"You're awfully quiet tonight, sweet. Is anything the matter?" Armod asked.

"No, I am quite fine, thank you." Xanthe replied.

"You haven't touched your plate."

"I'm just not hungry, that's all. May I be excused?"

Armod smiled. "Of course. You've had a busy day. Get some rest."

Xanthe got up and started to walk away.

"Oh, Xanthe." He said.

She stopped and turned towards him. "Yes?"

"Any answers to my room question?"

She sucked in a deep breath. "No. Not yet." She gave a weak smile and then walked out of there as fast as she could.

By the time she had bathed, changed into her nightgown, and got comfortable in bed, she was starving. She had only eaten breakfast.

Her stomach growled.

"You sure picked a fine time to speak up. Now I am out of my clothes. I'm indecent."

Actually, your nightgown covers more than your dresses do, her stomach argued.

Suddenly realizing how foolish it was arguing with her stomach on wither she was properly dressed or not, she got out of bed and headed to the door.

Besides, she thought, I can tell if someone is coming.

She sent her power through the building. The coast was clear. After carefully tucking into ledges and hiding behind suits of armor whenever somebody passed by, she made it to the kitchen. All the cooks and kitchen help were sleeping far away in their quarters.

She grabbed two loafs of bread and two wheels of cheese, wrapped them in a cloth, and headed back to her room.

She was almost there when a group of guards were coming her way, and fast. She quickly ducked into the nearest room trying to hide from the men. After they had passed, Xanthe was about to leave when she finally took a look around her and realized she was in Armod's office. She didn't know what was happening, but it was like she was being pulled to the desk, his desk. There were mountains of papers, which turned out to be maps. Maps of Tortall, it's capital Corus, Pirate's Swoop, and the King's Castle. The map of the castle caught her eye. She sucked in her breath as she saw on the second floor in the third wing; there was a room that was marked "Xanthe's Room".

Desperately trying to find answers, she dug deeper. She found sketches of her. Ones of her and the Wolf Man. In the sketches they were playing, hugging, even kissing. There were lists that had supplies marked that would suit thousands men. Some of the maps had X's over cities or some of the villages were circled.

Something fell to the floor.

As she bent to pick it up, she felt the presence of Armod. He wasn't in the room, but he was near.

Xanthe grabbed the paper and her food the she hand placed on the desk and ran to her room being careful not to be seen. Why did she feel like a prisoner in her own home, if this even was her home? What about the map of the king's castle?

She locked her door and she entered her room panting from running so hard and so long. She sat on her bed and started to eat her bread and cheese not caring if she got crumbs on the silk sheets.

Never fret on an empty stomach. That is what her mother had always told her.

Wait.

Her mother?

Where did that come from?

Xanthe looked at her half eaten meal. What was it about bread and cheese?

Suddenly memories started to flash before her.

Someone, her mother, placed a plate of bread and cheese in front of her, only she, Xanthe that is, was a young girl.

Someone else, her father maybe, walked into the kitchen complaining about someone named Meathead. Little Xanthe walked over to him and gently shoved chunks of bread and cheese into his mouth.

"Never fret on an empty stomach." She chided pretending to be stern.

Her mother laughed as her father said ruffling her hair, "This is why you are called...."

"Meathead the Younger." Xanthe blurted the name out loud.

She wasn't in her childhood house any more. She was back in her room in Carthak.

She quickly devoured the rest of her meal hoping not to have another flash back. Too much had happened today. She was tired. All she wanted to do was to sleep it off. Slip into blackness and awake and deal with the rest of her life one day at a time.

As she got under the covers, something prickly scratched her leg. There was a huge rip in her dress. She picked up the object and found out it was a crumpled piece of paper; the one from Armod's office. She unfolded it and gasped at its contents.

It read: ATTACK TORTALL. WOMEN. CHILDREN. SPARE NO ONE.





A/N: I think I'm having e-mail problems if you are supposed to get update e- mails and aren't getting them tell me in your reviews. Sorry if I'm keeping you hanging.

I would like to personally thank Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd for their wonderful commentary for the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I was thinking of what food Xanthe should take while I was watching the cast commentary of LOTR: TFOTR when they started talking about bread and cheese. So, if you are reading this guys, thanks.