Jewel, as she entered the dim interior of the castle, peered around for her twin, for some reason randomly thinking about her past.

  In the forest, Renee Rushings had died from starvation, and the Jkara family had taken in Jewel and her siblings. At fourteen, they had been sent to this castle, whose ruler was seemingly-though not-kind. However that might be, the twins were nobles and lived a relatively good life. And now, there was news  that the castle was going to be attacked, and the pair was being sent to summon whatever allies they could.

  Jared's tall, well-built frame, dressed in a pair of jeans, a shirt, and a vest, was stretched along a bench, his legs crossed and his arms underneath his head, dozing.

  Jewel set her pack down and leaned against the wall, rolling her eyes in annoyance. She knew she was almost always punctual-to herself, at least, but not to Jared. Creeping over to her brother, she poked him in the stomach, making him jump slightly.

  "I was awake," he complained. "No need to go to desperate measures!"

  "I'm afraid that seemed to be my last resort," Jewel said in mock regret.

  Jared jumped up and grabbed his pack. "We'd better get going before Lord Kyne finds out we're still here."

  Jewel shot him a mock glare. "Well, you didn't exactly help the process any."

  They soon exited the castle grounds, striding along the dusty path that led out. Their long legs helped them pick up the pace quite a bit.

  Jared flipped his dagger out of its sheath and threw it expertly at a small weed, pinning its thin stem to the ground. "So, exactly how far is Lord Malin's castle from Lord Kyne's?" he asked as he retrieved his dagger.

  "It's about eleven miles away," Jewel said, taking a map out of her pocket and showing Jared the route that they were taking. "If we traveled quickly all night, we would probably arrive late tomorrow afternoon-provided there are no delays, sincewe might get captured by rebels or something like that."

  They walked on on silence for a while and soon entered a forest. Jewel saw a flash of silver.

  "Jared, duck!" she yelled.

 Jared immediately ducked, and a dagger flashed by to stick in a  tree right behind him.

  "Look out, Jewel!" Jared hollered.

  Surprised, Jewel stumbled back against a tree, where another dagger stuck itself about two inches from her neck. shaking her surprise off, she grabbed her light javelin.

  Jared grabbed his sword, and they both shed their traveling packs.

  A group pf about twelve men burst out.

  It was a death or surrender situation;they quickly decided to surrender.

  The leader ordered his followers to tie them and take away their weapons. Then they were hustled to a clearing deep in the forest and tied to a tree. The rebels gathered around a campfire to talk.

 "Let's interrogate 'em, Chief," one suggested.

  The leader was a tall, tanned man who looked to be in his late thirties. He had dark blue eyes, curly black hair, and a quietness about him. "No," he said. "We will just kill them if they refuse to tell us what we want to know."

  He turned to the twins. "Where does your loyalty lie?"

  "Freedom," Jared said shortly.

  "Then what are these?" the leader asked as he gestured to the serpent emblems on their cloaks and uniforms.

  "They were forced onus," Jewel crisply replied. "We mean you no harm. Release us, and we won't tell anyone where your hideout is. We promise."

  "No," the leader said. He turned to Jared. "Do not lie. Are you loyal to Lord Kyne?"

  "No!" Jared almost shouted. "He forced us to serve him. We chose not to rebel; otherwise he would have killed us! Release us, and we won't tell anyone anything about your group. We promise!"

  Dusk closed in, shutting off the last rays of sunlight from the clearing. The leader left off questioning the twins and lay down under a cloak.

  "We'll figure out what to do with 'em tomorrow," he said, cutting off any questions. "Go to sleep. Bryle, Kerin, keep guard."

 "I guess that menas we'll have to release ourselves," Jewel whispered to Jared, who nodded in agreement.

 "Did they find your hidden dagger?" he asked.

 Jewel shook her head. "I'll try to get it when the guards fall asleep. We'll figure out what to do from there."

  By midnight, the guards had dropped into a deep sleep. Jewel wriggled her slim hands free of the rope and retrieved her hidden dagger. She then freed them both.

 Their supply packs were lying nearby. Jared quietly grabbed them, and they put them on their backs.

  Behind them was a thick grove of mighty oaks. They soon realized that the only way that they could escape was the way that they had come in, which was blocked by armed, sleeping men who could wake up at the blink of an eye.

  The twins refused to give up. They looked around for another way to escape, and soon found one. They looked at each other, grinned, and scrambled up a nearby tree to plan their next move.

  Bryle woke up and quickly looked to the tree where he had last seen the captives.

  They were gone.

  Bryle stood up and looked around, fingering his javelin.

  "Chief's gonna be mad," he said to himself, seeing movement out of the corner of his eye and whirling around in time to see Jared hurtling toward him through the air.

  "Yaaaah!" Jared hollered as he knocked the startled Bryle. Jewel was right behind him. Jared grabbed another vine and swung out of the clearing.

  The rest of the camp was awake. The Chief was scowling and urging his men to recapture the twins.

  Jared and Jewel swung from vine to vine, gaining distance, until...

  Jared turned his head to look at the position of their former capors.

  "Jared, look out for that tree-," Jewel began, stopping as her brother did,"-branch."

  Jared bounced up, rubbed his head, and grabbed another vine. "Keep going!" he said. "I'm fine!"

  Of course, it didn't take long for their arms to start aching, so they swung into a tree for a quick break.

  "When we're clear of the forest, just forget about the rebels and keep going to Lord Malin's castle," Jared said. "I doubt they would follow us into the open."

  "Yes," Jewel agreed. "We can warn Malin about them."

  After a while, they started swinging again. The rebels were closer than ever.

  Suddenly, there were yells of, "Stop! Get back! Stop!"

  The twins stopped and looked back, lowering themselves to teh ground as they did.

  A huge, black shape was blocking the way of the rebels, a tall, thick spear in one hand. The rebels now scrambled to get away.

  "Get back! Get back!" the leader shouted.

  Jewel looked at Jared. "He just saved us!"

  "We should thank him!" Jared replied.

  They looked back again, but the rebels and the black figure had disapppeared.

  "Let's get going," Jewel said. "The rebels might come again."

  They started running through the forest again, using moonlight on a compass to keep from getting lost.

  The sun was rising by the time they exited the forest and came to a grassland that stretched as far as they could see. They stopped for a quick breakfast, then continued.

  The sun rose high and hot with no clouds in the sky, the fact that they were half roasted to death made worse by their long pants and vests. The twins, who had endured this many times before, were grimly silent, not talknig much and stretching their water as far as they could.

  The faint outline of a castle came into view as light disappeared from the sky at the close of day.

  They ate dinner, lay down, and slept until dawn.

  The day grew cloudier and cloudier as they traveled on. The castle drew nearer.

  Jared pulled on his hooded cloak. "Better get on your hodded cloak, Jewel; teh weather's gonna get worse."

  It was drizzling by the time they reached the castle early in the afternoon.

  "Hoi! Who goes there?" came a voice from above the gate.

  "Messengers from Lord Kyne to Lord Malin!" Jewel called back. "It's very urgent!"

  A young guard scurried down a ladder dropped in front of the gate and approached them.

  "Your crests," he said in a commanding voice.

  Jared and Jewel pulled their cloaks aside and revealed the crests on their cloaks and uniforms.

  The guard looked them over briefly, then called over his shoulder, "Open the gate! They're friendly!"

  The twins followed the guard through the gate. Once they were through,he looked over his shoulder and up at them.

  "You're tall," he commented.

  "You just noticed?" Jared commented wryly.

  The guard ignored them. "My name's Ryan. What's yours?"

  Jewel looked at Jared, who shook his head.

  "We'd prefer to keep that..undercover," she said.

  "Whatever." Ryan kept on walking.

  "Does Lord Malin have any children?" Jared asked.

  "He has seven, and he's a widower," Ryan replied. "His oldest is a son, then he has six daughters."

  "Lucky guy," Jewel said. "I only have three brothers; no sisters."

  "In order, their names are Thor, Antonia, Lalage, Vidusi, Shizuko, Florence, and Septima." He turned to Jewel. Florence is really sweet. You'll just adore her."

  "I will?" Jewel asked.

  Ryan pointed to a figure sprawled on the bench of a gazebo. "That's Thor. We call him the castle RCG-Random comment Generator."

  Thor's voice drifted across the lawns to them..."...Kjawena, Lwera, Maera, Nerake, Octavan, Pjarana, Quaria, Rwanja, Sawara, Truena, Uera, Vaeria, Welaria, Xotura, Yhuria-cool, look at that snake!" He sprang off the bench and ran onto the lawns.

  "Thor, finish reciting your history!" rang out a stern voice.

  Thor jumped up from where he had benn kneeling in the grass.."..and Zhriave!" he finished, grabbing his book and running toward the castle keep.

  "That's Lord Malin," Ryan said, pointing up the steps of the keep to a tall figure dressed in black.

  Malin saw Ryan, Jewel, and Jared. "Meet me at the throne room in twenty minutes," he ordered, his black cloak swirling as he turned and went into the keep.

  Another servant approached Ryan. "I am to take the visitors to a room," he said. "Yuo are dismissed, Ryan."

  Ryan turned. "Yeah, I'd better get back, or Sir Kenneth will dice me. Bye, Zeke." He hurried off.

  Zeke led the twins to their room and told them how to get to the throne room. Then he went away.