Thanks very much to Shewhowalksindarkness for her wonderful word of encouragement!! To answer your question, this fic will be Karigan/Zachary (eventually) because that's what I like and that's how I think the books will go. FondyCheeseHead-Thanks for the constructive criticism I will def. work on transitions a little bit more. Andra, I am glad you like it! I must say I am into the more realistic green rider stories as well and I am trying to make it as close to canon as possible, please continue to read and tell me what you think! Just to make a quick note, the reason I am writing this story is because I love to write and I love the world Ms. Britain has made. I am making no money and the only pleasure I get out of this is writing and seeing wonderful reviews which I love and welcome with open arms!! I am a VERY poor college student so save your time as well as mine and don't sue me, thanks!! Finally, on with the story…

"She was able to expel the wild magic. That is unheard of."

"Yes, she might be even more powerful then we originally thought." Prince Jametari had never heard of this being done, and yet Galadheon had managed it. This only reinforced his idea that she would play a large role for good in the final destruction of Mornhaven. In his most recent premonitions, Jametari had seen that Mornhaven would come back in the near future and he guessed that it also meant Galadheon would have to be ready for it.

"I can not understand how she of all people will be responsible for ridding the world of Mornhaven" Her words held something resembling anger, but not quite.

Jametari laughed out loud at her "You just do not like her because she fought against you and seemed to have won."

"Some of her actions show budding intelligence but other times…"

"She is a young mortal, most of it comes with time and when she comes we shall speed up the process a bit."

"My prince?" Grae seemed suddenly confused by his last comment and he smiled. It was rare that he could shock her. "Do you plan to send out the Tiendan to fetch her?"

"There is no need; our opponents in the Alluvium have already sent a group out to fetch her." Jametari smiled "They think to place her in front of the people in the hope that they decide her death."

Grae gave him a horrified look, or as close to one as she could come to, and was about to ask when he raised his hand to stop her flow of words.

"We of course will not allow that. It is time she begin to truly understand what is coming in her future. After all, she is not touched by Laurelyn's favor for no reason."

Karigan tightened the girth on Condor's saddle and looked him over one last time, going over her provisions in her mind. She had enough food, coin and clothes to last her well over a week, though the trip was not expected to take longer than that, baring any unexpected changes. Moving to Condor's head she scratched at the roots of his mane smiling softly.

"You ready to get going boy?" Condor just gave a whuffle of enjoyment at the preening before shaking his head.

"He seems more then happy to get out of this place"

Karigan turned around quickly at the voice and smiled at Mara. Since the awakening of Ben's healing gifts Mara has been healing much better then they originally expected. As the healers had told them she would forever be left with scarring but besides that would make a full recovery. It was just that the full recovery was taking too much time and it left Mara bored and all she could do was tedious paper work. The captain doubted that Mara would be able to go on any errands that took her too far away from the castle but had given her Connelly's job when he had replaced Ereal.

"I think we both are very glad to be getting away from here." Karigan placed a hand on Mara's shoulder and smiled "Any progress?"

"Well, now allowed to take small walks outside and I have been feeling better. I still wish I could take a long errand away from here."

Mara sighed and looked towards the entrance and then back to Karigan.

"Well you better start heading out, cant keep you too long and I have a feeling Ben will come looking for me soon enough."

Karigan nodded and moved towards Condor placing her foot in the stirrup and mounting up. Looking down at Mara she smiled again.

"I'll see you in about a week and by then I expect you to be able to ride so we can enjoy a nice day on the grounds."

That earned Karigan a large smile from Mara. When they heard Ben calling for her, Mara sighed and turned to move back to the castle. Karigan remembered how it was to have a mender constantly following and bothering you to rest. She had to agree with Master Destarion, Riders did seem to be some of the worst patients. Chuckling to herself as Mara pushed Ben gently away and the pair moved inside she felt eyes upon her. Looking up towards the castle tops she found her eyes meeting a known figure with almond shaped brown ones. Taking a deep breath she turned Condor towards the front gate and kicked up into an easy gallop and onto the open road.

A few days later…

Having delivered her final message, Karigan and Condor began to trip home. The trip would be a straight ride from Penburn providence. Hendry Penburn had been more then happy to welcome her having remembered her from their meeting a year and a half ago when he had come to help decide D'Ivory's fate. He had been kind, considerate and seemed to have grown into his position with ease. When it was finally time for her to depart and head home he had asked her to send his greetings to both the Captain and the king. She promised to happily pass the message along.

Heading out of the Penburn providence Condor fell into an easy trot on their way home. It would take another few days to reach the castle and report but she was not in a rush. Thankfully none of the messages had been anything extremely important and she didn't have any urgent messages to report back to the captain. Taking a deep breath of the clear air and looking overhead to the beautiful night sky Karigan couldn't help but enjoy the tranquil and calm night that she so pleasantly enjoyed with Condor. Karigan had decided that they would go on for another few hours before stopping for the night to then begin again towards home in the morning. At first she found herself feeling relaxed and enjoying the ride, but at time went on she got a distinct odd feeling of familiarity running along the tree lines. Leaning her hand on Condor's rump she turned around trying to look through the trees to find what was making her nervous. Seeing nothing she turned back to look forward but allowing her eyes to scan the landscape. Condor seemed to twitch nervously as well as if waiting for something to jump out at them. She rubbed his neck gently whispering in his ear

"You sense it too right boy?" Condor didn't answer but she knew that it wasn't just her who felt odd. She gently urged him faster hoping to get out of this area as soon as possible. For once Condor obeyed willingly.

Unfortunately the further they went, the worse the feelings got. She also had no choice but to slow Condor down as it began to get darker and darker. She could and would not risk him hurting himself because she was urging him faster. Moving her hand towards her short sword in preparation to draw it a voice came out from the trees.

"I would not do that Galadheon."

The voice was low but forceful and to her left. She quickly urged Condor to the right only to stop him when she saw at least three or four Eletian arrows pointed at Condor's crest and three at her own heart.

"Move your horse another inch and he shall be dead within moments. I know for a fact that you are familiar with the precision of our aim Galadheon."

Karigan immediately moved her hands away from the sword and eased Condor into a standstill. How dare they go after her as if she was a criminal, she had kept away from the wall and she had even rid her body of the wild magic. She looked around at the unfamiliar, and angry, faces and knew from their armor that they were not Tiendan. These Eletian's had not been sent from the Prince.

"What do you want? I can tell you are not Tiendan."

"Do not worry about who we are, now dismount from your horse. Do not try any magic either, we know of your abilities." Karigan didn't have time to wonder at "abilities" rather then ability because they began to creep closer to her. Sliding off of Condor slowly Karigan kept her hands away from her brooch so as not to anger the arrow holders standing in front of her. She moved away from Condor who for once was quiet and did not fight. All arrows moved to point at Karigan who stood still and watched as a single Eletian moved towards her and reached to take her brooch off her cloak and pocketed it. Karigan snarled and was about to make a step towards him when another Eletian suddenly came forward to hold her back, twisting her arms and holding her still.

"You are on Sacordian lands and this is against the law to hinder a Green Rider."

"We care nothing for your lands or your King so hold your tongue. We will stop here for the night and in the morning we will start out journey. "

Karigan finally got an idea and since all their focus was on her she turned to Condor suddenly and yelled

"Condor run!" The horse needed no more urging and took off into the woods without another hesitation. The Eletians on the other hand knew what to do. One of them raised their bow and let his arrow go while Karigan let out a scream of-

"No!!" and suddenly she heard Condor whinny in pain but also heard his hooves continue to move further and further away back to the castle. None of the Eletians went after him but their leader, the only one who had spoken so far, turned back to her his face full of anger.

"That was stupid Galadheon. No matter, your horse will be dead by morning." His voice was so nonchalant that she fought against her captor again wanting to hurt him for hurting Condor. She prayed that his wound was not too grave but she would never know. She also hoped that he would make it back to the castle so they would realize that she was gone, and not by her own choice. It was all left to the gods now.

The Eletians made a warm campfire that Karigan did not fell. They had left her near the edge of camp, as far away as possible from them, as if she could contaminate them by closeness. Well this fit her just fine. They had loosely tied her around a tree and left her there to fend for the rest of the night on her own. Letting out a soft sigh Karigan looked into the woods that surrounded the encampment perhaps hoping for a passerby to see and maybe help. And then she shook her head, the Eletians would know if someone was coming and would steer them away from her. Truth be told she didn't know what she was looking for but for some reason she knew that something was out there. She turned suddenly to realize every single Eletian eye was on her at that exact moment. She narrowed her eyes at them and looked back to the woods having sworn she saw something walking in between the trees from the corner of her eye and then found it gone. She pulled against her bonds trying to move away from the direction of the…thing…she thought she saw. She felt someone place a cloak over her and she jumped turning back to the face of the man she assumer was the leader.

"Where are we heading?"

"Eletia"

"Why? A mere mortal will taint your beloved land!" She didn't mean to say the harsh words but her anger was getting the best of her.

He laughed. The Eletian laughed!

"No but if you succeed it saving the wall Magic will die and so will Eletians. I would rather the wall fail and mortals along with it. Some of our population, the fearful ones think you can do well. You're a mortal, what could you possibly do? Being touched by Laurelyn's favor only goes so far."

It was at this point that she remembered her talk with Prince Jametari. He was one who had the same mind set as the prince's son, Shawdell. Karigan met his hateful glare with one of her own.

"Shawdell did not succeed and neither will you."

"We shall see Galadheon."

And with that he left her and went back to his fellows leaving Karigan wondering what predicament she had gotten into now.