I raised my free hand to push my long blond hair out of my green eyes and sat back on my hands to stare at the scarlet and gold clouds that illuminated the sky.  But the beauty of the sky was the last thing on her mind.  Something was happening, something very wrong, and children were going missing.  Several investigations had been done, but nothing conclusive had yet been found.  The Mayor of Saint Morning had even started a large public investigation.  She had put out a call for parties of Warriors, Magicians, Assists and Acrobats to come to the town square first thing tomorrow to start a new search.  Teams would be assigned and sent with maps to different areas of the continent.  A gentle rain began to fall, tapping a steady rhythm on the edge of my hat. I sighed and rose slowly to my feet, brushing the grass of my violet and gold embossed robe.  Mounting my broom, I placed my wand into my kaki pack and set off in a shower of sparks toward town. 

The sun shown bright and clear in a cloudless sky the next morning, with a few blue birds circled overhead, singing merrily.  I brushed her hair back absent mindedly, gazing at the crowds walking and flying down the street.  I turned and shut the down behind me, locking it with a well oiled click.  I reached down and picked up the pack at my feet and a well used broom.  It took me ten minutes to reach Saint Morning hall, pressing my way through the crowd gathered in the square.  A tall, white haired Mercenary elbowed me in the ribs as I pull through to reach a table that had been set up so teams could register.  I doubled over in pain for a moment, breathing in slowly to lessen the pain coming from bruised ribs.  I was out of breath by the time I reached the sturdy oak table, which was pilled with forms and maps.  I joined the shorter of two lines and filled out a form I had grabbed while I waited for the people in-front of me to be done.  Two of the local smith’s where in charge of the parties and promptly assigned me to a group of three others that where standing next to a raised platform next to Saint Morning Hall.  When I reached them, the Mercenary reached out his hand and shook mine briskly.  “I’m WolfBlade, the Mercenary for this group, this is Zephyr, an Acrobat,” he pointed to the willowy woman next to him.  She worn an emerald green silk suit and had her ebony hair in a long braid down her back, away from her heart shaped face.  I smiled and waved before WolfBlade continued, “Our Assist is TaraStorm.  That leaves our Magician, which must be you.”  I nodded, “My name is DawnStar, and it’s nice to meet everyone.  Do you know when we will be starting out?”  TaraStorm shook his head, “We where just told to wait here until the Mayor comes to give everyone directions, their probably waiting for everyone to sign up first.”  He glanced at the platform and scratched the short, spiky red hair underneath his cap.  Just then the Mayor mounted the platform and raised her hands for everyone’s attention.  It took a few minutes for everyone to calm down, which seemed to annoy the Mayor.  She cleared her throat and looked out at the crowd, weighing and measuring the merit of those gathered before her.  “Warriors, Adventures and Heroes, I have sent out a call for help, and you have answered.  You are the best that can be found.   I have called you at Saint Morning’s hour of need and you have answered.  Someone has threatened the safety, livelihood and very future of our survival here in Saint Morning.  Someone is kidnapping our children, and as if that where horrible enough, have even began to threaten the very lives of Our Leaders.  I have called you here to the very heart of Saint Morning to ask you, no to plead with you to rescue our children and to save Saint Morning from a terrible end.  In our darkest hour I call to you for help!  Will you help us?”  The crowd in front of her raised their voices in a single roar of agreement that shook the very stones of the square; a few even raised their weapons in defiance of those who would threaten innocent lives.  The mayor raised her hand again for silence, and this time the crowd was instantly silent.  “You have all been assigned to teams of four, with as wide a range of skills as we could manage.  Your team leaders have all been assigned based on experience and skill in the field.  Your search areas have been assigned to you, and are highlighted on your maps, so that as much area can be covered as possible.  I wish you good luck and the blessing of Saint Morning.  May you meet with success and glory!”  The crowd roared its approval and teams began to break off from the crowd.  WolfBlade motioned for us to wait until most of the teams had set out.  He turned to us and looked us all in the eye, “This isn’t going to be easy, and if we all want to come out of this alive we most work together.  I can’t have anyone going of and doing their own thing.  If we get into any trouble, we get into it together.  That goes for glory and honor to.  We are in this to save lives, and if we get glory, we do so as a team.  If you don’t agree with this you are free to leave and no one here will think the less of you.”  TaraStorm, Zephyr, and I all stood there silently, we where ready for what ever came.  WolfBlade nodded and we all mounted our brooms, joining the other teams and flew away into the early morning light.

We searched every inch of our search area, finding no clues as to the fate of the kidnapped children.  As the sky turned to red and clouds began to roll in we all descended to the ground and dismounted.  My shoulders ached with the strain and TaraStorm groaned as he robbed his shoulders.  WolfBlade directed TaraStorm and I to look for fire wood as he and Zephyr set up tents for the night.  TaraStorm and I each returned with a large bundle of wood just as WolfBlade pounded in the last spick.  We gather around the fire and gazed silently into the flames, slowly eating the bead and meat sandwiches that Zephyr had put together for everyone.  WolfBlade began assigning night watch as soon as we finished.  I wiped my hands clean on the grass and listened closely.  “Zephyr you get first watch, I will take second, TaraStorm will take third watch and DawnStar will take……”  He stopped and we all turned to look as the cracking of wood echoed thought he forest behind us.  A sound of steel filled the air as everyone took out their weapons, and the sound of splintering wood grew closer.  I drew on the power of the earth around me, feeling in fill every cell, and I gathered in, shaping it into a Splmash spell.  As I did so the felt the very earth around me cry out in pain and I whirled around to meet TaraStorm’s wide eyes.  “This isn’t good” he said as a figure emerged from the shadows.  A ball and chain whirled threw the air, cutting branch’s and trees out of its way.  The air filled with pieces and sounds of splintering wood as a Giant Mia forced its way into the clearing.  The ball nearly slammed into WolfBlade’s face as he backpedaled to get out of range.  I let lose the earth spell and fell back to guard TaraStorm as he let lose a flood of healing spells.  Zephyr let lose a volley of silver tipped arrows and the monster screamed in pain as it stumbled backward, an arrow blinding both of its eyes.  WolfBlade circled around from behind and cut in down with a Blazing Sword.  The Giant Mia fell forward with a crash that toppled the tents around us.  WolfBlade and Zephyr quickly circle the camp, looking for any signs of other monsters or traps.  When they returned we gathered into a close group around the fire, all eyes screening every shadow for any sign of movement.  WolfBlade announced that we should all get so sleep, it would be full hardy to look for any clues in the dark.  Zephyr took her position in the shadow of an oak tree near camp and we all settled down to a restless and nightmare filled sleep.  I was woken for my shift a few hours before dawn, but the remaining hours of the night where silent and uneventful.  As soon as the sun rose we packed up camp and set out on foot, following the trail of destruction left by the Giant Mia the night before.   Great tree limb and deep foot prints created a path.  It lead straight to the foot of a series of rocky and jagged granite hills.  The yawning mouth of a cave sat at the foot of the trail, surrounded by shards of steel and a few shredded remains of clothing.  Zephyr gasped and put her hand to her mouth in horror.  WolfBlade stared at the remains, then turned his eyes toward the cave and motioned for us to move in.  The cave continued for a hundred yards of rough, uneven granite floor before narrowing to the width of a single man and slopping down ward.  As we walked down, the sounds of frightened children and the roar of monsters filled our ears.  WolfBlade began running and we all raced to keep up, our footsteps echoing against the walls.  We ran straight into a trap.  A ball connected with TaraStorm’s stomach and sent him flying backward into the wall of a giant cavern with a bone crunching thud.  His cry of pain was all but lost in the chaos.  Zephyr ran to his side and began let arrows fly left and right as WolfBlade and I took places in front of them and let loss with a fury of blows.  Mia fell right and left, with two coming to take their place as we stuck them down.  TaraStorm healed himself and began sending spells left and right.  Then, suddenly, just as it began there was a pause and silence filled the cavern.  WolfBlade and I paused to find that there was no more Mia attacking.  The monsters lay in heaps all around us and I looked down to discover that I had a deep cut in my arm staining my robe that I couldn’t remember getting in all the fighting. TaraStorm quickly tended it as we all looked our selves over for more wounds.  After TaraStorm had looked everyone over we spread out and began scanning the shadowy depths the cavern, a small cry caught our attention.  I turned to find that there was a small door way set behind a group of stalactites in the left wall of the cavern.  A small figure appeared and splashed through a several small pools of water.  “It’s a little girl!” Zephyr shouted as more children rushed from the depths of the cave to crowd around us, crying and shouting.  One of them grabbed WolfBlade’s leg and refused to let go. A sobbing little blond haired girl ran over to and grabbed the other.  WolfBlade wisely didn’t try to get them to stop and simply lead all of them out of the cave into the sunset beyond as well as he could, the children making walking a little difficult for him.  Zephyr and I search the cave, even exploring the network of passages that lead from the door way the children and come through, but all we found where blankets and dolls, not even a single trace of any more children or monsters.  WolfBlade had miraculously gotten the children to calm down by the time we finished searching the cave.  We formed a guard around the group and started back to Saint Morning.  The children laughed and sang as we walked through underneath the canopy of giant trees, leaves crunching underfoot.  An owl called from somewhere near by and one of the little girls screamed.  It took me several minutes to get her calmed down to the point that we could walk again.  The moon was rising as we walked back into the lamp lit square of Saint Morning.  Light turned on and people opened their doors, leaving them standing wide open as they ran into the square.  Parents rushed to gather their children as both parents and children cried.  Hugging and babbling at each other in relief and joy.  The Mayor rushed over to us with a small dark haired girl clutched tightly in her arms. “Thank you, most of the other teams came back with wounded, babbling about some cave, but we couldn’t get any sense out of them.  Thank you, Saint Morning owns you a great debt.  Tomorrow we will through a festival in your honor and call the rest of the parties in.  Thank you so much!”  The little girl raised her head from the shelter of her Mother’s shirt and smiled, “Thank you for finding me and bringing me back to my mommy.” Before barring her head back into her Mother’s shirt.  The Mayor smiled and walked back to her home as everyone started back to their homes and a good night’s sleep.  Light started flickering out as WolfBlade robbed his temple and sheathed his sword.  “You did a wonderful job everyone, lets get some sleep, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m exhausted.”  Zephyr and I nodded, and TaraStorm chuckled.  We all agreed to meet back at the square first thing tomorrow.  Zephyr asked if she could stay at my house for the night and TaraStorm agreed to stay with WolfBlade.  We made our way wearily through the now silent streets.  Zephyr and I waved good night when we reached my home and WolfBlade and TaraStorm disappear into the night.  I unlocked my door and light a candle on a small table as Zephyr shut the door behind her.  I took the candle in its holder and lead the way straight to the quest bed room.  Zephyr wasted no time and fell asleep on the bed in her clothes.  I walked down the hall to my own room and changed into a simple pair of pajamas.  As I got into bed, blew out the candle and pulled the covers up, I though of all the smiling faces of the families that had gathered around us and smiled to my self.  I turned over and quickly drifted to sleep, dreaming of a red sunset.