Ildri was plummeted into a confusing world where all her senses were crystal clear yet she could not form the thoughts to interpret any of the information flying into her slow mind. And she started to feel afraid and the plummeting started to hurt dreadfully, like it was a part of her deeper than her bones. She wanted to scream and run but she could not feel any part of her body.

She felt like the only way out of the pain would be to just fade away, and it seemed like such an easy way out compared to dealing with the hurt any longer. It was more than physical and it was more than emotional. It hurt it hurt it hurt and she did not trust that it ever would stop.

Trust. Trust? Something about trust?

Wasn't she supposed to trust someone? Wasn't that someone Ty? She remembered him. She trusted Ty.

But he was killing her, wasn't he? He was taking her magic. It seemed that they were killing someone who needed to be killed, but surely it was not her. He said she should trust him and that seemed to be the best idea of all.

And she suddenly became aware of two quite obvious things. First, it was not really hurting anymore and she was not quite certain that it ever really had. The second was that she could feel him sort of like he was a part of her mind. He was determined to destroy Scelus if he could because he wanted them to suffer for his father's death.

He felt terribly guilty about it, too, because he had failed. He had arrived too late and his father had been already dead and he was so angry at himself and them. There were so many times he had failed to live up to what his father thought he should be, and now he could rectify that final disappointment.

She felt mild surprise that he was disgusted at himself for enjoying what he was doing right now. She did not really know what he was doing, but he was doing it anyway. It was terrible but the emperor's death might allow them the confusion to escape with their lives. It was his fault, too, that she was there. He should never have agreed to it. He could have tied up all three of them and sent them back to Wildwood in a cart.

Then she felt that he felt a great triumph because the emperor was dead and others and there was a great satisfaction that whatever happened Scelus was weakened. Now he just had to get her and the rest out to safety.

Ildri found herself on her back on the floor. "We have to get out of here," Ty said as he pulled her to her feet. She felt dizzy and tried to see what he had done.

He pulled her away. "Don't look at that."

"Did you get them all?" she asked as she ran.

"Those that were with the emperor. Possibly his heir."

"Good," she said, still feeling confused.

"I'm sorry I didn't—"

"Ty!" Ildri said, looking ahead. There was a tall, handsome man standing there and he looked quite formidable. He was also terribly familiar.

Ty skidded to a halt.

The knight spoke, "The one that got away?"

"No, he's one of the ones who was chasing us. Sir Rhys," Ildri whispered, knowing Ty would hear her.

Ty nodded. "I do remember him. Stay back, Ildri. You'll be exhausted now."

Ildri was. She did not resent Ty for what he had done, but had she not feared for her life she would have found a corner to curl up and mercifully pass out.

Then Ty was fighting and Ildri wished she had an idea how to help him. Her mind still felt like a foggy mess. None of the few potions she had secured on her person were specific enough not to affect him too. She wished she could set Sir Rhys on fire but even her accidental power seemed sadly absent.

And then a hand was clapped over her mouth and she was dragged backwards and through a door. She tried to fight but everything seemed disconnected. She did the only thing that she could do. She bit down, hard.

Her abductor swore, and shook her off, and she recognized the voice all too well.

"Saul! What is your bloody problem!?" she snapped as she spun around, almost falling over on unsteady legs.

"My problem? I missed you, of course."

"No you didn't. You don't care about me in the slightest. If you don't let me go, Ty will hunt you down," Ildri said. At least her voice was working fine.

Saul locked the door and put the key in his pocket. "No, if anything my brother will kill him. You met Sir Rhys, didn't you?"

"Yes, when he tried to kill me. Now unlock that door before—"

"Before what, Ildri? Before your little hero comes rushing in to save you? I suppose he's the one that you threw me over for? After he stabbed me? How very fickle," he asked in a nonchalant tone, but she believed that she heard resentment under it.

"I was very upset and afraid until gradually it became clear you were only using me, Saul."

Saul shrugged and gave her his most, handsome, boyish smile. It used to make her weak in the knees, but now her legs were shaky for an entirely different reason. "I suppose that's fair. But I would have thought you would have mourned me a bit longer. And now you're chasing after someone who you have no chance with. You're a commoner, like me, Ildri. He won't marry you, he can't. You'll end up alone and sad. He'll probably marry for fortune and connections as all the nobility do."

Ildri swallowed hard. "I know that."

"There's no shame in wanting to be loved, just maybe next time you could set your sights a little more realistically. You're not completely foolish, I think you can learn from your mistakes."

"Yes, Saul," she said meekly, trying frantically to think of a plan and her only idea was to look harmless. Maybe he would let his guard down.

"I propose that we both forget the past and move on together. I think you really would make a useful wife now that I'm aware of your skills in magic. These Scellus folks think very highly of magic skill, and between that and my efforts on their behalf, it is possible that we might be rewarded with lands and titles. How does that sound, Ildri? We could be the new nobility. You could be something more. You could have everything you have ever wanted. The home, the loving family..."

He knew her so well. He knew exactly what she had wanted, but he did not know her so well anymore. She was not that same Ildri and amazingly he had not really understood the last time they had met. She forced herself to smile sweetly. "That actually does sound nice. The two of us, together at last. Maybe I never really did get over you," she said, trying to remember how she had been.

And she grabbed one of the vials that she had not left behind when she changed into the ball gown. A quick glance told her it was a tie vine potion. She hurled it at him.

Within a moment the vines began to crawl and wrap themselves around his legs and he fell over and they continued to wrap themselves around him until he could not move.

"Ildri! What do you think you're doing?" he snapped.

"Spending my life with you sounds like a nightmare, Saul! I'd rather grow old alone! I can't even remember why I thought I was sad that you died! I must have been insane!"

She grabbed a different vial. "Ildri, think about this! You can never—"

She threw a small amount of paralysis potion straight onto his face and he froze with his mouth wide open. "That's better," she said and she bent down to take the key out of his pocket. She turned back towards him, "And Scelus' Emperor is dead, so you can forget about lands and titles. Goodbye, Saul, if you ever bother me again you'll get worse than a paralysation potion." She unlocked the door, and left the room, locking it behind her. She hoped maliciously that there was no other key. She quietly hurried back to where she had last seen Ty.

There was blood everywhere and no one present who was still breathing. She went the way that it smelt like he had gone, and found Ty and Sir Rhys on a balcony overlooking the city. There was smoke in the air from fires that had been lit possibly by rioters and looters who were taking advantage of the chaos. They seemed to be quite evenly matched. Ildri just wanted to take Ty and escape.

She still held the potion in her hand that had paralysed Saul. She wondered if she could hit him without splashing Ty. She did not want to have to wait for it to wear off of Ty. She crept closer from behind where Ty could see her but his adversary could not, if only he would look. Sir Rhys seemed to be attempting to force Ty up against the railing. She experimentally threw some potion and it splashed a few feet away from them.

Sir Rhys glanced back at the sound and jerked in surprise. Ty pressed the attack. Just a step in her direction and she threw some more potion again. This time it hit his skin and he fumbled with his sword. Ildri tossed another splash on his face for good measure.

"Not very sporting," Ty commented as he thrust his blade through Sir Rhys' torso. Blood spilled and Ildri winced.

"You should have just hit him with magic in the first place."

"True,' he agreed. "But he was keeping me fairly pressed. Not a moment to spare, really. An excellent swordsman."

"I don't care about that," she said and then realized how she sounded. Ty nodded.

Without further preamble, Ty had the potion the flying potion in his hands. Ildri grabbed hers as well, and they both soared towards the campsite through the freezing night air.

Ildri could barely fathom that they had made it out alive. She hoped that everyone else had been so fortunate.

* * * * *

Ignoring their exhaustion, they flew quickly towards the encampment. Ildri and Ty landed and her stomach lurched as nausea hit her hard. She ran towards the outside of the camp before throwing up all the contents of her stomach into some poor bush.

Ty met her on her way back to the camp. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I think so," she groaned weakly. She wanted nothing more than to sleep now.

Ty looked exhausted, too. "I hope that wasn't a symptom of me using so much of your magic," he said.

Ildri shrugged. How was she supposed to know? She wanted to reassure him but suddenly felt dizzy like she was about to vomit again.

"I am sorry. I hope it did not hurt. It's not supposed to if the person agrees to do it, but there wasn't time to explain properly."

"It did hurt at first, but then I remembered that I should trust you and it was better. And don't worry, I know how you feel. Worried and angry and guilty and all that."

"Oh?"

"When you were pulling out my magic I was able to feel a lot of the things you were feeling, I think," she said.

"I see," he said, not looking overly pleased by the information. "What else did you feel?"

"Not much. You feel like you failed your father?"

Ty looked even less happy and Ildri wished that she could recall the words. Her and her big mouth...

The camp looked very much the same as when they had left it and Ildri wondered if everyone had gotten back safely. Almost certainly not. She was scared to ask.

"You've had a rough night. Go to sleep, Ildri. If you want, we can talk more in the morning."

Ildri tried to find a smile for him so that he could see her gratitude but she could not even manage that. Instead she dragged herself to the tent where she could sleep and dropped onto her small cot. The last thing she felt was the weight of Keziah landing beside her.

"Pretty lady."

Ildri slept.