Getting into the castle was easier than they expected. The castle was not heavily guarded – the royalty of Scanra probably assumed that with 50,000 men at their doorstep, they had little to worry about. But the soldiers of Scanra did not care for dilly-dallying. They did not listen to orders as simple as that, and thus, they slept.

The party snuck into the castle late in the night, but that was just the easy part. They had to get up to the highest tower, and the castle was swarming with men.

"We can't do this!" Dom hissed. "There are too many of us, we will be caught instantly!"

Alanna nodded gravely. "We should send some men back. If we all get caught, we are going to have nothing left!"

Dom nodded. "So who's staying?" They all looked at each other. They quickly came to an agreement: the men of the Own would go back to the campsite, along with most of the knights. Knowing they may have Kel unable to walk, the strongest and stealthiest men stayed in the castle.

Dom, Faleron, Merric and Neal stayed, while the rest quietly snuck back out of the castle to their campsite.

"How are we going to do this?" Faleron asked.

Neal furrowed his brow. "I think we should go straight there. Avoid everyone we can, kill anyone who gets in our way."

Dom closed his eyes. There were so many ways this plan could go wrong. He opened his eyes and looked at them. "Let's go." He said, drawing his sword.

Silently, they crept through the halls of Castle Rathhausak. Higher and higher they went, sneaking behind and around people in the halls, until they reached the third floor.

"There's no one here." Merric whispered.

Neal shook his head after looking around the corner. "There are four guards standing at the base of the stairs. I think they are guarding the stairs to where they are keeping Kel. We have no choice but to be rid of them."

Dom nodded. "I have a plan."

Sheathing his sword, Neal sauntered out, grinning. "Morning, gents!" He called out to the men at the bottom of the stairs. They looked at each other, but Neal continued. "What are you doing hanging out here?" He asked. "It's the middle of the night, not time to be milling around!" He said with a grin.

They looked at him sceptically, but he just held out his hand. "Nealan. You?"

The first man slowly put his hand into Neal's. "Todar." He said slowly.

Neal grinned. "Interesting." He said. Before the men could ask him what he was doing there, he pulled out his sword and gutted the first man. Dom, Faleron, and Merric ran down the hall towards him, their swords before them, and killed the other three men.

They pulled them through the first door they saw before they bled onto the floor. Neal then took the first man's armour and put it on.

"I'll see you on the way down." He said weakly.

Dom nodded briskly and ran up the stairs.

It was dark. No lanterns lit the way, and Merric quickly ran down and retrieved one from the wall beside where Neal was standing guard. They walked down the dark hallway, swords still drawn. They did not know what to expect.

"Do you see anything?" Faleron whispered.

Dom shook his head. "Wait-" he said, peering up the small, winding staircase above them, "I see a light."

Silently he crept up the stairs, and sure enough, there was a guard standing there. Dom, under the cover of shadow, silently killed the man. "Come on!" He hissed down the stairs to Merric and Faleron, who ran up to join him.

"This trapdoor here." He said. "I know she is behind it. But there is something blocking it. It won't budge."

He threw his weight at it, but nothing happened. Merric just grinned. "Being at Haven and New Hope those years taught me a few things." He said. "One of them was to use what you've got."

He took his sword and placed it, tip up, against the screw on the trapdoor. "This might not work," he said, using his sword as a screwdriver, "if this weight covers the entire trapdoor. If it only covers the end that opens, though, than we should be able to lever it. up." A moment later, they had taken out all of the screws, and Dom pushed up on the trap door. It popped up slightly, but he could not get it completely up.

"Help me push!" He grunted, pushing up. Faleron and Merric helped him, and after three strong pushes, they shoved the door out of the way.

Dom scrambled up and poked his head through the door, looking around the large room.

It smelled strongly of urine and dirt, and it was empty. All that was there was a small lump of a thing curled in the middle of the room. Dom squinted in the moonlight to see it. "Kel?" He whispered. He pushed himself into the room and ran over; it was Kel. She was naked and bruised and thin, but she was alive. Unconscious, but alive.

Tears sprang to his eyes, but Dom forced them back. Now was not the time. He scooped Kel's limp body up and wrapped her in a thin blanket he found on the floor. She was light, and that bothered him.

He quickly stepped back down through the door.

"Let's go." He said, running down the stairs, Faleron and Merric staring ashen behind him. They were shocked at the limp thing in Dom's arms, but they did not pause; Faleron ran ahead of Dom, his sword out, and Merric behind. They had only to get out of the castle.

Neal was standing where they had left him, looking utterly terrified. "Rhian was here." He said. "Not fifteen minutes ago. She asked me why I was here alone," he said, running alongside Dom, "and I told her that Todar was feeling sick and I was covering for him. She evaporated in front of me, then appeared a moment later. She said that Kel was still out, and she would come back in the morning, when it was time to give Kel her breakfast." He shook his head, looking at Kel. "I should've killed her right there." He said coldly.

Faleron shook his head. "You would've been dead before your stroke fell." He said.

Neal knew this was true, but he had an idea. "I took these from Kel's room before we left." He said, pulling a pile of griffin feathers out of his pocket. "Hopefully, they will do more than just letting us see through spells."

Dom nodded, and they all tied the feathers to their heads, hidden under strips of fabric.

They had not run into anyone yet, which was odd. Could it be that the late hour of the night meant that everyone had gone to sleep, not expecting any action till the morning?

Dom chose not to think about it; he just ran.

But when they got outside the castle, they realized how wrong they had been about that plan.

50,000 men were waiting for them.

"Oh, bloody hell." Neal said.

They ran. They ran as fast as they could, away from the men. But they were tired and weak, and they carried a burned. The Scanrans were catching up. They would have to get to their horses, or fight.

The men were not fifty feet away, and gaining steadily, when Merric cried out. "Look!" He cried. "Horses!"

And there, coming towards them, were five horses: only one with a rider. Alanna nodded briskly at them as she brought her horse to a halt. "Good to see you," she said. "We were getting worried."

They leapt onto their horses as quickly as they could and galloped away. The Scanrans tried to chase them, but their cavalry was behind their footmen, and could not pass them.

They were going to escape.

Dom's horse was tiring. He was carrying not only Dom's weight, but the minimal weight of Kel's limp body in his arms. Still, this was enough to tire the horse. They stopped before nightfall. They camped far off the road, in a hidden clearing with a large cliff on one side for protection.

They set up their tents quickly and went to sleep. They did not light a fire, it was too risky. Dom covered Kel's broken body in his spare clothes and laid her in his bedroll. The night was cold, and she was almost dead.

He lay there, staring at her face in the moonlight. Her right eye was swollen and purple. A large welt spread across her collar and neck. Her lips were cracked and split and bleeding, and her breathing was erratic and rare.

But she was alive. She lay there, unconscious, in the bedroll beside Dom. He knew Rhian would come for her, probably in the morning. She was lazy. He slept lightly, ready to wake at any sound in the forest.

No one came in the night. No soldiers, no mage. Kel was still unconscious, but her body was warmer, and she was breathing. He hoped she would wake up soon, so he could feed her.

What he did not expect, though, was to see Rhian leaning on a tree outside his tent.

She smiled when she saw him. "Good morning. Domitan, is it? Keladry's knight in shining armour, I presume?"

Dom glared at her. "I am not a knight." He said.

"Ah." Rhian looked him over. He was dressed for the day, his sword at his side, his griffin feathers under his helm. "Well, Domitan, as I am sure you know, I have come o retrieve my general."

Dom did not flinch. "She is not yours."

Rhian laughed. "Oh, but I imagine she is yours, is she? I'm sorry, sir, but you cannot have her back-"

Dom pulled out his sword and swung at her. She jumped back and screeched, a thin veil of blood dripping down the torso of her dress. "I'm bleeding!" She cried. "You attacked me!" She looked at him, scandalized. "Why would you do that?" She cried.

Dom stepped forward. "Because you are evil, Rhian." He said, lifting his sword again.

She frowned. "I was only doing what I was told! I didn't know it would turn out this way!"

Dom knew she was not going to go that easily. But what he did know was that Neal was slowly, silently, creeping up behind Rhian.

"Sir, please!" She cried, lifting her hand, about to do something that Dom did not even want to think about – when Neal's sword came down. It pierced through fur, silk, flesh and bone, until it emerged the other side.

Rhian let out a gasp of air. "No!" She cried. "NO!" She creamed louder than he had ever heard anyone scream. Her voice filled the air with an echo that reverberated off of everything around them, her magic swirling and rising away from her dying body...

Kel woke with a start, her eyes shooting open. Her lungs did not agree, and she coughed. She was not in her room in the castle, but in a tent somewhere. Weakly, she sat up. She was in a bedroll. She was clothed. She looked down at the heavy wool cloth she was wearing. It was the colours of the King's Own, the royal blue that all of the Own's gear was coloured in. And it was bordered in green and brown. The colours of Masbolle.

"Dom." She whispered, the very name scratching through her parched throat and mouth. "Dom."

Suddenly, the tent flap opened – someone was there – and Kel quickly grabbed the knife laying beside her pillow. There, staring wide-eyed at the door of the tent, was Dom.

Kel swayed slightly. She had moved too fast picking up the knife, and she could not support herself. Dom caught her before she fell over.

"Kel." He said, hugging her tightly, painfully, "Kel, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I was afraid you were dead this whole time, I'm sorry I did that. I didn't know what Rhian had done to you..."

Kel closed her eyes as he spoke. She knew he was speaking of two things at once. "Dom," she said quietly, "it's alright. I forgive you."

Dom pulled back and looked her in the eye. He was fighting back tears. Kel did not cry, fearing she did not have enough water in her body to do it. "here." Dom said, pulling out a piece of bread and some dried fruit, "eat this." Kel ate the entire thing almost instantly.

Kel swayed again, then stuck her head out of the tent and vomited up everything he had just given her.

Dom smiled weakly. "You have not eaten that much in a long time." He said. "Your body can't take it."

Kel nodded silently. "Here." Dom said, handing her a much smaller piece of dried fruit. "Eat this, and eat it slowly."

Kel took it from him with stiff fingers and ate it while he searched for something. "Water." He said, shaking the canteen before her. "I think you need some."

"Mithros, thank you." Kel said, taking the canteen and emptying it.

Dom laughed. "I would have thought you would thank me."

Kel smiled and lay down again. "Thank you, Dom." She said, reaching up and touching his face. He took her hand.

"You can't go to sleep, Kel," he said softly. "There is an army chasing us. We must run."

Kel nodded, her eyes already closed. Dom sighed and picked her up, carrying her out of the tent.

Neal was sitting on the ground beside the bloody corpse of Rhian. "Is she not awake yet?" He asked, astonished.

Dom shook his head. "She awoke and ate a piece of fruit and had some water. She's still pretty weak. But we can't stay here."

Neal nodded. "We'll get your tent, we should go."

Moments later, they were on their horses again, Kel asleep in front of Dom, Rhian still lying sprawled on the ground.

"May the goddess bless her soul." Alanna said, making the symbol against evil on her chest. "Mithros protect us."

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So god damned happy! I love it!

Eeppoonnaa: thanks!

Lady of Masbolle: hmm... you're right, that is a little odd.

Mage Light: thanks!

"To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad."

-unolimbo

enjoy!