Yes, yes, its late...

Just telling about the part 4 progress. I'm almost done handwriting it (I use the same process as Sierra Winterbreeze) and I'm a little close to halfway done after almost 2 hours of typing tonight, WHEW! So, yeah, these stories, for me, they take a HUGE amount of effort.
Oh, what the heck, I'm sleepy, I'll give ya the beginning. You've been patient.

The Necromancer’s Matter, Part 4; The Legend Reborn.
It smelled of fur, animals, bears.
They were in Grizzlehiem.
A little rainbow stretched out before them, producing bright colors, red, orange, blue, yellow, green, purple. Black wasn’t there. It seemed like an outsider, and outcast, just like Destiny.
It certainly wasn’t how Natalie, Ryan, Jason, Neela or Chris treated her. Especially not Neela. Destiny and Neela were almost best friends now, although Neela was much higher a rank then her. They all were.
Jason and the diviners hooted and laughed as they ran and pranced on the swarm of colors, Jason in the red, Ryan and Natalie in the purple. Chris just walked on the yellow one.
Destiny didn’t take a step on the rainbow. She, a necromancer, held no place in the spiral.
Neela patted her on the back. “Come on, lets go,” She encouraged. “Your cousin’s out there.”
Esmee Lionblood was the reason why they had all come here in the first place, having a chance to be the desendant of Ice, the first to use ice magic. It was the reason why they were here, why Vladimir was looking for her.
The thought of Vladimir sent Destiny’s brows furrowing and her legs pounding against the rainbow. Vladimir, that good-for-nothing, spiteful, evil, eluding character. Vladimir, whose surname brought up shivers. Vladimir, whose ancestor, Valkoor, was a man worse then him, seeking nothing but power over the spiral, the foul villain who caused sheer terror, even when dead.
They all met up at the docks. “So, let’s review the places in Grizzlehiem,” Jason said.
“Let’s see,” Natalie started. “There’s here, Northguard, Savvarstaad Pass, Ravenscar, Mirkholm Keep, for starters.”
“Any one of those places Esmee could be in,” Destiny remarked.
“I’d doubt Ravenscar,” Ryan said. “You’d have to be, like, a master just to get inside. Jason and Chris can’t get in, let alone a novice!”
“I guess we should patrol other possibilities, then,” Jason said. “Neela, see if you can find a way to get into Ravenscar. Natalie, patrol Northguard. Ryan, Destiny, get into Savvarstaad Pass. Chris and I will go into Mirkholm Keep. Move out!”
Jason said the last words with such great force that it sent everyone scattering to do so.
“Ryan, back in the balance school,” Destiny said when she and Ryan were in Savvarstaad Pass. “You said something about a prophecy.”
“Ah, yes, the Prophecy of Fire,” Ryan remembered. “I spent most of the morning yesterday searching for something that had to do with it.”
“So that’s why you were there!” Destiny said. She shook off the fascination quickly. “But why is it called The Prophecy of Fire? And more importantly, what did it say? What is it about?”
“Fire was a seer,” Ryan began, with Destiny cutting him off quickly. “What’s a seer?”
“Basically, someone who can predict events,” Ryan said. “As for your second question, why don’t you read and find out?” He handed her a small scroll, ancient and feeble, the parchement ripped and tattered in various places, words inscribed in fading red ink. Destiny unraveled it and read the following:
Eleven shall stand and take a challenge,
Weary of age and time,
All of great lineage,
One to betray, in the land of the forest,
One to join then, another found with the enemy,
One in the peaceful land,
Three withstanding a glitch in time,
Following that, the paper had been torn in half, cutting off the prophecy. Right now though, the concern was off little importance. They had to pay attention of what was yet to come.
“Someone’s going to betray us, and soon,” Destiny said.
“I know,” Ryan said. “I was hoping the topic would come up sooner or later. We need to figure out who.”
“Let’s run down some suspects,” Destiny suggested. “I know for a fact it’s not you or me, so some possibilities are Chris and Natalie.”
“Natalie?” Ryan bellowed. “That’s absurd! If she were the traitor, wouldn’t I be in it with her, or at least know about it?”
“True,” Admitted Destiny. “So that leaves Chris.”
“He is quiet and sophisticated,” Ryan mused. “And he was a friend of Vladimir’s in the past, maybe he’s hooked back up with him.”
Then Destiny remembered something: back in Krokotopia, Jason accused Neela of being a traitor, than accused Ryan as well. Could he be using it as cover? Destiny considered. Then she couldn’t contain it any longer.
“Jason!” Destiny burst. “It has to be him! He accused you and Neela of being traitors, what if he’s doing that as cover? And he was a tag along with Vladimir!”
“Good thinking,” Ryan said. “But what about Neela? We haven’t even mentioned her.”
“Are you crazy?” Destiny shouted. “Neela could do no harm! She’s sweet and gentle, and I defend her like you defend Natalie!”
“So that leaves Jason or Chris,” Ryan confirmed. “We need to alert everybody now!”


It was near nightfall when they reached camp- a little makeshift shelter with the perimeter of a circle, the walls built with ston and roof being a few wooden planks set across the top, going from one side to another, making sure the inside was protected from rain and other weather problems. The interior had a sizeable amount of space for Neela’s sleeping equipment, all placed in a perfect circle flanking a fire in the middle. To the little bedroom’s left was a little rug to eat on, and a little bucket halfway filled with water. The entryway was just a long rectangle reaching from the ground to the roof. The news came at dinner.
Destiny and Ryan looked at each other, meaning it was time to bring the news.
Ryan cleared his throat, and everyone gave him their attention.
“As we were patrolling Savvarstaad Pass,” Ryan began. “Destiny and I figured out something we need to tell you, to warn you about.”
Everyone looked interested.
“We have found out,” Ryan said. That one of you are not truly with us, and is a spy under Vladimir’s command.”
“And that person,” Ryan continued coldly. “Is in this room, in this circle, right here, right now.”
There were silent reactions from all. Chris continued to sit undaunted. Jason leaned his head forward. Neela’s eyes grew bigger and bigger until they were almost little balls out of its sockets. Natalie looked around the room. “Who do you think it is?” She asked, breaking the silence.
“We have come to a conclusion that it needs to be either Jason or Chris,” Destiny said.
“What?!” Jason stood up as Neela seemed to relax a little. “Why me or Chris?” Chris still seemed to be relaxed, even though he was being accused. Dang, he’s good at this, Destiny thought.
“Both of you were Vladimir’s friends at the beginning,” Ryan began. “And Chris is very quiet.”
“So Chris is quiet,” Jason shrugged. “Big deal! He was like that even when we were with Vladimir!”
“But why did you accuse everyone in Krokotopia?” Destiny said.
“I didn’t!” Jason persisted.
“You sure didn’t trust Neela,” Destiny pointed out. “And you even accused Ryan while he was busy at the library when Natalie said he wasn’t one for books.”
“Yeah, you did!” Natalie stood up along with Destiny and Jason.
“Why accuse me anyways?” Ryan stood.
“I was defending my group!”
Finally yelling and arguing broke out between the quartet, saying rude things and finding the negative when someone yelled, “Stop it!”
Neela could take no more of the fighting. “We’re not going to find the traitor by fighting amongst ourselves. What we need is leadership, cooperation. What this situation needs is complete control.”
Neela was right. If they were to find the traitor, it couldn’t be done like this.

Soon, everyone got in their sleeping bags, with the sky dark, the stars shining, and the moon full.
Neela was to the right of Destiny. Tonight they were going to pull a prank on Ryan: when he was sleeping, they would get the water bucket, fill it with hot water, and dip Ryan’s hand in it!
“This is going to be classic,” Neela mused.
“I’ll say!” Destiny replied quietly. “Proven fact he’ll wet his bag!”
“Quickly, check the bucket,” Neela ordered.
“Sure thing,” Destiny quietly slipped out of the sleeping bag and ran over to the bucket, surprisingly empty.
“It’s empty,” Destiny reported.
Neela furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side in confusion. “That’s funny,” She said. “I remember it being full during dinner.” She stood up. “Here, I’ll go refill it while you make sure Ryan’s asleep.” She grabbed the bucket and left.
Destiny looked over to Ryan, who was raising his head.
“Don’t even bother to try to hide it from me,” He told her.
“All right then,” Destiny answered. “We’ll do it on Jason instead.”
“Speaking of which,” Ryan looked around. “He isn’t here.”
Destiny checked his bag. Sure enough, Jason’s sleeping bag was empty. More proof he’s the traitor, Destiny thought. She could tell Ryan was thinking the same thing.
“I guess we’ll have to do it on-“Destiny smelled something horrible. “Bleck! What’s that awful smell?”
Ryan sniffed the air. “Smoke,” He clarified. Then his eyes widened. “Fire!” He shouted.
“Yeah, maybe it’s leftover smoke from the campfire,” Destiny thought out loud.
Ryan shook his head so rapidly, it was terrifieing. “NO!” He shouted. “LOOK BEHIND YOU!”
Destiny turned around and outside the little hut was a huge fire, the flames trickling endlessly as it continued to burn the land, giving it more fuel, larger and wider then life, large enough to destroy a whole city.
But it wasn’t heading to destroy a city. It was aiming for the hut.