What did they miss? Or who? Rahn was eager to put this entire thing to rest, but somehow felt like it was never ending. As she ran, her mind raced between what Butok had to show her and what Kahal had just asked of her. She couldn't think straight. In fact, she was a mess. Maybe she did actually need that break the King and Queen were insisting she take. But not before she finished this.

As she ran further into the woods, she took in a deep breath of the fresh air. She would go for two long runs a day during her break to make up for all the time she'd missed by being cooped up in places during this assignment.

As she neared the location she slowed to a stop and thought for a moment. Why would Butok want to meet her out here? She had run this portion of the forest many times and knew for a fact that there was nothing out here. Unless it was hidden extremely well, or perhaps underground. Neither would surprise her at this point. But still, her gut was telling her to be cautious.

She turned and looked around her, not seeing anything immediately out of place. But instead of jogging the rest of the way like she had been, she turned and circled around to come in slowly from a different direction.

As she approached the general area, she spotted a figure on the other side of a tree from her. She quietly crept up, keeping the tree between them to block their view of her. But the closer she got, she realized they were incredibly still. Dread dropped into her gut like a lead weight. She closed the distance and gasped in surprise as she rounded the tree. "Butok, what happened to you?"

His head slowly crept up as if he were trying to wake from a fog while mumbling something incoherent to her. She looked around but didn't see anything or anyone else surrounding them. So she turned back to Butok and began untying him from the tree.

"Do you have any injuries or were you just drugged?"

Butok mumbled again as he struggled to hold his head up.

"Can you walk?" Rahn asked him.

He shook his head and then dropped it as if the weight were too much.

Rahn cursed under her breath and then lowered him as gently as she could down to the ground.

"You've undone all of my hard work."

Rahn swirled around at the sound of a female voice directly behind her.

"Over here." The voice called out again.

She looked out and found the female was fifteen yards away, holding up one of Daielle's weapons pointed straight at Rahn. Suddenly, recognition dawned on her. "Niva?" Rahn asked.

Niva smirked. "Please tell me you didn't actually think I was that fool's assistant. You're entirely too smart for that."

Rahn simply watched her, silently running through everything in her mind.

"Too smart for your own good, in fact. Now, be good and tie Butok's hands back for me. I can't have him getting away."

Rahn turned and glanced at Butok, who seemed to be sound asleep. "It doesn't look like he's going anywhere anytime soon." Rahn responded.

"I don't like to take that kind of chance." Niva responded, her face unreadable. "In fact, I've spent the past five years planning out and patiently implementing every single tiny detail of my revenge. Only for you to show up and ruin it all at the last moment. "Now, the ropes. I won't ask again."

"What exactly do you plan to do? Blow me up and alert every guard within hearing distance that we're out here? I take it you know how loud the blast from those weapons are."

"You think I am a fool, like Daielle." The woman scoffed. "He didn't even notice the enormous flaws his weapons had. Flaws I made sure were put in place. Short distance, too loud, and an extremely short power hold before needing recharged."

"So that's why he came at Kahal with a sword instead of firing his weapon. It had lost power. I had been wondering about that." Rahn commented. "It seems you wanted him to fail."

"Exactly." In a flash, Niva turned the weapon and fired it at the tree behind Rahn, before quickly aiming it on Rahn again."

Rahn flinched and turned to see the small hole the blast made before turning to watch Niva again.

"My weapon, however..." she smirked. "Let's just say I made many improvements. This is on the lowest setting so it's virtually silent and doesn't make a loud blast on impact but it will still go right through you. Now..." She motioned to the ropes.

"Tie his hands and then you and I can continue our chat. And no tricks, I can tell a good knot from a bad one."

Rahn did as told before standing and facing Niva again.

"Now drag him inside."

Rahn raised her brow muscles in response and pointed down at Butok. "You think I can lift him?! And inside where?"

"Not lift. Drag. Pay attention to the details, my dear. You drag in that direction and I'll show you where."

Rahn crossed her arms and scowled.

The woman turned the weapon just slightly, aiming for Butok's center. "Is this better motivation for you?"

Rahn resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Fine." She ground out between clenched teeth.

She pulled and tugged and eventually had Butok moved a few yards.

"You're almost there."

Rahn heard a noise and turned to look where the woman was talking about. Her eyes landed on an opening in the ground with a ramp going gradually below.

"In you go." Niva urged her on.

"How do I know you don't just plan on shutting us in here and leaving us for dead?" Rahn questioned.

"You don't." The woman said. "But don't worry. I need some answers from you. And there's no way I would walk away and leave him unharmed." She frowned at Butok.

"What did you give him?"

"It's just a tranquilizer, it won't hurt him in the long run. Now, move."

Rahn hesitated. She knew going inside was a terrible idea. But this female had both her and Butok right where she wanted them. She'd come nowhere near close enough for Rahn to try and disarm her.

Rahn flinched and jumped back when a shot of energy hit right beside her feet.

"I said move it, Rahn. Before you do become more trouble than you're worth."

"Fine." Rahn growled at the female.

She bent down to grab Butok's arms again and began tugging, slowly pulling him into the opening. She was almost to the point where gravity would help pull him down the ramp when Niva grunted and let out a scream of pain.

Rahn's body tensed, ready for action, as she looked up to find a knife stuck in Niva's shoulder. But Niva was still holding her weapon up and ready toward Rahn. Rahn had to admit, she was impressed with the female's grit.

Niva quickly rushed toward the opening and fixed the gun on Rahn's back from behind, using her as a shield. "Come on, get inside. Now."

Suddenly, another knife hit Niva in the thigh, causing her to drop her hand on her weapon momentarily. She quickly recovered and moved to bring her hand back up but Rahn used the opportunity to dive onto Niva, causing the weapon to fall to the ground during the scuffle. Niva reached for it but Rahn pulled her away.

"Yield!" Rahn yelled.

"Never!" Niva pulled the knife from her thigh and stabbed it into Rahn's arm.

Rahn gritted her teeth through the pain but then she was distracted by the loud roar that erupted from the large male that pulled Niva off of Rahn and knocked her to the ground.

"You will regret that." Kahal said angrily as he reached for the female again.

She dove to her left and rolled a few yards, grabbing the weapon and raising it up toward Rahn. "No, she will regret foiling my carefully laid plans." Niva said as she pulled the trigger.

"No!" Kahal yelled so loudly it echoed through the trees.

Rahn took in a sharp breath as she anticipated the sharp pain, but just before it reached her, Kahal's body flew in front of her. He crumpled to the ground in front of her and let out a loud groan of pain.

"No!" Rahn cried out in protest. She crawled over from where she was on the ground to grab Kahal and turn him over, finding blood pouring from his abdomen. "No..." she whispered in shock as she looked up to find Niva running down the ramp into the ground, dragging Butok with her. Niva pushed a button and the opening swiftly closed.

"Kahal..." Rahn said weakly as she turned her attention back on him. She moved his tunic up to find where the blast hit him, pressing her hands onto the wound. "Why would you do such a foolish thing?!" She said angrily.

Kahal chuckled lightly before wincing in pain at the movement.

"How dare you laugh! Have you lost your mind?" She fussed at him.

"You still do not believe what you mean to me. I would jump in front of any threat to save you." He reached up and put his right hand on her left cheek.

"Do not say such things. You are to be king, you are too important." Rahn said as she brought her left hand up to his, her right hand continuing the pressure on his wound. "I.... I can't carry you out of here, Kahal. I... I don't know what to do. Tell me what to do."

"It will be alright." He offered her a small smile as he shifted his hand to wipe tears off of her face. "Don't cry."

"What?" With Rahn's hands covered in blood, she moved to rub her forearm across her cheek, looking at her skin in surprise as it came back wet. She was crying? She hadn't cried since she was very young and her parents passed on, leaving her in the care of an elderly aunt she had never met previously and who had no patience or love to give to a youngling. She'd cried that entire night but hadn't allowed herself to cry since.

Rahn shook her head and focused her eyes back on Kahal. "Just.... Just tell me what to do."

"Rahn..." Kahal said barely above a whisper as his eyes blinked a little too long.

"Kahal..." Rahn said frantically as she watched him. "No, stay awake. Stay with me."

"Always." He said as he breathed out and his eyes closed. But they didn't reopen.

"Kahal!" Rahn yelled. "Kahal! Wake up!" She shook him slightly and continued yelling. "Wake up! Kahal!"

"Rahn!" A voice called out but she didn't hear it. "Kahal?!" The voice yelled as it drew closer.

Rahn's screams turned into sobs as she stared at Kahal's unmoving face. Arms wrapped around her shoulders and she tried to fight them off. Another set of arms were trying to take Kahal away from her.

"Rahn, look at me." But instead she kept struggling, she couldn't let them take Kahal from her. "Rahn!" Two large hands grabbed either side of her face and forced her to meet his eyes. "Rahn, look at me. It's Kietnan. Let them help my brother. They have to get him back to the medical ward."

Rahn blinked and tried to clear her mind of the fog.

"That's it... it's ok." Kietnan said as he rubbed his thumbs across Rahn's cheeks.

Eventually Rahn's mind cleared and she recognized the person in front of her. "He sacrificed himself." She said softly. "For me." She drew in a deep breath as she struggled to maintain control. "Why would he do such a foolish thing?" She said as she let out a whimper.

Kietnan placed his hands on Rahn's shoulders. "Because he loves you, Rahn. There would be no other choice for him but to protect you."

Rahn let out an anguished cry and Kietnan brought her into his chest and rubbed her back, comforting her the way he had learned Ashima needed to be comforted in emotional times.

But Rahn had other ideas on what she needed. She tore herself away from Kietnan and stood on shaky legs. She looked around and saw guards off in the distance, carrying Kahal away toward the grand hall and the medical ward. She then turned to see a dozen other guards standing behind Kietnan, all watching them. She drew in a fortifying breath before turning to look up at Kietnan. "Niva is the one truly behind everything. I'll explain later. She went underground but I didn't see how she opened the hatch."

Kietnan nodded. He turned to address his guards but Rahn spoke before he had the chance.

"You two!" She pointed. "There's some kind of button or lever that opens a hatch in the ground. She was in this general area when she used it. Find it." She turned to address the others. "Fan out and search for any type of air vents or skylights. Anything to provide necessities to an underground bunker. They may be hidden."

With the others rushing to do as told, she turned to help the two guards look.

"Rahn, you should go back with the others. I will take care of Niva."

"Not necessary, my lord." Rahn replied. "I can't do anything to help Kahal, but he's in good hands. So for now we must focus on getting Niva and Butok out of there."

"Let me at least stop your bleeding." He motioned to her arm as he called out to one of the guards to bring a bandage from his medical kit.

"She had him drugged on something." Rahn continued as the guard tied the bandage. "She appeared to have a personal grudge against him." Rahn filled him in on everything Niva said while they looked for how to open the hatch.

"How did you know where to find us?" She eventually asked Kietnan.

"Kahal sent a guard to find me, to give me the note Butok left you and a message telling me to grab some guards and follow him out here."

As Rahn nodded in understanding, she pictured Kahal barging into her small dwelling and demanding answers for why she ran out on him. Pain blossomed in her chest anew as the image of him bleeding on the ground flooded her mind again. Suddenly the hatch began to open, providing Rahn a distraction from her thoughts.

"Ha! I found it! You owe me dinner Gin!" Rahn and Kietnan glanced to see Teluq smirking at the male guard while he was groaning in annoyance.

Kietnan smirked at their antics before turning back to face the opening again. He let out a loud whistle to summon the other guards. "Did you find anything?" He asked once they all gathered. They all shook their heads and Kietnan nodded. He had Teluq show them the lever she found to open the hatch so they would know what it looks like.

"Teluq and Gin, you're with me and Rahn. Wej and Laik, stay and guard this entrance and inform Dran of the situation once he arrives with reinforcements. Everyone else fan back out. Keep your eyes and ears out. We have to assume she has another exit somewhere."

The guards all nodded and moved to do as directed.