"Yeah hand to hand and with a sword." I thought their mouths were going to fall off. They looked like fish and I laughed behind my hand.

Evan looked at his father and his father nodded. "You mind showing us?" I shook my head. This might actually be fun. A new challenger and he was from one of the strongest countries in the world! Evan left for a moment and came back carrying two swords. I ran my hand along the side and felt they had been dulled so much I doubted it could even cut paper! I nearly laughed. He thought he I was lying and wanted to take it easy on me! I would show him!

"Where at?" He moved his hand in a follow me gesture and I walked out into the new rising sun. We walked to a large clearing and saw that many knights were already there doing numerous things. Some were just lounging about. Others were sparing while some were just exercising. When they saw me though everything stopped. All faces were on me and Evan. I moved the sword in my hand getting used to the feel of it. "What are the rules? I've never spared with Algresion rules before."

"Well have you heard of the Kyden rules? Ours are exactly the same." Kyden that was our kingdom! They spared with the same rules?!

"Yeah I've heard of the Kyden rules. Let's get started then." I smiled inwardly. He had just made this so much easier for me too. The battle started when he ran quickly at me ducking low and aiming for my feet.

I jumped up and jumped on his back then on to the ground again. He fell to the ground behind me but hopped up to his feet. He smiled "Your good, so now I don't have to take it easy on you."

I smiled too "Bring it on." He charge forward and started slashing his sword so quickly I struggled to keep up. He just kept coming though and he didn't seem to be tiring. He swung high and I dropped to the ground and did a low round the house kick. He lost his footing a once again was on the ground. His sword was on the ground beside him and I put my foot under it and tossed it into the air. I grabbed it with my other hand midair.

I dropped his sword and put my hand out. To my surprise he took it and lifted himself up. His breathing was uneven and I could tell instantly that last kick had knocked the air out of him. He wasn't nearly as good as Caleb was "You are good. If you weren't a girl we wouldn't dare use you as a cook no matter how horrible the food was." I could feel anger rising up in 

me. Talk about sexist! He was worse than my step mother! I pushed it down though reminding myself it was for the best. "Well I believe you can handle your own now but you can still use my tent. You're a lady and deserve some privacy." More again with sexist comments! This was going to be a long time here. I was just going to have to deal.

"Thank you that's really sweet. I have just one more question. Were exactly do I cook at?"

He laughed "You get right down to business don't you? Here come on. If we're lucky Nick hasn't started breakfast yet!"

The kitchen was just a plain brown tent with large wooden benches and tables. The kitchen was off to the left and included a range, pots and pans, a couples buckets of water and some make-shift drawers for spices and seasonings. My mind went back to when I was younger. I would often travel to the kitchen and I went so often Marge one of the cooks finally taught me to cook. She had always said I was a sponge when it came to learning and said I would've made a nice cook if I wasn't a princess. "So who is this pretty little girl Evan?" I looked at the dirty looking man before me and felt disgusted. And why was everyone calling me pretty. These guys needed to add some more words to their vocabulary!

Not to mention this grubby man was the person who was serving food? He looked like he hadn't had a bath in weeks! Not to mention he was treating me like a horse he could just off and buy! "My name is Kira!" I added a steely tone to my accent and I saw him shrink back, shocked that I would talk to him like that.

I was about to give him a piece of my mind when all of the sudden Evan stepped in. "Hey Nick I wouldn't mess with her. One she could kick your butt and two she's volunteering to be your replacement! If you get her too mad she can just leave and you'll be stuck as the cook."

The guy looked from me to Evan and then shrugged trying to act like he didn't care, but I could tell he did. "Looks like Evan has a crush on the cook." As he turned a walked off.

Evan shook his head. "Sorry about that. The rest of the men are usually better. A lot of them have kids themselves and will like having you around. Not that you're a kid or anything uh."



I laughed "I understand." And I did too. My father was always so much more protective of me then he had been with my brother even though I was older. I guess it was just a father thing to make girls their precious little baby even when we were no longer little.

"Well it looks like Nick has already cooked breakfast so we're out of luck there but at least we'll be able to hold down lunch." He smiled at me and I could feel my cheeks blush. No guy had ever complimented me except Caleb but Caleb was usually just teasing me. "Well until then I can show you to some of my friends. Here's one now! Tye! Tye come over here!" A guy with brown curly hair and a mustache came walking over. He seemed to in his early 20's. He smiled at me and bowed low. I curtsied and smiled at him. "Tye this is Kira. Kira this is Tye."

"Nice to meet you Kira. You the new cook around here?" I nodded. "Well then I owe you because that food Nick was cooking was starting to get to me. Hopefully you can cook better than him. But for now I would get ready because the usual crowd comes soon. Let me tell you 200 hungry guys aren't a pretty sight. If any of the boys give you any trouble let me know. I'll put them in their place. I have a two year old daughter and let me tell you she has me wrapped around her little finger. I miss her a lot so don't be to mad at me if I start acting like a father."

He winked at me and I smiled "No problem, I miss my father too, so I won't mind."

"That's the best news I heard all day." He smiled and walked away. I liked him. He had an honest air about him and he was friendly too. I could tell I would be hanging around him a lot.

I head towards the little kitchen and looked around for the food. "It's in the stove keepin' warm." I looked at Nick. "Kira I'm sorry for the way I acted before."

"It's alright." He turned to leave and I opened the door to the stove. Inside was a big cauldron of some goopy mush stuff. No wonder these men were so upset! I looked around and realized this would be the perfect opportunity for the poison. No one would suspect anything. I looked around and saw no one looking so I took the red bottle from inside my cloak. I poured some into the food and got a wooden spoon to stir it in. I took it out and set it on the table making sure it didn't look tampered with. With all that mess in there it looked like something from a nightmare.



I bet not even Nick could guess what was in there. I put a ladle in the mush stuff and waited for the poor victims who were going to have to eat this stuff. I didn't think I even needed to add the poison to this concoction to make the soldiers sick but who knew, maybe their stomachs had somewhat gotten used to the food? Just then men of all sorts poured through the flap. They headed towards the kitchen and when they saw me I could see hope fill their faces. The first guy asked "Mam did you cook the food?"

I shook my head "No not breakfast but I'll cook the food from now on."

I could see disappointment on the all the guys faces "Well at least the rest of our food will be edible from now on." I looked at these guys. Did they think that just because I was a girl I could cook? Well if I haven't done anything else on this mission I found out these guys were on the most part, sexist pigs. Ugh. I served all the guys that came counting them to see how many people on this side I could've just saved. 150 had eaten breakfast but that didn't quite mean anything. Some of the people could have immunity against the poison. Or the amount of the poison they ate wasn't enough to make them sick. It didn't matter, only about 60 or so would actually get sick.

That was the reason I had to stay here so long. I sighed, I hated to admit it but I wanted to see Daleigh, Caleb, my father, and even my brother. I waited a while longer and when I was sure no one else was coming. I walked out the tent and sat down on a log. I had asked why there were so few men at breakfast and a guy said there were a total of five different kitchens around the camp. It just turned out that there were only four cooks so they had to use a sub. That sub had been Nick. I sighed. There were going to be twice as many men for the lunch break. I would have help and there were going to put in an extra stove but still 300 men. That was so many! I put my knees to my chest and put my head on my knees. I was exhausted! "Hey you alright?" I looked up and saw Evan looking down at me.

"Yeah I'm fine just tired. I had a long morning." He smiled sympathetically and sat down on a stump beside me.

"Well all your stuff has been moved to the tent so you can take a nap. You have plenty of time. Plus some of the men want to spare you because they saw you spare me earlier. You're looking at the clown of the day. That is until you beat everyone else in this camp."



"You sound so sure I'll win."

"I know you'll win. You're the best fighter I've ever seen! My father was strongly considering putting you in uniform! But for now just get some sleep. Don't wear yourself out." I nodded and got up. I brushed my hands on my skirt and walked towards the tent Evan had let me have. I was about to duck through the flap into the tent when a man came running towards me.

He came close and whispered "Princess Sakira I have a note from your father. Don't worry I'm a spy your father sent. I'll see you tomorrow to pick up a return message." I nodded shocked too much to speak. My father had sent spies?!

"How did you get in?"

"If you're a soldier then you can fit right in with no one taking a second look at you. For your job though someone would pay attention so be careful and never let down your guard." He put a piece of paper in my hand and turned and walked off. I watched him go and then slipped into my tent. I unrolled the parchment and a second piece of paper slipped out. I picked it up and sat down on my bunk. The one that fell was from Caleb. I put it down for now and read the one from my father first.

Dear Sakira.

As you know I have spies in the camp and have ordered them to keep an eye on you. It's not that I don't trust you Sakira I'm just a worried father. Please be safe my dear and write back to me as soon as your able. I'm sure your mother will kill me for letting you go but she'll have to get over it. There was no way I could talk you out of it and you did make quite a point. You'll be a great queen someday. It seems Caleb is quite the leader. Not a single one of his men were hurt. They were barely wounded. He wrote you a letter to if you haven't received it yet. Be safe my dear.

Your Father.

I smiled. That was my father being protective as always. I regretted what I had to do next but I knew it was what my father would want. I tore the note up into the smallest pieces I could. No one could find this note or I would be dead in a second. I hid the pieces in my knapsack and moved onto Caleb's letter



Dear Kira

Hopefully for those poor men you can cook as well as you fight. If not then I doubt you'll even need that potion to make those men sick for weeks. Daleigh snuck out to see you and is now going to kill you when you get back she says. Something about her telling you not to do something stupid and then you go and do something stupid. Just thought I would give you a heads up. Maybe you could run off with the Algresion's. I'm sure you fight as well as one. Just don't join the army because then I would lose in front of my troops. Try to keep me informed. I want to know how bad your cooking is if I ever travel somewhere with you. Oh by the way your dad is seriously considering making you a knight. So we might be traveling together someday. It would be better to be on your team then on the receiving end. I got to go keep Daleigh from stomping over there and killing you now. You might want to hide for the next couple of days.

Your friend Caleb

I laughed, Caleb was joking just as much as before. He always knew the right thing to say to cheer me up. I heard a voice outside my tent and hurriedly pushed the note under the bed. I lay down and pretended to close my eyes. The voices past and my heart slowed down. That was to close. Never let your guard down. I remembered the spy's warning from earlier. I turned over on my back looking at the plain brown top of the tent. My eyes felt heavy and I finally slipped to sleep.