Scarlett was walking toward the Lake with an upbrella in one hand and her lit wand in the other. Bella was moving ahead of her nearly invisible in the rain and on a moonless night. Lightening ripped the sky open with the immediate accompaniment of thunder. Scarlett thought she saw and echoing flash of reflected lighting down by the shore of the lake. She decided to investigate.

Dream was down by the lake with Embers and Twilight. She had been up in her dorm room, reading a romance book when she'd heard that first clap of thunder and run out of the castle. She was wearing her usual gypsy skirt and tanktop and was barefoot, not caring that it was wet with rain outside. She had gone walking to the lake where she could watch the lightening reflect onto the water as well as flash in the sky. Suddenly there was a huge jagged bolt of lightening that streaked through the sky and hit the lake right in front of Dream. Dream was shocked as there was a huge blinding light where it hit and the bolt was shot back up into the sky. "What the heck was that?" she asked outloud as she looked at her pets.

As Scarlett drew nearer the place where lightening appeared to have shot back into the sky she saw Dream standing bearfoot in the rainstorm. "Scarlett hurried over to her. "Dream did you see that last bolt reflected back at the sky? What do you think it was?"

Dream nearly jumped out of her skin as there was another clap of thunder at the exact same time as she heard someone calling out her name. She spun around, with her wand at the ready and sighed as she saw Scarlett walking over to her. Dream quickly lowered her wand and smiled at her good friend. "hey! Yeah it was right there in front of me!" she said as she pointed to a spot in the water less than ten feet in front of her.

Scarlett saw light reflect up out of the water where Dreams wand shone. Scarlett hated getting wet but she began to pull off her shoes and socks while talking to Dream, "We should go see what it is," she said as she stoed her footware under the still propped up umbrella. Scarlett then rolled up her pant legs and headed for the shiney beneath the water.

Dream jumped at Scarlett and oushed her hard out of the water. "What are you doing?" she asked in horrified outrage. "Are you trying to kill yourself?" she asked anxiously. She couldn't believe that Scarlett had done that! She was asking to get killed, getting into a large body of water, outside in the middle of a thunderstorm where there was lightening striking down everywhere. Scarlett had just seen proof with her own eyes of the lightening striking the water.

Duh, thought Scarlett, now Dream probably thinks I am an idiot. Scarlett had just been so eager to know what was in the water that she hadn't thought of the conciquences of her actions. "How the heck are we supposed to see what it is? Is there a spell for pushing back water?" Just as Scarlett finished talking there was another flash of lightening that struck the lake. Scarlett shivered as she realized that Dream had just saved her life. Thunder roared over their heads, but this time Scarlett heard another sound on the wind too. Something high and furious.

Dream hissed a little as lightening struck the water again. She shuddered to think what could have happened if she hadn't yanked Scarlett back. It took her a moment to under stand the question that Scarlett had asked. She looked at her calmly and said "We wait." Then she heard the wind blowing furiously and there a sound in it that sounded like an angry woman screaming furiously. She looked at Scarlett uneasily. "Do you hear that too?" she asked her, moving closer to her and holding out her wand protectively.

"Yeah I heard it," Scarlett said and another flash of lightening struck into the lake. This time though the thunder that followd sounded like a the rumbling of hooves. In the distance out over the lake Scarlett could make out an equine shape hurtling toward them. Blue sparks splashed from its hooves where it appeared to be to be running on the water. It covered the distance across the lake in a flash, skidding to a halt over the bright patch in the shallows. Scarlett was so transfixed by the beauty of the great silver charger that she didn't even flinch when sparking water sprayed her as the great horse came up on its hauches at a dead stop. It's rider was a huge powerfully built man in shining silver armor and a crested helmet. He leaned down and put his arm into the lake drawing out a gleaming sword that was as long as Scarlett was tall. He hefted it easily in one hand and turned to look at the girls on the shore. He inclined his head to them slightly and another high scream rent the night from the direction of the forest. He turned his steed toward the noise and galloped off.
"Holy crap! We have to follow him and see what is going on!" Scarlett exclaimed.

Dream stared hard into the rain as she heard hooves coming towards them. She finally saw a huge horse coming towards them, and she immediately tried to reach for it with her mind. She was shocked to find that it had no thoughts at all. She watched in shock as the horse stopped a few feet in front of them and a huge warrior reached into the water and pulled out a large sword. Obviously it had been the sword that had reflected the lightening. Dream heard Scarlett say that they had to follow the man and his steed as they took off towards the forest, and she nodded quickly. She grabbed Scarlett's hand tightly and said "Let's go!"

Scarlett ran into the forest cursing her unshod state, but curiosity drove her on dispite the pain in feet. The path of the horseman was not hard to follow. There was a charred and beaten trail through the underbrush that clearly stated the path he had followed. The ground was hot under Scarlett's feet which made her run faster. Bella ran a little ahead of her clearly excited to be on the hunt as well.

Dream ran alongside Embers, Twilight, Bella and Scarlett. She couldn't help but grin at how the Gryffyz always seemed to have animals everywhere around them. Dream was starting to feel her adreneline pumping through her body as they ran. It seemed liek the deeper they got into the forest, the more energy Dream was feeling. Like something was feeding energy into her. She was starting to feel more powerful than usual and she looked over at Scarlett to see if she felt it too.

Scarlett was surprised that she was keeping up with Dream as she was not athlete, but a strange sort of energy seemed to be coming up through the charred ground invigorating her feet that were definately tingly now. The tingles were starting to spread to other parts of her. Her hand where it came into contact with her wand felt especially charged. "This feels great!"

Dream saw that Scarlett was also feeling the energy that Dream was feeling. "Yeah it does. But I wonder what it's from... What's going on?" she said. Suddenly she ran onto a clearing in the middle of the forest. In the middle of the clearing was the warrior and his steed and facing him was a dark cloaked figure. Dream threw her arm out to her side, in order to tell Scarlett to stop. She watched silently as the dark cloaked figure lifted a staff that he was holding and pointed it at the warrior. Suddenly a bolt of lightening appeared out of the staff, aimed directly at the warrior.

Scarlett nearly clotheslined herself on Dream's arm but she stopped herself in time to only get smacked in the face. She stopped in time to see the Warrior in a clearing with a Cloaked Man. The Cloaked Man put out his staff at the Warrior, who brought his sword up in the same instant. Lightening flashed between the two in a blinding arch.
The Cloaked Mas was driven to his knees before the Warrior. "Where is she?" the Warrior bellowed feircely. "Where have you taken her?"

Dream watched the exchange between the cloaked man and the warrior. When she heard the warrior asking about a woman, she looked over at Scarlett in confusion. Just what exactly had they stumbled into? One thing was for sure, they were about to see some crazy things because not more than a moment later, the cloaked man said cruelly "She is mine, has always been mine, and will always be mine. You have never been able to take her from me. You may believe the poisonous lies of love that drips from her lips, but her heart will stay mine even if I have to tear it out of her."

The Cloaked Man's words sent a chill running down Scarlett's spine. She looked over to catch Dream's eye, but instead saw a silvery apparition standing between the two of them. She was the most beautiful woman Scarlett had ever seen and she had a gaping whole in her chest right were her heart should be. Scarlett tried to stifle a gasp, but a small terrified whine escaped her lips. The ghostly beautiful woman put her finger to her own lips bidding Scarlett to be quiet and then beconed her away from the clearing. Scarlett was scared but curious. She tapped Dream on the shoulder so that her friend would know she was about to wander off after a ghost.

When they were just a short way from the clearing when Scarlett asked the ghost what was going on. The ghost said softly and mornfully. "It always ends the same way. My love is goaded into killing the necromancer before he can find out what happened to me. I have to watch this everytime there is a storm. He searches for me riding the lightning never finding me."

Dream saw Scarlett's head move out of the corner of her eye so she turned to look at her. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw the ghost of a woman in front of her. Obviously she was the one the the warrior and cloaked man were talking about, since there was a huge gaping hole in her chest. Dream saw the ghost walk away and Scarlett follow her, and Dream quickly went after them. hearing the woman's sad tale, Dream quickly asked the question that she was sure Scarlett was dying to ask as well. "How do we make it stop and help you?" she asked.

The ghost turned her sorrowful lovely gaze on Dream. "In a moment my love will re-kill the necromancer without finding out where my heart lies and he will spend the rest of the night raging through the forest breaking tree limbs and trampling woodland creatures. But maybe you can help me." Her eyes were pleading. "If you were to tell him where my heart lies...maybe things would be different."
There was something funny in her statement, but Scarlett didn't notice it. Her romantic heart ached for the ghost's sad plight. She was dressed in a fashion of long ago and Scarlett could only imagine how long she had watched her lover ride greif stricken through these woods and not be able to offer him solice.
"Where is your heart? Will he be able to hear us when we tell him?" Scarlett asked eagerly wanting to help.

Dream gulped nervously. The ghost had just said two things that worried Dream a great deal. She had said that they needed to tell the warrior where her heart was, and she had sounded strange at the time, and she had said that unless the warrior found it, then he would trample woodland creatures. If that happened and Dream was around, Dream was going to be in a lot of pain, and might even become incapacitated. If that started happening, she wouldn't be of any help to anyone. She sidled a little closer to Scarlett and whispered to her "I dont know how much of a help I'm gong to be with this."

Scarlett knew of her friend's sensitivity to the pain of the creatures of the forest and her plan was to get to the Warrior before he started his rampage. "Tell us quickly where your heart is," Scarlett implored the ghost. "We must hurry before he becomes consumed in his greif."

The ghost's face broke into a desparate smile, "You will help me. That is so kind. My heart lies beneath that oak tree." Scarlett's eyes followed the ghost's pointing finger to a twisted lightning ravaged oak that was about ten yards away. At least it would be easy to identify and not far to lead the Knight to. "He needs only to touch the tree to set my spirit free to ride the storm with him."

"All right we can do that," Scarlett said. "Dream let's go tell him." Scarlett hurried back toward the clearing.

Dream bit her lower lip and then nodded to her friend. She would help for as long as she was able to. Following the ghost's directions towards the tree and hearing her say that all the warrior had to do was touch the tree, Dream wondered what the catch was. Because that was WAY too easy. Dream looked back over at the warrior and sorceror and took a deep breath. It wasnt going to be easy getting that warrior to focus on herself and Scarlett instead of the sorceror. Dream ran out into the clearing, until she was standing directly in the middle of the two. "STOP!" she shouted. "I know where she is!"

Scarlett followed Dream into the clearing. She heard her friends declaration and saw the eyes of the ghostly sorcerer redden and fall on her. He drew his wand and pointed it at Dream. Scarlett did not know what to do. It looked as if the sorcerer was about to curse Dream. Scarlett cast a protection spell around her friend. "Dream get out of is reach," Scarlett called. She knew for sitting in on seances that her Grammy performed that ghosts could do horrible things to the living with thier touch if they chose to. Scarlett circled around behind the sorcerer.

Dream stood frozen for a moment. She didn't know if her attempt to get the warrior's attention had worked or not, but she had certainly gained the attention of the sorceror! Dream was galvanized into action by Scarlett calling out to her. She quickly jumped back away from the sorceror, looking over at the warrior to see if she had his attention as well.

The warrior had ceased his relentless onslaughts against the sorcerer to look rather dumbly at Dream. "You know where she lies? Take me to that place." The knight's voice sounded like far of thunder.

Having crept up behind the Sorcerer Scarlett was a bit at a loss. Could spell hit ghosts? Obviously spells like perfecto totalis would not work because the ghost possessed no body, but maybe others would. Scarlett knew the one the Sorcerer possessed for sure was a wand and she was going to try to do something about that. "Exspeliarmus," Scarlett said softly, leveling her wand at the Sorcerer's back. He was unprepared for her attack and his wand went flying.

Scarlett ran toward Dream and the Knight.

Dream's eyes widened as she saw Scarlett sneaking up behind the sorceror. She watched carefully until she heard the warrior speak to he. She looked over at him and saw that she had his full attention now. She was so nervous that she completely forgot what her idea had been. Time was moving so slowly that each moment felt like a month in time. As she stood there stuttering, her attenion was grabbed by quick movement in the corner of her eye. She spun around as Scarlett disarmed the sorceror. Dream quickly pointed her own wand at her friend and surrounded her with a powerful shield charm, scared as she waited to see how the sorceror was going to react.

Scarlett did not want to know what the ghostly mage would do once he got his incorporeal wand back. All she knew was their only chance was to break the spell. "To the tree! Where her heart is!" Scarlett yelled brokenly as she ran toward Dream and the Knight.

The Mage was surprised to be hit with a spell. He was enraged when he felt his wand fly out of his hand. Part of the burden of being dead is that you didn't perceive the Land of the Living well. He could see his wand and he could see the Knight; he could even see the still beating heart of the Maiden, but he could not see the living girl who attacked him. He howled in rage as he retrieved his wand and moved in the direction of the heart.

Remy walked into the clearing and shook his head. "what are you two doing out here in the rain" he asked scarlett and dream then stopped as he looked at the warrior the mage and the ghostly girl with no chest. "ok umm wow, so umm freinds of yours? he managed to get out of his mouth as he looked at scarlett.

Dream nodded in agreement with Scarlett as her words jogged Dream's memory. She ran towards the tree only to stop in shock as her husband appeared out of nowhere. "Remy!" she gasped, unsure if it was really him, or if the Mage was playing some kind of trick on her. She took a deep breath and looked inside her heart to see if it was him. Her instincts were screaming yes so Dream ran to him and grabbed ahold of him just in time to hear his sarcastic comment. She gave a tiny grin of relief. It was him alright. "Come on babe! No time for explanations. To the tree!" she ordered, giving him a small push ut keeping a firm hold on his hand.

Remy allowed dream to take his hand and lead him to some tree and he was glad she did becuase he couldnt stop grinning as he thought of what she had just said. "to the tree" :lol: speaking of which he really had to get mark to visit one of the caves around hogwarts pretty soon he was sure he would like them. Remy got out of his daze as he suddenly snapped out of his thoughts. "ok so whats going on are we having a costume party out here? he said

“Sure Remy a costume party,” Scarlett said sarcastically, “and you came as what, the world’s slowest buffoon? Run to that twisted, lightenin’-struck tree.” The stitch in her side was as sharp as Scarlett’s voice. She really wasn’t trying to be mean to Remy she was just really afraid that the mage would get his act together and start flinging horrible spells at them all.

The thought of the mage made Scarlett glance behind her to see what he was doing. The downpour had intensified so much that she could not make him out. She face forward and kept running toward the tree.

Remy didnt understand the fancy words that scarlett was using but he was sure she was saying something good so he nodded his head and smiled at her. Remy began running to the tree everyone was running to when he looked back to see what they were running from and say the mage lift his hands in the air as if he was getting ready to do something.

Dream didn't bother responding to Remy's comment or to Scarlett's disparaging comments to him. The rain had gotten worse, soaking her from head to toe. Her hair looked like a river of blood streaming down her back and face, and she quickly used one hand to push it off her face so she could see. She could hear the rumbling of thunder above and the air got thick with electricity as though lightening was about to strike. She was beginning to wonder if going to a large tree that was a really tall object with lightening about to strike was a good idea, but then again they really didn't have a lot of options. She reached the tree, and placed one hand against it. "Now what Scar?" she asked urgently.

"This is it Sir Knight," Scarlett's voice strained to be heard over the raging storm, "This is where her heart lies."

Scarlett could now make out the outline of the beautiful Ghost Maiden. She stood just before the twisted old tree.

The Knight thundered to where the ghost maiden stood. He was very close know and Scarlett could see his ruggedly handsome face beneathe his helmet. By its bemused expression she could tell that he could now see the ghost maiden as well. One metal gauntleted had rose as if to carress her face. Scarlett's heart constricted at the tenderness of the scene. "Lies," growled the Knight. Swiftly his other arm raised his sword and plunged into the ghost maidens chest. He withdrew it and thrust the hand that carressed her face into her chest, but it came up empty. The maidens face contorted and she stiffled a scream. She clutched at his hand as it came from her chest. He shook her off harshly. "Lies, is that all any woman can utter?" He seemed to direct the scathing remark at both Scarlett at the maiden.

Scarlett's eyes darted everywhere, but the Knight horrified by what she had just seen and unable to understand, seeking to exscape his accusing steely gaze. That was when she saw the Sorcerer bearing down upon them all. "Ah my revenge is that much sweeter now. I should have let you two meet hundreds of years ago. I would have if I had known how painful it would be." He laughed wickedly.

Remy pointed his wand at the ground and shouted "waddiwasi" making the small pebbles laying around fly towards the mage. He knew it wasn't going to hurt him but maybe having so many rocks fly at him it was going to make it harder for him to see but remy knew his plan had failed when the mage just continued walking forward.

Dream held her breath as she watched the knight walk towards the ghostly maiden's figure. She was sure that the spell would be broken now and the mage would disappear. Then the knight stabbed the maiden and Dream's heart skipped a beat. Seeing the knight turn on Scarlett in fury, she quickly stood in front of her friend. She had no idea what was going on or what they were supposed t do, but at that moment it looked as though not only the mage was headed for them, but the knight was going to attack them as well. "This is EXACTLY why smart people don't get involved!" she said to Scarlett, her words harsher than intended due to her overwhelming concern for the safety of all of them.

“How was I to know that revenge and hate drove him and not love?” Scarlett asked from behind Dream as she fired an incindio spell past her best friend’s ear. It hit the Knight squarely in his chest and he cringed and fell back.

With this respite Scarlett had time to see that the Maiden’s face looked peaceful and almost happy.

The looming Mage tore her attention from the still form. The Knight shook his head and picked himself back up. Instead of coming for Scarlett and Dream he headed for Remy. Scarlett wanted to scream a warning, but her heart was lodged in her throat. The Knight raised his sword, but brushed past Remy and decapitated the Mage. Lightening flashed off the Knight’s helmet as he turned to look at Remy, Dream, and Scarlett, “Pray Lady, no more fire. My task is done now.”

Remy saw the knight decapitate the mage then he turned to look at dream and saw the girl with the knights sword in her chest and then he heard the knight say its task was done and he looked confused. "what the heck is going on" he screamed wondering if the good guys had won.

The storm raged around Remy as he voiced, rather loudly, the question that was thundering through Scarlett’s mind. The ghostly Knight regarded him gravely, “I am the Knight of Storms, or at least that is how I have come to think of myself. I no longer remember my living name, only my purpose. When the thunder rolls I know it is the call of my steed and it is time to ride the lighting, ready to strike. Always before I have searched for the Maiden whose heart lied and betrayed us both. At every pass I was blocked by the Mage, killing him before I could make him tell me where she was. On this night I have slain them both. Now I may ride alone or not at all. I no longer care.”

Dream stared in shock at the Knight. "You are an abomination and a disgrace to the word knight and it's brotherhood. It's no wonder that you will walk the earth without peace for eternity since you have no honor. You deserve nothing less. You should be ashamed of yourself, but since you don't have the decency to, then I will settle for being ashamed in you. I suggest you leave this place and never return or you will find yourself on the losing end of a battle." she told him, disgust ringing clearly in her voice. She looked over at Remy and Scarlett before saying "I'm ready to go home now." Then she began walking away. She stopped a few feet away and turned around. She pointed her wand at the tree that the maiden had been locked away in for so long and using a silent spell she surrounded the trunk of the tree with snowdrop and thrift flowers, along with a single large rose bush full of carolina roses. Dream had always loved herbology and she knew that the snowdrops meant that there was hope in sorrow, the thrift flowers meant sympathy for the fallen and carolina roses served as a warning to all who saw them that love was dangerous. She felt that the flowers represented the spirit of the maiden and she got a little peace from leaving something there to remember her by. Then she turned around again and walked out of the clearing.