***

"Please, Jon! You have to let me go! I need to get away from the palace… and you know I can do good against the Scanrans!"

            Jon shook his head doubtfully. "I don't doubt you can do good… but Alanna, I don't want anything to happen to you! Especially with four men attacking you…"

            Alanna took a deep breath, trying to calm her blazing temper, knowing a fight with Jon wouldn't help her get her way. "Jon, I can take care of myself! I passed all the same tests you did to become a knight." Her voice sounded clipped to her own ears.

            Jon frowned. "Alanna, you know I only say this because I care about you. I can't let you go and risk your life!"

            "Jon, I didn't become a knight to be kept away from battlefields for the rest of my life." Her tone was more affable now, but inside Alanna was seething. I don't give a damn why you're saying it! You're wrong! she thought furiously.

            Jon heaved a sigh. "Alanna, can we talk later? I don't have time for this right now!"

            Alanna could contain herself no longer. "No, we can't talk later! I can't take this anymore… I can't take any more being an ornament that can be placed beside you and shown off to the kingdom. If you'd wanted that, you should have taken Princess Josiane or Delia of Eldorne. I'm not for show—I'm real."

            Alanna's words cut Jon, and she knew it. She watched in cold satisfaction for a moment as color burned into his cheeks, then added icily, "I'm going. Now."

            Before he could respond she slammed out of the room, and was halfway down the stairs when he caught up to her, roughly taking hold of her arm and dragging her back into the room. Alanna was angry enough to reach for Lightning to teach Jon a lesson, cursing when she remembered that her weapons belt was not to be found around the waist of a dress.

            "Jon, let go!" she cried as he grabbed her other, injured arm.

            Quickly he dropped it. "Sorry, I forgot…"

            Angrily Alanna pulled the other arm away from him, snapping. "Of course you forgot. You forget everything about me lately. Or have you suddenly remembered that I'm a lady knight, not one of those ornaments I just mentioned?"

            Stung, Jon stepped back. "Alanna, look, we need to talk. I know you don't like this life, but… well, you wanted to share life with me! And this is the price of me. Don't you think I'm worth it?"

            Stunned by his arrogance, Alanna simply stared at him, trying to remember if he'd been quite that way in the desert. Yes, in fact, he had, that's why she had almost refused his marriage proposition. Now Alanna couldn't remember why she had loved him… how could she have loved him when George had been right there all along?

            Thinking of George, Alanna's face burned. Jon, thinking Alanna's blush was a sign of remorse and apology, stepped forward and tried to embrace her. Immediately she sidestepped him, exclaiming,

            "Stop it! I don't want to make up and just have this disappear! We're not all right, and we won't be until you can talk to me without involving yourself!"

            Jonathan's face hardened. "Fine. We won't talk. But don't expect to go to the Scanran border. You're the queen, whether you like it or not, so accept it!" Now it was his turn to go storming out. Alanna made no move to stop him.

            As soon as he was gone, Alanna went to the chest at the foot of their bed and opened it. Inside lay her "real" clothing, as she liked to say—tunics, shirts, and breeches. Tearing off the dress and throwing it aside, Alanna donned a set of clothes from the chest and packed six more sets into a leather saddlebag resting underneath the bed. Faithful appeared as she packed, eyeing her without saying a word as he licked his paws.
            In minutes Alanna was finished. Before leaving she scribbled a hasty note on a piece of parchment:

George-

            I need a break from my life and time to think, so I've gone to the desert. Please don't tell Jonathan where I've gone.

                                                -Alanna

***

            Alanna grinned as Moonlight galloped across the Great Desert, the wind teasing her flaming locks and throwing singing sand into her face.

            "Finally, freedom," she cried to Faithful.

            Her cat yowled appreciatively, but added sarcastically, "You're still married to the king, and you're still the Queen of Tortall. Yes, perfect freedom."

            Alanna slapped her cat lightly with the reins, and he swatted back with his paws, hissing as he swayed in his cup and had to hook his claws into it to stay put. Alanna couldn't help laughing and reached out to pet his head in apology.

            "You'd better be sorry," Faithful grumbled, resettling himself comfortably in his saddle cup.

            They rode on through the night, stopping at last to sleep as the first rays of sunlight touched the horizon. Exhausted but content, Alanna curled up in her bedroll with her cat and fell asleep listening to the free air blow across the endless, peaceful sand.

***

A few days later Alanna found herself warmly welcomed back into the tribe of the Bloody Hawk. Alone in her tent, she changed out of the too-warm tunic and breeches into a comfortable burnoose, settling herself on a soft pile of cushions and rugs for a nap. When she woke it was just after sunset, and without thinking she stepped out of the tent, only to have Faithful give her a quick nip on the ankle to bring her back inside. She glared fiercely at her cat until he explained, They're communing with the Voice… and I didn't think you wanted to be part of that today.

            Alanna shuddered at the thought. She had never felt comfortable communing with the Voice, even before the Voice was Jonathan, and especially now she wouldn't want him to know her secret thoughts! Shaking her head, she thanked Faithful and plopped down on the cushions again to eat the fruit and bread someone had left for her.

            Suddenly she sat bolt upright. "Jonathan will know where I am now! Certainly at least one person in the tribe will let him know I'm here…"

            Immediately she was up, throwing things back into her bag. Faithful watched silently, at last saying lightly, Leaving so soon?

            "Quiet!" Alanna snapped, chewing her thumbnail. Thinking out loud, she added, "We'll have to leave as soon as they're finishing communing with the Voice. We'll need to take some food with us, we're out…" she trailed off, leaving one question still unanswered: where would she go?

            As if reading her thoughts, Faithful commented, I suppose we're not going back to Corus?

            "Damn right we're not going back to Corus! Not back to Jon…" Alanna rubbed her aching head, wishing she didn't get such a headache when she thought of Jon. If only she could convince herself that her fight with Jon wasn't just an excuse to get away from the palace when it was really her guilt for her forbidden actions with George that had driven her this far…

            No! she scolded herself. It's not that! I was wrong about Jonathan… George is the right one for me! And I do not feel guilty about sleeping with him… because some things are meant to be.

            But she couldn't wholly convince herself. No matter how hard she tried, she still felt those nagging feelings of guilt for breaking her marriage vows of reserving her body now for Jon and Jon alone.

***

I know I promised longer chapters…. But I guess ill have to wait to keep that promise till chapter nine. :) sorry about that… hey but to show you how much I LOVE reviews (hint, hint, hint, hint!!!) im going to respond to all of the reviewers for the previous chapter here (yeah I know I stole that from a bunch of people… but it was a good idea…) anyway, I hope itll encourage ppl to write more reviews… more reviews? Wow, what a good idea!! (HINT!!!)

Liviania: I guess I meant sorry for the romance part… even tho I love A/G romance.. I guess it was more of an apology for those crazy a/j people!! (sorry to you guys… but a/g, come on now!! Hehe) and thanks… I was wondering if the fight scene was ok, for some reason it just seemed like there might have been a problem w/ it but I wasn't sure what…

AsaHekA aka Slone: and don't worry, jon WILL NOT be a happy man!!  Hehe. And im sure he'll find out… im just not sure how yet.. but again sorry to a/j fans, I just don't think theres a happy ending in store for king jonathan. I know I used to like him in the first two SOTL books, but in the third I really started to hate him… hes just too stuck up. :)

Ok, now go get more ppl to read and review my story!! :)