A/N: Hahaha I got over 20 reviews! YAY! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys are great! For the people who wanted him earlier…enter Nawat and kids! To prevent any confusion Aly is married to Nawat and they had twins. Oh yeah, I forgot to say exactly how long the story takes place after the end of Trickster's Queen, so - this story takes place, about 2 yrs after the end of TQ.

Disclaimer: The world and the characters you recognise all belong to Tamora Pierce.

Chapter 4: Of Revenge, Twins and Crows

When Aly turned around suddenly, staring intently at a patch of air like it was some sort of alien species, the frantic argument that was taking place slowed and halted as they watched her leer maliciously, the light cast from flames seemingly reflected in her eyes. Aly turned slowly back to them her face determined, eyes hard,

"He was watching us," she said softly.

"Heishi's master." She added when she saw their blank looks. "Well he was watching us, he was laughing at something-."

"What do you mean watching us?" Asked Dove.

"He was scrying in-."

"But the palace-particularly this room- is magically protected form any sort of magical surveillance," said Taybur.

Aly sighed exasperated then frowned.

"I know that. It was as though he never was here, he'd have had to break the wards or at least tamper with them to get through…but there they are, whole." She said gesturing with her hands at the walls, door, floor and ceiling. She sat at her desk staring at nothing as her thoughts, questions and plans tumbled around in her mind.

Seeing the blank look on Aly's face Dove sighed. As Taybur opened his mouth to ask Aly something and she said,

"Don't bother, she's in another world. You might as well be talking to the wall."

With a rueful grin Taybur nodded and half turned toward the door. With a bow he said,

"After your majesty..."

Scowling Dove none the less swept out of the room first, nose in the air.

Grinning Taybur and Fesgao followed.

Aly didn't know how long she spent sitting at her desk staring at nothing as she noticed with a start that it was dark. She was brought fully back to reality by young children's gleeful yells and the sound of her door bursting open.

Racing into the room with the force of a miniature cyclone, Aleda, Aly's daughter and Dyami, Aleda's twin brother, flew to Aly slamming into her and nearly knocking her out of her chair in their haste. Laughing she hugged them both manoeuvring them so she could breathe properly. Both Aleda and Dyami were bronze skinned and dark haired. Aleda had a habit of turning into a crow without warning and was loud and mischievous. Dyami though he resembled his twin, in comparison to Aleda's flashy nature was quiet and thoughtful and often seemed to be able to hide in plain sight. He'd never shown any ability to change into a crow, and watched his twin enviously when she did. Someone else came to stand in her doorway casting a shadow across the desk. She looked up grinning as she saw Nawat Crow. He fought to keep from laughing as both Aleda and Dyami began clamouring to tell their mother their day's adventures. With a groan Aly stood taking one of the twins hands in each of her own she lead them towards their quarters in the palace.

Aly stood on the veranda leaning against the rail after she had finally convinced the twins to not only go to bed but to sleep as well. She was looking out over the palace grounds deep in thought when a warm presence came up behind her sliding arms around her waist, making her gasp in surprise.

"What are you thinking about?" Nawat asked.

Desperately Aly tried to think of a way to avoid answering the question. She hid her smile trying to scowl instead.

"Can't you make a bit more noise when you come up behind me?"

"I called your name about three times before I was even outside." He replied mildly. "What's bothering you?"

Aly sighed. She really should know better than to try avoiding the questions of a former crow.

"The assassin and his master," she admitted softly, the worry showing on her face.

"This whole thing is a confused jumble of ideas and plans, quite a few nearly impossible to comprehend. There's Heishi's utter hopelessness, how anything mortal could possibly affect the Black God's domain, why and how his master was spying on us, how he is so powerful and why he has an interest in the Copper Isles in the first place."

She paused the exclaimed,

"All of it's a confused jumble! Like some of the pieces to a puzzle, with most of them missing or destroyed and I've only managed to piece together…not even a tenth of the complete picture!" She exclaimed in frustration.

Nawat pulled her closer,

"Then do what you do best Aly. But first take a few steps back, sit down and look at it from a distance. Take a break, then look at it closely again. Collect the information; find the patterns. Pry them from where it seems there is nothing. Then try to form the links between the patterns and information and re-create the other pieces of the puzzle. Complete and study it, and then when you know what his true intentions are, you can worry about what needs to be done."

She turned to look up at him with a smile.

"I should have known to listen to your crow sense in the first place."

He grinned down at her.

"Aly you knew you had to do that in the first place. You just needed to be told you could do it. Now come inside, it's late and you missed dinner."

­

On strict instructions from Nawat Aly had taken a day off. He had even conspired with Dove and Nuritin Balitang for them to invite her and the twins on a walk in the palace gardens. She tried to protest that she had to much work to do, before Dove sent a servant to pound on her office door. Conveying Dove's irate message that literally ordered her Spy Master to,

"…get your behind off your chair and out into the gardens…now."

Well, an imperial order was an imperial order. So Aly found herself walking through the palace gardens, the twins two very loud distractions that seemed to be able to find trouble without even trying. By the end of about 5 minutes they had managed to; fall into bushes, be chased by an irate marmoset and in Aleda's case change into a crow twice. Pointing to one of the many collared woolly monkeys that inhabited the palace gardens Dyami cried joyfully,

"Oh! Look! A monkey-,"

"Bastards!" Interrupted Nuritin Balitang. "You should have heard them last night! Screeching and fighting, all going eep! eep! eep! How's a person supposed to get any sleep…"

She looked on perplexed as Aly and Dove traded glances then burst out laughing.

"And just what is so funny?" She demanded imperiously.

When her question fell on deaf ears she bent down to Aleda and Dyami.

"Come on dears, we don't want you to catch whatever disease that has your mother and Her Majesty in hysterics." And with that she stalked away taking the twins with her.

Dove flopped down on a bench gasping for breath.

"I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing that she took the twins with her."

Sitting down beside her Aly wiped tears of laughter from her eyes as Dove added,

"I think it's a good thing. Despite the Dragon's (A/N: For those who don't know; 'The Dragon' is what Nuritin is called by most of the family when she's not around.) attitude to most people she'll spoil those two rotten."

Aly groaned,

"Speak for yourself. I'm the one who'll have to put up with spoiled kids, with attention spans of hyperactive mayflies."

"You have a point."

The dark figure once again sat tailor style in front of the fire. His gift glowed softly around his hands and the object he held as the sparkling grey magic slowly became streaked with red and black that seemed to absorb the light from the fire rather than give it off. It formed dagger shapes and began to attack the object in his hands. The attacks grew in ferocity as a cracking sound filled the room.

Back in the palace Aly sat up suddenly in her bed listening to the echo of a scream. The cry came again more desperate than before growing in intensity. Tumbling out of bed and ignoring the noise the palace made as it began to stir. She hastily pulled on clothes over her nightgown then turned and ran out of the room towards the direction of the dungeons. She screeched to a halt in front of the door to the room where the assassin was being held. His screams echoed down the hall way then his voice broke and the screams were reduced to whimpers and gasps of pain taking out her lock picks she unlocked the door and thrust it open.

Heishi was slumped in the middle of the room. His leg bent at an impossible angle. He curled into a ball as another breathy scream tore itself from his throat. Aly looked on in helpless horror, unaware of the crowd gathering at her back. Heishi looked as though he had been kicked from one side of the room to the other and then pummeled mercilessly till he was barley conscious.

With her sight she could see the grey shot with black and blood red glow of a gift that surrounded. He suddenly stopped fighting, the look of pain draining from his face, as he once again showed his lack of hope. Damn the assassin's master. She needed Heishi, he had important information she would not be able to get anywhere else at least without heaps of effort and maybe lives. Desperate she did the only thing she could think of, she yelled at him.

Heishi's POV:

I was floating in an abyss the pain was a dull throb, insignificant. It was peaceful, more peace than I would probably ever have again. He'd finally come for me as I'd known he would. I let myself float and the darkness enveloped me dulling the pain nearly completely. Then…my master, he was in front of me.

"You won't escape your punishment this way, Uindo."

He disappeared and the darkness was once again whole but this time it wasn't peaceful, didn't block out the pain. I was barely conscious of retreating further into my mind trying to escape the pain but it followed. And then I heard it. The voice drifted as though from far away. Slightly distorted but the words meaning was clear,

"What right do you have to leave Heishi! You're needed here, not in the Dark god's realm were you can be tormented by your master for all time! Then again you failed. Failed your master because I got the better of you; me, a 19 year old girl!"

I gritted my teeth mentally. I had failed…failed!...but what did it matter? It would hardly stop my master from punishing me.

As though the voice knew what I was thinking it became mocking.

"Heishi," the voice sneered. "The name means soldier, a warrior. Well what warrior sits down and lets someone dictate whether they live or die, because they are afraid of the pain that person can cause! I know true warriors and you're not one of them! You've let all hope slip away because one man gave you pain, gave others you know pain!"

My gift surged. I knew who it was that yelled at me now. I wanted her to shut up, to leave me to die in the way I knew I would. What did she know of the pain my master had given me! Given people I knew! She wasn't the one who had watched her loved ones killed because you resisted him. She wasn't the one who had to watch them scream and beg for mercy! Seen their very spirits in tormented in the Dark god's realm! I slumped once again anger could do nothing, I would be dead soon anyway.

"And so Uindo the 'great' assassin accepts his fate!" the voice jeered. "Broken, defeated, because he couldn't take a little pain."

The anger swelled, throbbing, with my gift again. The semi peaceful darkness wavered, light and pain piercing through.

End Heishi's POV

Aly continued to yell the first things that came into her head and watched the massive gift that burned in Heishi flicker undecided then swell. It surged at the grey magic that shrouded him forcing it back a tiny bit at a time. With a last effort he threw it off completely, slumping for a moment exhausted by the effort and from the beating he had taken. Then he looked up eyes seeming to burn with his anger and hate.

He reached to his back for the twin katanas he had been wearing when he had attacked Dove to find they had been removed along with his other weapons. She watched uneasily as the wards one again flowed to suppress his gift. He threw them off as though they were a kid's first attempt at a spell, not one created by the most powerful mages in the Copper Isles. She swallowed this wasn't good,

Great tactic Da, she thought. She had made him want something alrightUnfortunately that something was revenge…and the focus of his anger was her.

A/N: If you have any other questions, suggestions or constructive criticism please leave a review! (actually even if u don have any of those review anyway, it makes my day.) Chapters might start to take a bit longer because unfortunately my holidays are over :(.