage was standing up, relieved because his best friend was all right. Rowen was still lying on the bed, still weak. There was no way they could rescue Cye now. "Kento, we're going to have to wait." "But!" Kento protested. Ryo held his hand up, and the big warrior stopped. "Kento, we all want to get Cye out of there," Ryo said. "But Rowen is weak, and we can't separate ourselves. "If we do, they might come back, and someone else will get captured." Kento wanted to argue, but the decided against it. It was getting late, he noted. But still if anything happened to Cye, someone would pay. With a look of disgust at Ryo, he turned and walked out the door. "That went well," Rowen remarked sarcastically. Ryo frowned. He really hated to disappoint Kento that way. He himself wanted to go right into the Dynasty and free Cye, but how would they? Rowen was injured, and was in no condition to fight or protect Mia if someone were to attack, and Sage would surely stay with him, and he wouldn't be able to protect everyone if another warlord or warlady attacked. This was so frustrating! Ryo was about to scream when he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Ryo, I know it's tough, but we will rescue Cye. And Kento will get over his anger, you know that." Ryo nodded and smiled. "I know. Thanks, Sage. I'm going to bed. Good-night, you guys." "Good-night."

Downstairs in the study, Mia worked on her computer, trying to figure out who Talpa's newest lackeys were. She actually had no idea where to start, and she was worried about Cye. Who knew what they were doing to him in the Dynasty? And furthermore why did they go after him? She knew he had been having a bad day, but didn't know what it was about, and now Kento was in the living room, sulking because they couldn't go and free him. Mia let out a sigh as she worked feverishly at the computer. She could hear the shower running and guessed that Sage was taking a shower, while the TV in the living room blared out men yelling, and guns going off, and a woman's scream. Finally came across something. It was another poem. Mia stared at the screen. She wondered if this poem had anything to do with that new warlady of Talpa's. She read it, her eyes growing wide as she followed the words down the computer screen. The poem talked about weakness and destruction and was in two parts, weakness being first, followed by destruction. Mia's eyes widened slowly with surprise. She suddenly screamed. "RYO!"