Disclaimer: okay every one, you know the drill. I do not own any of the peeps you recognize. Such as Ozorne, Daine Alanna, and anyone else from the wonderful world of Tamora Pierce. Get the picture? Okay good, now lets get on with the story…



Last time: Theo gasped ,"oh my f***ing god, I'm in Carthak!"

The emperor looked at Theo oddly after her small outburst, but all Theo could do was stare back at him with her mouth open. Justin was completely confused. Theo seemed to recognize the guy in front of them, but he had no idea who they were. 'What the hell is Carthak?!' He thought. As Theo got control of herself, meaning she stopped gaping at the richly dressed man in front of them.

He then looked at the man who had said he was, 'wait a sec,' Justin thought, 'what did he say his name was? Ozone or something?' he decided to take a risk, and looked at the Emperor. "ummm," Justin started, unsure of where to begin. "umm, so, you speak English?" he asked the emperor. The emperor turned his gaze from fixed on Theo to Justin. Justin shuddered involuntarily from the look that the man gave him.

"yes. I speak common. What is the land that you cam form and why are you here?" the emperor asked, matter-of-factly.

Justin looked at Theo to see if she was inclined to answer, but she was staring at the ground with a strange look on her face, as if she was trying to figure something very important out. "er, well, we," Justin had no idea how to explain that he had no idea how they got here, so all he said was, "I don't know. We were at the homecoming game and we fell down the stadium, and then we ended up here. Then we saw these really scary people and we…" he paused here, not sure if it would be wise to say that they were knocked unconscious by nothing in particular. "well, we woke up later in this white room thing, and we were forced to come here." He trailed off at the end, not really wanting to elaborate on the forcing to come here part. The emperor looked at Justin as if he were very ignorant, and then again looked at Theodora. Theo stopped looking as if she was trying to figure something out, and looked at the emperor again. She looked at him with knowing in her eyes, and the Emperor of Carthak saw this. He knew this girl knew who he was, and where she was. He knew that she was smart, and that that fact could be dangerous; for both him and the girl.



Theo had recognized the Emperor of Carthak immediately after he had made his announcement. He looked a bit different from what she had pictured from the descriptions in the book by Tamora Pierce that she had at home, but it was defiantly him. After getting over the initial shock of being in the world of her favorite books, she began to think about a way out. She had no idea why or when they were put here in Carthak, but she did have a small idea of how they had been brought. She knew that mages from Carthak had tried to make a hole in the barrier from the Devine realms and the human ones, so she guessed that they had to have had a few failures before they got it right. Or, she thought as the emperor mage questioned Justin on how they go here, she guessed that mages may have been trying another spell, and it got messed up somehow. She didn't know which option she wanted to believe. She needed to know when this was, and soon, before she could establish any other guesses. She knew they needed to get out of the emperor's hands. They would surly be used for some plan, and Theo knew that she wanted nothing to do with the emperor mage and his plans for his country. She had to find a way to get the information from the emperor with out realizing he was giving it. She had to ask him a question that would seem like one anyone could ask, but that would tell her the year. She got an idea just as the emperor turned to look at her again.

He looked her over once with those bone-chilling eyes, and Theo gave him look for look. She would not let the emperor have the satisfaction of knowing that he scared her to death. She got ready, and asked her all- important question.

"Emperor Ozorne." She said, trying to curtsy, and failing miserably. "Emperor, I have a question to ask you." She told him, trying to be as diplomatically as possible. She took a deep breath for courage, and plunged ahead. "I would like to know how fares your nephew, the Prince and heir apparent, Kaddar. How old would he be these days?" Theo knew that she had done the best she could, and prayed that the emperor would not see through her tactic.

The emperor showed the slightest trace of surprise at her question, but got a hold of himself immediately and narrowed his eyes at Theo. She quivered under his gaze, but listened when he replied, "My nephew is in perfect health, thank you. He is sixteen this year, and studying at the royal university."

Theo could barely contain her excitement at this news. The price was sixteen when Daine and them came from Tortall, she thought, so they should be here, or be coming here soon. And if we can get away in time, maybe we can hitch a ride to Tortall! Theo thought excitedly. We would be a lot safer there than here. She was already working on ideas for escape at that moment, and the others present in the room noticed. Justin looked at Theo from the corner of his eye, and she looked like she had found something very important. He could tell she was no longer paying attention to the emperor, and off in her own little world. He had no idea what the two were talking about and who this Kaddar was, but it seemed important to her, so he figured it had to be important in their present situation. Maybe she knows how to get us out of here.

Justin was not the only one watching Theo. Theo emperor watched the girl in front of him very carefully. He knew that she was trying to think of ways to escape capture, but he was confident that they would never escape. He didn't know why the strange girl needed to know about his nephew, but he figured that being a female, and having heard of Carthak and himself, that she would be interested in his heir. He didn't care about that. He knew full well that his mages had brought the two young people here, but he wanted to know what they thought had happened to them, and was delighted that they had no idea. He wanted to keep them ignorant of his plans for the Tortallans that were in his palace, and he planned to never give them a chance to get away from him and Carthak. He continued to look the two over, and noticed that they were still being held by his guards. He smiled knowing it must hurt to be held so tightly for so long. He quickly thought of the mage Arram draper, or Salmalin as her was called now. He wished passionately that the man who had betrayed him so many years ago would be caught between two guards as these two were. He decided to end the too- long silence, and started to speak to the teenagers.

"You have been brought here for a purpose, and you will soon find that purpose out. But not now, I want the two of you to sit quietly, and await your fate. You will help me be rid of the easterners forever, and you will help me win my war. At the expense of the gods' wrath, I have many grand plans for the two of you. And when the war is over, you can be my slaves. I will much enjoy having you in my company." He added, looking to Theodora. She stared back at the emperor, unfazed. She thought his ideas repulsive, and didn't bother to think about them. She knew that she would be out of the grasp of this emperor before he could begin his 'grand plans'. That, or she hoped that she and Justin would be free, she couldn't be sure about anything anymore.

The emperor made a motion with his hand, as if waving away a fly, and the guards still holding onto the two tightened their grip, and dragged them out the now open door and into the hallway once more. Theo knew that she had to execute her plan soon, or she wouldn't have the courage to do it at all. As they were walking down the gloomy hallway, with Theo and her guards in front this time, Theo tried to observe her surroundings. She noticed that there were a ton of hallways leading every which way, but she had no idea how the men leading knew where they were going. She needed to get away form the guards, and she had an idea of how to get them off of her, but she couldn't figure out how to get Justin free. She knew she couldn't leave with out him, but she had no idea how to get the men off of him. She had to try, she thought. It's this or nothing. She took a few deep breaths; trying to collect what courage she had left.

As quickly as lighting, Theo brought up her left leg, bending it till her knee was at her stomach, she hurled back with it. At, she hoped, was the man's, well, manly parts. She was in luck. The man she had struck went down to his knees grabbing his manly area, with a look of intense pain of his dark face. Theo didn't bother to look at him for more than a millisecond, and tore out of the second guards grip before he knew what was happening. She looked behind he for a moment, and saw Justin, who had only one man holding onto him. The other was down by his partner, trying to help him up. Theo didn't stop to think. She hurled herself at the last guard, her head low, and rammed him in the stomach with all her might. He faltered, off balance, and Justin had the chance he needed. He yanked free of the guard's now weak grasp and yelled at Theo.

"Come on!! This way!" as grabbed Theo's hand, turned to the back of the procession and started to run. The way was clear, and without so much as a glance back wards they ran as hard as they could down the corridor. They could both hear the guards behind them, trying to catch them before they got too far. The sounds of their pursuers gave the two strength, and they ran for all they were worth, making left and right turns randomly. They didn't want to find anything, they only wanted to loose the guards following them. Theo looked back once, after about ten minuets of running, and saw that the guards, very heavily muscled and great for strength, had no endurance. They were panting and gasping, trying to catch the two escapees. Theo was happy for a moment, and looked back ahead of her to see Justin turn another corner. She followed, and they ran together for another twenty minuets or so, Theo guessed. When both the teens looked back, not stopping in their running, they saw no one chasing them, and smiled at each other. That was a moment before they crashed into something hard, but not hard like a wall. Justin, Theo, and whatever they had crashed into went down with a "oomph" and the something let out a cry of surprise. Sprawled on the ground, out of breath form running, and terrified of having been captured again, Theo lay very still. Slowly, a head came into her view, and Theo was confused. This was not an Asian person as all of the others she had seen here had been. This was a girl, not much older looking than Theo, who had dark curly hair, and blue eyes. She looked like someone who would go to Theo's school, and she didn't know what to make of it. The girl who was standing over Theo reached out a hand to help her up, and Theo took it. When she was in a sitting position, she looked around her. The girl who had helped her up was with a young man, who had light brown skin, and whore loose pants and a shirt. Theo then looked to her right where she saw Justin receiving the same treatment she had gotten from this strange girl. The girl sat back and looked at the newcomers, obviously confused.

"hi," she said pleasantly to them, "I'm Daine, what are your names, and why are you running around in the hidden passageways?"

Theo looked at her with a slight amount of surprise, having used up all of hers on the emperor. "I should have known." She muttered to herself.



A/N okay folks!! Here it is, my fourth chapter! Thanx for reading it this far, and I hope you liked it!! I would like to thank all the people that reviewed my story so far!!! Thank you!!!

Now, listen carefully cuz this is very important. I need more reviews!!! I can't continue with out them. I hate to do this, but i need at least five more review so I can continue this story. If you liked it, let me know. I don't really mind if you flame me, its all constructive criticism, but I need at least 5 reviews before I can continue!! So, you know what to do, push the little yellow button down there and tell what you thought of my story! THANX FOLKS!!!!!!!!