A/N: OK...I feel better now...just to let you all know, due to the enormous amount of school work I am getting now at the end of the year, I won't be able to update as often...sorry...

***Knight's View***

It was easy for the King's Own to track the Scanran troops and the path that Tom had taken as soon as they cleaned up camp. Tracking enemies was basically in their job description so they arrived at the river early in the afternoon. The group of knights had taken the pages along with them because HaMich had felt that it was his duty to find Phi and Alex and they didn't want to send the children home by themselves.

The pages had formed a small group in the back of the procession, huddling together and not talking to the older knights. Merric glanced over at Kel, who sighed unhappily, "Remember what Tom said when he told us about his dream and he told us what the pages were feeling..."

Owen and Esmond rode up next to them as Merric nodded, "How could I forget?"

Esmond looked behind them at the boys who were casting doubtful glares at the older knights, "I suppose they don't feel to friendly towards us right about now..."

Kel grimaced and held back Peachblossom so that she fell in line with the pages, "Are you all okay?"

Devic spoke up, "Ya...I guess so...do you think that Tom is alright?"

Kel smiled reassuringly, "I'm sure that where ever he is right now that he is doing just fine..."

***Tom's View***

He staggered in front of his horse, almost collapsing on several occasions because he tripped over a rock or a tree root. They had traveled nearly four miles now and there was no sign of any way to get across. Even if they found one it would take forever to find the Scanran's trail again, especially for Tom who had never tracked anything in his life before.

He was just about to give up and wait for the knights to catch up with him when he again noticed something out of the ordinary. It was a small overhanging cliff that stretched about halfway over the river. Actually, it looked more like an ancient stone bridge and half of it, the half that was connected to the Scanran's side of the river, had been destroyed. He carefully led his horse over to it and peered over the top of the ruins.

He sighed then straightened his shoulders determinedly, and gingerly placed his left foot on the bridge. When nothing happened, he slowly leaned his weight onto his left foot and placed his right out in front. Still nothing happened. He grinned, satisfied that the bridge would hold his weight, and stepped off again. He mounted his horse and urged it forward. The mare was hesitant, so Tom lightly kicked its sides. He needed to get the horse going fast enough so they could jump the space. He needed to get the horse going fast enough so that they could make the jump. The mare picked up its pace from a trot to a gallop and they thundered onto the bridge. Just as the horse was about to launch itself off the edge of the stone, Tom heard a strange rumbling. Suddenly, the stone gave away and sent both horse and rider tumbling into the icy-cold water.

Tom hung onto the horse for dear life as it kicked and tried to swim towards the shore. After what seemed like half an hour, they both finally made it and collapsed on the bank at the same time. Tom began to cough violently, trying to empty his lungs of all the water he had inhaled, then turned over at lay on his back, exhausted from the trip and he stayed like that for the next hour before finally getting up and walking back up the river to try and find where Phi and Alex had gone.

***Phi and Alex's View***

The group made it across the river without any trouble and the two captives were once again tied to the back of a horse, only luckily this time they were sitting close enough to each other that they could actually talk.

Phi glanced over at Alex and grinned, "Is it just me, or do you feel strangely like a piece of unwanted luggage?"

"Oh no, it definitely not just you...although I think we are more like bags of trash to them..."

Phi laughed dryly and the man who was on her horse looked back at her strangely and elbowed her in the back. Phi scowled back at him and Alex would have probably tackled the man if his torso had not been roped down to the horse's saddle.

Phi turned back to him and whispered, "...maybe we should use English..."

Alex grinned then said, in English, a little loudly for Phi's liking, "Why ever should we speak in English? Is it so that these idiots can't understand what we're saying? I doubt that they could understand us even if we were speaking in Tortallian, since they don't seem to know how to say any words that contain more than two syllables!"

Phi glared at him warningly, afraid that one of the soldiers might catch his drift and skewer him with one of their long and very sharp spears. This time it was his turn to grin, although he spoke a lot more softly this time, "It sound weird, speaking English again..."

Phi nodded, "It sounds odd to listen to it too..."

They were silent for a few moments before Alex looked seriously at Phi, "I just wanted to tell you..." his voice drifted off at the curious look Phi gave him, "...that I'm sorry I couldn't help you more back at the camp..."

She smiled reassuringly, "You did everything you could, besides, I can take care of myself..." she looked back at the rider she was sharing a horse with, "Well, usually anyway..."

Alex glanced down and they continued to talk about all the things they missed from their old world, Alex mentioning TV, pizza, the internet, while Phi reminisced about video games, good food, and their families.

***Knight's View***

Raoul shouted for the company to stop when they reached the river and everybody dismounted, glad to be giving their horses, and their bottoms, a rest. A member of the King's Own walked over to the old fireplace and noticed that some newer ashes had been dug up by someone not to long ago, he would say, about two hours ago, while another knight noticed a pair of horse tracks leading off down river while a drag mark led down into the water.

Raoul went over to Alanna and together they planned their next move, while everyone else had to content themselves with striking up anxious conversations and getting drinks of water for themselves and their horses.

Finally, after what seemed like hours (really only about fifteen minutes) Raoul mounted up and announced that they had decided that the King's Own would follow the drag mark, most likely made by the Scanran raiding party, and head across the river while the knights from the Palace and the pages would follow the hoof prints, which would probably led to Tom.

Kel bid farewell to Dom and Raoul as they headed up stream (the opposite way to where Tom had chosen to go just a few hours before...) to where they knew there was a small bridge across the water. Then, led by the Lioness, the small group of knights and boys headed down river, following the quickened trail left behind by their friend.

A/N: All right! Another chapter finished!! Please, if you read this, review!