"Oh yeah, and why is that?"

"Because you are helpless, that's why. You don't think before you act, you don't worry about consequences. How many times have I had to pull you out of a sticky situation that you put yourself in, huh? How many?"

"You only care about yourself. Don't blame me."

Kovos laughed coldly. "Only care for myself huh? Is that what you think? What have you ever done for someone else, Keither? Tell me, when have you helped at home? When have you ever tried to pull your weight? This has been the most I've seen you work in your life, and even then it's what, taking down a tent? Oh, never mind, you gave up some fat to help Legon keep your ungrateful hide alive."

Kovos felt anger seething in his body. He wanted to hit Keither, wanted to smack him in the mouth. After all the sacrifices he'd made for his younger brother.... But still, it was his fault that Keither was out here, and he hadn't been a good person. He felt himself deflating. Kovos knew he was hard on the boy, and it was obvious that Keither hated him. His own brother hated him. It was etched in his face. But how could he change that now? How could he show him that he did care and that he loved him? Legon brought him back to reality.

"Shut up you two," he hissed.

"But..." Keither was cut off by a hand to his mouth.

"We have company."

Kovos heard the sound of many feet coming their way. From the trees in front of them, men in full armor spilled into their little clearing. They were found. Their training took over. Arkin and Legon took their places up front while Sara frantically readied arrows for Sasha. As they approached, he felt Legon's magic making his muscles tighten with extra strength. Light glinted off his sword as it was unsheathed and he saw out of the corner of his eyes the shine of the fenrra.

An arrow hissed by him and buried itself deep in a soldier's shoulder. He felt the animal inside him coming to life, the one that obliterated thought and feeling. The one that felt no pain. The berserker. Before he let it take him one thought bubbled in his mind, "You will never see Emma again."

With that, the rage took over and he lunged forward with a yell and brought the blade across his front with incredible speed and force. It sliced the man in front of him across the belly, spilling his intestines on the forest floor. The world was in slow motion with the enhancements being made by the two Venefica flanking him. He pushed the falling man aside and closed in on another.

Keither stumbled over to the horses and retrieved Legon's giant cleaver. His job was simple: keep enemies away from Sasha and Sara. He came lumbering back up, still feeling dizzy from hitting the tree. Sara was handing arrows to Sasha at break-neck speed, and Sasha in turn was shooting them at the oncomers. Keither noticed that she wasn't shooting to kill, but rather to injure and incapacitate. He started as flashes of emerald and purple illuminated the clearing. Legon and Arkin were fighting with magic. He looked to see Arkin snap a man's neck with a bolt of green magic. Legon followed suit by firing a blast of amethyst light, obliterating half of a man's pelvis.

Keither was having a hard time following the magic battle. Arkin, Kovos, and Legon were like blurs and they easily felled ten men, but more came. One made it by Legon and ran at Sasha. She didn't see him coming. Keither needed to hit him with the cleaver, but he couldn't. He was too afraid. He dropped the cleaver and fell back away from the oncoming soldier. Sasha turned to see the man raise his battle axe. It started forward. Keither couldn't look and covered his face. Then came the sound of someone hitting the ground... was she dead? He looked to see the man lying on the ground, Kovos' hunting knife protruding from the side of his neck. A voice came.

"Keither!" It was Sara. He looked at her very red and angry face. "Time to be a man. Do your job, got it?"

He stood and took the cleaver in his hands.

Sasha was aware that she had nearly been killed, but thankfully she was almost in a full Mahann state and wasn't feeling emotion right now. She was taking full advantage of the Mahann and the magic making her stronger. She was acting as the center of the mental network with everyone connected through her. She could sense the changes Legon and Arkin were making to spells, and who Kovos was going to decapitate next. Sara was keeping her busy with a steady amount of arrows which were quickly running out. Keither, however, was not connected. He was too scared; his mind was closed. Not that Sasha would have let him in with his current level of fear. She couldn't have an unstable emotion clogging her network.

Sasha was aiming for major joints like shoulders and hips. They were debilitating injuries and made the men scream bloody murder. Hopefully there were a lot of conscripts in this group and the screams of their comrades would take the fight out of them. However, the strategy didn't seem to be working, and a steady stream of new soldiers was filling the clearing. She told Kovos to move over a foot. As he did, she let an arrow go. It flew past the man he was fighting but hit another square in the shoulder, embedding itself in the joint. She continued to fire but paused as she saw a new figure entering the clearing. Not even the Mahann could stop the emotion this time.

A tall man in all black jumped into the clearing. His long silver hair, thin face, grey skin, and yellow eyes struck fear deep into her. The Iumenta had two fenrra in his hands and looked at her. He was about fifty yards away,-well within range. He came forward, covering ten yards in a few steps. She began to rapid fire the arrows at him, not caring about hitting joints, just going for a hit. He flicked the arrows away lazily with the fenrra as he came. Kovos moved in his path, swinging his sword hard. The Iumenta parried the blow and lashed out at Kovos.

Legon was aware that for the second time in his life he was slicking the surrounding trees and landscape with other people's blood. This came to him after cutting a man's throat with the tip of the fenrra in his left hand. They now shined crimson with their new coating. He moved forward coming, down close to the ground in between two men. He pivoted on his right foot, swinging a fenrra at a man's leg, chopping the femur in half and severing the femoral artery. More blood sprayed everywhere. As the leg came free of its howling owner, Legon turned and with the other blade stabbed the other man. He turned the tip of the fenrra so it effortlessly passed through the man's ribs, slicing lung and heart.

The soldier's armor seemed to have little to no effect on Arkin, Kovos, and himself. With the magical enhancements to their bodies, they even cut through chainmail without issue. Still, he was feeling a definite drain on his magic. In the beginning he had been sure that there would only be a few of them, but they didn't seem to stop. Arkin was using his magic to fortify their bodies from injury, so if a major vein was cut, the bleeding would stop instantly. Sasha was managing the whole thing from a distance, tapping into their minds and using logic to decide the best amount of energy to be used and where.

Suddenly, on the other side of the clearing an Iumenta stepped into view, and Legon felt his body go cold. Even with magic helping them he wasn't sure they could stop and Iumenta. What if it was a Venefica? He felt Arkin's emotions boil up in the connection.

Sasha was shooting as fast as she could. He felt more emotions, but this time from Kovos. They were ones of finality and sorrow. His best friend stepped in the path of the Iumenta, slashing hard at him. He was no match, but Legon and Arkin both started dumping copious amounts of magic into Kovos, who was fighting as hard as he could. He was starting to acquire minor nicks and cuts but didn't seem to care. The Iumenta was backing away. Kovos was winning!

Still more and more men entered the area. Their camp must be somewhere nearby. Legon could only see one way out. It was going to knock him out, but it was their only hope. He felt magic building in him and also sensed Sasha's apprehension. The spell was simple, really; it was just going to shred twenty or so men in the area. In the pause Arkin could help Kovos and kill the Iumenta. If they were lucky, when others arrived to see so many of their own dead and a slain Iumenta, they wouldn't pursue.

He felt the magic hit a point that it hadn't ever reached before, even more than the other day when blocking the dragon. He released the spell, pointing the palm of his hand at the rushing soldiers. Time stopped in that instant. He saw an orb of lavender magic form in his hand and start to leave. It was size of his head and tear-shaped. The tear was a translucent purple with bright veins of lilac glowing around it. The smaller end stayed connected to his palm. He'd never seen magic like this before. It always had moved so fast; this was beautiful. It continued to stretch, the tiny bit connected to him. Then, moving like water, it snapped back to him, covering his hand and moving up his arm.

He tried to scream as he felt his skin tear and bone shatter. His eyes were on fire. All he could see was magenta light. He felt all of his spells failing as Sasha franticly attempted to disconnect his mind from the others. The pain was unimaginable. He wanted to die. He tried to cry out, but time was going too slow and he couldn't open his mouth. He opened his scorched eyes to see the smoke that must be his own body burning from the magic. He begged for mercy in his mind and felt something tugging at his consciousness. A deep voice told him that he was worthless, but that he would be made better. He remembered his dreams then, and felt for hope, felt for Sasha and her love. The smoke in front of his eyes cleared to reveal a massive wall of glittering diamonds. They where white and radiated light. A horizontal seam in the wall opened to reveal a violet blue eye the size of a shield.

Chapter Sixteen.

Distance "When people look at my sister, they often don't see the pain of those early days, the days without comfort or solace; but I do, and I love her for them. Had she not had the strength to endure then, where would we be now?"

-Excerpts from the Diary of the Adopted Sister Sasha frantically worked to disconnect Legon from the others. The moment the spell reverberated back on him she felt raw magic course down the connection and with it, pain. All of Legon's spells failed simultaneously. She needed to disconnect him so that Arkin could adjust for being one Venefica less than before. She severed Sara's connection, seeing her friend fall to the ground. Lastly she cut her own. She looked at where Legon was supposed to be, but all she saw was blinding lavender light. She covered her face with her arm and fell back. She hit the ground, causing the back of her head to buzz.

The light faded, and in front of her stood a figure that resembled her brother, but it couldn't be. He was the same size as Legon with the same clothes and hair, but his skin seemed to have a slight glow to it. Or maybe it was the light. She looked to his ears, which were rounded before but now were tapered at the tops, and from the side his eyes looked slightly larger and more almond shaped. More . . . Elven.

She marveled at the Elf Legon standing in front of her. Perhaps it was the sound of men screaming *Elf!' that made her look. She didn't know. She turned to look at Kovos and the Iumenta, who both stood stalk still, mouths gaping. Then, at the same time, they seemed to realize that there was no longer magic protecting Kovos. He slashed out at the Iumenta, who caught the blade with a flick. She saw Kovos' muscles twitch with magic as Legon reestablished the connection with him, but too late. She could only watch in horror as the Iumenta's other fenrra came across Kovos at his neck. Time ceased as Kovos' head separated from his body as he fell to the ground.

Keither watched in horror as his brother's body fell to the earth. Pain erupted from his knees as he hit the ground himself. Legon cut a man in half and was now on the Iumenta, but the outcome of their fight did not matter.

The Elf and Iumenta were flitting around the clearing at amazing speeds, the fenrra just a shiny blur. A steady spattering of blood was coming from the fenrra, not from fresh wounds, but from the blood of the slain now being flung off by the tremendous speed at which they were being swung.

His brother was dead. He saw the head roll away from his body which still held that ridiculous sword in a limp hand. He felt hot tears rolling down his cheeks and he was aware that his throat hurt. He was screaming himself hoarse, but he didn't hear the sound. Sara and Sasha were clinging to him, trying to drag him back to the horses. Arkin was attempting to clear a path as the two non-humans fought, pushing themselves to kill the other. Keither hoped they did it. He hoped that Legon would kill the bastard.

A knife flew by him, nicking Sara's arm and causing her to yelp. He heard that sound. He looked at Sara's arm now with blood running down it. He looked at his brother, the one who had protected him his whole life, who had tried to make him a man. The one that would never let bad things happen to good people. He had proved that with Sasha. Rage filled Keither. Rage at what he had been through, what Sara had been made into, and what the Iumenta had taken from all of them. His hand was still on the cleaver and he gripped it with white knuckles. Now the scream was not that of loss but of a terrible drive to stop those that had hurt the people he loved. To kill all of those that murdered in the name of the Queen.

Sara let go of his arm, and Keither ran forward, raising the cleaver. One of the morons looked at him coming and smiled, thinking he was going to get an easy kill off of this fat kid. Fat he may have been, but under that fat was the muscle that carried it all. The man attempted to block with a flimsy metal shield. The cleaver dented it and the man's arm gave way. Again and again the cleaver came down. The shield was a wreck of what it once was. Again the cleaver came down, removing the pathetic hunk of metal from its owner. Now the look of amusement was replaced with one of terror. The cleaver came down again, hitting at the base of the man's neck, crunching and slurping as it came out.

Another man was at his side raising his own weapon. Keither jerked the blade out of one and hit the other in the ribs, dropping the screaming man to the ground. This time the blade was stuck, but no matter. He was next to his brother's body. He reached down and grabbed the sword with the ridiculous flames on it, but they weren't ridiculous to him anymore. Now he understood, now he saw them for that they were. Arms grabbed around him and he saw Arkin pulling him to the horses.

"The bastard is using magic!" he thought. Arkin pushed and pulled him to the horses, but he resisted. Finally, the look on Sara's face made him reluctantly get on.

Legon was now very aware that he was no longer human. He saw his surroundings in sharp clarity. Colors were more vibrant, minute details in the world were now clear. He would have continued his appraisal of the world if it weren't for his current situation. He was also aware that his spells had stopped when he had changed. His magical power should have been drained, but it was far from tapped out. He could feel it in every fiber of himself. He saw Kovos and an Iumenta, and with that sight clarity was restored. He tried to fortify Kovos...too late. He saw the tip of the blade passing along the back of Kovos' neck as the rest of it removed his head. As Kovos fell, Legon's eyes met with yellow ones and an ancient bloodlust filled him. He went to move to the Iumenta, and a soldier stepped in front of him.

Legon slashed hard with the fenrra, cutting the man in half at the waist, the blade passing through like butter. He sidestepped the organs splattering on the ground and moved to the Iumenta, who in turn was coming at him. The Iumenta seemed to move slower to him now. He realized instantly that Elves were faster. Both lashed out at each other. The Iumenta parried with his left fenrra, as did Legon. The sound of the metal clanging was incredible, but his ears were stronger now; the clanging didn't bother him. They began to stab and spin, leaping from side to side, sometimes jumping to low branches and then over their opponent. He never knew that he could move like this, but even so his new physical abilities did not give him an edge.

The Iumenta was a match to him in everything but strength. Legon was stronger, but he was larger too, so no surprise there. Legon poured magic into himself, trying to give him an edge. Still, no matter how fast or strong he was, the thing in front of him had hundreds of years of experience on him. He was losing ground and fast. He was aware of Arkin in his head telling him it was time to go, but the Iumenta was not going to let him go without a fight. An idea came to him then, one that he should have had a while ago. He shot a bolt of magic at the Iumenta's feet, making a stone explode. His opponent flinched and backed away, and Legon slashed across his chest. The tip on the fenrra grazed him but nothing more. The Iumenta backed away further, ordering his men to rush forward. Legon crossed the clearing in a few steps. He couldn't help but think how handy being an Elf could be. He jumped on to Phantom and turned away from the clearing.

"Where is Kovos' body?" he asked, not having time to feel emotion.

"There isn't time," Arkin said.

There was time. They weren't going to leave him here to be eaten or who knows what else.

"No. We are not leaving without him."

"We have to Legon, there's no choice," Sara begged.

Sasha tugged at his mind, and he looked at her. Her face was spattered with blood. Kovos had saved all of them. He gave his life so they could all live and have a chance. Legon wasn't about to waste that sacrifice. He turned with them and they started to ride.

It wasn't more than a few moments before Sasha heard the sound of pursuing horses. Maybe they should have stayed and died in the clearing with Kovos. No, that was stupid, but she was still unsure about how they were going to get away. Even if they somehow managed to put distance between them and their followers, what then? They had too much land to cover. She felt Legon entering her mind, accessing the logic portions of it. What was he doing? There wasn't enough information to properly use the Mahann, was there? She became aware of all of their minds, even Keither's and the horses. She needed to have Legon check her out when and if they stopped. Her head was still buzzing. Then she felt it-the magic. Something she had felt before, but not like this, not even when she had been connected with Legon. She couldn't feel the magic before but she did now. Legon widened the connection and she felt a mind that was Legon's, but now alien and vast. The power of the magic was so strong. She felt a deep well of it in him, and then the spell that stuck her and the rest of the group to their saddles, locking them in place.

Now he was fidgeting in all their heads, tapping every mental resource they had. She felt logic and spatial reasoning centers being activated. The sensory organs of the horses were being boosted and glands in their brains being manipulated to dump huge amounts of endorphins and adrenalin into their bodies. They could now run themselves to death and not feel it with the chemicals coursing through their veins. Now the magic was reinforcing their hooves and bones, making them stronger and more resistant to heat. What was he doing? She felt compelled to look ahead; he was using her to figure out speed.

The horses were going close to thirty-five miles an hour. That was dangerous on this kind of road. Then she remembered that they were altered by magic. Now he was shutting down organs saving energy. Even her own body was changing. The muscles in her hands clinched around the reins. The wind was building as the shouts of the men behind them were growing fainter.

Then the burst of energy came. Massive amounts of magical and physical energy ripped out of Legon and into the horses. They were starting to accelerate, and she felt herself being pulled back but being held by the sticking spell. The wind was strong at forty miles an hour. More and more energy poured from him. Now fifty, then sixty. The trees were starting to blur as they hit seventy miles an hour. A town was fast coming up, the Queen's banner flying at the edge. But at seventy-five miles an hour, the town flew by them, the guards never having time to figure out what was going on.

Now eighty, and the acceleration finally leveled off. The sound from the hooves was just one continuous noise. After a bit they slowed back down to sixty, but still they kept going. The horses were tiring fast and so was Legon, but still he put more and more into them. Finally she sensed him losing consciousness and worry crept into her mind. If Legon passed out then the spells helping the horses would fail and the animals would be left running at sixty miles an hour. They would fall for sure. They slowed gradually at first and soon they were close to what they could do on their own. As they slowed to fifteen miles an hour, Legon passed out and Sasha unstuck from her saddle. The horses were not completely spent, and she knew that there were still plenty of chemicals in their blood to keep them going for a few more hours.

"Arkin, should we keep going?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Yes." He didn't say any more and she was no longer able to connect with his mind. This worried her too. Kovos' death was sad. She knew that it would hit her soon and then she would lose it, but Arkin took their safety as a matter of personal responsibility.

They trotted along the road with no one talking. She glanced at Keither, who was looking at the back of Pixy's head and not making a sound. He had been like his brother today, fighting the way he did. She was proud of him. As she thought this, her eyes began to burn and she tried to focus on logic. There would be time to mourn later.

Keither knew that he should be crying, but he wasn't. He just didn't have it in him. And Kovos wouldn't have wanted it that way. He wouldn't want people sulking over his death. He tried to calm his cluttered mind but couldn't. The last thing he said to his brother was that he was selfish, which was something Keither knew to be untrue. He knew what his brother had done for him over the years; kept him from getting hit with arrows, saved him from being trampled by animals. It was too hard to think of the number of times Kovos had saved him from harm if not death. But what had he done for Kovos? What had he done for anyone? There wasn't much that was for sure. He always had great intentions of helping, but when it came time to do it he wasn't there. It should have been him that had been killed by the Iumenta, should have been him that had made the ultimate sacrifice for the group. All of the others put in effort, but he was just along for the ride.

Wasn't that the way that he lived his entire life? He never thought about a trade, never cared to learn his father's, never tried to do well at anything. About a week into their journey he had turned fifteen. They would have celebrated, but that was right after their run-in with the Royal Guard and by the time he thought of it he didn't care. Still, fifteen years and nothing to show for it. Yes, he was young, but that was no excuse. By this age most of men in Salmont had picked a trade and were actively engaged in it. What was he going to make of his life?

Arkin rode ahead of the others, trying to fight back emotion as he went. Yet again he had failed as a protector, first with Legon's mother and now Kovos. He knew that the effect of his death would carry farther than anyone could ever understand. Most didn't see the connections that all men have. Not only had Kovos' life ended, but his brother, parents, and an innocent girl back in Salmont had been hurt as well.

"No, our actions are far reaching," he said to himself. He kicked himself. He couldn't afford to wallow in self-pity at the moment. There would be time for that later. Now he needed to get them all to safety and to the resistance. Legon had brought them to within a few days of the border. Never had he heard of someone using magic to that extent. Well, at least not a person. A dragon yes, but not a person. Still, a small part of him was happy. It must be true now that he was an Elf, wasn't it?

The land that they were in now was far more barren than they had yet seen. Thankfully, the area was hilly so they could rest for the night. The sun was almost to the horizon when Arkin found an area for them to camp. Legon was still out cold on Phantom and Arkin instructed them to leave him in case they needed to leave in a hurry. Their camp was surrounded by trees but he still didn't feel comfortable starting a fire or using magic to make light. It would be easy for scouts to see and infinitely worse, dragons.

No one was hungry or talking. Arkin walked to the edge of camp and knelt, projecting his consciousness out. After hours he finally felt something on the other end. It was a new person that he didn't know, but he had the right passwords so he passed on his report. He didn't leave anything out, but most important he told of Legon's transfiguration. That one got his attention. The person on the other end was shocked; Arkin figured the man wasn't high enough ranking to be in the loop on Legon. He was instructed to head straight south and to move fast. They would try to send help if they could, but it was doubtful. Arkin made it clear that he understood and broke the connection.

Something was nudging at his mind. It was Sasha. She was trying to reestablish the network. He allowed the connection, and the first thing she wanted was a damage report.

He returned to them. With Legon out it was going to be up to him to heal any wounds. He'd enhanced their bodies during the conflict only enough to stop major injuries, so only Sasha and Sara were spared from minor cuts and bruises. The cuts he would heal to prevent them from infection, but he couldn't waste energy on the bruises in case there was another attack.

Sara was cleaning up Keither. He hadn't been hurt all that bad in the fight, but the tree had left a nice cut on his head. Even with Legon healing it there was blood caked in his hair and on his face.

"Sara, I can do this you know," Keither protested "I know that, but you don't have a mirror and you don't want to miss any."

She wasn't just doing it to make him look more presentable for the horses, but more because she was worried about him. His brother just died, and Keither had killed for the first time as well, but there was no emotion in his eyes. Shouldn't he be wailing or something? She would have been if it were her brother. Or was he in shock? That was more likely. She was having a hard time looking at him the way she did before. He was always a harmless boy, but now he wasn't. He was like his brother in some ways, especially in the way that enabled him to go out of his mind with rage and kill. That trait was one that she didn't like. Or did he kill indiscriminately? He didn't hurt them when they had pulled him back to leave. Phantom snorted off to her right and she chanced a glance at the Everser Vald. As she looked, she felt warmth bloom in her chest.

Sasha looked intently at her friend. She was staring at Legon in an odd sort of way. Not in a bad way, but almost lovingly.

"Sara," she said.

Sara looked at her and she saw longing in her vibrant green eyes. "We should get Legon down and clean him up, and look for injuries," Sara said in a timid voice.

That timidity was odd for her. Sasha studied Sara carefully, looking at her in the ways of the Jezeer, trying to place her sudden change.

"I suppose so, but I don't think that he is hurt," Arkin said.

How would he know? Legon and the Iumenta had moved so fast that they wouldn't have noticed him getting cut or something. Yes, Sara was right. She started toward Legon. When Keither passed her walking to Phantom, the horse shied away from him. The constant mental contact affected the horses, and she wouldn't say that they were smarter but they knew a thing or two about their riders. This was made apparent in towns and co-ops. Their horses responded to people as their riders generally felt, even if they didn't show it. Ghost, for example, had no reason to fear men; she never acted oddly around them until they started networking their minds. Arkin told them that making a connection with your horse was a good thing to do so that they would understand each other better. It wasn't possible for them to communicate the way people did to each other or even the way they did to one another, but emotions could cross the rift. Arkin facilitated most of the links so that the horses could come to know their riders. After about of month of this, Ghost had become increasingly apprehensive of large men. Not necessarily fat ones but ones with big muscles. Sasha hadn't figured out why until she felt Sara's emotions one day in a town. It wasn't that Ghost was frightened of the men, but rather that Sara was, and Ghost picked up on it.

Now Phantom was shying away from Keither because Legon thought of the boy as clumsy. Sasha tended to agree, but this wasn't the time to ostracize him. She sent calming thoughts to Phantom, who stopped moving. Keither came up to his side and patted him lightly.

"It's ok, Phantom. I wouldn't drop him. Remember, there is muscle under this fat. How do you think I walk around?"

He worked himself under Legon and began to hoist. Sasha looked at Arkin, who should have at least offered to help. What was wrong with him?

"So, you need help?" she asked, now giving Arkin a stern look. Keither answered with surprise.

"No, I don't. He can't weigh more than either of you," he said, and then corrected, "Not that you're heavy. You're not at all. Legon should be close to two hundred pounds but he can't weigh more than one ten. Arkin, are you doing anything to me?"

"No, I'm not. He is an Elf now, and they are made of different stuff than the rest of us." He paused but forestalled questions. "We will wait until he is awake before I explain. Forgive me, but I don't want to repeat myself."

Keither had Legon off the horse and was carrying him over his shoulder to the center of camp. He placed him down on the ground. He still resembled his old self but was clearly different. Even with his eyes closed, Sasha could see that they were larger and almond shaped. His face looked more slanted with higher cheek bones. It almost resembled a sculpture, as if someone had taken a masterpiece and then superimposed Legon's characteristics on it. The result was wondrous. He still had the same short brown hair but now his ears tapered at the top. His skin seamed to almost glow, but she knew it wasn't; it was just healthy and without blemish, like a baby's. His figure was the exact same as it was before. He was still large with plenty of muscle, far more than the Iumenta had. She wondered if he would thin out over time. Overall, she had to admit she had never seen anything so...beautiful in her life. Though she would be sure to tell Legon that he was handsome and leave out the beautiful part.

She knelt down and inspected his body for injury. There was none. She knew he had been hurt before he had changed, but the injuries were gone now. All that was left was dirt and blood from the battle. His clothes were torn in a few spots. If she hadn't been able to see his chest move she would have thought he wasn't breathing.

"Arkin, is it common for Elves to have low breathing like this?"

"Yes, very. They are much quieter than we are."

"Why is that?" Keither asked. Sasha was happy to see him getting his mind off the day and back to thinking.

"They can hear your heartbeat across a room. Now, that being said, loud sounds don't hurt them as much as they do for us. But when you can hear a pin drop you tend to notice just how noisy we all are and walk a little softer."

It made sense to her, so she didn't worry about the breathing. In fact he probably wouldn't snore anymore. That would have been nice when they were sharing a tent. She pushed this trivial thought from her mind to focus on her unconscious brother. Sara had knelt down on the other side of him. She brought a rag to her mouth, wetting it and beginning to wipe the dirt off his perfect face.

Sasha watched. Never had she seen Sara clean someone with such care and love. She would occasionally wet the rag and keep going, like a mother would a child or a sick loved one.