9

It was not the first light of dawn that brought her back to painful wakefulness, but familiar chirping of sparrows.

Kel opened bloodshot eyes and looked down at the ground in front of her.

"Nari?" she croaked weakly.

The queen sparrow hopped up and down happily. She then flew in a tight circle before, once more, leaving as quickly as she had been there, the other sparrows following.

Friends. That was the signal Nari had shown her. Her friends were nearby, perhaps.

"Nearly ready to go, cap'n!" shouted a nearby Scanran.

Kerlan nodded, his dreadlocks swinging about his shoulders as he walked over to Kel.

"I trust we had a comfortable night?" he said.

Kel didn't dignify this with an answer, just stared back at him evenly. She had lost all feeling in her arms. On their return to the camp, Kerlan had ordered the rope that bound her wrists to be tied to an overhead tree branch, forcing her to remain in a stretched standing position for the entire night. Rope had been tied round her ankles. The Scanrans were not taking any chances of her escaping a second time.

Kerlan tugged his ratty beard and sighed, considering the girl in front of him. "You're strong, I'll give you that. Still, I wonder how much more it will take before we finally break you."

"I guess we'll find out," rasped Kel, her face Yamani smooth.

The Scanran leader smirked, taking a flask from his belt and swigging a long drink from it. Kel could not help but keep her gaze on it. She was so thirsty.

"Oh, how rude of me. I should have offered you some really." Kerlan tipped the few drops that were left into his palm and flicked them in her face. "Shame. You'll have to wait until we get to the castle." His face hardened as he gestured to his men. "Get her ready lads."

Someone undid the rope that bound her to the tree. Her muscles had turned to water and Kel could do nothing else but fall flat on her face, grimacing as her cheek hit the dirt. Her sore back protested at the movement. An unseen person freed her ankles as she lay there.

"Pathetic," someone nearby snarled. "On your feet wench." A boot drove into her ribs.

Kel gave a choked gasp, curling into herself for a moment. She then painfully drew herself onto her knees and finally onto her feet, swaying precariously.

Rough hands grasped her and bundled onto the horse again, securing her tightly to the saddle once more.

The rest of the day passed in a haze of almost delirium. Kel's back, generously striped with welts from the previous evening's episode, seemed to pulse with pain. Her throat was so dry every swallow felt like scraping glass. Her fingers…well Kel wasn't an expert, but she was pretty sure that the sickly bluish-white colour they were wasn't a good sign. All she could feel there was a slight tingle.

And suddenly they were passing through a village. What had been a village. The houses had been razed to the ground. A gibbet, hung with decayed corpses and dotted about with crows, held a sign written in Scanran: Traitors.

In the distance lay a ruined castle – the walls still standing strong and firm, but the keep a burnt out stone shell. Several new wooden buildings peeked over the top of the castle walls.

Castle Rathhausak.

Kel's heart froze as she stared at the ruined village and the gibbet as they passed through. Most of the villagers who had helped her rescue the children from Stenmun and Blayce's grasps had come back to Tortall with them. The ones that had chosen to stay in the village had paid the ultimate price.

Turning her eyes away from the pitiful sight the bodies made, Kel fixed her teeth into her lower lip, beating back tears. Kerlan and his men would think she cried from fear or pain, not from the aching guilt she felt at leaving innocent people to die for her deeds. Willing herself to remain as stone, Kel turned her gaze instead to the castle as they drew nearer to the newly replaced gates.

Men in armour swarmed the place as they entered the outer bailey. Compared to other Scanran warriors she had seen, these men seemed efficient and business-like, in decent armour, responding smartly to orders barked at them by their officers.

As the gates creaked shut behind her, Kel's spirits sank even lower. A rescue might have been possible on the road. It would be ten times harder for her friends to get to her now she was inside the castle walls.

Kerlan looked at his prisoner and gave a savage grin. "Welcome back to Scanra, Lady Knight. Now, let's not dawdle. His Majesty is waiting eagerly to meet you."