A/N: OK guy's, you know the drill. Any of the characters or places you recognise from the PotS or any of Tammy's other books belong to Tamora Pierce. The rest belong to me!!!

Also some of the dialogue belongs to Enrique Iglasias and Shannon Noll. I stole it from their songs!!! Hehe. For those of you who are so unfortunate that you have never heard of Shannon he was runner up in Australian Idol. He's MY Idol!!! lol. Anyway my friend dared me to write this (thinking I wouldn't) so here it is. Pleases put up with the slow start. It's building to something! Oh and all of my characters (this includes animals) are based on real people (and animals) with a few differences.

New Beginning

Late autumn 461 HE

It had been a year to the day since Kel went missing. Peachblossom and Tobe had come back from a Scanran raid on their way back from Lord Raoul and Buri's wedding, but without Kel. There had been a lot of fighting, especially on Tobe's behalf about going after his mistress, but we had refused to let him go as it was unsafe to do so. It appeared that the Scanran's had discovered that she was the supposed powerful new mage that had joined the Tortallan side and defeated Blayce's killing machines, and had wanted her out of the way.

Tortallan spies planted carefully in King Maggot's, as the Tortallan's called him, castle continue to report that the rumour is that Kel is still alive but held prisoner in some remote location in Scanra, but as hard as they have tried they are yet discover exactly where it is and without any more leads the crown had all but given up any hope of ever recovering Kel. Not a good omen for all those girls that Kel had worked so hard into convincing that becoming a Knight was possible for a girl to do.

Dom sat thinking about this while Raoul discussed tactics, about how to capture a large group of bandits that had devastated a string of town's, with the new commander of the Queen's Riders, Evin Larse. Evin had not long ago taken the position of commander after Raoul's wife Buri, the former commander, had left to marry Raoul.

Dom wasn't too concerned about capturing the bandits as they had done it many times before, and their tactic had always worked. While the men of the King's Own made a lot of noise about following the bandits and always letting them think that they were a step ahead, the Queen's Riders would close in on either side of them and trapped them. The only problem this time was that there was a rather large swamp situated right where the two parties were to intercept. This though shouldn't be too much of a problem as they planned to stay well right of it.

"Right boys, time to mount up" called Raoul "We want to get this over with as soon as possible"

There was the clinking of stirrup irons as the men of the Third Company of the King's Own and the two Rider groups, the Fifteenth named Stickers and the Seventeenth Buri's old group Askew, mounted their horses and prepared to leave. They planned to reach the bandits at around midday with the Rider groups already in position waiting ahead of them.

By the time they reached the bandits, not far from Blue Harbour, the sun was directly overhead and considering they were approaching winter, it was quite hot. Their shirts had begun to cling to their backs and Dom's hair was sticking to his forehead, causing him to continually have to reach up and brush it back.

They were in position, the swamp to their left and tree's concealing the Rider groups to their right and ahead of them. Raoul, having also spotted this, gave the command and the Own kicked their horses into a controlled gallop that brought the bandits into sight in no time. Dom, however, noticed that there seemed to be less bandits than they had counted on, making him wonder if some had already left.

Slowly it registered that battle sounds were coming from the right just as arrows started raining on the Own, causing their panic-stricken horses to rear and wheel in fright while their riders struggled to regain control. Dom's own dapple-grey gelding Casco quickly settled and was awaiting his rider's commands.

To Dom it was obvious someone had tipped the bandits off, giving them time to prepare for an attack. Fortunately though, they didn't seem aware that the Rider groups would be there as well, as their element of surprise didn't work as well as the bandits had hoped as they were forced to attack early. They were still managing to push the Own backwards towards the swamp however, which was not a good thing.

Dom was hacking at two bandits who were attempting to pull him from his horse when the first arrow hit Casco in the shoulder, causing him to rear, his hooves flailing, and scream in pain. The second hit his chest just as he was coming down to land on all fours. He fell to the side into the swamp, taking Dom with him. Dom leapt to his feet, spitting mud from his mouth, and looked up to see one of the Riders coming towards them, flat gallop, brandishing a sword and hacking at any bandits that got in the way.

After the Rider beheaded two bandits at once with one long sweep of their sword, the remainder of the bandits surrounding Dom fled, only to be captured or killed as the rest of the Rider groups arrived. After that there wasn't much of a battle as the combination of the Own and the Riders outnumbered the bandits.

"Are you Ok?" asked the Rider, full of concern.

Dom looked up into the face of a young woman in her early twenties. She had long, tightly braided, honey blonde hair and eyes that when you looked very closely at were actually two slightly different shades of blue, one blue-grey, and the other blue-green. She had a long straight nose sprinkled with a few freckles, long eyelashes and cheeks which were flushed from the fight. She wore the uniform of the Queen's Riders, a plain white shirt, brown tunic and trousers and riding boots with a crimson emblem of a horse rearing on a bronze coloured field circled by a crimson ring with a black stripe in the middle indicating that she was a second in command.

"Yes" replied Dom "Although I think I may need some help with my horse" He looked at Casco who was thrashing about in the swamp attempting to get up.

She swung down off her horse landing on her long legs and looked him in the eye.

"Stay. I don't want you following me in there" she commanded

The horse gave a distinct look of displeasure and sighted. Dom noticed that she was actually riding a horse and not a pony as most of the Riders did. He was dark brown, almost black, with tan around his eyes and muzzle, and a black main and tail. He also had a rather small body and long legs making it easier for him to get into tight places and turn quickly.

"By the way, I'm Ashla of Ermengarde" she said as they strode knee deep into the swamp. "But just call me Ash, everyone does"

"Domitan of Masbolle, but call me Dom" Dom smiled at her despite the mud still stuck in his teeth.

Thinking about this, Dom remembered when they had been building Fort Giantkiller back when Kel was Lord Raoul's squire and was riding with the Own. She had mentioned that when people talk about war they never talk about mud in your teeth, and Dom had explained that if they did no one would be crazy enough to fight and pretty girls would prefer to hear about the enemies you killed so they might sleep safe than the mud in your teeth. This made Dom smile at the memory of it.

They approached Casco talking in soothing voices. Dom knelt at the geldings head, stroking his neck and keeping him from rising. Ash inspected his wounds then returned to her saddle bags for bandages, healing ointment, and a needle and horsehairs. She gently took hold of the arrow in Casco's shoulder and yanked it free. The gelding began thrashing once again, struggling to get up and only Dom kneeling on his neck prevented this.

Ash quickly applied large amounts of the healing ointment to the wound to clean it then began to sew it together, which, considering he had nothing to ease the pain, Casco strongly objected to. Once she was finished Ash taped a square of bandage over the stitches and moved on to the second arrow which was still lodged in his chest. This one was in a much more difficult area and as hard as she tried Ash still caused Casco a considerable amount of pain before she was finished.

"He shouldn't be ridden for at least a couple of months" Ash informed Dom "And he should be kept immobile for most of that time"

"Thanks" smiled Dom earnestly as they led Casco slowly from the swamp

"Anytime, I just wish I had of gotten here in time to warn you" seeing the confused look on Dom's face she continued "Well when we were attacked I was ordered to ride back and warn you guy's as Toy here" at this she turned towards her horse "has the advantage of having long legs and can outrun any of the Riders ponies. We tried to get away but they kept blocking us. Sorry"

"There's no need to be sorry. If it wasn't for you Casco and I wouldn't have stood a chance" Dom assured her.

By now they had reached the rest of the Third Company and Rider groups. Healers were attending the injured while the rest set about making sure the bandits that they had managed to capture were secured tightly and couldn't escape. The number of captured bandits was surprisingly low, owing to the fact that they would rather fight to the death than be captured only to await death anyway. Ash strode over to her Rider group to make sure they were all ok, while Dom turned to make his way towards Lord Raoul and the other members of the Own.

"I wouldn't go after that one if I were you" a voice behind Dom warned.

Dom turned to see who was speaking. It was a tall youth with dark hair and eyes wearing the uniform of the Riders, and surveying Dom with interest (A/N.....No not that way.....He's not gay!) Dom had no intention of 'going after that one' as the speaker put it but he was curious to know why this man had made such a remark.

"And why would that be?" inquired Dom

"Well, in the Riders she's known as the Ice Maiden" drawled the man "You'll need a pickaxe to get at that one's heart and then some"

Dom shrugged and continued on towards Raoul who he noticed was slumped against his black war horse Drum, but apart from that looked ok. Many of the other men bore signs of the fight and wore bandages around their arms, legs or head. Other, though sweaty and muddy, looked relatively unharmed and set about preparing a quick meal before they made a decision about where they were to go from here.

"I planned to keep the Third Company back here for a time and help replenish stocks before winter sets in" announced Raoul.

"Well I don't see the need for two Rider groups to ride to Blue Harbour for the bandits trials, not when over three quarters died in the battle anyway. So until we're called upon the Seventeenth Rider group will ride with you Raoul" Evin reasoned

"Looks like you're stuck with me for a bit longer then" remarked Ashla coming up behind Dom

"I didn't realise you were in Askew. We rode with them for most of last year, what with Raoul and Buri" said Dom surprised.

"I didn't join Askew until Buri left. I was in the Seventh group before that. They've done a bit of group shuffling and because I was seeing Evin they put me in this group" at this Ash smiled over at Evin who returned it with a wink "I, however, came to my senses and broke it off with him not long after, but we're still good friends"

"That's what she's telling you" Evin said in an overly dramatic voice "She broke my heart into pieces so small they could fit through the eye of a needle" Ash punched him jokingly on the arm.

"You got over it. You were already courting ladies the next day" she pointed out.

Evin let out a big sigh and walked away muttering something that sounded very much like "women".

(A/N: So how do you like it so far? Come on, be brutally honest! I won't be offended. I know a lot of people have done ones with Kel marrying someone else and Dom ending up with some pretty blonde court lady or fighter, but I'm hoping mine won't be like that. Kel could be coming back and Ash is just his friend. So anyway please review and give me any advice you can even if it's about the plot, though I have already written up to the 5th chapter so that could be a bit hard to change. I will try and get more up soon!!! Thanks for reading it. Luv Secret Agent Angel xxx)