Leena blended right into the scullery with her drab dress, dirty smock, and eyes that stayed lowered as she worked. Around her the room was intensely hot from the great clouts of steam rolling off piping hot cauldrons filled with the day's stew. She had her sleeves rolled up to her elbows as she scrubbed out the dirty pots from the previous meal.

"Outside," someone whispers as she sweeps past Leena close enough for their skirts to brush her backside. Leena quickly finishes the pot she'd been working on and dries her hands on her apron. She tosses a perfunctory look around the room, and when she's sure the head chef's attention is elsewhere, she hurries off and ducks out the rear archway.

"Took you long enough," Armand says when she swings around the corner into one of the castle's rear courtyards. The place was a long-forgotten corner of the castle and lacked the polished look of the main gardens. A cracked pathway cradled a low half-filled fountain at its center. Old leaves drifted across the water from where they'd fallen from an overgrown tree with limbs brought low by overgrown branches.

"I was busy," Leena said as she planted her hands on her hips and glared at Armand. He leaned his considerable bulk against the castle wall and crossed his meaty arms over his chest at the stern look Leena gave him. Leena had never quite taken well to being partnered with Armand of all people, and she knew the feeling was mutual. "What is it?"

"The Ranger and the woman are heading for the mountains any day. We need to stop them before they go."

Leena puffed a breath of air to blow a strand of raven dark hair out of her face. "Why not wait until they leave and then kill them on the road?"

"Boss wants us here in the Castle, not trekking halfway back to the mountains," Armand said.

"They'll just send others," Leena pointed out. She had a sneaking suspicion Armand had been told to stop the party and had been given the choice over how to do so. Leena wasn't about to let him set her up for failure with a shoddy plan. She wouldn't allow her chance to prove herself to the Cult to be botched by the brute of all people, not after all she'd done on the night of the ill-fated council. "None of this would have happened if the first plan had worked."

"Well it didn't, so the new plan is for you to put a knife in the woman's throat," Armand said. "The woman's his guide and if she's dead he's as good as dead when he sets out without her."

Leena let out a gusty sigh and glared some more before strutting to the edge of the fountain. She'd done a little research on the woman, gleaning information here and there from other maids and even guards who stopped by the kitchens for a quick bite to eat. It was an unparalleled hub for gossip, and Leena had heard all about Strider the morning after the failed coup and the days that followed. Before the coup rumors had abounded about a woman parading around as a mercenary of all things. It was scandalous, and the maids spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out just who the harlot was bedding or occasionally who she wasn't bedding. Then suddenly word came that she wasn't a harlot after all but a noble from some far-off fief, a young thing who'd run away for love. The mood had shifted then, and Strider was no longer a harlot but a lovestruck woman who'd followed her heart, who'd learned to fight for her love. Leena rolled her eyes as she remembered the way the other women had latched onto the idea of true love, debating endlessly who had stolen Strider's heart.

"It's that roguish looking man she answers to," Glenda had declared as she wiped down the cutting board. She'd bumped Leena with a hip and winked. "Who wouldn't mind a tumble with him?"

Leena's face flushed hot at the memory just as it had at Glenda's teasing. She hadn't been able to stand Strider when they talked about her, and it only got worse after the council. Strider had heroically swapped places with the Princess and fought her way through the castle with a sword, cutting down every man who dared oppose her. Each time the rumor was told the number grew from two men, to three, to four, until Strider had been said to have cut down a whole host of men.

It should be me, Leena thought to herself as she stared down into the dirty fountain. They should be talking about me! The woman who brought the King of Araluen to his knees! Strider had taken away her victory.

"What's wrong, don't think you can take her?" Armand intoned from where he was leaning.

Leena whirled on him, eyes burning. "She'll be dead by morning."

This is a short little chapter from a new perspective! Some of you may recognize this character from an earlier chapter. Please read and review and let me know what you think! :)