Neal saw their campground. The pit had traces of ember still burning faintly. Like the inn owner said, there were four spots where he could conclude that they were the sleeping spots of the entire company. Something bright caught the corner of his eyes. He walked off a bit farther away from the original campsite to find a small inconspicuous fire pit. There was a set of faint footprints that led to a small brush that overlooked the campsite. They were not alone.

8 The party settled for a midday rest. Kel volunteered to water all of the horses. The offer was gladly taken. She led the horses to a small stream. While the horses drank and began grazing, Kel decided she needed a long drink and knelt to do so. Before she could get a handful of water to drink, an arrow whizzed right past her, nicking her right arm in the process. She immediately shouted a warning as she grabbed a small javelin she carried in her boots and looked for the source of the arrow. She saw a small movement from the brushes across the stream and she blindly threw it, hoping that it would at least slow down the assassin for questioning. She heard a cry of pain, followed by a crashing noise of a body falling down on the forest floor. She grabbed one of the horses and galloped across the stream to the body. The assassin had been wounded in one of his legs and he was clutching it in pain while blood gushed from the lower region of his leg.

"Kel! Are you all right?" Alanna shouted as she joined her across the stream with her horse.

"Don't you move!" she threatened him. "I'm fine! Just a small nick. Guess what I caught though," she told Alanna.

Alanna knelt beside the injured man. "You're lucky he missed. We were all caught totally unaware. If you hadn't said anything, we'd probably be all killed before we knew what was going on. Thank the gods for that."

She flipped the man to force him to face her. "Who sent you? Why are you after us? What do you want?"

The man smiled evilly and suddenly died.

"How-" Kel started.

"Sorcery!" Alanna hissed as she grabbed a dark stone from underneath her blouse. She saw a trace of violet fire disappear around the man's neck. She dropped the stone from her hands in shock. "Violet!"

"Violet? What's violet?" Nighteyes asked as he joined them.

"The sorcery... The magic... was violet. Like mine... And Thom."