Lera stood stalk still among the hustle of hunting preparation. Her eyes wide. She suddenly felt cold and shivery. Like there was a blanket of snow over her. Peering at the newly risen sun she wondered how she was cold.

She turned around, feeling an arm across her shoulders. It was David. He smiled reassuringly at her. She felt a second arm around her waist. She giggled and smiled at Logan. Gerry was now in front of her. "This is going to be lots of fun. Golly, I can hardly wait"

Again Lera shivered. A huge wagon rolled past them. Carlyn was driving it. She supposed that he had been the only one there to take over.

She looked eyes with him, His joking face completely blank, as placid as a lake in the night.

He tried to smile at her, it was bleak. She walked up to the moving cart and opened her mouth to say something, but as is rolled by, she saw the outfitters assistant, lying in the back. His eyes were blood shot, and rolled back into his skull. Lera turned tail and ran, un-twining herself from her nervous friends. She gasped as she entered her room crying. She ran to the window and pulled it open. Leaning out, her last night's dinner spewed the ground beneath her. She got the feeling of repulsion just after she closed the shutters.

She swung them open again quickly and vomited out the window. She felt as though she would start puking her organs because there was no food left in her. Lera saw a hand slide into her view holding a cup of water. She smiled gratefully and drank it , rinsing her mouth out. She turned around and looked at Stuart. She felt giddy. "Thanks" she muttered. He put a hand on her shoulder and said "That is what friends are for".

From that day on, Stuart and Lera were really close friends. Like Lera and Carlyn. He even let her call him Stu.

~

right now, back to the story again

~

Lera grabbed her coat and ran out the door after Stuart. They ran to the pages quarters to meet Duke Baird. He parted them into lines of year. His rough voice echoed through out the hall "I will match two first years with two Second years and a Third or fourth year page. Any questions?"

On thin gangly fourth year page asked " Why are we hunting these *things*?"

Padraig's head snapped in the direction of the page. "Ah, good question Alec. We need to find out as much as we can. From what I am told, they are worse than spidrens. They kill for fun and kicks. Even if you have more questions, I don't feel like answering then right now. Use your spears" he said handing out spears "keep them pointed at the sky if a Haserpes attacks you. I advise you try to stab it. You must remain in your groups."

He glanced along the lines of pages.

"David of Karat, Jeremy of Jesslaw, first years. Kindle of Keenan and Mindelan, Saban of StoneMountain, second years and-um" he glanced around "Alec of Olau"

Quickly the five boys huddled together.

He looked straight at Lera and said "Leralinda-Quirana of Sharta, Gerald of Cavall, first years. Carlyn of GoldenLake, Solo of Trebond second years. And Stuart of HollyRose"

~

hmmmmmmm, I think I forgot to mention that Stuart is a third year page, one year older than Carlyn and two years older than Lera oh well you know now)

He looked around, there were exactly five remaining pages. Three fourth years, one Second year, Logan, and a first year.

He quickly called out the remaining names. "Logan of SunRacers, second year, Barry of Eldorne, first year, and Prince Roger of Tortall, Derel of SwanLake and Leo of King's reach"

~

don't read this, I'm just putting it here for a mental note to myselfE¦.

Lera is going to Sponsor Princess Lianne in her second year

~

The groups ran outside, huddled together. Lera, Carlyn, Gerry, Solo and Stuart sprinted to the post marked "HERE".

The king stood there and called out to all of the pages " look for patterns such as this" he held up a piece of dried mud with what looked like a pocketed wagon track in it. "If you spot one, don't attack, only defend yourself until help comes. In order for *Help* to know you need it, blow these three times, hard" he said as he passed out silver whistles to everyone. Lera tied her to a bit of rope and drooped the coil around her neck.

Her troop set off into the woods.

Carlyn led their group, creeping slowly, and low along the ground. Lera followed, Solo behind her then Gerry then Stuart. She put her hand on the ground to steady herself as they stopped so that Carlyn could look around. She felt something wet on the dry crisp dirt. Lifting her hand into the light, she saw her hands were covered in blood. She gasped and jumped backwards, right into Solo. He fell over and burst out laughing. Lera grabbed his head and stuffed it into a dead log to muffle his laughter. Once he had it under control again, he emerged. She smiled bleakly at him.

Carlyn motioned for them to come to him. They all crept slowly towards him. He parted the ferns in front of him just enough for them to peer through. They gasped, Lera choked and looked away.

Leo of kings reach was lying eagle spread underneath a Haserpes. The monster had a humans head and torso, but the rest was slimy coils of scales. In this case, a mottled green with a touch of brown that mad it's wearer look dirty. The torso and Head were muscular and Long greasy black hair fell from his head. His red eyes burned holes in Lera's brain. Without thinking about giving away their position, Lera brought the whistle to her lips and blew hard three times. Her whistle blasts echoed out through the silence of the forest. She heard the creature scamper towards their hiding place. The others looked at her in horror as the beast slithered through the ferns. Carlyn grabbed her from behind and dragged her over top of a log. The other were huddled there, barely breathing with fear.

Lera panted quietly. Suddenly a grim head popped over top of them. Lera screamed and fear coursed through her veins. She was in shock, but not for long. She grabbed Solo's spear and raised it. She lunged at the creature. She felt warm blood spew her face and she heaved. She would not vomit. She couldn't. She stabbed the beast repetitively until it was still, blood pouring from it's several wounds.

She turned around and ran a hand over her face in attempt to wipe the blood of. It didn't work, she ended up smearing it. When the others finally peered from behind the log, Carlyn's eyes widened. He later told her that she had looked every inch a warrior just then.

~

The king entered the small clearing at a gallop, six others behind him. He looked them the scene over and dismounted. He smiled grimly and said "looks as though you didn't need our help. Care to elaborate on your prior actions?"

Lera, blood streaked and sore stalked over to him to explain. When she finish, he looked at her oddly and patted her shoulder as her might a dog. "Good job Page" he said. "I will send some one out with your horses, please remain here" with that, he trotted off into the woods.

Lera and the other skulked around for several minutes, each taking their proper turn to vomit off at the edge of the clearing.

When Thom arrived on foot, he held the reigns of their mounts. Handing the reigns of Faithful to Lera, he strode off. She mounted(with some help from Stuart)and set off to follow Thom.

~

That night, Lera lay soaking in a hot bath in her changing room when she heard a knock on her door. Grumbling she got out, dried off and dressed, the whole while, muttering "Just a second"

Opening the door, Carlyn strode in. "Yes you can come in" she said under her breath.

She looked around the room for her books, "I'll be there in a second" she said. He tapped his foot irritated. Grabbing her books, Lera led the way to the library for studying time.

~