Neal walked slowly back into the palace. He had seen Roald kissing Kel. He had seen Kel's face after he had kissed her. He had seen everything. * Good one Queenscove. You DID say you were going. You never even told her you'd be back.*Neal mentally yelled at himself.

* You leave for an hour at most, you come back and find the girl you like kissing one of your best friends who happened to be the competition. Not to mention that he's crown prince of Tortall. Doesn't she realize he'll just have to go marry some Yamani princess? He'll end up breaking her heart, and she's falling for it..* Neal was knocked out of his thoughts when he ran into someone.

" Sorry." He mumbled, glancing up. Awed, and looked up again. He had just run into Alanna. Neal took a step back and bowed. " I'm sorry Lady...er...Sir Alanna. I was thinking."

" You're a lot like my friends in that respect. " She told him smiling." From the look on your face it has to be girls. Come- tell me about it." She put a hand on his shoulder and steered him into the room she had just come out of. She sat him in a chair next to the empty fireplace, and seated herself across from him. She waved a hand, and the firepalce roared to life. " What's troubling you? Or a better question- Who?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roald walked down the hall toward his room. He was taking the long route. He had some thinking to do.

* How am I gonna negtiate myself out of an arranged marriage? Worse yet- How am I going to tell Neal and Cleon that I kissed her?* He was beginning to argue with himself again. * You don't have to tell them yet or ever* another voice argued. * But that would be unfair not to mention rude.* *But who cares about protocol?* Shaking himself out of it he tried to concentrate on where he was going, but his mind kept drifting back to thoughts of Kel.

He stopped in front of Alanna's room. * Maybe she could help me. She isn't in the mood to talk with Father, so maybe she'll not blab to him.* He knocked on the door.

" Hello Roald." Alanna said, answering the door. " What do you need?"

" Well, I need to talk to someone, and you just seemed likr the right person."

Alanna grinned. " Come in then."

Roald sat in a chair across from the Lioness, he didn't know that Neal had been in that same chair, doing as he was just about to do, less than an hour before.

" It's about a girl I like. She's funny, and beautiful, and smart..."

" But she's not royalty." Alanna concluded from his silence. " Which means you have to negotiate yourself out of an arranged marriage so you can see this girl." Roald nodded, still silent. " Who is she Roald?"

" Well, Its..."

" As your godsmother, tell me. Now."

" Keladry of Mindelan."

Alanna smiled. " So what's your real question here Roald?" Before he could answer, all the light in the room went out.

He couldn't see anything. He felt a piece of cloth being tied into a gag, and another as a blindfold. Someone placed a piece of cloth dipped in something under his nose. Roald tried to resist, but he couldn't stop his world from going black.

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Cleon saw Roald and Kel leave. He walked over and saw Neal trudginginside as well. * Well, well, well. Aren't we happy tonight.* He thought to himself. I'd better go talk to Neal.

But his attention was drawn to the mick spelling bee they were playing 20 yards away, with a prize of 20 gold nobles. He couldn't resist trying out his luck. After all. He was one of the best spellers in the palace. Neal would just have to wait till later.

LATER

Cleon pocketed his 20 nobles, and knocked on Neal's door. It would soon be sunrise. Neal would just have to live and get up early. Neal opened the door. He looked groggy.

" Good morning sunshine. Now tell me. What're you so dismal about?" Neal groaned at Cleon's mock cheerfulness, and went to go splash his face with cold water. * If you're happy and you know it, clap you hands*......

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Kel leapt out of bed the next morning, and skipped doing her normal exercises. She hurriedly pulled on a plain pair of breeches and a clean tunic. There was no way in hell that she'd risk getting stains on her special uniform.

Lalasa came out of the room where she slept yawning. Her eyes opened wide when she say that Kel was awake and hyper. She shook her head, and went back into the room to get her cosmetics box.

" You seem to be getting dressed up a lot lately." Lalasa commented as she stood behind Kel, pulling the surled strips of linen from Kel's hair and yanking the comb through it, Making Kel wince and smile at the same time. When she was done, Kel's hair was in soft curls that framed her face. The parts closest to her face had been dyed red to accent her eyes, and now they made her large innocent eyes stand out vividly.

" That isn't me is it?" Kel asked a little skeptically. Lalasa put her hands on her hips.

" It is you and you know it. Now get down to the hall. Breakfast time. You don't want to be late." She grinned as kel ran out the door. Calling her thanks behind her.

"NEAL!" Kel shouted banging on the door. " COME ON! You can't still be asleep!" She could hear mumbled words through the door, so she opened it a little and walked in. She knew she shouldn't, but she shut the door behind her. It was dark in Neal's room. She walked over to open the shutters, and just as she was about to pull the open, she was grbbed from behind.

" Neal?!?! What're you doing?!" KEl exclaimed, trying to escape his grasp. She put her hands on his, and tried to pull them off her hips. *It isn't Neal!* She realized with a shock, and squirmed more. " Let go of me!" She managed to loosen their grip, and spun away from him. Breathing hard.

She moved toward the door. She could see a figure moving around in the darkness.The figure threw open the shutters, temporarily blinding her. They moved closer and embraced her.

" I'm sorry." Kel looked up. It was Cleon.

" CLEON?!?! What in the hell are you doing in NEAL'S ROOM?!?!"

" He came to talk to me." Neal told her, stepping out of the dressing room. Kel stared at him. He was acting really odd. His eyes were a little red too. * What's with him?* Kel wondered silently. Turning to Cleon, He told him sternly," That was uncalled for. You knew it was her all along."

Cleon blushed a little bit and grinned. " But it was funny." Kel glared at him.

" Why did you do that Cleon? You scared the hell outta me!" Kel told him, her voice turning steely cold. Cleon looked down.

" oo ove at ou're uman I ess." He mumbled, looking at the floor.

" Excuse me?" Neal and Kel asked in unison. Cleon looked up. Not amused anymore.

"I said, To prove that you're human I guess." Kel looked suprised.

" Why?" she asked quietly.

" Because.." Cleon was cut off by pounding at the door. Kel ran to hide in the dressing room. If it was someone other than Roald, she was liable to be kicked out.

" NEAL! CLEON!" A voice called. " LET ME IN!" Neal ran over and pulled open the door to find Jareck standing there looking panicked.

" What is it Jareck?" Neal asked.

" It'z ze prince and ze Lioness! They're gone!"

" GONE? How could they be gone?" Cleon spoke up. Jareck looked in the room. " I don't know monamie. Zey just are."

" Well shit." Neal muttered. " Who else knows?"

" Faleron, Ze king, Ze entire royal family, Lord Raoul, The King's Own, The queen's riders, you..." Jareck ticked names off his fingers. " No one else iz to be notified except Madamoiselle Keladry. She iz the only one I `aven't told yet."

Cleon began to mutter something Kel couldn't quite make out. Neal ignored him, and began speaking to Jareck so quickly that Kel could barely decipher what he was saying. What she did hear was, " Listen to me, I need you to go and tell my father if..... already know. Then, .... back here so.... can go and look for Alanna and Roald. I need to... see you in... half an hour. I'll tell Kel, ..... don't bother. Now go." He shut the door and Kel walked out.

" Great mother goddess. Roald's gone."

Neal gave her a look that Kel couldn't understand that quickly masked itself as concern. " We've got to go to breakfast. No one will choose their squires until this evening. That gives us an entire day."

" GODS! BREAKFAST! WE'RE GONNA BE LATE!" Kel ran out the room, pulling Neal and Cleon behind her. They reached the mess, and had just sat down when Lord Wyldon came in and sat on the dais. " That was too close Neal." Kel muttered, ignoring Lord Wyldon's prayer. " So mote it be." She called with the other pages, as if she was on que.

" We have to find him. This is a state of national emergency.."

" Don't give me all the details why Neal. He's the crown prince, yes, but overall, he's our friend. We have an obligation to find him."

" Don't you think I know that?" Neal muttered, annoyed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After breakfast Neal headed down the corridor towards his room. He needed to put on a training uniform. If he was searching for Roald and the Lioness with Kel, There was bound to be some fighting involoved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kel!" Lalasa cried when Kel came into her room to change into her training uniform. " Ready for torture?"

Kel sighed dismally. " No. I have to go help find Roald and the Lioness. They've disappeared."

" What do you mean, 'disappeared'?"

" I mean, they're gone. No one can find them. But no spreading this around. Only a few people know, and King Jonathan wants to keep it that way." Lalasa nodded at Kel's grim face.

" I'll be back in time for you to torture me to no end Lalasa. And you let no one in unless It's me, understand?"

Lalasa nodded again. " Good luck Kel."

" Thanks Lalasa. I'm going to need it." Kel walked outside her door, and set off towards Balor's Needle with Neal and Cleon.

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A/N: Not as fluffy, I know. But, it's getting alittle more suspenseful. It'll be fluffy again soon. Thanx to everyone who reviews my stories. This is the long awaited LONG chapter. The very last one will be longest, than I'm gonna post them all in one document like Jae did with her Alanna MS. I'm open for ideas for the next part, or even a new story. E-mail me at ZHazel@aol.com or Cassidelia72@hotmail.com . Thanx again!

~Cass