Disclaimer: I do not own the places or people created in Tamora Pierce's great mind

A/N: Thanks to laurashrub for her review.

Chapter 10 The Next Year

Messa stayed true to her word. With Kaddar's help, she set up a way for the four of them to meet without the Emperor's knowledge. She set up a system of messengers, the ones who she knew would never tell anyone anything and were loyal to Kaddar over their Emperor. These people, and sometimes animals, would deliver the information on the when and where. Lindhall and Kaddar were more than willing to meet with the two girls despite the death sentence over their heads if they were caught. They believed it was the right thing to do and after a few times the girls had become their good friends. So far they hadn't been caught in their meetings which may or may not be because of a certain goddess in green and a certain badger. Either way, they were infinitely thankful for the lack of discovery.

During their clandestine meetings, they had wonderful times. They discussed anything and nearly everything. They spoke of their lives up to this point. They spoke of worldly events, past and present, and shared their opinions on them. They spoke most often on academics. Everyone had something that they were able to teach the others, whether from book learning or life experience. The only topic that was never discussed was Ozorne. They all avoided any mention of him or his treatment of Daine since this was her time to be out of his shadow, if only for a few hours.

The only other good thing in Daine's life other than those meetings and her Ozorne free time at the cottage was the menagerie. She had come to love spending her time there. She made sure to spend at least once a week there with the animals. She spent as much time as she could with each of the animals, especially the hyenas. She knew how uneasy they made the Emperor and so made sure to pay them special attention. All this time spent in the menagerie had taught her all she had to know about how to run it and she had become very good at her job.

Unfortunately, the fact that she knew what she was doing had come to Ozorne's attention. He now wanted her to start taking what he called "Empress Lessons." During these lessons, she would learn all the etiquette of the court and what it actually was that an empress did. To say that Daine didn't want to start taking these would be an understatement. She was vehemently against them. This just equaled into even more fights between her and the Emperor since no matter how many times he hit her she still defied him.

The other cause for their increase in fights was the fact that Daine has yet to become with child. The Emperor was more than mad about that, he was furious. That was the whole reason he had thought of this scheme. He had wanted her not only for her standing with the Tortallan court, or even for her power, but for the fact that together they could produce powerful heirs to his throne; heirs that would carry on his vision for his country and the world.

With each passing day that she did not become pregnant, he became increasingly obsessive. He started coming to her every night, whether it be in the castle or at her sanctuary. He started making her see the healer every day to check afterwards. He became more and more aggressive towards her. Daine still fought with everything she had in her. It wasn't enough though. She was starting to lose her will to fight him. She knew she was; her friends knew she was; worst of all, he knew she was. They suspected that was partially why he was more aggressive, besides the lack of heir.

Like the good friend she was, Messa would silently patch her up after every fight. All the animals would be there to lending their support and arguing with her to let them take action. She really wished she could, but every time they mentioned fighting, she reminded them of the most likely consequences. She didn't want to lose any of her friends. Though, she did let them take little revenges. His treasured birds would poop on Ozorne constantly, but not often enough that he could blame Daine. The wolves would scare the hell out of the guards, causing them to quit and Ozorne headaches as a result. Cloud even got in a good back kick in without Daine getting in trouble for it.

One cloudy day, one small piece of Daine's little bit of happiness was ripped from her. The two girls were once again staying in the castle. It was dinner time, and Messa was heading to the kitchen to get food for Daine and herself. As she was walking down the hall, she came across a semi-closed door. She was going to ignore it when she heard what sounded like Ozorne's voice coming from within. Not one to pass up the chance to spy on Ozorne anymore, she crept closer to find out what he was up to now.

"…Meeting with my fiancee when explicitly told not to on pain of death. The insubordination cannot be allowed to continue. They are to be brought to me immediately tomorrow to learn that I keep good on my threats."

Messa gasped. That could mean only one thing. He was going to have Kaddar and Lindhall executed. She rushed back to the room that was Daine's to tell her the news, the thought of food no longer on her mind. It took Daine almost ten minutes to figure out what the hysterical girl was trying to tell her. When she did, she sat down hard on her bed with tears in her eyes.

"I have to warn them…"

"But how? You're expressly forbidden to go into the town today. If you go, you'll die." Daine didn't reply but got up and went to her desk. She started writing something before sealing it and handing it to Messa.

"Take Cloud and get this to the University, to Lindhall. He'll know a way out of here by dawn. And tell Cloud that it's of the utmost importance, not to fight you," Daine told her, "I may not be able to warn them, but you can."

Messa did as she was told, practically flying down the halls to the stables. Well, as fast as she could without attracting attention to herself. It would not do to get caught before they had the warning. She saddled Cloud up with barely any trouble, probably noticing that it was important. Cloud took the girl to the University as fast as she could. Upon arrival, Messa jumped off Cloud and again basically flew to the door that was Lindhall's. She knocked frantically, breathing hard from her run.

"Good lord, child, come in. Take a seat." Lindhall said, opening the door.

"No…time. You…must read," Messa answered, handing him the letter. Lindhall took the letter and read it silently, closing his eyes as if in pain when he was through. He had known they would be caught sometime, he had just hoped they would have more time.

"Tell her that we will be gone by dawn. She has nothing to fear," Messa turned to go but was stopped when he said something more, "Tell her we'll let everyone know what is happening."

Messa just nodded and took off again, knowing that her friend was worried out of her mind by then. She had Cloud taken care of and was back in Daine's private rooms in less than an hour. She informed Daine of what Lindhall had said before sitting down with her to wait out the night together. Luckily, Ozorne didn't come to visit Daine that night. So the girls stayed up all night waiting and praying. They didn't relax until they saw the guards come back empty-handed.