The same group of four stole quietly through the servant's passageways at much the same hour that they had gone to bed at only two nights previously. Friday was in the lead as she knew the corridors best, but they were all dressed in servants garb. They had brought only one extra change of clothes each and their weapons were cleverly hidden. Were they discovered, they would appear, hopefully, as just servants getting a head start on their chores.

Friday stopped at the next corner, and peeked surreptitiously from her hiding place.

"Clear," she breathed over her shoulder to the others. Moving with the utmost care across the entrance hall the four slipped out into the estate's gardens. Now for the hard part, thought Alyssa. No servants were allowed in or out of the Estate, and the Crown Princess was not allowed out without a guard of the Duke's men. Their only hope was to possess enough stealth to escape the old fashioned way. The day before she had suffered the Duke's guard and she, Cat, Nick and Friday had mysteriously 'lost' their mounts when they had dismounted to see the waterfall. The horses were, in fact, waiting patiently on the other side of said waterfall. But should they be discovered leaving the property, Alyssa doubted they would reach them in time. It was essential to remain unnoticed.

Cat picked the lock on the old servants exit the moment the guard had turned a corner of the grounds and was out of sight. They had timed the nighttime rounds, they had approximately three minutes before the second guard would round the far corner and see them. After one of their precious minutes had passed, the lock clicked open and the four slid through. With no time to re-lock the door, they simply pulled it closed and prayed that it would go unnoticed.

As the door softly snapped shut, they breathed a collective sigh of relief which would have made them all laugh, but for the tension. As it was, Cat shot Alyssa a look full of humor, which almost made her giggle. Almost. All it took was the sound of boots on the cobblestones on the other side of the wall to wipe the near smile from her face. As one, they crept away from the wall, careful to move through the shadowy places. When they reached the trees of the nearby wood, all of them sensed the closeness of the arching branches and felt protected.

That was, until a voice called out from the surrounding darkness, "Who's there?" and one of the trees seemed to step forward and take the shape of a man.

The four friends stood momentarily frozen. Nick took a slow step forward, pressing Alyssa behind him. Friday came to stand at her shoulder, a look of pure terror plastered onto her features. Alyssa squeezed her hand and mouthed relax.

"Just a few of the Duke's servants, heading into town to collect some goods for his party tomorrow." Nick said easily. Alyssa nodded in agreement, and glanced over her shoulder looking for Cat. But she couldn't see him. Not wanting to draw suspicion, she casually faced front again and kept her grip firm on Friday's hand.

"The Duke's people? Hah! As if he would ever let them out of those walls." Laughed their mysterious assailant. "Don't lie to me, I don't appreciate it kind Sir. Now, tell me, and answer honestly this time, who are you?"

Nick moved to speak again, but Alyssa stopped him with a look as she stepped forward. She stretched her hand out to shake the strangers, who after a moment of hesitation extended suspicious fingers to meet her own. "My name is Lyssa," she said softly, allowing her power to reach through the stranger's emotions. Suspicion of her friends dominated while a desire to follow childhood morals battled a desperate need for justice. It seemed to Alyssa, that here was a man who might be sympathetic to their cause. "I am the Rechadian Princess, fleeing from assassination." She could almost hear the mouths agape behind her, and the disbelief resonating from her friends was almost tangible.

The man before her was still hidden in shadow, and she wasn't sure if he even accepted her words as true. Then in a sudden rush of movement Cat materialized out of the blackness and pinned the stranger against a tree, expertly securing his hands. Then, the pair still struggling moved into the light and Alyssa saw that she had been negotiating with a young woman. Dressed in men's trousers and a hunting jacket with an armory of weapons strapped to her person. Her hair, a deep auburn, curled in braids around her head, although some rogue pieces had escaped to tangle in her eyelashes. Dark brown eyes burned with determination, resilience and something desperate that Alyssa could not identify.

"Now what?" asked Cat, who clearly had not thought this far ahead.

"Relax, everyone," said Alyssa, "I think a potential ally stands before us. Please, what is your name?" she asked the young woman, girl maybe it was impossible to tell with the grime smeared across her face. A stony expression greeted her polite question and Alyssa sighed. "I would release you this moment, but I fear you won't hear me out." Alyssa paced for a moment. "Alright, we haven't much time. We're going to take you with us, have you any belongings to gather before we leave the forest?"

More silence. Then, grudgingly, "My bag is in the tree."

"Fabulous, Cat, if you would please retrieve the lady's bag."

"Of course, which tree?" the woman pointed dejectedly at the fir tree she was recently pinned against. A moment later, bag and lady in tow, the group set out for their hidden horses. Cat sliding back occasionally to check for pursuit. But it appeared no one had missed them. Yet.

Alyssa looked up at the sky constantly, trying to guess how much time had passed. Finally they reached their horses, and gratefully slid into saddles. Sly in front of Cat in the saddle so he could hold her steady despite the ropes around her wrists. The five rode hard until they reached a hidden copse of trees, where they decided to dismount and question their unwilling captive.

"As I explained before," Alyssa began, "my name is Lyssa and I really am the Princess. I flee the Dukes home, for he has a plot of regicide and treachery that must be stopped. I was only visiting the loquacious fool to put a stop to his slavery in the north. Rumors of his cruelty had travelled to my palace and I had intended to collect some evidence on my trip here." Here she paused and laughed softly, "Sadly that plan fell through. So we are on the run." she shrugged then giggled. "I'm sorry I just never imagined that I might be 'on the run', so much for being the jewel of the court! But to the point, lady, should you wish to join my war against the Duke you are more than welcome. If your wish is to remain here, we only ask that you not share our knowledge and intentions with another soul." Alyssa moved her hand to the pendant she always wore, an amulet from the fairy Delia, should she need her assistance. A murmur of the fairy's name would bring her to Alyssa's side, for of course this woman could not be trusted to roam free with such knowledge in her head if she refused Alyssa's offer. Some cleaning up would have to be done, thanks to Alyssa's frank manner.

"Allow me to think on it." The lady replied. Alyssa nodded once and moved to sit down by her horse Giro. She stroked him and brushed him down, attune to every movement the lady made. After a few minutes the lady coughed quietly.

"If I join you, how do I know you are who you say you are?" she asked.

"Oh." Alyssa said with a blank look. "Hmm, I suppose I don't carry any proof of my identity because, well, why would I ever need to?" she muttered to herself, "Gracious, what a mess. All right, I can't offer you any proof because I can't think of any." She told the lady somberly, twisting a brunette curl viciously in her nervous fingers. But to her surprise the lady smiled.

"I believe you, and I accept your offer."

"Wonderful! But please, if we are to be companions, I beg you what is your name, lady?" By this time Friday, Cat and Nick had wandered back over from their respectful distance.

"My friends call me Sly."

"Nice to meet you Sly, this is Friday, Cat and Nick." Alyssa said gesturing to each in turn. "Here let me unbind you." Alyssa took a step forward, but Sly held up both hands, free of rope.

"No need." She said simply.

"How did you manage that?" Cat asked with animation, "Those were my best knots!"

"I'm beginning to understand her name," Nick said placidly as Sly raised an eyebrow in Cat's direction.

"Wait," said Friday timidly, "we still don't really know anything about you Sly. Why were you waiting outside the Duke's estate?" This caught everyone's attention and four pairs of eyes swiveled to await Sly's response.

With a look that said she'd prefer torture to this suffocating attention, Sly spoke. "My brothers are in that awful place. I hang around there a lot, attempting reconnaissance missions and the like." She addressed the ground, strands of red hair sliding to obscure her face. "Anyone against the Duke is a friend of mine, and what better way to stage a rescue than with the aid of a Princess?"

"I'm sorry to hear of your family," Alyssa said somberly.

"But glad to hear you're on our side with that neat knot trick" added Cat. This last dispelled the gloomy mood and even made Sly smirk.

"We had best continue riding, or the guards won't be challenged at all to follow our trail." Nick said.

"And besides," Friday said brightly, "Sly can keep telling us her tale as we ride!"

"And we can finish our tale too," amended Alyssa at the sour look on Sly's face. "Cat you have the best mount for it, do you mind taking Sly?"

"Not at all, at the price that she teaches me to slip from ropes as easily as she does." He responded with a grin.

"Then let's be off," finished Nick.

Sly soon proved herself to be a valuable member of the group, demonstrating impressive knowledge of the forest and the Duke's estate. Alyssa was desperate to hear her observations on the Duke and the five often stayed up late discussing their plans and the horrible man's crimes. That is, when Cat and Sly weren't playing a game of their own invention. Determined to find a knot that Sly couldn't slip out of, Cat practiced hundreds of knots on the girl's wrist, but Sly always managed to escape the ropes. In turn, she would bind Cat and watch him struggle for a while, laughing at his frustration, before showing him how to be the Houdini she was.

So it was that the mismatched group of five crossed the Rechadian border into Axia and made their way towards the palace. Alyssa was excited to see George again certainly, but also terrified that what she had to ask him would be too much. The Council already used his connections for occasional assistance and she didn't know how far his loyalty to the monarchy stretched. 'But surely to protect us would be in the name of saving the Rechadian monarchy, not The Council,' she told herself. And of course it was, stopping regicide and the like did not favor a social revolution. But if she exposed her truest thoughts to the surface of her mind she knew she would find another motive for this course of action. That if she dared reach for it, when she took the throne, perhaps with the support of neighboring Axia (and more importantly neighboring Prince George), she could create a new kind of government in which the abomination and abuse of power the Duke had happily exercised would cease to exist.

With a start Alyssa surfaced from her daydream and looked around. The terrain in Axia was gorgeous, stunning even. Nothing like her own modest Rechad, with it's towering and peaceful evergreens. Axia was a bright explosion of color and life, the branches of the trees here extended and intertwined with one another, their leaves a happy green. The flowers bordering the road they took swayed cheerfully in a light breeze, their colors blurring to a rainbow in her peripheral vision. Alyssa could see that Friday too was enchanted by the sight, and kept craning her neck around causing her horse to misinterpret which direction she wanted to go in.

"Friday," Nick said mildly, "if you paid your horse half as much attention as you do the Axian countryside you would be a stunning rider." Cat laughed and Sly sent him a glare, because it's not very comfortable at all to be leaning back on a person as their chest heaves with mirth. He immediately adopted a somber expression of repentance, at which she scoffed and faced front again. Alyssa exchanged a look with Nick, one eyebrow raised. He nodded, smiling.

However, smiles seemed to melt off their faces as they turned a corner and faced the city that sprawled below the Axian palace, which rested high above on what seemed to be the face of a cliff.

"However did they manage to build that?" Alyssa asked with awe into the stunned little silence the sight had produced.

"A true wonder of architecture and engineering, is it not?" said Nick. "I had heard tell of the palace but always assumed the descriptions were exaggerated, I see now that they were not."

"Stop gawking, all of you," Chided Sly, "we should be getting on, to arrive after dark in a foreign city is to invite trouble."

"She speaks true," said Cat with a grin, urging their mount forward.

"Your tone of surprise was uncalled for," Alyssa heard Sly tell him as they moved down towards the city. Alyssa smiled at their banter, forcing herself to enjoy the calm while it lasted.

Twilight was setting in as they reached the city center. The travellers had separated into two smaller groups so as not to attract excessive attention. Alyssa, Nick and Friday posed as a family searching for work. Cat and Sly, moved through the darker roads, integrating into the local black market to search out one of The Council's contacts. They had paid a local inn at the edge of the city to keep their horses, and already Alyssa missed Giro's comforting snuffles. However, they couldn't keep up the premise of servants looking for work with four gorgeous horses in tow.

"Lyssa, let me ask where to go to find work at the castle. Your manners might give us away." Alyssa nodded in agreement to Friday's statement, recognizing that she was wildly out of her element. Friday slipped into the dying market square to seek answers to their queries while Nick and Alyssa searched for a well-priced inn for the night.

G,

I fear I have a great favor to ask of you. Three of us seek to work in your palace: a maid, a guard, and lastly a position in your stables. Expect us to appear before long in your midst. I have much to tell you, but rest assured, your horse may soon be able to satisfy your curiosity.

-A

George finished reading Alyssa's letter again, and set it on the fire in the grate beside him. The flames lazily licked the edges of the paper, and then devoured it whole leaving only ash. George watched the fire for a long moment, and when he finally lifted his eyes to survey the room it seem that the flames still flickered in his vision. But with another blink, the illusion was gone and he set about summoning his most trusted manservant, Hunter. George had not been surprised to learn of Hunter's involvement with The Council. Hunter had always been clever, and his sense of self-preservation was often lacking when it came to political issues. If not for the Crown Prince's protection, the noble man might have been sentenced to treason long ago.

"Hunter, there you are. You were not followed?"

"No, your highness. But allow me to check the servants corridors for curious ears." Hunter strode toward a tall wall hanging and whipped it aside glancing left and right. With a slight nod, the pair moved to George's private rooms, which were devoid of opportunities to spy. George's father was a paranoid man and removed the servants corridors from everywhere but the antechambers of the royal rooms.

"Hunter, I've just received another correspondence. It asks that I ensure the hire of three new workers. Please use the utmost discretion and tell Christiana of the maid. I can take care of the guard myself, as I help to oversee the military. I ask that you talk to your friend in the black market, he will certainly know of the presence of our other friends."

"You want me to introduce this stable hand as a friend of mine." Guessed Hunter.

"Exactly," George replied, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

"Certainly, I'll tell the stable master's assistant of her this evening. Besides, a pretty face will give her the job in an instant. Same goes to the maid, I suppose." George nodded his somber agreement.

"But since we don't know these women, I'd like to ensure that even if their features don't secure them the position, we do."

"Naturally," said Hunter with a smile. And then as an after thought, "You seem troubled George."

"I fear that a larger request is about to be made of me," said George pensively. "it's not that I don't support The Council. But my father…" he trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

"Yes, I agree that all hell might break lose were your father to discover our activities." Agreed Hunter sadly. He knew how much the Crown Prince wished to please his father. It was just a shame that the boy couldn't recognize that he was different from the King; more honest and open where the King was hardened warrior and suspicious of almost everything.

"Next!" said a sharp voice, and Alyssa stepped forward. Inside she was trembling, but when she looked to Hunter he gave her an encouraging nod and stepped forward too.

"Jacob," Hunter said genially, "this is the lass I was telling you about! Right impressive with horses she is, in the saddle and on the ground." Alyssa forced a smile to her face and repressed a shudder as the man's eyes roved over her.

"You can ride?" Alyssa nodded. "And you've got experience and knowledge?" Another nod. "Right then, you're hired. Fail to perform to my standards and you're out, understand? There's ten others what would take your job off your hands if you don't want it." With that, Jacob turned away.

Alyssa stood a little stunned. "Well come on!" Jacob shouted. With a little start, she scurried after him. "Over here we have the tack, the brushes and wraps. To your left is all of our veterinary material which you ARE NOT to touch under any circumstances. And lastly we've got the bridle and halter rack organized by name. You'll get to know the lot of 'em soon enough I expect. And this here's Joanna and Casper, you lot 'll be workin' together. I'll leave them to show you the ropes then, shall I?" And Jacob bustled off again.

Joanna and Casper watched his retreating form, and then turned to Alyssa with appraising eyes. Their eyes taking in her drab gown and braided hair.

"Welcome!" gushed Joanna, "I'm so pleased to have another girl around!" Joanna was pretty in an understated sort of way, with honey colored hair and a spattering of freckles across her nose. She and Casper both wore the uniforms of palace workers, with the insignia of the stables stitched onto the shoulders.

"Your name?" asked Casper. He didn't seem quite as thrilled by her appointment.

"Alyssa, pleased to meet you both. So, what can I do?"

"Straight to business, I see," said Joanna with a hint of regret.

"I might like you after all," mused Casper. Casper knew exactly who Alyssa was, as he was Ryan's brother. However, Joanna knew nothing of the council and although she was a charming girl, they had long since identified her as a hopeless gossip. So Casper and Alyssa would play at not knowing one another in her presence. It was a tiresome charade, but a necessary one, because they didn't need news of the Rechadian princess living in the stables spread around the castle by sundown.

They spent the rest of the afternoon showing Alyssa the system of organization and fitting her for her own uniform. Joanna introducing her to all of the horses by name, and the customs generally enjoyed by their owners.

For example, how Crown Prince George preferred to tack up his own horse if he could find the time.

A,

I hear that your friends got jobs here in Axia. Congratulations. I hope to visit my horse sometime in the near future and expect to find him in good health.

-G

Alyssa smiled at George's letter and threw it into the flames of the bonfire she, Sly and Cat were huddled around. They were roasting their dinner on the spit and sat discussing recent developments. The trade of the black market swirled around them, but their city contact kept a wary eye out for anyone too interested in their conversation.

"Now that we've all got jobs, it's only a matter of time before he comes to see his horses. When he sees me, we'll find away to be alone so—"

"Oh, I see." Said Sly suggestively, cutting Alyssa off mid sentence. Alyssa blushed a fierce fuchsia and shook her head violently.

"Don't be daft!" Alyssa exclaimed. "It's just so I can tell him what has come to pass, and ask for his advice."

Sly gave a shrug, "If you say so," while Cat nearly rolled about the ground with laughter. Alyssa raised an eyebrow at this behavior and took the opportunity to retaliate.

"And what of you two?" Cat stopped his sporadic laughter and glanced up at Sly, who merely rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the far more pressing matter of dinner.

George walked down to the stables at a brisk walk, attempting his usual purposeful demeanor. But the truth was, he was excited for the news Lyssa's correspondent in the stables would surely bring. Another letter perhaps, more detailed than the last? What could be so important that she dare not write it in ink? His mind spun with the possibilities so that he almost ran over one of the stable hands as he entered the barn's courtyard.

"I beg your pardon, my Lord." Said the poor woman demurely.

"Oh don't be silly the fault was all mine…mine. Alyssa?"