Months had passed by the now quiet estate and Ghada had taken up archery, sword craft and any other means of defense she could find. Hester her previous nursemaid had suggested to her that her husband, Landis, could help train her.

Wycliff, ever since the incident with Delora had been withdrawn into his study and hardly ever left. Many said he had fallen into a depression. Amory took the time to visit him every day to see how he faired, while Leonora was now boarding at a school, studying to be a scholar. Ghada had trained every day since the absence of Amaryllis' presence and had gotten along fairly well in the basics of using a sword and a bow and arrow.

Amory had taken up to being her partner for activities such as these, but had lacked the fierceness of Ghada and had lost each and everytime. Ghada wandered around her estate early in the morning on the first day of spring, when she entered the stables in search of the stallion she had encountered only months before. Landis had told her to choose a horse as he was going to teach her how to ride.

Ghada spotted it, and headed towards the stable, when a servent stopped her.

"That one is rather, nervous miss."

Ghada glanced at her and decided to ignore her. She approached the horse and stroked the muzzle again like she had done months before. The horse responded in a positive manner and Ghada decided to take her out to Landis.

Landis stood surprised at Ghada's decision, and impressed that the horse followed Ghada.

"Well clearly you belong with that horse, he responds to no other like he's responded to you."

Ghada looked at the black horse who was standing behind her nodding his head as if to agree. Landis taught her slowly how to saddle up the horse so it wouldn't be too tight or too loose and helped her on. Landis walked into the stable and got himself a horse to ride alongside with her.

After two hours of being on a horse, not including the time in which she spent on the ground from falling off, Ghada had very sore legs and went to go take a bath. A crisp sound of a bell broke the silence and Ghada sat up remembering the events, which had occurred after she had heard the accursed sound before.

Amory entered the bathroom seemigly hearing it as well.

"Hmmm. It's loudest from this room," said Amory more to herself.

Ghada sat in the tub looking at her only sister left. It had grown from eight to one in such a short amount of time to Ghada. Amory sat in a chair close to the window and looked out.

"I wonder if Amaryllis' is still alive," she wondered aloud.

Ghada sat up straight causing a huge squeak to be heard.

"Of course she's still alive,"said Ghada although she had wondered this herself many times.

" Those men all seemed bad from the start, although I wouldn't have expected the page boy to be evil, he was a cutie."

Ghada gaped at her sister.

" The page boy was not a cutie. He seemed more like a spoilt brat who tagged along and has no life," half grumbled Ghada.

Amory grinned at Ghada.

"You still have your great attitude towards men I see."

"Well I haven't really been exposed to anyone good now have I?"

"I suppose that's true, but that page boy wasn't half-bad. He looked like he would be very handsome when he's older, Calix wasn't it?"

"He was a scrawny runt,"stated Ghada, not believing she was having this conversation with Amory.

" But even the name itself means 'very handsome'," said Amory.

"I can't even remember his name all I know is he called me ugly."

Amory laughed at this, "What do you expect wearing something like you were?"

Ghada sunk into the bubbles of her bath not wanting to hear anymore about Calix. Calix could rot in hell for all she cared. Amory stood up to leave.

"Very well, I will leave you to your bath."

As Amory exited the room Ghada got out of the bath and got dressed for bed. As she wandered down the hall she heard the sound of the bell again and ran into her room. As she threw open the balcony doors she saw a figure running through the courtyard. Ghada ran down four flights of stairs and out the door to go and see who this intruder was.

As she drew nearer to the figure's shadow it disappeared. Wondering where it went she continued forward only to have a hand clamp over her mouth and to have herself spun around. There stood Landis looking amused at what he saw before him. Ghada was wearing a long white nightie and had carried nothing as a defense weapon.

" Who do you think you were going to go after lookin' like that, eh?"

Ghada pushed him away in a suddenly sulky mood that she had come so unprepared. If this had been a real attacker she would have been dead in an instant.

"I was wondering if you were up for some training?" asked Landis.

Ghada raised an eyebrow, "Landis it's twelve o'clock, I wouldn't be able to see nevertheless concentrate."

"Ah, but a knight is on duty 24/7 you see."

"Where is this idea coming from that you think I want to be a knight?"asked Ghada, tired of having some old man training her more so for the battle field rather then self-defense.

" Well I thought it would bring you closer to what you want to do."

"And what's that?"Ghada leaned towards the fountain took some falling water in her hands and decided to drink it.

"To kill Slade."

Ghada choked on the water she was drinking simultaneous to the word Slade.

" Hester told me what you said that day," said Landis, "And by all means I offer my full support. That man deserves to die."

Ghada looked up thoughtfully, "You would provide me with the necessary skills and training it would take to kill him?"

"I was a knight myself you know once," winked Landis.

Ghada looked up surprised, "You were?"

"Yes and you're probably thinking, 'but he's so old', and you're right I am old, but I was a knight."

Ghada listened with interest how we was a page then a scribe then a knight, and how he won a contest that would give him a good enough title to be near wealthy people such as Slade.

" Although I was near his father not Slade, and you couldn't find two worse people in all of Acaelea. Slade was his spoilt child, course he was only around five back when I won the title, but he still grew up rotten as ever. People say Slade killed his own father when Len died. Wouldn't put it past that man."

"Where in Acaelea does he live?" asked Ghada eagerly.

"He has a big mansion up there, if you can call it that. It always looked more of a fortress to me. It would be very hard to infiltrate."

With that said the bell sounded again, and curiously Ghada asked why the bell was doing that.

"Oh that's the bell from the inner-harbour, signaling when ships are either coming or leaving."

Ghada figured the first time she ever heard it must have been when Slade and his men had made birth on the Island of Emlyn. Ghada had never gone to the village so she did not know anything about it. Wycliff had only brought them to a small market, which settled near their estate over the hill once a year.

"In seven years you can be a full fledged knight, if you accept being my page and scribe."

With that said Landis departed and left Ghada sitting on the fountain Amaryllis once had been, thinking over the offer he had just made her. The next morning Ghada skipped over and boldly agreed to what Landis had to offer.

Grinning Landis said, "Prepare for seven hardest years of your life."