"Hold on…Noah?" Asked Kate from behind Samantha. "Which Noah? That Noah? The NOAH? The one you've been so infatuated with, that you've been daydreaming about him all the time? That Noah? But…but this dude just turned from…"

"You've got to be fucking shitting me." Said Lilly struggling to get up even though her limbs felt like cotton.

Samantha watched him with wide eyes in complete shock.

"You…That monster…back then in the forest…it was you?" Stuttered Samantha a few moments later, making Noah sigh heavily.

"Yeah." He said quietly.

"Back then…in Bell's place…you knew who I was?"

"Bell? Do you mean Madam Irene's place? Yes, I recognized you." He answered looking back into her eye with a firm gaze.

"Motherfucker! You dare to play my sister?" Said Lilly through gritted teeth, as Samantha's eyes started to well with tears.

"That was not my intention, Sam… back then, what I did to you all wasn't my intention. My skill backfired. My berserk skill. I just gained it before bumping into you all and it went out of control. When I came to my senses….I was horrified at what I did…I went to a brothel to…to make my first time…be….I did not want it to be like that. Wanted to erase it. Redo it, right." Said Noah searching for the right words.

"Then I met you. At first, I was scared to be recognized, but then I saw all that pain in your eyes. The pain I caused. Then we got to speak and... That night with you felt magical, you were magical. I never lied to you that night about my feelings. I never wanted to play with you. That night it was real. At least for me, Sam. It wasn't any play." Said Noah.

"Get the fuck away from my sister! I will cut your…" Roared Lilly

"Lilly!" Said Samantha, stopping her little sister.

"I will not apologize." Said Noah looking at the laying on the ground girl for a moment then turning his eyes back to Samantha. "For all I know I saved two innocent guys from the miserable end that you all subject who knows how many people." He continued watching as Samantha flinched at his words. "But, I regret hurting you the way I did. I am also sorry I never had the guts to admit my deed to you. But not for stopping you all. It is your right to hate me for it. I will understand it. But meeting you in madam Irene's place was pure coincidence. I did not have any ulterior motives. I wish we could have met the other way, Sam." He said as Samantha bit her lower lip gazing silently back into his eyes.

"Why are you here?" She asked a moment later.

"You called me…so I came." Said Noah, with an awkward expression while scratching his cheek, not knowing how to explain.

"I called you?"

"Well, it is kind of a skill of mine. I am not entirely sure how it works. Basically, you called me and I saw that you were in trouble and so I came to help." Said Noah. "By the way where are we?"

"Hold on…how did you come here?" Asked Kate, her magician interest piqued.

"I jumped through space so to say. Not sure how far. Last time I did this I traveled thousands of miles in one go. I was in the twin creek valley of the north region before I came here…." Explained Noah

"Teleport?" Whispered Kate with her eyes wide. "Bullshit! This is the North Tergan forest near the Northern border. No teleport skill would get you here from Twin Creek!" She added louder.

Noah shrugged with a sigh.

"You came to help us? Why?" Asked Samantha stopping Kate's demands for an explanation.

"I…did not want to see you get hurt, Sam. I just…wanted to protect you." Said Noah.

/Noah, can you let me out, please? There is something I want to check./ Said Brianna's voice inside Noah's head.

Noah frowned and backed away from Samantha. He concentrated on his connection with Brianna gazing into one spot with glazed eyes, surprising the girls with his actions. But a moment later they were even utterly shocked when a beautiful Lady in a gorgeous ball dress appeared out of void space. 

Brianna smiled at the girls making a small elegant curtsy and walked toward the werewolf's corpse staring at it for a few moments before turning around and walking off to the forest. 

Noah watched her actions with a frown, then turned to the golem.

"Wolf, stay here to guard them please." Said Noah and walked after Brianna.

Samantha and Kate turned to look at the battle golem with strange looks.

"Why are you calling it, wolf?" Asked Kate turning back to Noah. 

"Oh, right. You probably don't recognize him, but he is the same wolf that fought with me against you all in the forest."

"The hell? That's a battle golem right?" Asked Kate.

"Well, yeah." Answered Noah walking further away. "Kind of. Well, it is a puppet to be correct. Just armor with no intelligent control circuits. The wolf's soul inside it is what controls it... Kind of." Answered Noah, explaining as well as he could understand it himself.

Lilly still laying on the ground looked at Kate that was leisurely conversing with Noah and then turned to her sister. Samantha was standing strangely unmoving and her posture felt unstable as if she would collapse any moment while her body shivered slightly. She seemed to close off standing with glazed eyes holding her forearm with another arm.

"Kate." Said Lilly stopping her friend's questioning on the intricacies of the golems working. 

Kate gazed at the woman laying on the ground, finally taking hold of herself when she saw Lilly's serious expression, then looked at Samantha. She kneeled down helping Lilly to stand up and they both hobbled toward Samantha, slipping their hands around her in a protective manner. 

Only when she felt the girls touch Samantha woke from the daze, that Noah's revelation put her into. She looked around seeing her friend and sister worriedly looking at her and nodded at them, with a forced smile.

"What is it, Bri?" Asked Noah standing near Brianna who was kneeling at Tariaksuq's body.

"These guys…I know them." She said quietly.

"What?" Said Noah surprised.

"They are from the Frostgale household." She said standing up and looking in the werewolf corpse's direction. "That guy over there is from the Bloodhound household."

Noah frowned and thought of something.

"You remember his name?" He said a moment later.

"Not sure. I may have seen him once or twice with Theron a few years ago…Grig? Gor? I don't remember." 

"Gorig?" Asked Noah.

"Yeah, that sounds similar. Wait. How do you know?" Asked Brianna.

"Tell you later." Said Noah quickly walking back to the three women guarded by the battle golem.

"Samantha." Called Noah, coming close to them, making her turn her gaze up at him. Samantha felt her sister's reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. "Where is your fourth team member?"

"We have lost her." Said Samantha quietly.

"Lost how? You saw her death?" Asked Noah.

"No. She helped us to escape but got surrounded. She bought us time, holding them down."

"So you did not see her death?"

"No. Why?" Asked Samantha looking at him surprised.

"I think she might be alive. They probably captured her."

"What? Why do you say that?" Exclaimed Samantha.

"A hunch. Is this their whole team? I don't see any healers."

"No, we were attacked by a larger team. This is the squad that was tracking us, others probably did not follow. Tell me about Dany. What do you know?"

"Bri says she recognizes these guys." Said Noah kicking at the werewolf's body, while Brianna came closer to them.

"She, knew them?" Asked Lilly. "These monsters?"

"Long story." Said Noah not bothering to explain. "Anyway, they are cronies of a guy we know. And overheard him talking to his bunch. They said they captured one, but failed to capture the other three. They were going to sell three on the auction but the cleric was going to be that asshole's possession. I guess they were talking about you, as they mentioned this guy here following after the prey." Explained Noah.

"What? When was it?" Asked Brianna.

"On the ball. Just a few hours ago." Said Noah.

"Is this true?!" Asked Samantha with a tremble in her voice clutching at Noah's clothes.

"That's what we know. If they wanted to sell you, then they would probably beat her only enough to capture and heal her later." Said Noah.

"We must find her!" Said Samantha, turning to the other two women.

"I will hel.." Started to say, Noah.

"We will manage!" Said Lilly glaring at him while hugging Samantha protectively.

Noah sighed looking at her for a moment before turning his gaze back to Samantha.

"I know you hate me. But I came here to help you. I saved you all right now, Sam. Even if you hate me, you can at least trust me. You three barely stand, not to mention being able to fight. How long will it take you all to recover? By the time you recover they will be long gone. And you don't have a ranger to trace them. Please, let me help you save your friend." Said Noah calmly.

Samantha looked at her sister with a firm gaze. "We need his help, Lilly. For Dany." She said quietly.

"Fine. But, you touch anyone again…" Said Lilly with a firm gaze.

"I understand." Said Noah not waiting for her to end. 

"You said you, saw the guy at the ball where you came from. Can you get back and get the information out of him?" Asked Kate.

Noah and Brianna gazed at each other with awkwardness in their expressions, while conversing telepathically through their connection. Then Noah closed his eyes concentrating on his connection with Tessa.

"It wouldn't be the best idea to return right now." Said Noah scratching his cheek a few moments later. "There is a high chance we would not be able to get out of there to come here again."

Samantha looked between him and Brianna noticing the strange expressions on their faces but did not say anything.

Noah looked at Lilly and took out Green slime from his pocket.

"Eat this. It can absorb toxins in your body and will help you recover from potion intoxication quicker." Said Noah stretching out his hand holding the slime toward Lilly.

Girls looked at it with strange expressions and then gaze at him questioningly.

"What's this?" Asked Kate.

"Poison Slime." Said Noah.

"Hold on. Poison slime? I heard some information on it circulating in the underground network. How do you have it?" Asked Kate.

"I was in Greenville town, remember? That's where these things circulated." Said Noah, not wanting to explain his skills.

"Is it genuine?" Asked Kate with interest.

"Yeah. I tested it." Answered Noah and Lilly stretched her hand to take it while gazing at Kate questioningly. Kate nodded at her reassuringly and Lilly, sighing put it in her mouth while closing her eyes in disgust.

"By the way." Said Kate a moment later after seeing her friend's expression. "By testing you mean it was in your mouth a few times?" She asked with a smirk and they heard Lilly starting to cough.

"No." Said Noah smiling and looking pacifying at Lilly who stared daggers at him. Then Lilly gazed at Kate piercing her with angry eyes.

"I tested it on the wolf, so It was only in the wolf's mouth." Said Noah with a smirk.

*Ptfui*

"You son of bitch!" Screamed Lilly spitting out the slime.