Sorry for the delay in the update, but school has been rather crazy lately. At least the semester's almost over, right? Enjoy.

KADY

I wished that I had not insisted upon going on a dusk ride. The moon was out enough that I could see my way, but it had gotten quite chilly and my cloak was not enough to keep me from shivering.

"Come on, girl." I patted Snowflake, and gently tugged on the reins. "Home."

She nickered, recognizing the word. Suddenly, her ears went back and she dropped her head.

"What's wrong?" I loosened the reins, thinking I might have accidentally rubbed her neck in a bad way. "Snowy, what's the matter?"

My mare did not calm down, but began to sidestep nervously away from the bushes to my right. I heard a soft rustle.

I peered into the bushes, feeling my heart begin to pound in my chest. Snowflake did not scare for rabbits or small animals, and any larger animal would have spooked her before she came so close. Perhaps it was a snake.

A twig snapped and my throat tightened. "Who's there?"

No one answered, but now I was completely positive that I could see a dark shape in the bushes. I wished I had asked for a guard.

"Who's there?" I tried to deepen my voice a little, hoping to make it slightly more intimidating. "Come out, or I'll shoot you with my bow."

Of course, it was an empty threat because I had no bow and even if I did, I hadn't ever been a good shot. I was seconds away from urging Snowflake to flee when the bushes parted.

A young woman stepped from them, two children under the protection of her arm. She looked exhausted. "Please."

I was shocked. I had been expecting a big hairy bandit, not three frightened travelers. "What?"

The woman wavered. "Please help us."

I dismounted. "What can I do?"

The young woman blinked wearily. She didn't look so much older than I. The child was without a doubt her son; they shared the same coarse brown hair and soulful eyes. The girl, in her early teens, had a more delicate face and long yellow-blond hair.

"What can I do?" I repeated.

The girl stepped forward. "We're being chased. Etan, he is going to kill us when he catches us. Please, help us hide."

I searched the bushes once more, now certain that a large hairy bandit was in them. "Where is he?"

Finally, the woman spoke up. "Hours behind us, at least. We've been hiding our tracks."

I couldn't not help them. "Come. Can you ride?"

The woman and girl both nodded. The little boy looked dazed.

"Alright, come." I gestured. "Come, hurry." I helped the girl to mount my mare.

"Him too?" The woman lifted her son. "Hold tight to him, Miriam."

Miriam, the blond girl, nodded and wrapped an arm tightly around the shivering child.

I gripped the reins, hiked up my skirts and began to lead Snowflake back towards the castle. The woman fell into step beside me, but she looked very uncertain.

"I'm Kaderyn." I introduced myself.

"Riley, milady." The young woman dipped her head. "Thank you for helping us."

"Think naught of it." I shook my head.

I shivered again. I had a strange feeling that I was slipping into something much too large for me to handle.

Erlie

Jedda was my best friend, probably my only friend. When the other children were playing ball in the schoolyard, they knew they had to let me play or Jedda would throw their ball onto the roof. When they stared at me or made faces when our teacher wasn't looking, Jedda threw spitwads. When they made fun of my scarred face, Jedda would wrestle them down and stick their faces deep into the mud.

In return, I was teaching her how to read. She didn't know it, because she was too proud to admit she wanted to learn, so I had to find clever ways to do it. Most times, I would scratch letters into the dirt and pretend like I was memorizing spellings. I didn't know for sure if she was paying attention, but I saw her glance over my shoulder often enough for me to believe it.

I scratched a new word into the dirt. Jedda. "Look, Jedda, I think I spelled your name!"

Jedda just rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you did. Regular scholar, you."

"Jedda!" The shout made Jedda tense up like a taut bowstring. "Come help me with the babies!"

Jedda scowled and crossed her arms.

"Jedda!" My friend's sister-in-law shouted more insistently this time.

"My brother should'ave wedded a mute." Jedda grumbled, getting to her feet.

The woman rounded the corner. Jedda was right. Her brother should have chosen a softer woman. She was pretty, I suppose, but she would be far prettier if she wasn't always snapping at people.

"Where have you been?" Pauline narrowed her eyes.

"Been with Erlie." Jedda's eyes were guarded.

Pauline avoided looking over at me, like most people did. "I told you to come straight back from school. I need your help with the babies."

Pauline's imperious tone even got under my skin. I couldn't imagine how much she irked Jedda. Sure enough, my friend took the bait.

"If you can't take care of your babies yourself," Jedda stuck her hands on her hips sassily. "Maybe you should stop havin' them."

I couldn't help it. I giggled.

Pauline grabbed Jedda's arm, smacking her hard across the head. "I don't need any of your backtalk!"

Jedda winked at me as she was dragged off. I got to my feet, brushing myself off. She was sure to get a whipping, but I knew that she only backtalked to make herself feel better and that she could take any whipping dealt.

And she made me smile.