Nothing happened for the next five weeks. I stayed around the castle sparring with whoever came into the sparring chamber with me, and defeating them. But the end of the five weeks I had defeated all of the men within the Black Shadow, except some of the older, wiser members who knew they couldn't take me down. Athad still never sent me out on a raid though, despite the fact he sent two or three out every week. I began to think he didn't trust me enough, until on the seventh week of my being there he approached me ont night. "How would you like to lead a raid?" He asked. I looked at him and put the expression on my face of joy. "I've been waiting for you to ask...how many men are coming with me and where are we going?" I said. He led me to a room with a large round table in the center of it, on which was an old map of the country. He pointed to a small village near The Order's mountain base, and I smiled inside. The village was about a mile or so away from the mountain range, so I knew if The Order knew the Black Shadow was operating in the area, they would send out a few knights to stop them from completing their raid. I thought of an idea. I would tell the fellow raiders I was going to go scout out the area, make sure I wasn't being followed and go tell Luke and the others I was working undercover to bring down the Black Shadow, and have him lead a few knights to kill the raiders. At that point I would return to the castle and inform Athad that the raid was a failure and we were ambushed by The Order's knights. "I'll send you with fifty men, and you'll be raiding that village there. We've had some trouble with local knights in that area, but I'm pretty sure with skills like yours you can take them down." Athad said, looking up at me. Athad had finally come to respect me some, as I could see it in his eyes. "Thank you. I won't let you down." I said. He gave me firm handshake, and when I left the room the fifty men were already waiting for me. I was a little surprised Athad would just get people to leave the night he tells them to, but I suppose around here people listened to him because he called the shots, so I decided to follow suit. I rested my hand on the hilt of my sword as I walked through the marble halls of the castle, and came outside. That night, we rode for the village, and my first attack on the Black Shadow.