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Once the tea was brewing, Les sat at broken down table top set up on the floor. As Gunther busied himself around the kitchen, Les knew that she would normally have pondered how he, such a small mouse, could function and do what he did. But right now, she thought about what the order had told her, and whether or not she should speak of it with Gunther. They had known him after all. As she was choosing her words to begin again, Gunther spoke first.

"I take it you've met the order then." Les snapped to attention. "Well, at least some of them. They really do mean well, but they put their mission above everything else. It gets quite tiring at times." He paused climbed up to open a cupboard. She watched as he scooped sugar out of a dish and expertly dropped it into the cups below him. "I'm not sure they would have told you, but I was once a member. That is until I was changed into a mouse. They saw the explosion of light and assumed I'd died, and I let them. And to answer your question, No. I do not know that Lord Moore, but I did know one."

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"So he conjured an image of someone and it looked like you? Why would he need to find you?"

"I'm not sure." She paused. "I think he said something about 'You shall not defeat me.' Who? What? Why?..." Les couldn't' find words to say next. She was confused, then she thought of Grant and all of the events which had happened to her and what they spoke of. Could this be related to what they had spoke of? Was that the great evil guy she was supposed to be trained up to defeat? "Have you heard of a Lord Velimir Grant Moore?" Gunther looked up and studied her face. Then invited her inside and offered to make tea to calm her nerves. Reassuring her that the house was now as safe as it had been before today's events.  

88

Her terror began to fade until she heard the faint whisper. She held her breath, afraid that something else bad had appeared near her. Then the small voice called her name, and she saw Gunther out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and stared at him wide eyed. He crept closer to her and smiled faintly.

"Are you alright?" Les blinked. "You're not hurt, are you? How much of that did you see?"

"Who was that?" Was Les' reply.

"I'm not sure, the robe and hood obscured their face. The only thing I do know is they weilded a powerful magic, and were here lookign for something or someone. Did you hear or see what? He spoke so strangely." The mouse held his chin in his small hands as he thought out loud and questioned her. "I didn't have the best vantage, trying to flee the house in case he was going to destroy it. I'm sue he didn't see me. Did he see you?" Les was torn on how to answer that.

"Yes." He looked shocked, but before he could comment, she went on. "No. I mean, I don't know. If he saw what I saw, then he saw me, just not me. It was like version of me, or a copy..." She trailed off as she thought about what she had seen.

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Les, frightened, pulled herself back behind the tree abruptly. The Robed man started laughing a terrible laugh and Les heard clearly what he said next. "I have you now precious! You shall not defeat me!" As he cackeled out in seeming victory, A bright light flashed all around her. When it was gone, all noise had ceased and when she looked again, the man had vanished. Full of fear, dread, and wonder at what she had seen, Les wanted to run away from this place and forget what had happened. But when she stood, her legs failed her, turned to jelly in her terrror and she fell. She lay there on the ground shaking, all of her limbs numb. Her mind blank. Tears streamed down teh sides of her face even though she was not crying as she staried up at the treetops. After some time, she heard a small whisper.

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Satisfied that she hadn't been seen, Les did her best to remain unseen behind the tree as concentrated. Still she could not understand what was being said and shouted. Nor could she comprehend why this figure would be shouting at the cottage in the first place. From this better vantage though, the sounds the figure made were full of hissing and sounded otherworldly to Les, even though, she was sure it wasn't a foreign tongue. All of a sudden, the figure pulled something long from inside it's robes and it manifested into a long staff. It glowed purple with a strange light, essence and energy as it grew and the figure, which seemed to be a man, pointed it towards the cottage. A beam of blue/black light shot towards the dilapidated doorway. After a moment, a shadowing figure emerged from within. Les clasped her hand over her mouth to keep her gasp of shock from being heard. The shadowy figure which emerged, looked exactly like her.

85

The next morning, life went on as normal. So after her morning chores, Les went out to the woods as she usually would. She made her way out towards the old cottage, lost in thought. As she drew closer, her thoughts were interrupted by shouts that did not sound at all friendly. Les slowed her pace and crouched down, so as to not be seen. Hidden behind a bush, she observed a foray just in front of her destination. A tall figure dressed in purple and black robes was shouting at the house in words which she didn't quite understand. Not sure if the shouter was speaking her own language or not, Les pressed in closer to try and listen more clearly.

Softly, Les tried to step closer without being seen, and creep behind another hiding place in better hearing range. Her heart raced and she told herself she should probably go and leave this ordeal behind her. As fast as she could, she darted behind a large tree and listened more intently.

84

Sure enough, the boy was there. Watching him move and work was captivating. He would go through the movements over and over again, stopping to catch his breath and drink some water, but then he'd go over it again. Each time, adding more, or changing something, or simply re-rehearsing it until he was satisfied with what he'd done. As Les watched him from her hiding place, she wondered what he was dancing for, and how he had learned, and why he was dancing in the cavern off of her room. She had never known anyone who could dance, most people didn't even mention it for fear of breaking that law. But watching him, she wondered why it was even against the law. What about this beautiful display of artistry could merit so much as to have a law forbidding it. Les smiled to herself and had a fleeting thought that she was a rebel. Then she thought the boy were the most beautiful rebel she'd ever seen. Feeling silly for that thought, Les looked one long last time and crept back down the stair and down the hall. Suddenly, the music stopped. Les picked up her pace, as the fear and energy surged through her body at the possibility of getting caught.  

83

Les crept over towards her the wall, and listened behind it. The music was coming from down the cavern. It was louder than it had been the other day, for she couldn't hear it until she was close to it then. Les looked over at her bed, and reasoned with herself that she wasn't getting much sleep anyway, then she donned a robe and slippers, heaved her wardrobe aside, grabbed a lantern and started back down the long pathway towards the music.

Instead of stopping to place her lantern in the basin again, she kept it with her and made her way quietly through the room. The music was much louder this time, for the door was shut and not even ajar like before, but it didn't seem too loud from where she stood. For fear of barging in unwanted, Les didn't even try to open the door to see. Yet, curiosity had brought her all the way here, so she didn't want to simply leave. Up ahead, light poured from an open doorway, so Les made her way over to it. just inside was a stair leading up, but music seemed even louder here, so she stepped lightly up the stairs in her slippers. The narrow stair led up to a balcony that went round the room. Carefully she peered over the ledge.  

82

That evening, Les lay awake in bed, unable to let her mind settle after the events of the past few days. In just a short while, her boring, forgettable life had been inundated with things she had never before fathomed. She'd met a talking mouse, a strange cavern was at the end of a peculiar pathway leading from her bedroom. She'd met a talking fox, who'd taken her to meet an order of peoples who thought she was some sort of savior, and there was a reason she hadn't been given a name. Then there was the fact that no one she'd run into, during the remainder of her day had noticed her absence. Which wasn't a great surprise, she reasoned.

For hours on end, she lay there staring up at the ceiling thinking about it all. Always coming back to the boy she'd seen in the cavern, or whatever it was. It was then that she noticed the music. It was so soft and faint she may not have noticed it, had she not been thinking about his dancing. At first she thought she'd made it up to go with the memory of seeing him. But then she focused more on the sound, and less on her memory. It seemed to be coming from behind her wardrobe.

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As she passed her brothers stand he yelled down at her. "Oy! Ye ferget sometin?" He laughed. Les didn't' see the humor in that, and wondered why that would be the question he asked.

"Ummm, no." She responded.

"You were off like a dart just a bit ago, hardly stoppin ta say hi. Get stood up?" He laughed again. "I didna reckon you could evn get a date." What was he talking about? Les had been gone at least a full day, if not more. She just looked up at him and shrugged in question. He only laughed, so she moved on. Les wondered to herself how her brother could be so daft as to think a full day could be considered just a little bit. Then she supposed that her brother had just mistaken her leaving the other day, for earlier this day and let it go.