I woke up the next morning to hear voices. I sat up and looked around, Adam, Brian, Keith, Owen, and Terence were standing near the door talking. They didn't know that I had woken up.

"Why are you in here?" I asked.

Brian turned around to look at me, his blue eyes were full of sadness.

"I'm sorry, Ember." he said.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"It's Mariah." he said, walking over and sitting next to the bed. "The basilisks killed her."

My eyes filled with tears.

"No!" I yelled. "It's not true, she's not dead!"

Brian gripped my shoulders.

"It's true." he said. "We just found out before you woke up, I'm sorry."

I buried my face on his shoulder, sobbing. Now, I had no horse AND no servant They had been the most important people in my life. Brian held me while I cried. Then the King came in.

"Lady Ember," he said. I looked up at him. "I have a mission for you."

"What is it, your grace?" I asked, wiping my eyes with my sleeve and standing up.

"I need you to go into the forest and find immortals. See if you can tame them and bring them back here, they would be useful when we have another war."

"Raoul!" Brian yelled. "Ember has had a rough couple of days, you want her to risk her life just as she did her horse and her servant?!"

"Sit down, Sir Brian!" King Raoul yelled.

Brian obeyed and sat back down on the bed. He looked up at me.

"You don't have to do this, Ember." he said. "I don't want you to risk your life, I don't know what I'd to if I lost you."

I sat down next to him and leaned my head on his shoulder.

"I love you." I whispered. "But I have to do this, I have to avenge Mariah and Midnight's death. I'll be fine, don't worry about me."

"I can't help but worry about you, I love you too much." he said.

I kissed his cheek and stood up.

"I will do this, my lord." I said, bowing. "I will avenge the death of those who were killed by immortals. I will kill those immortals that I cannot tame and bring the others back with me."

He nodded and I bowed. Then he left the room.

"Ember, we'll go with you." Brian offered. "It'll be safer that way."

"You have to get the King's permission first." I said.

The King stepped back into the room, he hadn't gotten very far.

"I give you all permission to accompany Ember on her quest. Sir Brian's right, it WILL be safer that way."

We all bowed and the King left, this time walking faster. I changed out of my grey tunic and brown breeches and into a blue tunic and green breeches. Then we walked out to the stables. I saddled Snow, Brian saddled Thunder, Adam saddled Hunter, Terence saddled Geldwash, Owen saddled Killer, and Keith saddled Hawkseye. Then we rode into the forest. We passed the area where the cabin was, we passed the area where the basilisks and the griffins had attacked, and we were in a large open valley.

"Stay close." Brian advised. "There could be danger anywhere."

We all obeyed and stayed in a group. I didn't want to lose anyone else close to me.

"I feel something." Brian said. "Some kind of evil animal."

We all looked around, but the others didn't say wether they saw anything or not. Suddenly, Snow reared and I fell off his back. Brian jumped off of Thunder and helped me up to my feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." I replied.

I walked over and looked at Snow, his eyes were full of fear.

"What's wrong?"I asked him.

"I don't like it here." he replied.

"Why not?"

"It doesn't seem safe. I don't want to go any farther. I'm sorry I threw you off, I just got scared." he nuzzled my arm.

"It's alright." I said. "I'll go ahead and ride with Brian. You can stay here and wait for us to get back."

Then I climbed onto Thunder with Brian and we continued riding. We reached a large cave and we rode inside. I held my hands tightly together around Brian's waist. His hand was on top of mine. I leaned my head against his back and closed my eyes, I felt safe with him. I felt safer with him than I had EVER felt with ANYONE. Suddenly, 25 basilisks and 25 griffins surrounded us and began circling, ready to attack. I jumped off of Thunder and pulled out my sword, I was ready for battle. Adam, Brian, Keith, Owen, and Terence joined me, pulling out their swords as well. One of the basilisks screeched, we all covered our ears. Then I had an idea.

"Brian," I said. "Will you help me try to tame them?"

He nodded and we sent out our magic. The basilisks and griffins were surrounded by blue light, from both of us, and they all looked around, scared. Then they all fell to the ground, weak. Brian and I walked over and began looking through them, making sure they were all still alive. If they wouldn't agree and come with us, I wanted the victory of killing them myself. Once Brian had tamed 20 basilisks and I had tamed 20 griffins, we set out to killing the rest. Brian killed the remaining basilisks and I killed the remaining griffins. Once we were finished with that, we headed back to the palace. The basilisks and griffins that we had tamed didn't have names, so we just kept it that way. It would've been too confusing to try and remember all of their names. We got to the palace and the King had a place for all of the immortals to stay, they went there while we all put out horses back in the stables. Once there were brushed, we went inside the palace to join the pages and squires for dinner. We had never joined the pages and squires for dinner before. We walked in and they all turned to see who had come in, they all recognized all of us, we were the only knights in the whole realm. Adam, Brian, Keith, Owen, and Terence all went and took seats near the squires. I looked around for a place to sit, I spotted a girl sitting all by herself and walked over to her.

"Is this seat taken?" I asked.

She looked up at me and almost choked on her food. I had heard about her, her name was Dianna and she was the only other girl to ever want to pursue knighthood.

"Hello, Lady Ember." she said, standing up and bowing.

"Sit down, Dianna." I said. "May I sit here?"

She nodded and I sat down next to her.

"How have they been treating you?" I asked.

"I haven't learned anything." she replied. "Duke Quinden won't allow me to learn to become a knight. How did he let you?"

"I had to hide my sex for eight years, until I became a knight." I replied, scanning the crowd trying to find King Raoul. I spotted him and I got an idea.

"I'll be right back." I said.

Then I stood up and walked over to King Raoul.

"My lord," I said. He looked up at me. "Will you allow me to train Page Dianna to become a knight? It seems that Duke Quinden won't allow her to train." I glanced sidelong at Duke Quinden, he was talking with Adam. "I would enjoy having her as a pupil, if my lord allows it."

"Yes, Lady Ember." he said. "I will allow you to train her, it would be more proper for a girl to train another girl anyway."

I thanked him and walked back over to Dianna.

"You start your training tomorrow." I said.

"What?" she asked. "How did you get Duke Quinden to take me?"

"I didn't." I said. "I am going to be training you."

She smiled, her blue eyes shining with happiness and went back to eating her food. After dinner, she moved into my chambers and we got her settled in. Then she did her homework while I practiced some of my fighting skills. Since Dianna was now under my guidance, I would train her my own way. She would not have to camp or do anything that she didn't want to, but I would often take her into the forest for fighting skills. I would also get Adam, Brian, Keith, Owen, and Terence to help me train her, they would be good teachers as well.