Zia couldn't sleep that night. She tossed and turned in her new bed trying to get comfortable, but sleep never came.

As soon as everyone had settled down about the sun being in their eyes, they had all turned to find what Zia already had, and the King immediately sent the best Royal Guards in his troops to find him, but Zia knew they wouldn't. Daxtor was a sneaky little snake, even if he was fat and heavy. When Arch finally took Zia home, there had been no news of his capture. Zia knew that Daxtor would come after her, and when he found her he would kill her. She just hoped that it would take him a while.

Finally accepting that sleep would not come tonight, Zia threw the blankets off of her and crawled out of bed. She walked as silently as she could on the creaking floor boards to the door and pushed it up before she pulled it open to avoid the bottom of the door scraping loudly against the floor.

She walked silently down the hall and down the stairs, avoiding the bottom one because it squeaked the loudest.

She sat down on the lumpy sofa and laid her head on the arm, hoping to find sleep there. But sleep didn't come. She didn't think she'd ever sleep again. She was too uneasy. She was supposed to be free of Daxtor, but now, even though she wasn't with him anymore, she was still imprisoned by him.

Zia stared into the dying embers of the fire, wishing she could just fade away along with the light. The crickets in the night sang loudly, calming her racing heart.

Suddenly, she heard a grunt from right outside the door. It wasn't a grunt from a horse, but from a human, and it was close. Panic seized her heart and she looked around frantically. As the handle of the door started to jiggle, Zia grabbed the nearest thing to her to use as a weapon and ducked down behind the couch. She peered around the sofa to look at the door. Her hand trembled as the knob moved around some more. She looked down at the thing she had grabbed, and was glad to see the sharp end of the fire poker. If she really did need to fight, at least she'd have a sharp object.

Could it possibly be Arch coming back from a midnight stroll? No, the grunt hadn't sounded like Arch, and Zia would have heard him leave. It definitely wasn't Ike. Zia had learned right away that the reason why Arch and Ike shared a room was because not only was it cold, but Ike didn't like being left alone. It could only be one person.

The door opened to reveal the large silhouette of a fat man in the doorway. He was holding something in his hand, and it caught the light of the dwindling fire. A knife.

Daxtor walked into the house, brandishing the knife in front of him as he closed the door loudly behind him. Zia hoped with all her heart that Arch was having a sleepless night as well.

Zia's heart raced in her chest so loudly she was afraid it might give her away. She breathed as silently as she could and tried to hold very still. She knew that Daxtor's nerves were on edge and that he would pick up on the slightest sound.

"I know you're here, girl," he growled quietly. Zia froze completely, her blood running cold and sweat running down her back as she wished with all her soul that she hadn't given herself away.

"I know you're here," Daxtor repeated. "And when I find you, I'm going to tear your heart out. I'm not even going to kill you before I do. I'm going to tear it out while it's still beating, and the ground will run red with your blood. After everything you've cost me, I'm going to make sure you get your just desserts."

Zia couldn't breath. She knew that if he found her, he would be true to his threat, and she felt faint.

Daxtor made his way further into the house, and the closer he got to the stairs, the harder Zia gripped her fire poker. Whatever happened to her, she would not let Daxtor touch Arch or Ike so long as there was air in her lungs.

She must have made some sort of noise, because Daxtor turned suddenly, looking right at the sofa.

"I have you now," he growled. Gripping his knife, he started towards the sofa.

Zia knew the hiding was over, so she stood and looked directly at Daxtor, who had a murderous gleam in his eyes.

Terror like none Zia had ever felt before gripped her heart.

"I told you not to say anything, you little pest. I tried to tell you what would happen if you said anything against me."

"Arch!" Zia screamed at the top of her lungs.

Daxtor dove at her, knife poised to kill, but some instinct took over Zia's body and she moved her hand with lightning speed, knocking the knife aside with the fire poker. The knife clattered to the floor. Zia made a fist with her free hand and landed a blow on Daxtor's face with a satisfying crunch.

Daxtor hunched over, hands covering his face, giving Zia the opportunity to run out from behind the sofa. She positioned herself next to the stairs. Now she was in between Arch and Ike and Daxtor. He would have to kill Zia first to get to either of them, and she was prepared to lay down her life for them if it came down to it.

Daxtor's face was covered with blood and his nose was broken and crooked. He turned on Zia, snarling like a wolf and he grabbed his knife from the floor and started towards her again. "Give up, girl," he taunted. "You have no chance."

"Oh, go drink some ale," Zia said. It was meant to sound brave, but her voice shook unsteadily as she realized that her life could be ending right here.

Daxtor laughed, a horrible sound to Zia's ears.

"Arch!" she called again. She held her poker out in front of her like a sword, ready for him to attack.

Daxtor lurched at Zia again, but she leaped to the side, and as Daxtor fell on his face the frame of the house shook.

Using his failed attack as an advantage, Zia raised her poker to bash him over the head, but just as she was about to bring the stick down Daxtor's hand shot out and grabbed her ankle, sending her tumbling to the floor. The fire poker had rolled out of her grasp, and she lay on the floor unarmed.

Daxtor got up and pinned her down, looming over her, knife poised right over her neck, and Zia knew it was over.

The sound of Arch's door opening rang through the house. "Zia?" His voice sounded like an angel from heaven to Zia's ears as she tried to push Daxtor off of her.

As Arch's hurried footsteps came down the hall, Daxtor leaned in close, filling Zia's nose with the smell of ale and wine. Daxtor leaned closer until his mouth was next to Zia's ear as her eyes began to water from the terrible smell of him, and he whispered, "This isn't over, girl. I'll come back. I won't stop until I have payed you back in full."

He pushed off of her, and Zia sat up just in time to see Daxtor's shadowy figure running down the hill.

Arch appeared at Zia's side and pulled her to her feet. Her heart pounded so loudly in her ears that she didn't hear what Arch was saying. Her breath came in short rasps, and her eyes and nose were still recovering from the man's foul scent.

"Zia! can you hear me? What happened?"

Arch knelt down in front of her on his knees so he could look her in the eyes.

The shock of what had happened washed over Zia and her knees started to buckle.

"Zia! Are you okay?" Arch's voice became distant and seemed to come from another world and she sank to the ground, her whole body shaking.

She forced herself to take deep breaths of cool air, but the entire house stunk of Daxtor, and she felt like she would suffocate. "H-h-h-he was h-here," she got out. "Tr-tr-tried to k-k-k-kill m-me." And that was the last she remembered before she passed out.

When Zia woke, she was surrounded by trees and birds chirping their songs. A cool breeze filled her lungs with sweet air that tasted like honeysuckle.

Zia didn't want to disturb the peace she felt, but she sat up and looked around her. She was in the same clothes she had worn to bed the night before, but she definitely wasn't in the same place. She slept on a cot next to a dead fire. There were two other cots around the fire with empty blankets on top.

She wondered how she had gotten here when the events of the night before came rushing back to her. She had been hoping at was all just a really bad dream, but the detail was so vivid in her memory that Zia knew she would never be able to forget the horror and helplessness she felt as Daxtor attacked her.

"You're awake!" a voice behind her said.

Zia turned to find Ike with his arms full of firewood. He smiled at her as he walked towards her and set his small pile of wood next to the remains of the flames.

"How do you feel?" Ike asked.

"Where are we?" she asked, not answering his question. She didn't exactly know how she was feeling.

"In the woods. This place a secret hide-out that Pa found. He said he used to bring Ma here on secret outings when they were courting."

"Why are we here?"

"Once you passed out, Pa woke me up and told me what happened. He said we couldn't stay there anymore and to pack up. He said we were going to live somewhere safe, somewhere where Daxtor can't find you." Ike sounded so excited, like he was having the time of his life, and Zia couldn't help but wonder if Ike had some kind of mental problem.

"You mean we're going to live in the woods from now on?" Zia asked as she sat up a bit more.

"Yep. Pa said it was so Daxtor won't be able to find you. There's also something else you should know." Ike's face fell from this new cheer to his regular happiness. "Pa's now the leader of the Thieves of Otar. You know what they are, right?"

Zia nodded. She had heard the people of the town grumble about them stealing and taking things from the nobles, wondering if the poor villagers would be next. She remembered overhearing a group of women talking about them the day she had run away. She remembered the one woman saying that the Thieves weren't all that bad. Zia didn't think anyone could be much worse than Daxtor, so she believed them.

"Well, we're going to be them!" Ike said excitedly. "Pa's going to teach us both how to fight so that sort of thing will never happen again!"

"We're going to steal from people?" Zia couldn't imagine Arch doing such a thing.

"We won't really be stealing," Ike said seriously. "The Thieves only take from the nobles who steal from the people. We just take it back and redistribute it to those who need it most."

"Stealing from nobles? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Ike said. "Pa's a master fighter, and he's going to train us. We'll be perfectly fine."

Zia remember what Arch had said to her when he had offered her to live with him. He had said that he had taken a new job that would require her to learn how to fight. This must be what he was talking about, Zia thought.

To Ike this was all just so incredible and amazing, but to Zia it was a road to a better life. It was a way for her to protect herself from ever being hurt again. If she could learn to use a weapon and how to fight, she could keep herself from harm and danger. Daxtor would have a hard time killing her!

Zia smiled. It was small at first, but it started to grow into a large grin. "When do we start?"