The sun was low over the mountains when we got back to Holm's Rest, and Killian took Moon Cow and Stellar back to the stables. We walked back to the keep together, not holding hands, but I felt that anyone looking at us must have known what we had spent the afternoon doing - surely there was a glow about us. Certainly, I felt as if I was radiating a warm aura of satisfaction. I felt 'fulfilled', yet another word that I was only just getting to grips with. Whatever urgent desires had been awakened by my one night with Adrien, Killian had put to rest, at least for now. I had a feeling the itch would come back, and it burned at me that, if all went according to plan tonight, none of the guys would be around to scratch that itch for me. It was probably selfish to think thoughts like that when I was going off to save Sadie and perhaps all of the Chosen, but I was fast learning that sexual desire only thinks of itself. It was strange to discover something one day and become an addict the next, but that was how I felt.

In the shadow of the stairwell, Killian and I kissed a brief but intense goodbye before I ran - practically skipped - up to my room. As I did so, I realized that I had no guard on my door and no rope around my waist. Was this an oversight? Or perhaps an instruction from King Aelric, who had seemed to like me. Perhaps they trusted me now. It felt a shame to abuse that trust. On the other hand, it would make life easier.

Returning to my room, I discovered that new clothes had been laid out for me. They were clothes of the sort that Norren women wore - tough, hard-wearing, and roomier in the cleavage area than I really needed. They were also colorful. I had an orange skirt and a sky blue woolen top. They felt heavy on me after a lifetime of wearing nothing but white silk, but I was glad of the weight. It made me feel real. Again, I suffered a slight pang at the thought of leaving these people who had so generously taken me in and made me feel so at home. But what else could I do?

Aelric was apparently busy with affairs of state - which in Norren could mean anything from a border to raid to a buxom blonde - so I ate with my four 'captors'. They seemed pleased to see me and I tried to catch the eyes of Adrien and Killian without the others noticing. Did it matter that I had had sex with both of them? Not in Norren it didn't, but I still wasn't anxious to tell either of them. However much this openness was the way of the people of Norren, I still felt as if Adrien and I had shared something truly special. I also felt that Killian and I had shared something truly special. Was that a contradiction? I didn't know, but it was how I felt.

"How was the riding?" asked Jax, as I sat down with them. I hoped that he didn't notice my cheeks turn pink at his question.

"She got better as the day went on," said Killian. The others had all known after Adrien and I slept together; had Killian told his friends of our activities down by the river? If he had then they were showing no obvious signs of it.

"Good," nodded Jax. "You'll fit in better if you can ride and you'll be more use, as well. It's no easy life for a Norren woman. You'll have plenty of work to do."

I nodded. As I had been when I had prayed on my way here, I was struck by the fact that when you are forced to do something it takes on a different character to when you do it voluntarily. I had objected to every chore I did in the temple precinct, but I was happy enough to do the same things now, because now it was a choice I had made. It was no longer a chore, it had become work.

We ate in a tavern that night, served by Viola, who shot me suggestive looks as she brought the food and drink out, as if to ask if I had made my move yet. I longed to tell her about me and Killian, but that would be another thing I would likely never get to do. The food was meat, once again, served with potatoes and ale. I wondered if, with time, I would get as bored of this unvarying diet as I had of that in the temple precinct, but the difference was that here I could change that diet if I wanted - I was free to eat whatever I chose.

Whether it was because, although I was not a Norren yet, I had been officially accepted by Aelric, or perhaps just because they were getting used to my presence, but the men seemed to treat me differently tonight. For one thing, I wasn't tied to anything. They talked to me as they talked to each other, making jokes, asking about my day, chatting the nonsense that friends chat. For the whole meal, the subject of the temple precinct and the fact that I was a hated Sudder did not even come up. Even Jax seemed willing to let sleeping dogs lie and share a laugh with me.

"Viola! We'll use the wheel," Jax called to the landlady as the remnants of the meal were cleared away.

"What's the wheel?" I asked.

"It's a game," smiled Adrien.

"You'll enjoy it," said Gage.

At one end of the tavern, a large cartwheel was mounted on the wall, its spokes painted different colors and with numbers on them. Though both colors and numbers were sometimes hard to make out through the welter of splintered damage.

"About time she got a new wheel up," said Gage.

"You could buy her one," suggested Killian. "It's mostly your fault that it's in this state."

"Not my fault I'm a champion," grunted Gage.

To the side of the wheel, an array of small throwing axes were displayed on the wall in a painted rack. They were of a type that I had previously seen in the book I had discovered beneath the temple back home. Jax took three of the axes down and paced back from the wheel to where I now saw a white line painted on the floor.

"I'll go first."

Gage spun the wheel, which clacked as it spun. Jax watched it turn through narrowed eyes.

"Red." He flung an axe, which embedded itself in one of the red spokes. "Three high." Another axe sliced through the air to hit the outer edge of the spoke marked with a '3'. "Five low." The third axe flew, aiming for the narrow base of the '5' spoke, near the center, but missing and embedding in '6' instead. "Warming up," said Jax as Gage stopped the wheel and pulled the axes out.

"Can I have a go," I asked eagerly. This was the sort of weapons training I had been doing since I discovered the hidden pictures in the temple. True, I had never put any of those skills into practice - even for something as harmless as this - but I was keen to try.

"It's harder than it looks," advised Adrien.

"It looks pretty hard."

"It's harder."

I took the axes from Gage. "Well, I still want a turn."

With expectations set suitably low, I figured that if I could just hit a color correctly then they would all be pretty impressed. The spokes were alternately painted red and blue and color was the lowest score because you had a fifty-fifty shot.

Gage spun the wheel - a little slower, I thought - and I lined up my shot. Adrien had been right, this had looked a whole lot easier when I was watching from the sidelines, now the wheel seemed to be spinning far too fast for me to have any chance of hitting what I was aiming for. But I was here now, I had said I would do this and I wasn't the type to back down. My resolve grew stronger as I saw all four of the men edging away from the playing area, as if unsure where my axe might end up.

"Blue," I called as I hurled my first axe. The weapon sailed through the air and embedded itself in the floor six feet from the wheel.

The men regarded the axe, keeping their faces straight.

"A little harder next time, you think?" suggested Killian.

Adrien nodded. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking. A little harder, I thought."

"I'm getting my eye in," I said, tartly.

My next throw was harder, and got about three feet closer.

"Getting there," muttered Gage. "Although, in a battle situation, you'd need to ask the enemy to charge pretty slowly."

"You say that," added Killian, "but, actually, in a battle situation, they'd be constantly getting closer."

"So just wait till you see the whites of their eyes?"

"Maybe wait until you can smell their breath."

Gage laughed and I pulled a face. "I'm still getting used to the set-up here. You've all used it before. The wheel we had in the temple is very different, what with it not existing. That's right; you're all making fun but I've never done this before, and I'm still going to hit blue this time."

That might have been a bit optimistic but I was absolutely going to hit the wheel with my last axe. I didn't bother to aim at all on my final throw, just hurled the axe with all my strength at the spinning wheel.

This time, the axe did make the distance but unfortunately went between the spokes, hitting the wall behind the wheel. It didn't stay there for long as the next spoke hit it at speed, sending the weapon flying off at a sharp angle to embed itself in the ceiling.

The guys stared. I stared.

I spoke first. "Trick shot."

All four of them fell about laughing.

"I've never seen that happen before," said Gage as he pulled the axe out of the rafter in which it had been stuck.

"You get shots between the spokes," Adrien agreed. "Bound to happen. And they can go off at some strange angles..."

"That's how Reynold lost his ear," put in Killian.

"But I've never seen one end up in the ceiling. Jax?"

The group's leader had been quiet throughout my attempts, unwilling to join in the fun or, perhaps, as Viola had suggested, hating himself because he wanted to.

"Never seen that," he said. "How many points do you reckon, lads?"

The points they gave me for my unconventional, entirely accidental and probably dangerous shot, put me firmly in the lead as Gage stepped up to play.

Gage didn't mess about with colors or even high numbers. He called the three most difficult shots and got every one.

"And yet, Aleah is still leading," commented Adrien.

"Doesn't seem fair," nodded Gage.

"Maybe not. But you try and repeat her shot."

Gage held up his hands, beaten and shot me a smile. Had he smiled at me before? Perhaps, but not like this; like a friend.

Above all, that was how the game felt as it continued; a game between friends in which the points were not so much a way of keeping score as a way of gently mocking the other players. As my commanding lead was eroded - though I insisted that I had simply retired undefeated and before anyone was hurt - the evening wore on. Jax bought everyone drinks which soon vanished. Then Adrien bought a round. Then Gage.

"I think it's Aleah's turn," said Killian as he headed for the bar.

"Then you should have given me time to pack money when you kidnapped me," I called after him. Everyone laughed.

It was a lovely night. So happy. Such fun. But that niggling guilt at what I was planning never allowed me to lose myself in it completely. I never lost sight of my goal for the night. As the others drank with gusto, I subtly disposed of my ale, into a pot plant by the wall, making sure I stayed sober and acted drunk. Though even this was almost not enough.

"I must say," said Adrien. "I'm impressed with how well Aleah is drinking. She's matching us tankard for tankard and she only started drinking yesterday."

Unaware of what was normal alcohol tolerance, I had simply copied them. Had I made a mistake? Adrien was just pointing something out, but as he said it, I saw Jax look at me and saw the suspicion in his face.

"I need to use the privy," I said - the time had clearly come to make my move.

"I'm not surprised," mused Adrien.

I could feel Jax's eyes on me as I went to the door but I didn't look back, partly because I didn't want to make him any more suspicious than he already was, but also because I didn't want to leave, and looking back at the four great guys I was about to betray was not going to make things any easier.

It had started to rain while we had played our game, which wouldn't make my journey pleasant but had at least forced the inhabitants of Holm's Rest indoors so there was no one to observe me as I made my way quickly to the stables. In the temple precinct, torches burned throughout the night in some areas - the Chosen were watched at all times - so night never truly fell. Out here in Norren, up in the mountains and with rainclouds cloaking the sky, night really fell. Even the few hazy lights from inside a handful of buildings did little to alleviate the blackness that only increased as I ventured into the stables. The darkness presented an issue I had not planned for. I could not even see my hand in front of my face, let alone find a horse.

"Moon Cow?" I hissed optimistically and was surprised to hear an answering whinny. I hurried over to her stall, tripping over a pile of soft, warm something as I went. "Now, I know that you and I didn't get off to the best of starts, but I think, in the spirit of girls all sticking together, we can make this work. I know it seems like I'm betraying the guys - including Killian, who I know is a friend of yours - but you've got to see things from my point of view. Which I don't really have time to explain now, but I will once we're out of Norren territory."

I wasn't sure if that made any difference to Moon Cow, but it made me feel better. Working quickly, my eyes now adjusting to the gloom, I went to the wall where all the reins and straps and various other paraphernalia of equine corsetry hung. With a knife that I had swiped from the tavern, I hacked it up, leaving only what I needed to saddle up Moon Cow, which I now did as quickly as I could. I was aware that sooner or later the guys would wonder what was taking me so long, and would then leave it a little longer because, even when the woman in question is a blood enemy, men are wary of entering the ladies' privy, for who knew what weird rites were carried out in there.

With Moon Cow saddled and ready to go, I rushed around unbolting every door I could find.

"Go on. Git." The horses did nothing. This would probably have worked better during the day when they were all a bit more awake. "GO ON! GIT!"

Volume seemed to be the answer, in addition to whacking a few horse rumps, and the animals stampeded out of the stable as a body, ready to wreak chaos and cause confusion in Holm's Rest, while I rode out the side gate on Moon Cow. As fast as I could, I mounted up and fell straight off. More carefully, I mounted up again and we trotted out into the night. I could hear voices shouting and see torches flaring into life about the stronghold. Time to go. But even then, I still took one last look at the place I had been glad to call home. If only things had been different. I gave Moon Cow a kick and we cantered off out the side gate, with me hanging on for dear life.

The rain seemed to be harder now, although it might just be that I was traveling through it at speed. The wind howled, thunder rolled, lightning flashed. All the elements seemed to conspire to make my escape as dramatic as possible. There was probably a bright side to this in that only a maniac would try to follow me on a night like this, and their chances of tracking me in it were slim to none. On the other hand, I found riding terrifying at the best of times and these conditions were only making it more so.

But, as it turned out, my terror was not the biggest problem. A bolt of lightning arced to the ground, illuminating the turbulent sky above and terrifying my steed. Moon Cow reared up violently and I only stayed on by wrapping myself about her neck. As soon as her front hooves touched the ground she was off, galloping through the undergrowth as if she could outrun the weather, with me clinging on and screaming all the way. Wet branches smacked me in the face, tangling in my clothes and tugging at me, threatening to knock me off my horse. The ground was fast becoming a river of mud in which poor Moon Cow struggled to keep her balance, making my position all the more precarious.

Waiting for night had seemed like my best chance to get away from Holm's Rest without being caught, but it was fast becoming obvious that being caught was the least of my worries. Holm's Rest was safe against its enemies by virtue of its location in the mountains and it had not really occurred to me that if you did not know where you were going, then leaving it was as dangerous as getting in. Moon Cow skidded to a halt just in time to stop herself from going down a steep slope of loose rocks. She wheeled about and took off again in another direction, just as panicked and directionless as before. I had to get control of her, or next time we might not be so lucky. The whole of this area was full of such steep slopes, cliffs, gullies and a hundred other hazards that Moon Cow did not seem to care about and which I couldn't see.

With difficulty, I managed to sit upright in the saddle, my fingers still gripping white-knuckled fistfuls of Moon Cow's mane. I looked about, trying to see anything other than sheeting rain and vague flashes of landscape as we dashed by. My own panic and fear was making it hard for me to focus, the world was reduced to a dark blur. I realized that I was going to die out here. There was no way that Moon Cow and I could cheat death all night and the storm showed no sign of abating.

The cold chill of the realization forced another thought to the top of my mind: Sadie. If I died, she died. No one else was coming to save her. I had to live for her sake, if not for my own. My heart steadied, my resolve returned, then my eyes widened to shocked horror as I saw a cliff edge in front of us, towards which Moon Cow was galloping.

"NO!" I shrieked and felt for the reins but they were lost in the horse's wet mane. We were going over.

Suddenly, a hand reached in front of me, grabbing the reins that I had been unable to find and pulling with a strength I could never have mustered. Moon Cow skidded to a halt, her hooves sliding on the wet rock of the cliff edge and coming to a stop bare inches from the precipitous drop. She whinnied, as if in relief. I looked up at my savior, seated on a large black horse beside me. From within a deep rain hood, Jax looked back at me with a fury in his eyes unlike anything I had seen before.

"Get over here."

"What?"

Not waiting to explain again, Jax shot an arm out behind me, grabbing me by the scruff of the neck and yanking me off Moon Cow's back, dragging me onto his horse to lie across his lap with my backside in the air, like a naughty girl waiting to be spanked.

"Don't you dare move." His voice was a low growl but somehow still carried above the roar of the rain and wind, as if the anger gave it power.

He gathered up Moon Cow's reins in one hand and led her back from the cliff edge before looking around. I realized that he was riding bareback - his only choice given that I had destroyed all the saddles, but how on earth was that possible in this weather. Jax's aura of the superhuman increased in my mind.

"There's a hunting lodge not far from here, we need to shelter from the rain. It's too dangerous to be traveling in this."

"But you did," I said from my undignified position. "You saved me." That probably wasn't why he had come looking but it still mattered to me.

"Yes," Jax replied, grimly. "I saved you. And pretty soon you are going to regret that I did."