Violet stared at the man unbelievably, not moving an inch. He let the vile French bard play her hear wrenching trick, and then had her verbally and physically assaulted. It was his fault that she had been crying so much, and her violet had been trampled. "Why have you let this happen to us?" she asked quietly, afraid of whatever Lex might have up his sleeve, was it all just a joke to him?

J sat himself away from the woman, not trying to make eye contact yet. He turned his head to the kid. For some reason, he felt out of place in the wagon. Maybe it was because he was a ripped man sitting in a vehicle with two people that were easily smaller than him. He turned his head away from both of them, and pulled out his book. He began to read it, not wanting to cause any stares from either of them. "I feel awkward in here...must be because of the size of the vehicle..." he muttered under his breath.

He leaned in closer to Violet, moving his body nearly on top of her. "Why?" He stared her down, smiling slightly. The force of his gaze was more intimidating than usual, however it gave her a strange comfort. The awe she felt could easily be mistaken for fear, though the two weren't far from each. "Why not? I needed some unwilling participants to feed to a grand snake demon, so I befriended the most easily manipulated people for the job. I would rather have five sacrifices or more, but seeing as how we're short on minutes, the two of you will have to do..." Lex stressed some of the words more than others just enough to be noticed only by the people he was directly speaking to. Others would probably pass it by as a speech impediment. Lex broadened his smile and winked.

Anger welled up in Violet, she fought down the urge to spit in his face, something she would never dream of doing before. She felt so betrayed, it was the first time she may have contemplated killing another creature. She then realized perhaps he hadn't completely betrayed them, he may have been willing to feed them to demon, but maybe he wanted to play a little game with them first, or perhaps he was being forced against his will. "Hmm..."she thought "He seemed to emphasize five, and more, and minutes....maybe...hmm..." She began to hum to herself, and then it felt like lightning struck her, as her mind slowly but surely hatched what those words could have possibly meant"Perhaps he means....five more minutes...but until what? The snake? The calvary?" She stared at Lex with a puzzled expression, was he or was he not their friend?

Leon looked away and grumbled he got the message. It still pissed him off that Lex let Leon get caught as well.

"Lex, your a bastard." He said looking at him. "If I were free, i'd choke you untill your face turned a nice violet color. Well after I rang the French b****'s neck first." Leon emphaisized the words like Lex did. "Now let me think, did I forget anything. Oh. your still a bastard." The way Leon said it made him sound enraged. Must people would pass it off as anger.
-------------

Julius and Charisma sat in a nice inn room while Alice lay in a bed outlike a light. It was quiet. Julius still felt stressed about what had happened, but things would be ok now, right?

------------

The girl couldn't help but give a chuckle, over hearing what J had said, while the boy seemed to be lost in thought. The mercenary from before entered through the back and sat down and pulled out a book as well and began to read without saying a word.

Serene opened her eyes slightly, squinting. She sat up on the bed and rubbed her eyes. She then huddled her legs up to her body and crawled towards the corner, looking down. She had no Pegasus, she was of no use to anyone, once again. She pitied herself for feeling helpless, and tried giving herself some words of encouragement in her mind, muttering them softly.
_________

J heard the girl chuckle and his heart melted a little, thought it didn't disturb his reading. He was just getting to the best part in the book, where Lars shot Reynold straight through the chest to save his beloved. It wasn't particularly detailed though, and J improvised in his mind to make up for the fact. Very soon, he paused in reading. He remembered his cousin, and he hoped she got the sword, and if she was living fine. "Euphemia...hopefully you're living better these days than I am." he muttered. It was a while since he last saw her, and he was hoping a reunion would be soon.

Lex stared at Leon for quite a while with a puzzled expression on his face. "Miss Violet, I do believe he's gone insane." He chuckled, immediately removing one of the restrained man's shoes. "Every time you speak strangely, I'll remove an article of clothing. I'm sorry, but it's the gods' will." He juggled the shoe in his hands, laughing hysterically.

Adélaïde tossed her cushion at Lex and yelled something in an unknown language. He sheepishly replied and began sulking.

Leon grumbled to himself.

"And i'm the crazy one.." He muttered and rolled his eyes.
----------

Eton sat in a chair asleep, he looked at peace for the first time. There was a grin on his face. He muttered something but it was incoherent.

Serene saw Eton asleep, but shook off any thoughts of waking him up. She pulled herself to the edge of the bed, and walked out the room. She walked through the lobby, seeing the spot where Endoh's body still lied. She exited the inn at the front doors, and walked around, looking for something to take up some time.
______

J felt uncomfortable in this silence, though he suppressed his urge to say something. He didn't want to make a mistake that could leave a bad impression about himself, especially around such a beautiful girl. He slid the book back to his waist and gripped on his mallet, unsure of what to do next.

Five minutes passed in silence. The tension had risen to peak level and all were in a surreal state of awareness. Suddenly, three hooded figures entered the room. The cloaks they wore were blood red with black coiled trim. Their faces were completely hidden behind masks of ancient lore, possibly of the forgotten language they spoke. There was no indication of the trio's power, nor of their disposition. However, it was clear that they weren't there to chat with the sacrifices. The tallest spoke first, followed by the second and third.

"Thou shalt kneel before the might of Apophis and tremble 'neath his fury."

"Won't save you-"

"-you'll still die."

"Bare witness to his exploits, his communal offerings to the devoted few, and his justified wrath."

"Pray to the gods-"

"-no gods left to pray to."

"You do realize....you've decided to worship a thing that has to crawl on it's belly to move right?" stated Violet rudely. "I refuse to worship an underling demon that quivers at the sight of the great hawk of light" She was preparing herself for when the time came and then she would use the trick she had been saving for so long.
"Chop it up and boil it up and take away the liv-er~
Just the way my pappy does it when we have snake for din-ner~" She sang loudly, her voice echoing throughout the room. Violet rocked on the floor to her own imaginary beat, she couldn't care less if they beat her again. She felt that perhaps her wonderful life may have come to an end but she would go singing. At least she would finally become one with the wind as she always was.

---

Finally arriving the inn, Tania left Windy at the door and helped Anna inside, only to gasp at the sight of a demolished room. The room was a mess, furniture was strewn about, and blood was splattered on the ground. She looked back at Rana a look of fear in her eyes. "I-I'll get Anna to her room and be back quickly" she said solemnly. She walked away from the scene quickly, thoughts flowing through her mind as to what had happened, she wondered about the others had they been slain? She helped Anna into her bed, and placed the spectacles on the bedside table, they gleamed eerily in the sunlight shining through the windows. On the dresser were two keys, both she assumed were for the room, she left the door and locked it behind her, protecting her from whatever murderers were within the building. She returned to the vicinity where the blood washed room was quickly, feeling slightly afraid to walk the halls alone. "Tekun....maybe you should get some rest..." she said worried that if the murderer attacked that the boy would be too tired to defend himself. "Rana and I will try to figure out what's happened here."

Rana crouched down, startled at the mess. They hadn't been far from the inn at all. He should have known this was happening. He looked up to the end of the room. A small crowd was milling around, and quiet chatter was everywhere. He touched a tiny pool of blood with his finger, all the more disturbed. They needed to leave immediately.

"What happened?" He asked the people.

Tekun looked at Tania, afraid to displease her, he nodded. He walked into the next room to find Serene not to far away. He approached her carefully.

"Serene? Wha...what happened here?" He asked her. "Where's Eton?"

-------------

The Inn keeper who was scrubbing blood off his walls looked at Rana.

"Well, that oranged hair kid you were with. Killed this bandit who came here. Tough looking f***. Had a girl with her as well. Really odd ja know. She fought him as well and when she was gonna finish the boy off, she let him go. Guess it was somethin he said. Kids upstairs now, brought the other girl ya were with with em."

-------------

Leon said but one thing.

"I bow before know one. I rip his head off I swear it."

Serene stared at Tekun. "Endoh Lefia...my uncle...he came to kill me." she began, her voice unwavering. "He's dead now. Eton's sleeping in a room." When she finished her sentence, she walked past Tekun and continued round the inn. She was in a sour mood suddenly, but she didn't think anything of it.
_______

The wagon shook wildly, hitting a large bump. The girl fell from her seat.
"s***..." J thought, watching the scene unfold. "This could end up bad...". He loosened his grip on his mallet, letting it drop as well. Extending his arms out, he quickly aught her before she hit any objects. "That was close..." he muttered, grinning.
_______

Euphemia stood naked in a stream deep in the forest, rinsing the sweat from her body. She turned her head to spot Rourky again, who was holding the sword in his large talons. She smiled, exiting the stream and picking her robe from the ground, examining it. "Awww, it's a little cut up from the battle...but who isn't?" she told Rourky, acting slightly disappointed. The last moments happened so fast, she couldn't even stop to think about them.

Tekun looked at Serene as she walked out. He quickly ran in front of her, quickly but silently.

"No. no! Not that way! Tania's in there! She thinks you may have had something to do with the assassin." He said. "Wait a little. I'd rather not see a fight start. At least wait till Eton's with you."
-------

The girl blushed. "Thank you." she said. "Um...you can stop holding me now." No one else in the caravan really reacted. There was another bump. The girl jumped a bit and clung on to J's neck. "I'm sorry." She said embarressed.