Ok, so I think that no one really remembers Danai very well, so just in reminder, Danai is Kai's best friend, a singer who has known her for most of her life. Before, she was mad at Kai because she thought that Kai was trying to blend into noble society and leave her past, but then Kai made up with her, but then Kai left again two weeks ago, and she hasn't seen Danai since. Umm…I hope that clears it up a little bit.

Chapter Fourteen

Ver's POV

Ver jumped a little in an attempt to see over the crowd. Where did he go? And what was he doing in this part of the city?

Dal hadn't been the same these past few weeks. Ver didn't know what had changed, but it was like his best friend was only partially there. They didn't joke anymore, and conversations were strained almost beyond awkward. Ver had taken to following Dal whenever possible for the past three days to figure out just what had changed in him. So far, Dal seemed to be doing everything the same as he always did, which didn't help Ver.

He caught sight of him again. They were in the upper parts of Corus, where the streets were lined with nobles' houses and the rare stores were all strictly honest businesses. The wares showed through the windows were both fancier and more expensive than those near Ver's normal city route. Ahead loomed the palace gates.

There he was! Dal was turning into a side street on the right between a clothes store and a weapon maker; Ver paused at the opening of the alley, wondering what his friends could possibly be doing here.

"Is everything ready?" Dal's voice asked in a tone that Ver recognized as one that he used when trying to sound confident but was actually worried.

"We're still waiting for Bit with the sleepy juice." Ver couldn't remember ever having heard this person before; he wasn't any of their usual circle of friends. Concerned, he made to move closer to actually see what was going on, but the presence of someone from the street behind stopped him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" the other demanded. Ver turned to see a youth around his age holding a sack and a knife. Before Ver could do anything, the newcomer shouted, "Mates, we got a spy!" There came the sound of footsteps from the alley, at least two people, but probably more. Then something very hard hit Ver's head, and he knew no more.

(Last chapter)

There was a knock on the door, and in walked-to Kai's great surprise-Danai. She closed the door quickly, and then slowly turned. "Hello, Kai."

Kai jumped up. "Danai! What are you doing here?"

"Stephen said that you'd be here," Danai said. She looked a little guilty. "They've been having you followed."

Kai hit her forehead. "I knew I felt like I was being watched!" She frowned. If she had been living in the city still, she bet that something like that would have never gotten past her. "But why are you here, Danai?"

Danai paused, apparently seeing Lalasa, who had been rather quiet. "Hello, I'm Danai," she introduced herself as she stuck out her hand. "You must be Lalasa." Lalasa took the offered hand and smiled.

Kai had a sinking feeling in her stomach, like something bad was going to happen. "Danai, why are you here?"

Danai sighed.

Lalasa stood up, edging her way to the door. "If you two want some privacy…" she began.

Kai jumped up. "No, Lalasa. It's your room. We'll just go to mine and be back in two minutes, all right?"

Lalasa nodded and Kai led Danai to her room.

Danai looked around. "It's pretty small."

Kai shrugged. "I'm not in here that much. Normally I'm in Faleron's room, or the training courts, or someone else's room." She realized that she was babbling, and stopped herself. "Danai, I'm sorry about all…this…I was…"

"It's not your fault," Danai broke in. "I shouldn't have been mad." She smiled, and then frowned. "We might have more problems now, though."

"Like what?"

"Like I might be stuck here with you," Danai answered grimly. She pulled up her shirtsleeve to reveal a large white bandage on her arm. "A couple of 'em followed me home from work last night."

Kai gasped. "Are you…"

"I'm fine. I wasn't alone at the time."

There was something about this that she wasn't being told, Kai thought. "How many were involved, then?" she asked.

Danai shrugged. "Four of them. Ver, Matt, Oner, Treble," she named the people on their side. "That's not the problem though. George thinks that if they know that we're friends, then they must know more about us than we know about them. He said that he thinks most of our other friends are safe, but he wants the two of us together just in case. He also told me to tell you," here she rolled her eyes, "Not to take any unnecessary chances, to always be with someone, and to stay in the palace," she rattled off quickly.

Kai rolled her eyes also. "I don't need nursemaids."

"Kai," Danai said seriously. "Look at me. They actually followed me because they knew I was your friend. Not because I actually knew anything, but they thought if I was killed then you would do something reckless for revenge. This is serious."

"I know," Kai sighed. "I just…"

She was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Kai, it's Dal. Open up!"

"Dal?" Kai repeated to Danai. "What's he doing here?'

Danai shrugged. "I had nothing to do with this."

Kai opened the door. Dal walked in quickly, followed by four others in black cloaks.

"Who are-" Kai started before a pad was thrust over her mouth. Her lungs filled with a sticky sweet gust of air, and her vision darkened around the edges.

"I'm sorry," she thought she heard someone say before the poison did its work.

George's POV

George sat at his desk that same morning, brow unusually furrowed in thought. He was worried about this Fang person. A few years ago, he might have been concerned that he was challenging the Dove's leadership, but as George had long ago given up being King of the Rogue, he could only advise Rukes, his replacement.

But the thing that was weirdest about all this was that George couldn't figure out what Fang was trying to do. He didn't seem to be interested in the Rogue, and George would bet his hat that the return of the bandits and all those new fights on the streets had something to do with him. And who in their right mind would reveal all their troops so obviously? It had to be a trick of some kind.

And Danai was an added concern that he didn't need on top of everything else. He hadn't had any spies to watch her at the time, so it had been unusually lucky that a few of his boys had been around last night at that most recent fight. He had told her to join Kai, who he hoped could provide a cover and a job while he cleared all this up. George sincerely hoped that most girls from the city wouldn't start having this problem, or else the palace would become overflowing with maids in disguise.

And Danai led to another problem. Fang obviously had an excellent intelligence service, or else he wouldn't have known anything about Danai. It was that or there was an important traitor on their side who was feeding them information about Kai. Either way was not good, especially considering that George's normally impressive spies had been able to find almost nothing about Fang or where he came from. Also, from the position of the fights, the enemy had to have a wide range of supporters all over the city.

Sholla entered his office, looking slightly out of breath. "They're gone! Lalasa, Danai, and Kai. We've searched the entire palace. They're not here."

George raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean to tell me that they have run away?"

"N," Sholla said instantly. "We found traces of poison in Kai's room and the hall. There was too much for just one person. They were kidnapped."

George jumped up. "Find Kai's employed, Faleron, and Ver, too. Stephen can send a message to him. Tell him to start searching the usual places in the city."

Sholla nodded and left, but was back in less that half an hour. "Faleron's knight master won't let him leave until lunch. Said he was late this morning or something." She paused. "No one can find Ver or Dal."

George frowned. "That makes a lot of missing people: Ver, Dal, Danai, Kai, Lalasa, and whoever else decides to join them. I think we can assume that Fang has them." Sholla's expression fell, as if she had been waiting for George to come up with a reasonable explanation for all this. "See if Sir Myles is able to be found," he ordered, sitting down again to sift through papers.

Faleron's POV

Faleron also sat at a desk, but his was covered with numbers, maps, and accounts of past battles. He frowned.

Outside, the noon bell finally rang and he sighed in relief.

"I want that finished by tomorrow," his knight master warned, looking up from the book he had been reading for the past two hours. Faleron contained a groan and nodded, wanting nothing more than to find his friends and get something to eat. "Oh, Faleron," Lord Geard said as he scratched his head. "Some maid was asking for you in the middle of the lesson. Said to find her at the Baron of Pirates Swoop's chambers."

"Was it Kai?" Faleron asked, mind still on lunch.

"Didn't give a name," Geard said thoughtfully. "Looked kinda queer, though, not quite like the other maids."

"It was probably her then. Thanks," Faleron called over his shoulder as he left. He would just go to lunch, and then see what Kai wanted afterwards.

Faleron put his tray on the table, glancing from Cleon to Esmond to Owen. "Where're Neal and Kel?"

Esmond shrugged. "Haven't seen them all day."

"Have you heard about that new guy coming next week?" Owen asked. "From some farming fief out east. Didn't even come to train. Gonna take over the crops when the lord dies, I hear."

The conversation continued in that direction for a few minutes, until Kel rushed in. Faleron, where in Mithros have you been?" she demanded. "Didn't you get the message?" She looked more worried than usual, Faleron noted.

"Kai's? Of course. I was going to see how she was after lunch," Faleron said conversationally, and then caught the look on Kel's face. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"You were?" Kai asked, temporarily dumbfounded. "You got a message from her?" Kel's face slid slightly into anger.

"Yeah, she said she would be in George's room. Why?"

"She's gone," Kel said flatly. "They were kidnapped. Her and Lalasa and some other girl."

"Are you sure?" Faleron demanded, jumping up. "How'd she leave a message then? When did this happen?"

"Yes, George thinks that Fang has them," Kel answered grimly as she led the way out of the mess hall. Owen was following them out of curiosity, but Esmond and Cleon had apparently decided to finish their meal. "I don't know what the message was; are you sure that it was her and not an imposter?"

"Why would someone pretend to leave a message for me?" Faleron asked. "Where are we going?"

"George's office."

"Then what would be the point?" Faleron wondered. "The message said that she would be there. You think that they'd be trying to distract us from the fact that she was kidnapped by leaving a message, but they send us to the place where we would find out that she's been kidnapped? That's stupid."

Kel smiled crookedly. "No one ever said that these people were smart." She opened the door to George's office, which was by now crowded with Sir Myles, who had been with his old friend, Lady Alanna, and her squire, Neal. Alanna, of course, had demanded to know what was going on, which led to Neal knowing, and after he had been assured that Faleron had been told, he had left to find Kel. Also present was George himself, giving instructions to one of three maids in the room. The girl nodded and left as they entered.

"Sholla," George said as he turned to one of the remaining maids. "I want you to go ask around and see if there's any chance that Ver and Dal may have left the city for the day. Check with Oner and Treble and anyone else that you can find, discreetly," he stressed.

Faleron frowned. "Ver sounded familiar. Where had he heard that name before?

"Now, Myles," George continued. "What have you got for me? Anything new? Threats? Ransom?" Myles shook his head.

"Why is everyone so concerned about this?" Faleron asked in what he thought was a quiet voice, but it was evident that both George and the maid heard him, though Myles seemed blissfully unaware.

"Why are we concerned?" repeated the girl. "Aren't you supposed to be watching her and making sure that this doesn't happen? Nobles." She looked positively disgusted. "Weren't you two getting along at least a little? I can't believe that Kai felt bad about leaving. She might have even stayed, you know, just because she was supposed to."

"How would you know that?" George asked sharply.

The girl, Lora, blushed. "I was there. Well, we had to do something," she defended herself.

"You went against orders."

"Don't give an order that won't be obeyed," she shot back. "Look at where you put her." She pointed at Faleron. "He doesn't even care that she was kidnapped. She would have been safer with us."

"I didn't mean it like that," Faleron said quickly, before George could form a retort. "I meant, why did all of you care? I mean, yes, we did become friends, but Myles doesn't even know her, and I thought you were just some maid, though I'm guessing that you're one of Kai's friends, and George didn't even act like he knew Kai personally when we saw him at the Dancing Dove…"

George chuckled, making Faleron pause. "Glad you thought that. Not so sure about my acting skills sometimes," he said as if that explained everything. "I mean that I'm not supposed to act like I know Kai as anything more than some street urchin."

"I think your acting skills are getting worse," remarked Myles.

"What do you mean?" Kel asked.

"I mean," George said carefully. "That she shouldn't know certain things about her past, or she might start doubting things."

"What happened in the past?" This time it was Lora who asked, looking puzzled.

"Nothing of any importance," George said smoothly. "What is important is that we get all our missing people back, because having them gives Fang massive bargaining leverage."

"Why?"

"Because," George answered Owen, "If we try to sue him for murder, then who are we going to say the witness is?"

"How do you know that Fang murdered?" Neal inquired.

"Because we have a witness. Kel." George looked slightly amused. "Joren of Stonemountain, remember? I was told that you were aware of this."

"We are; we just didn't know that you knew," Owen said reasonably.

"But why didn't Kel testify right after that?" George asked.

"Because Joren disappeared."

"And how did he escape that day?"

"He rode off."

"With who?" George asked patiently.

"Kai!" Faleron realized suddenly. "So how could we say that we knew that Joren really left the city unless we had someone that was there the whole time? The jury will think we were making all this up."

"Exactly. Especially now that the lord of Stonemountain had been recorded as saying that his son is on a brief vacation in the south." There was silence for a moment before George said conversationally, "So, who has an idea about getting them back?"

Ok, this is kinda late, but I had to wait for the electricity to come back after the thunderstorm.

Syl Rose: Thank you! I think that you'll like this, too, then.

Tessadragon: Yes, well, I liked Danai but she hasn't had much say in the story recently. She will be in it a lot more next chapter though. You also had a slightly scary way of guessing a lot of what will happen next, just not quite. I'll comfort myself that I wasn't obvious enough that you got all of the plot…I guess…

BigBigStarr: Thanks.

Kitty-at-heart: I hope this makes a little more sense now.

Mina: It took me like 3 days to figure out what you were talking about. After three days, I can tell you that I don't have any money and you're wrong, but you can have my tiara. : D

Also, to clarify, Dal has gone to the dark side (Fang's side) (duh duh dun). Does anyone want him to turn back to the good side? Please review.