Thanks to all you who reviewed. Sorry about chapter 5. It was really a mess. The format I saved it in
messed it up. Anyway, for your enjoyment, Chapter 7!!! It may be a little morbid, but I love writing fight
scenes in all their gory detail, so this is a little longer than usual. I don't own anything except the plot. The
rest is Tamora Pierce's. R/R


"There! Wentar of Stone Mountain!" Sam's muffled whisper just barely reached Kaia's ears. She
leaned slightly out of the dark door way where she and Sam stood. Wentar of Stone Mountain stood about
ten yards away, laughing over something with four other boys. They all seemed to be a gang, with Wentar
as their leader.
"Figures," muttered Kaia to Sam, "He's the nephew of that squire that the Chamber killed. The
one that they found dead." Sam shuddered. Kaia lifted her hand slightly, signaling Liam and Dennith across
the hall in a similar doorway. Then she and Sam waited until none of the boys down the hall were facing
their way. Kaia gave Sam a little push. He swallowed audibly, and stepped out of the shadows. Then he
began to walk at a normal pace towards the boys down the hall.
One of Wantar's friends noticed him first, and elbowed the leader. Wentar turned, and his face
broke into a smile. In the dim light, Kaia couldn't make out much of it, but what she could see she didn't
like. Crossing her fingers, she watched as Wentar stepped forward to block Sam's way. Sam stopped and
looked up at him. "Yes?" he asked. His voice was quite cool and calm.
"I'm sorry to see that you didn't take our advice, and stop hanging around that commoner
masquerading as a noble." His voice made Kaia shiver. She wouldn't like to be Sam right now. Wentar
could very easily punch him before she or Dennith reached him. She wished that it was her out there
instead of him. She was completely confident with her ability to take care of herself, but she wasn't to sure
about Sam. However, they were sure that Wentar would make a move on him, since Sam hadn't taken his
"advice". Kaia just wished that they were closer.
Wentar looked Sam over. "I thought that you would have figured it out by now." He said. "I really
didn't want to have to make your face any more messed up than I had to. But it seems that you have left us
no choice." By now, the rest of his pack had circled around the pair, leaving Sam no escape. We're
outnumbered. Kaia realized. She shrugged of the thought. She and Dennith could take care of all of them
together. And if things really got out of hand, the prince would step in. The boys would think twice about
punching him. Liam hadn't been happy with the idea. He had, as he had put it, been "really wanting to
teach the idiots a lesson". Only a lot of persuading and pleading throughout the whole day of classes had
convinced him that he was needed in that particular position.
Kaia signaled again to Dennith to be ready. She felt a cold thrill as Wentar pulled back and arm.
Sam tried to turn away, but two on the others grabbed him by the shoulders, and held him poised in front of
the strike. It hit his eye, which was already swollen and bruised. His knees gave way beneath him. Kaia
hoped that he hadn't passed out. She stepped out of the doorway and began to walk down the hall with
Dennith beside her. The stopped behind the circle of pages, and waited. When no one noticed them, Kaia
looked at Dennith and nodded. Then she drew back her first, and landed a carefully placed punch in the
back of the nearest boy's head. He dropped like a rock. Her teacher had always said that she had a gift in
knocking people unconscious with very little work.
Needless to say, that got their attention quite effectively. The boys holding Sam up dropped him,
and stepped forward, one on either side of Wentar like bodyguards.
"Oh look!" said Wentar, "It seems we have company." He stepped right up to Kaia, with his face
just inches from hers. "We don't want company." He said. "Go back to your parents, and leave this place to
the people who really belong here." He looked over his shoulder at Sam, and then over Kaia's shoulder at
Dennith. "And why don't you take your," he paused and smiled , "Friends with you?"
Kaia kept her face like stone. "I belong here as much as you," she answered calmly, "In fact, I
belong here more." She spit the words into his face. "Coward. Five against one? Or do you really need all
the help," she looked him over, and smiled, "Ah, yes," she said with a small smile, " I can see that you do."
This was evidently too much for Wentar. He reached out and grabbed her arm. She took that wrist
in both hands and twisted her hands in opposite direction, keeping her grip hard. He cursed, and let go,
tearing his hand out of her grip. She felt a punch hit the side of her head. She cursed herself inwardly for
forgetting his friends. Already Dennith was locked in a furious fist fight with one, the other still lying
unconscious on the ground. One of Wentar's bodyguards had left him, and was beating on Sam, who lay
on the ground and moaned. The other had hit her. While she was still reeling slightly, he slipped behind
her, and twisted both her arms behind her back. Wentar slid his belt knife out, and held it in front of her
face, while she twisted her hands around to try to make her captor let go. Even gouging his arms didn't
work. He was too determined to hold on.
Wentar looked around at the two battles. "See what happens when you involve your friends?" he
said. "They get hurt. And we figured," he took the knife and placed it against her temple, "That as friends,
you should share their pain." He drew the knife lightly down her skin, opening a shallow cut. She ground
her teeth and tried to think. He lifted the knife to her neck and started another line there. She had to do
something!
Using the boy behind her to support her weight, and kicked out with both legs and hit Wentar in
the chest. He hadn't seen it coming, and was put off balance. Falling over, he hit his head on the ground
with a nasty crack. She used her leverage as her feet came back down to her advantage, increasing her
downward motion, and at the same time, twisting away from the boy behind her. He bellowed in rage, and
reached out again to grab her. She foiled him by grabbing his outstretched hand and turning, she pulled him
over her hip. He hit the wall, and slumped at the bottom, stunned for the moment. With her hands free, she
loosened her own knife in its sheath. Wentar wouldn't hesitate about really hurting her now. He stood,
rubbing the back of his head, and advanced on her. They circled for a moment before she remembered Sam.
Her glance over at him was all the opening that Wentar needed. He lunged forward, intent to really hurt
her. She pivoted to the side, and hit him behind the knees with one foot. He flew by her, unable to stop
himself, and crashed into his partner, who had finally recovered from his own fall. They went head over
heels together, and into Dennith and his opponent.
Kaia knelt next to Sam. He was knocked out, and in extremely bad shape, but he was alive. She
wished that she could get him out somehow, but that wasn't a priority. She knew that Wentar and his
friends would all be going for her now.
She was right. Here came Wentar, his nose bleeding heavily, and a cut over one eyebrow, but
otherwise intact. His friend's eye was already so swollen that he couldn't see out of it, but that didn't seem
to be slowing him down any. Dennith left his challenger just then. The boy had fallen to the floor, crying
like a baby over what looked like a couple broken teeth, and a mangled nose. Wentar wasn't expecting it
when Dennith hit him from behind, but with a yell, Wentar's friend went for Dennith, who neatly side-
stepped the charge, and then turned, calmly waiting for the next attack. He didn't look to nice himself: A
blood nose, probably two black eyes, and his forehead split open, but he didn't seem to be letting it affect
him too much.
Kaia was starting to get tired, and it wasn't even a nice fight. The boys played too dirty. She
decided to finish Wentar once and for all.
She ducked his punch, and slammed him into the wall. His neck snapped back and his head
thudded loudly. She saw a trickle of blood run down the stone behind him: he had split open the skin. She
punched him twice, once on each side of his face in quick succession, and stepped back briefly. He stepped
forward, and raised up his hand to hit her. He didn't look at all nice now. His face was a bloody mess, and
twisted in hate.
He punched feebly at her, but she blocked it, and hit him in the forehead. He dropped to his knees.
She could tell that this was over. She leaned over and said quietly, "I suggest that you never mess with me,
or my friends ever again." Her voice was pleasant. He looked up into her eyes for a moment, and tried to
say something, but before he could get a word out, he toppled over, out cold.
She turned to help Dennith deal with the last one, but they had already stopped fighting, and were
staring at her. Then he turned tail and ran.
Kaia suddenly remembered what the training master had said. Wiping blood out of her eyes, she
turned to Dennith. "If we don't get out of her, and get cleaned up, they might expel us!" he nodded. She
turned as Liam came running down the hall.
"Sorry," he said.
"Where in Mithros' name were you?" demanded Dennith, "We really needed you there for
awhile."
Liam looked around the hall at the four boys lying on the floor. "Yeah," he said dryly, "It looks
like you needed me a lot."
Kaia said nothing, but pointed to Sam. "Liam looked at him for a moment, then in four quick steps
was leaning over him. Wordlessly, Kaia and Dennith helped him to lift Liam and carry him back to Liam's
room. Once there, they shut the door, and laid him on the bed. His breathing was shallow, and his face
almost unrecognizable. They all looked at each other. Finally Kaia spoke. "He needs a Healer."
"We can't get him a Healer," said Dennith. "Only Lord HaMinch can approve Healers, and if we
tell him why we want one, he'll expel us all. Including Sam."
"Well, he needs one now." Kai said. No one spoke for a minute, then Liam hit his forehead.
"I've got us a Healer who won't tell, no matter what. I'll be right back." And with that he left.
He came back some time later with another boy in tow. The other boy went straight over to Sam's
bedside, while Liam stood next to him with a triumphant air.
"Kaia, meet Thom of Pirate's Swoop. Thom, Kaia of Golden Nest." Thom looked up briefly, and
looked Kaia over, before nodding and returning his attention to Sam. Kaia looked at him for a moment
more, realizing that he was the Lioness's son. Then she realized that she was staring and looked away.
Thom was in his third year as a page, and had learned a lot about Healing from his mother, Liam
told them. He was quite good, and his Gift was very powerful.
Sometime later, Thom came over to where Dennith, Kaia, and Liam were sitting, next to the dying
fire, and sat down beside them. "Water?" he asked in a rather scratchy voice. Kaia poured him a glass from
the pitcher next to her. He drained the glass, and then looked at Dennith and Kaia. "I had better do you two
too," he said, "Or my lord will get suspicious. Who first?"
Dennith raised a hand, and Liam raised fingertips that sparkled with amber fire to his eyes. The
swelling went down at his touch, and the bruises faded. Next he fixed the lip, and the cut above his
eyebrow. Then he turned to Kaia. Her two cuts scabbed and faded, and so did the numerous bruises on her
arms and face.
That done, Thom rubbed his face and stood. He looked over to the bed which held Sam. "He'll
sleep for awhile," he told them. "The rest of the evening. You should get him back to his room if you can.
He'll wake up in the morning, just as usual, don't worry. You two should get to sleep soon to. I was a little
shaky on my control, and I might have let a bit to much Gift into you. If so, you'll feel really tired while
your body deals with it." He looked around at them all. "Now may I suggest that we don't try this
experiment again?" he asked, and then with a grin, he left.
Kaia rubbed her eyes, and stood to go too. "He was right," she said. "I'm wiped. But that may also
have something to do with beating up a bunch of guys, all taller and heavier than me." She walked to the
door. 'I'm going to bed, see you tomorrow." She heard them mutter goodnights, and then she shuffled to
her own room. She was barely able to wash and change, before she fell into bed. In a moment, she was
asleep.