FSE

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---The starting of a new mini-series. Nonsexual for the first part folks. ;) Enjoy comment with constructive criticisms or compliments, vote is loved it!----

The sun slowly sank behind the mountains, the colors that ran across the sky seemed to paint the world in vibrant crimson and purple colors. The clouds tinged and highlighted in the last glory of the fading day. The colors touched down on a village that had been sitting beneath the mountains shadows for as long as anyone could remember. Since the days of conquering armies and warrior kings to the days of peace under a council of twelve representatives it had grown and shrunk, been revived and fallen to ruin again. The lush grass lands held herd beasts that lowed and bleated as they were brought into the night. It was a weary looking place, even the buildings were lopsided and patched as if they longed to rest.

Tenja stared over the village from her perch on the darkening rocks of the mountain and a sad smile curled her lips. Like all the rest of the world, the village looked as if it were a dying creature that was too stubborn to gasp out its last breath. Only a handful of houses had lights within them, the rest were allowed to return to the earth from which they had been built. The roads covered in splashes of greenery and only two horses were seen clopping along them. She had spent last night in someone's barn, the place did not even boast so mean a thing as a tavern. She hadn't bothered to learn the place's name, nor had she bothered in the last village. Why should she? The names only mattered to the handful of people that lived, grew, and died here without ever searching for more.

The thief let the sun fade as she rubbed charcoal along her face, mixing the black powder into some finely boiled fat so that it made a thick grease to lie on layer after layer. Let the villagers remain in their farms and homes, to dream of nothing more than having a good harvest and an easy winter. She dreamed of greater things for herself. She had faced the harsh truth that their land, their world, was dying years ago. Its glory had faded since the Mages had withdrawn to distant castles and towers and pulled back the magic that had once made the people flourish.

If someone went to any village with a tavern and asked after the times before the stories would flow as freely as wine. Once the Mages had lived amidst the people and while they did the towns flourished. Disease still came, she could remember vividly the times when sickness had ravaged her own home, but it never wiped out entire families. It never destroyed a village. Lean times would come, but she could never remember them being so lean that children died of hunger. Battles were fought and territories redrawn, yet the mages kept the soldiers from plundering their peoples fields and homes. They had kept their daughters from being raped and ruined and families from being slaughtered.

Tenja brushed a soft powder of soot over the dark grease so that her face was covered and then she worked upon her hands next. Yes, she remembered the days when the Mages and magic still thrived in the land. She had been very young, but she could remember. In the twenty years since they had left she had watched things falter and then fade. The village near her home had been devastated by a plague and only a few lived to tell of it. Those pitiful creatures had tried to find other homes, but they were shunned from the illness that had ruined their lives and homes. No one knew why the Mages had left, though rumors could easily be found. Some said the Mages had tired of dealing with the common people, that they had been corrupted by their own power and abandoned their former toys. Others said that they had lost their power and been forced to retreat to keep what little they had.

She stood up and dusted off her dark colored pants and put up the snug hood so that her fiery red hair was hidden from sight. She was tall and lean, more like a tracker then a warrior. Every inch of her was covered in fine black wool and every hint of metal had been rubbed with grease to prevent it from catching the light. As twilight cast over the land she gave a twitch of her lips that was almost a smile before she began scaling the side of the mountain one hand over the other. Her movements seemed nothing more than a shadow against the darkness as the soft boots she wore brushed against the rocks.

The Mages deserved to be robbed and some of their wealth given back to their former charges, she had become a thief after a drought had left her family impoverished and starving. It had started small, a pot of jam, a side of beef, and she had learned how to be silent and swift. She had learned how to get into the most secure building with a minimal fuss and out again, how to make sure she never bragged or sold her goods until she was far away. She was actually quite talented at it and proud of herself, and over time had found other thieves to teach her little known secrets of the trade.

She never stole from the small villages, each time she passed them she knew not only did they have little enough to spare just for themselves, but they would kill her if she were caught. Her first Master had taught her that. The less someone had, the more viciously they would act to defend their wealth. In the larger cities she would get fined or jailed briefly for minor theft, at the worst she'd be offered as an indentured servant. In the smaller towns and villages they routinely hung thieves or whipped them or in some grisly cases cut off their hands.

Tenja shuddered at that imagery and felt her way along the thing ridge of the mountain towards the darkness of a crack in the stone ahead of her. For once she wished she had taken up what many thieves did and tamed an animal to partner her. Most chose a munin, the beasts looked like ravens but were twice their size and twice as clever. They were heavy enough to learn how to carry rope in their beaks and how to croak and scream alarm if someone besides their owner came into view. Yet the most precious gift were the ones that could learn how to scout. They would fly in circles and dip down where ever they saw humans moving giving the thief a complete outline of where guards would be waiting.

Her third teacher had owned one named Crak, a bird that had been as large as an eagle and had been as old as his master. The rough edged feathers had seen better days, but she'd learned just how useful the animal could be the second time they'd gone out together. They'd nearly been caught when Crak started screeching and croaking and drew the guards away from them both. Still, she never did enjoy animals. They smelled at the best of times and were dangerous at the worst. She barely tolerated riding a horse and even then it was for the simple reason she needed transportation.

She reached the crack in the mountain and carefully felt along it with her darkened fingers. She knew the opening was here somewhere. Just as she started to doubt her source she found the smoothed stone and gripped it with her hand firmly. It was only years of training that stopped her from crying out when it felt as if someone had grasped her wrist and pulled her forward into the velvet dark of the cave. The world turned black for the time it took to breathe three times, the feel of stone under her feet felt distant and just as she was ready to light was gifted to her.

Tenja stood just inside the doorway of a massive tower, her hand rested on the wall and her breath came in short pants. She tried to slow her heartbeat as she looked over the place one way and then the other. The tower itself looked as if it was made of pale white sand, the walls matched the main buildings color and she leaned forward to touch it. She half expected it to flake away under her probing, a foolish notion that the place was made of actual sand. It was hard as rock and not even digging her nail into it stirred any portion of the sand like texture. Flowers that she didn't recognize bloomed and added a riot of colors to the green of the grass, each one caught her eye as she started forward. The tower rose up seven stories in the air and despite her fearful and tense emotions, it seemed to spill out soothing feelings. The home of the Mage Illthar.

++++

Illthar sat in a chair that was thickly padded and brooded over his latest book. The archaic glyphs made his eyes ache until he moved his hands up to pull off his spectacles and rubbed between them. His eyes had faded over the years to a light grey and with every year that passed it seemed it was harder to see even the boldest text. He should have several apprentices gathered and eager to help him read the texts as well as tend to mundane chores. Yet no Mage had managed to find a talented youth in nearly fifteen years.

"It's as if there's a hole in the world and the magic is slipping through it." He sighed to himself and set the book onto the table beside him.

"You know it is, Illthar." The voice was a hissing sound and the fire in the hearth flared blue for a moment before a large head turned to look at him from in its depths. "This research is for younger eyes then yours."

Rufus was a Salamander, his familiar. The beast looked like its mundane counterpart only in the most superficial ways. Its head was broad with a pair of bright large eyes and a muzzle that came down to a wedge. The body was long and coiled up on the burning log comfortably with its short legs tucked underneath its form while the tail coiled out to disappear into the flames. Although the Mage knew it wasn't gone, the tail was simply a part of the dancing flames. In color the beast flashed between bright yellows and deep reds with its great eyes a pale blue flecked with green. He was one of only three Mages that still had a Familiar.

"There are none. Each year less of us exist. And damned if I'll go quietly into the night." He dropped his glasses down on the table with a rough click and heard the log popping and crackling as the beast moved. Salamanders had no real sex, though in his mind he had always associated Rufus with being male.

"How do you plug a hole in something you cannot see, touch or find?" The Salamandar countered in argument.

"The hell if I know!" Illthar snapped back, "The Mages of old would revive it by creating a new magical creature. Magic thrives on innovation and creation and we've all grown too stale. The world is eating up what magic still exists, even our own! The best any of us have done is create pale imitations of what we already have! We're supposed to be artists, not scholars that wring our hands in the face of practical application of what we've learned."

Rufus wisely remained silent as he shifted on the merrily burning log. The Mage's eyes stared at him and he rubbed the bridge of his nose again. How many centuries since a Mage had set to work creating the Salamanders? Elemental beings of flame to become Familiars to future magic users. The creation of a new life form was supposed to be a magician's masterpiece and now they were left groping after the simple concepts. When had they stopped? Why had they? The unicorn, the dragon, the gryphon. All created creatures that Mages had designed and released into the world and in turn they had made magic thrive and blossom. They fed the wonder and terror of the world, and spread out to all corners of the lands.

Now, they had tried, but every animal they had tried to make had been pale imitations of one already in existence. Not one of his order could command the imagination to make something new, something magical, something to stop the drain of magic on the land. Magical constructs didn't drain magic, they enhanced it. The very breath they took and the passing of their form seemed to let it flow easier and richer.

"Illthar, I believe we have a guest." Rufus' hissing voice brought him back to the present again.

++++

Tenja carefully moved her way along the empty corridor on soft soled boots. She kept to the edges and tried to trust in the fall of the shadows to make her next to invisible. The inside of the tower was oddly disappointing. She had planned on the strange and fabulous, to see jewels and arcane devices. Her hopes had been set on that. She wanted to steal back from the Mage a small part of what was taken from her as a child. Yet here she stood, in the midst of the first room and found herself staring at a sitting room. It was no more luxurious then some of the wealthy merchants' houses had been.

The corridor had been lined with carpet, yet the walls had been bare of any ornaments of any type, and the sitting room simply held a set of heavy chairs. A table rested between them with a silver gilt tea set, a few bottles of brandy set off to the side. The rest of the room held odds and ends that many such rooms had. Pictures of strange animals, plants hung from the ceiling, a large ornate mirror. She frowned to herself and forced herself to swallow disappointment. This was the easiest house in the room to get too, it'd make sense that it wouldn't hold wealth if it were just used for visitors.

The thief slipped up and wrapped the tea set in soft thick cloth piece by piece, it may not be the wealth she wanted, but she had learned to take opportunity where she could. If she had to make a run for it at least her bag wouldn't be empty. After she had secured the pieces she set them in her bag to keep them from getting in the way and slung the back over her back. Her dark form slipped back out from the room to make her way on. This time towards the spiraling stair case that lead up to the next level.

Each time she placed a foot down she felt a rush of adrenaline, a thrill of fear that mingled also with a strange hope. She didn't want to be caught, but the idea of seeing a Mage face to face made her half wish it would happen. She skirted her way around the edge of the stair well until she came up to the second floor which opened up directly into a room that spanned the entire width of the tower. It wasn't the wealth she wanted, but she felt a surge of greed. Case after case was lined with books of all colors and sizes. Leather bound and carefully preserved from what she could see. They were a Mage's knowledge for the taking if one happened to be bold enough.

Tenja stepped into the room and had moved towards the nearest shelf when there was a sound like thunder in the room and her world erupted into flames. Angry red and oranges licked at the air and twisted around each other until they reached the ceiling. It roared like an enraged bear, the sound almost deafened her as the heat threatened to suck the air out of her lungs for the span of a heartbeat. She dropped down into a crouch and moved her hands up to protect her head when the flames rippled and blurred.

The flames damped down and revealed a creature she had no name for. Its head was as large as her entire body and it regarded her from flame-blue eyes that held specks of white, the slit pupil itself was a deep crimson. On either side of the spade shaped head were a pair of fringes that she might have found comical was it not for the sheer size and intelligence of the being. The body was curled around her and she saw its body was built like a salamander, long and heavy with short legs that ended in broad paws. The color was a deep crimson with the underbelly showing a vivid yellow as well as the tips of its toes and ear frills. The toes curled against the ground and she whipped around to find its tail still aflame blocking her exit from the room.

"Ah, it's not often I receive guests here." The male voice came out in an almost jovial tone. "Rufus, do let me through to see our guest."

The beast lifted up its head to reveal an elderly man that walked beneath the jaw and towards her. Her first reaction was one of disappointment. This wasn't a Mage! It was a scholar or some eccentric lord. He was dressed in a well patched robe that hung along his sides all the way to his feet, which she noticed with some hysterical laughter were wrapped in worn slippers of a bright yellow color. His shirt was neat but showed stains from ink along the pocket as if he had placed a pen there and forgotten it.

"My, I do believe under all of that grease is a person. Rufus, kindly help them clean up." He placed a hand right on the jaw line and before she could protest flames rushed towards her. She screamed in terror as the flames washed over her body and waited to feel the heat melt her skin and the pain to overwhelm her. She dropped to the ground on one knee and closed her eyes, yet she only felt a hot breeze whip past her and force her hood backwards to free her hair. Then even that was gone and the light that she could see from behind her closed eyes dimmed.

"Oh do get up, foolish girl. You're not hurt." The man's voice came with some exasperation to it and she opened an eye.

"Wh-who are you and what is that?" She jerked her head towards the animal as she stood up and realized she wasn't even charred. Yet the grease covering her hands and face had been completely removed. There wasn't even a line of black around her nails!

"I'm the Mage Illthar who you apparently set about robbing from. And that is a Salamander who took exception to your thieving." The older man stepped forward, "What do you have to say for yourself!"

++++

Illthar contained his anger carefully, although it was overridden with amusement at the thief's response to Rufus. He was half concerned she had wet herself in terror when the Salamander had used his flames to remove whatever concoction she had slathered all over her face. How dare this thief come into his home? How dare she steal from him! He had enough troubles on his mind to deal with as it was. He was unprepared for her reaction.

"What do I have to say for myself? Me?! What do you have to say for yourself, Mage!" Her voice rang out loudly and she stiffened her back. He could see her pale blue eyes harden and for a moment he almost laughed at her boldness. "What do you have to say for the people you left to fend for themselves? We tithed to you and without a word you turned your back on all of us!"

"Is that what you think happened?" Illthar blinked his eyes mildly for a moment, "A boldly spoken thief, you are. We did not abandon you. Magic is dwindling, we no longer protected you because we could not."

"Lies." She hissed out and Rufus let out a hiss of his own in response so that she shrunk back, "You never said a word. We only knew you had gone when the tithes were not brought into your houses and our people started to fail."

"And you were so well informed." He shook his head, "Look beyond your nose, thief, beyond your next robbery. Have you not seen the world is changing not just for your people, but for the entire world?"

The thief glared at him rebelliously, the rage in her eyes seemed to try to pierce him only to stir his own frustrated soul into returning it. He stood up straighter and moved his hand down from Rufus who started to hiss again in anger at the thief's blunt words and his own agitation. It wasn't until flames flickered along the curve of the animal's nostrils did he manage to strangle his own anger back down and gave his head a shake back and forth. He'd studied magic for six decades, it should take more then one foolish girl to make him lose his temper.

"What do you mean changing? It changed when you left!"

"No. We left because it changed. You only look at what's in front of your nose. Have you not wondered why the council rules in peace now, but the world still deteriorates? Why once flourishing pastures have dried up and grown barren?" He took a step back, "Magic is fading from the world. Where it once flourished and overflowed, it has started to recede. Even the creatures of legend such as the Salamander, the unicorn and dragon, the gryphons and chimeras are dying out. We left to conserve our magic and try to find an answer."

"You left us to die." She stated the words flatly, the rage in her eyes unabated as she balled her hands up. The girl unwilling to listen to him and he suppressed a sigh.

"And so you came to rob me? To break into my home and steal what you could for revenge?" He allowed some of his anger to edge his words, "Or did you simply dream of wealth for what you could hide in your pockets and bag? What is your name, thief?"

The thief worked her mouth for several moments before she answered. "Tenja."

"It seems that you've been caught, Tenja. I cannot allow you to go unpunished for that. " He watched as she widened her eyes slightly, "As is the custom I believe the sentence is most commonly indentured servitude."

Illthar regarded the girl for a long moment, her eyes never faltered in her look of hatred for him and even the statement that she would be an indentured servant garnered no more than a twitch of one eye. She wasn't old; he'd be surprised if she was more than a handful of years into her twenties, though the thin frame and deceptive fragility of her body could account for that. The force of her personality came from her in waves, a silent challenge to his authority and an accusation. He sighed and rubbed over his chin to find stiff stubble growing there and decided he needed to think for a while.

"Rufus, see Tenja into the crimson room please." He phrased the word politely and gave a nod, "I will speak to you in the morning about a fitting punishment."

++++

Tenja watched the Mage turn his back on her and fury seethed just beneath her carefully composed mask. This old man sat here in his tower day after day while her people suffered. The people who had fed him and clothed him, who had joyfully tended his gardens and ensured his home would be clean at the end of each day. Now he turned his back on them to preserve his magic. Magic she was sure he was using for his own benefit. Greed. It was simple greed that caused him to withdraw from her people. She moved forward to stop him, her lips parted to yell.

"Please don't do that." A hissing voice slide past her, it sounded strangely dry and disturbing. As if she heard snake scales brushing over stone. She turned her head towards the Salamander with shock.

"You-" She started.

Flames erupted around her and lapped around her body. The tendrils curled along her legs and arms while others lapped at her hair as playful as a kitten's paws. She opened her mouth to scream when she felt the earth fall away from her and for a gut wrenching moment she thought she was going to be sick. It all settled with a startling suddenness as the bright flames swept up her body and dissolved into the air above her head leaving her standing on her own two feet on a thick carpet. She turned her head about and caught her breath, her rapidly beating heart threatened to burst from her chest. The Salamander was nowhere to be seen as she took stock of her surroundings.

The thief stood in the midst of one of the most decadent bedrooms she had ever witnessed. The walls were not only paneled in what looked like oak, they were covered with heavy crimson velvet curtains. The floor was carpeted so thickly that her boots partially disappeared into it and gave her the illusion of quick sand, as if one more step would force her to watch her foot slide into an abyss. Thickly padded sitting chairs were set next to the fire with a table between them. The mantle was carved of a dark reddish wood so that it resembled stylized flames. A lavish bed stood in one corner with four ornately carved posts at each corner. As she padded forward she could see the carvings formed four different animals.

A dragon twined itself along one with a pearl held within its jaws and the fire light lent a strangely alive look to the creature. As if in any moment it would suck in a breath and turn its head to regard her. Even the scales were painstakingly carved to perfection. Another held what looked at first glance to be some sort of swan, but the closer she drew she could see the feathers weren't feathers at all, but flames. The phoenixes head was cast back and the carver had caught it in a moment of rapture as it seemed about to spill forth a song.

The third post held what looked like a coyote, its elongated body stretched and wrapped around the pillar making it look surreal. The head reached the top and held what looked like a torch, the fire caught perfectly and a grin seemed to hide on its muzzle as if hinting at secrets only it knew. The final post held what she recognized as the Salamander, its long body twisted and curved around the pillar much like its mundane counterpart on a branch. Its head rested right over the top while it looked down over the room with what she was sure was silent amusement. The fire in the fireplace cast shadows and color over it.

Each carving could have merited a small fortune by itself, but combined with the large bed and the down sheets, it was priceless. Tenja tried to come up with a reasonable cost that such a lavish piece of furniture would cost, but found she couldn't even estimate. The detail seemed to make the animals live and breathe before her. Were it not for the fact they lacked a true living creatures color she would have frozen and been sure they were about to slip down from their perches to investigate her. She moved a hand up to touch the tail of the dragon lightly. If this was her prison, it was like nothing she had ever seen before.

"Illthar does enjoy beauty." A hissing voice commented and she whirled around and half crouched as she searched for the massive beast. "Tcah, I'm in the fireplace. I dislike the cold of being outside of fire."

Tenja turned to face the fireplace and saw that the crackling and twisting flames actually hid a small version of the Salamander. It sprawled on the burning log as if it were sunning itself, the legs spread to either side and its spade shaped head angled towards her. In the heat the ear frills seemed to ripple and undulate as if it mimicked being under water. She approached slowly as she stared into the vibrant blue eyes of the creature and groped her way to a chair. It gave no hint that it recognized her fear or offered aggression. Quite the opposite, there seemed to be a hint of amusement in it's gaze.

"What are you?" She asked as she let herself fall into the fire warmed softness of the chair.

"The son of Phoenix and Dragon." The reply came and she blinked her eyes once before narrowing them.

"Don't make fun of me. I'm serious." She warned as she leaned forward to get a closer look. The creature wasn't a solid red as she had thought; she could make out a subtle dappling of darker hues over its back that she had missed before. The flames seemed to play over the smooth hide joyfully, each time it moved a muscle they flared to wrap around him before they settled once more.

"So am I. Illthar told you, I am a Salamander. I was created in fire and dwell where even the smallest spark can be found of it." The voice hissed and the lips parted to show a pale blue tongue that licked a portion of the log and the ash fell away to reveal glowing embers.

"What's going to happen to me?" She tried to draw her eyes away, but she found that between the dancing of the flames and the beasts own movements she almost seemed to grow fascinated by it.

"I do not know. You cannot escape this room, but the Mage is not a cruel man. You should not have tried to steal from him." The spade shape head tilted as if it listened to something far away. "I must leave, you will be fed and I will hope you wash. There are no windows or doors here, so please do not try to escape. If you have a need simply speak into the flames and they will be addressed."

The log in the fire cracked and the flame licked upwards to blacken the stone of the chimney for a moment. When she looked back the animal was gone leaving only the split log and a few claw marks as a hint that it had been there. Tenja rocked back into the chair and glanced around with rapid flickers of her eyes. The walls that enclosed her were absolute except for one open door way. From her position at the fire she could see that it lead to a bathing room, not an exit. She was trapped in a gilded and lovely cage, with a Mage that had claimed her as an indentured servant and a strange lizard that bathed in fire. Her mind started to dwell on the worst possible outcomes. Would she be kept as the old man's concubine?

++++

Illthar paced back and forth in his drawing room, his footsteps muffled by the carpeting and the only sound was the steady bubbling noise of the decorative fountain set into the corner. What use had he of a servant? None at all. He had his home taken care of by what magic he had left and by his Familiar. A thief though, that he could have use for if he could control her anger against him. She was a good one, no other thief had ever pierced the defenses of his home and made it past the caves traps. The very fact that Rufus was the one to detect her, not the Mage himself attested to her skills in that area.

"The hippogryph, chimera, and selkie." The voice hissed from his fire place as the Salamander appeared. He turned with irritation at the interruption of his thoughts to regard it.

"Yes? And?" He snapped feeling some of his temper find an outlet.

"Magical constructs that were birthed by the innovation of adapting and building on creatures that had already been created." The flames died down around the Salamander and it stretched its full length in the fire.

"I appreciate your help, Rufus, but at the moment I have the annoying problem of what to do with that dratted girl. I can't let her go without having thieves of every caliber attempting to come in here. I certainly don't trust her as a mere servant either. As angry as she is, I doubt I could use her as a thief either. The moment she left she'd be gone and bugling to high heaven the location of my tower." He stopped pacing and ran his fingers through his hair roughly so that the silvered locks stood up in spikes.

"There is a way to keep her in line." The voice hissed out in an almost seductive manner and he turned to glare at the fire place.

"I'm not going to go beating the girl! Or raping her! What in the gods names kind of man do you think I am?" Illthar glared at the fire while the flames started to flicker rapidly in the creature's amusement at his response.

"I suggested neither of those options." Rufus lifted his head up, "But a thief would be able to gain what you need from magical creatures that are on the brink of dying out. You and your colleagues have balked at that so far because you know you would be killed."

"And send the girl to her death?" Illthar dropped down into his chair with a sigh, "Your thoughts run dark tonight, Rufus."

"Not death. Were I almost the last of my kind I would grow wary and aggressive of anyone that came near me. Yet to see a creature that matched me, that would lower my defenses down." Slyness entered the hissing voice. "Why would I strike another Salamander? A female Salamander at that? She would be safe from my claws and teeth. She would be valued and welcomed where others would be burnt to ashes. Or an offering that I had not received in centuries that came to my lair."

The old Mage sat there and for a moment he couldn't quite make sense of what the Familiar reasoned out for him. He leaned forward closer to the flames and closed his eyes. The thoughts marched through his mind in a disorganized jumble. There were forgotten beasts of legend that were all but extinct. Even now his mind lingered on one that he knew only had one representative left in the world. Had it been last year? Or was it the year before that?

He remembered waking up to a day that had seemed cold and bleak. Depression had weighed on his soul as he shifted beneath his covers. Before he had been able to pin point the cause of his early awakening he had felt the earth give a shudder. It was as if the world had released a keen of sorrow and mourning. It rang through his mind until he had been forced from his bed to cover his ears, even though his ears were not the ones that had heard it. He hadn't even realized he was crying until the tears spilled down against his chest and fell onto his lap.

The keening wail of the earth continued, it rose up in the air in tribute. Even those that did not hear it as a Mage would felt its sorrow in the form of dark clouds that rolled over the country side. The rain never fell, instead the clouds gathered and blocked out the sun completely. The colors had been less vibrant, the sounds of the birds muted and even the animals had halted the daily struggle for life. He had felt in his soul the death of the creature that had once been worshiped by thousands and its mate that coiled around her in a desperate attempt to revive her stilled and cooling form. Their race was dead to the world. The one remaining male had no one to partner him, no one to continue on his kind.

"Would it be such a sin, Illthar? If we brought what was missing back into the world?" Rufus' voice was soft and seductive. "She would not be hurt, she would be welcomed gladly. And as a thief she could bring back what you need."

"What I need?" He snapped out of his melancholy memories and glanced down at the fire.

"If only you gathered what you need from the rarest beasts in the world, you could bring a new construct into the world. Revive it with the birth of a new species." The Salamander lifted its head higher. "We die faster now, Mage. Each day more of us find that we have not enough magic to survive and fade away into the memories of humanity. She could serve to bring back what you need and she would get her wish. Magic would flow once more and you could return to the people you loved."

Illthar leaned himself back in his chair and half closed his eyes as if against pain. He knew too well that Rufus spoke the truth. How long before the dragons became distant memories and the unicorns of the forest spoken of as myths and wives tales? He could ensure the girl took no lasting harm, he could protect her from what he could. He looked into the fire bathed Salamander and drew in a slow breath.

"I will sleep on it." He promised and thought he saw a spark of despair in the expressive pale blue eyes.

The old mage pushed himself to his feet and turned his back on the saddened creature. His footsteps muted as he passed by the doorless room that held his thief. He only paused for a moment to brush his hand against the wall before he continued on his way. He already knew he would do it. There was no other option and she was a canny and able person. If anyone could succeed in the trials he had to set before her, she would. He could only hope that she could understand and perhaps with time....forgive.

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