Ciaran POV*

Ciaran stomped out of the room after issuing his order, Colleen's last words still angering him. Her words, ironically, echoing her mate's words a from a few hours ago when Ciaran had confronted him in the courtyard,still echoing in his mind, angering him further.

*Flashback*

The fighting had been carrying on for almost an hour when Ciaran bust through the gates in full dragon form, angered by the lack of progress that his army was making, not having expected such resistance from his weakling sister and her mate. He threw warriors from both sides out of his way before spotting the prey he was hunting: Sean, his brother-in-law, who was directing the battle from the northern part of the courtyard surrounded by some of his best warriors.

Ciaran snarled and charged at the ring of warriors, tossing them aside as if they were nothing. Just as he lunged for Sean another demon jumped between them and threw a plume of acidic venom in his face. Ciaran stumbled back with a loud roar, thrashing his head about, trying to clear his eyes and nose.

"Everyone fall back," he heard the demon order loudly, "Get Lord Sean to safety."

Finally clearing the venom from his eyes, Ciaran looked to see the Captain of the Guard standing in front of him as several others quickly moved Sean toward the house.

Ciaran snarled at the Captain, he had met this arrogant fool before and hadn't been impressed. Suddenly the Captain's eyes began to glow bright red and his aura flared up, surrounding him in a tornado of dark green power. Ciaran roared at the Captain and shot a large fireball at him. The Captain stumbled back when the fireball hit him, let loose a roar that matched Ciaran's, and revealed his true form of a giant, dark green, Basilisk demon. Ciaran let loose an answering roar before charging at the Captain and the two huge demons tumbled down in a deadly battle.

Ciaran wedged his claws under the Captain's jaw, forcing his head up, to keep his large venomous fangs away from him. The large serpent wrapped his body around Ciaran's, pinning his wings to his sides and slowly squeezing the air out of him. As Ciaran struggled to loosen the grip the Captain had around him, the serpent began to force his head downward, bringing his fangs closer and closer to Ciaran's throat. As they fought, a large vulture demon suddenly fell from the sky, petrified, reminding Ciaran that the Basilisk's large fangs were not the only danger, it also had a deadly, petrifying, stare.

Ciaran felt deadly anger rise up within him.

"I am not about to be killed by an overgrown worm!" he thought.

Then, with another mighty roar, he mustered his strength and pushed his wings outward, breaking the hold the Captain had on him. Using this little room, Ciaran pulled his back legs up to his stomach and racked his claws down the Captain's underbelly. The Captain screamed in pain and let go of Ciaran completely. Taking his chance, Ciaran pulled himself out from under the Captain and flipped behind him. He then bit down hard on the back of the Captain's neck, right at the base of the skull, driving his fangs in deep, and after one, hard, shake heard a SNAP and the Captain lay still.

Ciaran threw the Captain's dead body away from him with a deafening roar and dove after the group of warriors surrounding Sean.

"Run, Sean!" one of the warriors yelled as they turned to face Ciaran, "GO!"

Ciaran dove into the midst of the group, blasting them all with a stream of fire and not giving any of them the chance to transform. Suddenly, above the flames, Ciaran saw the form of a giant eagle soar upward and knew it was Sean.

"Oh no you don't!" Ciaran thought with a growl, lashing out with his claws.

He caught Sean's outstretched wing, tearing a gash from shoulder to tip.

He screamed and fell to the ground before turning back to his humanoid form. As Sean stood up, holding his injured arm, to try and defend himself, he was suddenly overrun by enemy warriors. Ciaran transformed back into his humanoid form just in time to see one of the hunters stab Sean deeply in the abdomen.

"NO!" he yelled, running over and grabbing the hunter by the throat and lifted him off his feet, "You IDIOT! I said we needed him alive!"

The man tried to reply, but all that came out was a strangled gurgle, as he clawed at Ciaran's hand. Ciaran threw the man away in disgust and turned his back, not even caring that the man did not move again after landing some fifty feet away.

"Hello, Sean," Ciaran said in a slightly taunting manner, now facing his injured brother-in-law, "Been a long time."

"Hello Ciaran," Sean replied in a falsely calm voice, clutching at the deep wound in his stomach and not making any attempt to rise from his place kneeling on the ground, "I see you've made some new friends since you've been gone."

"Where are they, Sean?" Ciaran demanded, having no patience for games.

"Who?" Sean asked, looking completely innocent.

Ciaran growled viciously at Sean obvious attempt to stall and stalked over to him to deliver a hard kick right to his wounded stomach.

"Don't play games with me!" Ciaran snarled threateningly, glaring down at Sean who now lay on his back gaping for air, "Where is Thomas and his remaining whelp?!"

"I have no idea," Sean answered painfully, pushing himself back up right, "Even if I did, I would not tell you!"

Ciaran snarled at Sean and stepped forward onto his hand, slowly placing his weight on it. Sean tensed up in pain as Ciaran slowly placed his full weight on Sean's hand and bent down until he was face to face with him.

"I will find them," Ciaran snarled, grinding his foot down on Sean's hand, "When I do, I will kill them and finally take what is rightfully mine!"

Realizing he was going to get nothing more out of Sean, Ciaran stood up and turned to walk away.

"You're a fool, Ciaran," Sean gasped.

Ciaran turned back to his brother-in-law slowly and, looking down at him, smirked knowingly. Sean would be dead soon, as he was bleeding too heavily for any other outcome.

"The last brave words of a dying man?" Ciaran taunted, "I will make sure to relay them to my dear sister."

"You're a fool" Sean repeated, ignoring the taunt, "You've learned nothing from your family's history. The Heart cannot be forcefully removed from its chosen Keeper. It will not allow it!"

"That's the problem with all of you," Ciaran snarled, stomping back to tower over the dying man, "You allow this thing to dictate how you live your lives. I am the only one who sees the truth! You need to dominate it, force it to bend to your will! Such a powerful object should be used for war and conquest not for peace and prosperity!"

Sean actually started to laugh as he sagged closer to the ground.

"That mindset is the reason you were not chosen to be Keeper," Sean replied softly before glancing over Ciaran's shoulder.

Suddenly an infuriating smirk came to his face, one that angered Ciaran to no end as it said he knew something that no one else did.

"And you never will be!" Sean declared.

Ciaran whipped around to see what Sean was talking about only to find a piece of paper, cut in the shape of a bird, fluttering down to the ground. Snatching it from the air, Ciaran examined it and, upon sensing the fading remnants of his brother's aura on it, felt fury overtake him.

"What is this?!" he demanded, whipping back around to face Sean only to find him dead on the ground behind him.

Ciaran kicked the dead man in his anger at having been thwarted.

"Fine then," he growled, bending down to take a gold ring from Sean finger.

Seeing the symbols of love and eternity engraved upon it, Ciaran smirked.

"I'll ask her," he said before turning toward the front door of the house.

*End Flashback*

Slamming the door in his anger, Ciaran stomped down the hall fully intending to push these pathetic humans he had been forced to ally with to work faster in finding where Thomas had run off to, not wanting him to get any further away than he already was.

"General," one hunter called, approaching him quickly from the side. He was tall with broad shoulders, long, blond, hair and beard, and green eyes.

"What!" Ciaran snarled, causing the man to take a step back and instinctively drop his hand to the dagger on his belt.

Ciaran sneered at the implied threat but forced himself to calm down.

"I still need them," he reminded himself.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, admitting he needed these humans, but Thomas had too many friends with large armies for him to take on alone. It had been easy to convince these hunters to work with him and his small army of demons with the promise of power once Ciaran claimed the Heart as his.

"Once I have the Heart," he thought, starting to feel calmer, "I will have no needed for such weaklings."

"What is it?" Ciaran asked the hunter in a far calmer voice.

The hunter paused for a moment, seemingly taken aback by Ciaran's quick change of mood and demeanor, before answering.

"No servants have been found anywhere in the estate," the hunter nervously reported, "but these were found in the cellars among refuse headed for the incinerator."

The hunter showed Ciaran several items of filthy clothing, including a grey dressing gown and long white night dress stained with blood.

"This had better not be all you have to report," Ciaran snarled, looking at the clothing with disgust.

"N-no, sir," the hunter stammered, "A couple of our outlying troops caught a messenger pigeon headed north. It was carrying this."

The hunter handed Ciaran a small, rolled up, piece of parchment and waited while Ciaran to read it.

"Gather the troops," Ciaran ordered, a triumphant smile spreading across his face, "We are leaving."

"North?" the hunter asked expectantly.

"No," Ciaran answered, crumbling the message in his hand, "This is a trick. Sean always thought he was so smart. He wants me to believe that he sent Thomas to his Father."

"So where?" the hunter asked, confused.

"South," Ciaran answered, "Sean has always been a pathetic weakling that hid behind his father's military might and that would make it the obvious choice. He sent them to his oldest brother instead."

Ciaran left the house to muster his troops and within a half an hour was ready to leave. A cruel smile played over Ciaran's face as he cast a last glance over his shoulder at the now burning estate. It had taken many years of planning to get to this point, carefully removing all other heirs to the Heart, and now his ultimate goal was finally within reach. The Heart would be his and anyone that dared to stand in his way would pay the ultimate price.

* Mary POV*

We had been traveling for about an hour when Father and I split off from the estate servants. It was the first of several splits as the large group would break up, with only a small portion of the group heading to Uncle Sean's father. I took a deep breath and tried to swallow my worry, trying to remember that this was going exactly how Uncle Sean and Father had planned.

*Flashback*

"We are sending all the household servants with you," Uncle Sean explained.

We were taking our supper in the upstairs salon as Father and Uncle Sean planned our path to the coast.

"That will get them out of harm's way and make sure the other ruling lords know what's happened." Uncle Sean continued.

"Have you sent out the pigeons?" Father asked.

"Not yet," Uncle Sean answered, spreading a map out on the table before us, "I will send the one going south right after you leave and the one headed north shortly before we leave."

This last comment caught my attention from where I had been sitting, quietly listening, at the other end of the table with Aunt Colleen preparing our packs.

"Won't the one headed north be caught?" I asked.

Uncle Sean looked up at me and smiled.

"Yes, that is the intent," He answered.

"It's a trick!" I exclaimed, "You want them to think we are heading back north."

A look of pride came over his face as I figured it out. Unlike most of the men at court, Uncle Sean never patronized me or acted like I should not ask questions or understand things simply because I was a girl.

"Yes," he replied, "The servants will be carrying the real messages."

After this, Aunt Colleen called me back to the packs and Uncle Sean and Father went back to planning.

"The servants will separate from you here" Uncle Sean said as he gestured to a spot on the map, "And once you reach the coast, I want you to send this back before you leave the Isle."

Uncle Sean held out a piece of paper cut in the shape of a bird to Father, who looked confused.

"What is it?" Father asked, gently taking it in his hand.

"A form of demon puppetry," Uncle Sean replied, "While significantly weaker than a traditional puppet, it will be strong enough to return here and thereby letting us know you got away safely."

Father nodded and stowed the puppet away before turning back to the map. He and Uncle Sean went over the plans for another half an hour before the Captain of the Guard knocked on the door.

"It's time," the Basilisk demon said simply upon entering the room.

Aunt Colleen and I rose from our seat and joined the men, it was time for Father and me to leave this temporary safe haven.

*End flashback*

I stood off to the side, having already said my goodbyes, as Father made sure that the servants knew what they were to do and where to go. I kept my cloak pulled closely around me, not just because of the cold but because I was still very uncomfortable with the clothes my aunt had insisted I wear: a long, dark green, belted tunic and close fitting, black, trousers tucked into high, leather, flat-bottomed, boots.

"Heavy dresses with long skirts are not very practical while traveling," Aunt Colleen had told me.

"Ready?" Father asked, walking back over to me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I nodded and continued to follow him down the trail.

We hiked another thirty minutes before I was able to hear the waves on the beach that my family had spent many a lazy summer day. Memories almost overwhelmed me for a minute as the beach came into view. Memories of playing in the surf with my brothers, of quiet picnics with Mother and of learning about the different sea creatures from Aunt Colleen and Uncle Sean. I stopped for a moment to try and catch my composure, as now was not the time to mourn. Father, noticing that I had stopped, turned to check on me and I could see tears in his eyes as well. He came back and placed an arm around my shoulder.

"Come," he said and lead me onto the beach, stopping just briefly to take the puppet from his pocket, infuse a small bit of his aura into it and released it to head back to the estate.

A few minutes later we were both transformed, him into his true dragon form and me into a Peregrine Falcon, one of my favorite bird forms, and we left the Isle behind, heading for the neighboring Isle of Britannia. I cast one last look over my shoulder, saying goodbye to my homeland and praying that someday we would be able to come back.

Okay I promise everyone reading that I am not purposefully drawing this out. I just need to lay the foundation. I fully intend for them to finally make it to Japan next chap. Please hang in and reviews would be great! Happy Valentines Day to everyone!