A/N:  This chapter 2.  In this chapter you will learn more about Amarette without actually meeting her.  You will also  get a feel for her sister Danae

Three days later, Kel was working quietly in her room.  It was a pleasant evening with slow steady breeze.  They had a growing population at New Hope and the fort had only been meant as a temporary establishment and it was now threatened with over population.  Blue prints had been made to expand the fort and build it up into a growing a populous town.

            Someone knocked on the door, disturbing Kel out of her thoughts of how much timber they needed. Before she said "come in," however, Neal burst in with a disturbed look on his face.

            "Why do you even knock," Kel grumbled.

            "I like to be polite."  She snorted.

" So, what's up," Kel said

            "Amarette woke about twenty minutes ago."

"That's wonderful! Can she speak yet?"

            "Oh yes. She can speak."

"And…" Something in his voice bothered her.

Neal sighed and took a seat. " I believe she has received some abuse of some kind by a male or even raped."

            Kel sat back in her chair. "How did you come by this?"

"As I said she woke maybe twenty or thirty minutes ago.  I was attending her.  Her bandage was starting to get dirty and required a change.  She woke as I had half way unwrapped her arm.  She looked at me and started to scream,

"Get away from me monster, demon!"  I tried to quiet her down, I told her it was all right and that I was here to help her.  She turned to look at me; in her eyes were fear and hatred, but most of all hatred.   She started to back away from me..  and pushed back against the bed. Her eyes darted all around.  I thought she was looking for a weapon."

            "You did not leave her alone did you?" Kel asked, horrified.

"Of course not, I'm not an idiot."

            "Then who is with her?"

            "Yuki."

"How did she react with Yuki? Do you know?"

" I left the room soon after.  It was obvious she was scared of me.  But the thing I didn't know was if she was in a mental insanity state or if she was just scared of me. I brought Yuki in, but I did not go in the room with her.  I sat on the outside of the door listening. She was still scared, but it was not the same kind of terror she had, when she was with me. She wanted to know where she was and where was Danae and the others. Yuki told her, and that she was at New Hope.  Immediately the girl felt safer and let Yuki attend her. That's where I left them and came to you."

            " So she is afraid of men, its obvious the others are not or else they would not let you see them.  So what happened to her that did not happen to them?" Kel wondered out loud.

            Neal shook his head.  "I know not, I don't think they really know themselves."

"I'll speak with them tomorrow." Kel said.

They were sitting on their beds, when Kel arrived at the hospitable wing. There were two little girls who looked to be about five or six, a little boy who looked to be about three and then there was Danae.

            She still looked frightened but she had been cleaned up and looked much better. Her hair was dark brown, and had grey eyes.  Her nose was slightly curved and had a weak chin. She was pretty, but much to thin. The children resembled skeletons.

            Kel kneeled down in front of the children and asked for each of their names; Falia, Nataine, and Ustin. She spoke with them quietly for a few moments before she turned to Danae.

            " I don't know if Neal told you, but Amarette woke up yesterday.  You will be able to see her this afternoon, after she's rested some more

            Danae nodded.

"I'm Kel, the commander here and I need to know what happened where you lived."

            The girl looked up, her eyes big. She began to tremble.

Kel put her arm around the girl.  "Its alright, I know you don't want to tell but I need you too.  It will help your sister."

            She nodded.

Kel paused and waited.

            "I don't know really what happened." Danae began.  " I mean I wasn't really there when it did."

            "What do you mean?" Kel asked.

" We lived in a village up north a little bit. We had a lot of soldiers running through often.  I didn't like them much."

            "Why?"

"They always needed things. Food, water, and they also wanted children."

            Kel remained silent, but something close to rage was burning in her soul.

"They said they needed them to help with the war effort, so they would pick the healthiest ones and took them."

            She took a deep breath and continued.

" They kept on coming back and back, I don't know where they took them all. I heard one solider say that they would be in the care of a person named Stenum or something like that."

            She looked at Kel then.

" I don't know what ever became of them."

Oh I do, Kel thought.

" To prevent them from taking more, we made a hiding place, where all the children would hide.  I hide with them, since I not considered an adult yet."

"The hiding place was un underground room dug under the barn.  It was not hard to find, but the soldiers were very careless. So they were not very suspicious.  They skipped us about three or four times before they began to wonder."

            "They came again about a week ago.  We always kept a guard out so we would know when they were coming so we had time to store food and hide the children."

            "  It was a special occasion that night.  We had a feast with all the food we could find. Cause Amarette and Galyn were formally engaged that night."

            "Amarette was betrothed?" Kel asked shocked. The way she had reacted to Neal, led her to believe that she had disliked men for a while.

            Danae nodded and swallowed.

"The guard signaled us and we hid everything that looked as though we were having a celebration.  I was put in the room.  I heard many shouts and screaming."

            She stared to shake.

"Then… then I smelled smoke.  They were burning our whole village down."

            "I started to scream for help, we had no way of getting out."

"Then I saw Amarette.  She was bleeding and there were tears in her eyes.  She got us out and then that's when I saw."

            "Saw what Danae?"

"Everyone was dead.  Everyone, they had killed everyone. My mother and father, all of their mothers and fathers."  Danae trembled and motioned to the others.

            "That's all I know."

Kel leaned back, and clenched her fists. It was absolutely horrible what those men had done.  They practically starved them, took their children even though the nothing man was gone, and then they destroyed their village.

            It was a ploy, stealing all their children.  The man who used them was dead.  It was an act of desperation.  The leaders wanted to show the people an illusion that they were still winning the war. King Muhatma was a bloody filthy coward.

            Kel turned to Danae.  "Than you, I know it wasn't easy telling this back to me. You and everyone else is safe here. I'll bring Yuki in here.  She'll take you to see Amarette."

A/N: I hoped you liked it. In the next chapter you will get to meet Amarette and learn from her eyes, her gruesome past.