Aftermath:

CRACK!!!

Thea halted in her exercises, looking at the cloth covered, wooden dummy that she just snapped in half with a shape yokogari (kick to the side). Her breath came in shape gasps as she bent down to pick up the big splinters off the ground. Her sides' felt like they were about to cave in and her muscles were screaming from the lack of oxygen and overuse. She had been working out for 3 nonstop hours, and had gone through 8 dummies. She had also run Shadow and three other horses to their full extent while practicing with the lance. She had to keep going, she could not stop and think or she was afraid she'd break down or kill someone.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins with renewed enthusiasm as she looked around for something else to pummel. There was nothing, all the dummies where temporarily out of commission, some permanently. With that out of the way she now had nothing else to do but use the energy in a long fast, run 'that hopefully', she thought to herself, 'will not disappoint me.'

So she ran, not just around the Manor and village but also around Dragon Box and the whole border of the forbidden forest. Even as she ran her thoughts where still swimming through her head like involuntary muscles.

She thought about what has happened in the week since the big attack that was now being dubbed "The battle of the bands."

The 500 mystery men had been easily defeated, and about 400 had survived. The losses from the king's men and Thea's villagers had been surprising lower. Most of the men who had surrendered ended up going to the docks, mines and shipyard to finish off their pathetic lives. Thea almost felt bad for them, for they were all bandits, outcasts from their families and town, going hungry, and quite possibly insane.

But that was no reason to gang together in a pathetic attempt to kill the royal family.

About 50 of those men who had surrendered were leaders so their futures only held on thing. The gallows. The executions had ended yesterday, and Thea had forced herself to watch every one of them, or most anyway, she couldn't bring herself to watch the last twenty.

The Kings party was staying in dragons box for another week, to patrol for stragglers and to wait for answers. There were none. The only answers that they had gotten from any of the bandits were a few sentences about being hungry and wanting revenge. But Thea knew they we lying, it was quite obvious, but know one was giving away anything.

No one who talking about the mystery man and his magical rip into what seemed to be the very essence of reality. But some of the leaders had known, they had the answers that Thea needed, but Pete had been unable to get then to say anything, they had died when they had first open there mouths at being questioned. No magic had been able to stop the killings.

So now she was left with a mystery and she hated mysteries especially one so dangerous as this one.

And to top it all of today was the day, or morning, for she had been up since before dawn and the sun had just risen, that everything started. Today was the day when the memories of that time were so intense that they sometimes knocked her to her knees. Today was the day that everything had started so long ago. On this day 13 years ago, her dream life had disappeared, and she could never stop those memories from haunting her.

Thanks to warrior of Tortal

I like your suggestion! but i am to lazy to change it, thanks again for reviewing! Like the chapter?