Anniya

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" Your highness. There is a man who wishes to see you. We caught him trying to sneak through the gates," a guard stated with an air of urgency.

Robert glanced up from the papers he was writing and studied the guard, aware of the dark circles under his eyes. It was past midnight. He himself had been preparing to lock the library and go down for the night. He was too tired to deal with anyone at that moment.

" Tell him I will have to see him tomorrow," Robert replied, shuffling the papers into a stack as he rose. Most of them were blank. He had been too busy thinking about Anniya. He hadn't talked to her since he had kissed her spontaneously. She seemed to be holding something back, something he couldn't put his finger on. But she had kissed him back.

"He's being held custody right now, and ordinarily we would of sent him straight to the cells for the night, but he seems to posses a rather curios letter addressed to you. He said it wasn't from him, it was some lass called Anna. A likely story, as the rest of the guards and I---," the guard began telling Robert apologetically, interrupting his thoughts.

Robert had been half listening until he had heard the guard had mentioned the ' lass called Anna'. He interrupted the guards steady flow of words.

" Repeat her name."

" Anna, I believe it was your majesty. Wait, no, not Anna, I'm afraid it wasn't It was something more like."

" Anniya." Robert finished for him grimly. " Bring me the letter. I'll be on the fifth corridor." turning and striding down the corridor. There was a wild, wild chance. Quickening his pace, he reached the door to her room within a matter of minutes. He knocked several times, then opened it. The bed was empty, not to his surprise.

" Damn," Robert muttered under his breath. Searching wildly around the room, he looked for clues that might of told him where she went. Anniya was good, and as he predicted, there were none.

" Your majesty, the letter," the guard said, out of breath, from running Robert suspected. He snatched the letter out of the guards hands and ripped it opened. Three parchments fell out. He picked up the first one. It was in Anniya's half legible scrawl.

" Dear Robert,

I really don't have time to explain anything. If your reading this now, you're most likely angry at me, as I am many miles away from the Ayorthorian palace. I don't have enough time to explain the situation, but as soon as you read the other letters you will.

Anniya"



Anniya. Why had she gone, and where? What more, was why had she not told him? Robert skipped on to the next parchment.



Robert--

I don't know if this will reach you, as I don't know if you have contact with Anniya. The Count is a fraud. An assassination plot against the royal family has been formulated. The proof is right there in the code they've been using, with the Count's stamp on it, giving full permission. As soon as you receive word that I've escaped, go to the ' inn'. I'll be there. If I don't make it, take care of Anniya for me. Tell her I love her.

West

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For the second time in her life, Anniya was truly scared. Scared for Kyrria, scared for it's people, scared for Gleex, scared for John, scared for West, and above all, scared for herself. There had only been one time she had ever truly been afraid, and that had been a long, long time ago. She had been riding hard for hours now, and she had felt nothing. She should of stayed in Ayorthora. Perhaps it was curable. Instead she was going to die on the road. Lovely. She could become a part of the pavement. Diobla would only go hard for so long.

Eventually, the dark horse did stop. But not because it was tired.

" Oh go you stupid horse. You stupid devil creature," Anniya shouted at it, a hopeless cause.

The horse refused to move, and nickered nervously.

" Above all horses, I see you. You, the horse who practically threw me off the cliff!" Anniya exclaimed again. The horses let out a soft neigh again, and stared into the forest.

Anniya was too upset to pay heed to any warning the horse may have given her; all that she could think about was that she would die out on the cold, dark road. She slumped under a tree. Closing her eyes for a minute, she wished she could go back to the time before she had gone to Ayorthora, before West had been captured.

Anniya realized she was falling asleep, and did nothing to prevent it. But as she fell asleep, though no one could tell her this, her necklace began faintly glowing, something it had done only once before.............

* Note to everyone. See chapter 10 or 11. Sometime when Anniya had the concussion*

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Author's note: I think I have some explaining to do.

Especially since I have written in about 4 months.

I don't feel like explaining why write now-it'll take to long. But I'm going to finish it. This chapter was pretty short, since this was originally the smaller part of a much bigger chapter that I decided to cut off so I could keep everyone hanging( ach, I know 4 months is a long time. I'll be surprised if anyone reviews this story, in fact. I'd like to hit me with something heavy, solid, and big if I were you guys. But here it is, I'm back to Anniya. Next chapter will be up by Friday night, as I' m doing some revision. I'm very pleased to say that West will( finally) reappear as well.