[Frances]

Tyra and Trouble were playing in the forest near Tyra's home. Trouble had taught Screech to hide behind trees and throw out stuffed targets for Tyra to shoot. Though Trouble had first started as the better archer when they started shooting years ago, Tyra was now the more skilled archer. Trouble was thoroughly entertained enjoying the nature around him, but Tyra was growing bored. Despite Trouble's name, Tyra also often came up with mischief for the pair to get into.

Trouble was listening intently. Tyra, seeing this, thought it would be good time to talk to him. "Trouble, have you ever thought about us? I mean... what we'll do when we grow up?" Getting no response, she continued, "Look at our parents. Your mother's talent with magic, my father's talent with the sword... Is that what were going to do? More magic with you, and the sword for me? I like it, I suppose, but I like the bow too..." Looking up, she noticed that though Trouble was listening, it wasn't to her. She walked over to him and gave him a nudge. "Trouble, can't you focus on what's going on?"

"Huh?" Trouble gave her a look that said she was the one not paying attention. "Hush and listen... The birds are complaining."

Tyra rolled her eyes in a fair imitation of her mother. Trouble continued, "They're complaining about people in their clearing in the forest." Tyra sighed but actually stayed quiet a bit and listened to the chirping of the birds. She had learned that when it came to things of nature, Trouble was generally right. But as she listened, she realized that that was what the birdsong meant. It didn't translate into words in Common, but she could tell they were complaining, and it was about people.

As she listened, Tyra soon heard something else. "Someone's coming." A mischievous grin crept on to her face. "I bet it's your parents or mine. Let's hide and scare 'em when they get close." It was Trouble's turn to roll his eyes, but he played along. He gestured to Screech to stay where he was hiding, waiting to throw another target for Tyra.

As whoever was approaching got closer, though, Tyra whispered in Trouble's ear. "Wait. That doesn't sound like either of our parents. They're too noisy and not at all used to being here." The two stayed in hiding. Tyra kept a sharp lookout for the first view of the interlopers, but Trouble's attention had strayed back to the birds. He didn't move, though, so Tyra didn't say anything.

As the strangers blundered past their hiding place, Tyra watched them quietly and whispered to Trouble. "Huh. Wonder what they're doing here?"

Trouble glanced over at them. "Hunters maybe? Or wood cutters?" he said with some disgust in his voice. "Nah... guards or something?"

Tyra was looking at him with some bewilderment. "Trouble Tempest, sometimes you make no sense at all. If I had to guess, I'd say they were soldiers or something." She looked in the direction they had gone a minute longer. "Let's see what they're up to." Trouble nodded, and held out his arms to Screech, who ran into to them, climbing to his usual perch.

They followed along after the visitors, Tyra leading the way. Trouble definitely understood nature better than she did, but she could notice the little disturbances caused by someone traveling through the forest better than he could. "I don't think those two know quite where they're going. They're not following anything like a straight path." She pondered a moment. "I wonder if they're trying to find that little meadow that's out this way. Hey, I wonder if that's the meadow the birds were complaining about."

"Could be, I guess. The birds weren't exactly specific, and I didn't ask." It was Trouble's turn to get a mischievous grin. "I can get us there ahead of them."

"How? It may be just over there, but you gotta walk all the way around to the north unless you want to scramble through enough blackberry bushes to scratch up a mithril golem." She wasn't sure what that was, but her father said they were very tough.

His only answer was a grin. He walked over to the bushes in question and began to speak softly. Tyra couldn't hear what he was saying, but the little she could hear sounded more like a song then words. As she watched, the bushes began to sway as if in a breeze that she couldn't feel. As they stopped swaying, she saw that they had shifted slightly to open a narrow path. It was a bit twisty and you still had to move carefully to avoid the thorny blackberry vines, but it was definitely passable. "That's still neat every time you do something like that. You gotta teach me that trick."

"I've tried. You never get it."

Tyra frowned. "I know, I know... I can sorta understand the idea of animal talk. But plants...?" She sighed. "Let's go. And quietly, all right?" Trouble bristled a little at Tyra's implication that he was less than skilled in moving quietly. His father had taught him well how to move carefully through the woods, but he had to admit that Tyra had a real knack for moving quietly, so silently she could sneak up on most of the animals in the forest.

Tyra and Trouble headed down the path to the meadow. As they got close, Tyra suddenly pulled Trouble down. "There's people down there," she whispered in his ear. "At least three, probably more." They slipped quietly to the edge of the bushes where they could look out.

"I see... two, three guards? And I think that guy's their leader." As they watched, the two interlopers who originally piqued their interest approached from the opposite side of the little clearing. It seemed they were expected by the group already there.

The human soldier spoke to the leader, "You Percy? You're the one who hired us?"

"I am. I have a little job I need doing. You don't have any problem with using those blades, I assume?" The leader grinned evilly and began explaining his plan to the two newcomers.

The two youngsters listened in silence as Percy explained his plan to take over as boss of the gang of criminals he was in. His boss, Kohlman, was about to have two new recruits join, the pair who had just blundered into the woods. They would pick a quarrel with Kohlman and kill him, or just stab him in the back if the opportunity presented itself, then disappear, ostensibly to avoid further trouble with the gang.

Tyra and Trouble looked at each other with some fear. These criminals wouldn't have any reason not to kill them if they were found out. Percy and the others were deep in their conversation now, discussing details, but the guards were still watching.

Trouble strained to hear the details. "I'm going to move a bit closer," he whispered in Tyra's ear.

"Trouble wait--" She was talking to herself. He had already moved off.

Percy passed the human and the dwarf a small bag each. The dwarf felt the weight of his and spoke gruffly, "Five hunnert fer each o' us. Not total."

"You'll get the rest when the job's done." At that moment, Trouble's luck in moving quietly thus far ran out, and a twig suddenly snapped under his step. "What was that? You sold us out to Kohlman, didn't you? Curse you!" Arrows suddenly began flying in the youngster's direction from the guards, and there was the sound of blades being drawn.

Tyra suddenly had a flash of inspiration. She whistled a bit of birdsong she knew. This one did translate well into Common, but that was due to its simplicity and use in the animal world. It meant simply, "Run away!"

Trouble made his way back to her, more noisily than Tyra would have liked, but the others in the clearing were so intent on fighting one another they didn't notice. Trouble and Screech were both wide-eyed and frightened. Tyra didn't realize it, but she looked about the same. The three of them huddled quietly, listening to the bandits fighting one another. After a bit, it was clear the fighting was over.

"Are they all dead?" Tyra asked. Trouble just shrugged. Wordlessly, they moved in unison to look. Three heads, two human and one Belinarian monkey, peeked out and began looking around the clearing.

There were several bodies in the clearing. It was obvious a couple were dead, based on their injuries, and the rest weren't moving either, except for one. Percy had managed to survive the loss of his cronies and the mercenaries he was trying to hire. He was cursing softly to himself. "Dead, dammit, all my men are dead! Curse Kohlman! I never should have trusted him." As he surveyed the carnage, he happened to look up at the right moment to notice the youngsters watching him from across the clearing. They ducked, but he let out a shout. "It's just a couple of kids! I'll kill you!"

Thinking quickly, Trouble started speaking softly to the plants again. As Percy ran across the clearing towards them, vines suddenly began sprouting around him. He danced nimbly, avoiding most of them, but one wrapped around his leg, holding him in place. Yelling wordlessly, he drew his sword and hacked at the vine. "I'm going to get you kids! You ruined my plans!"

Tyra and Trouble turned to the path they took through the blackberry brambles, but they had gotten turned around and couldn't find the path. Tyra grabbed Trouble's arm, "Open another path! We gotta get outta here!"

"I can't! I can't focus enough to make the plants hear me!"

Tyra grabbed his arm again and pulled him in another direction. "Then we gotta go! It's the only other way outta this clearing!" She yanked him along, almost pulling him off his feet. Screech managed to avoid falling off Trouble's shoulder only by grabbing tightly onto Trouble's hair.

They pelted off down a narrow cut. The stream that flowed through the meadow came in through this narrow ravine. Trouble did his best to keep up with Tyra. With her longer legs, she could outrun him, but she would never leave him behind. "You know... where this path... leads... don't you?" Trouble asked between breaths.

"Sure... it leads..." Tyra stopped as they entered a small clearing, no more than twenty feet across. A small cliff, only fifteen feet high or so covered one side, over which a small waterfall tumbled to feed a small pool and then the stream. Dense woods and brush grew over the other sides, forming an impassable wall everywhere except the path they had used to get in. "It leads here," Tyra finished lamely. "What do we do?" Both of them looked around desperately for a way out. The brush looked completely impassable. They might climb the cliff, but it looked dangerous. However, it was definitely dangerous to wait for Percy here. They could tell by the sounds behind them that he'd gotten free from the vines and was blundering down the cut they had ran down. They had minutes at most.

Tyra brushed her hair out of her face and surveyed the cliff. Trouble pointed, "Let's try there. That rock on that part looks loose; stay away from it." He turned to Tyra, who had suddenly stopped.

She grinned, "I've got an idea. Trouble, can you get me a long vine, like thirty or forty feet?" Trouble just grinned and started speaking low and soft again. At her feet, a single vine sprouted and grew, running along the ground until it reached the cliff, then it ran up the cliff to the top. Tyra drew her knife and cut the vine off, ignoring Trouble's sudden frown. She quickly tied a loop in the end of it, and presented it to Trouble. "Can you get Screech to throw this around that rock at the top right there?"

Trouble took it and did his best to get Screech to do as she asked. It took some coaxing, but Trouble and Screech had long ago learned well to understand one another. Meanwhile, Tyra ran the other end of the vine around a couple of trees and around a bee's nest on one side of the little clearing, then back to the center. She grabbed a piece of wood, cut it carefully, and arranged the vines. Then she climbed partway up the cliff and pulled loose a couple of rocks, causing a small shower of dirt on herself in the process. "Now we just need to hide right over here." She pulled Trouble and Screech down behind some bushes on one side of the clearing.

Trouble obviously couldn't understand what she was up to. "What the bloody hell--"

Just then a shout cut him off. "Hah! There's no way out of here, you kids! You ruined my plans, now I'm going to ruin you! No more running away for you!" Percy advanced into the clearing them with his sword drawn and began looking around. Trouble and Tyra clung to each other, Screech in between them, certain that he would spot them any moment.

Then Percy reached the spot where Tyra had arranged the vines. As he stepped into it, the loose rock on the cliff tumbled down, and before Percy could see what was happening, he found himself getting a bee's nest thrown in his face, complete with bees. Angry bees.

"Come on!" Tyra grabbed Trouble's hand and both of them sprinted past the now thoroughly distracted Percy. His yells followed them down the cut, but it was clear he was spending his time trying to use the pool to evade the bees. The noise he was making soon faded, but Tyra and Trouble ran until they were completely out of breath, and most of the way home.

As they caught their breaths and finished their walk home, Trouble tried to act casually. "You didn't have to cut that vine. And you completely destroyed that bee's nest." He frowned at her slightly.

"I did too have to cut it, and I got us out of there didn't I? Besides, why didn't you just tie him up in vines?" It was clear she thought he should have been more impressed with the bit of trickery she had come up with. She, too, was trying to be casual about it, but was also very happy to be alive also.

"I didn't have the strength. It takes a bit out of me to do that. Maybe when I'm older I'll be able to do it more, like Mom does. She can cast spells all day long."

As they left the forest and got close to home, Tyra's brother Drakie spotted them. "Where have you two been?" He looked them over quickly. "Deep in the woods again? Mom and Dad have been looking for you!" He grinned mischievously. "You two are in so much trouble!" He ran off yelling, "Mom! Dad! I found them! They were in the woods again!" His yelling trailed off in the distance.

Trouble thought it wouldn't be too bad. "We'll just tell them what really happened."

"Yeah, that'll go over well. 'We were listening to the birds complaining and decided to follow a couple of lowlifes into the forest.' They won't believe us, and if they do they'll say we shouldn't have done what we did."

"They'll believe us, I think." He sighed and looked over Tyra's now dirt-covered, scratched, and torn clothing. "Drakie's right, though. We are in trouble."

As they drew within sight of Tyra's home, they saw four adults waiting for them, all of them with crossed arms and stern expressions. "Come on," Trouble said, "we may as well get this over with."