Hans frowned when he saw Kale and Celestra waiting for her. Slipping out of the pouch, he slipped away unnoticed to return to Ria's. Slipping into Ria's place, he was immediately pounced on by Auri, who was prowling about. He shrieked.

"Aenea!!!! Get your cat away from me!!!!! Alissa's in trouble!!!!!!!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Aenea, who was sitting nearby, heard him and immediately picked Hans up.

"What are you talking about? Trouble?" Aenea asked, sharply.

Tiara and Stephen, who were sitting in a corner nearby, came over.

"Alissa and I were at the town gate. Celestra and Kale showed up. I slipped away and came as quickly as I could. I don't want anything to happen to her. Let's go. NOW!" Hans answered.

"Aenea, if you could take us there," Tiara said.

Aenea nodded and they disappeared.

They arrived at the gate a moment later, hidden in the shadow of the gatehouse. They surveyed their surroundings. Alissa stood, frowning. Celestra had a smirk on her face, and stood in front of her. Kale stood directly behind her, his face expressionless, but his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Tiara's eyes flashed anger, hating seeing her friend in such a position, even though she knew Alissa could handle herself just fine.

"Come on, now," she growled at the others.

Without waiting for any confirmation, and knowing they'd be right behind her, she stalked away from the gatehouse wall, shadows falling off of her with each step.

"Well, well. Hello Alissa. Who are your...friends?" Tiara said, looking both Celestra and Kale over in one passing glance.

Celestra smirked and spoke up before Alissa could say anything. "I am no friend of hers." She snickered at the mere thought.

"Oh. I see. Is that why you and your....boy are surrounding her?"

Kale growled and moved forward. "I would not speak to her in such a manner."

Tiara's eyes flashed. She growled. "And if I were you, I would not speak to me unless I was spoken to."

"Why? What are you to me? Just a commoner dressed up a bit." He smirked.

Tiara shook her head and chuckled. "No, my dear boy. I am no commoner. I, unfortunately, have a title. And I spoke not to you, but your," her lip twitched upward in somewhat of a smile, "mistress."

He stood there, unmoved by her comment. "As you wish, lady." He snickered and bowed mockingly.

"If we were in my homeland you would show respect and I would be allowed the pleasure of beheading you for your behavior. But! We are not in my homeland, thus I must follow the rules of this land. I think your mistress and yourself should be rather frightened." She grinned as Stephen appeared behind Kale, standing beside Alissa and Aenea stood off to her left. "You are badly outnumbered, boy."

He drew his sword in a lightning quick movement and leaped forward, for her throat. Not even dazed, Tiara stood there calmly as Aenea snapped her fingers. Kale stopped in mid leap, frozen.

"You should be more careful where you aim your sword, boy," Tiara said.

It was at her words when suddenly the surrounding area began to melt away. And everyone there lost conciousness.

Tiara opened her eyes, the world around her swirled and she quickly shut them, groaning. After a moment she reopened her eyes and slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position. She looked around.

The town was gone.

Surrounding her was a jungle. They were in a clearing. Everyone else was still unconcious. She heard a roar in the distance and then the call of a strange bird. She frowned wondering where they were.

"Tiara?" Alissa's voice was weak.

She spun and went to her friend's side. "Don't ask. I don't know where we are." She frowned.

Alissa sat up and pulled herself to her feet, just as Aenea and the others started to wake. She surveyed the area and shook her head.

"There are no jungles near Xiatriz. I don't understand this."

Aenea frowned and closed her eyes slightly. "We are no longer on your world, Alissa."

Celestra frowned. "WHAT!?!?" She glared at Aenea and stood face to face with her. "This is your doing, witch."

Aenea raised her eyebrow. "No. I did not do this. And I can not undo this. It is not in my power to return us to your world, else I would have returned Tiara to hers when first I met her. I would break the rules of my people."

"Then how did we get here?" Kale asked, sharply. "Who among you did this?"

His eyes searched them, landing on Tiara.

Stephen moved forward. "Tiara did nothing. She is no sorceress. She did nothing." He glared at Kale.

"We must work together on this," Alissa said. "There is nothing we can do about it."

"It would be preferrable to work together. Simply for the reason of survival," Aenea said. "No hostility. If you want to get off this world and return home, we must ALL be civil. No matter what."

Celestra growled. Alissa glared at Aenea. Kale nodded. "Celestra and I agree to be civil. Does Alissa? Or will we not wake up one morning and you find our throats slit?"

"I will be civil. I am not a cruel person." Alissa glared at Kale and walked away. "I think we should get going."

"Yes, let's," Tiara said.

As they walked through the jungle, cutting down vines that stood in their way, they grew hot, tired, and hungry. As night came upon them, a light rain began to fall, though because of the canopy above them they hardly felt a drop.

They came to a large clearing at around dinnertime. The canopy above allowed the rain to fall freely into the clearing. They decided it would be best to stay in the forest itself and they camped, or rather tried to camp, about 4 feet from the clearing.

Stephen woke early the next day. He looked around. The others were still asleep. He stood and stretched and started to look around in the nearby forest for something they could eat. He moved into the clearing and found some berries. He grinned. Food was the first thing on his mind. In the past he'd gone for days without food, or very little food. He hated being hungry and he ate whenever he could.

As he reached out to pick some berries, he heard a twig snap. He spun.

"I wouldn't eat those berries if I was you."

Stephen nearly laughed when he saw the man. He was a short, somewhat chubby, man. He wore nothing but a loincloth and he carried a spear, with a wicked looking point on the end.

"They're poisonous. Eat them and you die," the little man said.

"Thanks," Stephen replied. "Could you perhaps help me find something to eat. My friends are just over--"

Looking over to where they had camped, he saw the others being pushed into the clearing by other short men in loincloths holding the same type of spears.

"Uh oh," he muttered.

And they were led off to the village of the short little men.

They were placed in a hut. Tiara paced about, frowning.

"First, we're placed on some strange world, and NOW we're stuck in the hut of some pygmies." She growled. "When I get my hands on that damned Wizard..." Her voice trailed off into indicipherable words.

Stephen stood and grabbed her shoulder, turning her to face him. Shadows wrapped around the two of them and they disappeared from view of the others, their words unable to be heard.

"All the Gods on this forsaken planet, why did you choose US?" Celestra growled.

"Shut your mouth, Celestra," Alissa said, sharply. "We're all in this together. And as much as I despise the idea of working with you, we have to."

Celestra turned and glared at her. "Whatever, Windsyra."

"She's right, you know," Kale spoke up. "We have to work together to get off this world and back to our own."

Celestra shot Kale a dirty look. "Fine. Whatever. And I suppose you, Alissa, are going to be in command huh?" She snickered.

"No," Aenea said. "If anyone will be command it will be Tiara."

The shadows flew off of Tiara and Stephen in a flash. "What?" Tiara asked, sharply. "I don't command anyone."

"It is what must be done. I assure you. I can tell. It is your duty to command us if need be."

She shook her head. "Why me?"

"I don't know, my friend. But it is what must be."

"SHE is commanding ME?" Celestra asked, sharply, her voice full of snobbishness.

Stephen took a step forward but Tiara pushed him back. She looked at Celestra.

"You know," she began, coldly, "I could tear your throat out in an instant and you wouldn't even know what hit you."

Celestra raised a skeptical brow. "I'd like to see you try." She smirked.

"You wouldn't see me. Do you think I am a mere student with the shadows?" Her voice was still cold. She snickered. "If you do, you're sadly mistaken." She grinned. "I have ways with the shadows that could find out your worst nightmare. I have ways to make that nightmare come true."

She chuckled when she saw how pale everyone's faces had grown, especially Celestra's.

"Now. I am not a mere commoner. And you will obey me if I issue a command. Though I don't plan on doing that often, so rest assured that you won't be forced to do anything you don't want to do."

At her words, the door to the hut burst open and a young pygmy boy came in. He looked straight at Tiara, then bowed low.

"My master, the Chief, wishes to see you, Mistress."

Tiara raised her eyebrow, then shrugged. "Alright."

She followed the pygmy boy out of the hut and to another, larger hut.

Alissa frowned and bit her lip. "Who knows what he'll do to Tiara. Probably sacrifice her to their god."

"No. I don't think so," Stephen said. "They wouldn't have sent a boy if it was a sacrifice." He bit his lip.

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