The guard's grip on Jada's arm tightened as they passed through the entrance to the prison. The morning sunlight was swallowed by the dark passageway as they descended the stone steps. Somehow it seemed larger when being led in as a captive. The moans and cries of pain in the distance gave the dark dungeon a malignant nature. She knew the prison and was familiar with all its aspects, but this time it held a different meaning. For the first time in her life she felt intimidated by the well known surroundings, though she would never admit to it.

How could she, a Protector of the Kingdom - one of the best ever known - be held for treason? The undeniable fact of execution lay heavily over her head, yet she refused to focus her thoughts on such a reality. It wasn't possible, she wouldn't let herself think it was. She couldn't die that way, like some poor fool out of the stories who had betrayed a Kingdom for his own personal glory. Her mind was incapable of imagining such a thing. She would rather fall on her own sword than die for treason.

Treason? I haven't committed any treason, she thought with stubbornness as they passed an empty cell. What could make them assume such a thing? She diverted her eyes from the blood stains upon the stone floor, more out of distaste than fright. I had deceived them, she reminded herself. But that seemed so far away, so distant to her, that it barely felt like a crime. She didn't feel remorse for it. If it hadn't been for her father's act of concealment she would have never been the person she was now, yet she didn't blame him.

Who am I now? she thought, stepping over a pile of muddy hay. Her identity seemed so insignificant at the moment. It's all over... She wouldn't let the thought continue. Her mind raced with images of her life. She could barely remember her father taking her in and teaching her his language. He wasn't her real father. She was old enough to know that then, but he was the only father she would ever know. How difficult must it have been for him to defy the laws of custom to let her train as a soldier - a male soldier? Her passion had consumed them both, and they knew there was no denying it. It might lead to trouble someday, her father knew, but he loved her so much he couldn't possibly refuse Jada's desire to fight and protect the king. It was the councilman's lack of a son that finally convinced him to let her be known to everyone as a boy. His own need for love had blinded his judgment, and her passion was so strong that he could see no alternative.

A pang of grief struck Jada's heart as she recalled her father. How she wished he were here. The pain of his death was too recent, she couldn't bring herself to think of him. Now as she saw the hungry prisoners in their cells, she could only think of the shame the councilman would feel if he were alive. She was disgusted with herself and embarrassed as people looked her way. Death for treason. Humiliating.

The thought came to her again, How can I be considered a traitor? Her confusion became hostility when she replayed the reason given for her imprisonment. She knew that the punishment for treason was death, but she hadn't known the true implications of her crime. It had happened too quickly.

She had been in the field with other Protectors of the Kingdom watching the young squires practice where they fought with blunted weapons and padded armor. Their manner was merry, as it normally was, but their training was serious as well. These young men would some day take the place of the older knights at her side for battle. Some were playfully mocking the knights, dancing around with their imaginary swords and teasing them. Jada was feeling thankful for the warmer weather of spring, and she laughed heartily when Rydal feigned incompetence while play-fighting one of his pupils, a lad named Eriff. He was barely past the age of acceptance, but his eagerness and determination gave promise to becoming a valuable knight one day. Rydal had taken on a sort of fatherly position with him, which was not something her friend often did. It was clear that he wanted Eriff to achieve great things and Rydal was going to be the one to see he got those things.

She had seen a group of men heading towards the practice field. Her curiosity was piqued when she recognized several of them as men of the King's Council. She wondered what business they might have with the soldiers and followed their movement until they started her way. She could tell by the briskness of the men's walk that they were not pleased. She let out a small sigh and turned her attention back to the squires. No doubt this had something to do with the group of men sent out several months ago for a meeting in Gospadar who had yet to return. One of those men was Prince Ervenn III, the next in line for the throne. What the Council had thought the Protectors could possibly know about the group was a mystery. No one Jada had spoken to had the slightest idea what the trade meeting was really about, not to mention when the men were to return. She straightened, waiting for the inevitable interrogation the Council was likely to give once more.

A tall and slender man lead the procession. She knew him well, Jerell, her late father's best friend and confidant. His long dark hair was held back by a white braided thong, a symbol of his position to the Kingdom - Head Councilman - next in command to the king. He also wore the long green robe of a Councilman, which told her he was on serious business. No other man in the group wore the robe, but by the grim looks of them, she could tell they were just as serious. His face was hard, but without wrinkles, gray streaks at his temples were the only signs of aging. His small, deep-set eyes remained focused on Jada as he made his way to her, yet he managed to bring in the soldiers surrounding him with a simple sweep of his eyes as well. Before reaching within an arm's reach he stopped abruptly and placed his white gloved hands - yet another symbol of his position - upon his hips. "Jonas Rein," the Head Councilman said loud enough for everyone on the field to hear, "You are hereby under arrest for treason."

Jada stared at him in sheer disbelief. She hadn't expected that at all. This had to be a mistake or possibly a joke, though a very cruel and serious joke. She stood firmly waiting for some explanation from the men. Those close by heard Head Councilman Jerell's arrest and turned their attention to the group with gasped breaths. Rydal turned, uncertain of the matter, and dropped his arms limply as he waited for a reaction from his friend and fellow knight. As he watched in shock, the Council guards detained the accused knight. Jada made no attempt to protest, too stunned to react. Rydal tossed his toy sword to Eriff - who stood beside him just as baffled - then jogged to Jada's side.

"What is the meaning of this!" he demanded sharply toward the Council. His face plate was still down, from practicing with the squires, yet his ice blue eyes were clearly visible through the steel bars. He stood a good head taller than Jerell, but the councilman showed no signs of intimidation from the imposing knight. Rydal's deep voice was low, but still held the surprising tone of a threat. "What evidence have you to arrest this knight for treason?"

Jerell's dark eyes shifted slightly from the knight's vehemence, but stood firm with authority. "This knight has deceived the kingdom," he replied in a low whisper. "He is not who you think he is!"

Jada went peacefully without question, head down with defeat. She had worried that this day would come, but felt secure it never would. She should have known she could not keep her secret forever. So it was with guilty subjugation that she let the guards guide her toward the damp cell. She felt an emptiness well up inside as they latched the door behind her.

She sat numbly on a mound of raw hay, silently aware that the guards had gone. The abrupt darkness of the dungeon closed in on her so quickly that she hadn't much time to react. She mentally kicked herself for not responding accurately. She refused to believe that the reason for her arrest could be started by her deception. There had to be something else. That couldn't be the only reason for a death sentence. Why hadn't she been more aggressive when the guards detained her? She should have demanded a reasonable cause for her punishment.

Downhearted, she realized why she hadn't fought back. She had felt too disgraced. She had been found out. She had no right to fight. She had deceived her kingdom, and the guilt which had lain at the back of her mind for so many years had finally come to surface.

Surely her crime wasn't severe enough for execution, or was it? She hadn't intentionally tried to betray the kingdom. She didn't think of it that way. More so that she had no choice but to lie in order to satisfy her burning desire to become a knight. But because she had not demanded a more just reason for her punishment, she would have to wait for the Council's full explanation, if they were to give her one at all. She knew there wasn't any need to inform prisoners of their crimes. Most prisoners would already know their crimes, those that were guilty anyway and she certainly acted guilty by not protesting her sudden arrest. Yet she knew her status as a knight and that fact reassured her of a gleam of understanding and consideration from the Council. It was her right as a Protector of the Kingdom for the Council to give her a fair trial. But Jerell had said treason, she thought, and that means death. There was no room for forgiveness, nor a trial, when it came to such an act of betrayal.

She slid down the mound and let her legs sprawl out in front of her. She was still dressed in her field uniform, though without her weapons - Jerell had seen to that at once. She hadn't noticed she was still wearing her helmet, the face plate raised back on her head, so she could talk freely with the other knights. She had become so accustomed to it, she hardly considered the once cumbersome weight of the helmet.

A cry of pain echoed through the dungeon, and it jarred Jada back to her situation. She was going to die, there was no doubt. There was no way for her to get out of this. This is foolish, she chided herself. Acting like some frightened child waiting for her mother to smack her for stealing some sweets before supper. As far as nearly everyone was concerned she was a man, and as a man was how she was going to die, not like some helpless nit. Her dignity was all she had left and she silently promised herself she would keep it until the end. Like a man.

Could that really be it? Her deception of being a man for the past fifteen years? How is that grounds for treason? Her mind was racing with questions faster than she could find the answers. Only three people knew of her real identity. Her father had put his trust in his life-long friend and exposed the truth to Jerell. Could Jerell have told the Council about the deception? Could he have betrayed her father's trust? And why would he wait until now? She quickly dismissed that idea.

Her thoughts turned to Emma, the woman who was like a mother to her and the only female influence she had. Emma would never expose my father and me, she thought defiantly. Emma had been there since the beginning, a faithful and obedient servant to her father ever since he joined the Council. She was considered a part of the family, even included in some of the decision making at times. She was an important figure in Jada's life and without Emma, Jada doubted she could have completed her training as a knight. The thought of Emma's possible disloyalty made Jada's stomach sicken. Emma would never do such a thing, she was sure of it. How did they find out? No one else knew of her deception.

A raspy male voice interrupted her thoughts. "What did ya do? Kill the king?" At first, Jada wasn't sure from where the voice had come, but as her eyes focused, she noticed a small window in the stone wall, barely big enough to fit a fist through, across from where she was sitting.

Jada didn't bother to answer the prisoner. She realized the spectacle of a knight in a dungeon would be an amusing topic among common people. It would have been an interesting sight to anyone, for that matter, and she realized with some sorrow that she too would have had a similar reaction to a knight in her current situation. The prisoner snorted, agitated by Jada's lack of attention and turned with his back to the small window.

I am a knight, Jada thought somberly, perturbed by the prisoner's joke. I am trained to protect the king! She knew she had to find a way out, if there was one at all. There wouldn't be a fair trial. She felt her heart drop when she realized she could no longer protect the king and whether or not she found a way out, her life as she knew it was now over.

The sounds of people approaching awakened Jada's senses and she looked out toward the passageway of the dungeon. She could only see the shadows their bodies cast along the stone floor, elongated by the flickering of torches on the walls. She could make out three distinct people from the movement of their shadows. One was obviously a woman, distraught and unable to walk on her own. One figure guided her along the passageway, while the other walked casually behind them.

As they came near her cell, Jada could hear a faint sobbing coming from the exhausted woman. The shadows stopped. Jada turned her eyes to them. The woman had obviously been beaten recently, and she barely seemed conscious of her present state. She set her jaw tight when she saw the woman's feet, bare but caked with layers of dirt and blood. They could have at least given her some water to wash! She rose to her full height of six feet. It was then that she noticed the third man. Jerell. He kept his gaze away from the cells as if it disgusted him to look upon them. Jada felt a need to speak out to him, but knew intuitively that he would not be able to help her. He had been the one to initiate her arrest, since he was the Head Councilman. Before, Jada's father would have had to take that responsibility, and for a moment Jada felt relieved that her father didn't have to face this situation. She regretted that the duty now lay on Jerell, and she knew it must have been difficult for him to arrest her.

The guard unlatched the lock and swung open the iron-barred door, emitting a piercing shriek. Jada's eyes remained on Jerell as she moved aside to allow the beaten woman access to the softened hay. Jerell ignored her, as well as the woman. The guard pushed the woman off him and let her fall upon the hay, her face buried. Jada glanced down at her and saw stripes of blood seeping through the woman's cotton dress. She knelt at the woman's side to examine her more closely. "Leave me alone!" the peasant woman huffed, and she surprised Jada with her strength as she pushed back the knight. The woman's refusal caused an ignition of Jada's own wrath at the woman's treatment. Why hadn't they cleaned her wounds at least? She returned to her feet and glared furiously at the guard. He had not yet shut the large door and was kicking aside hay to make room to close it easily. She moved closer to him, looking down upon him from her unusual height, her breaths short with anger. The guard looked up nervously into her cool, grass green eyes.

"Have you no honor?!" she spat. "Beating a helpless woman to the point of exhaustion?" Her eyes squinted at the frightened guard as her lips curled back in a snarl. "Do you doubt your own masculinity to the point where you must beat a woman to prove you are a man?!"

The guard touched the hilt of the short sword kept at his belt then looked anxiously toward Jerell expecting some instruction, but Jerell was bitterly eyeing Jada, giving no attention to the distressed guard. "Jada, you foolish girl," he growled scornfully, "still acting like the honorable knight you once pretended to be?!"

"He's a girl?" the guard barked, jumping back in shock. His nervousness turned to disgust. Quickly he slammed the door shut causing Jada to step back - gracefully on trained feet.

A creeping smile overcame Jerell's look of bitterness, adding a distorted appearance to his features. Terror ran through Jada's body as she saw the betrayal on his face. Jada had to fight to keep the tears of rage back which threatened to flow. He couldn't have done this to my father! Her eyes widened at the sight of satisfaction upon his seemingly young face. Sadly, it made prefect sense. She recalled Jerell's envy of her father's position, which she mistook as a minor flaw in his personality, something he would get over with time. Could he really have wanted the power so badly to betray a life-long friendship? Possibly to the point of murder? Jerell had been the only one with her father when he died. He had come back distressed and anguished when he explained how Councilman Rein had been thrown from his horse when a snake had threatened them. Everyone took Jerell at his word - he was on the King's Council! Second in command of the entire kingdom! No one had reason to doubt his story. Now, as she stared into the deranged eyes of this man her father had trusted as a brother, she wasn't so sure.

Jerell laughed at her obvious deduction, seeming to read her thoughts. "I would have thought you'd catch on by now, my dear," he mocked, stifling a mirthless chuckle.

Rage consumed Jada as she flung herself against the bars, a yelp escaping her lips. She struggled to reach the man who had killed her father and ruined her life. Jerell stepped back to avoid her thrashing arms.

"Pathetic," he growled under his breath, and with an air of accomplishment he turned and walked down the dark hall with the guard following close behind.