Neal paced back and forth through his campsite worrying about Aly. She had ridden into the village yesterday and still had not returned. He hadn't started to worry, well extremely worry (he always worried about the girl and the trouble she would cause him), about her until noon today since she may have spent the night in the village and it took about half a day to go around the village to where he was camped. It was now midafternoon and Neal was going crazy with worry. Deciding to ignore Aly's instructions to stay put, he gathered his things and headed towards the village on Aly's mare.

He gasped in surprise at the sight that awaited him. It was a ghost town and Aly was clearly nowhere in the village, instead, her mother, her father, and Henrik were there. In fear of his life he attempted to quietly turn the mare and leave, but he was soon spotted by Alanna who rode up demanding to know where her daughter was. Her demands made him lean away from her causing him to fall off of the horse and into the dirt below.

Looking up at her, he attempted a smile and said, "I'm not sure Milady."

"You're not sure!" she exploded, "You allowed my daughter to come with you on your insane attempt to rescue Kel, who I might add does not need rescuing, and you're not sure where my daughter is! Is that what you're saying!"

"Y-y-yes, Milady," he replied.

"That was a rhetorical question Neal! You do not answer rhetorical questions! And do not call me Milady! You are only making matters worse for yourself!"

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?" he said in attempt to change the subject.

"Do you hear him George? He's asking us what we are doing here. We're looking for you and Aly," she said in a tone as if he didn't know, "You stay here, while I go and discuss with my husband and Henrik what we are going to do with you. And don't say anything else or I might do something that I regret later."

Neal sat there on the ground and waited as a long argument began over him.

Aly woke up. Her head felt as if there were a million nails being pounded into it. She felt extremely groggy and could barely make sense of the strange scratchy sensation over her head and around her ankles and wrists. As her head began to clear up she realized that it was ropes that bound her ankles and wrists and a burlap sack over her head. She also became aware on the bed of soggy leaves she was lying on.

She attempted to prop herself up using her elbows, but the leaves were too slippery and she only succeed in covering her elbows with slimy mud. She also heard a sudden movement to her left before she felt a prick on her arm and the grogginess take over her mind once more before sending her into a deep sleep.

"You wanted to see me sir?" Kel questioned Fernando as she stepped into his office.

"Yes, Earo. I did. Would you please sit down?" he replied motioning to a chair on the side of the desk closest to her.

Not trusting anyone Kel remained standing though she ushered the two children into the room and had them stand behind her as she closed the door and faced herself so she could see both the door and Fernando.

"Ah. I see you don't trust us," Fernando observed a smile curling up his face, "Which is a good thing I might add. Now if we can get down to business I have a mission for you, that is if you choose to accept. We have this … enemy, a vile, vulgar enemy in Tortall, whom we need eliminated, which is what we wish for you to do. This person is the cause of murder of one of our own, a young man named Jenrish, Yamani if I might add. His call name, The Baffled. The origin of his name is a long story and we do not have time for it at the moment. We need you to eliminate a Yamani knight by the name of Keladry of Midelan, otherwise known as The Kraken. Bring me her heart and I'll give you wealth that you can't imagine."

"You expect me to do you a favor and remove one of your arch enemies after that exhibit yesterday?" Kel demanded in a cool manner.

"Yes. You see it was a set up, so I could see for myself the skills you posses and be absolutely sure that you could fulfill the mission. None of the assassins here have the necessary skills. I sent my best one after her six months ago and he ended up dead."

Kel's thoughts faded back to attack…

It had been dark night and she had been unable to sleep, thus she decided to go for a midnight ride on Peachblossom. She was in the middle of The Royal Forest when she saw a flicker of movement coming from a tree. Suddenly a figure dropped onto Peachblossom's back, but she was no longer there. Instead she had swung out of the saddle and below his belly. When the imposter landed on Peachblossom she swung back into saddle, knocking the imposter out with her feet. She pulled out a knife and jumped out of the saddle landing on his chest; with one swift swipe she slit his throat. Before returning home she tore open his shirt and left her mark. She returned home telling no one of her plight. As far as she knew no one had found the body yet. If that was the best they could put up then they were not a real threat to Tortall or The Yamani Islands.

"Of course," he continued, "There are other schools with better assassins and our best assassins are sent to the palace to become the king's private assassins, considering I no longer have any control over them, I can't send them on private missions for the school if they don't directly affect His Majesty and since a knight is not going to be able to get to him, she is no threat. That is the main reason why I brought you here, was to rid us of her and anyone else we may need to dispose of. Of course we can use your skills to better our assassins as well as gain a better position with the King. So my friend, will you accept?"

Note: Sorry for the long wait. I just wanted to say a quick thanks to all the reviewers (I apologize if I didn't reply, but they were somehow deleted from my e-mail and I couldn't remember who I had replied to). To make up for the lateness I included everyone in the chapter instead of just having Neal meet up with Alanna, George, and Henrik.