A/N I don't own anything that can be found in Tamora Pierce's books.

A speical thanks to wayfarer-redemption.

Congrats to angel-on-earth. The needle thing was indeed from Kiss of the Dragon.

Regen- The quote you mentioned was from a Long Kiss Goodnight. Very impressive that you caught it. Also, the reason she seems so mature is that the shock of seeing her brother and nurse die forced her to grow up fast. I know, it's corny, but that's what happened.

Trickstergal33- glad you enjoy my story so much.

Great Merciful Goddess- I'll keep that inmind as I continue the story. Thanks for the heads up.

Yamani- Your reviews make me feel happy.

Chapter four: Freedom

He took her to the page's wings. It was the easiest way out of the castle. All Novellee had to do was sneak out of the courtyard, into the stables, ask for a horse from Stefan, then ride out of the gates. It had only been a few hours since she had been taken in and no one knew she was gone, so no one would think she was suspicious.

"Well, this is where I leave you," Burdock said. He was unsure of what to do. Did he shake her hand? Make a final attempt to trap her? Offer her a fond farewell and wish her a good life? Who was he kidding? He was lucky she had let him live. And she would probably die soon anyways.

Novellee saw his confusion and laughed. She knew he was having trouble coming up with what to do now. Her laughter was girlish, which never failed to surprise him. Her face was so mature and her eyes were so old. But when you really looked at her, she was still a girl, barely on the verge of womanhood.

And she was beautiful.

Her gray eyes were huge in her face, and were ringed by the darkest lashes he had ever seen. She had a strong bone structure, yet it looked so delicate on her. Her cheekbones were high and her nose was slightly turned up. It was crooked, as if it had been broken. Probably in a fistfight, he thought scornfully. Her brows were arched. Her hair was like sunshine and curly.

Her figure was slight and curvy. But she was too skinny, as if she hadn't been eating enough lately. She was so delicate, fragile in looks. She made him want to take her home and feed her a good meal.

His thoughts had gone so soft on him, he didn't see as Novellee lifted her hand and stuck a needle in his neck. It wasn't in a place that would kill him, but it would knock him out for a few hours. When he woke up he would have a killer headache and a lot to explain. Like how the prisoner had escaped.

She gave a merry laugh as she headed out of the castle. Walking in the early morning air, she breathed deep taking in the smells. She loved this time of day, when all the late nighters were in bed and the early morning people hadn't woken yet. She felt like she was the only person in the world.

It should have made her lonely, should have made her yearn for companionship. Yet, it made her less lonely. She felt alone in a crowded room over a tankard of ale, because there was no one to share it with. But here, there was no one to share with, so there was nothing to miss.

Novellee shook her head to rid it of silly thoughts. She wasn't lonely. She had her clients at the inn, and for her assassin business, the people in her guild. She even had a constant companion, Dagger. Sure he was only two and walked on all fours, and he could never talk back to her, but who needed that any ways? She wasn't alone. And his feline balance when he came on contracts with her was something she envied.

She came in sight of the stalls and ceased to think of anything but the building. She crept into the shadows, became them. The door opened smoothly for her, barely wide enough for her to fit through. That was one of the reasons she was so skinny. Being so thin made it easier to creep about and hide in small places that the normal person couldn't fit in.

None of the horses stirred as she slithered down the line, picking a horse that wouldn't be easily missed. She came to a stall near the back. It housed a gray mare. She picked it more because it would be harder to spot in this light then because it wasn't worth much.

She slid over the stall door, into the stall and came to a rest beside the horse. She woke her with gentle strokes along her neck, a few murmured words, and when she insisted on staying more asleep then awake, a prod in the side.

She snorted, grunted, and grumbled. Her eyes opened and Novellee looked into the most intelligent eyes she had ever seen. She almost changed her mind about finding another horse. But she didn't have any more time.

She waited patiently as the mare sniffed at her, tried to eat her hair, then began to search her pockets. Novellee was exasperated by the time the horse allowed her to mount up.

She leaned forward on the horse and unlocked the stall door. The mare pranced forward heading for the door that Novellee had left open. It closed suddenly and a torch flared.

The horse stopped abruptly. She snorted, prancing towards the man, rubbing her head against his shoulder.

"That's my horse," the man said. He looked kind of slow, but she knew that he wasn't. She could see the wild magic that cruised through his veins. She had known wild magic only as a legend. It had been fabled in her land that wild magic was only among the God's. But when news had come that a Wild Mage resided in Tortall, the stories had been proven wrong.

She knew that most people couldn't see wild magic unless they knew what to look for (a/n sorry if that's not true), but she had always been able to see magic, any kind of magic, if it were on people, or on objects, she could see it. It came in very handy when she worked on a contract that involved a mage, or if her contact lived with a mage, or had a mage's protection.

"Look, mister. I realize that you have wild magic and that these horses are like family. But I need this horse. I'll send her back to you as soon as I can. I'll treat it like my own horse, I'll even pay you for a new one when I return this one, but if you don't move, I'll have to run you over. Now, move."

He looked at her, then to the horse. He seemed to watch her for a long moment almost like they were having a conversation. He nodded once, stepped aside, and let her pass.

"Thank you," she said with a smile as she rode away. The horse gave one long whiney before concentrating on her movement. As they rode along in the direction of Novellee's inn, she felt herself become weaker and weaker from her magic use. Soon it was all she could do to stay in the saddle.

When she got to the inn, she left the horse to the stable boy, leaving him to rub down the mare and place her in a stall. Usually she did this herself, thinking it lazy not to be able to take care of her own horse. But tonight she was just too tired.

She entered through the kitchen, barking out a sharp command that she was not to be disturbed. Polly, her cook, didn't take it as much. She was used to her mistress coming in at all hours of the day or night, in different moods. She'd come to be able to read her face like an open book, and she knew that her mistress had had a rough night. Polly knew that she had used her magic. She was always extra tired when she used her Gift, but something else had happened to make that look come onto her face.

Some one had made her think about her life, made her realize how lonely she really was, or had at least tried to make her realize. Some one had made her hate again, and some one had made her remember her brother.

She wasn't too worried about the cut on her eyebrow. Her baby was a tough one, and a small cut wasn't any skin off either of their backs. It could be cured for next to nothing at a local healer's place, or it would heal by itself in a few days. Whatever one, it didn't really matter.

Some thought it pretty amazing just how well she knew her mistress. But they had been together for ten years. Polly had been the one to drag her off the sorry excuse for a boat that she had been on. She had been the one who had taken her in a fed her, had allowed her to lay her head on her shoulder. She had been the one that had to watch as she took it all into herself. Never once did she cry. Not once.

"What put her in such a bad mood?" Jolene, the new maid asked snottily as she watched Novellee walk by. She was appalled that Novellee had the guts to dress like a man, and secretly, she admired her. She would never admit to it though, so she covered it up with snotty disdain.

Jolene was a girl of eighteen. She came from a mildly poor family and had been brought into Novellee's service by Polly. She liked working here because she liked the looks that the men gave her. She was fervently proud of her figure. Her hair was a mousy brown, but it was long and silky. Her eyes were a deep blue and her lips were luscious. All in all, she hadn't done that bad when it came to looks.

The main reason she liked working there was because she got to be around Cameron all the time. She was deeply in love with Cameron and hated Novellee to the deepest reaches of her soul that she toyed with him. Jolene knew that Novellee didn't love Cameron back and she wished that she would let him go so that Jolene could have him

"Nothing, get back to work," Polly snapped half-heartedly. She knew that Jolene didn't mean anything by it. But she had been wondering the same thing. She'd find out to, in a few hours when she sent up her baby breakfast. Her baby was always hungry after using her magic.

$$

Burdock woke when the bells chimed in the page's wing, announcing that it was time for them to arise. He sat up, placing a hand to his head. It pounded as if his head had been inside the bells, or the bells themselves. He winced when the page's clattered from their rooms in a bustle of noise.

"What are you doing, Burdock?" one of his students called as he passed. Burdock's face got red and he rubbed his neck ruefully. His eye's widened in surprise when he felt the needle that was protruding from his neck.

That bitch, he thought as he pulled it out. That cunning, conniving, beautiful bitch. She had used him and then she had left him. He was outraged on his behalf. How could she have done that to him when he had shown her the way out? Sure, it had been at needlepoint, but without him she would have never made it out.

He laughed at himself, amused at his own stupidity. She would have made it out of the castle with or with out him. He had simply made it easier on her. He felt like kicking himself.

Now he had to go explain it to everyone how exactly the prisoner had escaped and why he had been the last one she was seen with.

As he got to his feet an began to make his way to the king's chamber's he called himself ten time's the fool for admiring her for her skills and admitting that he wanted to see her again.

A/N Well? What did you think? Tell me about it in a review.

Nubia