I am really, really, REALLY sorry that it took so long this time. Mainly because I had a nasty writer's block. And I had and still have to learn for school, because I have an English test this week. And additionaly my friend had her birthday party this weekend, which I am still trying to recover from. (I could sleep the whole day. No joke.)

And I had to rethink the story again. (Sometimes I wonder if it's me who creates the story or if the story develops itself.)

The main story will remain the same, but I had to think about the personalities and the relationships of my characters. It's my first fanfic and I want it to be good. But I have to warn you. The last two weeks I was thinking mainly about the romantic parts in this story and how to integrate them. And if it goes like I want, it will be ... difficult, terming it carefully. I was in a melancholic mood while thinking about it. So you all have been warned.

But don't worry I will finish this fanfic. I hate it myself when I read a story and the author stops writing. I will have some holidays next week, so I shall be able to write more, I hope.

Lady of Faith:   In Cori's and Bery's case there are no other males in their families who could be heirs to the fiefs. Their brothers died during the last wars. Danny and Ria aren't heiresses of their parent's fief. It's Aaron in this case. Sam ... well, you will see. I only say that Lord Victor has no descendants. Why he choses her and not her cousins? That's part of her secret. You will have to wait.    I am thinking about a sequel of this story. But I will first finish this one. Maybe I will get other ideas for fanfics. I don't know yet. But every story I write down will have at least as much action as this one. And many secrets! Otherwise I would get bored myself.

Dream Dance:   I haven't thought about that yet. Maybe I will get an idea of how to integrate her. But I can't promise anything. The story will go on through their years as squires, and the showdown will be after they are knights already. I just don't know how detailed I will describe their time as squires.

~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~

Chapter 20:                                            A new victim

Sam was sitting on her bed. She had never felt so tired since ... well ... yesterday. She had a really hard time actually. After she and Damian had been found in the lonely hall by some servants, both unconscious, the traditional "I fell down"- story didn't work very well. Lord Padraig had been quite shocked how violently the two young pages had attacked each other. So he decided that both needed more activities, because they had too much time to start stupidities. Four months of punishment. They had to work in the stables and help the servants in turns. Both had to serve Lord Padraig during the meals, and they both had additional lessons of etiquette with Master Oaksbridge.

Sam didn't know who had been more impressive. Lord Padraig with his two and a half hour speech about the life of a noble, duty of a knight, the right behaviour of a page and rules in general, and why they had to be followed.

Or Nat with his "I knew it was a bad idea and I told you so"- speech, explaining to her how stupid she had been, how badly it could have ended, she should have taken him with her and so on. Towards the end of the whole thing, it became more and more emotional and Sam calmed Nat down a bit. But he still watched her and Damian carefully, as if they would try it again at every moment.

But in her personal opinion the worst had been the "discussion" with Cori. Sam's ears had been ringing hours after that. Cori could have an impressive voice, if she wanted. Well, that was more frightening than impressive. She didn't listen to any logical argument when she was in that mood.

The funniest thing had been the letter from her uncle, explaining the importance of not being caught.

Sam had thought that after the fight Damian would let her be, but after talking to his friends and his father he felt humiliated and wanted revenge for being beaten by a girl. At the beginning he had seen an intruder in her, then a worthy opponent, but now he started to hate her for being the reason that all people who were important to him thought he was a weakling, unworthy of his name and family. He started to play dirty little tricks to her, but he never challenged her for an open fight again. He would find something to let her suffer. He knew he only had to wait to find her weakness and then his time would come.

Now the punishment was nearly done. It would be Midwinter soon, and some weeks after that the four months were over. Sam was looking forward to the moment she would be free again. It was really difficult to combine her normal duties, her extra duties and her special training with her friends. But she actually didn't worry much about it.

She was worried about Mo. The girl had been acting strange around her after the fight. They had talked about it, and Mo seemed to understand her reasons, although the wasn't happy being one of them without knowing it and without having the chance to fight on her own. But something seemed to bother her. Sometimes Sam caught the girl staring at her with a strange expression on her face. 'There is something wrong. I can't force her to talk to me. If she wants to talk about it, she will herself.'

Sam stretched her muscles. 'Oh how great is it to be a knight in training. I know now why nobody writes songs about the glorious lives of pages. Not even a songwriter can find something glorious in this.'

She got up and fetched some oils from her table, which should help her muscles to relax. Galina had left plenty of herbs and fluids for her health. They were quite powerful. She didn't use them too often, because she didn't want to waste them if it wasn't necessary. She preferred giving them to her friends when they had some encounters with Damian's friends. The whole conflict had become more and more heated after the fight.

'Well done. Instead of solving the problem I made it even worse.' Sam thought as she massaged her muscles. She groaned silently when she felt them relaxing. 'It's great when it stops hurting. At least the whole punishment thing seems to be an addition to my training ... well, at least the stable duty. If I survive the whole thing I will have stronger muscles than before. Helping the servants isn't easy, too. If only I could get rid of these damned etiquette lessons. Master Oaksbridge is the most unnerving person I ever met. He will have a heart attack sooner or later if he goes on like that. I will never ever have problems with my behaviour at court again. I know that blasted etiquette literature by heart now. And if I ever have to dance with Damian again something serious will happen. He steps on my feet on purpose, I swear!'

She looked out of the window, watching the snow fall. 'I wish I could celebrate midwinter with my people again. Their feasts are different from those here. I don't think I like the officials festivities at court. At least it wont be as deadly boring as last year. Now I will have to serve. One wrong move and Master Oaksbridge will get my head. I guess I should sleep now. Stable duty is waiting for me before breakfast. Oh, how I love being a page!'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was an early morning in the spring. The air was filled with the sound of a sword fight. Their owners fought at a quick pace and it seemed more like a dance than a fight. Each of them holding two swords, trying to use them at once without loosing control over them. After a while, one of the fighters was able to wrest one sword from her opponent's hand with her left sword, pressing the blade of her right sword at his throat at nearly the same time. "I guess you are dead."

Nat glared at Sam. "Thank you for mentioning it. I told you that I am not used to this way of fighting. I started it during the time I spent at your home. You have practised it your whole life. I am not an adequate opponent for you. You seem to like putting blades at my throat."

Sam lowered her swords and grinned. But you are very good for somebody who just started with it. But you have to understand that you are the only one here who can fight in this style with me. And you are getting better. Your throat is your weak point. Do you know what went wrong this time?"

Nat frowned. "You mean except being a bad fighter?"

Sam rised one eyebrow. "Don't ever say something like that again. It is not true. Your fault is you still don't use your left sword properly. You could have protected your throat with it."

Nat moaned. "I know. It's so damn hard thinking of both at once. My body doesn't move like I want it to."

"You will have to learn to use every single part of your body independently from the others. Each of them is a weapon. You will learn it with time and practice. But I think it's enough for today."

"Yes. The others will soon arrive. You are lucky that your punishment is over now. You seemed tired and exhausted those past months."

"Well, I knew the consequences. The only thing that bothers me is Damian's behaviour. He really enjoys being nasty now."

"Has he ever been different?"

Sam looked at her friend. She knew what he had gone thought because of Damian and his friends. But didn't anybody see the change the boy went through? He had always been a bully, that was right. But he only did it because of the challenge and for a sick kind of fun. But now he treated everybody around him like dirt. And the tricks he played on the others were dirty, mindless and childish. Sam refused to believe that Damian was a bad person. In her opinion, there were only very few people who deserved to be called bad. Everybody has at least one good side. She wasn't able to hate Damian for being himself. She had no right to judge him. She refused giving up the hope that he might change someday. But she wasn't sure if anybody else would think the same. She heard the others coming to the training court and decided not to talk about her opinion of Damian with Nat. He was sensible with that subject, although he would never admit it.

Mo was looking nervously at her opponent. 'Well done! Of course it had to be her. I don't think I stand a chance.'

The two opponents watched each others movements carefully, each of them looking for a whole in the others defence. Suddenly Sam started a quick attack, which was easily blocked by Mo. 'No. You don't get me that easy.' Mo started an attack by herself. After some punches she found herself on the floor, blinking in surprise. She looked confused at the hand Sam offered her to get up. "How ... ?"

"You lose your temper when you fight. But beside that you are really good. Your skills have developed very fast. I'm impressed."

Mo glared at Sam. She knew that the other girl was rare with compliments. Sam had never seemed to like her. She was sometimes so unfeeling and cold. 'Maybe because of her past. If only I could talk to somebody about it. But it feels like betrayal. If this is her secret, I have no right to tell it anybody.' Mo had tried to talk to Sam, but she always hesitated at the last moment and changed her mind. She wasn't able to face those unreadable moss green eyes, which seemed to look straight to her soul. She shivered, coming back to reality. She noticed Sam still offering her hand to her. She took it and slowly got up. "T...thank you."

Sam only nodded and went away. It was time for breakfast now.

Mo watched her leave with Nat, as usual. 'Maybe she isn't like she seems to be. I think everybody would act strange if he had to fear for his life. But the most irritating thing is that she doesn't seem to be afraid of anything.' Mo slowly shook her head and walked towards Feli. She was hungry and wanted her breakfast. She would have time to think about Sam later on.

"I am bored." Danny moaned and kicked a little stone in the training court.

Ria raised her eyebrows. "Well then, what do you have in mind this time?"

"I don't know. I need more fun in my life. Everything is so damn serious lately."

Aaron grinned at his sister. "Well, who are we paying attention to this time?"

Ria thought about it. "Maybe somebody we haven't tricked yet?"

The triplets traded a look. Each of them knew whom the others were thinking about. "Let's see how smart Sam really is."

~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~

I know it's not my longest chapter ever, but not my shortest, too. I hope you like it.