Chapter 1

The moon shone brightly in the star-lit sky. A gentle breeze blew the end of Sarah's hair as she walked hand in hand with Christopher. It had been silent for quite a few moments now as the awkwardness that the new couple now felt settled in.

Finally, they stopped in front of the old maple tree, the last standing tree in Salaya. He slowly turned to look into her eyes, wondering if she would look back. For a moment, they connected, a strong connection that let them know that this was how it was supposed to be. The Prince of Salaya together with no more than a servant girl, but yet, it was meant to be.

"If father knew I was here with you, he would have a fit." Chris whispered, not removing his gaze from her eyes.

"Then why, Chris, are you here?" He took a moment to respond, but finally said with hesitation,

"Because Sarah, whatever my father says about royal upbringing, and social classes doesn't matter. All that matters is that I find someone who I want to be with, whether he likes it or not." Sarah couldn't move. She hoped that if everything was still and peaceful long enough, the memory would be forever emblazoned inside her mind.

"Well, I'm glad you did," Sarah said after a long moment, "I mean, sneak out to be here with me tonight. Tonight has been the single best night of my life. You couldn't have made it more perfect." She smiled.

"Me too." He smiled back, and then slowly leaned over and kissed her. The feeling was intense and Sarah's mind was soaring. The kiss lasted for a moment, but was interrupted from a loud shot 100 yards away.

"Sarah, they've found us, we're not safe outside the city." Chris said.

"Chris, go, run back to the city. It doesn't matter if they catch me, but I don't want to even think about what will happen if they catch you."

"Are you asking me to leave you here? Are you insane?" he nearly shouted.

"They know someone is here, not that both of us are here, and that one of us is you. If we both run, they'll chase us, and most likely catch us. I can't let it be my fault that you were captured. Please, just go. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She said reassuringly. He didn't move for a moment, he didn't want to move. Sarah kissed him real fast.

"If you ever want to do that again you have to leave now!" Sarah said raising her voice. After another minute, he reluctantly gave up and ran into the forest towards Xanthis, the world's capitol.

There were a few terrible moments when Sarah sat waiting for their stalkers to show up. It got even worse when the two men on horses actually showed up.

"What do we have here?" said the younger one, not much older than Sarah, but definitely from a different culture. Sarah looked back at the two men. They wore scraggly clothes along with smug expressions.

"What's such a nicely clothed young lady doing out in these parts this late at night?" the second one said.

"I… I… I…" Sarah stammered.

"Out with it girl!" the man shouted.

"Well," Sarah wondered how many lies she could get away with telling, "You see, I just met this guy in Xanthis, and I really liked him, but my mother disapproved of him. So tonight, we decided to take a walk in the woods, away from the city, but we got separated, and I ended up here." She finished very proud of herself. The two men looked like they believed it.

"Well then little missy," the older one said, "You're rather lucky we came along, or you might have died out here."

"Oh good, so you'll take me back?" Sarah asked hopefully. Both men laughed hysterically.

"Take you back?" the young one scoffed, "Sorry, that strikes as funny, but we haven't been in that city for years."

"You haven't? Than what city do you live in? There isn't another one around for miles!" Sarah exclaimed.

"You're darn right little missy, and we're darn proud of it." The old one replied.

"Well then. Where do you live? Who are you?" Sarah asked.

"We'll show you." The younger one said and pulled her onto his horse.

The younger one was Matt and the older one was Ned. They smelled like they had never taken a shower once in their life, yet the ride with them was some of the most fun she had had in a long time.

The men explained about a civilization called the Marx, a small group determined to bring Xanthis down. Sarah now understood why the men had laughed at her plea to take her back to the city. These men were wanted criminals. Though they seemed friendly now, Sarah was very afraid of what was to come when they had made it to their camp.

"The camp is lovely though, you'll love it." Matt explained.

"I'm sure, but I would like to go home." Sarah replied. Matt turned around to look at her.

"Are you serious? You can't ever go home. The fact that you even mingled with us makes you an outlaw."

"MINGLED WITH YOU?!?!?! YOU MINGLED WITH ME!!!!!" Sarah yelled.

"Be quiet Sarah, no need to get worked up over this." Ned said from the other horse. They were approaching a clearing in the woods. Sarah noticed rising smoke in the distance signaling that they were getting close to a fire.

"We're almost there." Matt told her as they came to a halt outside what seemed to be an empty village.

"But I don't want to be here. Please, let me go home!" Sarah tried one last time.

"Sarah, we can't risk it." Ned explained as he got off his horse and walked over to help her down.

"I don't care. Than you had no right to take me to here, and I'll let you know I'll be greatly missed. They'll come looking for me." Sarah responded, wishing that she could take the words back seconds too late.

"Greatly missed? Are you one of them royals?" Matt asked with a gleam in his eye.

"No, I'm not, I just… just… am well known. They'll know I'm missing and come looking for me."

"Well you don't have you worry. They won't mess with you when you're with us." Ned reassured her.

Great. Sarah thought to herself. Now I'll never get out!

"Ned, Matt! Guys, they're back!" A girl about Sarah's age came running towards the group. She stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed Sarah.

"Who's that?" she asked angrily.

"Don't worry, we made her come, she's not going to betray us." Ned explained. The girl glared at Sarah as she edged forward a little.

"Ned, you know we can't have strangers here for no good reason. You can't just go picking up random kids that are outside of the city limits. You know what happened last time." Sarah wanted to ask what had happened, but decided to keep her thoughts to herself.

"Rach, this is different." Ned leaned closer to the blond girl, and whispered something in her ear. Her expression changed immediately from a snobby and hateful glare to a smug and satisfied grin.

"Welcome your highness, I mean, Sarah." Rachel said.

"What are you talking about? I'm not royal." Rachel glanced at Ned, not sure of what to say.

"Oh, I know that! It's a nickname, as in, you're too good for our village, princess." Rachel said rolling her eyes.

"Come on Sarah, you should meet everyone else." Matt said and led her towards a small group of people gathering at the center of the village.

There were about 10 of them total, including Matt, Ned, and Rachel. An older woman, Ned's wife named Erika, seemed to nod and smile a lot. Right away she ran up to hug Sarah, brushing away all the dirt that had accumulated over the ride.

Next there was a guy and a girl, Kayla and Neal, who seemed inseparable. Their fingers were locked and they barely paid any attention to Sarah when her presence was announced.

There also were two girls standing towards the back of the group, not wanting to be seen. They whispered and giggled to themselves, and only quieted when Ned yelled at them. Johanna and Jordyn seemed to both be Sarah's age.

There happened to be another girl, slightly older than Sarah, that looked strangely familiar. Her name was Lindsay. Upon their arrival, she immediately went over to Matt and never left his side.

Finally, there was a boy; his age was unreadable. His name was Alec, and Sarah felt an immediate attraction. He had bright blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. He had an amazing smile, and never took his eyes off of her. She wished more than anything that she could walk over to him and hug him, just get lost in his arms. However, she experienced some self-restraint and stayed where she was.

"So welcome to our small little community, Sarah" Ned finished. "I hope you'll find everything you need here."

"It seems…" Sarah started, fishing for a polite word, "quaint. I'm sure I'll get used to it." Lies, all lies. What she meant was that it was a horrid heap hole that she was going to escape the first moment she had a chance.

"Well, Erika and I share the hut over there. Matt, Alec, and Neal all share that one there. That is the main hall where everyone can hang out together. That hut over there is where Johanna, Jordyn, and Rachel all sleep. Kayla and Lindsay sleep in the one above it. I guess you can bunk with them." Ned explained.

"OK, sounds good to me." She looked over to see how the other two girls felt about it. Both seemed too wrapped up in the guys they admired to pay any attention to Sarah.

"Well then group, the excitement is over, back to your nightly chores. Sarah, if you want, you can go get cleaned up and settled in. There's a bathroom connected to your hut." Ned said. Suddenly, as if turned on by a switch, the group turned and headed back towards their jobs. Neal and Kayla helped Erika with what appeared to be dinner. Alec went back to gathering wood. Johanna and Jordyn appeared to be washing dishes, and setting the table. Rachel, Lindsay, Matt, and Ned all went to sweep out the main hut and clean it up a little. Sarah decided on taking Ned's advice and heading up to get a shower.

The real trick was figuring out how to get up to the top hut. It was stationed above Johanna, Jordyn, and Rachel's. A firm tree held it in place. Sarah walked around the tree and the hut a few times, contemplating the best way to get up.

"You can't figure it out either?" said a voice from behind her. Sarah whirled around to see Alec standing behind her, grinning widely.

"No. There's got to be some trick to it." Sarah replied.

"Here, let me help." He strode past her over to a small notch in the tree. He pounded it three times with his fist. Slowly the notch grew into a bump as a set of stairs emerged.

"It used to be a safe hut, you know, that we could hide in, incase anyone came. We hid all of our ammo up there and everything, but when Kayla came, four people to a hut was too much, so we converted it into another sleeping quarters. That's how I know about it. I don't sneak up there or anything." Alec stated. Sarah laughed.

"Well, thanks for helping me. I should probably go up to get cleaned off a bit. Oh, and for the record, I never thought that you would sneak up there. Of course, I wouldn't mind much if you ever came up to visit me." Alec smiled.

"I'll keep that in mind." He said and turned around to head back to his chore. Sarah smiled to herself as she walked upstairs to the hut in the tree.