Chapter Three:

It was in the sixth year at Master Alan's house when everything changed. It was a bad day in the house and I was very sore. Master Alan had come home from a tavern very drunk and very mad. He started hitting everyone, so I distracted him and got all the others out of the room. He noticed just as the last one, Sara, was leaving. He snapped out his whip and got her in the back hard. She ran for it so he laid into me. I would have run, but I wasn't near a door. Now my back was wrapped up poorly, since I couldn't reach it well, and it hurt like hell.

Master Alan had finally passed out in a chair, when something made a huge boom in the front of the house. I ran to see what it was and to try to keep the noise down so he wouldn't wake up again. I checked where all of the others were, but they were all in their rooms. I ran around the corner and slammed to a stop. Standing in the front room was a group of people dressed in white clothes. They looked like the Heralds out of the books. Behind them was the remains of the door in splinters and ash.

I stepped back nervously when one of them grabbed my arm, "Where is the master of the house?"

"Asleep," I said as evenly as I could. "Are you Heralds?"

"Yes," replied one of the others. He was an intimidating man who wore dark grey clothes instead of white. I hadn't seen him at first. "Seen one of us before, have you not?"

"No. Are you going to take Master Alan away?"

"Yes, if you'll show us where he is."

"I'll tell you and you can go yourselves." As I talked to them I called out with my mind :Hey guys. The Heralds are here. Get anything you need quickly and get out of the house. Go out to the woods behind the house and I'll meet you later.:

I looked at the Heralds who looked at me with expressions I couldn't read. Then I told them where he was. "Be careful," I added, "He carries a long whip and knows how to use it."

The Herald who had grabbed me had loosened his grip and after I had told them what I could, I jerked my arm free and ran for my room. I was almost there when I heard one of the children scream. I ran for her and jumped on the back of the Herald who scared her. I tore at her arms until she dropped Sara then called out, "Run!" Sara ran for it and I concentrated on getting away myself. All the stories had said Heralds were good, but they were stories after all. I didn't trust stories to tell the absolute truth, and now would be a bad time to be wrong.

All of the sudden I found myself on the ground, unable to move. The Herald was on top of me pinning me to the ground.

"Why do you fight me?"

"I don't know you. We can take care of ourselves. Just take Master Alan away and we'll be happy. Why won't you let us go?"

"We're trying to help. We also need you to tell what happened to you. What he did to you, so he can be convicted. Also, we can't leave a bunch of kids to fend for themselves. You can come with us, and we'll find you families to live with. We've done it before. We caught one of the others in this circle a week ago."

"That explains a lot. Who did you catch?"

"I'm not sure what her name was. I wasn't there when it happened. I was already trying to find this place. We have leads on the other people, but we're not sure how many there are. Do you know?"

"Maybe, but I could tell you more if you promise to let all of the children choose whether to go or stay."

"Fine, let's go see the others. Right now everyone is out with the Companions, including the children. If I let you up, will you walk with me nicely?"

I nodded and concentrated on getting up without making any noise. My back felt like it was on fire. She didn't say anything, but I think she saw. I don't think she wanted to say anything to make me want to leave and not go with them and tell them everything. We hurried down the halls and stepped outside. The children were all staring at me waiting to see what to do.

:You get to choose whether to go or stay. I'm not going to tell you what to do, or what I'm going to do. You have to choose for yourselves. If you stay it will be hard. We'll have to find jobs and fight off anyone who tries to hurt us. If you go, they will find you families to live with. They will be nice families, not like Master Alan. Now, it is time to choose. Say your choice out loud, please.: I said into all of their minds and then waited for their answers.

They talked among themselves, then Lincoln turned to the Heralds and me, "We'd like to go with the Heralds. We want you to come with us, too, Ria. We don't want you to stay behind."

I nodded, "I'll stay long enough to tell them what I can, but I am not going to live with a family. I'll find work and come visit you all sometimes." I looked around at the Heralds and saw Master Alan tied up on one of the Companions. He was bound and gagged, but was staring daggers at me. I looked at the Herald who had pinned me, "None of the children have ridden before. Master Alan has a wagon that would be better for them, if that would work. It would take longer I know, but it would be easier for them. Also, it would make a gap in the time that Master Alan arrives and we do. Hopefully most of the people won't connect the two. The children don't need to be tiptoed around, it would only hurt them."

The Heralds looked at each other and smiled a little. The dark Herald was the next to speak, "A good point, I think, she has. A wagon, it will be, for them to ride in."

"Also, can we have your names? It's a little difficult just to call you m'lady and m'lord Heralds. You all would answer."

They smiled again and we exchanged names. The dark Herald was Alberich and the Herald that pinned me was Sherrill.

Herald Skiff stepped forward and said, "Why don't you show us where this wagon is, so we can get going. Alberich can manage take care of himself with that Alan character, but why doesn't someone else go with him."

I watched as Herald Alberich and Herald Sandra mounted up and cantered off.

I looked around at everyone looking at me and sighed, "I don't know where he kept it. I only know that we came here in it, and I've ridden in it when he wasn't feeling very mean at times. It has always met us at the front door. We'll have to search for it. Do you guys want to stay here with the Companions, or search for it with us?"

Some of them stayed and some of them joined the Heralds and I. It took a while, but we eventually found it. To my surprise the Companions themselves would pull it. Two of them got stripped of their saddles and stepped into place in front of the wagon. The saddles were stored in the wagon and everyone piled in. I looked longingly at the companions, wanting to ride one, but I started for the wagon like the others.

Sherrill called me over to her, "Would you like to ride with me? Then you can tell me what you know as we go."

I agreed and swung up behind her. "They separate themselves into Masters, Servants, and Slaves..." I told her everything I knew about Master Alan, but only a little about everyone else. I wasn't sure if they could protect us from Master Natalia when she learned about this. I marveled at how smooth the ride was as time passed, and tried not to think about her.

It took us the better part of a fortnight to reach the capitol. The children each got to ride a Companion for a while and they loved it. They switched from the quiet kids to actual children that I had observed before. They still looked to me when they had bad dreams or problems, but they actually started having fun and playing games. I relaxed some too, and I felt safer than I ever had before.

When the wagon stopped in front of the palace my knees were trembling, but I jumped out of the wagon determined not to show it. The children all crowded around me nervously. We were led into a room where a lady sat waiting for us. I recognized her from a picture Master Alan had shown me one day with all of the royalty in it. I immediately sank to the floor in a deep curtsy. The other children followed my example and curtsied and bowed clumsily.

"Oh, do get up please. I'm only the queen in the throne room or in council sessions. Now I'm only another Herald." She said it with a little pout that said that she had to say that too much. We all got up slowly and looked at her, waiting to see what would happen. "Well now, you all get to make a choice. I have some people without children, who would love some. You get to choose to go to a family, or to stay here and go to school. I understand one of you refuses to go to a family and that's fine. I would like it if you stayed here and entered the school. Some of the children from the last group we caught stayed here for the school."

It ended up that I was the only one that would stay to go to school without having a family, but some of the others would attend the school, but have a family to go home to. I didn't think I needed a family, and didn't want to give anyone the chance to hurt me anymore. I was shown to my room, and given uniforms to wear. I gratefully went to bed and was asleep almost before my head hit the pillow.

The next morning I woke up and washed before the morning bell rang. I waited for the bell, then went and ate breakfast. My morning classes went quickly and before I knew it, it was lunch time. None of the children had been at breakfast, but they were here for lunch. They were all bursting with happiness and talking about their families and classes. I listened to them all and congratulated them happily. It was great that they got such good families. Only Micah, Raina, Zachariah, and Gabriel were going to this school with me. The other kids, I heard, were going to be apprenticed to some local crafts. Sara was too young to go to school yet, but she would go here when she was old enough. For now, she lived on a farm and got to play with the farmers kids while they worked. One of the Heralds had stopped me and told me this in the halls.

My class after lunch was weapons so I ate lightly. I was one of the last in the class and I tried to blend in so I wouldn't get singled out. I looked around the class at the students, and froze. I recognized one of the boys from Master Alan's meetings. He caught me staring and looked over at me. His face registered his surprise and he walked over to me.

"Hello, my name is Daniel. Call me Danny. I think I recognize you. You were one of us weren't you."

I gave a sharp nod and said, "Ria."

"Want to put on a show for these guys? The teacher's going to be late. I learned that if you impress them, they want to get to know you more. I'm already accepted, so you can be too."

"What show?"

For an answer he threw a knife, one that I hadn't seen, between my feet. It was a challenge, and I had never refused a challenge. I pulled my whip from around my waist, where it had looked like a belt and snapped the ground between his feet.

"What are the stakes?" I asked.

"Showing each other our backs," he grinned as he said it because it was always forbidden.

I agreed and the battle was on. He had two knives and I had two whips. We were taught to always carry your weapons in pairs for this reason. My knife shot was a little off, and he won. I looked around and saw everyone had stopped talking and was watching us. They made a circle around us and watched to see what would happen next.

We both rolled up our right sleeves, and I tossed him a whip.

"You first," I told him.

He nodded and cracked his whip into my arm. It didn't break skin, but it still stung. He held out his arm and I snapped the end of my whip into his knuckles. He hissed out a breath but held onto his whip. It went on for quite a while, but eventually he dropped his whip. I had won. We looked around and saw that we were surrounded by a circle of white.

Danny looked at me and gave a little smile, "Oops." He was wrapping his arm up with a bandage one of them had handed to him.

"What do you think you are doing?" One of the Heralds snapped out.

"We were both challenged and we both answered. That is what we have grown up knowing. Nobody was really hurt," Danny told them.

One of them handed me a bandage and I realized that my arm was dripping blood.

"Not hurt? What do you call all of that blood?"

"Worse has happened to both of us," I said calmly. "What doesn't kill, makes you stronger."

Danny looked at me and said, "Time for the unveiling. I'll show you my back, then you show me yours."

He turned and lifted up his shirt. On his back was a tattoo of a knife being blown in the wind. The wind spelled out the name Cleo. He dropped his shirt and turned around.

"So, you were Knife and Wind's slave. I thought you were Sword's. You were always good with a blade." He gave a little smile and nod.

I reached under my shirt and unwrapped the bandage from my back. I hadn't taken it off for two weeks, because I didn't want people to know about my back. I had to take it off now, though, because those were the terms. Some of it caught and I had to jerk it off. Some of the scabs broke open and bled, but it mostly came off smoothly. I dropped the bandage to the floor and lifted up my shirt as I turned away from him. He gasped when he saw my back. "You were Blood and Whip's slave. I'm very sorry for you. How long were you with them?"

"Six years."

"Why do you guys name two people who owned you? Also, why did Danny gasp when you showed him your back? Are you hurt?" One of the Heralds was very curious it seemed.

"No, I'm fine. When we were chosen by our Masters, they put a tattoo on our backs to show ownership that's all. We aren't allowed to show anyone our backs, so they don't know who owns us. He just found out whose I was. Also, each of our Masters had a Master themselves. We were categorized into Masters, Servants, and Slaves." I didn't say anymore because I heard one of the children yelling my name. They weren't within hearing range, but I was linked with each of them. I bolted for the door without a word and ran to find Gabriel.

I found him in the mud behind one of the buildings. The boys who pushed him down were still standing around him, taunting him. When they saw me they stopped and smiled.

"So this is Ria? This is who is going to protect you? A girl fights for you. You can't pro..." The boy broke off and his friends stopped snickering as I slammed my fist into his face. He went down hard and the fight was on.

I was holding my own despite the unfair numbers and my sore back when the fight was broken up. A couple Heralds had heard the noise and came to investigate. All of the boys stopped immediately and I stepped over to see how Gabriel was doing. He was trembling, but unhurt. I helped him to stand up and glared at the boys, ignoring the Heralds who were lecturing.

"Gabriel, Zachariah, Raina, and Micah are off limits. You touch them and you deal with me."

They glared at me but didn't say anything they would regret in front of the Heralds. We were sent on our ways with a stern warning and threat of punishment if it happened again.

My back felt moist and I realized that all of the gashes that had partially healed were torn open again. Once I had seen Gabriel to his next class I ran to my room and threw another cloth around my back. I didn't have time to do anything more than run a clean rag over it before I bandaged it. I had to get to class. My next class was Mathematics. I had learned more advanced Mathematics than they were teaching so it wasn't too bad.

The rest of the day passed quickly, and soon it was time to bathe and go to bed. I waited until all of the other girls were done with their bathes, then quickly scrubbed and went to bed. I was tired and fell asleep quickly.

The rest of the week passed without any big occurrences. My back got progressively worse and soon it was hot to the touch. I tried to ignore it, because I didn't have any of the cream for injuries that Master Alan used to give us. He wanted us to heal quickly so we could 'donate' blood quicker.

After a few more days I started to have dizzy spells and my back felt as if it were on fire. I couldn't concentrate in class very well at all. I tried to behave like normal and it seemed to be working.

I was in weapons class working out with another 'Blue' when one of the dizzy spells hit. I stumbled and my ears buzzed. I heard people saying something, but I couldn't understand them. I closed my eyes for a second, then jerked my head back as someone touched it. I opened my eyes and saw the teacher kneeling in front of me. It was Herald Kerowyn and behind her stood Herald Alberich.

"Havens child, you're burning up! What's wrong? Where do you hurt?" Herald Captain Kerowyn stared deep into my eyes as if she could look to the center of my soul.

I jerked back out of her grasp, "I'm fine. I was just a little light- headed." I bumped into someone and hissed out a breath as my back ached.

Kero grabbed my arms and spun me around before I could do anything. I probably couldn't do anything anyway, as I felt weaker than I had ever felt before. My knees buckled and she picked me up in her arms like a child.

"You are going to the Healers, no arguing."

I wanted to protest, but I lacked the strength.

At the Healers I was set on my stomach on a bed. They slid my shirt off and unwrapped my back. The healer hissed out a little breath and winced. Kero looked straight into my eyes, "How long has this been happening?"

I started to shrug, then thought better of it. "I don't know really. My back was starting to heal, then I got into the tussle with Herald Sherrill. After that I got into a fight in some mud with some other Blues. I didn't get to wash it as well as I should have, because I was late."

"How long were you going to leave it alone as it got more infected?"

"I don't kn-ahh-ow." I clenched my jaw as the healer cleaned my back and reopened some of the wounds at the same time.

She just shook her head and walked out the door.