DISCLAIMER - Mostly everything in this story belongs to Tamora Pierce, except Kodi and the plot.

CHAPTER 1

Keladry of Mindelan stood atop the ramparts at New Hope, watching her soldiers get into position along the gates. It had been four years since the fort was reconstructed from Haven's rubble, and New Hope had grown fast. Numair had raised lots of ground forty feet high, and spelled the buildings against fire. New Hope had grown to the size of a small town, with about 1,000 refugees and a full company of soldiers.

Even though the Scanren War had been over for about two years now, the former King Maggur couldn't be found. He traveled the country with an army of those he had sworn to him. Scanra's nobles had been hunting King Maggur, but the whole country was in disrepair because they had no leader. Unless one of the royal family showed up to rule within the next four years, the country would be run by a, unpopular duke.

Now, three squads stood by the double gate as guards. Usually there was only one squad at the gate, but today was different. A dangerous prisoner was coming from Mastiff, being escorted by Numair. A special cell had been built in headquarters. Lord Wyldon hadn't been clear about why he had ordered the prisoner here to New Hope, but he had said something vague about letting the prisoner start a new life or something.

A trumpet called from far off and Kel straightened up. She wanted to be ready for the prisoner, at least show him that she was all business. Daine walked swiftly around the edge of a building, knowing that the horn call meant the arrival of Numair. She had animal droppings all over her, but her dark, curly hair was neat and clean. Daine joined Kel at the ramparts, her gray eyes troubled.

"Is everything alright?" Kel said. As she spoke, she took out her spyglass, a gift from Lady Alanna, and tried to spot the caravan.

"Yes, I suppose." Daine said hesitantly. "Something doesn't feel right to me, with my magic. I'll ask Numair about it when he gets here." The caravan, or rather two squads of the King's Own, a wagon, and a couple horses and riders, peaked around the edge of the trees. Kel nodded to Merric, one of her year-mates who commanded the soldiers at New Hope. Merric spoke to the soldiers, who straightened up and nervously readjusted their grip on their weapons. Not only did they want to make a good impression, but mostly everyone at New Hope, soldiers and especially the refugees, were wary around mages.

In a couple of minutes, the caravan arrived at the outer gate. Only Numair and the prisoner would be staying at New Hope, and the flurry of activity from unloading was hidden by the wall. Kel fought the urge to lean over the wall to watch the prisoner and barely mastered it. She could see the wagon and the squads turn around and start back, but the prisoner and Numair still hadn't entered yet. Domitan of Masbolle, squad leader in the King's Own, silently climbed up the stairs and stood next to Kel.

"Wonder what's taking them?" He asked softly. Kel just shook her head. "What's the matter?" Dom said with a grin. "If you weren't so flawless, I would say you were nervous. Our Sir Meathead sure is." Kel couldn't help grinning at Dom's name for his cousin, Sir Nealan of Queenscove, another one of Kel's year-mates. Suddenly, the inner gate was raised and in walked the prisoner, followed closely by Numair.

Kel had learned at a young age not to form opinions about people before she had met them, and at least not to be surprised when her opinions were proved wrong. But she couldn't help gawking a little when the prisoner walked into view.

A young girl of average height walked in, a slight swagger in her step. Her look of rebelliousness coupled with her piercing green eyes didn't really fit Kel's description of a dangerous criminal. The thin, but stocky girl looked to be about fourteen or fifteen, with long dirty hair that could be brown if it was clean. She had high cheekbones and arched brows. Filthy as she was, she still could be described as beautiful. Once she passed the inner gate, she looked around as she walked, a slight smirk on her face.

Kel was proud of her soldiers when they didn't stare, but stood there in full military crispness. She descended the inner stair, followed by Dom. The very picture of cool collect, Kel was really confused. 'How much trouble could a young girl like her cause?' Kel guessed it must be a lot, because black fire pooled in Numair's hands. She approached Numair, making the mistake of walking too close to the girl, even though she was five feet away. She didn't hear Numair's warning until too late.

The girl moved almost too fast for the eye to see. She rammed Kel hard in the stomach, ignoring the chain mail, and caught Kel on the edge of the eye with a fist. The girl ducked and turned, dodging Dom's arm. While Kel whipped around, the girl drew Kel's dagger from her sword belt. The squads on guard leveled their spears at her at moved closer, but they didn't dare get to close for fear of hurting one of their own. She could have wreaked serious havoc if she had not been in the presence of Numair Salmalín, greatest mage in Tortall or Keladry of Mindelan.

Numair finally caught her in a spell that made it seem as if she was moving in slow motion. Kel knew the feeling; Numair had caught her in the same spell once when she was fighting with some other pages. Kel moved in, and nodded at Numair to drop the spell. As soon as he did, Kel grabbed the back of the girl's shirt and shook it hard. Despite being shaken so hard that her teeth were clicking together, the girl spit straight into Kel's face. With a last few shakes for good measure, Kel handed the girl to a couple soldiers who held her there.

After doing so, Kel took a moment to restore her Yamani composure. Numair waited until every line was gone from Kel's face, every ounce of annoyance and surprise.

"Lady Knight," Numair said formally, "I hand over to you the prisoner." He looked around with one eyebrow raised. "Though I'm not sure you want her." The soldiers snorted and the girl scowled. "Here is her collar. It's like a slave band, only it has a copy worn by whoever is to guard her. I'll show you how to use it later."

"Thank you, Master Numair. Let's put the band on her, and then take her to her cell." Kel said.

Numair started to put the band around the girl's neck, but she shook him off and struggled. "Leave off!" Her voice was cultured, but hoarse and dry. Under better conditions, with a good meal and plenty of liquids, she would have a pleasant voice. "You'll not put that around my neck." The soldiers held her all the tighter, and Numair could have forced the band on her, but for some reason he chose not to.

"Well, then, where do you want it?" he spoke, making no attempt to hide his exasperation. The girl looked at him with utter contempt, and Numair rolled his eyes. She shook off the soldier holding on to her left arm, and then held it forward. Numair snapped the collar above her elbow, just a couple inches lower than her shoulder. At first the circlet was far too wide to fit, but than it shrank to fit firmly on her arm.

"Take her to her cell." Merric ordered his soldiers as he followed along, saluting Kel first. Kel took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This whole thing had not been expected.

Later that night, after New Haven was quiet, a meeting was held in headquarters. Merric, Neal, Numair, Daine, Dom, Kel, and well, Tobe was listening outside the door, as always. Kel poured hot cider for everyone, and as they drank up, Numair showed them how to work the captive circlet.

"Whoever has the master circlet, controls the girl's, which she will be wearing at all times." Numair stopped and took a swig from his glass. The circlet was thin but durable, and had a flat circle about as big as a thumbprint on it. "." Numair was starting to sound as he had when teaching Kel, Merric, and Neal back when they were pages. "The band will keep the girl within a certain range. If she crosses the range for more than ten minutes, her blood will boil and she will die." Everyone at the table grimaced at the resulting image, except Daine, who was rubbing her forehead as if in pain. No one noticed however and the lecture went on. "If she gets out of control or anything, press up your thumb to the circle. You have to hold it there for five seconds. The circle will give a shock to the girl, very painful. Hold it longer than five seconds and the shock will continue. If you hold it too long, her heart will stop." Numair took a pause to glare at Daine, who had once stopped her own heart, but stared instead.

Daine looked sickly pale at this point, with a tinge of green around her lips. She looked dizzily at Numair and reeled, almost falling off her chair. Numair caught her.

"Daine, what's wrong?" he said. "Are you ill?" Daine just shook her head, her face scrunched up, wincing.

"Tobe?" Fetch us a cloth and some water!" Kel shouted. There was no answer. Kel opened the door and stuck her head out. Tobe lay against the wall, holding his head. "Tobe!" Kel leaned down and shook him lightly. She turned around and yelled back into the confused room. "Tobe's got it too!"

Suddenly, Daine and Tobe both cried out in pain as one. Dom and Merric helped Kel to carry in Tobe and laid him on the table. They called out again, and this time Daine screamed. Numair touched both Daine and Tobe with his magic.

"Something's hurting their wild magic!" Numair shouted. Merric, Dom, Neal, Kel, and Numair looked at each other, then raced out the door, leaving the care of Daine and Tobe to the bewildered clerks who had come in a minute ago. They were headed for the prisoner's cell.

The girl lay on the floor in her small cell. She had lain there for hours with her eyes closed. She knew that if she opened them, she would panic. She had thought of things until she fell asleep. Then the nightmare came, the one with the yelling and the screams. When she woke up, she had instinctively opened her eyes to prove to herself that she wasn't back there. That was a mistake.

As soon as her body knew what her mind did, that she was trapped, she began to panic. The girl stood up, ignoring her stiff muscles, and bashed herself into the walls. Bruising her head, neck, and shoulders, she silently screamed. She remembered one of her first lessons. Make no noise. After she was realized there was no way out, she collapsed on the floor. She rolled over on her back, and stared up at the ceiling. The panic really set in, and breathing became difficult.

Numair opened the trapdoor on the ceiling of the cell, and lowered himself down. He was closely followed by Neal, then Kel, Dom, and Merric. They all stared at the silent figure on the ground, her body twisting as she fought for air. Her hands were by her side clenched around the blanket, pulling and twisting it in different directions. Her back was arched trying to give her lungs more air. At first the newcomers didn't know what was wrong.

"Neal, what's wrong with her?" Kel asked forcefully. At that, Neal remembered his Gift, and stepped forward with his healing magic. "She can't breathe," Neal said. "It seems that either she forced..." Neal was cut off by Dom. "Meathead, don't worry about the technicalities, fix her!"

Neal glared at Dom, even as green magic flowed down his arm and into the girl's chest. Her breathing slowed, and her hands relaxed. Kel knelt down next to her.

"Numair, what's her name?" Kel asked. "We need to call her something, as long as she's our prisoner." Kel fingered the captive circlet uncomfortably.

"Well, Lord Wyldon said that she wouldn't tell anyone her name. That's another thing." Numair said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean, Master Numair?" said Merric. Numair seemed lost in thought, and didn't answer. "Master Numair? What do you mean?" Merric questioned again. Being one of his former students, he was used to having to be patient.

"Oh, sorry Merric. Well, Lord Wyldon said that she was captured in the stable. No one had seen her before then, so she must have come in the secret exit." The special exit that Daine had put in was a secret, but everyone in the room was trusted enough to know about it. New Hope also had a special exit. "She wouldn't tell him anything about herself, so he was forced to confine her."

By this the girl had sufficiently recovered, and she drew herself up, arms around her legs. Neal was still kneeling by her and she edged away from him. The scowl had seemed to be permanently fixed to her face.

Numair gave her back quite a glare himself and continued speaking. "She must have wild magic, and her panicking affected Daine and Tobe, who also have wild magic. Magic that can affect others, like hers did, is not well controlled and can be dangerous."

"I don't have wild magic." The girl said matter-of-factly. Numair ignored her.

"Another thing is, I can't see her wild magic. None of it. If she hides it, she does it well. That means she has the Gift also, and a strong one." Numair said seriously.

"I don't have wild magic, or any other kind!" The girl snapped. The four adults exchanged amused glances. Her scowl deepened.

"Now's as good a time as any to question her." Kel said. "We might as well do it now to get it over with. Maybe we'll find out something that Lord Wyldon didn't." Merric nodded his agreement.

"I'm not going to tell you anything!"

They were all back in headquarters. Numair and Kel sat at one end of the table and the girl at the other. Neal had to go to the infirmary to check on the patients and Merric had to oversee the guards. Daine and Tobe had recovered fully and had gone to the stables to heal a horse with a cut flank. They were also hesitant to meet the girl who had caused them so much pain.

After putting the truth spell on her, Numair began the interrogation.

"What is your name?" The girl just smirked and didn't answer. Numair rolled his eyes and repeated the question.

"Why are you even asking me? You know I'll just lie, so why did you put the truth spell on me?" The girl questioned, with a trace of derision.

"Just answer my question, please." Numair said, ignoring her jibes.

"All right, I'll lie. My name has always been Kodi." True to her word, the truth spell flared black. Numair was beginning to lose his temper. He ended the truth spell.

"Kodi, where did you come from?" Numair said despairingly.

"I came from Hamrkeng. So now that you ended the truth spell, you can either believe me or think that I am lying, which is much more likely." Kodi said smugly. Although Kel's face was smooth, her eyes were dancing.

"Since you are trying to make me believe that you are lying, I will assume that you are telling the truth." Numair said tranquilly.

"Unless of course, I implied that I was lying to make you believe that I told the truth, when in fact I was lying." Kel started to snigger behind a hand.

Numair sensed defeat and swiftly changed his approach. "Why do you deny your wild magic?"

"I deny my wild magic? I have wild magic?" The girl said innocently. Too innocently. Numair slammed the table with his hand in a full rage and power sparkled around him. This changed Kodi completely. Instead of being a cocky, proud youngster, she changed into a cowed child. She stared down at the table. Kel stared reproachfully at Numair. THAT hadn't been needed.

"That's better." Numair said. "I can teach you about wild magic and my former student Daine teaches Tobe. Maybe she could also teach you."

"I don't want to learn." This quiet flat response startled Numair. He stared at her, his mouth moving, but no sound coming out. Kel decided to cut in.

"Please, Kodi, give it a try. If you don't like it, you can always stop. Any kind of power isn't good if you can't control it." Kel said softly.

Kodi stared at Kel, her face blank but eyes searching. "All right. I'll give it a try."

Numair smiled triumphantly. At that moment, Daine walked in. Kodi froze up at the first look of her.

- Flashback - -

"Mama!" The small child called, small legs pumping as she ran to her mother. Her mother laughed; put down the cat she had just healed, and picked up her toddler. The woman's soft brown curls swung in the sunlight, and her light eyes laughed. "I love you, Mama." The mother hugged her child close. "I love.."

"Woman!" A harsh voice shouted. The mother's face darkened. "Coming."

- Flashback Ends- -

"Kodi? Kodi?" Kel was softly shaking Kodi's shoulder. Kodi blinked as she shook herself out of her daydream. For a minute, she couldn't tell between what was past and what was present.

"No."

"What?" Numair said.

"No. I don't want the lessons. No!" Kodi shouted fiercely.

"Why?" Kel asked. "You were in agreement to them before Daine came."

"If it's something I've done…" Daine started.

"You didn't do anything. Kodi, you need these lessons. Anyone else would be grateful for a chance to learn, let alone have wild magic!" Numair said, his tone taking on frustration.

"Send me back to the cursed pit, or beat me, or whatever, but hurry up with it and let me be!" Kodi screamed at them and ran from the room.