A shadow looms above me, blocking out the warm afternoon sun and sending shivers down my spine.

"Going somewhere?" Gray says in a voice that makes my blood run cold.
Its too late.

................................................................

I groan and roll over to face her.

"What do you want?" I hiss at her. Gray smirks-a purely evil smile.

"I'm going to take you back to my father. My father-the King of Echidninare." She says triumphantly.

When I don't react, Gray's smile slides off of her face.

"You already knew that didn't you." She questions me.

"Finally you're right about something." I reply angrily. Gray glares at me-fury in her eyes. She pulls out her sword. I swallow down the panic in my throat. I left my own weapons at the castle, because they are very recognizable. Now that I think back on that-that was NOT my best decision. She raises the sword high over my chest. My heart is beating a thousand miles a minute. Gray tries to stab me, but I roll away. Angrily she pounces onto me, holding me down with her knees. She draws a silver knife from her waistband. She holds it to my throat.

"Goodbye Eadu." She whispers.

"That's what the last one said." I glare at her. She draws a thin line of blood across my neck, making me wince at the sharp bite of steel.
I avert my gaze. If I'm going to die, I refuse to let the last thing I see be Gray's ugly face.
I look up at the beautiful winter sky.
That's better.
I close my eyes waiting for my imminent death, and trying to calm down my racing heart.
I feel the point of the knife break my skin.
Oh gosh. This is it.
I flail and struggle-trying to unseat her. But Gray is a foot taller, and several pounds heavier then me.
It's like trying to move a rock.
Suddenly there is a intense pressure on my abdomen, and then I can move again. Gray is off of me, lying motionless in the field to my left. I think Jaosh tackled her.
He brushes off his hands and helps me up.

"Thanks." I mutter.

"Don't mention it." He responds quietly. I run over to Branwen.

"Are you ok?" I ask. She is staring at Gray's unconscious body with tears in her eyes.

"I trusted her!" Branwen spits. I wrap a arm around her and steer her away from Gray.

"I know." I mutter quietly. Branwen quickly wipes away her fallen tears and looks up at me.

"So now what?" Branwen asks. Jaosh comes up beside me.

"Yea. Where should we go." He asks. I walk straight ahead.

"First, we'll need horses. Second, we need to get this to Derrin. He's in charge of the armies-he'll want to see this." I say.

"What do we need to give to Derrin?" Branwen asks. I pull the folded envelope from under my shirt and hand it to her. Jaosh peers over her shoulder. He looks up in shock.

"Tell me you didn't." He groans.
I smile and grab it back, folding it carefully and placing it securely in my pocket.

"Let's go. I don't know about you, but I want some food." I walk away without looking back.

We managed to find some bread, and trade a pair of expensive earrings for a mangy old horse. As the sun sinks below the horizon, we plod on. Jaosh and I take turns walking beside the horse. Branwen is fast asleep, leaning heavily on the horses neck.
I let her sleep. Let her dream of happy things. Goodness knows we should soak up happiness when we have the chance. It's better in the dream world then it is in reality.
Reality sucks.

"I think we're just about there." Jaosh says wearily. I nod and rest my head on Branwen's back. I don't know how many hours we've traveled. 5? 10? It's a blur. I feel lightheaded and spacey.
I just want to get there.

"Eadu." Jaosh murmurs. I look up and see the beautiful light of fire. People huddle around it.
We've reached the camp.

"Thank goodness!" I whisper. Jaosh leads the horse into the camp. I sit up straight as I feel dozens of eyes on me. I have to try to have try to have dignity in front of them. But between you and me, I lost all my dignity when Gray sat on me and squashed it.
I try to gracefully get off the horse, but I end up falling to the ground. My head is spinning painfully and I think I might pass out. Jaosh grabs my hand and pulls me up.
I look around at the men, still silently watching me.

"I need to speak to your Captain immediately." I speak in the most powerful voice I can muster. They stay still until I raise my eyebrows. Then they scurry into action. They usher Jaosh and I into a large tent.
Two people stand in the centre of the room, pouring over some documents. I clear my throat. Derrin looks at us-Jaosh and I as well as several soldiers. Derrin has a hard glint in his eyes. I've never seen him like this. It's strange.

"You may leave us." He orders. The men quickly retreat out of the tent. The unfamiliar expression melts off his face. He nudges the girl next to him and she looks up. It's Kaone. She must be back from Iovania.

"Kaone!" Jaosh smiles. He picks her up in a warm hug. They embrace for a long time.
I raise my eyebrows.

"What just happened?" I mutter to Derrin. He laughs.

"I guess they became friends." He walks over to me and throws a arm over my shoulders.

"The King of Echidninare sends this with his best regards." I say before handing him the crumpled envelop. His face brightens as he grabs it from my hands.

"This is amazing! Thank you so much!" He grins.
I rub my eyes.

"Can we discuss how awesome I am tomorrow? I'm exhausted." I murmur. Derrin looks at me.

"What's that?" He asks. I realize he means the bandage around my neck. After Gray cut me, I bandaged it with a scrap of cloth I ripped off of my tunic.

"Ok, maybe King Artol didn't send his best regards." I wince as I touch it.

"You should get our medic to check it out." Derrin frowns. I roll my eyes.

"I'm not letting a stranger stick their grimy hands inside my wound." I groan. Derrin's smile grows bigger.

"What?" I snap. I'm too tired to be polite.

"I didn't realize you and Briss were strangers." He laughs. I look up at him.

"Briss?" I ask.

"Turns out she's quite the physician. I'll go get her. Stay here." He orders me. I nod as he leaves. I walk over to a large couch and flop onto it. It feels like heaven against my bruised and battered body. Kaone walks over to me.

"Hi." She smiles warmly. I return her smile happily.

"Hey! How did it go?" I ask. Kaone sighs.

"I just got back. Iovania has agreed to help us, but the king said that it will be at least a couple weeks to prepare." She mutters.
I groan and lean my head against the head rest.

"Ok. Thank you. You did great. " I murmur.

"I heard you were pretty good yourself. At the camp?" She says. I look up at her.

"Did Jaosh tell you that? You guys were getting pretty cuddly over there." I tease. Kaone rolls her eyes.

"We're just friends." She mutters. I smile.

"Right..." I laugh. She huffs and walks away.
Ok, so maybe I'm taking their little relationship to heart more then I'm letting on. Don't get me wrong-I have no romantic feelings towards Jaosh. But he's still my fiancé. So it definitely stings seeing him form a relationship with one of my best friends. I want to scream that I didn't want this to happen, but you don't see me going around with other boys do you?
Just then the tent flaps open to reveal my other best friend Briss.
I grin when I see her uniquely red hair. It's always a relief to see that hair. It means I've got a friend with me.
She walks over to me.

"Hey Eadu! Long time no see!" She leans down to give me a hug. I gladly accept.

"Looks like you made yourself comfortable." Derrin laughs. I roll my eyes and throw a pebble at him.

"Go ahead and get tackled by a girl twice your size, then travel on a bony horse for several hours. Then you can tell me that again." I laugh.

Briss unwraps the bandage around my neck and winces.

"Eww....when did this happen?" She asks.

"Umm....sometime within the-Ow! That hurts! Sometime within the last 24 hours. Stop that!" I hiss in pain as she washes it out.

"I'm just going to stitch it up. Lean your head back." She says calmly. I groan and let my head fall back. She quickly starts to stitch it.

"I'm going to get some food or something." Derrin says. I can see him looking nauseous as he peers down at me.

"Aww-is the big scary captain scared of a needle?" I tease him. Derrin rolls his eyes.

"Do you want food or not?" He mutters. I wave him away.

Briss leans back in satisfaction.

"Done." She smiles. I groan and sit up.

"Thank you." I mutter. Derrin returns with a bowl of soup and bread. I eat it hungrily-scraping every bit from my bowl.
I lie back down on the couch and yawn.

For the past couple of nights I've barely slept. It's always been too dangerous. It feels nice to sleep knowing I'm safe. Well, as safe as you can be in the middle of a war.
But that doesn't matter now. All that matters is me catching up on my beauty sleep. Goodness knows I need it.
I close my eyes.

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