The Bettle of Rownsdown

8/8/2019 The Bettle of Rownsdown

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Her head hurt. And she was lying in a most uncomfortable position, but she didn'thave the strength to move. Then she heard voices, footsteps, and felt a gentle handon her shoulder, turning her over. She moaned as the sudden movement caused asharp pain to shoot through her skull, and caught a glimpse of booted feet, beforeshe passed out again.

When she woke for the second time, she was lying on her back, and the pain in herhead seemed to have diminished. She opened her eyes slowly, and gasped as shesaw two strange faces peering down at her. She tried to sit up, but fell back with asoft cry, blinking back tears of pain, as her head protested vehemently.

"Don't move," a voice said. "You've hit your head on something." She opened hereyes cautiously again, and saw that she was in a tent of some kind, lying on apadded mat on the ground. The fair-haired man was kneeling next to her, holding awad of damp cloth in his hand, and the dark haired one had risen to his feet andwas standing near the foot of the bedroll she was lying on. They both wore armourand looked as if they were dressed to attend a medieval fancy dress party.

"This doesn't look too bad, you should be more or less all right by tomorrow," thefair-haired man told her. Janelle had tensed up against the pain before, but shemanaged to relax slowly, as he gently washed away the dirt from her head, and thethrobbing subsided to a dull ache.

"Who are you?" she whispered. "I could ask you the same thing," the fair-haired oneanswered. "My name is Janelle," she said nervously. "Roland of Tremedard," hereplied.

She nearly sat up again in surprise, but managed to check the movement in time,before the sudden movement sent her back into oblivion. "Roland of Tremedard?"she repeated in shock. "And you are ..." she looked at the other man.

"Jorryn, also of Tremedard," he replied.

"Jorryn and Roland of Tremedard," Janelle repeated. Jorryn and Roland ofTremedard! The words echoed in her mind. I must have hit my head harder than Ithought, if I'm hallucinating about storybook characters!

"Is something wrong, my lady?" asked Roland curiously.

"Well I'm not that is I'm from a different world. The real world. You guysaren't real, you're just people in a book. Except now, somehow, I seem to be in thebook too," she tried to explain, sounding ridiculous to her own ears even as she did.

The two men looked just as bewildered as she felt. "Look, this morning, I wasreading my favourite book, The Battle of Rosendawn. It's all about you guys, andyou're all characters in this book. You're not real " she trailed off as their lookschanged from bemusement to disbelief. She didn't blame them; if someone had toldher the same thing, she'd have referred the person to a mental health professional!


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Jorryn said, "Erm well why don't you rest for a while, maybe you'll feel betterafter you've had some sleep. That's a nasty bump you have there. You can tell usmore about yourself tomorrow."

He sounded like he was talking to a five-year-old child, irking Janelle into retorting,"Look, I'm not crazy or anything! I've just tumbled into your book world somehow,

and I need to find out how to get back! I know!" she exclaimed as a sudden thoughtoccurred to her. "Look, tell me what you guys are doing now, or were doing whenyou found me. I can prove that I'm telling the truth."

"Erm we were fetching water for our camp?" Jorryn still looked like he was tryingto pacify her and not like he was even remotely close to believing what she wassaying.

"No, like where you are now, to which castle you're going, something like that?" sheasked impatiently.

"We are on our way to Bel Tinel, for a meeting with Garren and Garrim," replied

Roland, looking a bit less disbelieving than Jorryn.

"Hmm, ok, have you been to Warthford to see Kel ... Ken ... oh damn it, what's hisname, Kel-something?" She'd never been much good at remembering the names ofthe more obscure characters, especially when they weren't common or easilypronounceable names.

"Yes, we left Kelton's castle, the day before yesterday. But it's no secret that wewere going there," he added, with a slight frown.

"Ok, ok, let me think ... hmm ... on the night after you left Warthford, Roland put a

wet fish into Jorryn's bedroll for a joke!" Janelle said triumphantly.

"How did you know that?" Roland exclaimed indignantly, as Jorryn glared at him,"You said it was Darian!"

"I told you, I read it in my book," she said impatiently.

They looked at each other for a moment, and then Roland shrugged nodded. "Isuppose could believe her for now, as long as no evidence appears to the contrary."

She suddenly remembered what had happened in the book on the third morning oftheir journey to Bel Tinel. "I'd better tell you something important now before Iforget. Tomorrow morning, a bunch of Tridexes are going to attack your camp.

They've been tailing you since Warthford."

"Are you sure?" asked Roland, frowning.

"Well, it happened in the book anyway," said Janelle. "I'm guessing that it will stillbe true, that things in the book will still happen the way I read them. Then again,I'm here, but I'm definitely not in the book, so maybe they will be a little different.


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But you should be prepared anyway, in case they do come, because in the book,Darian got slightly wounded when they attacked. Maybe you can prevent that if allthree of you are on guard before they arrive."

"How many Tridexes will there be?" Jorryn still sounded a little skeptical.

"About ten, if I remember correctly," answered Janelle. "Maybe twelve or thirteen."

"Better to be safe than sorry, I suppose," Jorryn sighed. "We will be prepared forthem if they do come."

"You should rest now, my lady," added Roland.

The two men turned to leave the small tent. "Wait! What shall I I mean, what areyou going to do with me tomorrow?" she asked in a small voice.

"You can come with us to Bel Tinel, since we can't leave you in the middle of theforest with nobody to protect you. After that you may go where you wish. I presume

this is acceptable?" Jorryn replied.

"I suppose so," said Janelle. As if I have any other choice, she thought bleakly.

"Then we bid you good night, my lady."

They soon left the forest and entered the grassy plains, riding along at a fast trot.Janelle couldn't talk to Roland because she kept bumping up and down in thesaddle. Although she'd ridden horses a few times before, she was unused to ridingfor long stretches of time, and by the time they stopped for lunch, she was stiff andsore all over. Roland leapt lightly off the horse, and held out his arms to her. Sheswung her leg over the saddle and let him lift her down, but her legs nearly buckled

when he removed his hands from her waist. He steadied her, and she smiled herthanks shakily at him.

Darian had opened his pack, and he pulled out bread and cheese and handed someto everyone. Janelle was a little surprised that the Prince of Tremedard would beeating simple bread and cheese, but thought it would be rude to ask why. Shedecided to ask instead, "How long will we take to reach Bel Tinel?"

"We should reach there around midday tomorrow, my lady," said Darian.

"Tell us more about your world," requested Roland. "I would like to learn more aboutthis place where you live."

"Well, it's nothing like here," said Janelle. "People don't ride horses anymore, sinceabout a hundred years ago. At least, they only ride for fun, in races and stuff."

"Then how do you get around?" asked Darian curiously.


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"Well, we have cars. They're kind of like a wagon that can move without a horsepulling it. I don't really know how they work, but they can move much faster thanhorses can."

"It is hard to imagine this," said Jorryn, shaking his head.

"We also have lights that run on electricity, which comes from a hole in the walls ofour houses. You just press a button, and the light will turn itself on. Press it againand it will go off," said Janelle, getting more animated as she told them about herworld. "In your world, you use swords and spears and arrows to fight; well, we useguns. Guns are smaller, and you just need to press a button and a bullet, that's likea little piece of metal, will shoot out at an incredible speed and hit your enemy; itcan kill him if you hit a vital spot. You can stand further away than you do with abow and arrow, and it doesn't take any strength at all, a child can do it."

"I wish I had one then," said Roland with a grin. "I could shoot Tridexes from evenfurther away and we wouldn't have to get close, so nobody would risk being injured.Also, we wouldn't have to get close to the stench of their breath!" Everyone

laughed.

They finished their lunch, mounted their horses and continued on their way, onlystopping again when the sun had disappeared over the horizon, although there wasstill light enough to see quite well. They were still in the middle of what seemed tobe a vast grassy plain, but there was a water hole nearby with a few trees, bushesand rocks around it. It reminded her of a picture she'd seen of a desert oasis, exceptthis one was surrounded by grass and not sand.

Darian broke some branches from the trees for firewood, Jorryn took the waterbottles to the spring to fill them, and Roland set up the tent, tying together theparts that had been ripped in the morning's encounter with the Tridexes. Janelle felt

rather useless amongst all this activity, and asked Roland, "Can I help one of you dosomething?"

"Sure. Open my pack over there, and take out the small pot inside. You can fill itwith water so we can make our dinner." When she'd done this, Darian rigged up atripod to hang the pot on, and she watched him take out some dried meat andvegetables from his pack and throw them in. He then added some powdered herbsand stirred for a while, before leaving the soup to boil. It tasted surprisingly good to

Janelle with bread, but she thought it might be because she was so hungry.

And exhausted. She was so tired that she didn't even realise her eyes were closing,until she heard Jorryn saying, "My lady? Lady Janelle?"

She came awake with a jerk, and blushed as she realised that all three men werelooking at her. "I've set up the bedroll inside the tent for you; you can sleep thereand we will stay outside," Roland told her.

"I, uh, I'm sorry that you guys feel you have to give up the tent for me, I mean, it'syour tent. It's ok if you want to sleep inside as well; it's big enough for four bedrolls,isn't it?" she said.


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"Actually," said Darian with an amused grin, "we only have three bedrolls. But don'tworry," he added, seeing her dismayed look. "It's no hardship to let you have one,since at least one of us must be awake at any one time to keep watch anyway. Andthe night is warm; sleeping next to the fire won't do us any harm."

"Ok, well, if you don't mind, I'd like to go to sleep now then," said Janelle, too tiredto debate the point. She went to the spring to wash her hands and face, thenentered the tent and fell asleep immediately as soon as her head touched thebedroll.

The next day they set off early again, and Roland pointed out Garren's castle, BelTinel, to Janelle about an hour after they left. She could just see it in the distance,looking like a small rock at first, but it grew steadily larger as they rode towards it,till she could see the details of the magnificent castle, with a pennant flying fromthe battlements. The castle was surrounded by a three-storey high wall, and therewas a moat around it, about twenty metres wide. It looked rather murky and brown,and Janelle doubted that anyone would want to try and swim across the dirty water.

"Who goes there?" yelled a voice from the top of one of the two guard towers thatflanked the drawbridge.

"Prince Jorryn, Lord Roland, and Lord Darian of Tremedard!" shouted Darian in reply.Janelle heard a clanking of chains, and the drawbridge was lowered, till it thuddedto rest just in front of their horses' hooves. Jorryn rode across the drawbridge intothe courtyard, with Darian to his left, and Roland and Janelle to his right. A groomran up to take their horses, and there was a crowd of people cheering and waving.

They dismounted and walked up to the main stairs, where two men and a womanwere standing.

As they got nearer, Janelle could see that the two men looked almost exactly alike,both were tanned with light brown hair, startling blue eyes, broad shoulders, andidentical smiles of good humour. She realised that these must be Garren andGarrim, although she didn't know which was which. The only difference that shecould see was that one of them had hair that was about three inches longer than hisbrother's. The woman was petite, with dark brown hair and a beautiful smile. Janelleguessed that this must be Leola, Garren's princess. She looked to be around thesame age as Janelle herself.

They reached the steps and the men all embraced, greeting each other noisily, andthe three visitors bowed and kissed Princess Leola's hand in turn.

Janelle felt rather out of place, very conscious of the dirt streaking her clothes, andof the fact that she was the only woman in the entire courtyard, probably the entirecastle, who wasn't wearing a skirt. She wished that she could back away and beswallowed up into the crowd, but at that moment the twin with shorter hair said,"Well, aren't you going to introduce us to your lovely companion?" He was evidentlytoo polite to comment on her strange attire, but she could read the curiosity in hiseyes, and in those of his twin and the lady.


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Jorryn took her hand and drew her into the group, saying, "May I present the LadyJanelle of, er, of .."

"San Francisco," she provided quickly, her cheeks turning red.

"Of course, the Lady Janelle of San Francisco," Jorryn continued smoothly. They'd

obviously never heard of San Francisco, but luckily nobody decided to comment onthat. "My lady, please meet Prince Garren, Princess Leola, and Prince Garrim ofLefar." The two men bowed to her, and the princess smiled at the introduction,though they looked confused, probably because they had never heard of SanFrancisco before. Garren turned out to be the one with shorter hair, and Garrim hada mischievous smile that reminded her of Darian. Janelle thought she should maybecurtsy, but she wasn't wearing a skirt, which would make a curtsy look kind ofridiculous, so she settled for a kind of half bow.

Garrim led them into what seemed to be a kind of sitting room with couches set in arough circle. They all sat down, and servants brought in mugs of tea.

"By the way, your grace of Tremedard, the next time you decide to visit us, wouldyou be so kind as to send more than a one line note?" complained Garren with agood-natured sigh, as the servants distributed the tea all around. "Telling us we'llbe there in a few days' doesn't give us any idea of when you're coming, why you'recoming, or how many people you're bringing!"

"Well, even if I felt inclined to drag my army all over Lefar, which I don't, you haveplenty of space to stash them while we visit, now, don't you?" retorted Jorryn.

"Now that you've finally arrived, though, perhaps you'd care to enlighten us aboutthe purpose of your visit," remarked Garrim before Garren could think up a sarcasticreply.

"Well," said Jorryn, "we just came from Cargath. Kelton sent for us, saying that hehad to see us about a matter of some secrecy. He's getting old and it isn't so easyfor him to travel nowadays, so we agreed to go and discuss it there instead." Janellewondered if she should offer to leave the room, since they were evidently going totalk about this matter of some secrecy'. However, since she already knew fromreading the book what they were going to discuss, there wouldn't be much point init. Besides, it's fascinating to see them acting out the word in the book!

"Kelton said that Veldid sent him a rather large order for leather, about two weeksago. He thought it was a strange request, so he sent a few of his men with thegoods, disguised as guards for the caravan train. They spoke to some of Veldid'sleather workers, and found out that Veldid has ordered most of the leather to bedyed black."

"Black? But Cabinendans don't wear black, they wear green!" exclaimed Leola."Only Tridexes wear black!"

"Exactly," said Roland. "Kelton's men also found out that Veldid has been houndinghis iron miners to increase their supply, and that his smiths are making an


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astounding number of swords and spears, more than he could possibly need even ifhe wanted to fully rearm every Cabinend soldier twice over. He suspects that Veldidis supplying Thorne with arms for Tridexes."

"Even so, why the sudden rush for Thorne to have so much leather and so manynew weapons? It's not as if they breed at a rate high enough to warrant the sudden

demand for clothes and weapons. Which is why this is particularly alarming, wearen't sure if he's suddenly got more Tridexes that need them," said Jorryn.

"If he's managed to find a way to speed up their breeding rate, we've got a seriousproblem," said Garrim thoughtfully. "They don't usually venture into our princedomsin groups of more than twenty at a time, and we generally manage to kill most ofthose that do. But if Thorne's suddenly got a large supply of them to send againstus, the scales tip in his favour and they could be a serious problem."

"Is Kelton sure that this is the reason for Veldid's behaviour?" asked Leola. "I mean,I don't like Veldid much, but he strikes me as being too timid to dare to do such athing, and practically under our noses to boot!"

"He isn't sure, but it's better to be safe than sorry," answered Darian. "We came towarn you to check on all your defences and to keep an eye out for any strangethings that might happen. Also, it couldn't hurt to ready your troops, just in case theneed for them arises."

"We will do so," promised Jorryn. "But you know what this means if, and I repeat,if, Veldid is really doing this it means war."

Janelle looked around the enormous room that Princess Leola had left her in. It wasabout twice as big as her apartment in San Francisco, and there was a huge four-poster bed with curtains. A dressing table with a mirror and chair stood at one end,

next to a screen which she guessed was for changing behind. There were also a fewcouches with a kind of coffee table next to the windows.

A maid entered, and curtsied. "My lady, would you like a bath before dinner?" Abath! She hadn't had one in well, it was only two days, but it felt far longer whenyou spent most of your time riding and camping, not to mention lying in the dirt.

"Yes please," she replied. She watched a line of footmen carrying in buckets ofwater, and then the maid showed her into the bathroom. The bath was sunken intothe floor, like a tiny swimming pool, and there were steps going down. "My lady, Iam here to assist you in your bath," said the maid when Janelle looked at her,wondering why she was still standing there.

"What? No, no, I can bathe myself. If you could just leave the towels there, thankyou very much," Janelle said hastily. Finally left alone, she had time to think. Shewondered how long she would be here in this place, living inside her storybook.Would she ever get to go home? Or would she have to stay here in this strange landforever? Strangely, the thought didn't disturb her as much as she thought it wouldhave. Jorryn, Roland and Darian were nicer than anyone she'd known at home, and


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she was an orphan without many close friends, so there wasn't anyone who wouldreally miss her back home.

Her thoughts turned to the crisis that was looming. She wondered whether sheshould tell the men about what she knew of their future. She knew that the Veldidnow ruling Cabinend wasn't the real Veldid, he was someone who had been

magically enhanced to look like him, while the real Veldid was actually being heldprisoner in one of Thorne's dungeons. The reason for the increase in demand forleather and weapons was that Thorne's magicians had found a way to increase thefertility of the breeding Tridexes so that they spawned ten offspring at once, insteadof just one. Also, Tridexes only took six months to reach full growth, so it wouldn'ttake long for Thorne to increase the size of his Tridex army, hence the increase indemand for the materials to make armour and weapons. The end of the story waswhen this army assaulted Rosendawn, Jorryn's castle, and killed all messengers sentto ask Garren for help. In the book, Garrim had been on his way to surprise Jorrynwith a visit, when he nearly rode right into the huge Tridex army camped outsideRosendawn. He'd ridden back all the way at top speed to fetch his brother and hisarmy, arriving just in time to prevent the fall of Rosendawn.

If she told all this to the five men, what would happen? She knew that by changingone event, the future could be changed, and she didn't know how it would change,for the better or for worse. But I can't just say nothing, can I now? she thought. Thatwould be rather ungrateful, wouldn't it, seeing as how they saved my life justyesterday morning!

She luxuriated in the bath, pondering the problem, and in the end decided that shewould tell them, and what they did with the extra information was their problem,not hers. She finished scrubbing all the dirt away, stood up, wrapped herself in atowel, then cautiously poked her head out of the bathroom door.

"Her grace the Princess Leola has ordered these clothes brought for you, my lady,"said the maid. She indicated a beautiful sky blue gown that was lying on the bed.After a moment's consideration, Janelle decided to forgo modesty and let the maiddress her. The gown had about a hundred tiny hooks at the back instead of a zip,and she'd never be able to contort enough to do them up herself. Thank God thisisn't one of those cultures where women wear corsets! she thought. She combedout her damp hair and left it down, hoping it would dry soon.

Just as she finished, she heard a knock on the door, and called, "Come in!" Rolandstuck his head into the room, then the rest of his body followed. He stopped andstared at her for a long moment, and she wondered nervously if she'd unknowinglycommitted some impropriety. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No, not at all, it's just that you look so ... so ... nice!" he finished with a bemusedlook on his face. "Well thank you, kind sir," she said with a grin, dropping into adeep curtsy.

He smiled in return, and offered his arm to escort her down to dinner. The diningroom was slightly larger than her bedroom, and there was a long table, but sincethere were only seven of them, they all sat at one end, with Garren at the head and


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Leola next to him. They lingered over each course, and Janelle ate and ate till shethought she would burst. Darian and Roland, who were on either side of her, keptfilling up her plate even when she protested laughingly that she'd had more thanenough.

When dinner was over, she caught Jorryn just as he was leaving the room, and said,

"May I speak with you for a moment?"

"Of course, my lady." he replied.

"You know that I've read your story before, all the way to the end, and I know thingsabout Veldid and Thorne that you don't. I thought maybe I should tell you, then youcan be one step ahead of them at all times, and you'll be able to counter theirmoves."

Jorryn started as if he'd been shot, and exclaimed, "Why didn't I think of thatbefore? You can tell us all about what Veldid and Thorne are doing, and what theirplans are!" Before she could say anything more, he was dragging her back through

the maze of corridors, so that she had to run to keep up with his long strides. Theyended up in the sitting room again, and Jorryn dispatched servants to fetch the restimmediately.

"Wait till they come," he told her. "Then you can tell us all at once." It didn't takelong for the rest to arrive, and after everyone was there, he announced, "Lady

Janelle has something to tell all of us, and I thought it was important that you alllisten. She says that she's been transported here from her own world, in which weare all people in a book, and she knows what's happening and what's going tohappen," he added for the benefit of Garren, Leola, and Garrim.

"But how do you know this to be true?" asked Garren. He cast an apologetic glance

at Janelle. "Forgive me, my lady, but it's a rather hard story to believe."

"We'll explain that to you later," said Darian impatiently. "She told us more on theway here, and we believe her. For now let's listen to what she has to tell us."

Suddenly all eyes were on her, and she felt a little nervous at having to speak withall these princes and lords staring at her. "Well, for starters, about what you werediscussing this afternoon when we got here," she said. "The Veldid now in Cabinendisn't the real Veldid. He was kidnapped by Thorne and the fake Veldid his name isMorde is ruling in his place. Morde was enhanced by Thorne's magicians to looklike Veldid, and the real Veldid is now imprisoned in Thorne's dungeon."

Everyone else in the room wore expressions of varying dismay and shock, but noneof them seemed inclined to interrupt, so she continued, "You are right about theleather and the weapons, Thorne wants them for his Tridexes. His magicians founda way to make one Tridex spawn ten young ones at once instead of one, so hissupply of them is much greater than before, and the population is still growing.

Thorne's ultimate plan is to take over all the princedoms. Soon he will bringTridexes openly into Cabinend, since he's already got control of it through the fakeVeldid. Next on his list is Tremedard," she said, looking at Jorryn.


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His jaw was clenched and a dangerous light shone from his eyes, but his voice wassteady. "Please go on," he said tightly.

"He wants Tremedard first because it borders his own land, like Cabinend. After thatcomes Lefar, and then the rest of the princedoms. But he won't get them," she

added quickly, when Garren looked like he was going to jump up and start shoutingfor his army to make ready to march on Perith. "At the end of my book, the Tridexeshave surrounded Rosendawn, and everyone thinks that it is the end, but Garren andGarrim, uh, I mean, Prince Garren and Prince Garrim, you lead the Lefarian army tothe rescue and between Lefar and Tremedard, you manage to kill all the Tridexes.

The book ends there, and it doesn't say what happens to Thorne and Veldid. But itdoes say that not even one Tridex remains alive to return to Perith."

They spent the rest of the night questioning her, and she spent it trying toremember every little detail of her book for them. She also spent a lot of time tryingto caution them, because the change in their actions now would cause changes inthe future they shaped. They were too excited about what she was telling them,

however, to pay much attention to this.

She was exhausted by the time they finally let her go to bed. They had decided thatthey should let events proceed according to the book as much as possible, to lessenthe chances of Thorne making unexpected moves. They would ready their armies,and Garren would make sure that his sentries kept a close watch on Tremedard, sothat he would know immediately when his army should be sent. Jorryn would stepup the number of troops patrolling the Perith border, so that he would be alerted atthe first sign that the Tridex army was on the move. Other than that, all they coulddo was to wait.

They left for Rosendawn the very next day. Jorryn was too anxious to get back andstart readying his army to stay any longer. He had given Janelle the choice ofwhether she wanted to stay at Bel Tinel, or go back with them. Bel Tinel was muchsafer, he'd told her, and he wouldn't blame her if she wanted to stay there withPrincess Leola. But Janelle didn't want to be left behind, she wanted to go toRosendawn, to see the battle that would be played out before her very eyes.Besides, she was afraid that she might have forgotten to tell them something thatshe would remember in the next few days, some detail that might prove vital totheir victory in the final battle.

She had a horse of her own this time, which Jorryn had borrowed from Garren, citingthe reason that they'd be able to travel faster if Roland's horse wasn't carryingdouble weight. Leola had also given her a travel pack, into which the maid hadpacked five new dresses, and she was currently wearing ladies breeches and awhite cotton shirt, which seemed to be what ladies wore when they rode. She wasglad, since she didn't think she'd be able to put on any of the dresses with a millionhooks without help.

For the first half an hour, riding took up most of her concentration, because shewasn't very good at it, and having to ride all by herself wasn't as easy as it looked.


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But after a while she got the hang of it, and she was able to look around at thelandscape as they travelled. Bel Tinel was in the middle of a grassy plain, butaround midday, they had reached the edge of a forest. Janelle knew that it was partof the same forest in which they'd found her, and they had to cross it to get toRosendawn. It was part of the reason that the Lefarian army had taken so long toreach Rosendawn in the book, because going through the forest slowed them down.

When darkness fell over the forest, they stopped and made camp, because it washarder to traverse a forest by night than the open plains. "Guess what?" saidDarian, a mischievous look on his face. "What?" she asked.

"We've got an extra tent now, one for you and one for us!" he grinned, and shelaughed. She helped Darian to set up the tents, while Jorryn and Roland collectedfirewood. Then Roland set off to get water, leaving the others to start the fire.

Janelle decided to go and wash her hands and face, and asked Darian where thespring was.

"It's that way, about five minutes walk," he answered, pointing. She followed the

direction, and after a few minutes, heard the gurgling sound of water. But beforeshe got there, she heard a cry and a thud. She broke into a run and soon reachedthe edge of the clearing, stopping herself just in time before she burst out of thecover of the trees. She hid behind a thick trunk and peered out cautiously.

There were two Tridexes there, and she choked back a gasp of horror when she sawRoland lying on the ground, not moving. She couldn't tell whether they'd killed himor merely knocked him out. The Tridexes were arguing loudly, which was probablywhy they hadn't heard her coming, but she couldn't understand them because theywere growling and grunting in their native tongue.

After about two minutes, they started searching Roland's body. She heard him

groan at their rough handling, and breathed a sigh of relief he was alive! TheTridexes took the bow and the quiver of arrows off his back, and removed the shortsword at his belt and two knives from his boots. Then, she had a wonderful piece ofluck. The Tridex holding the bow and quiver tossed it away, in her direction, and itlanded just beyond the tree behind which she was hiding. Did she dare reach outand grab it? She had to, or they would kill Roland, or kidnap him, if that was theirintention. She didn't have time to run back and fetch Jorryn and Darian.

Janelle took her chance when the Tridexes bent over Roland again, facing awayfrom her. She stuck out her hand, grabbed the bow in her left hand and an arrow inher right. The bow was heavy, made for a man, but she managed to draw it back

just enough. Mentally thanking her archery coach for the long hours of drilling, sheaimed at the nearer of the two Tridexes and let fly. The Tridex was speared throughthe back of its neck, and fell, clawing at the arrow and making the most horriblegurgling sounds as it died. The other one whirled around, and charged at her beforeshe could get another arrow out of the quiver. She dropped the bow and turned torun. I'm not going to make it, it's so much bigger than me!

She tripped on a tree root and fell sprawling on the ground. This is the end, shethought, I'm going to die here. Then two pairs of booted feet appeared running in


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front of her eyes and disappeared behind her. She heard steel slice through flesh,more gurgling sounds, and then the boots reappeared and she felt a hand on hershoulder. "My lady, are you all right?" It was Darian.

She scrambled to her feet with his help, gasping, "I'm fine, but Roland is hurt! He'sby the spring, they ..." Before she could finish, Jorryn had dashed off, and she and

Darian followed after him more slowly. By the time they got there, Roland hadmanaged to sit up groggily, with Jorryn supporting him. They made their way slowlyback to camp, with Roland leaning heavily on Jorryn. Darian wanted to tend toRoland's head, but he said, "It's nothing, just a lump, I deserve it for being socareless."

"What happened?" asked Jorryn.

"I don't really know," said Roland. "I was filling one of the bottles, and I think theycoshed me from behind, I don't remember anything till I woke up and you werethere."

"You weren't the one who shot the Tridex?" said Darian in surprise. "Then who did?"

"Well, erm, actually, I did," Janelle spoke up a little hesitantly.

"You shot the first Tridex? Right through the neck?" asked Jorryn incredulously.

"Yes, I did," said Janelle, a bit miffed at the surprise in his voice. "Roland's bow israther heavy for me, but other than that, it wasn't so hard. One of them pulled thebow and quiver off him and happened to toss them in my direction. I just pickedthem up and managed to shoot at the first Tridex, but I didn't have time to shootthe other before it came charging over. So I ran, and that's when you guys came."

"But I thought you told us that your people don't use such weapons to fight?" askedDarian curiously.

"Well, they don't, really. Archery is a sport, it's done for fun, for the enjoyment onederives from honing a skill," she explained. "It's not for killing people. I practice itbecause I enjoy it, not because my life depends on it, like yours does."

They all stared at her for a moment, then Roland said, "Well, then, I owe you mylife. They would have killed or taken me, if not for you."

"Erm, well, that's quite all right," said Janelle uncomfortably. "Anyone would havedone the same thing." She looked down at her hands, feeling self-conscious as theystared at her for a moment longer, and was thankful when Darian changed thesubject.

They ate their dinner sitting around the campfire, excellent fare packed for them byGarren's castle chef, before retiring to their respective tents. Jorryn and Darian tookturns to keep watch that night, allowing Roland time to rest and recover from hisencounter with the Tridexes.


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It took them the whole of the next day to cross the forest, which gave way to gentlyrolling hills. On the third morning after they had left Bel Tinel, they were able to seeRosendawn in the distance. The magnificent castle was nestled in a wide valley,surrounded by lush green fields.

So this is Rosendawn, thought Janelle soberly. This is where it the battle will be,

where the book will end. But what will happen to me after it does?

Janelle sat in the solar of the castle with the other castle ladies, sewing at a hugepiece of cloth that was supposed to be a battle flag for Tremedard. Or rather, therest of the ladies sewed. Janelle sat there, occasionally stabbing the needle in andout of the cloth without making any stitches, because she was afraid that she woulddo it wrongly and then someone else would have to spend time fixing her mistakes.

Upon reaching Rosendawn, Darian had placed her in the charge of his youngersister, Danelea, who seemed to be the one in charge of the castle as well. She haddelegated Janelle to help in the sewing room, and Janelle hadn't wanted to tell herthat she couldn't sew to save her life. So here she now sat, trapped in the midst of

the giggling, chattering ladies who were working on the flag.

As she pretended to sew, her thoughts drifed to Roland, wondering what he'd beendoing since they'd arrived. More specifically, wondering whether or not he'd thoughtabout her at all since they'd arrived at Rosendawn two days ago. She hadn't seenhide nor hair of him since then, and found herself spending an inordinate amount oftime thinking about him - of the gentle way in which he'd tended the bump on herhead on the first day when they'd found her in the forest, of the concern in his voicewhen he'd saved her from the first Tridex, and of the terror she'd felt when she sawhim lying on the forest floor after being knocked out.

That afternoon, Janelle decided that she couldn't stand it in the solar anymore, and

plucked up her courage to ask Danelea if there was anything else she could do tohelp out besides sewing. Danelea brought her to the kitchen, where she wasintroduced to "Cook", a tall, thin woman in a starched apron and cap. Janelle mighthave been assigned a rank of "Lady", but here in the kitchen, Cook reignedsupreme. She was unceremoniously ordered, together with three other youngwomen, to knead dough for baking bread, in preparation for the army which wasnow being recalled from various provinces of Tremedard. After about ten minutes,though, Cook decided Janelle was doing it wrong, and reassigned her to measuringand mixing the required ingredients instead. When she spilt a bag of flour all overthe floor and herself, Cook threw up her hands in disgust and banished her from thekitchen.

Covered with flour and trying valiantly to blink back tears, Janelle fled from thekitchen, and blindly climbed up the nearest flight of stairs till she reached a door.She opened it cautiously and found herself walking out onto a kind of balcony whichoverlooked the practice fields where the soldiers were training with swords, jabbingspears into bundles of hay, and shooting arrows at targets.

Watching the archers below, she itched to find out the differences between theirweapons and the training ones she'd used at home. She had been too preoccupied


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at the time to get a good look at Roland's bow when she'd used it to kill the Tridex.Archery was her favourite hobby and pasttime, and it had been the one thing shereally excelled in. Although it had been tiring to go for training three times a weekafter a hard day's work, it had been immensely satisfying to feel the confidence thatcame with shooting arrow after arrow, all of which landed precisely where she'daimed.

It didn't seem like she would be going back to her world anytime soon. Although shedidn't really miss anyone there very much, she did miss having something to do. Inher own world, she was an accountant by training with a university degree. It wasn'texactly the most fulfilling job, but at least it was useful, contributing something toher company. In this world, however, she didn't seem to be useful for anything atall. I can't sew, I can't cook, and I doubt that even the castle accountant would wantmy help, seeing as how he's such great friends with Cook, she thought glumly. She'sprobably told him all about the klutz who can't knead dough to save her life. Oranyone else's, for that matter.

Would anyone miss her if she was gone? Had she ever made or would she ever

make a difference anytime, anyhow? She heaved a sigh, reflecting on how aloneshe was, no matter which world she happened to be in.

"My lady?" Oh drat, it was him. Roland. And here she was, all covered in flour. "Issomething wrong?" he asked.

I will not cry, I will not cry, she repeated to herself fiercely. It didn't work, theconcern in his voice sent the tears spilling down her cheeks, and she turned away ina futile effort to hide them. "I guess something is wrong, then," he said. "Perhapsyou wouldn't mind telling me what is wrong? Perhaps I can help? After all, I can't letthe brave girl who saved my life cry up here all alone, now, can I?" he teasedgently.

"It's just that I ... I spent the past few days with the other ladies trying to sew, butI'm lousy at that, and the cook banished me from the kitchen because I spilt flour allover the floor. There doesn't seem to be anything useful I can do here, and I was

just thinking that ... that, well, nobody would even miss me if I wasn't here, and ...and that nobody is missing me now because I've left my world ..." she dissolved intosobs again.

She felt him move closer, and somewhat hesitantly slide his arms around her. "Well,my lady," he said with a hint of a smile in his voice, "I, for one, am very glad you arein this world, if that counts."

"You ... you are?" she said in surprise, and lifted her eyes to meet his. "Of course Iam," he replied with a smile. "Who would have saved me from the Tridexes if youhadn't been there? And besides, I don't often get to see ladies who are covered inflour, it's quite a sight," he grinned.

She gave him a watery smile, then tucked her face back against his chest, feelingher shoulders beginning to relax. It felt so good to be held by him, to pretend forone tiny moment that someone cared about her, that she wasn't all alone in the


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world. Her parents had died when she was just four years old, and she'd lived in anorphanage and then a series of foster homes till she was eighteen. She'd managedto win a scholarship to university through sheer hard work and determination, andhad moved away from her last foster home, working her way through the holidaysin her bid not to be dependent on anyone anymore. But being independent wasn'tall that great either, she'd found, because it was a very lonely way of life.

Now Roland was holding her, and surely it couldn't do any harm to pretend that itwas because he cared. She nearly laughed at herself. Harm? She was going to loseher heart to this handsome man if she wasn't careful.

He kept holding her till she pulled away a little, and then, taking out a handkerchief,gently dried her tears for her. She smiled at him more easily this time, and thenturned and rested her elbows on the balcony wall. He stood next to her, and theywatched the men down below training.

"So, where did you learn to shoot so well?" asked Roland.

"After I started working, I took up lessons three times a week. I've been doing it forthe past two years, at night after work," she replied, grateful for the change insubject.

"Work? What kind of work do you do?" he asked.

"I'm an accountant. I studied for three years at college to become one, and thenworked for two years after that," she added when he looked surprised. "I don't missit that much, but I do miss my archery sessions. It feels so satisfying when you havecomplete control over the arrow, when you release it and it lands exactly where youaimed," she said.

"That's exactly what it's like!" he exclaimed, looking surprised. "I've never metanyone who feels that way. Most of the archers I know do it to survive to protectthemselves or their homes, to hunt, to earn a living, or for other similar kinds ofreasons. None of them actually seems to like it for its own sake."

She laughed, and said, "Well, I certainly do, or I wouldn't pay someone to torture mewith training thrice a week, now, would I?"

"My lady," he began.

"Janelle," she interrupted him, a little shyly.

"Janelle," he repeated with a soft smile. "And you must call me Roland. But what Iwas going to say was, how would you like to spend your time here practicingarchery, instead of sewing or being in the kitchen? We can always use another goodarcher on the walls."

She threw her arms around him again. "I can? I can I can I can?" she exclaimedexcitedly. He laughed. "Of course you can, why not?"


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"I thought that only the men could do it, I didn't see any women down there," shesaid, glancing back down at the field below.

"Well, there are a few, but not many," he said. "They wear the same clothes as themen do, so it's hard to tell them apart from this distance. If you like, I can take youdown there and introduce you to the armsmaster, and tomorrow you can start

training with the rest."

"Roland ... thank you," she said, smiling happily.

He laughed again. "Thank me tomorrow, if you still feel so inclined, after Braddenhas you shooting at hay bales the whole day and you're aching from head to toe!"

Roland had exaggerated Bradden, the armsmaster, only made her practiceagainst the targets for no more than half a day, though this was only because thereweren't enough targets or space on the field for everyone. She was used to shootingwhile standing, but now she also had to learn to fire arrows while crouching, hidingbehind a barrier, and even lying prone on the ground. Fortunately she was already a

pretty good shot from a standing position, so it didn't take her that long to adapther style to the changes in position. The bows and arrows used here were heavierthan those she was used to, even those smaller bows made for the women, so shealso had to learn to compensate for the extra weight.

Roland was also there, but he only spent about an hour in the morning at targetpractice with the rest of the archers. The rest of the time he was helping Bradden tocoach the other archers, walking between them, correcting a pose here and there,or demonstrating a certain technique to one of the men. He was especially goodwith training the younger archers, some of whom were barely thirteen or fourteen,and who were nervous around the gruff armsmaster, but easily warmed to Roland'sgentle manner.

He could be fierce too, though she'd seen him take to task one of the older ladswho had been teasing a younger boy, poking at him with one of the practice arrows.Roland strode up behind them and grabbed the offender by the collar, fixing himwith a stare so stern that he visibly wilted. He then ordered him to the kitchens, tohelp carry water and firewood for the rest of the day as a punishment. The boyslunk off with his head hanging and his face red, unwilling to meet the eyes of anyof his comrades, who had been egging him on previously but now flushed guiltily.

Janelle had caught Roland watching her a few times, as he was going about hisduties. The first two times he had jumped a bit, before quickly turning away as if abit embarrassed to be caught staring. After that, though, he gave her a hesitant sortof half-smile each time, before continuing with his work. She smiled shyly back athim, her heart thumping a little faster as she did.

Just as she heard a gong sound from the castle, signalling that lunch would be readysoon, Bradden signalled a halt to the practice. "Well done, everyone! We'll stop heretoday, see you all bright and early tomorrow morning!" The archers started clearingup the practice weapons and moving back towards the castle.


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Janelle was pulling the last few arrows out of her target, when she felt a tap on hershoulder. Turning around, she was unsurprised to see Roland behind her. "So howdid you find your first day of training?" he asked with a smile.

"I enjoyed it a lot!" Janelle smiled back at him. "My arms are aching though, I'venever trained for such a long time at once. We only did about two hours at each

practice session at home." They started to walk back towards the castle, most ofthe archers having gone on ahead already.

"Do you miss your home a lot?" Roland asked. "I cannot imagine being wrenchedfrom my world into another, let alone one as different as you have described yoursto be."

"Well I don't really have anyone to miss there," replied Janelle. "My parents diedwhen I was very young, and I never felt like anyone really cared all that much aboutme after that. I mean, I do have some friends, but we're not all that close. I mean,they'd miss me if I wasn't there, but my absence wouldn't make that great adifference to them, I don't think."

She could see the sympathy in his eyes, and was thankful when he changed thesubject before things got awkward. "So, how tired are you really? The main hall isgetting a little crowded, what with the provincial forces being summoned, and Ithought you might like to take a horse, ride out, and explore some of thesurrounding areas."

Her face lit up with surprise and pleasure. "I would love to! I've been so bored in thecastle these few days, trying to find something to do, and while I was shootingarrows this morning, half my brain was taken up with trying to find something elseto occupy my time this afternoon! But," she hesitated, "don't you need to helpBradden to train the afternoon archers? I don't want to interfere with your duties."

"Don't worry, you won't be," Roland laughed. "The more experienced archers willtake their turn at training in the afternoon, and Bradden doesn't really need my helpwith them. Besides, I was feeling rather cramped today, what with all the extrasoldiers arriving, and I could really use a ride. I can go get a basket from Cook andmeet you at the stables in an hour, if that's all right with you?"

"Great, it's a date then!" she said without thinking.

"A date?" he queried, looking puzzled.

"Erm I mean yes, that sounds great, I'll go get ready now, see you at thestables later, ok?" Janelle fled before he could ask any more questions.

They rode out in the early afternoon, exploring the surrounding areas of the castle,and picnicking by a little spring in the shade of the trees. Roland was fascinated tolearn about the many differences between their worlds, and Janelle spent a longtime describing them to him. He in turn told her more about his world, his family,and himself.


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Over the next few weeks, Janelle continued to attend archery practice everymorning. Roland was always there, and she noticed him watching her again everynow and then. He would smile at her each time, and she would smile back, and theywould hold each others' gaze for a moment before continuing with their task.

In the afternoons, she sometimes picnicked with Roland, but more often than not,

he was busy helping Jorryn with organising the Tremedardian forces. Lady Danelearecruited her to assist with the stocktaking of the food supplies for the soldiers, andshe was more than happy to help, finding it to be easier than measuring flour orsewing flags, and glad to have something else to do that was helping the castleready itself for war.

Every evening, she dined with the rest and got to know each of them better. Jorrynwas the most serious of the three friends, but as he was responsible for the safetyand well-being of the whole princedom, that wasn't really surprising. Darian had awicked sense of humour, and was always ready to lighten the mood with a joke orprank. Lady Danelea was vivacious and charming, and very much indulged by thethree men.

They had decided that only the Jorryn, Roland, Darian and Danelea should be toldabout Janelle's true origins, so as to save her from any awkward questions andcomments that might be thrown her way. In those few weeks of preparation, theygrilled her about every military event that she could remember from the book, untilshe felt that she could have recited the story in her sleep. She didn't begrudge themthis, though, because she knew that Jorryn was trying to find a way to save as manyas possible of his soldiers, and that the knowledge she gave him could make thedifference between life and death for many people in this war.

For war it was indeed. Twenty days after they had arrived at Rosendawn, amessenger arrived from the Perith border. The Tridexes were on the move, and

would cross the border within the next three days or so.

Jorryn immediately sent messengers on his fastest horses to Bel Tinel, to alertGarren to start moving his army towards Rosendawn. They would camp just insidethe forest, out of enemy sight. When the Tridexes arrived at Rosendawn, theLefarians would move in and the Tridexes would be caught between them and the

Tremedardian forces guarding Rosendawn. This was move that had been used inthe book, and Jorryn had decided that the same tactics should be used, so as toleave as little to chance as possible. The only difference would be that the Lefarianforces would arrive much earlier, and hence end the battle faster or so theyhoped, anyway. Jorryn was determined that Janelle's quote from the book, that "notone Tridex will remain alive to return to Perith" would hold true.

Eleven days later, Janelle awoke to the sound of a long horn blast. Blinking her eyessleepily, she glanced out of the window and saw that the first light of dawn wascreeping over the horizon. The horn sounded again, and this time it jolted her intofull alertness. Somehow she knew, without being told, that what it meant. The

Tridexes were coming.


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She had changed into her archery gear and was trying to bind up her hair when apounding sounded on her door. She opened it to find Roland outside, and with him apage carrying a set of light armour. "The armour is for you, and he will help you intoit," he said, nodding to the page. "I'll see you on the walls, I have to go organise thearchers." Janelle nodded, her heart pounding with excitement of the battle to come.

The page entered the room and began to lay out the armour for her.

Roland turned to leave, but after a moment's hesitation, turned back again. "Janelle" his eyes held her captive for a long moment, and she felt as if she couldn't havelooked away if her life depended on it. He took a step forward, till there was lessthan a foot separating them. "Stay safe," he whispered. His arms went around heretightly for a moment, and she didn't realise she was clinging to him too, until hemoved back slightly. She freed one hand to lightly touch his face, and then tiptoedas he lowered his head to kiss her in a gentle brush of lips. Then he turned andstrode off down the corridor, leaving Janelle behind to get ready.

He had left for her a light chain mail tunic that reached nearly to her knees, as wellas a small helmet suited for her size. A bow and a quiver of arrows completed her

ensemble, and she looked in the mirror, rather surprised. A month ago she hadbeen plain old Janelle, living alone in her small apartment in San Francisco, and nowshe was an archer in Jorryn's army, ready and eager to fight the Tridexes togetherwith the rest of the Tremedardians!

"My lady, if you're ready, we could proceed?" The page was waiting for her at thedoor. "Of course," she replied, and followed him out of the room. He led her to theouter battlements, where Jorryn, Roland, and Darian were deep in discussion withBradden and some other grizzled-looking men in heavy armour. She realised thatthese must be the Tremedardian battle commanders, who would provide Jorryn withtheir valuable advice, garnered from years of fighting and training.

Not wanting to disturb them, she turned away and followed the page to a niche inthe wall. She could see the peaceful grass plains outside the wall, and the

Tremedardian army, clad in their bright red uniforms, were lined up in neat ranksbelow where she stood. Far away in the distance, a dark grey cloud of dust made asmudge against the horizon. The Tridex army, she thought. They're coming.

"Nervous?" asked Roland from next to her. He had taken up his place in the nichenext to hers, and she realised with a start that he had probably arranged thisbeforehand with the page.

"Definitely," she replied honestly. "I doubt anyone who's never been in battle beforecould not be nervous at all." He looked like he was going to say something more,but at that moment a squire ran up with a message from one of the battlecommanders and he had to turn away from her to give the boy his attention.

Slowly but surely, the Tridex army advanced. The dull thud of their footfalls hadgrown progressively louder, and Janelle could hear their roars and growls fromwhere she stood. By late morning, they had stopped a few hundred yards away, andstood, facing the Tremedardian army. Janelle could feel her heart pounding and shecouldn't imagine how the soldiers below, especially those in the front row, could


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stand there calmly looking at the sea of black monsters, knowing that they wouldsoon have to face them in battle.

A single rider carrying a black flag rode out from the mass that was the Tridexarmy. In answer, a chariot drawn by two white horses drove out of the massivegates below Janelle, through the ranks of the Tremedardian army. She couldn't hear

what the exchange of words, but Roland explained from next to her, "That's Veldid,or the man who is masquerading as Veldid, if what you said was correct. He willissue a formal claim on the castle, and Jorryn has to reject, before he can attack."

The rider turned around and rode back to the Tridex army, while Jorryn and Darianturned in the other direction and headed for the walls. She heard the sound of adeep horn blast come from the direction of the Tridexes, and the sea of blackstarted to advance towards them. One of the Tremedardian battle commanders,who was now outside the walls with the army, blew an answering blast on his ownhorn and the men charged forward unhesitatingly. The clash as the two armies metwas deafening, and Janelle cringed inwardly, wondering how she could have thoughtthat she was brave enough to fight in the battle.

It was too late to back out now, though, because she heard Roland gave thecommand, "Fire high!" from beside her. A shower of arrows flew in an arc to hit themass of Tridexes that were behind the frontlines, who had not yet come into contactwith the Tremedardians. They were too far away for the archers to take proper aim,so they were just letting the arrows fly en masse towards the Tridexes, as many asthey could, as fast as they could. Many of them had their second arrow launchedand a third nocked even before the first had hit the Tridex lines. Janelle could hearthe screams and roars of the monsters that had been hit, and could even see a fewfall, trampled by their own comrades in the charge.

As the battle moved closer, the Tremedardians fell back a little, and Janelle noticed

that some Tridexes had now gotten close enough for the archers to take aim. AtRoland's command, the more experienced ones changed stance to fire downwardsat specific targets. Some archers had heavy crossbows, which fired bolts that could,and did, pierce the leather armour worn by the Tridexes. Others used smaller bows,with deadly little arrows that found their targets in visors and between the neckpieces. The younger archers, Janelle included, kept up their rain of arrows towardsthe back of the Tridex lines. Squires, some no more than nine or ten years old, randown the line, renewing the supply of arrows for each archer.

Despite Janelle's advance warning and the extra preparations that had been made,the Tremedardians were still suffering significant losses, and slowly but surely, the

Tridexes were managing to advance. In just an hour or so, some had reached thebottom of the walls, and were attempting to scale them with long ladders. So far,the men on the walls had managed to overturn all the ladders, but Janelle didn'tthink that they would be able to continue much longer as more and more of the evilcreatures appeared. She wondered desperately where the Lefarians were, and wasterrified that their messengers might somehow have gotten caught by the Tridexes.

A horn blast signalled a retreat, and the Tremedardians started to fight their wayback to the castle. Rescue teams of four to five men were sent out to bring back the


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Janelle stifled a scream of horror as she suddenly caught sight of Roland, over to herleft, being attacked by five Tridexes at once. He still had an empty quiver on hisback, but had lost his bow, and was now fighting with a sword in one hand and ashield in another. Without hesitation she changed position, and took aim hisattackers. Her first arrow missed as the Tridex ducked to avoid a blow from Roland'ssword, but her second one found its mark in its neck. The third arrow hit another

Tridex in its leg, and Roland managed to dispatch it with his sword as it fell to itsknees.

She heard a cry from her right turned her head, just in time to see a Tridex pullingits sword out of the archer standing next to her. She screamed and backed away asit turned towards her, but before it could swing its sword at her, it was gutted by

Tremedardian soldier from behind. Before she could thank him, though, he retrievedhis spear and charged back into the midst of the battle.

Turning back towards Roland, she saw that he had managed to kill another Tridexand was now battling the remaining two. She reached for another arrow, andrealised with a shock that it was her last one. Carefully, she took aim and fired. One

of the two fell, and Roland turned to concentrate on the last one, not noticinganother Tridex coming up behind him with a spear.

"Roland! Behind you!" she screamed, but her warning was lost in the din of thebattle. Looking frantically around for something - anything - to help him, shegrabbed a sword from the hand of a fallen soldier and sprinted towards Roland. Hemanaged to find an opening in the black armour with his sword, and as the Tridexfell, he turned to face the new attacker. His sword was lodged in the dead one'sbody, however, and even Janelle could see that he wouldn't be able to pull it freefast enough. She screamed his name as she saw him bring up his shield to ward offthe first blow of the spear.

The Tridex must have heard her, for it turned as she came. This one looked biggerand meaner than all the others that she had seen at close range, and if she hadbeen able, she might have stopped, turned, and fled for her life. However, she wasrunning so fast that her momentum carried her on, impaling the Tridex on the endof her sword. It roared in pain, and swung the spear around, which connected solidlywith the side of her helm.

She knew she should feel pain but her whole body seemed to be frozen. Timeslowed to a crawl as she saw Roland wrench his sword free and plunge it into theneck of the Tridex that had attacked her. It fell, taking her sword with it, and herhands, still clenched around the hilt, pulled her down to her knees. Roland hadgrabbed her by the shoulders and was calling her name frantically, his voicesounding to her as if it was echoing through a long tunnel. Then the pain finallycaught up with her, and her head exploded in a burst of agony, chasing her intodark oblivion.

Janelle opened her eyes, and sat up. Surprisingly, nothing hurt at all. Everythingaround was white and misty, and looking down, she found that she was clothed in asoft, white gown. Maybe I'm dead and this is heaven, she thought, feeling strangelydetached.


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As she stood up, however, the mist began to clear a little, and she could see twodoors in front of her, side by side. She moved closer to the door on the left, andrealised that if she concentrated, she could see through it and even hear voices. It'sa hospital room, she realised. There was a single bed, surrounded by doctors andnurses, one of whom was blocking her view of the patient. Then the woman moved

to the side, and Janelle realised with a shock, it's me! Bits and pieces of theconversation drifted up to her, "The poor girl impossible to tell if she'll everrecover haven't been able to find the next-of-kin to contact them "

That must be me after I fell down the stairs, she thought. Is it my time to go backnow? She wondered absently how badly she had been injured; the still figure on thebed was swathed in bandages and hooked up to many beeping machines.

Janelle turned to the other door, and concentrated again. She saw her room atRosendawn, and herself lying on the bed, again bandaged and unmoving. Rolandwas at her bedside, holding her hand and speaking urgently to her. "Janelle please, my love, wake up please, open your eyes and look at me Janelle " his

face crumpled and he buried his head in his hands.

Tears rolled down her face as she felt his pain, her heart crying out to be with himas well. She knew that she had to make a decision now, which door she wanted togo through. Did she want to go back to her own world, where everything was safeand familiar? Or could she give that all up and plunge herself back into the fictionalworld, just to be with Roland? What if things didn't work out between them, and shewanted to come back then? She doubted that she would be given a second chanceto make the decision, so whichever path she chose now, she would have to live withfor the rest of her life.

She looked between the two doors, torn and unsure. Then she took a deep breath,

placed her hand on a door handle, and pushed.

It felt like some sadistic person was hammering at the inside of her head with whitehot mallets, and another one was digging knives into her side. Niggling pains fromother minor cuts and scratches, as well as muscle strains, all nagged at her fromthe sidelines.

Dimly, she heard a voice on her left. "Janelle, please, wake up can you hear me?Please, open your eyes and look at me, Janelle, please " she recognised Roland'svoice pleading with her.

Making a valiant effort against the lead weights dragging her eyelids down, shemanaged to open her eyes just a little bit. "Roland?" Her voice came out as barelymore than a breath, but he heard her.

"Janelle?" he whispered, almost disbelievingly. She felt him grip her hand tightly inboth of his, and tried to squeeze back feebly. "Janelle," he spoke her name again,this time with such relief on his face that she wanted to weep for him, for the painand fear he must have gone through. He was wearing the clothes that he had wornduring the battle, minus the armour, and still bore traces of blood and dirt. There


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was a bandage around his left arm, and he looked as if he hadn't slept of shaven indays.

She tried to lift her hand to touch his face, but it was too much effort, and her armdropped back to her side again. The movement awakened the dull throbbing ache inher head, which sharpened into knives of agony, and she whimpered involuntarily,

tears of pain spilling from her eyes.

As if through a deep fog, she heard Roland's voice, and felt his hands on hershoulders, firm but gentle. "It's all right, relax now Janelle, slowly, that's it, relax ..."She forced herself to listen to his voice, to relax her body which had tensed up fromthe pain, and sure enough, it slowly began to subside.

He took a bottle from the table at the side of her bed, and poured a few drops of theliquid into a spoon, which he held to her lips. She opened her mouth obediently andswallowed the medicine, grimacing at the bitter taste. It must have been strong,though, because almost immediately she felt herself becoming drowsy and relaxedas the druc chased away the pain to the edges of her consciousness.

He lifted one hand to her face, brushing away the tears, the tender gesturespeaking volumes. Feeling more safe and secure than she had ever felt, she smiledslightly at him, even as she drifted off into deep, dreamless sleep.

The next time she woke up, Roland wasn't there. Instead, sitting by her bed wasDanelea, placidly sewing at her embroidery.

"Janelle! You're awake!" she exclaimed, putting the sewing to one side. "How do youfeel?"

"Aching all over, especially my head, but I guess that will go away after a while,"

replied Janelle. At least this time I can move without my head exploding!

"Let me know if it gets worse; we can give you something for the pain," saidDanelea. "I'll go get you something to eat, you've been unconscious for five daysnow, you must be starving!"

"I am rather hungry, now that you mention it," said Janelle with a smile. Daneleagrinned in return and left the room, returning shortly with a tray of food.

To Janelle's chargrin, however, she was so weak that when she tried to feed herself,her shaking hands caused the broth to slop off the spoon. Danelea laughed and tookover the job, saying, "It's all right, you'll get stronger soon, you just need plenty ofrest and food as you heal."

She fed Janelle the rest of the food, then left her to rest on her own, saying shewould be back in a few hours with the evening meal.

Janelle spent the next few weeks recovering, not even able to leave her room. Justgetting out of bed to hobble once around the room was so exhausting that shespent the rest of the day sleeping after the few times that she tried it. She was


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attended to by Danelea or one of the maids, and was visited twice by the castlephysician, who came to check the wounds on her head and in her side. As she gotstronger, one of the maids would sometimes help her to the big armchair near thewindow, where she could spend an afternoon reading or looking out at the hillsbehind the castle.

Danelea had told her that the battle had been won when Garren and Garrim hadarrived with their army. Out of the five messengers who had been sent to them bydifferent routes, only one had managed to arrive at the Lefarian camp with themessage. The other four were missing, and Jorryn suspected that they had beencaught and killed by the Tridexes. The last one had only managed to arrive bytaking a long, circuitous route out of range of the Tridex sentries.

Jorryn, Roland and Darian were currently out with some of the soldiers and theLefarians, chasing down the stragglers from the Tridex army who had escaped, andhad not yet returned. At least she didn't have to wonder where Roland was, but thatdidn't stop her from missing him.

As each day passed, the memory of him at her bedside when she first woke upbecame more and more blurred, and she began to wonder whether she hadmisheard what he said, misinterpreted his actions, or maybe even hallucinated thewhole thing. I can't go back now, though, I've made my choice, she thought,remembering the two doors.

On the twenty-third day after the battle, Janelle was sitting in the armchair, readinga book, when she heard a knock on the door. "Come in," she called. To her surpriseand delight, Roland strode into the room.

"Roland!" she exclaimed, forgetting all her misgivings about his feelings for her. Shetried to jump up to go to him, forgetting her weakened state in her delight at seeing

him again, then clutched at the back of the armchair as she nearly fell over. Hereached her and caught her, settling her back into the armchair, then knelt in frontof her and took her hands, without once taking his eyes off hers.

"Janelle," he spoke her name softly. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine, just a bit weak and I get tired easily, but the physician said it will passsoon," she replied.

"I didn't want to leave you, but we had to go and hunt down the Tridexes, and I ..."he broke off as she put her finger across his lips. "Shh, it's all right, you're herenow," she said with a smile.

"I ... I thought that the Tridex had killed you," he whispered, his voice thick withemotion. "The physician said that he wasn't sure you would live after the blow toyour head and you were unconscious for three days; I thought I was going to loseyou."

"When I was unconscious ... I heard you calling to me to come back," she said softly."Was I dreaming? Did I really hear you say you love me?"


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"No, you weren't dreaming," he replied. "I'm not sure when it happened, or how, butI only realised how much I truly love you at the moment when I thought I'd lost youforever. I love you, Janelle, I really do," he repeated, the love shining from his eyesproclaiming the truth of his words.

"I love you too, Roland," she said, her eyes brimming at his words.

"Janelle, I have never been happier in my life than since the day I met you. I neverthought I could love someone as much as I love you, but I do. I can't bear thethought of living without you, and I want to spend the rest of my days with you, tohave children with you, and to grow old with you. Will you do me the honor ofbecoming my wife, my lady, princess of my heart and my life?" He raised her handto his lips, and this time her eyes did overflow.

"Oh Roland," she sighed, as he lifted his hand to her cheek and brushed away thetears that fell. "Yes, I love you too, and I will marry you," she said. He pulled out asmall box from his pocket, and offered it to her. With trembling hands she opened

it, to find a simple silver ring, set with a large diamond. He removed it from the box,and slid it onto her finger, then smiled at her, a smile of immense joy, matched onlyby the rapture in her heart.

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The Bettle of Rownsdown