star lock: thanks for the encouragement! I hope you enjoy this chapter J

Note: I just remembered. While writing this story I have not read any of the Trickster's series yet so forgive me if the plot does not exactly match.

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6 months later… in a stronghold located deep in Scanra

A woman knelt on the bloodstained floor. Her body held in place by a chain tied to a stake. She was being whipped and her red hair was indistinguishable from the blood that mixed with it on her back.

" Tell me you wretch! What are Tortall's weaknesses? We know that the love between the King and his wife, and the Mage and his wife , the Wild mage will be their down fall but depriving them of you, whom they also love as a sister did not seem to work! It just made them stronger! Tell me! WHAT ARE THEIR WEAKNESSES?" her captor whipped her again.

Amazingly, the woman threw her head back and laughed. She spat in his face and replied with a voice filled with scorn, "You fool. Love is not a weakness. It is a force far stronger than any Gift that any human might ever hope to have. But you will never understand that won't you?"

The man was enraged. He started raining blows on the woman both with his fists and his whip. In between blows, he panted, "Insolent churl. What happened to your friends Lioness? What happened to them?"

Alanna, for it was Alanna, met his eyes calmly. "Your questions only show your ignorance. My friends are doing exactly what I want them to do and that is to win this war. They trust me to survive until they can come or I can escape."

The man was prepared there and then to kill her. Just as he was about to do so, in stalked in well-dressed young man who frowned disdainfully at the bloody floor. The very temperature of the room seemed to chill.

He ordered the man out with a simple, "Out." That very word rang with cool authority.

This young man was the infamous leader of Scanra who had won his power by brute force. He was known to kill anyone without hesitation although he hated a mess, he was also known as King Maggur. King Maggot to the rest of Scanra's neighbours.

He addressed the cowering man who had not followed his order, "You were ordered to get information. Not to kill the prisoner. Now, out." The last word was said with a forceful vengeance and his cold eyes seemed to promise that there would be retribution for the disobedience of the man.

He turned to Alanna. " Well, it appears that our plans are now well known to the Tortallans. In order to win this war, you, who gave information and planned out counter strategies will tell me now, what are the holes in their defences." She did not reply but instead stared at him with loathing eyes.

"Very well, of that is your answer, you are of no further value to me. Guards! She is at your mercy for a moth. Do with her what you will. After that, she will taste my revenge. Be creative, we won't want her to be bored won't we? Take her!" King Maggur ordered, laughing coldly as he strode from the room, his robes billowing out behind him.

"Before we forget, let me drain you of your Gift and block it from you shall I? We won't want you to hurt any of these nice charming guards won't we?" Scanra's most powerful magician stepped out from the shadows where he had been silently observing the proceedings. "Guards! Chain her up!"

Alanna kicked and fought as hard as she could but the magician said a word and she was immediately rendered helpless as her limbs all froze up. She could only watch helplessly as the guards hauled her to the wall and chained her wrists and ankles to it. A bar was hooked over her stomach to hold her body in place vertically against the walls. A metal collar was also placed around her neck where there were spikes pointing inwards. A word spoken by a mage would cause the spikes to expand, effectively killing the person if they attempted to run away.

They were taking no chances, not after the 5 escape attempts of hers had almost succeeded.

The mage drew a blade from his robes and slowly advanced towards her. He nicked a cut on her shoulder and placed his hand over it. Alanna could feel her gift slowly being drained out of her and if she had her ember stone, which her captors had removed from her, she would have also seen the red gift of the man become edged with purple.

She tried resisting and saw a bead of sweat appear on the mage's face. It was working! Suddenly, there was a sharp pain that broke her concentration. "Never try doing that again! If you do, you will regret it." the mage snarled and left the room.

The man that she had insulted earlier came back into the room grinning. " Well boys, lets get started shall we?" he smiled sinisterly, cracking his fingers one by one.

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Hope you enjoyed that! Please review.