Sorry for the long wait. But with school back in, constantly getting grounded from the computer, and the computer not wanting to boot up, I haven't exactly been in the best position to update.

But I'm back. And for a while someone has taken over me and I've- very sadly- been spelling the flying gray space monkeys gray with an 'e', not an 'a'. Sad sad. But I'm back and I've written a million apologies to them, and they're on the verge of forgiving me, so, all is well in Monkeyville! (Not that I have any problems with gray being spelled grey, but their name is spelled with and a.)

And then there's the disclaimer. Disclaimer: Do ya really think I own this stuff? If I did, Kel and Neal would've ended up together in the first place!

And a note concerning the last chapter. Their guide's name was Aiden. This is not the Aiden from the books who was part of the King's Own. I just pulled a name out of the air, and it happened to be the name of the kid I was watching. So I gave the guy who had to die the name of my one-year-old charge.

But not to keep you peeps waiting anymore! I'm ba-ack!

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Chapter 3

The room was small and empty, but for herself. There was a steady throb on the back of her head, but she couldn't remember hitting it. In fact, she couldn't remember anything. Where she was, how she got there, what she had been doing ...her name.

The light in the room was dim, coming from the only window in the place. It was low to the ground and barred. There was enough room between the bars for a cat to jump through easily, or an arm or two to pass through without having to open a door. An arm that would hopefully bring food.

The door. It was on the other side of the small room. There was no handle on her side of the door, which was only to be expected.

Then she looked at herself, what she was wearing. Typical everyday clothes, for working or for riding. Tan breeches and white shirt, with a brown tunic and riding boots. The tunic wouldn't be representing a fief, but that didn't necessarily mean she wasn't from one. She could have just been wearing something else, because she had apparently been riding somewhere, or doing other work.

Where would she have been riding to though? Who would she have been riding with? There wasn't anyone else in the room with her. What had happened to them? Did they get away? Were they killed? Why hadn't they come back for her yet? Would they come back for her if they were able to? How many people had been with her? How had she been captured? So many questions ran through her head, but she couldn't answer them, and there was no one around to answer them for her.

Then something else: she had to go. Now. There was a small bucket a corner by the door, which she guessed was for use as a chamber pot. Well, even if it wasn't, that was it's new use. Her chains were just long enough to use it. When she finished, she curled up in a corner to try to sleep to pass the time until someone came, hopefully with food, because she was starting to get hungry.

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"Tobe, we'll set up camp here, and I'll keep going looking for her."

"If ya say so. How far're they gonna go?"

"I don't know, but it's rather obvious that they had that whole thing planned out, considering how early we left and when they attacked, and how far we've been going. Had we been going at this rate uninterrupted on our way up to Steadfast, we'd've been there about two and a half hours ago."

"I'd say more abou' an hour and a half ago, but if ya say so."

"I'll put up the wards so that we'll be here undetected unless another mage happens by. You'll need to know how to get in and out. I probably won't be back for a while, so don't wait up for me."

"Ye should tell som'ne 'afore ya leave."

"I just told you didn't I?"

"Som'ne at tha fort."

"Right! I'll contact someone and then I'm off."

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Back at Fort Steadfast, Dom was getting ready to go out hunting. As he came to the stable, he noticed Yuki walking in his direction muttering to herself, showing a lot more emotion than he had ever recalled from her.

"What's up?" he asked as she got a bit closer.

"Huh?" she looked a little startled, not having noticed him from being so wrapped up in whatever it was that she was so upset about. " Oh. Hi Dom. Do you realize how extremely late Neal is?"

"Neal? You still upset about him?"

"Yes." She replied stiffly. " He should have been here about an hour and a half ago."

"Well, what do you expect? This is Neal we're talking about here. Has he really ever been one for punctuality?"

Yuki didn't seem as stiff now, but still just as much upset, and Dom knew she must be livid, for how much frustration was showing on her face.

"No. But he's never been this late either."

"True. You've been worked up about this for too long. I was about to go hunting. Want to come with me to try to forget about it for now?"

She gave him a small smile and said "Sure. Thanks Dom. I really hope that nothing happened to him."

"Something happen to Neal? He'd scare off anyone with his ah-hem 'sense of humor'"

"Oh I'm sooo sure." This time she really smiled.

"He's starting to rub off on you. Don't let too much more of that happen. One Neal is more than enough."

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Alanna watched as the two horses left with their riders, wondering where Neal could possibly be at the moment. Surely the Scanrans wouldn't have attacked just yet, and even if they had, she doubted it would have been where Kel, Neal, Tobe, and their guide would be.

Suddenly, as if he had read her mind, there was a glow of green fire by her hand. Bringing up the speaking spell, she asked "Neal?" "Alanna?"

"Yes. Where are you? You're an hour and a half late now."

Neal took a deep breath then launched into the explanation. "On the way up here we were attacked by Scanrans. They came out of nowhere. They outnumbered us, and they got Kel. They let up their attack just as soon as they got her. I don't know if she's injured, but it was obvious that they wanted her alive. Our guide is dead, and Tobe and I have been following them for a while now. We set up camp and I'm going to keep following to see where their camp is. It can't be far now. It's obvious that this whole thing was planned out, but I don't want to go too much more into detail, or I won't be able to catch up to them." He paused, waiting for Alanna to tell him that he shouldn't go after her.

"Are you sure that it's really a good idea to go after her? Wouldn't that just complicate things?"

"A couple of the sparrows and Jump followed ahead of me, and they'll be able to get me there and back just fine. I have to know what happened to her. I feel so guilty about what happened."

"You should. But not about Kel getting taken. She can take care of herself. She's had just as much training as you. What you should be worried about right now is Yuki. She's been rather visibly upset for a while now. I think she just went off to go hunting with your cousin."

Neal just now realized that he had completely forgotten about Yuki again, and felt terrible about it, but, since Alanna could only hear him, not see him, he was able to cover.

"She's not there? When she gets back tell her what happened and that I can't wait to see her."

"All right. There's no point in arguing with you about going, so be careful and please try not to do anything stupid. I know that it's a really difficult concept for you, but take it into consideration, for everybody's sake."

"Very funny. I'll see you all soon. I hope."

With that he closed off the spell and left Alanna to think about the situation.

They obviously wanted Kel for something, and she doubted it would be the ransom. Had it been that, they would have taken Neal too. It most likely had something to do with the recent killing of Blayce. With him went the monster machines that had given the Scanrans a definite advantage.

And then there was something else she had noticed. He had seemed so anxious to get Kel back and make sure that she was all right, but he hadn't even hinted at remembering Yuki until she had mentioned her. I seemed like what he said had been a cover, and he hadn't said to tell her that he loved her.

Well, she would definitely have some things to think about.

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"Tobe, I'm off. Don't wait up for me. If there's an emergency, you can always contact Daine through the horses, right?"

"Yup. Take some food with ya fer her. She'll be hungry."

"Good thinking. See you some time soon hopefully."

"Run alon' now Neal. Go git yer Kel."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ne'er mind."

"Right. I'll see you later then."

"Bye."

Jump took off and Neal followed, suddenly more anxious to see Kel than he had been just two minutes ago. He had to get her back.

Though he never noticed it, he had completely forgotten about Yuki once again.

Tobe watched as Neal left, aware that Neal hadn't seemed in the least concerned about Yuki, but seemed like the world would end if he didn't get Kel back right away. It didn't quite make sense. Unless........

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She woke up with a headache. She remembered the throb that had been at the back of her head before and sighed. She was still in the small prison. It was one of the few things she remembered. She still couldn't remember her name. Or where she was or anything else she had been wondering about before. But one thing that she did know was that she was hungry.

She hadn't had anything to eat since before she could remember. But then, for all she knew, she knew perfectly well exactly who she was just that morning.

And it was getting cold. The sun was beginning to set, and as far as she knew, which wasn't very far at all, she had been dumped here and then abandoned.

Just then she heard the sound of a large group of people coming her way, making no effort at all to keep quiet. It soon became apparent that they were all drunk. Or at least most of them. Suddenly there was a large, ugly face in front of her. "Hello Sir Lady Knight Keladry, Protector of the Small. Hungry?" it snarled.

The face was dirty with dread locks hanging in his face. Breath that smelled like alcohol and spoiled meat wafted toward her. It was disgusting, and she was disgusted, nothing more. But then, she decided, it would probably be best if she played scared and intimidated captive, and she better pretend to know who she was. Someone could really take advantage of a person with no memory of their life.

She nodded slightly, trying to look frightened, and knowing it wouldn't really matter if she did a really bad job, as they wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

"Well 'at's too bad, ain't it?" he spat. "You starved us of our mage, girlie. Now we's going to starve you till yer barely alive. We'll see how ye like it." He gave nasty chuckled then left.

So apparently I'm a Lady Knight. Is that normal?

After some time to think about this, she noticed that the noise level had dropped, (which considerably helped her headache) and now there was only the occasional grunt, snore, and mutter. She couldn't see any of them, seeing as they were all on the side of her prison by the door, not the window. It was probably better that way.

Then there was a small rustle in one of the bushes that she could see from her window. An ugly, medium sized dog came trotting up, tail wagging. He was soon followed by a young man who had an anxious look on his face.

Kel hoped that he would have food for her. That seemed to be her number one concern at the moment, probably because she couldn't remember anything else.

As he approached very quietly, she knelt by her barred window.

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He couldn't believe it. Finding her had been as simple as the plan had been to come up with. There had to be a catch. It was never that easy. How in the name of Mithros did this come so easily? Oh well. He would take it without question, for now.

"Kel! Are you all right? They didn't hurt you, did they? Are you hungry? How're we going to get you out?"

"Slow down. Who are you?" She wanted some answers, and then she would ask about food, and for relief of her headache. Wait. Was he a healer? If so, how did she know? She couldn't remember anything, right?

Neal's face fell. His best friend didn't know who he was! He tried to answer, but no sound came out.

"I'm sorry. Please don't take it personally. I don't even remember my name, even though one of those pigs said it. I think that he mentioned something about a Lady Knight? And what kind of a name is 'Protector of the Small?'"

He had to grin at this. "You never did like that name. I'm your best friend, Neal. We were traveling to Fort Steadfast. Then Scanrans attacked. We were outnumbered. They killed our guide, and took you. And now I'm here to get you out."

"Well that's very sweet of you, but I seriously doubt that it will be that easy. I've got a headache and I'm hungry. It's getting cold, and I'm extremely annoyed at not remembering. I'm sorry for complaining, but we need to be practical. I'm sure my chains are magicked."

"Of course. You were always practical, except when it came to certain lost people."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Never mind." He reached through the bars and brushed her cheek with his fingers. His touch was cool and comforting. Green fire ran up through his hand, and her headache went away. Now she was even more hungry, but at least the pain was gone. So he was a healer.

"Thanks," Kel muttered as Neal reached into the bag he had with him that had gone unnoticed before. He drew out some bread and cheese, which she accepted gratefully, but couldn't help but saying "What? No vegetables?" This hit hard, but he said nothing, just pulled out a bit more, which she finished just as quickly. He then handed her his water flask, which she quickly emptied.

"Thank you so much Neal. I was so hungry! And they weren't going to feed me. Said something about me starving them of their mage. Can you explain?"

Neal launched into how she had killed the mage Blayce, and banished his killing machines. It was soon dark, and Kel had to stop him, though she very much enjoyed sitting listening to him.

"It doesn't sound as if you're talking about me, but some legend."

"Oh, but you are a bit of a legend."

"Well I would love to hear it all, or, rather, remember it all, but you really should go now," she said, finger running down the back of a sparrow that had perched on her lap.

"And this was supposed to be a quick rescue mission." He looked down and sighed, then looked back up into his best friend's face. "I was hoping you'd be coming back right away."

She looked at him and suddenly wished that she could go with him just then, no matter how impractical it may have been. It showed in her face.

"I'll mess with the locks, but I don't know if I can get them unlocked without time to work out the spells that must be on them, and blasting them off, other than waking up all of these thugs, would wear me out really fast. That really wouldn't be good. But I can put up a spell to keep you warm, and we'll see what we can do tomorrow."

She nodded as he reached through the bars and rested a hand on her arm, setting up the heating spell. He touched her cheek, and, not thinking, she reached up and grabbed his hand. They stayed there like that for a while, perfectly content, until they were interrupted.

"What'd ya think yer doin'?" one of the bandits snarled. He had woken up, and was not in the best of moods, having a bad hangover.

Neal's eyes widened, and he let go of Kel's hand, standing up to face the bandit.

He took a swing at Neal, and missed. Neal took off, following Jump and the few sparrows that had accompanied them and not stayed behind with Kel, the bandit following close behind.

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So this may not have been the best place to end, but I want to post tonight, and I'm going to get into trouble if I don't get off the computer really soon.

Now I get to complain.

Trickster's Choice was really good, but that was so NOT an ending! (Hehehe Aren't I one to talk) I mean, it was a good part to the book, but it was like the end to a chapter, not the whole book!

No go! Review! And I'll try to have the next chapter before another month or two goes by!

-Sunstorm