Prologue
Alanna stopped walking and leaned toward the closed door. They had just got back from the Black City and she was heading to her rooms. She pressed her ear against the door, wondering where she had heard the voices before.
"…I'm telling you, my Lord, I am not mistaken. He is really a girl. We must not act upon it yet, though. She might do something like flee." Alanna walked away, not bothering to question the conversation she had just overheard, until she had gotten to the end of the corridor, when she finally realized who the voice was. Then, she flew down the hall, into her room, closed the door, and slid down the wall- tears running down her face. 'I've been crying a lot lately,' she thought vaguely. She sat for just one more minute before standing up- a plan forming in her jumbled mind.
The next morning, when Raoul of Goldenlake and Prince Jonathan walked into Page Alan of Trebond room they found it bare of anything but note, pinned to wall above the bed, reading only three word- 'I trusted you'.
6 Years Later
It had been six years since Alanna was found out as a girl- since she had disappeared to everybody. If she had waited just one day longer to leave- she would have been tried for treason- but she had left and her brother Thom- when hearing of his sisters disappearance, and the reason why- left Tortall immediately, in search for his twin sister. No one ever heard of him again, or, if they did, they said nothing to the Royal family. Soon after the midwinter when 'Page Alan' would have done the Ordeal, the Queen got dreadfully sick, and died. Within six months of her death, the King was found at the bottom of a cliff. They believed he had jumped. Now- with only Prince Jon and Duke Roger left- the kingdom was in a horrible up rise. It seemed as if they were making one mistake after another- and no one had any idea how to solve them.