Chapter 20

Sleep finally seeped into his befuddled brain when a sharp tapping noise aroused him from his bliss. Fluttering his eyes open Will groaned silently and closed his eyes again. The same tapping noise repeated. He sat up in confusion and let the dim light from the half moon outside determine his surroundings.

He was resting in the boys dormitory and it was long after sun down. Shifting on his bed he could make out the silhouette of his former ward mates laying in a deep sleep. He wondered whether the noise was a form of an elaborately played joke, it would not be the first time this happened, however seeing their unconscious figures in bed he realised they couldn't be the ones making that irritating noise. The resonating sound came from the upper window to the left where the light was pouring in.

Wearily he placed his feet carefully on the cold stone floor, and tiptoeing so as not to get his feet too cold he clumsily made his way to the window, tripping over George's bed to do so. Opening the shutter wider he peered out into the darkness trying to locate where the sound was coming from.

"Psshht!" His head snapped down and saw a dark outline leaning casually against the castle walls. The sentries were supposed to be on watch tonight as usual and the light from their bracken reflected from the stone walls, bathing the area in an orange glow. Who was down there? The voice sounded to be a girl and Will knew she couldn't be calling to him. No girl ever wanted to engage in a conversation with him apart from Alyss and Jenny. Then again who else would she be calling to? He was the only one awake right now.

"Who is it?" He whispered cautiously into the air at the figure. He saw the slender outline straighten up away from the wall and look up at him. He then found his answer with out having need of hearing her reply. No one could forget those piercing black eyes darker than the night itself. He wondered mildly to himself how she managed to get there with out the sentries noticing her. Perhaps like she said they did have a lot in common after all.

"Is it you Will?" She asked. He nodded then realised she wouldn't be able to see his gesture and whispered a yes back.

"Good come down and meet me." She said this as if it were the most simple action on earth. Of course Will knew that for him it was, but it was not the matter of carrying out the order more the consequences of his actions. Impulsiveness surged through him and without a second thought he clambered down the walls in a spider like manner very casually avoiding the sentries near him. He jumped lithely to the ground and turned around to face her.

"What are you doing here Shanya? If the sentries catch us we could be in big trouble." Will said fretfully. He searched the corridors yet again to ensure they were alone. Shanya simply snorted in amusement and walked boldly down the hall way not even bothering to conceal herself in the shadows.

"The sentries can only catch me if I want to get caught. Now follow me Will." He looked after her figure that was walking in the opposite direction getting further away from him, not bothering to check if he was following her. He then glanced back up to his dormitory window and knew what path he would take. Silently cursing himself for being so reckless he jogged down the hall way to catch up to her. Despite his growing sense of dread, he felt a strange tingle in the pit of his stomach that he usually felt when he was excited.

"Why did you call me? Where are we going? What are we going to do?" The questions tumbled out of his mouth, unable to control himself. She laughed quietly and headed out of an unstable wooden door used for the kitchen servants.

"Let me answer the first question for you. I was bored." She continued walking down the path way and walked out into the night air. Will stopped dead in his tracks.

"You called me because you were bored?" He asked incredulously. How foolish could this girl be? He had thought in the least that perhaps she might have been in some sort of trouble that she needed his help with, not because of the simple anecdote she was bored.

"Yes now are you coming or not? I can't wait all night." She turned around to face him and he realised he was still standing as frozen as a statue. Heaven knows he could do with a bit of entertainment right now; with that thought in mind he followed her out of the servant path way and into the night air to accompany her to wherever her deranged mind wished to go. She smiled in gratitude as he joined her and said.

"You know I told you we were alike." She sauntered down the cobbled path way and climbed up a huge willow tree, almost like a snake. She merged with the darkness as Will looked up trying to find her. Shrugging slightly he climbed up the tree blindly. He saw a bold outline and sat on the same branch she was on.

"So what do you want to do now?" Will asked confused. The moon lighted up her face and he saw her eyes shine with excitement.

"Lets talk." She turned to face him as he snorted in derision.

"You called me all the way down here so you could talk?" He asked mockingly. She nodded in earnest.

"Yes I hear girls do it all the time." She answered.

"But I'm not a girl." He answered getting more and more confused. Surely she knew that. Of course he didn't have a deep voice yet but he thought his short hair and male clothes would have alerted her to his gender.

"Well you're close enough." He didn't know whether to be offended or to laugh. He settled for a look in between with a frown and a smile playing on his face.

"Anyways none of the other girls want to be around me, after all I am the General's daughter." She said with a slight sigh.

"Wait what? Which general are you talking about?" Will asked. He found himself getting excited. Perhaps being friends with some one as close to royalty as her could have its perks. Of course he was yet to decide whether he wanted to be friends with her or not. She was too unpredictable for his taste and very bipolar. Then again she shared the same excitement he felt when they were in danger.

"General Haz'kam. He is my father." She said. Seeing the look of confusion on Will's face she continued. "We are Temujai, we came here for a treaty with Araluan though I have no idea what about." A light of understanding dawned on Will. He knew she must have been foreign.

"Oh I see" He said. He felt he should be making some sort of comment here.

"He's so hell bent on invading and conquering other lands that he doesn't see what is truly important." She sighed yet again.

"And what would that be?" Will asked softly. She looked up at him and flashed him a crooked smile.

"Me." He smiled at her and looked out towards the dark scenery. Nearby an owl hooted with amusement as it hunted for its prey.

"Does that mean you are leaving soon?" Will asked her the question he was most dreading. He silently berated himself for being so hung up but he couldn't help it. After a very long while he finally found someone that was exactly like him and it was just an unlucky twist of fate that that person happened to live across countries from him. Sure he still had the other Ward mates but they never held the same thirst for adventure as him.

"Yes it does. I think the meeting is going well but I don't know they don't exactly let a girl into the meeting rooms if you know what I mean." She looked so upset to Will that he couldn't help but put a comforting arm around her frail shoulders.

"Do you know what I think?" He asked quite cheerfully as she looked up at him.

"What?"

"I think since we might not see each other in a very long time we should spend the time we do have together wisely." Of course Will knew they were never going to see each other again in their lifetime, he would most probably become a knight and be stationed at Redmont Castle. There would be no time or money to go across borders unless for missions. However on this cold and bitter night he didn't want to express such harsh words of reality to his companion and therefore settled to make the last couple of days together as fun as possible.

"Come with me, I know a place we can go to." He gently slipped off the branch and slid down the Willow with her following in his wake. He noted with surprise she asked a load of questions, some completely unrelated to the topic, and figured that they were once again more alike than he once thought.

And so he broke the first rule him and Alyss had ever set up and with a gnawing sense of guilt, he guided Shanya to the little clump of bushes by Tarbus river and revealed his tiny world to her. She gazed at it in shock and after a while a small smile entered her lips.

"This is beautiful how did you find it?" She asked looking at the young boy who had plopped himself on the cool grass.

"I have a knack for finding rare beauties like this." He shrugged. She sat down on the grass and was about to lie down when she noticed something that made her face pale.

"What on earth is that?" She pointed to Will's chest her horror mounting. He saw her expression and looked down. It was his amulet. He smiled at the chain and relaxed realising her fear was a short-lived one, after all there was nothing scary about a simple chain.

"It's a necklace I got for my birthday, it's beautiful isn't it?" Will smiled absent mindedly, fingering the carving.

"No, no it's not actually." Will frowned. He was partially confused and partially angry. Why was she acting this way now? There was nothing wrong with the carving, she was being paranoid.

"Why do you think it's not beautiful?" He didn't understand what she was getting to. She stood up slowly and made her way towards him, eyeing the chain with distaste.

"That" She spat malevolently "is not your chain, it belongs to us it is my Grand fathers amulet." Will looked at her in shock. What was she talking about?

"No my friend Alyss gave it to me for my birthday." He corrected her. After all it could just be a silly mistake on her part or that this was a look a like to her one.

"No I am absolutely positive that this is not yours, I spent nearly every waking moment of mine in the Royal castle after I was born I know what their amulet looks like." She shook her head and gave Will a look of scathing. "I can not believe you stole it from us."

"Wait what? I didn't steal anything I got it for my birthday." He countered. He had no idea how this peaceful night had suddenly progressed to this fight but he wanted it to stop.

"Then your friend is the thief!" She said angrily. Now Will could feel the fury boil in his blood.

"Don't you dare call my friend that, she is not a thief!" He screamed. Neither of them cared that they were making a ruckus, it was past midnight and both of them were glaring at each other with utmost loathing. With a shudder Will started to speak.

"Look let's just start over or something okay? When did your grandfather have this?"

"He was wearing it the night he died." Shanya had been facing away from him but turned around to answer the question.

"Three years ago on the border of our country where our castle is situated, he died with that chain on his neck." She muttered.

"Why is it so important to you?"

"Other than the fact that my grandfather loved it?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Well I guess in much older times this amulet was a symbol of power and wealth, anyone who owned one was considered royalty. The Emperor himself handed them out personally to his most devoted and special followers." She looked at Will again with an apologetic gesture.

"Sorry I accused you of stealing this, you couldn't have done I mean you were in a different country."

"Don't worry it doesn't matter." He aired his hand and dismissed the apology.

"So what happened then?" He asked her. A very audible sigh passed her lips yet she continued.

"Well obviously the peasants started making fake copies of them so the whole idea collapsed I mean these amulets granted immediate access to anywhere in the castle, having fake ones and in the wrong hand…" There was no need to continue. The implicated disasters were obvious.

"So is my one a fake or a real?" Will asked curiously. He noticed her eyes narrowed as he called the chain 'his' but said nothing.

"Yours is real." She said looking at the carving intensely.

"How can you tell?"

"The level of detail is only one of which the carvers back home could create." She told him. "None of the peasants could recreate it in the same calibre." He noted there was some pride in her voice.

"I see." He said for the second time that night.

"What I don't understand is how it ended up here!" She vented. She was now pacing up and down the circular meadow as though hoping the answer she was seeking was lurking in the bushes around her.

"Did your Grand father ever set foot in Araluan?" Will asked. It was a possibility albeit slight but still a possibility.

"No." She said glumly. She sat back down next to Will after admitting defeat.

"So what happened after your Grand father died?" Will asked, settling himself to a comfortable sitting position, ready to spend the whole night if he had to solving the mystery.

"Well the chain was then sold." She replied. She saw nothing that could help them solve the answer by discussing this.

"Really? Did you not pass it on from Father to Son that type of thing?" Will asked. He always knew these amulets tended to be hereditary.

"No our land does not care much for tradition we more or less do anything we can to gain money." She shook her head as though the simple thought was sickening.

"Well who did the chain get sold on to then?" He asked.

"To a wealthy merchandise."

"How good was this merchandise?" Will asked. He began to see something that could help him solve the connection. Shanya was not catching on however and was frowning when she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well did they sell any goods internationally?" Will asked. A light of understanding began to dawn on the young girls eyes as she understood where this was going.

"Yes they did, they were very famous for their jewellery pieces." She murmured.

"Well my friend Alyss told me she bought this from the local market down the road. It may be that by some chance this amulet managed to exchange hands many times before landing here." Will now concluded, proud for his deductive reasoning.

"Will you are a genius!" Shanya exclaimed, clapping her hands. Will shrugged, a blush rising to his cheeks. He was a generally modest person though he didn't discourage any praises or compliments, he got those rarely enough. She hugged him quickly before getting up to her feet and helping him up also. Without meaning to Will started to yawn. He realised now just how late it was, or early in the morning. She saw his eyes droop and smiled.

"Come on you need to get to bed." She let him lean on her as he trudged slowly up to the boys dormitories. She slapped him awake quickly before he had to climb up the castle walls. She didn't want him to do that half sleepily too. That could well spell the death of him.

Moaning slightly as his ears ringed from the slap, he alerted himself awake and began climbing the wall with new vigour. Arriving in his dormitory he shuffled quietly to the bed next to Adam, another fellow Ward mate, and sunk in to the hard bed gratefully, allowing his muscles to ease and his brain to wonder. He soon found himself falling into a deep sleep.

The following morning at first light, without warning the Temujai's made to leave the country. And without looking back Shanya followed them in their footsteps.

Waking groggily from his sleep, Will shook his numb limbs trying to regain some feeling into them. It had been a while since anyone had visited him in his cell, which thankfully he didn't have to share. I guess being a high security prisoner has its advantages he thought wryly. He eyed the chain hanging limply from his neck. Throughout the couple of days he had lost all the nutritious fat he had gained at Halloshalm and with his mouth watering he thought of the succulent chicken and the warm aroma of the hot coffee that would send fire and warmth through his veins.

The door opened suddenly adding a little more light to the room than it had before. He could now see the cell in more definition. Though there wasn't much to see in the first place. No furniture adorned this room, just blank hard rock. He sighed sadly and noticed the plate of food edged towards him. He looked up and saw a serving girl quickly drop the plate by his feet, dropping all the food in the process. She muttered apologetically though he didn't know who to, as she hastily dropped to her knees and began picking the dirty food items off the mud crusted ground. He looked at her with pity. It was obvious she wasn't respected or taken notice of. Being a former slave himself he felt more obliged to trying to protect people from having the same experience as him.

"Don't bother I probably won't eat it." He muttered just loud enough for her to hear. She ignored him and continued picking up the food, which she was taking a very long time to do. He sighed with exasperation and decided not to care. She could do whatever she wanted to, he wasn't going to eat the food either way. Not after it fell to the ground he grumbled unhappily.

"I know you won't I just needed an excuse to see you." That voice seemed oddly familiar to him. Where had he heard that voice before? It was like a butterfly, the more he tried to catch it the faster it flew away. Looking up automatically he found a trigger, which sent a whole cabinet of memories flying across his mind. How could he ever forget those obsidian eyes?

"Shanya." He murmured, shocked at the raspy sound bouncing around the room.

"Shhh." She put a finger to his lips looking around. She turned back and smiled at him slightly. "Don't worry hang in there trouble maker, I'm going to get to get you out."

Hey guys hope you liked this chapter. As always please give me reviews so I know how good it is. I could tell this was confusing at first but don't worry now there are no confusions and Will is about to be rescued! Hoorah.

I am so very near to the end of this story. I think a few more chapters should conclude this little adventure but I had fun writing it. Don't worry about the ending I HAVE got a plan to keep the main couple together.

Now I would like to hear what you choose on the following verdict:

Should...

a) Horace and Alyss end up together ( I always thought they had a lot more in common what with them being tall and pure hearted not as devious as Will or Cassandra)

b) Horace ends up with Tyra though I don't exactly know how that would work, you would have to come up with a suitable idea yourself.

c) Alyss ends up with George which I think could maybe work as they are both more intellectually strong than physically and George's character is not developed enough by the author Flanagan (he is a great author though)

d) What ever option you choose to come up with yourself.

Write what you think in your reviews. Peace out!