"What will be...."

She stood there at the railing, looking out over the cliff to the river below. The breeze was ruffling her long pale hair, blowing loose strands around her head like a halo. She was wearing a blue and black plaid knee length skirt, with a dark blue sleeveless top, all of which looked so very dark against her pale skin. She brushed some wayward strands from her face, and turned, catching sight of him.

She turned, resting her back against the railing and smiled at him. "It’s rude to stare."

He laughed and shook his head as he joined her. "Can’t help myself."

She laughed, accepting the bottle of coke he offered her. "Shameless flatterer." She said with a shy smile before turning back to the view of the river. "So what did your ‘friend’ have to say?"she nodded back towards the police car which was just disappearing back up the street.

He sighed and shook his head."He wanted to know if there was any chance he could steal you away from me, and when I told him no, he asked if you had any equally beautiful sisters..."

She sighed, trying not to smile as she shot him a look out of the corner of her eye. "Auron."

He chuckled. "He just wanted to let me know that they’d caught the man responsible, and that I had been cleared of all charges. Wasn’t that nice of him?" He rand a hand through his shoulder length black hair, as he grinned out over the water. "He seemed almost disappointed."

She chuckled softly, watching children playing down at the waters edge.

Auron turned slightly and watched her for a moment then sighed, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into an embrace. "Clarice...don’t go sad on me now. It’s a beautiful day! The sun is shining, the sky is blue and clear, the breeze is warm and gentle... and I have the most breathtakingly beautiful woman by my side to enjoy it with." He saw the ghost of a smile trying to work its way back onto her face, and added with a mischievious grin. "And I’ve just been told by the police that I’m not a wanted felon after all, and they’re sorry for the misunderstanding.. So we won’t have blue shadows following us around anymore."

Clarice chuckled, and turned, slapping him playfully across the chest with her free hand. "I hate it when you do that. You don’t always have to cheer me up, you know. Sometimes people need to think about not so happy things."

He carresed her chin and turned her face up towards him. "And what ‘not so happy things’ were you thinking of just now?"

She smiled sadly, before turning away, looking back to where the children were playing. One little blonde girl was in the water soaked to her knees, her sundress dragging in the water behind her as she tried to catch something in the water. Auron wrapped an arm around her and watched the children with her, waiting for her to answer. Finally she sighed, closing her eyes. "There’s something bad coming, Auron. I don’t know what or when, but it’s coming for us.And it’ll change everything."

He considered her words for a moment, watching as sudden tears tracked down her cheeks. He turned her to face him, wiping away her tears with his thumbs as he spoke. "What... So you’ve become a seer now? Sweetheart, shhh , oh baby, don’t cry!" He said, soothingly as she suddenly burst into sobs. He pulled her close, rocking her gently. He rested his cheek against the top of her head and looked at the children below. The little girl was triumphantly holding up a squirming frog, still dripping water, as the others clapped gleefully and moved closer with a bucket for her prize. "Everything will be fine, love. Don’t worry so much.It’s just a case of the jitters, you’ll see." He looked down into eyes that were red from crying. "You’ve never had premonitions before... What makes you so certain that’s what this is?"

Clarice snuffled, wiping her eyes with her hands, looking away from him. "I don’t know, Auron, I just feel... and if it happens, what can I do? I can’t do anything to help protect us... my magic just isn’t strong enough.. It’ll all be up to you, and .."

"Shhh. Calm down, baby. Everything’s alright." He pulled her in tight for another hug. The sudden silence from the rocks below, drew his attention downward to find the children all gone, running off further up the shoreline...all except one, who was carefully trying to climb back up the sloping path, a squirming frog clasped carefully in her hands.

"My...isn’t this touching..." a chill voice said behind them, and Auron turned to find a man standing there. A silver chain ran from his hand to a woman kneeling in the dirt beside him. She looked as if she’d been recently beaten and her black hair was shorn raggedly close to her scalp.

Auron tore his gaze away from the poor woman and back the man holding her leash. "Justin...wasn’t expecting to see you any time soon. To what do we owe this... visit?" He squeezed Clarice just a little bit tighter in his arms.

Honnor Justin Knight smiled coyly, his fist tightening on the chain. "Oh.. A very special reason, Auron. It’s come to my attention that you are going to be a problem for me, or rather.. You will be if things don’t change." He eyed the pale skinned woman clutched in Auron’s arms and smiled again. "And you would too, my dear lady."

Auron pushed Clarice slightly behind him and glared at Justin, his hands clenching into fists at his side. "Leave her out of this, Knight. Whatever problem you have with me, let it be with me alone."

Justin chuckled as another woman walked up beside him. This one, although very beautiful, was obviously not completely human. Her skin had a purplish cast to it, and her eyes flashed dark fire at them as she laid a hand on Justin’s other arm and smiled, not at Auron, but at Clarice. She sauntered casually over to them, ignoring Auron’s attempts to bar her path. She smiled cruely. "So...this is my dear half sister father’s always talking about." She let her eyes travel up and down the length of her. "I don’t see anything special about you. Look at you, hiding behind a man, unable to even protect yourself! How pathetic.’The Heir to the title’ indeed. " She gave a snort of contempt, then turned her back on them, walking back to stand at Justin’s side.

"What is this about, Knight! Enough with the games!" Auron roared.

"Tsk tsk tsk.. Temper temper, Auron. You’d thin a man of your..abilities would have learned more patience." Another not-so-friendly smile was cast at them. "Fine. You do realize there is no need for me to provide an explaination... especially since you won’t be remembering it anyhow.." an evil chuckle and a conspiratory glance with the woman next to him. "But, I find myself in a good mood suddenly and shall indulge your question. It seems, my dear Auron, that you’re going to have a son at some point, and he’s going to be very important to me...and some of my friends. Now, it has been shown that you, with this charming beauty behind you, would be exemplary parents....to the point that it would be impossible for the boy to fall into our hands. As well, it seems your combined genetics would make him rather difficult to control.So you can understand why we can’t allow that to happen. "

Auron glared at them, his eyes narrowed to slits. "What are you talking about, Knight?"

"He’s trying to explain, dear man, that you and my sister can’t be allowed to be the parents of this child of prophecy... and since the prophecy doesn’t speak of the mother.... merely the father.. We feel it’s safe to assume that the child can be born to another woman......all we have to do is remove sister dearest from the picture, so that another woman can take her place in your heart."

For the first time,Clarice spoke up, stepping carefully out to stand at her husband’s side. "So what....you’re going to kill me? Do you really think that’s going to work? That once I’m dead he’ll follow along with your plans?"

Justin laughed. "Ah.. She has some spirit in her at least. No dear lady, we’re not going to kill you. I quite agree with your assumption that your husband would probably pine away without you and never find another woman to take your place... he just strikes me as that sappy kind of romantic person. And we need him to find someone else. Simply a mind wiping spell to make you both forget the other exsists. No, unfortunately , no one shall die here today, although there’s been some debate about it. Since we’re hitting him with the spell anyhow, I personally think it would be easier to kill you and then wipe his mind about it, but..." he gave a non-chalant shrug, ending it with a sly smile. "I suppose you should thank your sister for your life. Shada here is the one who insisted we allow you to live. She seems to think it would be more.. Delicioulsy cruel, I believe her words were, wasn’t it my dear?"

Clarice stepped forward, Auron’s hand on her arm the only thing holding her back. "I don’t have a sister. I don’t know who you are, either of you, but if you think we’re going to just stand by and let you cast a spell on us...!"

Justin gave a laugh, throwing his head back. The slave woman at his feet cowering at the sound and sudden movement. "That , my dear lady, is exactly what I expect you to do." He snapped his fingers and a man appeared at the side of the cliff, at the top of the path. In his arms he held the small blonde girl from the rocks below. She hung limp in his arms.

"NO!" Clarice screamed, lunging forward at the man, Auron’s grip slipping, as he struggled to hold onto her. Tears filled his eyes as he watched the man holding his daughter.

"Please! She’s just a baby! Please!" Clarice cried, as Auron pulled her back into his arms.

He turned his attention back to Justin. "Damn you, Knight. She’s just a little girl. Let her go. She’s no part of this."

Justin smiled, playing with the chain in his hand. "True.. The prophecy says nothing about a daughter, but you see... her presence would distrupt the spell. She’d be a reminder to you of each other. So, she’ll be.... removed...from your presence."

Shada smiled as she walked towards the man and girl, reaching out to play with a pale strand of hair. "Don’t worry, sister. We won’t kill her, Justin did promise that no one would die here. We’ll just... take her with us." she turned a vicous smile on Clarice. "She is family afterall. I’m sure daddy would love to meet her."

"NO!" Clarice screamed again, renewing her struggles to be free. Auron tried to calm her down. She turned her fury on him then. "I told you! I told you something bad was coming for us!I told you!" She gasped, crying. He held her tight against him, knowing that anything he did would only put her or their daughter at risk.

"I have a feeling to, love. I feel that some how, everything will work out. I just need you to believe in that with me."

Clarice blinked away tears and looked up into his eyes. She choked back her sobs and lay her face against his chest, her eyes fixed on the two people in front of her so she wouldn’t stare at the unconscious form of her daughter. "Fine. You’ve made it clear what you plan on doing, and it’s obvious we can’t stop you...so why don’t you both just shut up and get it over with!"

Justin gave a slow smile as Shada returned to his side. "And spoil our fun?" He gave another shrug. "As you wish, my lady. Rena! The spell. Now." He said, giving the chain a yank, sending the woman crashing against Shada’s legs. Shada snarled with disgust, pushing the woman away from her with her legs.

"The Spell, Rena.. Cast it now."

The woman shook her head no, sending a surge of hope through Auron and Clarice.. If their witch refused to cast the spell then maybe they stood a chance...

Justin backhanded the woman, sending her head snapping forward."Do it, Rena.. Or else."

The woman glanced up at them, her eyes sad and full of tears as she struggled to her feet. She held up her hands and light began to pool between them. She cast a sorrowful look into Auron’s eyes, then to Clarice, and released the light.

Clarice closed her eyes tightly, holding Auron with all her strength, feeling him return the embrace fully. "Don’t forget." She whispered. As the light rolled across the ground toward them.

"Never, beloved." He whispered back, his eyes full of tears as he watched the light rushing at them.

There was a great rushing roar as the light struck them and then nothing.

A startling silence, in a blank white emptiness.