Thank you to everyone who reviewed and I ask again, PLEASE REVIEW! I LOVE YOUR IDEAS AND YOUR ORIGINALITY, YOU DON'T KNOW IF I'LL LIKE YOUR IDEAS IF YOU DON'T TRY! (JUST MY HUMBLE OPINION.)

LITTLEFREEEAGLE: Now you know about the magic that was (involuntarily) used to capture Kel!

EmpressOfPudding: Of course Peachblossom bit a few of the men! What do you take him for? A mare?

PuppyBekaCooper: Don't worry, you'll get your hissy fit eventually...

Disclaimer: I am not Tamora Pierce, if you thought so, please visit Neal...

Thank you to everyone who reviewed Keep reading!

I was staring out into the sunset marveling at what a great day I had had. Dom and Wolset had avoided me but that didn't bug me. The sun was setting in a pink and orange glow, it was beautiful. I knew I should go back into Steadfast before it got too dark but I couldn't peel my eyes away.

Finally the sun set and I turned to walk back in. An orange glow filled the air around me. Magic! I tried to cry out but no sound was made. I struggled but the magic kept me in place, the darkness closed in.

--

I woke up with a start, making my back hurt incredibly, visions of the previous night swamped my head and I looked around to figure out my surroundings...

I was trying to move but couldn't until I realized that I was tied to a tree, I must've hit my head...

What happened? All I remember was an orange glow, Magic! But whose? And more importantly why? My head throbbed and so did the rest of my body, I must've been tied pretty roughly to this tree. I tried to wiggle out of it but I was strapped in too tightly and any weapons concealed about my person had disappeared. I froze at the sound of footsteps from behind me;

"My my, I see the prisoner has finally awoken." A man with a heavy accent said with a sneer. I tried to turn my body to see who the speaker was but the tree impeded my doing so.

"Who are you?" I choked on my words, my mouth parch dry.

The man laughed and went away leaving me alone to my thoughts. Damn! Where am I?

It was very early in the morning and I stayed strapped into the tree for a couple of hours until midday when the sun was halfway up the sky. I heard noises again, but they were definitely not belonging to just one person. Suddenly someone started loosening the straps on the back of the tree. I fell forward with a lurch into the dirt-covered forest floor.

Ringing vile laughter floated from around me and I was hauled to my feet, too sore to do so myself. Around me I saw the faces of a very strange crowd. Over fifty Scanrans, Gallans, Carthaki and what I believe where Copper Isles men stood in front of me. Men of different countries banded together? That could not be right. This could not be happening. Whatever this was..

I tried to ask questions but was ignored. my hands were roughly tied together and then tied to a horse. The men watched me and laughed. They mounted their horses and started off to wherever we were headed. I seemed to have been attached to the leader's horse and he was the last one to mount up. He rode slowly to he front, I had to walk very fast to keep up.

They then started at a medium pace, obviously wanting to leave and make good time. I had to run to avoid being dragged. It was exhausting and even with my stamina I couldn't last more than half and hour. The other men were jeering insults at me and laughing seeing the world renown Lady Knight in ragged clothing tied to a horse, running to avoid being dragged. Just as they had thought, women had no right to fight! I'll show them, I gritted my teeth and kept running.

After another half an hour they stopped to water the horses, I was exhausted having run for an hour straight, my muscles were screaming in pain but I did not let it show in my face, I would not give them this satisfaction.

After that we started off again at a gentler pace, I still had to fight to keep up but walking was of course less exhausting than running. we went until late and then they set up camp. Although summer, the nights were cold and they commenced a fire which they sat me beside. At least they had the decency to keep their captives from freezing to death.

--

The men then sat around me, I was bound and this time gagged by a putrid cloth. The man whose horse I had been attached to, and who looked like the leader of these kidnappers leered at me. His face was pale and he had blond hair so light it would seem white, a Scanran no less. His teeth were crooked and stuck out at odd ends while his eyes were a freezing blue, he reminded me vaguely of Joren although he was no where near as handsome and of course, Joren was killed in the chamber while I was still a squire.

He gazed at me with blocks of ice that made my skin raise in bumps.

"So yer wonderin' why we would bother to kidnap a wench like ye, eh?"

My eyes widened barely but he saw it. He barked a laugh.

"We're here on hi' majesties orders. We were to kidnap ye' and bring you to Scanra."

One of the Gallans spoke up;

"Th' bloodsucker king of Tortall is going to invade us in the end, we knows it, so we needed someone who meant something to kidnap as an example."

This man spoke better than the Scanran but right now his accent was not as important as what he had said. King Jonathan would not invade Scanra, Galla, The Copper Isles or Carthak! And why me? Of all the knights why me?

"The king listens to us, he knows what's right."

"Ye, and yer a girl. Women can' fight, yer no fighters yer just bed warmers!" This was met with a chorus of Hear Hears. I looked at him with disgust as the leader spoke again.

"Keladry Of Mindelan, you created a crime when ye went around showing women they can fight, ye had no right. Yer a wench, a filthy whor' who's gonna learn her place. Once we'r done wiv ye, ye won' go sayin' garbage like that no more."

"We'll get all the information we can out of you and then ransom you to yer precious king, but when ye go back, ye won't be more than a broken object, too scared to do anything but cry, like all the others."

This was a Carthaki who spoke up and all the heads nodded their agreement. I was to say the least, terrified. It is not like me to be scared, let alone terrified but they were not going to stop at anything to get the desired information, if I gave in they'd ransom me, If I kept shut, they'd kill me, its a no-win situation. I swore an oath to my king and my country I will not give away any secrets regarding my people or Tortall and like I swore, I will not tell, even if that means death by torture.

--The end--

-

(Ha Ha, I'm not that evil)

The men went off and got, no surprises, drunk. Not too drunk, but still fairly gone. This was my chance of escape, but my body chose right now to be un-cooperating. I then felt a tingle of orange. How do you feel orange? The mage! I had almost forgotten how I had been kidnapped, I looked around me carefully, someone was using magic to keep me from running, so at least someone was sober. I looked into the eyes of a blond man with green eyes. Somehow he didn't look as mean as the others. Something about him told me that he was indeed not like the others. He made his way over to me and crouched beside me, he spoke to me in a hushed whisper;

"My name is Nikolaus, Nick, I'm on your side."

I looked at him, I knew it was stupid to trust a man supposedly enemy when they said they were on your side, but something about him gave me faith.

"I heard about this expedition in Galla where I was just a wanderin' stranger but I knew what they were doin' was wrong, Keladry of Mindelan is known everywhere, you bring hope to people, especially women you have no right to this torture. So I joined.'

He shrugged his shoulder at his explanation, he still spoke silently and looked at me in disgust, so not to look suspicious to the others. I blushed slightly as his praise. He was slightly taller than me and looked barely years older maybe even the same age but it was dark and hard for me to tell. He was, like the other men, dressed simple but had somewhat of a clean shine around him. Obviously the men were being paid by somebody because while they were; 'ruffled' from riding but they were dressed somewhat well with breeches and shirts that were neither torn nor completely ragged, they were being paid, and by the looks of it, well.

Nikolaus looked at me and continued, he seemed to be trying to communicate everything to me before we were interrupted, who knew when the next time we could talk (he could talk) would be.

"My lover Sebastianna, Saby, is here as well..." I widened my eyes and looked around. For the first time I noticed there were some women among these men, very little but some, obviously wenches (in the real sense) for no man would take his wife with him on a ride such as this. A pretty blond woman gave me the slightest of nods, obviously indicating she was Sebastianna (Saby). She was tall although slightly shorter than me with big almond eyes.

"Sebastianna came with me, she knows of you too of course. She knows what they are doing is wrong and she will help us with escaping, whenever that will be."

I tried to tell him; why not now? but the magic impeded me to talk. He seemed to get the jest though because he answered the unasked question;

"The men may be somewhat drunk but they always remain sober enough, especially Ralstone. Ralstone is the chief of this expedition, he alone answers to the king."

I nodded slightly, as much as the magic allowed me. He placed a hand in his pocket and produced something, he placed the necklace around my neck, I saw it was a pregnancy charm. I turned beet red and was about to ask him the meaning of it but Nikolaus stood up abruptly and grabbed me by the tunic, lifting my dead weight into the air with a strength I hadn't noticed he possessed and he slapped me, hard. The impact sent me sprawling on the floor still unable to move from the magic. I looked at him and saw an almost invisible sign of sadness in his eyes. I heard footsteps approaching, that explains it! He had to pretend to hurt so others wouldn't be suspicious, although he could've hit softer. That slap had hurt although if it had been softer it wouldn't 've been as realistic, but still.

The men laughed at the image of me on the ground. Then Ralstone signaled Nikolaus. I felt a weight lifted off me, wait, Nikolaus is the mage? Well that would help in future escape attempts.

I had the use of my legs again even though my hands were still tied. I stood up quickly. Ralstone looked at me and then slapped me. If I had thought that Nick had slapped me hard this certainly changed my mind. It was so hard that if he had hit any harder my head would no longer be attached to my neck. I yelped and fell to my knees. The men laughed again, Ralstone picked me up by the hair which was tied in a ponytail. I bit back a scream of pain as he raised me to my feet. He put a hand on my back and shoved me into a tent. The men jeered, as I fell down inside. I looked around, this seemed to be Ralstone's tent. Realization dawned on me like the sun in the darkness, I fingered the new charm around my neck and sent a silent thank you to Nick.

Ralstone came in and shut the tent flap behind him, I gulped.

"So, ready to learn your place wench?" He laughed his vile, cruel laugh that made my blood curdle and then came towards me.

This was the thing I stopped. Women around Tortall could count on me to help them, I was there to help them whenever I could, but now, there was no one to help me, no one at all.

--

Kind of long I know...

You all know whats happening, and I will end my chapter here because I do not wish to describe it, I'm sure you can imagine pretty well what happens. And to those readers who hold on to the thread of hope I am afraid I must have to cut it. Kel cannot escape this one, she does not escape the men, she does not get saved by Nick or Sebastianna and Dom does not ride in with his white stallion (I say that in all means metaphorically) I do not say it to be mean but so that you do not get your hopes up to high just to have them crash down around you again. I am sorry but Kel's the chiefs bed warmer, at least for tonight that is...

Sorry, really I am,

Keep Reading (and Reviewing),

xxTunstall Chickxx