I stayed in my room until Kel knocked at five-thirty. "Laurie?" she asked quietly. I got up and let her in. I noticed she was wearing her good clothes. She glanced at my desk, where there were at least twenty sheets of paper crumpled into balls, with several spread out, empty. "What are you trying to do?"

"Write," I said. "I haven't been able to write for weeks. Now I feel like I have to write this down, but I just can't get it right."

She smiled and sat down on the bed. "You know, half the castle's betting you're having a nervous breakdown. I heard Charrisse's knight-guardian say it was proof that women should'nt bear arms."

I smiled shakily. "Well, I'll just have to prove them wrong. What time does dinner start?"

"Half an hour."

"All right then." I went to my bags. I had "forgotten" the dress that Numair had ordered me to pack, but fortunatly I had "remembered" my two best tunics, shirts, and hose. Kel saw and grinned, shaking her head. "I still can't believe you got up the guts to do that," she said, awed.

"Do what?" I asked innocently.

"Forget your dress on purpose."

"Kel, that wasn't on purpose. It was a fortunate accident."

"And you just *happened* to have your good tunics."

"Yup. Now, which should I wear?"

"Blue. It brings out your eyes. But I can't believe you've changed this much."

"Whaddya mean? Green shirt, or white?"

"White with the green hose. Three hours ago you were hysterical and screaming about killing and drunk drivers."

I stopped rummaging and looked at her. "Kel, one thing about me that always surprises people is how fast I can go from crying buckets to laughing like a hyena. Usually I still feel like crying when I'm laughing, and I'm jsut putting on a show. Or when I want to laugh *and* cry, I choose the happier one. I try to be the optimistic hyper person people think I should be."

"You don't have to, you know. You shouldn't do all the acting."

"And you shouldn't hide your emotions," I said, pulling on the shirt and hose. I put on the tunic and and my belt. Kel sighed and our talk moved on to lighter subjects. Eventually Daine came in and joined the talk. She decided that I just *couldn't* leave my hair down so I ended up with it in a knot style that kept it off my bakc and out of my face, so I didn't argue. When Numair told us it was time to go, I let Kel and Daine go first. Then when they were gone, I put a spell over my still-bloodshot eyes so that they looked clear.

"Mr. Ladies-can't-fight, here I come," I muttered. I took one last look in the mirror to make sure I looked like I had just come from a tournament in which I hadn't participated, and went to catch up with my friends.

********

After dinner, there was a dance-type thing to celebrate catching the bandits. I didn't really get the point, but I figured that since I was required to go, I might as well not spend it in misery. So I found Kel leaning against the wall, out of the way, glowering and Charrisse, who was across the room, her admirers surrounding her.

"Ah, 'Four and forty are the braids that twine about her head, four and forty are the maids that wait upon her bed. Four and forty are the bells upon her horse's bridle, four and forty are the jewels upon its leather saddle. Four and forty are the babes that she has stole away, and countless are the prince's hearts that she did break today," I recited. When Kel looked at me, I said, "That would be 'The Queen of the Fay' by Jane Yolen, in 'The Fairie's Ring: A book of Fairy Stories and Poems.' It refers to our dear Lady up there." I nodded towards Charrisse.

"That doesn't fit her," Kel said.

"The braids do, look at her hair style. So do the maids." I gestered at the room, where at least a hundred servents were running around. "I dunno about the saddle and bridle, though. But she has broken countless prince's hearts--"

"And knight's and squire's and lord's," Kel said with more malice in her voice in her voice than I knew she had. I raised my eyebrows. She nodded curtly at the group of men who were arguing in a group, since Charrisse was dancing with someone. Cleon was arguing about Charrisse. Faleron was dancing with her.

"FALERON?" I asked, disbelief in my voice. "HE'S dancing with HER?"

Kel looked at me. "Why should you care about Faleron's love life?"

"I--I don't. I just thought he was better than that. And besides--" I grinned. "I thought you liked Neal, not Cleon."

"Shhh!" Kel said quickly. "Don't say that in public!"

I rolled my eyes. "All right, Kel, jsut because you're a second year squire doesn't mean you can't have crushes."

"Oh yes it does!" she said. I was about to ask what she meant, but then I decided not to.

********

Somehow I made it through the night. When I finally got to bed, I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about Faleron, dancing with Miss Ditz. And he had danced with her at least ten times. I counted. She even kissed his cheek.

"Why the hell do I care about him?" I whispered. "He's jsut a guy!"

When I finally fell asleep, it was late.

*Blood flowed through the streets like a river, ankle deep. People were forced by armed soldiers to kneel in front of men with swords coated in blood. One woman begged for her life, to save her baby's. The man in front of her killed her, then he killed the baby.*

I sat up straight in bed and shut my eyes, trying to forget. I took deep breaths and tried to stay calm. Was it a nightmare or a vision? I couldn't tell.

I had decided to get up and tell Numair when ....something, for lack of a better word, hit me like a brick. It hurt worse than anything I had ever experienced. I shut my eyes, trying not to scream. It was like a sound, an echo, that was there and gone.

I got up immediatly, wrapped a blanket around my shoulders, and raised my hand to knock on Numair's door. He opened it before I had the chance to.

"You felt it?" he asked.

I nodded. "What was it?"

He sighed. "The Black God."

"Why was it so strong?"

"So many deaths that we mortals, magical and not, could feel it."

I shuddered.

Fifteen minutes later, the knights and squires were all in some sort of council room. Charrisse was there also, and I had an eerie feeling she knew what happened.

"Everyone, quiet!" Raoul shouted. Dead silence settled over the room. "Numair, would you mind telling us what's going on?"

"No idea," he said.

Raoul sighed. "All right, Numair, talk to Jon or something. The rest of us will leave while you do."

"Raoul, I'd prefer if you would stay. This will most likely involve you."

"All right. Kel, you stay, too. And you, Laurie."

So the four of us gathered around the fire place, and Numair threw some dust over it and muttered something. The next thing I knew, I saw King Jonathan pacing a room.

"Jon?" Numair asked softly.

The King's head snapped over towards the fire place. A look of relief crossed his face. "Numair, thank the gods,"

"What's wrong?"

The King sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Come to Corus as soon as you can."

The next thing he said sent chills up my spine.

"We're at war with the Copper Isles."


Author's Note: Ok, I know I said I'd be writing more, but this chapter had to be really good. This is where the plot starts!!! YEA! We're out of the boring juck! Woo-hoo! Sorry. I'm just happy. Ok, This is REALLY IMPORTANT!!! In my version of the story, squires do 4, not 3, COMPLETE years as squires. Then they do what ever time is left between then and midwinter. I know this is weird, but if I don't do it like this, I won't have much time. And this is at the end of Kel's FIRST YEAR as a squire, so she's entering her second. So she has 3 and the time to Midwinter to go. Sorry about that!

Note on Story: Ok, Casseiopeia sucks. The up until Chapter 13, which is slightly better, things are very inconsistant and choppy. Just so you know, the only Beta reader I've got is Evly, and she isn't much of one. So I'll go back and fix those chapters sometime, or something, so it isn't so bad for people who first read the story. Bye!