Reviews:

Silverflutearia- thanks!

Ami nevva Keladry 4eva- see? told you I'd update today! lol

i luv ur stories- i tried e-mailing you, but it didn't work. Am I in your address book?

Thanks everyone for reviewing-

A/N: So, you've been waiting, and since you were all so patient (LoL) here's the next chapter:

Chapter Three: With Assassins

"Have you anything to report, Squirreltail?" asked Rafna, the assasins' leader

"Well, master" the boy called Squirreltail blubbered "Me 'n Axna found several things in an ally…" he trailed off

"Speak up boy! What did you find?" Rafna leaned forward on his throne-like chair

"Well, we found a pretty bracelet with some hair and a picture inside. 'nder the picture thar war some marks" Squirreltail cowered under his master's cold stare

"And may I ask what you did with this bracelet?" Rafna asked

"Um, Axna sold it at the market to a Hillman for two gold nobles" Squirreltail stuttered

"Bring her before me!" Rafna ordered to a member of the guard, Lenra "She must be whipped to death immediately!"

"But master!" Squirreltail tried to save his friend

"Enough!" Rafna bellowed "She must be brought to me without delay! Fetch her!" Lenra left to bring her…

That evening Rafna poured wine for a nervous Lenra. "I'm not sure if you know why I had you brought before me" he said

"No master" Lenra had no idea why he was being so singled out.

"I want to tell you about that locket that Axna sold to the Hillmen. I had been traveling in the Divine Realms…"

Lenra blinked. He knew that the chief had traveled far, but he had no idea that he had traveled that far. However, he stopped the train of thoughts in time to hear what Rafna was saying

"… and after I came out of the chaos vent, I saw a woman fall off the cliff right next to where I was standing. I followed her, thinking that she was a chaos being… well back to the story. Her fall was broken by several trees, and she fell into a part of the river that, fortunately for her, was not too deep. She stepped out of the river only to be caught in a spindren trap.

"I remember watching, frightened, as she changed from human to bear to bird, trying to get away. Soon three spindrens came and started talking about how they were so lucky that she had fallen into their trap, and how Ozorone would give them slaves for centuries and so forth." Rafna paused

"It was then that I knew who she was, and I was vastly disappointed, for I had thought that she was on our side. Now I knew her to be an enemy. The spindrens were about to drag her off, when a mage came to her rescue. He made all the spindrens go away, and he began passionately kissing the woman he had rescued, and proceeded to say things like 'Magelet, I'd thought I'd lost you'. As you can imagine, several mushy scenes followed.

"This woman, it turned out, is the very one who had smashed the Carthaki palace to smithereens. She also went on to destroy Ozorone completely, and to have our mistress Usoae banished to the realms of chaos. This woman and this mage are Numair Salamin and Daine Sarrasri." Rafna finished speaking, an odd expression on his face.

Lenra looked at Rafna, puzzled. What was wrong with the chief? Had Rafna loved Daine at one point? It was rumored that they had come from the same town…

"But what about the bracelet?" Lenra asked "I thought that was what you were going to tell me about that"

"Oh. That. The bracelet is a focus. Daine's. That's how long lankin found her. He had a focus with her hair, her name, and a picture of her. That's the thing that Axna sold to the Hillmen for a little bit of money.

With that focus, we could bring Daine and Numair down in an instant. For he made it of her. With them gone, Usoae could take over the world and the all the realms in the universe. After all, they were the ones who stopped her last time…" Rafna sat still for a minute thinking

"The reason I called you in here is this and am telling you secrets is this: I need you to go to the Hillmen. Become one of them, and learn their ways. Then you will turn on them, and take back what we need so we can bring Daine and Numair down. You will be my spy. You leave in the morning. Go pack."

Lenra sat up for quite some time that night, thinking over what the chief had said and did not notice that Squirreltail had left his bed…

A/N: Please Review!