The morning came, cold and clammy, when Jake at last made his way outside. Birds trilled in the air while on the slopes far below the cave mouth the wind rustled the branches of the forest.

With the sound of thunder he launched into the sky. Climbing rapidly to height he soared lazily in the clear morning air.

Hunting proved to be good at the far edge of the forest--he couldn't hunt in the heart of the woods with Serena's treaty. He'd been forced to the outer edges to make his kills, but the forest tended to be more open because of logging anyway, allowing him to quickly strike his targets without having to stalk them through the trees.

Taking his kill back to the mountain, he dined greedily upon the meat. He left the bones of the stag to fall upon the mountainside wherever they will.

Running lithely down to the cave, he gloried in his muscular body. Despite being more than forty feet in length, he seemed built to run or fly. His long muscular legs and strong shoulders gave him the grace of a hunting cat, while his scales gave him the protection of a tank. He was one lean, mean, killing machine, he thought proudly.

Moving in a dignified fashion, he passed through the great hall and continued to his guestrooms to check on his friends.

Brian and Rachel slept comfortably on their pallets, but Stacey seemed somewhat restless in her sleep. Tom sat awake beside her, idly making water from the washstand swirl about his head in strange and sorcerous fashion. Blue animals made of larger drops cavorted around the room. Jake watched the show for a few minutes before continuing quietly down the hall.

His sister dozed fitfully on her pallet, tossing continuously in her sleep. He didn't feel overly concerned at that; she obviously preferred her glade to the cave. No doubt that could be causing the rough night's sleep. He hoped Rachel's dire prediction of an eventual siege would prove to be false, or she'd be completely miserable.

As he made his way back to the hall, Jake pondered the likelihood of a siege. It didn't seem practical, in his mind. Who could siege a dragon? Even if they did, would there be enough money to mount such a lengthy campaign? For that matter, who would even do so? Very few people knew of their existence, secrecy becoming paramount to them all. The only exception was the little girl, Sam. She had seen Serena, but no one would take her very seriously. For the other incidents they'd used a variety of indirect methods. Scary noises to frighten that pair of lost lovers back to the trail, a sudden "storm" Tom made to drown a careless fool's campfire that got out of control, and then there was the fact that no hunter yet had successfully managed to hunt down a deer.

All of their interventions could be explained as natural phenomenon, or plain bad luck. A bear, atmospherics, low herd populations. With care, those would be enough to keep curious eyes away from the heart of the forest. If anyone got too close to the mountain, however, the secret would be out. Too many signs of their inhabitation existed to cover up.

It would prove to be a dangerous game, he thought. Perhaps Rachel's notion of a siege wasn't as far-fetched as he originally thought.

You are very gloomy today, Jake. He told himself. You should be thinking of happier things, such as the fact that Nacomi is coming today.

It had been over five weeks since he last saw her, when winter had been in full swing. Now spring was lengthening. He couldn't wait to see her.

Serena's friends had been able to deliver messages to her, but it would be impolite to have Rachel or Brian write a love note to her! He'd had to settle for giving important information about Roland's whereabouts and general inquiries about her health. Now, at long last the scrutiny they'd endured at the hands of the police and media had died down enough that they were willing to risk a visit.

Jake waited for everyone to finish wakening up and refreshing themselves. When they returned the company met in the dining hall to work on their plan to ensnare Roland.

"Much depends on what Nacomi and Sam report." Brian cautioned.

"Is he remains unfettered, then it would be unlikely that the police will keep up the search for much longer."

"After being publicly humiliated by the media, I doubt they'll simply give up." Jake pointed out.

"Forgive me. I should have been more clear. I meant the current intensity of the hunt. We are fast becoming old news, so media pressure is falling off. The police don't have the resources to doggedly pursue every lead, if they even have a lead. Most likely a lot of personnel will be reassigned, leaving only one or two detctives on the case."

Rachel nodded. "You are most likely right." She agreed. "Nacomi will not have information on their investigations however."

"We will have to make the best guesses we can unless we want to sneak in and eavesdrop on the police." Tom pointed out.

Jake shook his head. "It would be too risky. If you are caught..." He shuddered at the thought.

"I don't feel the rewards would be worthwhile. Searches near the park have proven fruitless. My guess is the shop has vanished completely. Honestly? I think Roland has his own pocket dimension or doorway like this dwarven fortress. To my mind, there is only one question we must answer; will the shop appear what it has before, or will it be elsewhere?"

"No one will know until it happens, or more victims surface." Brian pointed out. "I would think that most likely. We might be able to plot the highest concentrations and discover a pattern that we can use."

"I disagree." Rachel looked around. "Think of what we have done. Most likely anyone else that is turned will seek to hide. It will be very difficult to find them."

"It sounds impossible then." Stacey groaned.

"No. It's difficult, surely. But we can keep at this for as long as needed." Rachel spoke comfortingly.

Stacey did not seem to hear. She sat on the table with her knees drawn up to her chest, moaning in misery. "Oh. I wish I could go home again. See my folks. I haven't seen them since last Veteran's Day vacation. I told them I'd see them for Spring break, and now I'm missing." A tear shone on her cheek.

"I know. I miss my parents as well. For now, however, it is best that they don't know what is going on. Perhaps soon we can bring them in on our secret." Jake told her.

"He's right. We can't share with them now because they'll be scrutinized, and they can't get away as easily as Nacomi and her sister can. Plus, most of them live a long way from the city, so it would be a very long trip. They would be in grave danger if it is discovered they are connected to us." Rachel added.

You're not helping her feelings here, Jake wanted to say.

'Going back and forth about who to bring into our secret will not gain us anything right now.' Serena chimed in unexpectedly. 'We may be able to use my pool to check on them, but I feel that something terrible has happened. It came to me this morning, but I don't know what could be triggering this feeling."

"I'll keep an eye out." Jake promised. "While I fly out to meet Nacomi. Perhaps I will see something to explain your worry. If it is a poacher or lost hiker, I can scare him off with a falling rockslide or something."

"Don't be seen!" Several voices followed him out of the hall.

"I won't!"

He flew out to the campground where they'd agreed to meet. It stood at the end of a long and winding dirt road at the end of a lonely and desolate stretch of a small river. Sometimes used by hunters, it often remained empty because of the richer hunting grounds farther away and easier to get to.

Sure enough, when he performed his overflight he saw only Sam's car parked at the campground, camping supplies and bags scattered about the ground like trash; a pair of shapely legs sticking out from beneath the open hatch. Another bag flew out and landed on the pile.

In his second and last pass, he looked for any sign that someone else was nearby. He finally spotted Sam getting water near the stream, but no further human life could be seen for miles.

He landed just behind the car as quietly as a stalking cat. His training really paid off; neither girl noticed him.

"Do we have everything, you think?" He heard Nacomi ask as she slid out of the car.

"Everything they asked for." Sam replied. "I don't know how he'll carry everything now. Probably have to make two trips."

In a moment of fun, Jake stuck his head close behind Sam's neck and said quietly; "That's a good guess."

Her sneakers nearly cleared his snout! She spun around so fast that she lost her balance and fell while Jake uncamouflaged.

"Jake! You scared me! Us!" Nacomi amended, her hand over her heart. Jake could hear it beating wildly from her fright.

"Sorry." Jake apologized, though not-too-contritely. It had been pretty funny, he thought. He looked over the packages, baggage, and supplies that both had brought.

"Do you have everything? What about the kitchen sink?" He asked in mock seriousness. In reality, he was dismayed, wondering if he would be able to manage all of it in one trip or not. His sister's warnings of danger encouraged him to do his best not to make two trips if he could possibly avoid it.

"Stop it." Nacomi smacked his snoot playfully. "We only brought what you guys asked for. Plus some essentials for us."

"Well, " he told her, raising his nose above her height in case she wanted to hit it again," I think we should pack it all on, if possible, and we'll be off together."

They looked at him doubtfully, but followed his request. To everyone's surprise, everything fit, though he supposed he must look like a laden caravan camel than a dragon.

After checking the ropes were good and held the load securely, Sam and Nacomi scrambled onto his neck. Jake took a determined run before throwing himself into the air.

He labored for each foot of height he gained for the whole trip. The forest passed by seemingly dozens of feet below him only. The mountain peak where his home lay beckoned him with its promise of rest and he struggled on.

Such was his work that he didn't dare speak to his passengers during the flight. He let them enjoy the spectacular view as he struggled on.

At the cave his friends unloaded his back while he fell asleep on his golden couch. The effort he'd put into carrying them had taxed him sorely, so he missed the tour Nacomi and Sam received. He awoke to the sound of laughter coming from down one of the passageways.

He found everyone seated at one of the dining hall tables (with the obvious exceptions of Rachel, Brian and Serena who had to stand), talking. Most of the conversation seemed dominated by news from the outside.

"...and the little girl's been seen on TV. Everyone's relieved that she made it safely off the mountain, but now the media is focusing on this "Lady of the Wood" she keeps talking about. Most would write it off as fevered imagination, but the park rangers and her parents that found her back up some of her story about the description, at least. The rest of it seems to be a child's fancy 'brought about by hunger, weariness and shock', I believe is how the experts are putting it. There's flyers out asking for any information identifying this mysterious woman." Nacomi mentioned. She broke off what she was about to say next when she saw him.

"Jake!" She cried out delightedly at seeing him.

She embraced his head while he nuzzled her shoulder. "It's good to see you." Jake said fondly.

"And you, you big lug. How have you been."

"Tired." He said drily.

"That was your own fault for asking for so much stuff." She protested. "And you could have made two trips!"

"Not likely." Jake said. "Serena has gotten an uncomfortable feeling that something terrible has happened, or may happen perhaps. I didn't want to risk being seen by making two trips to a public campground, even one as remote as that one."

Nacomi looked at Serena, startled. Then she looked at Sam. Jake could sense that they were wondering what to say.

"What is it?" he asked slowly.

Nacomi looked up at him. "Well, it happened just as we were on our way up." She said slowly. "We heard on the radio that a teen had been kidnapped. No one has seen her since yesterday and her cell phone was found in a dumpster near where the high school and campus meet."

Serena gave a terrified whinny. 'Why did I delay?' she shouted. 'I must get to the pool!' she bolted out the door, moving fast as the wind.

"Climb on." Jake snapped, lowering his neck in front of her. Sam and Nacomi leapt astride as Brian and Rachel rushed out on Serena's heels. Tom and Stacy dove into Sam's pockets as Jake issued from the Fortress, pausing only a moment to close the door.

Jake flew down to the pool, but Serena had gotten there ahead of him. Her horn shook off the water droplets as she stepped back and waited for the ripples to vanish.

Becoming flat as a mirror, the scene in the water stabilized to show a terrified girl clutching the arms of a second, older woman. Her arm was held in front of the younger protectively and she seemed to be pleading with someone off to the side.

The image withdrew until Jake could make out a thin, balding man. He appeared to be fairly tall, but with features distorted by anger. He raised his fist to deliver a sharp blow to the protecting woman and wrenched the sobbing girl from her. He spoke, and a voice came from ripples near the base of the picture.

"Give her to me! This one will make me rich!"

"She's just a child!" The woman said humbly. "Please, let her go."

"No! You didn't make me anything! No one cared about you then. Now I've got a second chance and you aren't going to spoil it! Besides, there are other ways for you to protect your friend." He said with a terrible, evil smirk.

"No! Please!" There came the sound of a fist hitting flesh.

The scene shrank marvelously fast, showing a small cabin hidden in the trees. It continued to shrink until it displayed the edge of the forest, then the mountain farthest along the chain.

Jake now had a good notion now of where the cabin lay. It would be an hour's flight, perhaps. There would be so little time! That girl would suffer horribly in the interim. He wished he could get there faster, but no feeling of speed or of a doorway opening appeared. He would have to get there on his own power.

Serena had taken off, rushing through the trees as fast as she could. He could hear her calling to the forest to protect the girls; the trees rustling the message in words that could be heard miles off, birds cried out an alarm and wolves howled in the distance, sounding the call.

Jake flew as fast as he could; Brian and Rachel were running hard behind them, but they could not reach the cabin for many hours yet. Stacey flew down to them at Jake's suggestion and told them to return to the cave and prepare it for their arrival.

The cabin came into sight less than an hour later, so swift had their passage been. Serena slowed to a canter as Jake came in from the sky. Around the cabin dogs and wolves of every sort barked wildly while large bears snarled ferociously. Trees clustered at windows and held them securely while thorny bushes made a terrible barrier at the ground. No one could pass out of the house unhurt.

A pained shout came from within; a woman's voice giving in to a wordless shout of agony.

Jake lost all composure. As Serena burst the door in a blast of magic, he went through the upper window that the cry had come. His mouth opened in a terrific roar that made the walls tremble and pictures fall down.

The tall man from the pool looked up at him in surprise that quickly turned to terror. In his hands he held a bloody knife and at his feet lay the bodies of the two girls, bleeding from several wounds, and their clothing in tatters. He'd apparently been trying to break them apart from each other by use of the chains around their wrists, but they'd refused and he'd resorted to the knife instead.

Serena came up the stairs, her horn lowered as she snorted in fury. But she came too late.

Jake's mouth snapped shut on the man like a giant alligator's. So powerful were his jaws that the man was bitten in two, his dying scream turning quickly to a rasping gurgle.

Letting the foul thing drop out of his mouth, he stared at it in trembling rage. Dimly he heard Serena shout in his mind:

'Help me with these two! They are badly hurt, and this one might still be lost!'

Forgetting the dead man, Jake leaned down over the two women. Serena had started healing the worst wounds on the elder girl. Evidently the man had taken exception to her protectiveness of the younger; the teen, who couldn't have been older than fifteen, had light, shallow wounds where the knife had cut through the clothing and appeared to have fainted, as if she'd simply been in his way. The older girl, Jake realized, couldn't have been much older than twenty, had a wound to her stomach  that would have slain her.  

Serena labored long, the wound closing quickly and color flooding back into her face. She moved on to the other, healing her as well while Jake used his nose to support the first as she groggily tried to sit up. When she looked up, she saw Serena with her companion and stared in shock.

It took a long moment before she realized Jake was supporting her. One look at him sent her screaming against the bed.

"Wait! Wait!" Came shouting from outside the ruined house.

Jake twitched. He had forgotten completely about Nacomi and Sam! He hoped that he hadn't hurt them on his mad dash to the house or his break-in.

He backed out of the hole a little and Nacomi crawled in, looking a little wind-blown. She dropped to the floor in front of the two other women and smiled reassuringly at them, taking their hands and holding them; a moment later Sam made it in and swept off her jacket. Placing it around the body of the youngest, she took off her shirt and placed it on the older girl.

"There you go." She said gently. The older girl looked at them in stupefied awe; the younger had no expression on her face, just a dull look. Her cuts were healing rapidly, though, and color returned to her pallid cheeks, making them seem positively rosy.  

"Who-who are you?" The woman asked. Her green eyes were barely visible in the expanse of white.

"I'm Sam, and my sister here is Nacomi." She gestured to Nacomi as she checked over them for any wounds. Serena snorted irritably, but let them search.

'I have not finished healing her.' Serena whinnied to Jake. 'I worried about her physical wounds first, for they were terrible. This one is not so bad, and I am healing both her body and spirit as we speak."

"I doubt they will ever truly heal from this ordeal." Jake whispered. Unfortunately, it turned out that dragons could not whisper well in enclosed spaces.

"I think you're right." Nacomi said dryly. She looked sympathetically at the twenty-something who was starting to cry in relief. "They won't, but they'll get better with time."

'You misunderstand me, brother.' Serena snapped irritably. 'I am healing her spirit with her body. She will remember what has happened, that I would not take away from her, for she can better guard herself with knowledge. But that knowledge will come without pain or fear. It is diminished entirely from her. As for us, we will seem only a passing dream to them, nothing more.'

Jake digested what she'd said for a minute while Nacomia and Sam continued to comfort the other women Then he nodded. "That is good, sister. Let them lie in a healing sleep, to wake up and know that despite the evil the world will be made right once more."

The women looked at him in astonishment. "You can do that?" Sam asked.

"I cannot." Jake told her, "but Serena tells me she can. I do not doubt her word."

"Is this a dream?" The woman asked them, looking up. "I'm dreaming aren't I? In a few minutes I'll wake up and then be...be..." she broke off, unable to continue.

"No." Jake told her firmly, echoed by Sam and Nacomi. "This is no dream, and you are awake, strange though it may seem. You will soon be reunited with your parents, miss...?"

"I'm Nancy." She whispered. Sam patted her shoulder.

"Miss Nancy." Jake continued. "What my sister will do is place you in a sleep. When you wake up, all of this horror will recede in importance to you. It will be as if you read it in a book, if I may be allowed to use that cliche."

"You mean, I'll remember?" Nancy asked in horror. "Everything he...he did to me? Those nights, bound and gagged. Playing his sick games, his twisted charades and demented fantasies?" She backed into Sam. "Couldn't you have let me die than give me that?!"

Jake looked at Serena.

'I will try.' She said. 'But warn her, I will be playing with her mind, not her feelings and emotions. Her very self could be lost if I misstep.'

Jake repeated what she had told him.

"That suits me fine." Nancy said. "All these years...I don't want to remember them. I was almost happy to be killed, except I couldn't help Sara if I died. She needed my help..."

"Then be strong for her." Jake told her gravely. "She will need it still, to come to grips with her memory and emotions. My sister and I will soon be but a pleasant dream marking the end of a nightmare. One we would prefer you did not share with the world at large, by-the-way. That will leave her in great confusion and vulnerable to any who would take advantage of her. She will need a true friend to guard her back and keep her safe. With no memories to guide you, you may not be able to help her should she fall. You may not even wish to be friends. Will you let her stand alone?"

Everyone seemed to hold their breath. At last Nancy looked up.

"I don't want to remember." She said with a sniffle. "But I don't want her to fall into the same trap I did. To be like that, living at another's whim, wondering when your next meal would be, abused for sport." Her voice rose with hate. "I won't let her get hurt. Not like that."

"You sound as if you knew her well." Jake probed gently.

"No. In fact, I just met her this morning. We had a long conversation while we were chained to the bed." Nancy said tiredly. A ghost of a smile flitted across her face. "You learn a lot about someone like that."

"Indeed." Jake agreed, though he could not fathom such a bond. "So, what is your choice?" He asked.

Nancy looked at the sleeping face of her friend, then up to Nacomi and Sam, then at him. At last she turned to Serena and looked directly at her.

"Thank you for your offer, but I will keep my memories, I guess. I can't let her fall again, or be alone." She drew in on herself, rubbing her arms as if she were freezing. "Like me." She whispered.

Nacomi hugged her, ignoring the other woman's surprised flinch.

"You are not alone, Nancy. Not anymore. We'll be your friends, I promise."

"Yeah." Sam echoed, crouching on the far side. "We will be."

"Nacomi, please gather...Sara..., and bring her outside. Nancy will have to walk for a bit until we can take off and get out of here. There is something I need to do here."

Looking at Serena meaningfully, he left the house. Looking around, he could see the dogs, bears and other creatures had already left. The bushes and trees seemed to groan in frustration as they moved ever so slowly away. When Serena came out, Nancy stepped lightly next to her supporting a snoring Sara. Nacomi walked on the other side and Sam brought up the rear. They stepped to the edge of the newly formed glade.

Jake extended his neck to his full height and thought of the horrors that had been perpetrated by the monster inside. His fury rekindled, he showered the facade in a savage flame that turned the entire dungeon into a bonfire. Jake kept up the heat and flame, containing the edges so they did not reach the edge of the ring. When his fury had dampened, all that remained were a large pile of ashes and puddles of melted metal.

"Come." He said to them. "Let us return to the hold. There Nancy can enter the dream and let Serena work on her spirit. Then we can return them home."

Allowing the four to mount his neck, he camouflaged himself and flew into the smoke-choked sky.


#

Jake flew straight back to the fortress, while Serena raced below him. He could make her out only just, moving faster and faster as the forest seemed to open a lane for her to run in. He kept an eye on her throughout and felt relieved to note that she never stumbled or fell once.

Brian and Rachel were waiting anxiously for them when Jake landed. Serena soon trotted in behind him, blowing hard but otherwise unmarred by her race.

"What happened?" Brian asked as she came up to help Nancy down.

"We were worried." Rachel explained as she took Sara down. "And why did you bring them here? It is far too dangerous now to let them go. They could lead people right to us!"

They sounded angry, and with good reason, Jake thought. He huffed to clear his throat and spoke.

"Serena needs time to complete her work, part of which is erasing this affair from Nancy's mind. We will seem only a dream to them, and the location of our home a complete mystery. Sara will not wake up while she is here, and so have no clue to our whereabouts. Nancy...will remember her ordeal, but not us. Serena will erase our involvement in her mind" Jake said slowly.

Brain and Rachel looked at the young women with guarded concern. She returned their scrutiny with a wide-eyed version of her own.

"Centaurs." She said wonderingly. Then she laughed. "Well, why not. It seems I've gone completely nuts, so why not?"

Rachel didn't smile. Her hand came out to grasp Nancy's arm.

"Are you sure you want to risk this?" She asked, her eyes searching Nancy's brown ones. "This could leave you with nothing, a blank shell with no memory, nor sense of life. A murder, perhaps, far worse than any contrived by man."

Nancy looked at her. "Yes." She said simply.

Rachel backed up, looking at her pityingly. "I shudder to imagine how your life must have been, to think that this is a good option."

"You have no idea." Nancy told her.

'I will.' Serena spoke grimly, her horn flashed brilliantly in the dim light. Her words attracted their attention (and, after a fashion, Nancy's who realized she had spoken but couldn't understand what was being said).

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked slowly.

'I discovered it while working on Sara's mind.' Serena explained. 'I could see every memory she'd had, her most secret to the most banal.  I could feel every emotion attached to them: fear and terror, pride and happiness and joy. I realized I could manipulate the emotional attachment 'points', allowing me to weaken the hold fear and terror played on her kidnappings and being held with Nancy. Instead, I strengthened the feelings of caution needed with them. It should make her far more wary of traps without being terrified to step outside her door.'

"What about Nancy?" Jake asked. "Can you remove the memories themselves, or are you limited to the emotional attachments?"

Her horn bobbed wildly as she shook her head in horse fashion; her equivalent of a shrug.

'If I can change how she feels about a memory, then I should be able to simply take her memory away. Regardless, I will remember it all.' She said sadly. 'I got a glimpse already when I worked on her. It was not...pleasant.'

"If you don't think you can do it," Jake began nervously.

'No!' Her denial came in sync with Nancy's.

Serena glanced at her then turned back to Jake. 'I can do it, Jake. We need to remain safe, and she must return to her family and her guardianship over Sara. How she survived her ordeal took strength beyond any of us. She will be all right.'

Her eyes turned towards Nancy. I may not remove her memories, but I should be able to alleviate her suffering.'

Jake started. "You can remove PTSD?" He asked incredulously..

'We shall see what the future holds." Serena said philosophically.

'Sara is ready to go. Is she ready to begin?' Serena asked.

Nancy nodded after Jake translated. She laid on the ground at Jake's direction and watched with hopeful eyes as Serena came to stand over her. Lowering her horn slowly to her head, she laid the tip across her brow. Nancy's eyes fluttered shut and her breathing became deep and regular. For long minutes they stood there, linked. Jake fidgeted as he watched, hoping that Nancy would be all right.

When Serena stepped back, exhausted from her efforts, Jake watched with concern. Brian supported Serena while Rachel lifted Nancy up. The limp body dangled from her arms as she placed Nancy next to her friend.

"Well, that was intense." Rachel understated.

"Yes. But now the mystery remains on how we are going to get them home." Jake said bluntly.

"That does seem to be the next step. We can't leave them like this forever. Well, we could, but I rather not." Rachel amended. The sentiment was shared by everyone.

"So, how will we alert the police?" Jake asked. "We can leave them anywhere near the edge of the park perhaps, but that is chancy at best on who they will meet there. I'd rather simply hand them over to the detective handling the case."

"We should not take such a risk." Rachel argued. "They will be plenty safe if we place them near one of the ranger stations."

"That is risky in itself." Jake shook his head. "I stand a good chance of being seen by a ranger or passerby if I land close to a station. If I stroll in, I will leave footprints that would be impossible to hide. I need a place of stone where I can deposit the girls, yet the rangers can easily find."

'What if I took them the rest of the way?' Serena asked. 'My hoofprints would be easily mistaken for that of a horse.'

"You cannot chameleon yourself nearly as well." Brian pointed out. "It would be folly to try and get close."

Serena sniffed. 'You underestimate my powers at concealment, Brian. I have practiced long hours both at training and on my own. I can manage.'

The others argued the point, and at last she took them to the very edge of the forest, told them to give her one minute, and then come look for her. The others did as she asked and then turned to search the trees, bushes, rocks and shadows of the forest to find her. Despite their hard labor, they did not succeed.

"All right, you win!" Jake laughed gaily. "You will take them after I have brought you as close as I am able."

Serena stepped out from the shadow of a tree. How she had hidden there so effectively was a mystery to Jake, but further proved her point.

They returned to the fortress and Jake turned away as Serena transformed. In her human form she looked exceedingly weary, and Jake turned to her in alarm. Would she even last the trip, he wondered. Still, he could not dissuade her, he saw. He waited for her to settle on his neck and his burdens to be firmly wedged between his spikes, while Nacomi and Serena held the sleeping girls between them.

The flight to the edge of the forest was not particularly long; only four hours or so. Jake used every trick he could in the cool evening air to keep him aloft. The darkness would allow him to get far closer to the ranger stations, where Serena could call for help. Such was their plan, what little there was of it.

The bend in the river that he was making for appeared from the gloom like a shimmering ribbon in the moonlight. Easing carefully down into its placid waters turned out to be a greater chore than he had wanted, but he soon came to a stop on some of the large boulders, the water swirling around his feet.

Serena dismounted, shifting into unicorn shape and bringing the two sleeping forms over to the shore. Nacomi scrambled to follow, but Serena gestured her back. With a slight huff, Nacomi situated herself and together they waited.

Jake could not see anything from his vantage point, nor hear anything. He stayed quiet for a long time, straining to catch the faintest sound. At last, the wail of sirens rapidly approaching reached him and he tensed. The wait grew agonizing as the sirens grew louder and louder through the trees. When they suddenly stopped, he held his breath.

A shimmer through the trees let him breath easily again. Serena hurried over to the river and sighed.

'The police were rather impatient with me at first, but I convinced them that I had the missing girls. The rangers came first, but I could see a police cruiser pulling in as I snuck out the back and escaped into the woods while they went in the front. I heard the girls wake up as I left, so I think they will be fine now. It won't be long before they are reunited with their parents.'

"Thanks to you." Jake said.

'Thanks to all of us.' Serena insisted.

"Hmm. Let's go home."

Jake stretched his wings and looked at her.

"Did you wish for a lift?" He inquired.

'No. I'll go back to my Glade. I think I will sleep easier there.' She told him.

"All right. I'll see you tomorrow, after I take Nacomi and Sam back out to their car."

'All right. Good night.'

'Good night.' Jake said as he opened his wings and soared into the sky while Serena leaped across the river via the few stones that reared above the foam. Soon the ranger station with all its lights and surrounded by red and blue lights vanished in the distance.


#

Jake stared at the massive number of campers, trailers, big RV's and thousands and thousands of tents that filled every campground he came upon during his patrol of the skies. The woods were filled with people, thick as weeds in a meadow. It seemed completely insane.

What on earth is going on here? He wondered. It had been almost two months since Nancy and Sara returned home, and according to Nacomi and Sam, they hadn't been able to tell the news much about the ordeal. Sara remembered more than Nancy, and told everyone that it was terrible, but that the Lady had rescued them. That was all they called her, the "Lady", but it had been enough to start a media frenzy on the so-called "Lady of the Wood".

Shaking his head, he turned back to the mountains in the distance. The searchers continued beneath him; on his way back he saw maidens lying in the fields apparently asleep while the forest ringing them were thick with men, women in false peril at dangerous junctions (Those he sped on their way with a terrifying roar or a smashed tree-top to frighten them off before they hurt themselves), and hordes of hunters in camo with lassos, ropes, and here and there an air gun. Many had large darts on their jackets, hinting that they were tranquilizer guns.

Fortunately, no human had penetrated deep enough into the forest to disturb their home, but it would only be a matter of time. Already shapes could be seen running lanes above the forest; helicopters and airplanes performing searches.

Landing at the cave entrance, he went inside. The door was kept closed now at all times, to imitate an empty cave. He sealed it tight behind again as he strode quickly down the passageway. Serena was not at the table when he arrived.

"There are a lot of people out there." Jake warned as he took his seat at the head of the table; if a blanket on the floor could be called a "seat".

The others looked at him gravely. An air of nervous tension hung above the table, casting a pall over them.

"So, what do we want to do?" Stacey piped up. "They're starting to become far too many to keep scaring off!"

"I know." Rachel said. She sighed. "To be honest, I envisioned something like this when I mentioned the possibility of siege. That is why I wanted to test the doorway and Jake's freezing ability to its fullest. Now it seems that we might have no choice but to fall back on that option."

Something in Jake rebelled at the thought of cowering and hiding. "No." He said firmly. "We shouldn't hide."

"What do you suggest then?" Brian asked sarcastically. "Do you want to fight?"

"Of course not." Jake snapped. "Those are innocent people. They haven't attacked us, so I won't attack them. But I can still scare them off.."

'Not for much longer, brother.' Serena said, coming in from the tunnel to join them.

"Good to see you sister, but why do you say that?" Jake asked.

'They are determined to collect on the reward for our capture.' She announced.

"What reward? How do you know this? Who offered it?" They cried.

'The million or so dollars that is being offered; I've also heard three million mentioned. As for how I know, I came across a group of hunters talking about it. I listened for a while (without being seen, she hastily added when she saw their expressions) before coming here. The who is more in question, but I heard the name Chang mentioned several times.'

Everyone glanced at Jake. "China." He rolled the word around in anger. "Seems as if they want their own Ki-lin."

"Ki-what?" Tom asked.

"Ki-Lin. The Chinese word for Unicorn. They were reputedly great scholars and teachers; similar to an Eastern Dragon in mythology, if I remember correctly. I ran across a reference while I was doing Professor Vargus's assignment."

"Hmm."

"That is fascinating, but not really pertinent to what we face." Rachel said.

'Agreed. But I will not leave my forest.' Serena said stubbornly.

Everyone argued back and forth for hours. Most seemed to be of the opinion that pulling into the fortress would be a good idea and enduring a long siege wouldn't be so bad. "After all, Jake can put us to sleep and wake us up again with no time having passed while he sleeps it off." Rachel pointed out.

Serena and Jake opposed the idea. Not for the individual reasons, but that "running and hiding like rats" seemed the cowards way out. Serena felt more concern for her animal friends and her glade. If she wasn't there to protect them, the humans would take them. The Great Tree (as everyone called it) would be felled for firewood or have trails built through the rest of the glade to bring people to gawk at it. Her animal friends would stand against hunter guns and arrows alone, defenseless. She couldn't abandon them to their fate, though she agreed caution was in order.

'What we need is for a way to discourage people from coming here.' She said at last. 'That way, we can use the Fortress for emergencies.'

"This doesn't qualify?" Brian asked.

'It could.' Serena confirmed. 'But I am thinking of something a little more drastic and close to home; such as a military attack perhaps, or more likely something else. I've been getting strange warnings from my pool, showing darkness creeping over the face of the earth. What that means yet I don't know, but I think...I think that's why Jake and I are hesitant to hide right now. Something is coming, something that we need to be ready to face.'

Everyone fell silent as they digested her words. The unerring truths of the pool had convinced them to trust it implicitly about anything it warned them about. But what could they do against a warning which had no clear target?

"As much as I would like to solve this mystery," Rachel said, "The fact remains that we need to worry about the search for us first. Small steps at a time will lead to vast distances."

"What?" Jake asked, confused.

Rachel blinked. "Sorry, something that came up from my centaur knowledge. It means that you start out small, taking easy strides and before you know it many miles have been crossed."

"Oh." Jake grunted.

"I still think we need to pull into the Fortress and wait it out." Brian grumped.

"Look, it's late." Jake sighed. "Let's put this arguing behind us for now and get some sleep. Tomorrow will be another day. If we decide to hide, then we shall hide in the fortress and wait out this siege until people get tired and decide to leave."

Having nothing to say that hadn't already been said, everyone agreed to the proposal and the meeting broke up.

Jake watched as Serena and Stacey went out together followed by Tom. No doubt they would be spending the night at her Glade. He hoped they would be comfortable there. Rachel and Brian also went out the tunnel, but he suspected they were going to the river for some privacy and would return later.

Left to himself, Jake took to wandering his stony halls. The passages echoed with his heavy tread as he went from room to room, searching aimlessly for something he couldn't find and didn't know.

Before long he found himself in the library. He had managed to amass several dozen books from his own personal library, for which he was glad. Nancy had smuggled them out to him before the search grew too hot. How he missed her!

He nosed one off the shelf and let it fall to the ground. Opening it carefully with his talon, he set to reading it with a will. Just being with the book reminded him of her, and he was grateful of the distraction it provided from his worries.

The sound of hooves running in distracted him from the pages and he looked up to see Brian running in, sweaty and soot-streaked.

"The forest is on fire!" He gasped.

Jake stared, caught by the momentous news, then leaped up and hurried out to the door, not noticing the book rising off the ground of its own accord and floating back to the shelf.

Outside the cave he discovered the true extent of the blaze. A line perhaps three miles wide was burning towards the mountain and the Great Tree. The line wasn't complete; several large gaps were between segments of fire, which Jake thought odd. He quickly took off to see what had happened and if anyone had been hurt.

When he drew close he saw that each spot had a group of men or people on the far side; they seemed to be feeding the blaze with brush and sticks, encouraging the fire to grow. Jake was baffled by it, what on earth would they want a fire for? He drifted closer on the wind to overhear.

"A little more over here!" A big man was saying. "We don't want it to go out."

"We are going to get into so much trouble, Stan." A small woman said nervously.

"You losing your nerve Ash?" The big man sneered. "Just think of the reward we'll get if we get that unicorn! Three million dollars! We can easily find another country to live in with that kind of cash."

"Yeah, but a fire? I mean, was it really necessary? The rangers will see this. Kind of hard to collect a reward when you're in jail, Stan." She warned.

"Shut up. We won't go to jail." Stan told her. "The fire will drive her out and the boys will catch her when she runs to escape."

Jake heard enough. "That's not a bad plan." He said in Ash's voice. "But there's one problem with it."

"What's that?" Stan asked, not noticing Ash's wild gyrations next to him as she sought the source of her voice.

"Me!" Jake roared loud and strong. Unlike the previous times he used his voice, where he worried about someone else hearing him, he let everything he had go into it. Dragons are loud, being able to hear each other from hundreds of miles away. To stand close to one and listen to the cry would be enough to ruin the hearing of anyone, if they survived the dragon's wrath. Stones shattered from the sonic blast, trees splintered and animals fled. Stan and Ash and the rest of the people tending the blaze raced in different directions in utter terror; some jumped into the fire and began to burn, their cries adding to the horror. Jake used his breath to put them out, smothering the flames with magic smoke to suck out the oxygen. Then he dug and rooted and breathed around the edge of the fire until he had a strong fire line and even reduced the flames a good deal.

When the fire began to gutter, its fuel spent, Jake took off for the Glade. The humans were gone, but the extremes they were willing to take stunned him. How, he wondered, how could anyone stand up to such avarice and reckless will?

Rachel is right, he thought. We don't stand a chance like this. We need to retreat and wait it out. He didn't want to, who knew when they would be able to reemerge?, but he saw the sense of it even more than before. He needed to convince Serena of that however.

At the Glade he found pandemonium. Animals of every description were running, flying, hopping or oozing around in panic while the trees groaned and growled angrily. Serena stood in the middle of everyone, an island of calm in a wild sea.

'What has happened?' She asked when he drew close enough through the throng.

"A fire." He growled. "A group of asses decided to burn you out instead. And further off I saw a clearing that wasn't there before; heavy logging equipment clear cutting it looked to me."

'WHAT!' she looked stunned at the news.

"I think we have to follow Rachel's advice." Jake said gently. "We need to retreat into the Fortress and wait this out."

'Are you mad?! Leave now, when we are most needed? Well, you can leave if you want, but I will do no such thing! This is my home, the home of my friends, and I will not let them hurt a single tree or creature here again!' Her neck arched proudly as her voice settled into grim determination.

"What are you going to do against such reckless greed?" Jake asked.

'The forest will shelter us. Stacey said the trees were alive, and this is true. These hunters of me will learn that to their sorrow!'

She turned to the great tree and her horn flashed brightly. From its tip a sphere of light the size of a marble swirled into existence. It grew brighter and brighter, then larger and larger, gaining in power and speed. Wind whipped the clearing and snatched her mane, pulling it out from her neck with gentle fingers before howling outside the glade in a powerful tempest. The trees creaked almost eagerly to Jake's ears, leaning in towards his sister. Jake felt a stirring of fear in his chest. The power hear was greater than before; he felt a hint of fragility behind it however; a feeling that the power was being stretched almost to the limit.

If she loses control of this much magic...Jake shuddered at the thought. He needed to help her.

Almost as soon as the thought formed, he felt his strength begin to ebb as a gold-red light began to shine in his eyes. He felt it pour from him into the magic surrounding Serena. Her gaze looked at him startled, but then turned back. The sphere had nearly swallowed her now, the outer shell of light swirling wildly in a variety of patterns. Jake could feel that they were on the cusp of something...wonderful.

The forest went absolutely quiet; not a hint of breeze blew or creature stir. In the dead silence Jake could hear the hum of the magic as it gained pitch and strength. Abruptly the sphere exploded outward like a popped soap bubble. It hit the tree line and vanished, leaving Jake standing in stunned awe.

"What did you do?" He asked Serena curiously after making sure she was all right.

'I cast a spell over the forest. Now anyone who wonders under its leafy halls will find themselves back at the parking lot. They can use the official park trails without trouble, I think, but any who stray will be sent back.' She explained with difficulty; the energy had obviously left her sapped of strength.

"So, the humans...?" Jake asked slowly. He struggled to come to grips with the amount of power such a feat would take, and couldn't picture it. And they think I have power.

'Will be fine, just redirected or encouraged to leave.' She said tiredly. 'Now, I must rest. I'm exhausted.'

"Very well,I will keep watch."

'There's no need now.'

"Humor me. I won't feel safe until I'm sure."

Serena sighed and rested her head on a pillow of clover. 'If you insist.'

"I do." But she had already fallen asleep by the time Jake finished the last word.

He stayed with her all that night and well into the next day. In the distance he could dimly hear creaking and groaning, plus the odd shout of surprise, but those grew dimmer as time wore on and soon they were gone altogether.

By the end of the second day, Serena had woken up and begun grazing. Feeling a little hungry himself, Jake made his excuses and took to the sky in search of a belated supper.

From the air he noticed significant differences in the forest then before; the clearing he remembered yesterday from the suspected logging was gone, the fire line now had green plant life in it, looking years old already. Out of curiosity as to any other reason, he made for the logging site.

Overflying the spot he remembered it had been at, he found no sign that it had ever existed. Thinking it very strange, he angled in and landed in the branches of a large tree, being as careful as he could of the bark and weaker branches.

In the tree, he could see the bases of several trees bulge strangely; several seemed to be standing several feet above the ground, their roots having slithered down something into the soil in such dense numbers that it seemed they had eaten whatever it was.

Jake began to get a bad feeling, and eased down his tree to the ground for a closer inspection. Almost nose to bark with the largest bulge in the cluster, he examined it carefully until he noticed a flash of silver. It was a section of track. As he realized this, the object underneath the tree came into startling focus; it was a bulldozer.

Jake felt stunned. Then he grinned and laughed; the loggers had come to take the forest, but instead the forest had taken them! The irony of it tickled his fancy, until he wondered if the loggers had made it out.

Abruptly sober, he began searching for the cab, thinking that anyone left alive would most likely have been in the cab when the tree attacked.

He found where it ought to be, and began slowly pulling the roots apart to get a closer look. They resisted at first, but he growled at them and let smoke curl from his mouth; if the trees were alive as Stacy and Serena claimed, they would recognize his warning. They did; the roots did not move all by themselves, but they stopped resisting his efforts. He quickly cleared a patch large enough to see in through the dirty windows. The cab was deserted, the key in the ignition, the door on the far side wide open.

Jake made his way to the far side and sniffed long and hard; he could smell a man had been in the cab of the dozer, but his trail led onto the ground and a short distance away. Several deep tears in the ground were there and Jake puzzled about them until he realized that they were actually places where the rear tires of cars and trucks alike had spun out in the earth until they got traction.

While that was good, Jake made sure to do a thorough sweep of the area to make sure no one else remained.

Satisfied that everyone had gotten out safely, Jake climbed another tree; again moving carefully to keep from hurting it. He took off back into the sky and left the equipment to rot.

I wonder how good those things actually are for the trees to eat, he wondered. He did not think they would be all that tasty, and the chemicals and gas that were in their tanks and in their very fibers could hurt the forest. Jake doubted they would want to give up their conquered prizes, however.

Jake spotted a young buck near the edge of a meadow and struck, killing it instantly. After roasting it to the consistency of a well-grilled hamburger, he dined. Leaving the bones to be picked apart by other scavengers, he flew off in the direction of the city.

His sharp eyes saw many people walking down the trail with a slightly dazed look in their eyes. Others moved with the quick stride of the frightened, looking constantly over their shoulders and staying in the exact center of the trail. Whenever a branch overhung, they practically bolted under it and didn't stop until they were well away.

Few, if any humans, were moving up the trail, and Jake wondered if that was a good thing. If the forest was thought to be too dangerous, they could attack it with more than just a handful of loggers.

He found several ranger stations with about half of them being abandoned. Trees were right up next to the windows and by the doors; the roads leading to them were still clear however. At the few stations still manned, rangers seemed to be swarmed under by crowds shouting angry words or begging for someone to be found. He stayed a while at these sights, hiding under the dark branches and listening. He was relieved to hear that the missing people were all found at other stations, so at least no one was getting hurt from Serena's magic. The forest was becoming a little too hostile though, he thought. Even while he stood there, he could see roots snaking out onto the parking lots and the forest seeming to shift closer in.

I need to get Serena and Stacy to talk to the trees, or soon there won't be anyone left in here. They'll close the forest, and that would be trouble with a capital "T". He knew that not only could they close the forest completely and so prevent Nacomi and Sam from being able to come see him, but if there wasn't anybody in the forest and it became hostile, the army would get involved. They would use whatever weapons they deemed necessary to defeat the threat, and Jake worried what that would mean for his home.

He stole away as quietly as he could and flew for home, racing the wind in his haste.

Inside the fortress, he felt relieved to realize that Stacey and Serena were inside, discussing the magic that had happened.

"Serena, Stacey, I need you to talk to your crazy forest." He said in a rush. I told them what he had seen and his concerns of what that would mean.

Serena looked surprised at how effective the forest had been in throwing out the intruders.

'But I never intended to remove the good people with the bad. Anyone has a right to come and be under the branches of the trees, admire their leafy arms and listen to their rooted wisdom without fear.'

"Well, apparently the trees took the opportunity to extract some revenge." Jake said drily. "It seems to me that they are expressing their anger against people, and don't hurt them because that wasn't your original intent. I doubt they realize their peril, though. If they do provoke a response by the military, they won't be able to withstand a sustained, determined attack."

"Of course they won't!" Stacey agreed. "I have to talk to them, get them to listen!"

'At once.' Serena agreed.

They hurried out. Jake debated on whether to follow them, but he doubted they would be in any danger. He wondered how they would convince the trees; would they talk to the Great Tree and have it spread the word, or would they go from group to group and spread the word.

Jake shrugged his scaly shoulders; whatever they did wasn't his concern. He'd performed his duty as he saw it.

Still, it would be a good idea to get a measure of how the humans were reacting. He could spy on them again, but he would much rather get the information direct from Nacomi.

Smiling at his poor excuse, he went out the door and sealed the cave up before launching himself into the amazingly blue sky.


The city beneath him blazed with lights, almost like a mini galaxy. He watched the traffic from the interstate as it flowed like a white and red river, dodging the occasional airplane as it made for the airport. He wondered if it was his imagination that there seemed to be far more flights coming in and out of the airport then he remembered.

He spotted the pattern of lights that indicated the apartment complex. Spiraling lazily down from the sky, he made for the darkest corner of the facility; the maintenance shed behind the thin line of brush planted specifically to hide it.

The concrete had crumbling bits of mortar and dirt, making a loud layer that crunched under his feet. He was forced to move exceptionally carefully to remain quiet as he stole towards the second level apartment. Such was his height that he could actually look over the balcony. Craning his neck, he gently tapped the glass in a specific pattern they had agreed on before.

Nacomi hurried into view, tying on her robe. She slid open the door and stepped back a little. Jake reached past her and began whispering.

"Do you have time for a flight tonight? We have much we need to discuss."

"Give me a few minutes to dress, and then I'll meet you at the shed." She told him.

Jake nodded and left the apartment, stepping quietly to avoid attracting attention. He kept particularly close watch on his tail to keep from smacking into anything. Fortunately, though his tail was large, it was surprisingly flexible and he had no trouble at all.

In a few minutes Nacomi came hurrying along the path. After checking to see that she wasn't observed, she ducked past the bushes and to the maintenance shed.  

Silently she felt his neck where he presented it to her and she climbed clumsily aboard. Once she was seated, he managed to throw himself into the sky, his wings beating slowly in the still air to not give him away. Once away from the rooftops and above the interstate, he pumped his wings to rapidly gain height.

Soaring above the city, they began talking about the hunt for Serena. The mainstream had all but ignored the story, until a rich Chinese businessman, after hearing the story, had offered a huge reward for her capture and shipment back east. The US was in the middle of filing complaints about the effect on the national forest such a reward was creating. Now, any strange event was achieving tremendous scrutiny. The latest news included interviews with a logging crew that swore the forest came alive and attacked them as they worked, and dozens of people who told of getting completely lost in the National Forest. The most worrisome news that Jake could see, was the effort by the governor of the state attempting to calm down the people by ordering a greater number of rangers to patrol the forest, and some National Guard helicopter crews flying overhead to patrol every square inch of the park until the source of the problem was located.

Nacomi paused. "Also, there's been some strange things that made the news recently."

Jake looked at her. "Strange things?" He asked curiously.

"Yes. An old man had been bitten by a spider and put in the hospital. The odd thing is that he claims it was a tarantula, or something of that size."

Jake cocked an eye back at her. "But we don't have spiders of that size here."

Nacomi nodded to him. "I know. But the wounds prove that something big bit him, they had pictures on the story. Someone else claimed to have been chased out of the forest by the cry of Bigfoot."

Jake considered that news for a moment. "I won't say he didn't hear something," he said at last. "But I haven't seen any sign of him. I'll keep a look out though, perhaps Roland has struck again. Anything else of that sort?"

Nacomi shrugged. "Nothing yet." She said. "Just a ad in one of the rags at the supermarket that claimed a demon cult had started in the city and was looking for members to 'raise a demon.' Hmph." She snorted, giving her opinion on the lunacy of the suggestion.

Jake chortled slightly, finding the notion ridiculous as well.

"All right. Thanks for the news. Shall we fly some more?"

"Yes!" Nacomi said eagerly. "But not for too much longer. I have class in the morning."

"Not for much longer." Jake agreed, and soared higher into the starry sky.