Leith listened to the teenager's story. It gave him an idea of how many mages they were dealing with. The power that they supposedly gave the kid interested Leith. If he could, he would have asked about it, but it sounded like the kid thought they were looters. Leith shook his head and checked his cloak to see if his hand was covered before addressing the child.

"We are not looters. We've been assigned to the task of tracking rouge mages and stopping them. They've attacked villages other than this one. Besides, who would be stupid enough to loot a village that is still smoldering?" He glanced at Grey before he continued. "We'll leave, but could you answer one more question? Where did they go? We could possibly find them ourselves, but the information would help."

---

[center][b]Darius[/b][/center]

The next few moments were a blur. A child had come from the wagon and helped secure the ropes long enough to get the wagon across. Then everyone hurried to protect her while he sat and regained his breath. When everything was done, Alaira and the child were on the ground next to him, and Ssarak and Meirin were out of sight. He stood up to see over the edge and was relieved to see that they were alive. It would be a shame to lose over half of the guard for the wagon. 

Alaira seemed to know the child, and was looking devastated at the fact that she was here. Darius nodded to himself. The child, Lyn, would be a great tool in making Alaira see how her impulsiveness could have killed someone. He glared at her unconscious form before he went to go check on the wagon driver.

"I am sorry for all of this." He pointed at Alaira over his shoulder with his thumb. "It was a stupid, stupid move, but I believe that she will have a change of attitude very shortly."