Disclaimer: You should know the drill by now – I do not own any of the characters and places, (except for the ones I made up and the plot – all mine) they belong to Tamora Pierce.

13. The North Field

Ilane shook her head briskly and snapped back to the present. Now was not the time to be drawn back into her memories of the Chamber. She looked over at Cory, who was staring at her quizzically.

'I said, you haven't changed that much. But maybe I was wrong. The Ilane I remember wasn't dreamy. The palace pansies have softened you up.'

Ilane relaxed a bit more and laughed, for the first time in what felt like forever. 'You wish. Did the Unicorn happen to mention what you were to do with me? Because if it isn't what I want to do, we may have run into a little problem.'

Cory's eyes turned cold, and he shifted his stance warily. Ilane didn't move, even though he was now in a position ready to attack. This made him even tenser. Ilane smiled. One thing she had learnt over the years was how to unnerve possible enemies. Not that it had been part of the curriculum, but people who might 'tease' you generally gave it up if you treated them right.

'The Unicorn said I was to send you to see her. She is in the north field. Is that all right with you, majesty?' There was no humour in his words.

Ilane smiled again. 'Wonderful. I came to see her, after all.' At that she started lightly running north around the compound. Glancing back inconspicuously she could see Cory standing and gazing after her. When she looked again he had gone, faded into the trees.

Jogging at a steady pace to the west of the compound, she looked around at the place curiously. Nothing seemed to have changed. There were people out and about, trainees and instructors, but no one bar the greenest pupil so much as glanced at her. As she drew near the north field, she could hear the strangely musical voice of the Unicorn, calling out clearly over the large open expanse of ground. It was called the north field because it was, obviously, to the north of the buildings in the compound, and it was grass, as opposed the north 'desert' or 'garden'. The dirt in the garden always became a lovely pile of mud when it rained.

Reaching the north field a few minutes later Ilane stopped, not even breathing heavily. She had made sure she kept up her fitness over the last two years, going for long runs whenever she could. The Unicorn ignored her for a few minutes, and Ilane just watched the class, unperturbed, face blank once again. It was a group of nine students, all going through various unarmed combat routines. They were all about Ilane's age or older, in pairs with one group of three. They were good: the smallest could have beaten an average squire in seconds. But Ilane thought she could have taken them on. It would have been fun to try. Suddenly the Unicorn turned to her. Surprisingly, the lithe woman smiled.

'Ilane. How nice to see you. I hope Cory was polite and you didn't have to hurt him. That would have damaged his pride more than anything.'

Ilane was taken aback. The Unicorn had been less than pleasant last time they had spoken. What had changed? She tensed as the Unicorn gave an evil grin.

'Joplin,' she sang out. 'Come over here, would you? There is someone I'd like you to meet.' One of the boys in the trio broke away and came over. No one else stopped what they were doing. The boy Joplin looked about thirteen, and was a few inches taller than Ilane. He wore a loose pair of breaches and no shirt, and was sweating profusely in the heat and panting quite heavily. 'Joplin, my dear, this is Ilane. I would like to see you two fight. Don't hold back' The Unicorn looked way too amused.

A/N – just go and read the next chapter. There's a reason I left it here.