Welcome to BFR number 6, enjoy! I was incredibly hyper last time I wrote this chapter… O.o

Da da da da da da! Aaaannnnnddddd this chapter is dedicated to…..SENASHENTA! Woohoo! Senashenta, you guessed right! -little lights flash and bells ding-

Alain IS Kamaria's lifebonded! Senashenta, you win cookies, pie, and this entire chapter dedication!

This Chapter Dedicated To: Senashenta.

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING but the characters and plot!

Alain awoke a few candlemarks later, his head aching. Reaching up gingerly, he touched his head, and winced as he felt a large knot, sticky with blood. He hissed between his teeth with the pain.

"Alain?" rasped Kamaria's voice, beside him.

"Here," he croaked, pushing himself cautiously up, and realizing they had been moved.

Although he hadn't realized it initially, they were in a wagon. Alain had spent the first thirteen years of his life on the move with his Clan, who used wagons. Their wheels are uneven, he thought, disdainfully, at the way they were jolting around, The axle must have warped-wait a minute, Alain, you're talking about wagons when you don't even know where you are?

It wasn't until Kamaria said, "What?" in a startled tone of voice that Alain realized he'd been talking aloud.

"Uh. Sorry," said Alain, "I…were you hit on the head?"

"Yes," replied Kamaria, with an audible wince, "They hit you, then they got me right after. What should we do?"

Alain felt a faint sense of admiration, that Kamaria wasn't going to sit and sob like some Court butterfly and wait to be saved. "Do you have any weapons?" he asked, looking around and seeing-predictably-nothing.

"No," said Kamaria, resignedly, "They took my belt-knife, and that was all I had."

Alain muttered a curse in Clan-tongue. "Are you trained in fighting at all?" he asked, before realizing fighting armed guards was probably a bad idea.

"A little knife-fighting, and I can use a bow," said Kamaria, "And I can beat my younger brothers in wrestling. Probably not much use, after all."

Alain sighed. "I'm going to contact Ramya. I don't know where she is, so I hope I'm not too far-but give me a minute."

Kamaria remained silent, and Alain couldn't read her expression in the darkness. With a shrug, Alain carefully lay down, closed his eyes, and Reached-

:Ramya?

:Chosen-barely Hear you.: The connection with his Companion was faint at best, and Alain gave a mental sigh. Still, he needed to do what he could-

:Kidnapped-Kamaria here-who?

Overwhelming guilt crashed down the bond, as Ramya made her regret at being unable to save Alain known. :Got you away fast-Kamaria's horse-stupid, head hit blocked: there was a chilling moment where Alain thought the tenuous contact had been snapped-:Earl Domanda's colors-Chosen, too far, can't trace-:

:Ramya, get help-Heralds, Guards-both of us hurt.: Alain kept his sentences short, hoping the contact wouldn't break, as it already wavered dangerously close to 'inaudible.' :I'll protect Kamaria-hurry!

There was a long moment of hesitation from Ramya, as she battled her urge to save her Chosen singlehandedly against Alain's order to get help. At last, she said, reluctantly, :Soon, Chosen. Careful-protect-lifebond.:

This last word was given with a bundle of information that startled Alain out of his half-trance to sit bolt upright. He probed the 'bundle' in his mind, and gathered that Ramya hadn't really wanted to tell him just now, but that any information withheld might endanger them further. "What the-" he spluttered, as the contact snapped entirely.

"What is it?" asked Kamaria, urgently.

"Ramya's going to get help. She has your horse," began Alain, "And…she says we're lifebonded."

There was a long silence from Kamaria, before she said, "Um. I barely even know you."

Alain sighed. "You know, I really doubt she could have picked a worse time."

Well, that was very, very short, but unless I could combine the chapters somehow (and that would mean changing the thirty-some ahead as well) you'll just have to live with it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that was big fat revamp number six! Woohoo, I'm on a roll! Sort of. Old ANs below.

Thank you to my reviewers!

Midnight.Star: Hope you liked these chappies. I am really glad that you aren't intimidated by Scheherezade. However, she's in a baaaddd mood now. And, more technical than anything else, her name is KAMARIA, not SAMARIA. There. And Kamaria means Like the Moon. Literally!

Until chapter 7, then!

Fireblade K'Chona