A/n: A good chapter. Quite fast-paced, but good. Here we go!

Chapter Ten

A knock at the door caused me to stir from under the covers. I pushed my head up to look around. Sam was next to me, his arm protectively around my waist. I smiled to myself. Sam. So chivalrous. Before I had a chance to lift the covers off me, Amneris bustled through the door. I immediately put my head down and closed my eyes, hoping she'd leave. It wasn't that I didn't like her, I just didn't want to deal with her. Unfortunately, I was wrong. She flung the covers off the two of us and gasped in glee at our position together.

Sam began to stir. "Hmmmm?" he said, sitting up. "Mother!"

I pretended to wake up as Sam pulled the covers protectively over us again. "What's going on?" I asked, trying to sound sleepy.

"I'm sorry, Nora, love," Sam said, kissing my cheek. "My mother was just intruding, and now she's leaving."

"Samuel, dear," Amneris replied, "I was just…just checking the sheets."

"Mother!" Sam yelled. "You will not!"

"But Samuel, you know that I've got to make sure that your marriage-"

"Mother!" Sam repeated. "Get out!"

Amneris huffed and left the room. Sam started to laugh. I started to laugh with him. "Thank you for not letting her check," I said. "I wouldn't want her to think me a…a…"

"Harlot?" Sam suggested. "Trollop? Loose woman? Floozy? Wa-"

"Yes, yes, Sam, that's what I meant," I said, getting out of the bed. "I should get dressed." I paused, looking around. "Where might I find some clothes?"

"Ohh…" Sam said. "All your clothing is with your horse."

"Right," I replied.

"Well then, fear not," he said. "I shall fetch it for you, primrose!"

"Sam, no one's around. You don't have to use your pet name for me," I said.

He laughed. "I know," he replied, opening the door. "I just like calling you that."

And with that, he left. I plopped back down on the bed, laughing to myself. Dear Lady, what would my aunts think if I told them I spent a night in the same bed with a boy? I laid back onto the fluffy white pillows, thinking. Everyone still thinks we're married. Everyone thinks I'm married to Sam. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I certainly enjoyed playing the part, and laughing it up with Sam, but a piece of me felt really guilty as well. I'd be angry if my son had pretended to be married to a girl I hardly knew. But it was Sam, and he was so funny and clever, I had a hard time being mad at him.

Sam burst through the door. "You're magic, you are!" he said.

I laughed. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"In-in your saddlebags! All you had was boy's clothes, and when I went in there to find you something to wear, it was all dresses!" he cried.

I smiled. "Allegra," I explained. "She's a fairy, remember?"

Sam looked awed. "Of course, of course!" he cried, throwing the dress at me. "I thought this would look nice on you. Put it on, then!"

I walked behind the screen and began to get dressed. Luckily for me, I found my boots and belt to be there. I pulled on the boots and put the belt around my waist under the dress. The dress was pretty, made of a flowy white fabric with a pretty gauze layer over it. It was embroidered with small royal blue and yellow flowers on a green vine all over the neckline and bodice. Sam certainly had good taste in dresses. When I stepped out from behind the screen, he was also dressed.

"Ah, Nora, you look lovely," he said, kissing my hand. "Just like my wife should."

I frowned. "When are you going to tell your mother that we're not married?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know… come on, let's go. We should be leaving soon," he replied. "We're already running late."

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

"You've got to meet your friends in Jenn today, Nora! Have you lost track of time?" said Sam, shocked.

I ran my fingers through my hair. Remorse ebbed through me. I'd forgotten all about Ophelia and Sidney. "No, no, of course not," I replied. "I…I had a momentary mind lapse, that's all."

Sam nodded and took my hand. We left the room and went outside, where it looked as though the entire Habblah clan were standing, waiting for us. In front of them stood three horses, among them Maverick. I was immediately confused. Why three horses? Then a thought hit me: Amneris She must be coming with us. Dear Lady, no! Please, no!

"Who's the third horse for?" I asked Sam.

Sam smiled at me. "We've got a guest coming with us," he replied.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the crowd as someone was pushed forward. I heard a few angry cries of "No, I won't!" and "You can't make me!" I wasn't sure of who it was until I saw the curly black hair and sparkling green eyes.

"Jocelyn?" I cried. "You're coming with us?"

She looked at me, crossing her arms angrily. There were tears of frustration in her eyes. "I suppose so, Nora," she retorted. "I presume I've got somewhere to be."

"That's right," said Sam, helping her onto her horse. "You and I, Nora, are delivering her to her husband."

"What?" I said, climbing onto Maverick. "You're betrothed?"

She laughed bitterly. "Apparently," she snapped. "I found out this morning. I guess Samuel's father has some bachelor for me."

I shot a look at Sam. He winked at me. A few of the men were hooking a cart up to Sam's horse. "What's that for?" I asked.

"Her dowry, of course," he replied. "She can't get married without a dowry."

Samuel kissed his mother, who was smiling. "Oh, dear, dear, Jocelyn, be good," she said. "I'll come visit you soon."

"Mother, please- can't we do something-I mean, isn't there anything…?" Jocelyn stammered.

"Jocelyn, come now!" Sam said, widening his eyes. He then bit his lip and pulled his ear twice. Jocelyn sighed and nodded. "Goodbye everyone," Sam called, waving. "I'll see you all soon!"

He galloped away, motioning for us to follow. It wasn't as easy for Jocelyn and I, both riding sidesaddle uncomfortably, to gallop away like he did. But we managed. My head was spinning. That was the most abrupt goodbye I'd ever made. Had Sam promised Jocelyn to some Donhash man? Was he crazy? Poor Jocelyn. I felt terribly for her. She hadn't even known. I knew we'd be leaving soon, of course, because I had to get to Jenn. However, I didn't know she'd be coming wit us… and to be dropped off? I had to do something.

As soon as I had planned on riding up to talk to Sam, he'd already stopped. "Get down," he said to Jocelyn and I. "We need to talk."

I hopped down and walked towards him. Jocelyn did the same. "What the hell is going on, Sam?" she cried. "Why'd you give me the sign?"

"What sign?" I asked.

"When we were little, and Sam wanted me to go along with something, he'd bit his lip and pull his ear twice," Jocelyn explained. "He hasn't done it for years, though."

He shrugged. "You two- you need to get out of those dresses," he said absentmindedly. "Nora, give Jocelyn some boy clothes. It's safer that way."

I nodded. I still didn't understood what was going on. "Okay," I replied, digging into my saddlebag. I pulled out some clothes. Just as I thought, boy's clothes. Thank you Allegra, I thought. I tossed some to Jocelyn and pulled more out for me, then ushered her behind a clump of trees. We both put on almost the exact same thing- a tunic, vest, breeches, boots, and a hat, except she was wearing green and I had on black.

Once we stepped out from behind the trees, Sam looked us up and down and nodded. "Okay, sit down," he said. "I've got a lot of explaining to do."

"No kidding," spat Jocelyn.

He looked at her. "Listen, I'm sorry I had to put you through that whole thinking you were betrothed thing. You're not, you never were. I just needed to get you out of camp," he said.

"What?" she shrieked. "I'm not betrothed? Thank the Lady! Oh, I am so thrill-wait. Why do you want to get me out of camp?"

"I'm getting to that," Sam explained. "You see, Jocelyn, Nora Rose is King Char and Queen Ella's daughter. She's the lost Kyrrian princess everyone talks about. She's on a mission to Frell to defeat the Oderians. They're planning on killing Char and Ella. The Oderians were the men who killed Grandfather, remember?"

"Of course I remember, half-wit," Jocelyn said slowly. "So you want to accompany her to Frell, and avenge Grandfather's death?"

Sam nodded. "Yes," he replied. "Do you understand?"

"Sam, don't treat me like a child. I'm fourteen," she said. "I understand why you want to, but I don't understand why you need me."

"Because you're a healer," I said, catching on. "You'll be useful to us."

Sam nodded. "Exactly," he said. "Plus you're death with daggers, Joss."

She laughed. "I am, aren't I?" she said.

I laid back on the grass, thinking. This was all to strange. Ophelia had said others would join us. Were Sam and Jocelyn to be these others? I had to believe they were. Something felt right about them. And they would be helpful to us, would they not? They had a death to avenge, and both of them knew how to use weaponry. This is good, I thought. This feels right.

A little while later, we all got back onto our horses and began riding towards Jenn. My heart was swelled; I was completely overjoyed at seeing Ophelia and Sidney, as well as presenting my newly-found friends. We began to slow down. Sam had motioned to us that we were coming up to a crossroads, and near it was a pretty clearing where we could eat lunch.

We rode up a small hill, where at the top we looked down to the crossroads. There was a worn piece of wood nailed to a tree, indicating the direction Jenn was in. I figured we'd stop for lunch, and then ride into the town to meet Ophelia and Sidney at the Broken Bottle. I was wrong.

At the crossroads, there seemed to be a bit of a skirmish going on. I got off my horse and walked closer, only to find a young blind man being ransacked by two bandits dressed in black. He seemed so helpless, his stick knocked to the ground, that I felt like I had to do something. My sword at my side, I ran up to the two men.

"Let him be!" I yelled as deeply as possible; remembering I was a boy. I drew my sword and pointed it at them.

They dropped the lad and turned to face me. One of them began laughing; the one with tawny hair and brown eyes. "As you wish, sir," he replied, brandishing his sword as well.

He suddenly dropped his sword. I gave him a puzzling look. He smiled and ran at me. Taking me by surprise, I was pushed to the ground and he was on top of me. I struggled, but he had a hold on me. Damn it, I thought, angry. You think I'd have learned my lesson about confronting men in the forest.

"All right, lad, lemme see how many KJ's you've got," he said, digging into my pockets.

"None," I retorted, fuming.

He smirked, his hands coming up empty. "Right then, where's your horse?" he asked, sitting up.

"I walked," I snapped.

He turned around sourly to find a sword in his face. I smiled, peering around him. My face fell immediately. It wasn't Samuel, come to save me. It was another group of bandits, looking to rob some bandits. Ironic, isn't it? I had a feeling I'd been in the situation before. Slowly, I picked up my sword and looked around. My attacker's partner, the darker haired one, was gone. The blind lad was being held by some other bandit. Poor kid. Could I just escape, maybe? Sneak off?

"Oh, gentlemen…" I heard someone say. I looked over, and there was Jocelyn, dressed in a ridiculously meager gypsy outfit, gyrating.

The men bought her act, turning to look at her. It gave me enough time to stand up and hold my sword out. But before I could begin to fight with someone, arrows began raining down on us. I looked up. There was Sam, atop a tree. Smart, very smart. One by one, before they knew what hit them (no pun intended), they were laying on the ground, pierced by Sam's deadly arrows.

"Wow," I said out loud. "That was a lot easier than I thought it'd be."

"Not so fast," replied my first attacker, holding a sword to my neck. "You think I'd just let you escape?"

"Come off it, Tom," someone said.

Tom, who obviously was my attacker, whirled around. "Oh, come on Chaz! We haven't gotten anybody in a few days! We need KJs!" he moaned.

The darker haired man fell down from a tree, followed by Samuel. "We will get them, Tom," he said, eyeing me. "Our luck is changing."

A/n: Hmmm…very interesting. A little boring, I agree, but this chapter was pretty important as well. I'll have the next one up for you soon!