Hey y'all. This is S.S. Dailey. Well, we've made it to round three. Hopefully this story will start picking up speed now that we're all starting to get to know our characters and figuring out where we're heading with this. As always, Read and Review!

Chapter Twelve

Kainda clucked Vidran into a nice even canter and headed out of the forest. She had been riding for several days and really had no idea where she should go. Part of her wanted to seek out the Rebels and join them but the other part of her wanted to find the Dark Knights and continue on the path her parents wished her to follow. But instead of deciding anything she had been traveling in circles around her home, trying to figure out which path was right.

The lifestyle of a Dark Knight was the only way she knew. Even when she realized that she had the ability to not follow the One’s wishes, she still did because it was the only thing she knew. Marek had changed all of that. His desire for a different lifestyle, one where the people could choose what to do, had been so powerful that it had made Kainda think of rebelling as a possibility. When Marek had died she had stopped thinking of rebelling and only thought of survival.

Now though she had a choice, but had no idea which path to choose. If she fought with the Rebels and the Dark Knights found out, she would be killed. But if she sided with the Dark Knights she could be killed by the Rebels. Then again, she would probably kill herself if she tried to sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Maybe she just needed to stop trying to over-think the situation. Maybe by traveling to a town or village and seeing what happened while she was there could help determine what she would do, who she would side with. Besides, she needed to wash her clothes, and gathering supplies and having a real bed to sleep in would be a welcome change of pace.

She turned Vidran to the west and started heading towards Daen. After a long hard ride, she arrived in Daen just before nightfall and led Vidran to the nearest inn. Upon reaching the inn, she dismounted and led Vidran to the stables. A stable boy who looked to be thirteen or fourteen years of age rushed out to help get Vidran settled into one of the stalls. Assured that Vidran would be well taken care of, Kainda turned and headed for the inn to find herself a place to stay for the night.

Inside the inn, Kainda was bombarded with the thoughts of all of the people in the inn. ‘What is another Dark Knight doing here?’

‘Surely we haven’t done anything to upset the One?’

‘Please, I didn’t do anything. Please don’t be here for me.’

‘The Dark Knights are going to strip us of everything before we know it. They’ve already taken almost all of our crops, livestock, and land. What now? Slaves?’

‘Do we really need more Dark Knights?’

‘They are a plague to all of the normal people here.’

‘I wish they would just leave.’

Kainda took a deep breath and pushed the many voices from her head. She walked up to the bar and waited for the woman behind the bar to walk over. “Can I help you?” the woman asked, obviously scared. Kainda knew that there were Dark Knights that took livestock and crops in the name of the One, but she hadn’t realized how much it affected the people who had their goods taken away.

“I would like a room for the night, if you have any left,” Kainda answered politely, giving the woman a small smile.

The woman gazed down at the ground as if ashamed of the inn’s accommodations. “We have one room left but it’s the smallest room we have. I…uh, I’ll just move one of the other guests for you.”

“No, that isn’t necessary,” Kainda said quickly. “The room you have will be fine.”

The woman briskly walked to the other side of the bar and grabbed the key to the room. “This way ma’am.” Then she led Kainda up the stairs and to the end of the hall to a room that Kainda assumed used to be a washroom. It had a bed placed against one of the walls and about a foot of room on each side of the bed. Kainda didn’t care about the size though, as long as she could sleep in a real room. “I’ll leave you now,” the woman said quietly, stepping backwards out into the hall, trying to run away quickly.

“Excuse me.” Kainda asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, what are you so afraid of?” Even though she knew she could pry the information from the woman’s mind in an instant, she tried not to overuse her ability. She didn’t know if the One could sense when someone had a special ability and she didn’t want to risk getting caught.

The woman just gazed at Kainda, as if shocked by her naïveté. “You don’t know?” she asked. “Dark Knights like yourself have been coming through here multiple times a day. Several of them have forced us out of our homes and taken as much of our provisions as pleased them. Who are we to deny them or fight back? If the One wishes for our possessions then we must give them up. I’ll do whatever I have to in service of the One.”

Kainda kept her expression neutral, not wanting to give away the disgust she felt knowing that the Dark Knights were tormenting people. “Have any tried anything in here?”

The woman looked away from Kainda, making sure she kept her eyes to the floor. Kainda sighed, taking the woman’s silence as affirmation that the Dark Knights had been tormenting the people in the inn as well. “Thank you for your hospitality,” Kainda said. The woman, taking that as a dismissal turned and walked back down the hall. Kainda walked back into her room and grabbed her clothes, taking them down to the wash room to clean them.

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After her clothes were hanged and drying, Kainda heard a loud grumble from her stomach. She left the washroom, headed back downstairs to the tavern, and sat down at one of the tables in the corner. It almost hid her from most of the people seated throughout the room, the darkness of the alcove acting as a mask. Of course the woman who had taken Kainda to her room noticed and came over to see if she wanted anything. Kainda politely requested anything the kitchen had ready and the woman turned on her heels and rushed back to the kitchen.

As she waited on her meal, Kainda looked around the tavern, taking all of the details in. On the opposite side was the door leading outdoors. Tables were scattered all over the floor and most of them were filled with people, some staying at the inn and others just at the tavern for food and drink. At the table a few feet away from her, Kainda noted a man with what looked like a walking stick to the untrained eye. To those that knew weapons, it was obvious that it was a staff.

She also noted that every person in the inn was focused on food, drink, or conversation. The intensity of their concentration was probably why they didn’t notice when a group of Dark Knights walked through the door. Kainda looked down at what she was wearing, realizing that she was wearing her standard clothes because her Dark Knight uniforms had just been washed. ‘Crap,’ she thought. ‘This could get interesting.’ She had realized that she couldn’t really tell them who she was; they would wonder what she was doing there, especially since she had already been recruited into Kellthorne’s ranks.

“Everyone up,” the large man standing in front of the other Dark Knights barked out. “I want you all against the wall. If anyone moves we will kill them.”

Kainda rolled her eyes at the scene. She looked over at the Dark Knights, noting that there were six of them, all with basic weapons and lacking any protection. Then she looked around the inn, watching as everyone else rushed over to the walls and stared at them, not willing to look at the Dark Knights.

“That includes you,” the large Dark Knight growled, walking up to Kainda.

Kainda chuckled in response. “Really? What makes you think that I have to listen to you?” She stood up and stepped close to him, looking up into his eyes.

“Do you have a death wish?” he asked.

“Me? Nah, I just like fighting.” She stepped to left and kicked the staff up into her hands and in one smooth motion swept it around to knock the Knight’s legs out from under him. The other Dark Knights pulled out their guns and aimed them at her. Kainda sighed. “Do you really think those scare me?” she questioned, staring each of them down.

She took a deep breath and concentrated. A moment later the staff flew out of her hands and rocketed at two of the remaining Dark Knights. It hit them with a strength they hadn’t expected, especially from a girl and they fell to the ground. Kainda didn’t hesitate when she heard three gunshots ring out and echo throughout the tavern. She reached out with her mind and turned the bullets around so they sank into the Dark Knights that had shot them. Kainda turned back to the first Dark Knight and delivered a front kick to the back of his head as he tried to stand up. He fell down to the ground, out cold. “Does anybody have any rope or anything I can use to tie these guys up?” Kainda asked, looking around the inn.

Moments later the stable boy ran in and handed her a long rope. “Thank you,” she said. “I need you to go out to the stable and get my horse ready. I have to leave as soon as I can.” The boy nodded and ran back out of the inn. Kainda dragged the Dark Knights to two of the pillars in the inn and tied them to it, making sure the knots were tight and secure. She stood up moments later and was shocked to see that everyone was staring at her. Then the tavern burst into applause. Kainda looked around for a moment then turned and ran back up to her room, grabbing all of her clothes and throwing them into her bag. She ran back down to the tavern and searched for the woman who had served her. After finding her, Kainda handed her some money to cover the expenses for her room, her food, and whatever damages she had caused.

She ran out of the inn and dashed towards the stable. The stable boy had Vidran saddled and was putting on the bridle as she slowed near Vidran. Horses didn’t like sudden movements; Vidran was used to the chaos that came from being owned by Dark Knights but Kainda didn’t want to do anything to scare him off. As quickly as she could, she mounted Vidran and grabbed the reigns from the boy. She gave him a small smile before squeezing her knees together and clucking Vidran into a trot. Once out of the stable she clucked Vidran up to a canter and headed out of Daen, wondering if she would be pursued.

Then again, she had received an answer for the debate she had been having the past several days. It was now obvious that she didn’t like the way the One and the Dark Knights were running things. Now she needed to go about finding Rebels. Maybe if enough of them joined together, they could stop the One from continuing with his mind-controlling tactics. A twinge of doubt emerged in her gut and Kainda found herself thinking of how she would even get the Rebels to trust her anyway. The only clothes she had were standard Dark Knight uniforms, except for what she was wearing right then. Could anyone even believe that a Rebel Dark Knight existed? Kainda hoped she could gain the trust of whomever she met. She wanted to stop the regime that was controlling everyone. She wanted a better place in which to live.

The main question on her mind was where to go next. She had never left her house before. Everything was so strange; maps could only help slightly in the learning process. Most of everything needed to be learned through hands-on drills. She wished that she had been able to go on rides to the towns near her home instead of being restricted to the non-populated areas.

She rode hard in the dark for a few hours before stopping and walking Vidran off the path to where she wouldn’t be seen and set up her camp for the night. She would figure things out later. Now she only wanted to sleep.