AN: Go back and read the last chapter if you're getting this from an author's alert.A LOTwas added.

When George awoke he was dizzy and didn't recognize them. This worried Numair, who knew a little more about healing than the others. Despite the ugly picture George had made for them about the situation at Pirates Swoop, they stayed camped where they were.

Their third day there, Atalaya woke from a nightmare covered in sweat. When she came to her senses she realized it wasn't the dream that scared her, it was the fact that she'd had it. In her dream, George still hadn't gotten better. Finally, he died. This had terrified her dream self. She had run to him and cried.

Atalaya knew then just how much these people meant to her. It was a little before dawn and Atalaya noticed a nauseous feeling in her stomach. When the animals realized she was awake they flocked to her. Atalaya scolded them for making so much noise then comforted each of them. A gray bird with a white stomach and black head told her about the scout who had followed George and that a large troop of Carthaki's were coming, along with strange creatures that are half human and half horse. Of all creatures, Atalaya loved birds more than anything, but at that moment she forgot them. She was torn about what to do. No matter what she did, the situation she had gotten herself into meant an early death.

The sun started to rise and the others started to stir. Atalaya remembered something her mother once told her:

Listen to your heart before listening to your head. Although the heart doesn't think about death or physical pain, it does think about emotions and feelings, which are far more important. While your mind is screaming about the end of life, your heart is reminding you of the people you love, of the loss of friendship.

A peck from one of her birds brought her back and she jumped up, making her winged friends scatter into the air. Atalaya ran to Daine, who was the most awake. "Daine, trouble. Carthakis, I don't know how many. And centaurs."

Daine reacted immediately, waking the others and clearing the camp. Atalaya could feel the nearby animals' restlessness. She rolled up her bedroll. Finally, her common sense overcame her heart and she turned and ran into the woods as fast as she could go.

Only when she stopped to catch her breath did she notice the sedge wren on her shoulder. She lowered the female to her lap and stroked her while she tried to sort out her thoughts. Her head ached and she just didn't feel right. Suddenly she remembered George, sick and unable to fight, unable to even walk.

Again, Atalaya tore through the forest, trying to find the camp. When she couldn't find her way back she sat down and cried in frustration and confusion. Then she heard a harsh two notes, then a trill. The sedge wren landed on the ground in front of her.

Follow me, she said, and flew off.

Atalaya jumped up and ran after her. The small bird led her right into camp. Atalaya dragged George to the edge of the woods and found herself out of breath. This would be harder than she thought. Luckily for her, George had lost a lot of weight in the last few days and she managed to drag him so far away that she couldn't hear the sounds of battle.

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Numair had forgotten about George until he saw Atalaya carry him off into the forest. He knew then that George was safe. He didn't have time to think about the two of them, though, because he was busy with centaurs.

Daine, on the other hand, didn't see Atalaya take George to safety. She had taken George's sword from its sheath when Atalaya first told her about the Carthakis. Now she put it to use.

There were ten Carthakis all together. Numair was dealing with the centaurs. One of the Carthaki swordsmen attacked without warning. Daine, who hadn't used a sword in a long time, wasn't fast enough and the enemy's sword cut deeply into her thigh. He did another complex move and Daine barely jumped out of the way in time. She tried an overhand pass, and then turned the sword sharply. If the Carthaki hadn't blocked just in time, she would have killed him. Hearing a sound behind her, she did a move that made her shoulder scream but ripped open the attacker behind her from chest to stomach.

The enemy she had been attacking used this distraction to his advantage. He swept the sword up and under, she blocked him, fell back, then lunged forward, aiming for his unguarded side. She ran him through.

Daine charged the last remaining person, also a swordsman. They locked body-to-body, hilt-to-hilt, until she broke away. She lunged back in instantly.

"Daine!" Numair yelled.

Daine jumped back and Numair shot and killed him with a bolt of magic. The last of them dead, Daine and Numair went into the woods to find George and Atalaya.

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They found her. She never thought they would, with the big battle coming up, but they had something to discuss with her. Weylin himself came. The leader of all this mess she had gotten herself into.

Atalaya was alone. The sedge wren, whom she had named Trill, had flown off to find herself a snack. Atalaya had hidden George nearby in case there was trouble.

They came out of the woods silently, him and his thugs. She had been sitting, her back against a tree, but when she saw them, Atalaya got to her knees.

Weylin dragged her up roughly. "You didn't follow orders," he growled in his beautiful, but harsh voice. He was very handsome. Atalaya would have been attracted to him if he didn't treat her, and everyone else, like slime. "Surely you know more than you are telling."

Atalaya opened her mouth to protest, but he back-handed her violently and knocked her down. His thug, Armand, pointed his sword at her throat. Weylin opened his mouth to say more, when, of all things that could happen, George stirred. They all froze. Weylin signaled to his other two body guards to search while his third kept his sword at Atalaya's throat. Atalaya prayed.

Unfortunately, the gods did not have mercy on her. Uriah, another of Weylin's thugs, dragged George out of his hiding place. George, who was still sick, just hung loosely in his grip.

Weylin never got angry. Instead he just smiled and his eyes glittered. Invisible hands gripped Atalaya's throat and lifted her from the ground. She clawed at her throat, trying to get the hands off. Sweat poured down her face as everything faded. Just before she passed out she heard a trill.