Welcome, everyone! This is my Tamora Pierce fanfic. It takes place between numbers three and four of the Immortal series. I thought it'd be nice to create my own little original story here, so here is the "summary", as you might call it. Remember to read and review! Disclaimer: I do not own some of the characters in this book. Such as Numair, Alanna, Daine, Thayet, and Jonathan, and a few selective others.

Cassie and Theodora are the typical servants. Well, they're more like slaves. They're owned by a Carthaki spy, Harris Sandbeard, who hopes that he will one day be the king of Tortall. He conspires with high Carthaki officials against the noble Queen Thayet and King Jonathan. Cassie and Theodora know of these dark and evil plans, but are threatened to keep quiet. As devoted slaves, they must. But then hope comes their way for freedom and happiness when some certain pair comes along. But war is starting to brew in lovely Tortall, and guess who is behind it? Harris Sandbeard. So, will Cassie and Theodora ever be truly free?

O O O

"Cassie! Theodora! Hurry up with them dishes!" cried an impatient wealthy man. He was shouting at two servant girls that he had owned for a very long time.

The two young girls he was shouting at here just around fourteen. One was rather tall, the other one only an inch shorter. The taller one was Theodora. She had shoulder-length jet-black hair with amazing sea-green eyes. She was wearing typical servant wear – a ragged brown dress and a dirty white apron. The girl that stood beside her was Cassie, even though her full name was Cassandra. She had boyishly short reddish-blonde hair, and her eyes were a crystal clear blue. She was wearing the same outfit as Theodora, and looked just as grimy.

"I said hurry it up!" the man shouted again. This was Harris Sandbeard, a Carthaki spy that had been placed in Tortall.

His two servant girls had been given to him as tiny children – no more than one-year old babies. He had had them for over thirteen years, and worked them hard as he possibly could. Cassie and Theodora also had heard of plans to take over Tortall. Mainly it was because their master took very secretive company. Their owner had threatened them numerous times that if they had ever told anyone of Carthak's plans, they would be whipped to the bone and then thrown outside for the Stormwings to eat.

Cassie and Theodora looked at each other and continued to do the dishes. As they finished, Harris stormed into the kitchen, and glared at the pair of servants that were putting the dishes away as fast as they could.

"You!" Harris barked at Cassie, who jumped with surprise and nearly dropped the dish she was holding. "Come here, girl. I have a job for you." He smiled wickedly and went back out.

Cassie glanced back at Theodora and bit her lip, fearful of what her master might do. "Go on," whispered Theodora, pushing her gently towards the kitchen door. "I'll finish up here. I'll see you in the basement afterwards, Cassie. I'll save some bread for you." Cassie nodded and stumbled back to the door to follow Harris.

Harris stopped outside a door and pointed threateningly at Cassie, who cowered. "I'm having a meeting with some of my colleagues tonight, girl. I want you to stand guard. If you tell anyone about what you hear, I'll hang you by the old maple tree outside. And then the Stormwings will come and eat your carcass when I'm through cutting it to pieces."

Cassie gulped and nodded. She caught a glimpse of Theodora slipping from the kitchen with a loaf of bread and slink down into the basement – their bedroom and home. Harris fixed Cassie with a heated glare and went inside to join his Carthaki comrades.

"First we ought to have a toast," announced a deep-voiced man from inside. "To Ozorne!"

"To Ozorne!" repeated about four other voices. Cassie recognized them as Carthaki mages who had been loyal to Ozorne before he had fallen. Cassie and Theodora had heard stories of a fifteen-year old girl named Veralidaine who had brought that ending to Ozorne's empire and had practically destroyed the palace in Carthak's capital.

"Now as to the plans," hissed another voice. Cassie had heard this voice many times before. It was Milan, one of Ozorne's previous mages. "Harris, you have the mage and the Lioness coming to your home here?"

"Yup, that's true indeed," Harris answered, sounding quite proud.

Cassie frowned with concern and worry. What were they planning this time? All she could do was sit back and listen.

"We have the drugs being imported from Scanra as we speak. I hired some pirate about a week ago. They ought to be here any day now," said another. This voice was more like a hiss than a human voice speaking, and it made Cassie shudder.

"Excellent, excellent," murmured a new voice, this one female.

"Let's go over the plan again, shall we?" asked another.

"Shush, there is a servant girl outside the door, we cannot have her overhearing our plans. She may spoil the, or worse let someone know. If she hears the plan, she must die," hissed the man whose voice was a hiss.

Cassie's heart went cold. Surely Harris wouldn't let them kill her. She was just about to run down to the basement and to Theodora when Harris cut in, "We will not kill one of my servants. Either of them. Besides, my Cassie will be the one serving the drinks. It would be all the better if she heard the plan as well. Don't worry about her blabbing. She knows she isn't allowed to do that or she'll suffer the consequences."

"Fetch her then, Harris," growled the female. Cassie recognized her as Olivia, a Carthaki woman who had taught at the Carthaki University.

"Alright, then," grunted Harris. Suddenly his head appeared in the doorway, and he grabbed Cassie roughly. She knew better than to cry out, so she sealed her mouth shut and allowed herself to be shoved into the room.

"Sit down, girl," snapped Olivia, gesturing to a seat in between the hissing man and Milan, both of whom grinned maliciously. Cassie had no choice but to obey. She sat between them, folding her hand in her lap as she tried her best not to take up a lot of room.

"Now, little girl, you will need to know of our plan. This one will work – and will throw this whole country into chaos. If you do not obey us, we will report directly to Ozorne, with you and your dear slave friend in chains. Perhaps Ozorne will feed you to the spidrens, but that will not matter if you do exactly as we say," said the hissing man. "Milan, will you tell her, or shall I?"

"I will," Olivia spoke up. She turned to Cassie, her beady black eyes glittering maliciously with ambition. "Now, slave, your Master Harris has invited the mighty Lioness and Tortall's most powerful mage here in a few days. Our plan is to put this country into complete chaos so the great Stormwing Ozorne will make it a better place. Our plan is that while they are here, we will slip drugs into their drinks. As Harris has said, you will be the one serving the drinks. After they are unconscious, we will lock them up in that basement of yours – so you will need to find a new place to sleep as Harris tells us. And more importantly, YOU will be the watch guards for the mage and the Lioness. However, if they are awake, you must understand that you will be no match for either of them. So you just feed them more drugs. You'll keep doing that until we fetch Ozorne and some other Stormwings and kill the pair. Got that?"

Cassie was now shaking. Her, drug two of the most famous people in Tortallan history? She couldn't! Nor Theodora. That was treason beyond all reckoning. But she had to accept. Cassie didn't care about her own self getting fed to spidrens (whatever on earth THEY were, Cassie had no clue), but Theodora as well? Cassie couldn't handle that. "Y-Yes," she replied softly. Her voice was shaky from lack of use.

Harris stood, and came over to Cassie. "Come. I need you up early, so you're off to bed now before I decide to whip you for disobeying orders. Make sure Theodora's asleep too. If you ain't in bed in the next five minutes, I'll kill you both."

Cassie scrambled down the miniature staircase to the basement, where Theodora waited patiently. The loaf of bread had been stowed safely among their other stolen food and goods that they kept down here in case of emergencies. She slammed the basement door and began trembling, and sat down hard on her ragged blanket on the floor.

"What's going on?" Theodora demanded with concern at seeing the terrified look on Cassie's already gaunt face. She settled down beside Cassie and pulled the loaf of bread towards her.

"They have another plan…" murmured Cassie, still shaking. "This time, it's worse than any other they've concocted. And they want me to help. I can't do it! I won't! It's treason, it is! They're asking me to commit the worse kind of treason!"

Theodora broke the loaf in half and passed one half to Cassie. She took it gratefully. "What do they want you to do?" she asked nervously.

"The Lioness, Sir Alanna, is coming here to the Blue Snake Inn. And she's going to have the most powerful mage in Tortall with her-"

"I've heard of him!" Theodora said quietly, taking a bite of her bread. As she swallowed, she added, "His name is Numair Salmalin. He came from Carthak, and was banished for treason against Ozorne. Now he's here in Tortall, and I heard he could even destroy the whole world with a single snap of his fingers."

Cassie's eyes widened. The bread in her hands was forgotten. "T-they want me to drug him?" she squeaked.

Theodora's mouth dropped open. "They want you to do WHAT?!"

"Their plan is that this N-Numair you speak of and S-Sir Alanna w-will come to stay here at the Blue Snake Inn for a dinner with Harris. I'll be serving the food and drinks. They want me to slip drugs into their drinks to make them unconscious. And after we have them unconscious, we're supposed to guard them down here in the basement… while they fetch Ozorne and a few other Stormwing-thingys to kill them!" Cassie whispered urgently.

Theodora's sea-green eyes widened with alarm. "You're right," she answered back. "That's treason beyond all reckoning. How could they ask someone like you to do that?"

Cassie took a bite from her bread and wiped some tears from her eyes. "If I don't do it, they'll feed us to some blasted thing called a spidren. I have no idea what they are, but just the name gives me the creeps. I'm so scared, Theodora."

"You'd better be asleep down there!" barked a voice from above. It was Harris. Cassie and Theodora jumped and scrambled under their blankets, which were torn and thin. Once Theodora and Cassie were sure that Harris had gone again, they got together under their combined blankets and kept each other close that night. Both fell asleep as slumber wrapped over them like a blanket.

O O O

"Get up, you lazy slaves!" snapped a voice overhead.

Theodora and Cassie awoke and helped each other off the ground. They knew better than to groan or say anything when Harris was demanding them to do something. The last time either of them had done something of the sort Harris had whipped them so hard that it hurt for many weeks afterward.

Harris was standing over them, looking dark and angry. He scowled down at them and threw them both some clean clothes – black dresses. Cassie and Theodora looked down at the dresses with surprise and confusion. These were not uniforms, they were wondrous gowns to the two young slaves. They gazed up at Harris confusedly, and he slapped Theodora across the cheek.

"Don't look at me like that!" he barked at her, and glared at Cassie. "Put those on, both of you. We're going down to port to pick up the thing we were discussing last night." He fixed Cassie into silence with a heated glare. With that remark, he stormed out of the basement and into the room above.

Theodora and Cassie took one look at each other and knew they had to do as Harris asked them, or they would be punished. They scrambled into their clothing, and slipped the dresses on.

"I bet you anything it's the drugs," murmured Theodora grimly as they trudged up the stairs to join Harris. He was waiting for them at the door, in a business suit. Cassie nodded and shivered. Knowing exactly what she was thinking, Theodora slipped an arm around her friend's shoulders. Harris didn't see – he was already outside clambering up into a wagon. Cassie glared up at him for a moment before both she and Theodora climbed up to join him in the wagon.

It took an hour to reach the port – the Blue Snake Inn in which they lived was a few miles from shore. There was a port city called Tagan, where most imports for the kingdom of Tortall arrived. Harris roughly led his two servants to a secluded dock at the end of the port, where a pirate ship was awaiting them. It had a red and yellow flag – the previous flag of Carthak – upon its mast.

The two servant girls gulped and were about to stay behind when Harris forced them on deck, where a ragged looking old man awaited them. He had an eye patch over on eye, and his clothes were torn and one of his legs was missing. His one good eye was like a hawk's, and it rested on Theodora and Cassie with desire and ambition before Harris started to speak.

"You have the… er… drugs, do you?"

The old pirate grinned suddenly. "Of course we have them damn drugs. Why else would we be here in this port, eh? Come along, come along. Bring your pretty girls with you." He licked his lips and limped back into his cabin. Theodora, Cassie, and Harris had no choice but to follow.

"Where are the drugs?" demanded Harris impatiently.

"Ye need to be patient, sir," the old pirate croaked. "Ye will be getting them drugs soon. But we got to discuss what it'll cost ya, eh? Sit down, sit down."

Harris obliged and sat in an old wooden chair, glaring up at the pirate in suspicion. "I want those drugs now, if you please. I am a wealthy man who does not have time for this foolishness. Hurry it up. The highest price I'll pay is five gold pieces, but nothing more."

"Aye, what a fine price that would be," the old pirate said mischievously. "But how about throwing one of them fine young ladies into the deal as well, eh?"

"No. Neither Cassie or Theodora are suitable for what you have in mind. They're lazy, and I need them for my plan anyway. Just hand over them drugs and I'll give you five gold pieces. Six if it'll make you happy," Harris said impatiently.

"Six gold pieces it is, without the girls," the old pirate snapped. He went further into his study and came back with a small box. He handed it over to Harris, who pulled out six large golden coins. They two traded the goods and the old pirate winked.

"That there are the worlds most powerful drugs, they are. Made by the old Scanran dog himself. No magic can detect them drugs in any drink or food. Just one drop in any mages soup or drink and they'll be knocked out for Goddess knows how long," the pirate growled, checking each coin carefully as he examined them.

Harris nodded, and glanced down at his two servants, who were cowering in the corner. "Come, Cassie, Theodora," he barked. "It is time we went home… our guests should not be kept waiting." He laughed wickedly as he went out, and his two slaves had no choice but to follow.

O O O

Cassie and Theodora were enjoying the little time they had together. Harris had gone to send a message to his colleagues, who would set loose some spidrens in the forest just a couple hundred yards north of the Blue Snake Inn. The plan was that it would attract Master Numair and Sir Alanna away from the castle, and that they would stop at the Blue Snake before going off to hunt spidrens.

"Just don't do it," Theodora suggested as they were peeling potatoes in the kitchen. "That's what I would do."

"But I don't want you getting fed to the spidrens," Cassie said fearfully. "I still don't know what they are, but the sound horrible. I would rather die than watch you get hurt. I've known you for far too long."

Theodora sighed. "Don't worry about me, Cassie. Listen, Harris is asking us to commit a crime against the crime of Tortall. It's the worst kind of crime possible – treason. Cassie, you know very well that if her were caught, he would blame the whole thing on us?" She tossed the peeled potato in the stew above them, which was supposed to be for a pair of customers who were outside in the restaurant.

"True point," Cassie mumbled, tossing her own potato into the stew. She started to stir it and sighed.

"I say dot give them the drugs. Warn them about it or something… we can't be asked to do something like this. We were born here," Theodora continued. "And-"

"We don't know that," Cassie put in. "We don't know if we were born here or not. For all we know, we could have been born in Carthak when Ozorne was in power. If we don't do as we're told we might be committing treason on our own country."

"But Carthak is under Emperor Kaddar now, surely you know that," Theodora said, sounding exasperated. She tossed another potato into the stew as Cassie started to chop up some meat to add to the stew.

Cassie shrugged and sighed. "I'll think of something. Either way, I don't want to be involved in treason."

"Now you're thinking the right way," Theodora said cheerful, thumping Cassie on the back. "Now let's finish this stew and serve it before Harris gets back. You know how he'll be if he comes home to find his customers aren't happy with the service."

Cassie shuddered. "We'll be whipped to the bone and left out for the Storm-thingys to eat. Come on."

The two prepared the last bits of the meal and carried it outside into the pub, where a merry group of sailors wolf-whistled for the two servant girls to join them at their tables. Cassie and Theodora ignored them and served up a group of bandit-looking men who had been sitting at their table for the past hour or so.

A horse whinnied from outside, and Cassie and Theodora looked at the door fearfully as Harris stormed in. But he did not look angry, but wore more of an ecstatic expression that almost never meant a good thing. He grabbed Cassie and Theodora roughly by their arms and dragged them back into the kitchen, where he sat threw them to the floor and rubbed his hands together. "The Lioness and the great mage are coming," he murmured with excitement. "They will be here tomorrow evening! Prepare yourselves, my pretties, to be involved in the greatest scheme in the history of Tortall. When Ozorne and I become rulers of all, you could be our young pets." He laughed wickedly and went back out of the kitchen, leaving Cassie and Theodora to gaze at each other in horror.