Author's Note: This takes place in Chapter 18, right before Kel leaves the Chamber of the Ordeal. I wrote this for a book report and it came out pretty good, so I decided to put it up. Review if you want to make me happy! -L.M.

Disclaimer:

Merric- Um, why am I here?

Me- Cuz I need you to say the disclaimer.

Merric- Why?

Me- Cuz im too lazy to do it myself.

Merric- But that's grunt work!

Me- I only get characters I like to say the disclaimer.

Merric- Really?

Me- Yeah. Now say it before I get Owen to say it instead!

Merric- LadyMoedoesnotownSquireoranyotherProtectoroftheSmallbook.

Me- Wow. You talk fast. Maybe I should have gotten Owen to do it.

Merric- Mithros, you're picky.

Neal bit his lip, staring at the cold iron door, sweat pouring down his face. Kel had been in there for what seemed like an eternity, though he knew it had only been about ten, fifteen minutes, and that that was nowhere near as long as he or Seaver had been in there, never mind Merric, whose ordeal had lasted the better part of four hours. He shuddered. He didn't envy the boy at all.

Yes, he knew he was being silly, that Kel was probably fine, but he couldn't help but worry. She was more than his best friend; she was like his sister, and if she were to die like Joren, or go mad like Vinson, he didn't know what he'd do.

He glanced at the boys around him. Seaver and Prosper were chatting quietly about trivial things; Merric was kneeling on the ground, still pale and terrified-looking from his Ordeal last night, writing a letter to his cousin Faleron and twisting a strand of ginger hair. Only Owen looked at the door with rapt attention, his eyes glinting. He glanced at Neal and smiled.

"Scared for her or something?"

Neal frowned at the other boy. "Well, yeah, aren't you?"

"You kidding?" the younger boy laughed. "We're talking about the girl who kicked my butt every time in practice. If anyone can beat this thing, it's Kel."

Neal looked back at the door. It was true that Kel, despite the bias that followed her wherever she went, was top of their year, and that none of them had ever beaten her in practice before, but that didn't make him any less nervous. He, unlike Owen, knew what the Chamber held. And he wouldn't wish it upon his worst enemy.

The Chamber door swung open. Merric looked up from his letter. "That was fast." Neal clenched his fists, preparing for the worst, and breathed a sigh of relief as Kel walked slowly out of the room, her face white; but it was not an expression of horror or terror that she wore so much as shock and confusion. She breathed out, and embraced her parents and her master. Then she glanced at her friends, an expression of pain crossing her face.

Kel pulled herself out of her mother's tight hug and glanced over at her friends, feeling a sharp pain in her chest. The last time she had seen them was in one of the visions the Chamber had sent her, of them dying before her eyes. She walked over and shook Neal's hand, half afraid he would collapse before her eyes again. Merric stood up, grinning. She grinned halfheartedly back, shaking his hand as well, trying not to see arrows in his chest, not to see his blood, fiery red like his hair and his temper, dripping to the ground. "You were right," she whispered. "Much too scared to scream." Her gaze traveled to his left, where Owen stood, his eyes gleaming, head still attached to his body. She couldn't help it. She threw her arms around him, sobbing. Kel knew that it wasn't brave or knightly, but she found herself not caring.

The younger boy struggled in her embrace. "Sweet Mithros, Kel!" he swore. "Gertoff! Stop acting like such a girl!"

At this she laughed, tears still flowing from her eyes. "Only if you promise me one thing."

"Anything, just get off me!"

"Never lose your head again."