Disclaim: I do not own any of the characters in here that are in any Tamora P. Books

Assassination Attempt

Thea smiled down at the small peasant girl who had just sung for her, and
asked
"What's your name?"
"Lila"
"Well Lila you have a very pretty voice". The little girl blushed and giggled with delight as her mother approached.
"Lila? You aren't bothering Thea now are you?
"No mama, I singed for her!"
"Hello Mrs.Pettycomb it's nice to see you, your daughter is such a
delight."
"That she is! Well Lila we have to go join your father now tell Thea
goodbye.
"Bah bye Thea"
Thea waved and her smile faded and a look of longing entered her eyes, which where frequently changing with her moods. They are normally gold but
they now were brown. Stop it, she chided herself, Lila deserves her happiness and loving family.
Another inner voice asked, and you don't? Before her inner selves could continue a horn sounded in the distance and a cheer raised through the crowd. All the towns' people were crowded into the square. This was the last stop of the king's progress. He would be staying at the Manor here for a couple weeks before taking the five-day ride back
to the Palace. The horn sounded again, the King's party was on its way. Thea sighed she was not looking forward to sharing the medium sized town of
Dragon's Box with a bunch of strange soldiers and rich snobs, whom Thea definitely did not like, not that she wasn't a loyal Tortallian citizen. Thea watched as the king's party traveled like a snake down the hill into the town. That is a lot of people, thought Thea. The king's wagon reached the beginning of the crowd, and that's when Thea felt it. The danger, her neck hairs stood up and her eyes changed to a soft yellow of alertness. She saw them, the four archers with arrows pointing at the king, queen, prince Roald, and Princess Shinko. The guards didn't notice. There was glamour in front of them but Thea was
sitting in a tree behind it and could see it clearly. The arrows were
released! Thea did the first thing she could. She leaped of her perch and flipped in the air and grabbed the arrow as she had practiced so many times with Pete.
When she landed the glamour went down and the crowd silenced when they figured out what just went on. The king stood up and the gaurds gathered around him. They were searching for the archers who had blended in with the
crowd when their plan failed. All At once everyone turned to her as she
walked to the front of the crowd. "It's a nice day is it not?" She asked the most important looking guard. A mid-50 year-old small knight with gray streaked red hair. The knight nodded mutedly. Thea continued, "A nice warm day for autumn, so tell me why are there four men in this crowd with big winter cloaks on?" With that hint all the knights surrounding the King scanned the crowd. The four perpetrators knew they had been spotted and tried to run. But the weren't fast enough
for the guards. Thea watched as three men and a girl on horses came from behind the guard making their way to the king. Two were knights and the woman and other man were squires. Thea looked at one of the knights and gasped. He was the most handsome man Thea had seen in a long time. He looked so much like the king
and prince Roald that he could only be Roald's son, Price Jason. Thea
quickly snapped out her trance and averted her gaze from his stare. She
looked a the girl in the squires uniform with the colors of the other knight. Thea stared her eyes gray with surpise. The girl felt her gaze and
looked at her and gasped. The girl said absolutely shocked "Thea?"
Thea smiled, turned and ran.