The beginning

"Such a good boy," she mused softly. She finished her hypnotic spell and wrapped her arm around William. "We're going now," she told the others around her. "That cretin is moving towards us. Let's go before he shows his face in my presence." With one more glance towards the camp, she turned and began towards the city with William.

"We wait." Aelius leaned against the wall, his back the the tavern. "Fate's bringing it all back together. This time, Hayes, don't start a world war?"

Five shrugged. "Something like that." He leaned against a rickety stand and crossed his arms. "Careful out there. Lots of bad news. Misers are acting up, coming out more often."

"Misers leave me alone so long as I leave them alone," Leon replied. He paid for a cracked lens cap. "What's got them riled up?"

Five covered his mouth with his hand, covering a grin. "Don't count on that for much longer," he mumbled, amused. Then he moved his hand back into his pocket, smelling Athen nearby, and looked in his direction. "Who knows. They're demons. Probably a full moon or something. If you want some good junk, the old train station has gears laying around. Broken." He shrugged. "Seth doesn't go out there much. You might find something."

Looking indignant, Seth scrabbled after Athen. "Hey, hello? Weren't you kicking my ass?" He cursed and followed Athen, slowing at the whiff of Tira.

"Why are you hesitating?" Athen demanding. He grabbed Seth's arm and jerked him forward, urging him to go faster. "She's getting away!"

"Good! Let her go!" Seth dug his heels into the ground. "I don't want to deal with her! It's bad enough she's a queen or something, but they're our kind! I don't need to exiled and hunted even more."

"Hunted even more?" Athen spat. "If you think you haven't been exiled, you fool, you're even more worthless than you look. Your eye sealed the deal." Athen pointed at Seth's blue eye. "You'll never be accepted with that."

Seth covered his eye and growled. "Once they find that girl, it'll go away!" He pushed Athen's hand away. "Tira hates you and ignores me. She hasn't tried to make me part of her ridiculous army, which means she doesn't care what I do."

"Yet," Athen remarked dryly. He snorted, dismissing Seth. "I'm going to stop her." He pounced over the roofs of the market, scattering people, and ran towards where Tira had left.

Growling, Seth pulled his mask up to cover his eyes and casually, but cautiously, slid through the gawking crowd. He saw Five and Leon and grabbed Five's shoulder. "He's going after Tira," he whispered.

Dakota stopped and looked towards the market on a hunch. "Do you hear something?" he asked.

Five shrugged and looked towards Tira and William. "Probably a good idea since she just attacked." He waved to Leon and started walking towards Athen.

Zander narrowed his eyes. He noticed the behavior of the people around him, fidgeting and nervous, and prepped his shotgun. "Ready your weapon," he advised Dakota. "Keep close and keep your eyes and ears open." He started towards the market, letting a soldier know to strengthen the barricades around the camp. "We might have a situation," he muttered to the soldier under his breath, careful not to spook nearby people. He continued towards the marketplace.

Hayes scowled and tossed the magazine over the bar. "I didn't-" He stopped, rolling his eyes. "Whatever, Ael. Where's the Dark Lord?"

Dakota dropped his bag and pulled a small revolver from inside. "I'm ready, captain," he said while following Zander and readying the gun.

Leon nodded at Five. He kept an eye on the two men as they disappeared into the crowd of marketgoers. He edged to the outskirts of the crowd, careful not to draw attention. He moved towards the edge of camp to watch the group of Misers running away from the camp with a boy in tow. "Kidnap?" Leon mused, leaning against the fence and playing with the lens cap.

Tira turned outside the city. She smelled Athen gaining up on them, her nose wrinkling with the realization that they'd never make it to the safety of the ruined buildings and dangerous subway systems in time.
"Fan out!" She ordered the cloaked Misers around her. The group leaped into a defensive formation in front of Tira. "Take him." She handed William to a Miser near her and pulled out a dagger from a sheath under her skirts.
"It's been so long, Athen," she called to the man in the distance.

"Hey Iz," Nee said while watching the camp from the sand hill. "Check it out. There's something going on down there. People are running all over."

Isolde knelt next to Neenja and looked towards the camp. "Looks like an attack," she said evenly. "Come on. We have herbs to find."

"What's the point of grouping together?" Nee complained. "It's easier to find you." Hopping down the side of the hill, she watched the escaping Miser with little interest. "Makes no sense," she mumbled to herself.

"They want security, maybe to just bland into the crowd when the Misers come. I don't know. If they just learned to fight, they could live anywhere and actually start rebuilding." Isolde shrugged and walked towards the meadows where the Misers were known to attack. "It's not our problem. We can't help them anyway."

"There's only a few," Nee gleefully remarked. "We could cut them up in a second."

Isolde frowned. "I don't like when you talk like that. We only kill when necessary and it's not for fun." The older girl climbed over a discarded wagon full of empty barrels and looked over the meadow cautiously.