Surprise!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, or places, that you recognize.

Thanks to all of my reviewers!

A/N: Sorry for taking so long. I now have a one-shot up in the Harry Potter section. Read it Please! L8ter. Oh, for this chapter I most likely will be switching back and forth between Elizabeth and Kel. If you don't like then maybe, just maybe, I'll redo it. But that's very unlikely.

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It was bright and early when the group of warriors set out to retrieve the weapon. Elizabeth had a smile on her face because here she was, a lowly page, going on a mission with the best of the best, where maybe she could learn something completely new. She shivered in delight. One of the other pages saw this and decided to poke fun.

"What, you scared of a little trip, girl? Who knows what dangers could be on this mission. There could be spiders." He sneered. Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Then she gave a loud whistle. Scores of guys were forced to move as Cassie's big form trotted to Elizabeth. Elizabeth patted her muzzle as Sir Raul called for attention.

"Attention people! Listen up! We're about to leave. The sergeants should be making their way through and they will tell you what to expect and will make sure that everyone has the stuff that they need. Listen to them, their advice could prove essential." There was a pattering of applause as he turned and went back to doing his business. Elizabeth was called around to an older looking sergeant that was gathering most of the pages.

"Hey, look 'ere now. We'll be away for at least three days. We do hope to stop in a few places so you'll need to have at least something to change into. You must have the stuff you need for your animal, and most important, good weapons, in case everything doesn't go with the plan. Now, I'm bringing my hunting knife, my dagger, my sword, and my bow. If you don't have at least two different weapons on you right now, you might as well just leave." Two pages left, running back into the palace to grab another weapon. Elizabeth smirked; everything she touched could be used as a weapon. But just in case, she also had a beautiful, feminine dagger that the king of pirates had given her for her birthday. And the spear all pages are given, of course.

Within three minutes the pages were back, and breathing hard. A few minutes later, everyone formed into some sort of an order, and they were off. It wasn't a big ceremony, no one really came to say good-bye, but Elizabeth had the feeling that something important was going to happen and she would miss it. Little did she know that the adventure she was about to have was way bigger then the drama that happened upon the palace.

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Shinko felt a large twinge of fear though her face betrayed none of it. She and nearly all the people left in the palace were out and standing by the edge of the docks, watching as the Yamani wedding party arrived. The big, opulent ship cruised in, denying that anyone with less then noble intentions would be aboard. But Shrinko knew that anything to do with her mother would be trouble. No matter how hard she tried to convey her reasoning, the prince just couldn't understand why she didn't like her mother. She closed her eyes and composed herself.

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"Raul, this is crazy. There's a bad storm coming in and we need to get out of it, if not for us, then for the good of our animals. We can't afford to let anyone get sick or hurt, Raul." Lady Kel pleaded.

"Yes, I understand, but we also can't afford to lose time by stopping until the storm is over."

"But you don't understand! The animals are acting really weird, like something bad is going to happen. You need to listen to this, Raul." Just then Neal trotted up on his horse.

"There's a bad piece of weather coming in, I think that maybe we should take cover while it's still light out." Kel looked smug. Raul sighed and rolled his eyes.

"All right. But where are we supposed to go? Who's going to be able to bed down this many people at such a short notice?" Neal and Kel thought. Finally Neal thought of a place.

"What about that castle in the Briar Woods? Last time I was there they had plenty of room, and since they were blessed with a particularly good season this year, food shouldn't be a problem." Neal suggested.

"All right. We'll give it a try. But if they can't support us, then I want no complaints when we leave."

"Okay." Neal and Kel both said. And the company followed the commander to safety.

Twenty Minutes before the storm

Everyone was getting restless. By now the storm clouds had rolled in and were hanging very ominously over the entire group. No complaints were spoken out loud, but they were very much bouncing around in many heads. When a large castle came into view, a collective sigh was let loose. Elizabeth frowned.

"I've seen this place before, but, something's different…" Daniel glanced over at her.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Are we in Brambaia? I think that I've been here before, but I've never been here during the day."

"What? Like you've only seen it at night?"

"Yeah, that's when my friends and I would get here. But just in case it's not Brambaia, I think I am going to hang back here."

"Right. You do whatever you need to do." Daniel said, easing away from her. Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the look he had given her. Just then, Raul came up to the entrance.

Dismounting from his horse, Raul looked for the doorknocker. (This is an out of the way castle, they don't have servants) After giving up on finding it, the large man began pounding on the door. Elizabeth sighed. Now she was sure that she knew this castle. Easing her way through the throng of people, she stayed on top of Cassie.

Walking up the stone steps, everyone quit talking and turned to stare at her. After asking Raul to kindly step aside, Elizabeth stood up and balanced on Cassie's back. She reached up with her arm and grasped a small, barely noticeable wooden triangle attached to a chord. As she pulled on it, the strange doorbell let out five loud clangs. After a minute of silence, the top half of the iron doors opened.

"Hello?" Said a young teenage girl as she poked out her head. Her top half was right at the same height as Elizabeth on Cassie. Elizabeth cleared her throat. The girl turned to the side.

"Oh wow! Eli… Mary! What are you doing here?" She asked as her eyes all lit up.

"I'm here with some of the people from the palace. We're on a 'mission' and we need a place to stay. Do you have room for us?" Elizabeth asked. The girl thought about it. For one second.

"Of course! After all you've done for me, how can I say no? And it's not like we don't have enough rooms. The only thing is, the servants all have the week off, so everyone is going to have to clean up after themselves."

"That's fine. Besides we're only staying the night." Elizabeth finally slid off of Cassie and the girl disappeared and the iron door started to open. All the warriors waited with bated breath, patiently waiting to get out of the weather.

A/N: Hey peeps! Sorry this took me so long. I wanted to make it longer, but if I didn't just finish this off it would have been forever. I know there are a few gaps in there, but please, just bear with me. Enjoy!