Thank you for choosing this story to read. I say thank-you to anyone who is interested in the story, mostly because it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING twilight. Which sucks. Cuz I'd really like to.

I looked up into the starlight, gazing at the ever present lights that sat in the sky. I remembered, staring at that sky, all the things that had happened. Everything that I had survived. I still couldn't believe I had survived. My savior took my hand and pulled me into the woods; I was going home.

I wiped the sweat off of my forehead as I looked down at my finished piece of artistry. I had finished the bridge, and it was quite an accomplishment as far as I was concerned. I heard some leaves rustling around the corner and quickly moved behind a tree, if anyone saw me I would probably be kicked out of town; I was going strictly against everything that my little home town believed in.

A man in a black cloak clopped over the bridge on his horse, men in armor with swords and other various weapons passed over the newly rebuilt bridge. I was proud to see it was holding its own, but these men made me nervous. I needed to get back to town, and as fast as I possibly could. As soon as they were out of hearing range, I ran to where I had placed my dress, and slid it on over my 'men's clothes'. My 'men's clothes' were a pair of tighter fitting pants with a thing I've been calling a 'sports bra' to cover my chest. I slid the tools I had been using into my saddle bag and I was off and on my way home.

My name is Isabella Swan, Bella, if you will. And I was racing home on my horse, in my lovely black dress which I despised wearing. I raced back to town flying past those men, waving and smirking at them as I passed. I clopped into town and swung off of my horse. I all but ran into my house, breathing heavily. My mom and dad, whom I called by their first names, Renee and Charlie, were sitting in the kitchen.

"There are some men coming, and they don't look friendly," I told them.

Renee narrowed her eyes at me, "You've been out . . ."

"Let's do this later, because right now I don't think that these people are coming to sit down and have a friendly dinner; they look like the kind of people that would like to fight, or something," I told her.

"You have your knives?" Charlie asked me. My parents, as all of the parents in my small town, had me trained in using knives to defend myself.

"Yes, I always have them with me," I said, my brow furrowed.

"Good."

"Why do you look so worried?" I asked my parents warily.

"There's something that we haven't told you, something we probably should have in the long run of things, that we all should have shared," my mother said.

"This village was formed not so long ago; we came here when you were only a baby. We moved so we could escape the tyrant that was reigning over us. We managed to escape, this group here. We built our houses, made our own cloth, and made sure that we would stay hidden. We had moved outside of his realm, but now he must have expanded. We're not safe here anymore. Every person in this village is at risk now. Remember, this man is brutal; he will stop at nothing to get what he wishes. Be careful, don't anger him," my father warned me.

"I promise I will do my very best to keep from aggravating whoever it may be that is coming here," I promised them. I knew that I had a bit of a temper. I am usually quite rational about things, but if I am pushed, I can go over the top and do some serious damage, but I only take my knives out when it's a life threatening situation. I really hoped that I wasn't going to be faced with one here.

I heard hooves thudding along the dirt path that led into our town square. No one but these men were out there, the rest of the village must have heard them coming, too. All the men but one got off of their horses, the one that seemed to be the leader sat grandly on his horse. The other men came knocking on the doors. One knocked on our door.

"Come out, by the order of Lord Bendrow," the soldier yelled at my family. I stood there in silence before being dragged out of my house by the solider, by my arm, and my parents were dragged out after me.

We were shoved out into the town square, all of the other families surrounding the edges. The man in the middle dramatically slid off of his high horse. He was quite tall, maybe 6'7". He had blonde hair down to his shoulders. He was dressed grandly, with a golden crest of a dragon on his black shirt, lined with silver and his sweeping black cape just made him look like he was trying entirely too hard to look impressive.

He walked around looking at every single person in the square. "As you should know, I have just recently taken claim to this land. Being a part of my glorious kingdom only has one small price to pay. From every town, village, and city I am taking one female." A collective gasp from the townspeople barely even stopped him, "And therefore I am here, personally, to pick out the woman from your town. You should feel very honored."

My eyes narrowed, I didn't like where this was going, and I didn't want to let anyone be taken for whatever reason this man was taking women. "Now," he continued on, "All those over the age of twenty one and all those under the age of fifteen and needless to say all males, return to your homes. I assure you, it is the greatest honor to have your daughter chosen by me."

I watched as my parents were ushered back into our home. My dad mouthed 'be careful' to me, I'm sure he was telling me to keep my head low, so I wouldn't provoke this tyrant that had found our peaceful home. I suppressed an angry growl and the curses that I wanted to scream at this so called "Lord Bendrow".

"Hmm. . ." he said as he walked around, examining us as if we were slabs of meat. He ended up in front of Angela, my best friend in the town. "You," he said, "Are coming with me." Guards grabbed her arms and a look of panic crossed her face. I couldn't help it, I lashed out.

"You will do no such thing," I all but shouted, moving in front of her.

"What are you doing?" Angela hissed at me.

"Saving you," I stated simply.

"What do you think you're doing," a solider said walking over to me, raising his hand as to slap me.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I said calmly with a slight smile on my lips.

The solider didn't listen to me. I quickly told Angela and the other girls to go, in a whisper, as the idiotic solider approached me. "Are you sure?" I asked him, he didn't stop, "okay then." And out came my knives. I whirled and twirled, my black dress very slightly hindering my movements, but they came out graceful and smooth, throwing the solider off guard. Soon as I had started, others joined in, and in no time a few were lying on the ground, beginning to bleed out. And one was stone cold.

"Stop," Lord Bendrow's voice rang across the now emptied square. I still stood in a stance ready to fight. The soldiers had put down their weapons, holding them at their sides, ready to pull them out if they needed to.

"I think she will do much better than the other, but she'll have to be tied up. Do it quickly. I want to be back by the sunrise after next." Bendrow swung up onto his horse, and turned around, waiting for his soldiers to round me up.

I all but growled as they charged me. I moved quickly, twirling and slicing, blocking and placing blows. The soldiers were struggling to get a hold on me, but, those darn skirts. I knew I would regret letting myself wear them in public. My legs got tangled in the folds of my skirts and I fell, and they fell upon me. I struggled even more, fighting, kicking, biting, and growling at the men attacking me. In the back of my mind I was laughing, at least twenty men against one of me? Is that an insult to them, or a complement to me? Despite my superior fighting skills, they caught me, bound my hands and forearms and tied me across the back of the horse that one was riding on.

"You'll regret this, Bendrow. I promise you that," I shouted before I was hit on the head and plunged into a black oblivion.

Thank-you for flying first class on the Path to Freedom ... the next flight will be taking off in about a week. Remember to report to the poilets about anything that either bothered you or you thought was a good touch. They always appreciate these things so they know how to make your next flight more enjoyable. Have a nice day.

---TrapedInsideADream and whitezcar (owners of Path to Freedom airline)