For the nine people who reviewed chapter nine — this chapter is for you.

Proof read by Danaye

Chapter 10

The climb had been easy. There had been plenty of things to grasp with his fingers and it had taken less than ten minutes to gain access to the window. The shutters had been closed, but that had only been a small hindrance. He had easily forced them open and carefully entered the room.

He could have gone in through the gates, dressed in something that would've disguised both his looks and the purpose of his trip, but what fun would that have been? Climbing the walls of buildings was a challenge and it was the anticipation of the challenge that had made the decision for him.

He had been trained to do this since the age of three — trained to do the bidding of a master who sold his services to a select clientele. Doing things the easy way would only bring laughter to his master's voice when he reported back — that was if he reported back. There was always the possibility that he would be caught, but he was confident that he wouldn't be caught on this particular day.

He entered the main area of the castle just as the last of the nobles were hurrying into the chapel. The assassin placed himself amongst the crowd as the groom entered the room and calmly walked the thirty meters up to where a priest stood waiting. Ducking his head and trying to hide behind a large nobleman, the assassin frantically shielded the presence of his gift, but it had almost been too late.

He knew the man by his reputation and by his looks. The Black Robed Mage was powerfully gifted and he wouldn't have any problem detecting that someone else with a powerful gift was present in the chapel. Because of this, the assassin had decided to take his leave when the Black Robe's dark eyes searched the room — only to settle themselves on a different gifted person.

Daniel relaxed slightly as he took in the healer's burly frame. He was safe for now. The Black Robe had obviously concluded that the small boost of energy had come from the healer. As Daniel looked on, he found distaste entering the eyes of the tanned man. Apparently the man disliked the healer, and Daniel decided that he disliked him as well. He didn't like the royal healer's expression and he quickly decided that it would be best to kill the healer first and then the king.

Only luck had prevented the Black Robed Mage from noticing anything, and Daniel relaxed a little as the doors were opened yet again and silence filled the room. He had been about to leave when the young woman who entered the room alongside the king caught his eye. She was dressed in a gray-white gown, but it wasn't the dress that had caught his attention — it was her hair and her eyes.

The bride and the king passed the spot where he stood and he bowed along with the nobles. When the king and the young girl stopped short a little further up the aisle, Daniel found that it was indeed time to leave.

On the way out of the chapel, he accidentally bumped into someone. "Sorry," he murmured, hoping that the other man wouldn't mind, but no reaction came. When Daniel turned his head, he found that everyone was looking at a small, petite girl with long blonde hair.

He smiled. With everyone occupied by the small girl in the middle of the aisle, he slipped out a side door, fleeing from the ceremony where the couple was about to be married.

Daniel used the subsequent time to roam the castle, finding out everything he could about its floor plan. He memorized where the healer was sleeping, where the king's private chambers were located, and where King Angus's private stash of wine was stored. He waited for the servants to choose the barrel that would be used to celebrate the wedding. Standing in a corner, Daniel observed as large men retrieved the barrel. He wondered if there was a reason as to why his master had ordered him to be here on this particular day.

Daniel glanced backwards as he snuck inside an unfamiliar room. Closing the door and turning around, he found himself standing in what he concluded was the larger hall where the actual celebration was taking place. The hall was filled with nobles of the Gallan court. He wasn't going to expose himself, so he made an effort to blend in.

Not soon after, he found a place where he could maintain a general view of the events. He gladly accepted a goblet of sweet wine from one of the servants, but didn't drink it. He gestured at the servant to get lost and the man bowed lightly, as if Daniel was no different from the snobby nobility. Daniel snorted low. He would never be anything more than a simple man with a deadly occupation.

His eyes came to rest on a man that stood behind one of the heavy curtains surrounding the large windows. The royal healer had clearly taken an interest in the bride standing beside the Black Robe. His eyes were locked on her as if she was some unique creature of the divine. Why was the young woman so important to the healer?

Daniel knew that there was no possible way to get an answer to his question and, as he looked on, he suddenly saw a small black spark being sent towards the royal healer. The man quickly shot out from his hiding place and ran from the hall.

The assassin raised an eyebrow. The tanned man had clearly discovered the hungry eyes of the healer lingering on the bride. Daniel slipped away from the hall, in search of the royal healer. He was curious to find out what had happened to him. What he found was discouraging. The healer was roaming the empty chamber where the bride had slept, picking up valuable items and tucking them inside his cloak. Daniel shook his head while withdrawing. The royal healer couldn't be trusted, but he would put an end to that sometime during the night.

He found the barrel of wine just in time to see the servants punch a hole into it. Daniel, hidden underneath an invisibility spell, pressed himself against the wall and looked on as the servants poured the poisoned, red liquid into large pitchers. Not only had Daniel poisoned the wine, but he had also added the same drug to the ale that the guards would be drinking. His job was done for now. The only thing left was waiting. After the feast was over, he would do what he had come to do — kill the King of Galla.

Shaking all over, Daniel waited for the feast to wrap up. He found a small alcove and used the extra time to meditate himself into complete calmness. The hours began to drift — he had been waiting a long time.

Autumn was forcing its way into the air and Daniel could almost smell the first sign of snow, but he didn't mind. Where he was from, it snowed every day. It was in snow that he had trained and it was in snow that he had lifted a sword for the first time, the sword he now carried on his back. He had been born in the snow and it was in the snow that he had been taken away from the mother he had never gotten a chance to know.

The snow was his home. Fingering the hidden daggers that were placed at his wrists, he let his mind drift away from the castle and the voice of the bard telling strange stories about even stranger people with almost supernatural powers.

When the bard came to a story about a powerful man, Daniel shifted uneasily — maybe the crowd inside the hall didn't know that the person described in the story was sitting amongst them — but he knew. It was that man that could cause him to fail, and failure was the one thing he couldn't risk. The future depended on him taking the life of King Angus…or so his master had told him.

He was close to falling asleep when silence reached his ears. Daniel acted. First, he located the healer and silently slit the man's throat. He then, walking carefully, reached the door where two guards were standing…or almost standing. They were unsuccessfully trying to fight off the drugs he had added to their supplies of water and ale after the feast had ended. Within the next hour, all the guards in the castle would be asleep.

Daniel was a skilled assassin and, with something akin to pride lingering inside his chest, he stepped over the guards that slept on the floor. Once inside the chamber, it was easy to locate King Angus. The old man was snoring loudly. Confident that everyone in the castle was sleeping, Daniel let a ball of his gift gather inside the palm of his hand.

Mere seconds later, the king took his least breath, deprived of every ounce of life. Daniel found himself smiling and was about to establish a line to his master when something caught his attention.

Turning his head to the left, Daniel became aware of a blackish cloud sparkling with silver lingering near him, as if it was observing everything he did. Cursing under his breath, Daniel cut the line to his master and quickly hurried after the source of the gift that had become present after his assassination of King Angus.

Stumbling, Daniel almost fell over the bodies of the two guards outside the king's chambers. This delayed Daniel in his pursuit of the Black Robed mage who had witnessed the killing of the Gallan king. Daniel's orders had been to 'leave no witnesses' and now he had failed.

Even though he only was nineteen, Daniel had been killing since the age of nine and every time he had left the scene without a single witness alive, but not tonight. The Black Robed Mage would hunt him down if he was given the opportunity and the assassin couldn't afford to let him do that. Daniel was the one who did the hunting, not the other way around.

Reaching the chamber, he could detect traces of two gifts — the Black Robe's and something else…something odd…something he hadn't encountered before. He halted as the floor underneath him gave way. He fell, but managed to create a shield to protect himself. The Black Robe had just made everything more difficult. The sound of the explosion could have awoken everyone in the castle, but luckily he had been thorough in the execution of his assignment — no one would wake up for quite a while.

Daniel coughed as dust slowly fell to the floor. Waving a hand in front of his face, something caught his attention. A dress suited for a wedding lay covered underneath bricks. Slowly, he lifted the gray-white fabric up to his nose and sniffed, remembering the smell of the Black Robe's bride forever.

Daniel had always been good at tracking by scent, and now that he had the bride's he would never forget it. Lifting his stormy blue-gray eyes and pushing his short brown hair out of the way, he quickly searched the room and found another token that seemed to belong to her — a small chest containing a string of pearls. This he could use as well. Even though the Black Robed Mage had cloaked himself, he hadn't done the same for the young woman and she would be easy to follow.

Daine shifted in the saddle, waiting for Numair to move his gelding forth. They hadn't had time to pack anything other than the saddlebags that Numair had swung over the back of his horse.

She wondered if their hurried leaving would implicate them in the king's assassination, but nevertheless, she sighed low and only spared the castle a brief backwards glance as they passed through the gates.

Something was very wrong, Daine thought for what must have been the tenth time. Numair had only mentioned that an assassin was on their trail and that the king, the very king who had arranged her marriage, was now lying dead in his chamber. However, Numair had failed to explain why they were running away like this. She had thought that Numair would take up any fight or at least try to find the assassin, but instead he was acting like a coward and fleeing as a dog would with its tail between its legs.

Daine's lips quivered as a thought suddenly struck her. It had been her plan to say goodbye to Rajana, but there hadn't been any time to do so. She only hoped that the young girl would be safe, lying in her bed, and sleeping through this ordeal.

Whoever the assassin was, it had got both her and Numair sufficiently frightened.

They reached the edge of the small village that lay at the bottom of the Gallan castle. Normally, one would have thought that the King of Galla would have placed something as important as his residence in the main capital, but that wasn't the case. It had been the former king's decision to move his court to a place near the Tortallan border because of an older Gallan king that had married his daughter off to King Roger II of Conté, King Jonathan the IV's ancestor.

Galla's history had been included in some of Daine's lessons while Rosalie had been her guardian in the castle, and these memories roamed her mind as Numair pushed his gelding into a gallop. Daine spoke calmly down to the gray mare underneath her and the horse trudged along. She could have chosen any of the other horses that had been available, but there had been something about the mare she had liked. Now, Daine was amused and tried to hide a smile as the mare commented on everything her husband did.

Their speed increased as time went on, and soon they had left the village behind them. Night was drawing to a close and dawn was breaking around them. The rest of the night had passed rather quickly as they rode as hard the horses could muster. Only when they reached a pond did they settle down in order to give the horses time to drink and relax a little.

Daine was pulling both of the horses towards the pond when the air behind her suddenly hissed. Allowing the horses to take the lead themselves, she turned only to find that Numair was walking in a half-circle, muttering to himself and dragging a line of black fog after him.

She waited patiently, or Daine thought she was, when he stopped in front of her with raised eyebrows on his way to walk the half-circle a third time.

"What?" Numair asked, a bit annoyed over being disturbed. He knew he hadn't really been disturbed because the only thing she had done wrong was follow his movements with her large blue-gray eyes.

Daine shook her head. "Nothing," she whispered back, but locked eyes with him. "It's just," she paused, "do you think he can find us?"

Numair nodded, "If he is as good as I think he is, then yes, he can. However, that's not what you're really worried about, is it?"

Daine crossed her arms in front of herself, shaking her head. "What deal did your king make with my king that resulted in us," she gestured between them with a wave of her hand, "becoming man and wife?"

"If you think I don't confide in you, then you are wrong," he told her slowly as he picked up his work where he left off. Looking back to where Daine stood, Numair could see an expression that only could come from being misunderstood so many times. He walked the last line of the half-circle slowly. "I don't know everything myself," he continued, which was clearly a lie, but he needed to keep her in the dark in order to ensure her safety.

"If you knew, would you tell me?" Daine asked hopefully, but Numair was walking away from her and out of ear-range. She sighed low, turning towards the two horses and shooting them a stern glance, "Do you know what's going on?"

The black horse only snorted and nipped the gray mare's mane. "Perhaps not," she muttered to herself and set to the task of looking the horses over.

Daine hadn't really expected anything from him, but any bit of information would be useful so she could be prepare to deal with whatever was going on. When she was done with the horses, she found that she had nothing else to do and with itchy fingers she roamed the saddlebags for something to eat.

She lifted a small bag of white kernels in the air and turned it in front of her nose, investigating the stuff. "I don't suppose the two of you know what this is?" she asked, turning it towards the horses. An image of a pot filled with boiling water entered her mind. Daine tilted her head, "And where do you suppose I can find...," she stopped as something shiny caught her attention.

Grabbing it, she lifted the tin pot up just as her stomach growled with hunger. "Well, now we just need something to make a fire..." she stopped as a dry comment entered her mind. Daine gazed at the pony, "Do you really mean that I should eat grass?"

Daine laughed low as she laid the tin pot on the ground, shaking her head. Finally, after roaming Numair's saddlebags once more, she found what she was looking for.

"Not a chance," she replied. Something in the stream caught her eye and her head snapped to the pond. She watched as a pike leapt from the surface of the water. Rolling her breeches up to her knees, she headed towards the sight. Daine shivered as the autumn-air licked her calves.

"This is probably a very foolish idea," she muttered to herself, dipping her toes into the freezing water.

The shielded area was filling with the delicious scent of cooked pike seasoned with wild parsley. Whatever the small white kernels were, they were also ready. Daine had found some wild chanterelles mushrooms and had added those into the pot as well. By now, her stomach was growling loudly.

Daine rose from where she had been sitting beside the fire and drying the wet spots on her breeches from her dip in the pond. Looking around, she took in her surroundings, trying to see if she could find her new husband. He wasn't in sight, but that didn't mean that he had left the shielded area, or had he?

She took the fish off the heat along with the pot and walked away from the food, the sound of muffled voices reaching her ears. The voices seemed to be exchanging information and, creeping forward, she found Numair sitting cross-legged with his back turned to her. He was facing an orb where a female voice could be heard. He hadn't gone over the boundary, but was sitting in the shadow of some bushes.

The voices became clearer. "You dolt," the voice said and Daine could detect the disapproving and angry undertone in the woman's voice, "a note to Jonathan was the only thing you could come up with? Then you left without an escort. What in the Goddess's name were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that it would be easier to go and get her if I wasn't surrounded by soldiers…or you, for that matter," Numair answered calmly into the orb, "but that wasn't why I contacted you, Alanna. I can feel you nearing the border, and we are coming your way." He paused for a few seconds, "We're in trouble."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?" the voice of the woman, Alanna, echoed through the magical connection.

"King Angus is dead. He was killed during the night — that's why we are on the run. We had to flee in the middle of the night because I accidentally noticed the assassin's presence after he took the old king's life".

"That is trouble," the woman concluded. "How far are you from the border? Also, I noticed that you said 'we'. Is she with you?"

Numair nodded, "Yes, she's with me and we are about half a day's ride out."

"Good. Remember to take good care of her, Numair. She's important."

Her husband sighed low, "I know." The orb was beginning to pale and Numair added a little extra strength to keep the line open. "Alanna?" he called.

"Yes?"

"Please hurry."

"I will. I'll tell Hakim to move out. We want to get to the heir before everyone else..." the voice was confident in her reply. "By the way, is there anything I ought to know — something you're not telling me?"

Numair smiled to himself. The Lioness wasn't near him, but she had always had a fine nose for detecting secrets. "Sometimes I wonder if you are in the right line of work. Your husband could do with more people like you," he grinned and could clearly hear a muttering that sounded almost like, 'Don't give George any fancy ideas.' Numair hurried along, "Do you know anything about a general named Sun Tzu?"

There was a long silence and Daine knew that it was wrong to eavesdrop on a private conversation, but she stood frozen to the spot, curious about the exchange. So, she was important! But to whom and why? She became startled as the female voice returned.

"No, never heard of the man. Where did you pick up that name?"

"Let's just say that the king's healer was short on money," Numair replied, not wanting to tell Alanna just yet about what the healer had been about to do to Daine. She would be furious, so he kept that part quiet. "Just give Jon or George the news that there's someone pulling the strings. It wasn't someone inside the Marenese court, like we thought — someone is working their way though the line of kings."

"Are you absolutely sure?" the voice asked Numair and it sounded tired, almost disbelieving.

"Yes, Alanna. We don't know if there is only one assassin or if there is a whole army. Just tell Jonathan to be careful and that he should watch his movements."

"I will," the woman replied seriously, "and you too, Numair. Keep her safe and yourself, of course. Tortall wouldn't be able to survive without you."

Numair laughed, "The same applies to you, Alanna." Numair lifted his hand, closing it around the orb. Without turning, he called out, "How much did you hear?"

Daine took a step forth, a twig breaking underneath her feet. She grimaced. "Enough," she told him, watching warily as he stood up and turned to her with dark eyes.

He came over to her. Towering over her, he lifted her face and searched her blue-gray eyes. "It's wrong to eavesdrop," Numair said gravely.

His fingers underneath her chin burned. "It's wrong to keep your wife in the dark," Daine said low, "if you don't trust me yet, that's fine. However, if I am to be of some kind of help, you should at least tell me who that woman was."

Numair's eyes danced, "Jealous, my dear?"

Daine growled low and took a step away and his fingers fell from her chin. She turned and began to walk the path to where their breakfast waited. "Not any more than a woman forced into an arranged marriage would be," she retorted. Daine glanced up and saw that he was walking faster then she.

He had caught the smell of food. Numair looked at her, surprised. "You cooked?"

"Of course," Daine seated herself on the ground, "I can do other things than tend to horses you know." She watched as Numair lifted the lid of the pot where the white kernels had stewed along with the mushrooms. A sudden smile entered his face as he stirred the mixture with a spoon.

"I can certainly see that," he said dryly.

Daine rose to her knees and looked down, only to see that what had once been delicate, sticky kernels was now overly dry and brown, nearly burnt. Her hand snapped out to take the pot from him and he allowed her to have it. "I don't understand," she said, disappointed, while eying the contents of the pot. "It was fine when I left it..."

Numair laughed deeply, taking the pot away from her. "You clearly don't know how to cook rice."

"What's rice?" Daine questioned as Numair lifted the skin of the pike.

"It's a kind of grain that can only grow in the Yamani Isles..." Numair stopped short, realizing that maybe his wife didn't know the country, "it's warm in climate..."

"I know the weather," Daine snapped in annoyance, while digging a spoon into the burnt rice, "I'm neither uneducated, nor am I without reading-skills. I just didn't know what rice was." Her movements were angry and she was suddenly stopped as a large hand took the pot away from her.

"I wasn't accusing you," Numair told her softly, speaking low. He had begun to pick the flesh off the pike and divided it up onto two plates. He handed her one, "Unfortunately, we don't have the time to make another portion of rice, but I have some bread we can warm up and eat."

Daine nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry," she mumbled as Numair picked up something wrapped in a cloth.

"It's okay," he smiled and laid the bread on the large stone Daine had chosen for the pot. It took only few minutes for the bread to warm up. He handed her a piece and Daine accepted it as her stomach growled again.

They ate in silence while sending curious glances at each other. Daine pondered over the fact that there was so much about him that she found compelling. He was tall, taller then any other man she had ever encountered. She observed his height every time he moved, even if it was a simple movement to pick up some more meat from the fish.

She found that he ate very quietly, but that wasn't unusual to her at all. Being lonely at the Gallan court, she noticed this during her time eating alongside the soldiers, hostlers, and the servants. While the female portion of the servants always had something to discuss, the males had always eaten in complete silence. Only when the food had disappeared from their plates had the talking started, leaving the clearing of the plates to the women who had already made and served the dinner.

It was amazing to see that the same silent behavior applied to her husband. Something in the back of her mind made her freeze with her fork halfway to her mouth. Daine suddenly pushed her plate to Numair who took it with fumbling fingers. "Here, hold this," she said, and quickly rose to her feet.

Daine had been listening in on the conversation taking place between the two horses at the same time she had been wondering about Numair, but now they demanded her attention and therefore she hurried over to them. "Behave yourselves!" she snapped, interrupting the argument that was going on. She caught the reins of Numair's horse and her own. "What on earth has gotten into the two of you?" Daine pulled the rein short when the gray pony began to walk away. "Oh no you don't, missy," Daine retorted and fell silent as words entered her mind.

'He started it,' the gray mare snapped inside of Daine's mind.

"I don't care who started the fight. The two of you are going to get along!" Daine looked at both horses with sternness in her blue-gray eyes. It came down to a staring competition between her and the mare. "Cloud, please — don't make this any harder then it already is. I'm trying my best here and so should you!"

The mare snorted and turned towards Numair's horse, flickering her two ears back and forth, as if considering her options. "Fine," she stated, "but if he so much as tries to tell me again that where we are going it is better than home… Just because we have to follow you, doesn't mean it's better."

Daine lifted Cloud's head, caressing her muzzle. "Right now, anything is better than home," she smiled, "the two of us are going on an adventure, but this time we are not alone." She glanced at where Numair was busy packing their things. "Just behave for me," she whispered quietly, not wanting Numair to hear what she was saying.

"You just want me to behave because of him!" the mare accused.

Daine shifted, so her back was turned to Numair, "Maybe I'm mistaken, but I believe that you are jealous."

'I am not!' Cloud retorted.

"You are too," Daine said and patted the mare's neck affectionately.

"Trouble in paradise?" Numair asked as he swung the saddlebags over his horse's back. He allowed his elbow to rest on the back of his own horse, looking directly at Daine and smiling.

She found herself smiling back at him and, looking into his dark eyes, time stood still for Daine.

"Hey!" Numair yelped in surprise when horse-teeth snapped only millimeters from the fabric of his sleeve. His horse started forward as if to respond to the mare's attack and turned his behind to her quickly, only to lift his hindquarters.

Daine managed to tug at Cloud's reins in time to prevent the mare from getting hit. "That's it!" she snapped furiously as Numair lifted his arm, checking his sleeve for any damage. "If you can't behave yourself, then you give me no other choice than to put a muzzle on you!"

The mare snorted, only to pull her reins out of Daine's hands as she trudged away. She waved with her tail. 'Only if you can catch me!' Cloud retorted and moved out of the way.

"Oh, so you want to play that game?" Daine asked as her fists opened and closed. She ignored the silent, observational glance from her husband as he leaned against the frame of his horse, taking in the scene that was unfolding in front of him. She launched herself at the gray mare.

Numair glanced at his own horse, "I think that they have some unresolved issues to take care of, don't you?" He allowed the young woman and the mare to chase each other for some time while he extinguished the rest of the fire. As he piled dirt onto the ashes, he heard laughter behind him.

Numair straightened up. In front of him laid a gray pony on the ground with her belly turned skywards and Daine lying squarely on top. He crossed his arms, chuckling to himself as his wife's brown curly hair had become even more tousled. Daine suddenly lifted her head and looked down at the mare with such delight that he found he couldn't take his eyes away from her. "It seems that they have resolved their issues," he muttered to himself.

Filling his lungs, he shouted towards them. "If you ladies are finished, we do have an assassin on our trail and I don't want to stick around any longer than necessary."

"Sure, sure," Daine replied and maneuvered herself off the pony. She stood and watched as the mare rolled, coming to stand on all four legs. She turned back to where Numair had his back turned to her. He was in the process of mounting his horse and she grimaced as he swung his long legs awkwardly over the saddle.

A gentle voice reached her inner ears. 'You should see him getting off of me. If you think that this is awful, you wait and see that. I only tolerate it because of the extra carrots he gives me.' The gelding shifted his head, the movement traveling down over his neck as if to state his point. 'If he wasn't that nice, I would have thrown him off of me a long time ago.'

She hid a smile and turned to where the mare stood nipping at something on her back.

'Is that a new fashion?' the mare asked, taking hold of the thing and pulling. 'If it is, I don't like it. You are one of the People, not a hunter.'

Daine glanced in surprise as something dropped to the ground beside her with a low sound. Looking down, she picked up the item. In her hand lay a bow. "Where did you come from?" she asked hesitantly, turning it in her hands. The wood was warm and it was balanced perfectly...Daine stopped short. How did she know such a thing?

'If you are done,' Cloud asked, drawing Daine's attention away from the item in her hand, 'you should know that there is some kind of silver fog lingering at your back right now.'

Daine spun around, only to feel extra weight settle on her back, "What's going on?" She tried to reach the new items with her hands, but couldn't. She froze when the voice of Numair's gelding entered her mind.

'Hurry up. He's about to give me the command to move.'

Daine looked back at where Numair was altering his stirrups. She quickly placed the bow on her back and her fingers touched something that reminded her of feathers. Deciding that the mystery item on her back would have to wait until later, she grabbed hold of her saddle.

Numair was already mounted and was waiting for her to do the same. When he looked back to see how far along in the process she was, he frowned. Something, a weapon he realized, was hanging on her back.

Only seconds later he had planted his feet firmly on the ground again, giving up any notion of moving out, and grabbed hold of her rather fiercely.

Daine turned to see who it was that was holding her elbow roughly. "What are you doing?" she asked, looking at Numair's hand as his nails dug into the fabric of her cloak. "Numair? I was just about to mount," she stopped as she noticed the cold and stern emotion in his dark eyes. "I —," Daine faltered again as he pulled her away from her horse. "Hey!" she exclaimed angrily, snatching her arm away. "Numair! Is this some kind of a joke?" She questioned as Numair stood, blocking her way to the gray mare.

A shield formed behind Numair as horse-teeth tried to sink into the back of his cloak, preventing Cloud from reaching him. He grabbed the bow from behind Daine's back and raised it up under her nose. "What is this?" he snapped as he took hold of her collar.

"It's...it's a bow," Daine squeaked, frightened over this turn of events. She was afraid to look up into the darkness of his eyes. She was afraid to find that the gentleness she had seen in them was gone, so she looked at a spot underneath his chin. He needed a shave, she began to think, but was snapped back into focus as he spoke again.

Numair towered over her, emphasizing the height-difference between them. "I know what it is," he snapped, "where did you get it?"

"I...I," Daine tried, but the rest of the words were caught in her throat as Numair seemed to become even taller. "I —," she tried again, but was cut short.

"Where did you get it from?" He asked again, impatient. "Where?"

Daine drew herself up onto her toes and screamed with everything her lungs could muster, looking into his eyes for the first time. "I DON'T KNOW!"

That seemed to throw him off track. Numair looked down at his fists clenched on her collar. Abruptly, he let go of her. "If you don't know...," he stopped himself, only to take a step back from her, "then why do you have it? Why do you have the weapon then?" Numair examined the bow carefully, allowing the tip of his finger to run along every line carved into the wood. "Who gave this to you?" he asked, startled. He hadn't noticed it before now, and the quiver that hung behind her back looked to be brand new as well.

She remained close to him, locking her gaze with his. "I told you. I don't know!"

Numair sighed low. This trip and this assassin on their trail — it was about to make him insane. Now her, his new wife, was causing odd feelings to bubble up inside him and it frightened him more than he liked. "Fine," he said slowly and pushed the bow into her arms. "Just, if you get a clue as to where that came from," he pointed down to the item in her hands, "then please tell me."

Daine nodded. "I will," she looked down, "if I ever find out, but I can't promise you anything."

He pulled her towards him with a sudden movement. With a wary smile, he lifted her chin. "That I can settle with," Numair whispered before he continued, "Daine, listen, I'm sor…" He was stopped as she pulled away from him.

"Don't," she said and trudged over to where the shield was blocking the two horses out, preventing them from helping her. Daine turned around with an angry expression on her face and glanced up at him with a firm glare. "Don't you ever hurt me again!" she managed to say while trying to hide a sob, but it was in vain. "We may be married, but if you lay one hand on me again, I swear to the Goddess..." a head bumped into her back and she abruptly turned around to bury her face in Cloud's mane.

Numair reached for her, but stopped himself when a set of teeth sank into his arm. He looked down and saw his own horse glaring daggers at him as if to say, 'That, my friend, is your fault — and treat her better or else I'm going to bite harder next time.'The gelding squeezed a little harder before letting go.

Behind him, Daine didn't lift her head, but she knew that Numair was still looking at her with regret in his eyes and she suddenly didn't care. This life, this hectic life, wasn't something she was used to and she was beginning to hate it already. Glancing to the side, Daine found that Numair had moved away from her and was rubbing a sore spot on his elbow. She lightly scolded the black gelding silently, 'That was unnecessary. You shouldn't have bitten him.'

The gelding snorted as Numair pulled himself up into the saddle once more. 'That's not for you to decide, youngling. He and I have been together since he came from the country of dry land and hot weather — he still smelt of desert when he bought me. It is my decision and mine alone.'

'Finally, we agree on something,' Cloud snorted and rolled her eyes over to where the black gelding stood. 'We are the People and we should stick together. He is not one of us.'

Daine sighed low. Why was everything becoming so difficult? She halted her movements as she noticed that Numair was looking down at something in front of her feet. Something had caught his eye — a chain.

She picked it up.

"What is it?" Numair asked while he tried to get the gelding to stop dancing underneath him.

Daine shook her head. She was still furious at him and didn't want to answer his question. So she stuffed the chain into her pocket and mounted her horse, ignoring Numair all the while.