Linkidu looked around and sighed. Sakirina was off prowling
around the Haunted Woods. She had gotten mad at him earlier because he didn't
want to do anything she wanted to do. Kairensri was off patrolling the forest,
so Linkidu was home alone. He sighed again and plopped down in a chair. He hated
making Sakirina mad. Looking around the cave that they lived in, Linkidu saw
the small box in which the Gem of Truth was kept. Slowly getting up, he walked
over to the box and carefully opened it. He was surprised to find that the Gem
was still in the box. Sakirina usually took it with her when she left the cave.
Linkidu supposed she had forgotten it in her rush to leave. He took the Gem
out of the small wooden box and held it in his paw. It flashed, much as he remembered
it had when they had first found it, which was the first time they had encountered
Hubrid Nox. Surprised, Linkidu dropped the Gem. "Uh oh," he muttered. "It better
not be broken or Saki will be extremely mad."
He picked up the Gem and turned it over in his
paws. It didn't appear cracked, but there was something different about it.
He couldn't place what it was, but something about the crystal was...well...wrong.
Shaking his head, he placed the large blue Gem back in the box and put it on
the shelf. Linkidu went to the mouth of the cave and sat down. He stared at
the sky, not really thinking, not really looking at anything. Suddenly he became
aware of someone moving around close to the cave. He looked up to see Kairensri.
"You're back soon," Linkidu muttered glumly.
"No I'm not, I've been gone a couple hours,"
replied Kairen, sitting down against the cave wall. "Where's Sakirina?"
Linkidu sighed. "She got mad and walked off,"
he replied. Kairen raised an eyebrow.
"Why?" he asked.
"I dunno. She's just been kinda moody lately.
I guess I just wasn't being cooperative. She'll probably be back soon," Linkidu
replied.
Kairen smiled slightly. "Why don't you just
tell her you like her and get it over with?" he inquired.
Linkidu scowled. "How did you know that?"
"It's obvious," Kairen replied. "Anyway, I still
think you need to tell her."
"I'm afraid if I do I'll start to be uncomfortable
around her," Linkidu protested.
"You're not uncomfortable now are you?"
"Well, no, but..."
"But what? Telling her you like her isn't going
to change how comfortable you are around her! It might possibly make her uncomfortable
around you, but it won't make you uncomfortable around her," Kairen told Linkidu.
"I guess..." Linkidu mumbled.
"Look, I'll tell her you like her, then you
won't have to," decided Kairen.
"No thanks," replied Linkidu. "If I'm going
to tell her at all, I have to tell her myself."
Kairen shrugged. "Whatever."
Linkidu snuggled back against the wall and promptly
fell asleep.
***
Suddenly waking up, Linkidu realised that Sakirina had been gone for hours
now. She rarely stayed away from the cave that long. He began to get worried.
Could something have happened to her? Linkidu looked into the depths of the
dark forest, as though he could see her if he looked hard enough. To his surprise,
a vision of Sakirina being dragged through the woods by two shadow Unis appeared.
Linkidu gasped. What could this mean? He had a bad feeling about the vision
and the Gem.
Looking around, he saw Kairen sprawled against
the wall across from himself. Walking over to him, Linkidu shook Kairen awake.
"Wah?" Kairen mumbled sleepily.
"Kairen! Sakirina's still not back and it's
been hours since she left!" Linkidu screeched hurriedly. Kairen snapped to awareness.
"How long since she left?"
"I don't really know. Maybe three or more hours!"
Linkidu figured.
Kairen got to his feet. "Three hours!"
"Yeah! And I saw a vision of her being
dragged through the Haunted Woods by a couple of Unis!"
"A vision? We better find her, and quick!" exclaimed
Kairen. "Come on!"
Linkidu grabbed the Gem out of its box and hung
it around his neck on the pouch Sakirina usually kept it on.
***
Sakirina wandered through the forest, not going anywhere in particular. She
came to a fallen log and sat down. She had been wandering the woods for hours
now, just to wander. Earlier she had gotten mad at Linkidu because he had just
been moping around the house and he didn't want to do anything fun. Now she
wished she hadn't yelled at him. Looking around the small clearing that she
was sitting in, she saw that there was an extremely tall tree in the centre
of the clearing. Walking to the tree, Sakirina ran her paws over the bark. It
seemed unusually smooth. She sat down and leaned against the tree, putting her
head on her knees. The sighing of the wind in the trees soon put her to sleep.
Sakirina snapped awake, having heard a crackle
of leaves, seemingly in her dreams. The sky was dark now, and few stars could
be seen through the clouds. Tonight's sky was as stormy as Sakirina's thoughts.
Peering through the darkness, she shakily got to her feet. "Shush!" a voice
whispered fiercely. Uh oh, she thought, looking for the source of the voice.
A shadow at the edge of the trees seemed to move. Sakirina felt for the pouch
where she usually kept the Gem of Truth while she was away from home to find
it wasn't there. She had left the Gem back at the cave. Another shadow near
the tree Sakirina was standing against moved. Looking around, Sakirina saw more
shadows move. As the light of the moon hit them, she could see that they were
pets painted shadow.
"What are you doing here?" Sakirina whispered
nervously, shifting around to face the shadowed pets.
"We have come to claim what is rightfully ours,"
a shadow Uni hissed, as other shadows gathered behind us.
"I do not have what you have come for, and I
will not tell you where it is," she replied firmly.
"You lie," the Uni stated angrily.
Sakirina began to get angry with this Uni and
all the other shadow pets. "I do not lie. I swear that I do not have the Gem
of Truth."
Suddenly two shadow Eyries attacked from behind.
Sakirina turned to face them and swung a paw at the smaller one. "Guys! Guys!
Lord wants 'er unhurt," the shadowed Uni told them. The Eyries didn't reply
but backed reluctantly away from Sakirina. She was breathing heavily now, carefully
watching the two Eyries. "Where is the Chia?" the Uni asked.
"Who wants to know?" Sakirina retorted, still
gasping for breath. The dark Uni smirked, but did not reply. He made a whistling
noise and Sakirina was hit on the head with a stone. She fell to the ground,
out cold.
***
As Kairen and Linkidu walked through the dense forest, they began to talk
about where Sakirina could be.
"Could you tell where they were in the vision?"
Kairen prompted.
"No, one part of the Haunted Woods looks just
like the rest of it," Linkidu replied.
"True."
"I think I have an idea where they could be
though," said Linkidu.
"What?" asked Kairen.
"You know how that old Techo, Denekin his name
was, kidnapped us?" Linkidu told him.
"Yeah..."
"I think they might have put Sakirina where
they put us before when they kidnapped us," replied Linkidu.
"Good idea."
I hope we'll be able to find the house, Linkidu
thought. I suppose it's more of a problem if we don't find the house though,
because if we do and Sakirina's not there we can at least look for a trail.
Finding the house was not hard, Linkidu had managed
to remember how to get there. He tried the door, and to his surprise, it opened.
The red Usul and yellow Chia pushed the door wide open and looked around the
small room. No Sakirina. As they were turning to leave, bags were thrown over
Linkidu and Kairen's heads. They struggled, trying to pull the bags off. Hands
picked up the two bags and someone whispered into Linkidu's, "Stop wiggling
or I'll get rid of you, the Usul, and the Lupe." That made Linkidu settle down.
He could feel the bag bumping up and down as whatever had picked him up strode
off through the woods.
To be continued... | 
