Yehudit Picked up her shoe and looked at her foot. She did not want to put her shoe back on. She tucked the shoe under her arm, pressed her walking stick to the ground and reached for Sileas's hand.

Sileas hesitantly took her cousin and best friend's hand. She couldn't shake the feeling that somehow this attack was her fault and that she drew death and despair to anyone she cared about. She lightly squeezed Yehudit's hand before leaving the cave.

Yehudit leaned against Sileas and her walking stick to keep weight off her bad ankle. She managed a slight smile to hide her pain.

"You can stop pretending, I know it hurts. If you can't be honest with me, who can you be honest with?" Sileas prodded as they stepped out into the trees.

Yehudit sighed and wiped the fake smile off her face. "It could have been a lot worse if you hadn't killed Andy when you did."

"I would say at least I did one thing right in my life, but then if it weren't for me, Andy never would have gone after you," Sileas said sadly. Another destroyed life that could be laid directly at her feet.

Mazi crouched in the dark, listening. The disaster had caught him unaware, and ruined his chance with the bakery but his king was using it to his advantage. Actually the fact that Aislyn had lost some of the children she had with Nelek was a good thing as far as Mazi's king was concerned. If only all of them had been killed. It also had the advantage of Aislyn being broken, it would make her easier to manipulate.

The two girls who were fighting were not Aislyn's children, sounded like cousins of their children. The King had plans for one of them, Liadan's daughter, but Mazi was to leave her alone for now. Mazi let the girls leave the cave. The rest of the survivors including Aislyn had to be nearby, probably going to the nearby keep. Mazi had to tell his king, it was time the king made his move to reclaim what was rightfully his.

In reply to Sileas (msg # 15):

"That was all Andy's fault, don't blame yourself that he was a psycho momzer." Yehudit awkwardly kicked Sileas's shin.

"I know the fact that he was a psycho momzer was not my fault," Sileas pointed out. "But he hurt you to hurt me. And that makes it my fault."

"No." Yehudit tried to kick Sileas in the shin again, lost balance and fell over. "That makes it still his fault."

Sileas managed to halt her cousin's descent before she hit the floor. "It makes it his and my fault. If I weren't in your life, you would never have been in danger."

"If it wasn't for you all sorts of other terrible things could have happened to me, maybe I'd even be dead." Yehudit regained her footing. "Like when those slavers came, or Galina went after me... You saved me."

"We also nearly killed one another when Galina was after us. Remember Haroth picking us up, one under each arm and yelling at us until we snapped out of it?" God, she missed Haroth, but she was very glad he and Samantha were not in the village during the attack. She blinked back the tear that threatened to streak down her cheek.

"You did better at resisting Galina's influence than I did, remember?" Yehudit heard what could only be her mother calling her name and sighed.

"I was suffering from delusions of what my life should be," Sileas admitted. "You had better answer her. She sounds like she is in full on panic."

"Sileas, have you ever wondered if either of us-" Yehudit stopped and sighed. "I'M OVER HERE WITH SILEAS MAMA!"

Since Yehudit hadn't finished the question, she said nothing. She stood quietly waiting for Lia to approach them.

After the young women had left and the sound of their footsteps faded, a tall blond man went into the cave.

"Mazi?" Tabor called.

Mazi lit a torch and went to Tabor.

"Your majesty." Mazi gave a slight bow. "You just missed two girls from the Buckley clan."

"I saw them." Tabor said, his eyes flashed. "Were either of them one of hers?"

Mazi shook his head. "No, the red-haired one isn't even related by blood, she was adopted by that woman who fancied herself a blacksmith and her husband who was a cousin to your wife, I think they're both dead now. But the other girl, the dark haired one, she's Liadan's daughter." Mazi smirked.

"That loud mouthed woman... I look forward to cutting out her tongue, and we have plans for her daughter... We'll have to make sure Liadan can see what becomes of her brat before we kill her." Tabor rubbed his hands together. "So they are in the keep now?"

"They should be." Mazi said. "It's the closest place for them and they have to be tired of sleeping in the open... I think it's time. Most of the bastards are dead, only the two oldest live, Aislyn is broken. I'll just do my last bit with the land woman and she will be ready to go back to her first and true husband."

Tabor smiled and set off to make himself ready for his bride.

Mazi unlocked the chain from the shackle around Ila's leg. He had her pack up their meager belongings, then left the cave. Mazi walked with the pack on his back, a quilt taken from Nelek's bed draped over his arm, and his hand around Ila's wrist.

To the Keep->