The searing pain in my arm jolts me awake. I sit up, as the awful memories come flooding back to me. It's dark now and I squint, struggling to make out my surroundings in the moonlight. I'm not by the road anymore, but I don't remember moving. I'm in some sort of clearing. I don't see the road anywhere, but I see a large figure across the clearing. I feel around and find my bow and arrows and stand up. I almost have to sit back down again from the flooding dizziness, but I get my bearings and notch an arrow. As I move across the clearing, the figure slowly comes into focus.

"Scarlet!" I lower my bow and wrap my arms around her. She nickers with delight. "Hey, girl. I thought I had lost you," I say, resting my head on her neck. Then, I hear a stick crack behind me and swing around, aiming an arrow in that direction.

"Who's there?" I say, walking toward the center of the clearing. I fear the worst; that I hadn't killed all those men and one was coming back to finish me off. "Show yourself!" I shout, my arms shaking. Then, I see the glint of the hilt of a sword in the moonlight.

"It's alright, Elaerya! It's only me! Don't shoot!"

"Tryan?" I say in disbelief. I lose grip of my bow and it drops to the ground. Relief floods through me and my composure crumbles as I sink to my knees. The next thing I know, Tryan has his arms around me, holding me up.

"I thought...I thought you were...one of them," I get out between gasps for air.

"It's okay now. You killed them all. They aren't coming back."

I finally catch my breath and Tryan helps me to stand. He leads me over to the middle of the clearing to sit down and unties a bundle of firewood from Midnight Sun's saddle. He starts a fire and then comes over to sit down next to me.

"So, you took out all five of those men by yourself. I'm impressed," he says, squeezing my bad arm.

"Ow!" I whimper in pain.

"I'm sorry!" he cries, backing away.

"It's okay," I say. "An arrow grazed my arm, so don't be too impressed. One of the things I forgot to pack in my rush to leave was a medical kit."

"Let me see," he says, taking my arm and examining my gash. He gets up and pulls a small bag out of his traveling pack. "Fortunately, I did bring a medical kit. Your father insisted. Let's just say he wasn't too happy when you left."

I wince as he wipes the dried blood away from my wound. Maybe I wasn't thinking when I left by myself, but I just couldn't stand being treated like such a baby.

"How did you find me?" I ask.

"Well, after you knocked me over with Scarlet, I had to go in and tell your father. Did I mention that he's not very happy with you?" Tryan starts wrapping my arm in a bandage.

"Yeah, yeah, don't remind me. I'm sorry about that by the way. Knocking you to the ground."

"It's okay. Anyway, your father made sure I had everything that I needed and told me to come find you. A little while ago, I found you collapsed against a tree surrounded by five men with arrows in their chests and brought you here. I didn't even see your arm until you said something."

"Yeah about that," I say, sheepishly. "The last man I killed; their leader, Markus; he said that he tipped the arrow with poison from the owsiany berry. Have you ever heard of it?"

I see Tryan's face go white. "The owsiany berry?" He stands up and paces, running his fingers through his dark hair.

"Tryan?" He doesn't answer me. I stand up and move in front of him. "Oh, will you stop pacing and talk to me!" I say, grabbing his arms. He looks at me and his eyes flash with confusion and desperation.

"Elaerya, do you know what this means?"

"Yes, Tryan. I know the only antidote is in King Arden's castle in Berirind and I know that I'm going to die a slow, painful death. Markus told me that much before I killed him."

Tryan curses under his breath and starts pacing again, and then he turns on me. "You shouldn't have left without me! You should have stuck with the plan! This is exactly why we were trying to get you away! So nothing like this would happen, Elaerya! You're so...so...stubborn!"

Stubborn! He was calling me stubborn?!

"Oh, don't you try to blame this on me, Tryan! If you hadn't told me that I couldn't protect myself I would have stuck with the plan!"

"Well, if you didn't always feel the need to prove yourself then you would have agreed with me! Oh, and look at the high and mighty warrior princess now! You couldn't protect yourself!"

"I killed all of those men!"

"And then got shot! With a poison-tipped arrow, mind you!"

"Then we will go get the antidote! I'm not afraid!"

"And die even quicker? I don't think so!"

"So, what? You're just going to let me die a slow, agonizing death? I'd rather be killed by King Arden!"

"Well, I'm not going to let any of that happen to you!"

"And how are you supposed to keep me alive without the antidote? Face it, Tryan! I'm as good as dead!"

Before I can say anything else, Tryan has my face in his hands and he presses his lips against mine. I can't breathe; can't think! He pulls away and looks at me with those piercing blue eyes.

"Not to me, you aren't," he whispers.

I raise my hand to his face...and slap him. Who did he think he was? Kissing me? I push away from him.

"Don't you ever do that again, Tryan," I say coldly, backing away. Before he can react, I am already next to Scarlet, yanking out my bedroll from my pack. I settle down across the fire from Tryan, still angry with him. Why would he kiss me? Was it to get me to stop yelling at him? Or could it mean something else?

"Goodnight, Elaerya," Tryan says.

I don't answer him and just roll over on to my side. I touch my lips where he kissed me, remembering the warmth of his lips on mine, and drift off to sleep.