Hey! Sorry it took so long to post. Sister had to use computer. Man I fail at keeping a cliffy a cliffy. I just updated twice in one day! EPIC FAIL! Review! Or else *talks to Sara* I'll send Sara on you. MWAHAHAHA! -RK

XXX Stuart POV (rare) XXX

We are still following Jacob. You'd think he'd have stopped to rest for a while, I thought. We'd been following him since he left with Willa. The sun was painting the sky with orange. Man he has a LOT of energy considered he's been up all night. We crouched behind a bush as Jacob stopped moving and took a break.

He gave Willa's rope to a Wargal and laid down. The Wargal took her to a tree and tied her to it. She slowly got down and leaned against the tree. "Jacob!" Willa yelled he looked at her.

"What!?" he replied.

"Why did you want me? What did I do to you?" Willa leaned forward. He looked at her and saw her determination raw in her eyes. He sighed knowing she wouldn't let it go 'til he told.

"Fine. I took you to take revenge on the corps and on you! You will be my slave once I've broken you. The process is very tormenting. You will just be a shell of who you used to be!" He then laughed evilly. Willa tried to crawl into herself. She hugged her knees to her chest, placing her head on top.

"What should we do?" Anders whispered. Berrigan looked between us.

"Follow me. Stuart stay here until we make a distraction. Once their busy go untie Willa and get her to hide in the bushes." With that Berrigan walked out, they followed behind him as I crouched lower. "Hey Jacob. Just wondering how long until we get Willa back. Gilan is really upset because he promised this poor girl's mother that she'd be fine."

The Wargals came closer to them. I crept closer through the bushes toward Willa while they talked. Once I felt the conversation would be hard to stop I went behind Willa. "Willa!" I hissed. She cowered further into her knees. "Willa! Snap out of it!" I hissed while shaking her shoulders.

Willa gasped aloud in fright. Looking wildly around, I hide behind the tree. The others all looked at Willa and noted her pale, fear streaked face.

"What is it!? Jacob demanded. Willa just shook her head. "Fine. Anyway…" Their conversation turned into a buzz. I crept back out, going in front of her. I grabbed her chin and forced her to look at me.

"It's ok." I whispered to her as her eyes locked on mine. "We're here to get you out ok. Just stay quiet." I then undid her hands and helped her up. "Just a little further. Then hide in the bush 'til we get you." She nodded understanding. Berrigan moved so he could see if Willa was safe without being too obvious.

"Well I guess were done here." Berrigan said. He pretended to turn but then pulled out his Saxe and throwing knife. As I came toward them I drew my own weapons with the others. The two Wargals surged forward we fought them. Lydia blocked one while I snuck up behind it and stabbed it with my Saxe. Anders blocked the other while Berrigan took on Jacob.

Lydia turned and stabbed the other Wargal. "You're going down!" Jacob said. He and Berrigan circled each other. Jacob sneered at Berrigan. Then suddenly confusion came to his eyes. Berrigan focused on him intently. Jacob then felt a pain in his back. I watched as the life faded out of his eyes. He then crumpled to the ground.

Willa stood some distance away bow in hand. Hatred burning in her eyes slowly fading, fear and then shock slowly came into her eyes. She dropped the bow, like it was red hot. "AHH!" she cried out as she ran toward Berrigan. He hugged her as she cried into his shoulder. He let her cry for some time, and then he led us back to the camp.

They cheered as Berrigan led the way with Willa. His hand was on her shoulder guiding her forward. Gilan came up to her and saw her red rimed eyes. "Why was she crying Berrigan?" Willa went to Gilan. He hugged her as he saw sadness creeping into her eyes once again. He then told the whole story.

XXX Willa's POV XXX

It's been two days since I killed Jacob. But I can still see it clearly. Hal and his crew are still here, there packing food and water for the return trip. No matter what I do though I still see Jacob slumping down. I shuddered involuntarily.

"You ok?" I turned and saw a boy about my age. I saw concern in his blue/green eyes. He had broad shoulders, narrow hips, light brown hair, and was a head taller than me.

"Yes. Who are you?" He seemed nice from his concern.

"I'm Cory. I'm training with Horace and Gilan. Horace is coming soon." He said. I shook his hand.

"I'm Willa. Do you want a tour of the camp?" he nodded. "Well everyone's in the kitchen eating so after the tour I'll introduce you to everyone. Though Gilan should already know you."

XXX

"This is Sara, Lydia, Anders, and Stuart. They're apprentices like you and me. The adults are Halt, Will, and Gilan. You guys this is Cory. He's training with Horace and Gilan." I pointed to them in turn. Cory then turned to each person and shook their hands.

"How come a knight apprentice is training here with Rangers?" Lydia asked. Cory shrugged.

"So no one knows." I said. They nodded. "Well let's get back to training." I then grabbed Sara's and Lydia's hands. Dragging them outside to the targets. "Let's practice throwing together."

"Sure." They answered together. I took out my knifes and threw them. They then followed and threw them. We heard the thuds as the Saxes hit the targets pommel first. "So, how do you think Cory will handle training?" Sara asked.

"I think he'll do well." A smile threatened to break out. The corners of my lips still went up.

"Oh. Do I sense a crush?" Lydia said teasingly. I kept quiet.

"I think there is." Sara joined in. My cheeks began to turn red. "It's ok. We all love someone. I sorta have a crush on Anders."

"Shut up. Really?" I said. She nodded. "What's wrong with liking Cory? He seems really sweet. Also, are you planning to do a war on grammar? Because if so, I'm joining you."

"Me too." Lydia said.

"Sure." Sara said.