A/N: okay I am so so so sorry about the six or so moths that have passed since I last updated, school took over in a big way. I am happy to say though that as I am now entering the joyous two months of summer holidays, I should get a lot more done, but I'm going to Spain so it won't be uploaded as soon as I would like. Sorry! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, it is greatly appreciated, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :P

Enjoy! Taxi x

"Where do you think you're going?"Alanna froze.

"The exit is this way."

She began to breathe again; it was Charlie

"Charlie!" she cried. She was very, very relieved.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh!" D'you want us to get caught?!"

"Oh sorry, I didn't know you were coming," she whispered softly.

"Well I told y' so. That was silly!"

"Oh…"

Not letting go of her wrist, Charlie lead her over to the outer wall.

"Now, hold on a tick", he told her as he knelt down and began to pat the bottom of the wall. "Ah, here it is." he took two steps backwards, grabbed a stone and began to slide it backwards across the ground. It moved slowly through the dirt and seemed to be taking quite a lot of effort on Charlie's part. The most surprising thing, however, was when a large black hole began to appear at the base of the wall, Alanna felt her eyes widen with amazement. "How are you doing that?" she asked, then another thought occurred to her. "It's not Magic, is it?"

"Nope, not at all. Jus' a good ol' fashioned hidden trap door. Dickon says magic's too detectible anyhow, in a place that's full of mages"

Alanna smiled. Charlie was good at soothing her fears.

He was finished dragging by this stage and the dark hole was as large as it was going to get, so they descended into the deeper blackness of the tunnel, with Charlie leading. Alanna followed warily, careful to check each and every step was there before putting her weight on it. When the passage leveled out after only a few downward steps Charlie asked her to remain where she was, and scampered back up the stairs to pull the cover back across the opening, blocking the star speckled sky (and the only light source).

Alanna was now surrounded in flawless darkness and for a moment she could have been the only person in the world, although that illusion was shattered quickly; Charlie stubbed his toe and began viciously cursing the rock, the lack of light and anything else he could think of.

"Alanna" he groaned, "round near your feet there should be some flints and a pile of torches, can you get us some light?"

Alanna nodded, remembered Charlie couldn't see her and called "Yes!" in the direction of the angry muttering. She squatted on her heels and placed her palms on the ground. It stung; she had almost forgotten they were completely shredded. The pained child gingerly peeled her bleeding palms off the ground and carefully began lightly feeling the ground with her finger tips.

Luckily the required items did not take long to locate and by the time she did, Charlie had arrived and took up the task of actually creating some light. The flame whooshed into life, casting a small yellowish glow on to the earth packed floor, walls and ceiling. The space wasn't that big, and Alanna was glad she was not very tall.

"Alrighty, this way." Charlie set off down the tunnel, away from the steps they had just descended. The instruction was not really necessary, Alanna thought with some annoyance. There was only one way to go. The tunnel however soon forked, Charlie took the left hand path, the tunnel twisted and curved and split again, in to three this time Charlie went right and a few moments later they reached a crossroad, and so it went on. Alanna became completely disorientated; she would never have found her through with out Charlie, who luckily seemed to know exactly where he was going.

Finally the pair reached another set of steps leading upwards, Charlie swiftly climbed the bottom two steps and grabbed what looked like a root protruding from the roof of the tunnel and began hauling it backwards, like the opening at the other end, the ceiling slid back to reveal the starry night sky. Alanna breathed in the fresh air gratefully and followed Charlie up the steps.

Being above ground was not quite as relaxing as she'd hoped it might be; the convent was still in clear sight, its great grey wall rising up behind them about three leagues away. In front of them were several small hills, one of which they had come out the side of. The city was still not in sight, she had no idea how much further there was to go, and there did not seem to be any sort of path to indicate which way to travel. It looked as if Charlie had lead them into the middle of nowhere. What on earth were they going to do now?

While Alanna was busy having a slight panic attack, Charlie had recovered the tunnel entrance and was now stubbing the torch out in the dirt, the moon was casting enough light for them to see their path and if they carried their own light they would be easily spotted.

"Okay Alanna, this way" he turned right slightly and slowly began to climb the hill they had just emerged from. Alanna followed, picking her way up the slope, still not knowing where they were headed. Well, she assumed it was to the city and back to the inn. Where else would they give her lessons? Now however, she wasn't quite so sure.

"We are going to the inn, aren't we?"

"Of course we are"

"Then… where are we?"

Charles teeth flashed white in the partial darkness; he was kind of enjoying her confusion.

"Don't worry, we're getting there"

Alanna glared at his back. It wasn't really helpful, but it made her feel just a little bit better to stare daggers at people when they weren't looking.

They walked for what Alanna felt was half an hour, at a fairly swift pace. She was surprised to find herself slightly out of breath; they had done this sort of thing all the time at home, and it should have been easy. As they finally rounded the last hill Alanna was surprised to see the city wall only a short distance away.

"How are we going to get in?" Alanna hissed

"You'll see!" was the gleeful reply. Charlie, it seemed, was really enjoying himself.

He lead them right up to the up to the wall, then tuned left and walked along the wall, Alanna following closely behind him, they did not have to go far before they reached a gate.

"Hey Charlie! 'ow you goin'? Haven't seen you in a while!" exclaimed the guard sitting at the gate.

"No bed tonight," the boy replied with a grin.

"And' who's this lass then?" the man peered into Alanna's face, "Gawd! The lass 'as purple peepers!"

Charlie laughed at the other man's surprise, "Nox, this is Anna. Anna, this is Nox." The pause was very slight, but Alanna still picked it up. Why wasn't Charlie using her real name?

"Pleased to meet ya, lass."

Alanna was staring at Charlie, and only managed a confused smile in reply. Charlie moved quickly to prevent the guard asking any more questions. "Sorry mate, like to stay and chat, but her pa'll 'ave me head if I don' get her home soon."

Nox blinked, laughed loudly and winked at the two of the "Oh, aye. I understand, through you go" he laughed loudly and pushed open the door to let them pass.

With in the city walls the cool moonlight that had so effectively lit their path through the hills was drowned out by the yellow light of the flames that sat atop tall poles along either side of the street. These torches, though, burned much brighter than average torches, and Alanna figured they must be aided by magic. She avoided getting close to them as she followed Charlie down the streets.

They soon passed through the square that Alanna had first escaped from, but it was quiet and empty now; all the shoppers and stall holders had gone home. There was, however a group of drunken larrikins standing in the center of the space who whooped and yelled at the two children. Charlie grabbed Alanna's elbow when she stopped to yell back at them. They were almost there, and to have her beaten up would not be all that helpful or easy to explain. Once he had explained this to the small red head, she calmed down and let him pull her out of the square.

"Why did you tell that man my name was Anna?" she asked.

Charlie glanced at her. "Well…Alanna's not a very common name, it sorta screams noble, an' you've already got purple eyes, we don't want you remembered for having a strange name as well. An' Anna's not that different, Dickon always says the best lies are part true, so now you jus' gotta remember in the city when your with me, you'll be Anna."

"Okay…I suppose…hey, Charlie-"

But she got no further, for they had arrived at the inn, The Thistle and The Hare. Charlie pushed open the door and a wave of sound crashed over them. There was shouting and yelling, laughter, and some truly dreadful singing. The place was packed, with barely any room to move at all. On each bench, bodies were jammed together. The smell was overpowering. Sweat , beer, vomit and a hint of urine exploded into Alanna's nose, she swallowed hard and blinked.

"Ready?" asked Charlie, who was trying hard not to laugh at the look of complete disgust on her face; he was quite used to the smell, but Alanna it seemed was still quite a lady in some regards. He reached for her hand, ready to pull them through. It was going to be a tight squeeze.

Alanna's breath hissed inwards as their palms touched, Charlie frowned. "What?" he asked, looking down at her hand, bound in ragged, brownish fabric, that he guessed once white. "Gods, Alanna, what have you done?"

Alanna showed him her other bandaged palm, in a fairly similar state. "Sorry… I forgot," she apologised, biting her lip. It was true, she really had forgotten for a while. The good thing about walking was it didn't involve your hands.

Charlie frowned and carefully grasped her wrist instead, and then dragged her into the writhing mass of people. Alanna tried her best not to breath as she was hauled through the hall, the smell was even worse inside the crowd. One man staggered into their path and attempted to throw a punch and collapsed in a heap on the floor. Charlie bounded over the unconscious lump. Alanna was not so quick though and jumped on, rather than over the man. She felt like a horse practicing jumps, she just managed to get her head down as they ducked under the bar, down the flight of steps that she had previously fallen down and out into the court yard. It was perfect timing for Alanna, who had been running out of air, and she gratefully gasped in mouthfuls of sweet relatively fresh air. True, it smelt like horse dung, but in was much better than the smell of drunken people.

Charlie just stood there and laughed at her. She shot him a glare and he controlled himself slightly, and patted her on the back. "Don't worry, you'll soon get used to it" he giggled.

"I'm not sure that I want to!" she muttered, and Charlie collapsed on the ground unable to help himself any longer.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

A slim man watched from the shadows of the stables as Charlie and a black clad figure burst from the back door and in to the well lit court yard. The stranger seemed to be quite out of breath, and Charlie was laughing hysterically. Not much change there.

Sliver eyes followed the girl's movements. Oh yes, he knew it was a girl, he knew exactly who she was, and Dickon's plans for her. She was going to be very useful, if she was strong enough.

He smiled to himself, well the corners of his mouth twitching upwards in a twisted grimace. Tthis was going to be interesting, very interesting. The girl had a lot to learn.

A/N: good, bad, ugly, should never write again? let me know press the reviw button! Next one will hope fully be before Christmas fingers crossed :-S