A/N: Well, long time no see, huh. It's been a while, but I finally managed to update. No real excuse, so I just won't pretend it's not my fault—because, quite honestly, it is.

A big thank you to all my reviewers: Lady Leopard, abyssgirl, Olive-Whisperer, writeaway03, spacegirl94, Kari of Mindelan, J. I. Hojnacki, and Kallipop. Your reviews make my day!

Under the cover of darkness, I observed the naked city with distaste. A sentry was posted and I counted twelve men walking abreast along the perimeter of the wall. Their vigilant gaze confirmed that it wouldn't be easy to scale the wall unnoticed.

Sticking to the shadows, I darted in and out of the open ground. I moved quickly, but not carelessly and soon arrived at the wall unscathed and disregarded. I forced myself to count to ten slowly, and I knew that the guards would have reached the opposite side of the wall by now.

Carefully, I drew my bow and nocked an arrow into the notch. Then I aimed and fired a lone arrow into the shadows, aiming for the precarious pile of stones I placed earlier. I heard the stones skirt across each other, raising a slight disturbance in the growth.

Stiff marching sounded overhead and I realized the guards had come to investigate the disturbance. Three guards were dispatched from their routinely march and ordered to enter the forest.

As the men opened the portcullis to allow the guards to exit, I waited silently nearby. As soon as the men disappeared into the woodland, the gate began to lower and I jumped under the oncoming bars and landed in the city.

I stood and dusted myself off, noting the obvious lack of accusations regarding my presence. I had entered the city unnoticed.

I dodged in and out of alleyways and finally encountered the herbalist store. The musty smell that accompanied every herbalist shop greeted me as I entered. Shelves lined the wall and phials littered the countertops and floor. The pungent smell of mildewed lichen chased in and out of my senses.

I raced behind the counter and tore the herbalists' notebook from its hallowed place. I glibly flipped through the yellowed pages scanning the words for the right page.

Without warning, a hand shot out of the darkness and grabbed my shoulder. I stiffened and flexed my muscles warningly. Then, slowly, I turned.

The old crone who held me had a crooked nose that showed she had brawled recently and her broken nose had been sloppily reset. Her bloodshot eyes and swollen face, along with her notorious breath, illustrated where she had spent her early morning hours.

She licked her lips expectantly as I studied her, and I felt her pupils dart back and forth, sizing me up. "Well," she croaked, "Give me one good reason not to turn you over to the guards."

Biting my lip uncertainly, I opened my mouth to tell her of my predicament, and then closed it deciding that blabbing my plight would not be the wisest thing to do. Slowly, I lowered my head, knowing that I had just signed my death contract.

Her gnarly fingers gripped my chin and thrust my face to meet hers. I held her cold gaze, refusing to be deterred by the old hag. Then she nodded and rasped, "You'll do."

I had no idea what she was talking about and for a moment, confusion swept across my face. I quickly hid my curiosity behind my cold gaze. I knew I could escape from her feeble grip, and could probably be down the road by the time she had gathered enough breath to shout, but there was no way I could leave the city gates.

Finally, I decided to reply, "Do what?" I kept my voice indifferent and unconcerned. She cackled, "So you do speak," Then she led me to a wooden chair by the empty hearth in the back of the store. She settled herself comfortably in the decrepit cushions, and I noted sourly that she didn't invite me to sit down too. I gave her my coldest look, but I couldn't harm her: she was an innocent woman—and my honor wouldn't allow me to hurt her unprovoked.

"You are too noble for your own good, Keladry of Mindelan," the woman hooted, startling a gasp from me.

"What…how…how do you who I am?" I stammered, but I drew myself up proudly and tried to look as knightly as possible given the circumstances.

"I know a lot about you Lady Knight, your name the least among them."

"Okay," I said slowly, "So if you know so much, then you know I am chasing a group of pirates to save three children they kidnapped; you know I am a convicted criminal accused of treason; you know I have aligned myself with Caden; you know Caden is ill and dying; you know I need help; and finally—you know I am desperate enough to do almost anything to fix all this."

"Done ranting?"

I nodded tersely, "Yes," I said stiffly.

"Would you like to hear how I know so much about you?" Without waiting for my reply, she continued, "I used to work in the castle yonder, back when you was a page and squire. But I was fired after being accused of having a romantic fling with a noble. It was a lie—of course, but who would believe the honorable…man," she spit the word out as if it didn't belong on her lips, "of lying. No one—not one person—believed that I wasn't guilty. So here I am: unemployed, friendless, helpless, and alone in the farthest reaches of the kingdom.

"But you can help me—help us! People like me. Women and girls falsely accused of doing wrong when the men are too cowardly to take the blame. You, Lady Knight, can stop that. You have enough influence at court to win support for this cause, and who else than the Lady Knight herself to defend women's rights!" She was talking animatedly, using her hands and wild gestures to prove her point. But now she turned to look at me expectantly, obviously waiting for me to willingly agree to work for her cause.

"I'll do my best to help you—as I have been trying to do in the past. I'm sure if you were a servant in the palace when I was there you heard about the scandal surrounding Lalasa and Joren of Queenscove." As she nodded, I continued, "Then you know I will do everything in my power to help you.

"However, now is not the best time. I'm afraid I am not looked upon favorably at this time, seeing as I am accused of treason, and asking a request of the king would be a pointless and fruitless endeavor."

Before she could interrupt, I added, "Additionally, I am trying to save three children from a fate worse than death and my only ally in this whole kingdom is dying."

The woman nodded thoughtfully and then gripped by hand in a surprisingly firm grip. "But you will help us. When you have returned from killing those pirates."

No if, but when. She was so confident that I could do anything—that I could save everyone. She looked at me with big, trusting eyes. Her confidence in me was heartwarming, even if it was ill founded.

"Yes. I will do everything in my power to help you and those like you."

She nodded contentedly and then handed me a phial of liquid. "Give this to Caden. It can cure almost any infection, heal any festering wound, and fight almost any disease. If anything can save him, this can."

"Thank you," I said warmly, "you don't know how much this means to me."

"On the contrary, I think I do," she whispered

I stood decidedly and she followed suite, straitening her creaking back and stretching with a sigh. "Goddess bless, Lady Knight." And then she was gone, vanishing into the darkness in the backroom. But before I left, I could have sworn I heard her crying wretchedly, "You don't know how lucky you are, Lady Knight. May the Goddess watch over you and prevent you from being pained the way I was."

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It was early morning when I left the apothecary. The streets were fairly empty, although smoke puffed happily out of crooked wooden chimneys. The gates were open, and I lowered my head as I left the village. The woman's words haunted me, replaying in my mind over and over. But the worst part was she was right. It wasn't right that nobles could bully the commoners to do whatever they themselves pleased. It—it isn't honorable. It isn't what being a knight means.

When I arrived at the place I left Caden, he was screeching in pain. He convulsed in spasms of pain and wracking coughs raked his body. Sweat glistened on his brow and he clawed at his throat involuntarily.

"There now," I whispered, "It's going to be all right." I wrestled open his mouth and poured the potion down his throat. At first nothing happened and I felt fear clench my stomach, twisting it in my desperation. This had to work. I would never forgive myself if Caden died.

And then—mercifully—Caden stopped thrashing and slowly opened his eyes.

"Kel," he groaned hoarsely, but I quieted him hurriedly and ran to get him water. He drank greedily and then slowly sat, closing his eyes against the dizzying pain that accompanies sitting for the first time in days.

I filled him in on all that happened, brushing over my talk with the woman hastily. When I was done, Caden rested, but his sleep was peaceful whereas yesterday it was fitful.

As I sat guard, I felt myself smile. It was all going to be okay: Caden would live and together we would save those children. And all will be well. I closed my eyes and felt myself relax.

When Caden awoke he insisted that I rest, although I was adamant that I didn't need any sleep and he was too weak to guard. After a long and pointless argument, I finally agreed to rest for a while—although I made him promise that he would wake me at the slightest sound of danger and he would wake me by midday regardless.

My dreams were pleasant and when I awoke a little before dark I felt too peaceful and tranquil to yell at Caden for not waking me when I had commanded him to. Despite my rest, however, we both slept greedily that night before I deemed Caden well enough to walk and we continued our quest to save the children.

Caden, who had grown up in these areas, helped us skirt the village that wanted to chop my fingers off, and after hardly any time, we were on our way.

The only problem was, after days of being stuck nursing Caden, we had lost the trail of the pirates. Our search was so belated, that there was no sign of them at all. I was ready to despair, but Caden wouldn't give up that easily.

"Don't worry Kel. I'll figure out where they've gone. All we need to do is find the river and then I'll point us in the right direction." I nodded meekly and followed his lead until we emerged by the riverbed.

Caden leaned down, inspecting a pile of leaves and twigs. It all looked like a jumbled mess of nonsense to me, but Caden was nodding slowly as he studied the thing. As he saw my interested gaze, he flushed a bright tomato-red and mumbled some incoherent thing about tracking and such.

I shrugged. We all had our secrets, and I wasn't inclined to pry after all Caden's help.

After some examination, Caden straightened and pointed left. "They went down this river, docked at the closest pier, and…"

"And…" I prompted.

"And as soon as we get there," he said with extra patience, "I'll know where to go."

"Oh," I amended lamely. "Right."

Caden took my hand and together we continued down the worn, trodden, animal path in search of the pirates and their hostages, driven by nothing besides sheer determination, desperation, foolishness—and my stubborn sense of justice and honor.

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You know the drill: R and R, everyone! (If you do, I'll try to update quicker!)

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