News about the assassination spread like wildfire through the kingdom. An assassin had snuck into the Sindria palace, fired an arrow through the king's bedroom window and set half of the palace on fire before finally killing, not King Sinbad, but the woman he was about to take to bed. After examining the corpse, they had found poison on her lips, which was obviously meant for Sinbad. With the help of Yamuraiha and the other Eight Generals, the palace was being rebuilt quickly. The assassin was being taken care of in the royal palace.

Sinbad, Ja'far and Yamuraiha entered the room where the figure lay on the bed. "She's been asleep for a couple of days," said Yamuraiha. The three glanced at the assassin's face. She looked around Ja'far's age. Her (s/c) face was partially covered by bandages. Her hair was (h/l) and (h/c). The emblem on her shirt obviously meant that she was from the Kou empire.

"Al Thamen again, isn't it?" said Ja'far. "We can't know anything for sure until she wakes up," replied Sinbad.

"Yamuraiha and the nurses will take care of her and there will be guards stationed outside the room," said Ja'far. Sinbad nodded, thinking highly of the security his right hand man had organised. "So don't even think about making any moves on her," Ja'far added. "What the- I wasn't thinking about that! You know I'd never-," Sinbad went on and on, trying to defend himself from the judgemental glare that both Yamuraiha and Ja'far were giving him.

She disappeared from her room that night. The palace guards and the eight generals swept through the palace in search for the missing assassin. Ja'far leapt from roof to roof, scanning the grounds while silently complaining about how much trouble finding one girl was.

Finally, after searching every nook and cranny of the palace, he spotted her. She was sitting on the edge of a wall surrounding the palace. The guards have not seen her. She could easily jump off the wall and escape. "Then why," thought Ja'far. "is she just sitting there?"

The assassin did not move an inch from her spot, simply watching the sea roaring below her. Quickly, he grabbed her shoulder. "Don't even try getting away from me," he whispered threateningly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why did you kill her?" asked Sinbad, staring at the woman across the table. She scribbled something down on the piece of paper that she was provided with, still unable to talk due to the injuries Ja'far had inflicted on her during the fight.

'That woman was an assassin sent to kill you. I was sent by the Kou empire to stop her' read the king. "By burning down half of the palace?" asked Ja'far raising an eyebrow. She wrote something else on the piece of paper and passed it back to Sinbad. 'I apologise for that. Up until two weeks ago, I was a palace guard. Then, Kouha-sama chose me to be his attendant' she wrote.

"So was Kouha Ren the one who gave you the order to kill the assassin?" asked Ja'far. 'No,' she wrote in reply. Then, 'He should be here soon.' Just then, a silhouette floated up to the window of the room.

"Good morning, King Sinbad," greeted Judal, a mocking look in his red eyes as he lounged on his magic carpet.

Ja'far immediately brought out his knives, refraining from attacking the dark magi only when Sinbad gestured for him to. "I hope you'll thank me for stopping that assassin...although I didn't expect for my little pet here to burn down half of your palace. I do sincerely apologise for that, he said, bowing not so sincerely before Sinbad.

"So, I think that means we're even?" he said. "However, as an apology for burning down your palace, I will let you have my little pet. I don't have much use for her anymore anyway. Do as you please with her," Judal said, jumping back onto his carpet.

"Oh and don't even think about trying to stop me from leaving Sindria. You don't want to start a war with the Kou Empire, do you?" Both Sinbad an Ja'far said nothing, although Ja'far was staring daggers at Judal.

With a final sneer, Judal flew away from the kingdom of Sindria.