Author's Note

Last Chapter Finally dusk began to fall, made earlier by the late season, and Kyia and her friends were forced to leave. Kyia did so reluctantly. She had only been in Asgard Hall for a couple hours but already she found she loved being there. She walked through the gates, past Heimdall and Odin. She heard the gates clang shut behind her and looked around. The chain was winding itself around the gate once more and Asgard Hall and Bifrost and the shed were returned to their broken state. Heimdall and Odin had disappeared. Kyia couldn't wait until the next market day to go back.

Chapter 10

Kyia walked down the hallway silently in her stocking feet. It was midnight and she couldn't sleep. She knew she'd be punished if she was found out of bed so late but she was hungry! She padded down the hallway to the kitchens and then froze, held her breath, pressed herself to the wall hoping it would absorb her into it's cool depths. There were voices! She'd made it through two and a half months without being punished, being in a fight, or even forgetting to do her homework and now she was going to be caught and punished for being out of bed after hours? Her twin brothers, however, had been confined to the palace for the past five market days and instead spent their days shining plaques in the Trophy Room and dusting banisters. The voices came closer and Kyia realized, with a sense of dread, she recognized the voices.

"I'm telling you, she's gone!" Blacwin hissed.

"No she's not!" Gavin retorted rudely. "If she was, then I wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Gavin, she went to Scanra three days ago," Savaric assured the leader of their trio.

"I'm telling you, she's still in Corus!" Gavin growled warningly. His friends fell silent and Kyia's breath caught in her throat.

What's going on that has Gavin so upset? She wondered and then a second thought hit her: Wait, why do I care? She held her breath as the footsteps came closer and her heart beat faster. Gavin's brunette head swept around the corner, followed closely by Savaric and Blacwin. And then he stopped dead. Even in the dim light shed by a single torch lit a ways down the corridor, Kyia saw Gavin's eyes flash. She hadn't had a confrontation with him since the day Athram, Craft, and Rodney intervened and rescued her. She'd followed Athram's instructions to avoid them and had since learned a few tricks from Zuriaa and the Aesir Rogues in Asgard Hall.

"How much did you hear?" Gavin demanded, dangerously striding towards her.

"I didn't hear anything," Kyia lied expertly, trying to suppress the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.

"Don't play dumb, Traveursa," Gavin growled, grabbing Kyia by the front of her shirt and slamming her against the wall.

Kyia's ears rung. "Well that was uncalled for," she informed him innocently. It would appear Athram and Amery were rubbing off on her. Gavin slapped her and Kyia's head snapped to the side. Her cheek stung where Gavin's hand had struck her. She took a deep breath and did the only thing any page would have done: she hit him back. He promptly dropped her to the ground and held his nose where her fist had collided with his face. Blood was already coursing down his face and into his mouth from the blow and, while Savaric and Blacwin got over the shock, Kyia took off down the hall. She heard quick foot falls close behind her and when a hand gripped her arm and swung her around, she was expecting it.

Kyia twisted out of Savaric's grip and turned back in the direction of the page's wing. Fear struck her when she saw Gavin standing there, blocking her way. The three boys closed in around her.

Knock knock knock! Kyia groaned inwardly and glared reproachfully at the door. The person on the other side knocked again and Kyia rose to answer it, Snowdust at her heels. The once small fur ball had grown quite a bit and now stood to about mid-thigh height. Snowdust hadn't left Kyia's side since she'd stumbled through the door the night before. She swung the door open to reveal Rebar. The bright smile formerly resting easily on his mouth drooped and then disappeared.

"Shit! What happened to you?" He demanded after staring at her for a moment.

"I fell down?" Kyia offered sardonically.

"You were in a fight," Rebar hissed at her, hunching over so that he could look her in the eye.

"When would I have been in a fight, Rebar?" Kyia asked.

Rebar opened his mouth, as if to say something, closed it once more, and thought. He finally said, "I don't know, but that's beside the point. You have a black eye, a fat lip, and another bruise on your cheek. And that's just what I can see! I'm getting Athram."

"Rebar, I'm fine," Kyia told her former sponsor, though he was already four doors down. Kyia sighed and closed the door resignedly. She went into her dressing room and splashed cold water on her face. She looked up at her looking glass and her stomach plummeted. She looked worse off than she thought she would. Her lip was, indeed, split open in two places, her right eye was almost swollen shut and well on it's way to turning a deep purple, and the bruise on her cheek was purplish-brown. Sighing, she gently toweled her face dry and began to dress into her page's uniform, wincing whenever she bent over or turned her upper body in any direction. She suspected her ribs were bruised or worse. She jumped when the knock on the door startled her and went to answer it, tunic in hand. As Rebar had said, he'd brought back Athram, who looked like he'd only just rolled out of bed. His shirt was untucked, he only wore one stocking, and his hair was a bigger mess than was usual. His eyelids were drooping and his head nodding. He almost fell over. And then he caught sight of Kyia standing in the doorway.

"Good, gods, Kyi, what happened to you?" he asked, inviting himself in. Rebar followed and Kyia shut the door behind them. Everyone had decided to ignore Duke Grahams 'open door' rule, at least when there were more than two of them.

"I fell down," she told him.

"Hey! You can't use that!" Athram protested.

"Ironic, since you taught me it," Kyia retorted sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up," Athram told her sleepily, yawning widely. "Sit on the bed, let me fix you up."

"I'm fi-" Kyia began to protest.

"Its six in the morning, just sit on the bed," Athram ordered irritably. He never had been a morning person. Kyia obeyed reluctantly as Athram stood in front of her, placing a hand on her forehead. Kyia waited while his magic flowed through her, exploring all the contours of her body. He finally withdrew his hand and stared at her.

"Your ribs are bruised and one of them is cracked," he told her.

"So?" Kyia asked.

"I can heal your eye and lip and that bruise on your cheek but not your ribs, I don't know how," he told her. "We'll either have to tell one of the palace healers of get you to Falora." Falora, Kyia learned soon after meeting her, was the oldest and most experienced Healer amongst the Aesir Rogues.

"Falora," said Kyia quickly and Athram smiled tiredly. He healed her visible bruises and cuts and waved himself out. As soon as he was gone Rebar turned on her. He'd been standing behind Athram worriedly the whole time.

"What?" Kyia asked questioningly.

"Tell me who you fought with, Kyi," he said firmly,

"I fell down."

"Kyi..."

"I fell down."

"Gavin?"

"I fell down."

"Kyia!" Rebar thundered. "Who? Tell me!"

"Gavin," Kyia said resignedly.

"Gavin?" Rebar repeated disbelievingly.

"And Savaric," added Kyia.

"Savaric?"

"And Blacwin..."

"Mithros, Kyi, why don't you fight half the page wing?" Rebar bellowed. Kyia remained silent, a clever remark on the tip of her tongue. Rebar's chest eventually stopped heaving and his face returned to it's normal colour.

"When did you have the time to get into a fight with them?" he asked firmly.

"Midnight?" Kyia offered.

"Mid-midnight?" Stuttered Rebar and then shook his head. "Come on, we're going to class," Rebar ordered and ushered her out of her room, coming close to closing the door on Snowdust's tail before she wiggled out after them. Rebar didn't say anything for the rest of the day until the task of smuggling Kyia out of the palace arose. Kyia's ribs were burning by the end of the day, due to strenuous page's exercises and being pushed onto her stomach by Savaric on her way to mathematics. Every breath was laboured; Kyia hadn't known it would hurt this much! She was glad Aylwin didn't know what had happened or else he'd be having a fit! He'd been sleeping in the barn the past two nights so Kyia hadn't seen him and he hadn't seen her.

"How are we going to get her out of the palace without anyone telling Duke Graham?" Rebar fretted, pacing back and forth in front of Kyia's bed. Kyia was lying back on the pillows while Athram sat on the other half of the bed.

"We aren't going to get her out of here," Athram said.

"But she has to see a healer!" Rebar exclaimed, panicked.

"She will, but you aren't coming," said Athram simply. Rebar drew in a breath to protest but the younger boy held up a hand. "Its too risky. Kyia and I going alone is going to be risky as it is. You're staying here." Rebar scowled at his friend and, with a stare from Athram, nodded submissively. "Alright, Kyi, come on," Athram motioned for Kyia to follow him.

"How are we going to get to the city? To Asgard?" she asked in a hushed voice once they were in the corridor.

"We're going to ride," Athram whispered back. Akila and Athram's gelding, Hero, were already saddled when they reached the barn. Kyia caught a glimpse of Aylwin before he disappeared into the hay loft. Athram helped her painfully onto Akila and then they cantered out into the city. The palace guards wouldn't care that the pages were leaving-it wasn't their job to report such things, but Kyia and Athram would have to be back by curfew. The gates were closed then, and the guards reported all comings and goings after the gates were closed.

Asgard Hall rose up before them, rickety and ugly as ever. Snow covered the roof and windowsills, as well as the yard and the tall walls surrounding it. Athram dismounted from Hero's saddle, placed his hands on the bars correctly, and whispered the password verse to Heimdall and Odin on the other side. The chain unwound from around the gates and Athram and Kyia steered their horses onto Bifrost, their hooves silenced by the blanket of snow covering the path.

"Go inside and find Falora, I'll put up the horses," Athram told Kyia.

"Athram, I can take care of my own horse," Kyia protested, though she had to admit, her ribs did hurt.

"I know, but I want you to go get healed now so we can get back to the palace before they close the gates," Athram explained calmly. "And, I'm sorry, but a cripple like you is just going to slow down the process." He gave her a joking smile and took Akila's reins from her owner's hands. Kyia trudged through the snow, stumbled up the steps, and lunged through the door into the warmth of Asgard Hall's front hall. The banister was decorated with garland and ribbons for Midwinter, mistletoe hung over the doorways, a tall pine tree was positioned in a corner beside the stairs. The place was as loud as it usually was, drunk men stumbling around in the dining room, women laughing merrily, the occasional child scurrying from room to room. No one payed any attention to Kyia; people came and went constantly from the Aesir's home.

"Falora!" Kyia called hopefully, cringing at the pain of inhaling. There was no answer. Kyia kicked the snow off her boots and climbed the crimson carpeted stairs, walked along the hallway to the room belonging to Falora. She knocked and waited. A moment later the plump, friendly woman answered.

"Oh my, dear!" she cried scandalously. "What on earth are you doing here? It isn't market day! And even if it was, you have to be back at the palace by now! You'll be whipped!" Falora swept Kyia into her room and closed the door on the noise of the rest of the house.

"I won't be whipped, Falora," Kyia said weakly, but with a smile. The woman was always jumping to conclusions. "But, uh, my ribs are bruised. At least that's what Athram told me."

"Oh dear!" exclaimed Falora, horror clear on her face. "What have those boys done to you? Lift up your shirt, let me have a look."

"It wasn't my friends, it was three other boys who don't like girl pages," Kyia explained as she obeyed. She winced as she lifted her arms up and her ribs protested. Kyia looked down at her abdomen and gazed at the blue bruises on her torso.

"Oh gods," Falora said softly. "Lie down on the bed and let me heal those for you, poor dear." Kyia obeyed once more and put her arms at her side. Falora tutted and placed a cool hand gently on Kyia's ribs.

"Falora?" Athram's muffled voice said from the other side of the door. "Falora? I'm coming in." The door opened and Kyia's mind screamed. Her chest was exposed! Boys weren't supposed to see that!

"Athram, you foolish boy, get out until I say you can come in!" Falora scolded, spinning to face him. Athram looked guiltily at the floor, mumbled an apology and quickly closed the door. Kyia relaxed.

Falora sighed. "He means well but boys can be so foolish sometimes." She shook her head as she continued to work on Kyia's ribs. Kyia felt her eyelids drooping once Falora was done and fought to keep awake. They had to get back to the palace! Falora bustled over to the door and opened it, Athram strode in immediately.

"Is she alright?" Athram asked Falora. Falora nodded.

"She'll be tired after the healing, but she's fine now," Falora said. "You'd better keep her away from those evil boys!"

"I try," replied Athram. "They got her last night when she was on her way to the kitchen."

"How awful," Falora said.

Athram retrieved their horses while Kyia sat on the front porch wrapped in Falora's warm embrace and nodding off. The ride back to the palace was quiet and it seemed longer then normal. Athram was distressed, Kyia could tell. She wondered why. The palace walls rose up in front of them and Athram swore violently. The gates were closed.

"Looks like we're going back to Asgard," Athram finally said after a long minute and a half of curses and mutterings against the men-at-arms on guard. He spotted the guilty look on Kyia's face and smiled reassuringly. "Its not your fault, don't worry, maybe if we get back early enough Duke Graham won't notice we were gone." Kyia doubted it, but followed him back through the city streets anyway. She desperately wanted to sleep and was unable to care very much at the moment. Falora was surprised to see them back and was hysterical over the fact that they'd missed curfew, but she took Kyia into her room, lay her down on her bed, and ordered Athram into Arkitec's room. Kyia recognized the fuzziness that was impending sleep and let it claim her. The darkness was so inviting, quiet, comforting.

Author's Note