It's quite long, fifty pages to this point, and not concluded (only posting the four first pages. Please, give your opinion.

(You will notice quite fast that english is not my first language...)

Lessaria�.

-I�m still saying that I�m not giving any trust to the King, and even less to the Inquisition.
-I�m agreeing with you, Renard. But, did we really have the choice ?
The small group was walking into the steer slopped streets of the city of Lessaria, destination the huge Citadel dominating the urban landscape. The formal and written oaths of safe passage that have been accorded to them...would they be considered as mere scraps of papers ? Asking the question was inviting to a negative response. However, like Flora just had said, other possibilites were somehwat reduced...If they did not answered positively to the Inquisition request for ��an honest and frank encounter in Lessaria, for put light on certain points��, the organization would have launch open hostilities. An event that would make things go really ugly (with the current King, a war against the Inquisition would be a war against the state...) Some in the ranks of the larger group in which Renard and his ��followers�� have operated recently were hoping that some shocking revelations would force the Church and the Inquisition no negotiate with them. Renard was having serious doubts about the succes of this method : if they said the truth about certain things, they risked to make very aggressive because of rage the dignitaries that were true believers, and as aggressive, but because of fear, the ones that knew the truth. Both factions would certainy manage to agree about hanging, beheading, or burning all the Heretics. Ajora was maybe dead...but his Church was not. Renard could only hope that he would be able to convince the others to arrange in advance their testimonies, for not aggravating again their cases with divergences...Corail, the youngest member of the group, crisped her hand on the dagger she was holding...For the help this weapon would be if the Knights of the Holy-Office, the elite of the elite, with the best and most expensive equipment, received orders to attack them...Several units of this order were positionned on the road linking the Gates of Lessaria to the Citadel and the cathedral within. This was not a good sign...But it was far too late to turn back now.
-We should have gone Oversea, continued Renard, while he was revising mentally the layout of the streets of Lessaria, in the case that a fast getaway would be needed. But there was not a point in the city that was safe for them on the long run. Moreover, because of the rampaging urban criminality, a good number of streets were blocked b barricades during the night, in the (vain) hope of controlling it a bit...Those guarded points would limit yet further their possibilites in case of serious crisis...
-For going where ? The Inquisition have a long reach�In Rovannia, her power is such that she would have find us in a short time�Same thing for Damaskia....
-Not in Damaskia, however. Here, we would had have problems like daggers in the back, poisonned food in the inns, outrageously low pay for our skills, but no Inquisitors....
They finally arrived at the gates of the Citadelle, where they had to abandon their mounts-and logically, the majority of the equipment, notably the pieces of armor, that they were not wearing for the trip...Renard and Flora rightly thinks that the average population as seen enough armored Humans, that were often as pillaging when they were supposed to protect them that when they were the ennemy, in the past half-century, to the point that right now, they were reacting with a barely masked hostility when they were seeing troops...As a result, their trip had been paradoxally less movemented than the ones of others members of their group,especially fort the latest part : entering in battle armor in Lessaria was unthinkable, but entering the Citadel was even less plausible. ..
But, however, they had the right-it would have been hard to make them accept the convocation if not-of coming to the Citadel with their weapons....It was more a false security than anything else : if it was truly a trap, with weapons or not, they were almost certainly doomed. After identifying themselves (the absence of visible reaction from the guards could be interpretated in either positive or negative way...) they followed an soldier that would lead them to their appartments after the preliminary meeting, the two last members of their group, Saphirre and Singleton, closing the walk. The drawbridge was not raised immediatly after their passage : this fact did not cheer at all Renard : along the way to the Citadel, he had noticed thirteen ��chokepoints�� that could be sealed in a few seconds. And this was not consideing the living chokepoints, better than any gate : the guards. The chosen room was one of the great halls, where several ��Heretics�� were already, having an somewhat heated (but not overly violent) discussion with several bishops and cardinals...and a couple of Inquisitors...Some were making veiled threats of awful revelations : of all the things to do, this was indiscutably the worst (since there was a quite obvious method to make sure than people knowing dangerous secrets did not share them) The minal concertation hoped by Renard was really out of question...
-Eh, little brother, said Flora to the intention of Renard, I think it�s starting quite bad�
-I will only say one thing, Flora : those famous fifteen small minutes you have more than me, you seem to consider like fifteen years...A kinda reckless exageration, no ?
-Oh, but you recognize my seniority by changing of color each time I speak of it...
(For Flora, like her twin brother Renard, the subject was a possbility of light-hearted jokes, that had the merit to make laugh, even if they were quite sarcastical, in situation that were not funny at all, like the prcedent war, or the present convocation...)
That said, conforming to their traditions, the Inquisition dignitaties were not very hostile (in apparence, at least), saying loudly that ��their only intention was to find the truth�� An healthy dose of scepticism was needed about this sentence. It was very probable than the Inquisitors were sincere in saying that. It was sure that their conception of the truth was not the one that the ��Heretics�� would have...Renard and Flora, in opposition to many nobles offsprings (that said, they were as ��un-noble�� as someone could be...) had received an excellent general education, and were currently recalling that Heresy was coming from Hairesis, a world meaning ��choice�� or ��opinion��, without any religious reference. This was somewhat revelant to their situation, as the core of the problem was that they have an opinion on Ajora not shared by the Church (small stuff ! Only that he was the ultimate evil ! There was certainly not much difference between that point of view and the one of the Church, were Ajora was saw as the Redemption of Humankind...) Unfortunately, an opinion in dogma matter, especially when it was differing from the official one, was quite bad in those days. Asking if the Inquisition would accept true discussion was a really dumb question : that would made of themselves Heretics. Renard had the stupid impression that all this would end in violence...Fortunately, the fact that no one in his group had played a first-rank role in the latest War spared them, for the time being, too much attention. All the said attention was currently drawed by one woman, called by preachers the Heresiarch (this shameful title often backed by extremlly aggressive terms, and basically what was open calls to murder her...altought the most heated-up fanatic would have strongly hesitated, eternal happiness in Afterlife or not, before attacking her, as this was almost certainly a death sentence...) but still admired by almost everyone for her courage, her skill, her intelligence. Her name was Agrias.
A bishop was currently talking to her, with a courtesy that was probably not all comedy. Her two faithful squires, Alice and Lavian, were at her sides, ready to defend her if someone attacked the former Shrine Knight. Altought Agrias was not needing that. Renard was recalling several fights (or all-out battles, for that matter) in which she have fight against Human opponents (or not-so Human) with an extraordinary efficiency. Killing or capturing her would be a feat. But with numbers, it was quite possible....
Soon after, the informal sceance was ended for today, and the ��supposed Heretics�� leaded to their rooms, that were (not suprisingly at all...) separated from each other. The whole idea of the deathtrap was looking increasingly possible...Renard had to insist for not let his small group be split up further ; the demand was accepted. From sincere goodwill, or by fear that too much insistance would raise new suspicion ?
The room they received was wast, lavishly furnished, and, what a surprise, fitted with an extremly heavy door, that could be very easily blocked...from both sides. Blocking it from their side would be like nailing themsedealves into their own coffins in case of trouble : if this was a trap, what they need would be to get out, not defend their position...Saphirre, currently sat down on one of the beds, as conscious as the others of the risks of their current situation (as the lack of means for escaping the said situation), proceeded, like she was doing on a daily basis, to the inventory of her meager ressources in Gil. Like all the others time, the result seemed to be extremly disapointing to her (with Saphirre, a barely visible modification of the facial expression was a sign of great emotion...She was a bit...cold, to the least) The whole mercenary trade was not usually very paying. (unless you have contacts, or you were on the high trade, the trade in which you were not selling your sword, but full armies. On this subject, Renard and Flora could have said much...) ..and doing stuff like killing false gods and religions was certainly not bringing a lot of money in their pockets. For various reasons, the four others members of the group were not really caring abour money, as long as they have enough to live. Unfortunately for Saphirre, the last months have been quite hard for the war chest, who was now at an all-time low. Her companions did know what to do. Saphirre (Of course, a war-name. Renard and Flora were knowing her since the day of their formation, she was certainly trusting the twins, and yet, she never said anything about her past) was very ��close�� to her meager money...altought it always disapeared quite fast, for a reason still unknown. Several attemps from Renard, Flora, Corail and Singleton for helping her with her finances have been met by denial ; the probable reason was that Saphire was preferring keeping the matter private, even if she had severe financial problems. And it seems to affect her sensibly : her morale was always quite down, confining to depression. That was not affecting too much her remarkable capacities as a sword user, on various style : the classical ones from the Knightood heavy sworfs, the more recent ones using lighter swords like rapiers, the stylish and deadly arts from the Far East...(Renard and Singleton, for themselves, were using with some skill firearms, while Flora was one of the finest Lessarian archers, Corail being exceptional in dagger-wielding but also with a bow....All this gear was first grade, but ��normal�� : the numerous ��magical�� stuff found in the War of Ajora was always going to the leaders-not that aynone in the small group really cared. The most magical stuff about an enchanted weapon was how his price was high when you bought it, and how low it could go when you tried to sell it...Also, all the magic in the world did not seems to prevent weaapons to break in an heated battle, which could be very embarassing if the breaking weapon was just a rusted axe...)
Before going to sleep, they took an elementary security measure, organizing guard turns but also keeping their weapons at arm lenght, altought hidden for not allowing the servants that bringed them latter their supper to sublty take them away...For the supper itself, Singleton assured that it was not ��spiced�� with one or other opiacate ; his skills in this branch, but also the fact that he was more ��gourmet��-like of the group, alllowing the others to trust him fully on this matter. Of course, their was a less hazardous method for knocking them of than opium : the wine ! For killing the reflexes and skills of someone, this was a failsafe method. But the kitchens have not been very subtle by sending, for five persons, ten bottles of the better wines. Despite Singleton protestations, who was saying that those wines were from both years and vineyards of Ivalice, and that the wax seals have never been tampered, not a single was touched, even less opened...
Flora was the one on guard, when the toscin (the bells ringing for alerting the population) started around three o�clock of the morning, which was an extremly ��bad sign�� noise. And it was the belles form the great tower of the Cathedral that were ringing, not the ones from the smaller churches, that would have ring for small stuff such as fires, diseases outbreaks...The ones from the Cathedral were only ringed for major perils : war declarations, treasons (altought for this point, Lessarians have started to be a bit sceptic, as generally, the said traitors were before everything else the ennemies of the faction currently in possession of the Citadel)...or the presence in the Citadel of Heretics.
-(Several very colored expletives about the King) You wanted war ? You got it !
After letting out this curse, Flora did not lose time, and promptly waked up the others, which was not very hard, no one sleeping very deeply or well. Detailed explanations were not necessary, especially when Flora tried to open the door, and it did not budge...
-Corail. The door is locked. Try to pick the lock, as quietly as you can...
The ��thief�� of the group, who was hardly making her official seventeen years old with her frail stature-result of malnutrition in her younger years-litteraly jumped on her tools, and started to pick appart the lock. She realized quickly that this was leading nowhere.
-Flora ! Renard ! They placed the bars on the other side of the door ! It will not open !
Saphire did not hesitate, pick her sword, and trusted it on the door. If she could carve a small hole in the door, they could remove the bar...Unfortunately, this door was twenty centimeters thick oak, which make it quite sturdy. It would have tooks hours to cut it with an ill fitted tool such as a sword...And the problem was, the door was also reinforced with iron. Learning that, Corail, the indiscuted specialist of those questions, judged that they would be lucky if they managed to make an hole in less than a few days. She had the dumb impression that they were not going to have that time for making their escape...
-Should I try to destroy the hinges ? They are quite heavy, it will take some time...at least an hour. As an another desperate method, I could try to make a crude mine using some gunpowder, but there is two slight problems : the first one is that we risk to be killed by splinters, the second being that it�s certainly going to rise the attention of our hosts...
-I think that, said quietly Saphire, they are already excepting us to do something...So, discretion or not...Altought we are certainly not the priority targets. And, maybe the toscin will hide the explosion...Anyway, we need to do something fast-
At this moment they started to hear armored soldiers moving into the corridors, which really cut down their options to almost nothing. Not really hoping that this could be an escape way (the most braidead ennemy would have thought about that !) Singleton moved toward the window, to look at the courtyard beyond. It was depressing.

You need to work on the layout first off. The speech is really confusing, sometimes it says who said it but other times it doesn't. Put the speech in quotation marks and make it clear who's saying it.

Also breaking it down into more readable paragraphs helps. Reading off of a computer screen isn't as easy as reading off of paper for most people so doing things like putting spaces between paragraphs makes it more reader-friendly, I think.

I know you said your first language isn't English but a run through a spellchecker would help clear up the spelling mistakes you're made.

Aside from those things the storyline itself looks pretty good.

Comments heard, and adressed, at least for the paragraphs...

-Two ballistas are deployed in the courtyard, backed by a full company of crossbowmen with pavise shields..If we show up by the window, we will get transformed in hedgehogs very fast. Hey, do you think it�s would be the moment to try something that-

Three ��NO !�� followed, said by Flora, Corail, and Renard, Saphirre simply nodding her approval to their protestations. They all knew too well what Singleton was about to say : something in the lines of a ��a not too natural method�, a form or the other of Magic. Singleton have a irritating habit of considering himself as a potential future Archmage, which was not AT ALL the case. Fortunately, his skills in the wide ��science�� known as alchimy (wisely, Singleton was making stuff that actually work, like purifying naphta for flaming arrows-useful for using that kind of arrows without immolating yourself in the first place-, making plant extracts, and not trying to find the Philosopher Stone..) were more than compensating for that. That said, he had, at least, acquired some theoric knowledge about the various forms of Magic, and could provide the others with a good idea of what an ennemy mage or priest was about to unleash of them...Useful

Several warcries were heard now, coming from other pieces whose windows were on the coutryard. The others ��heretics�� : Renard recognized several of the voices. The fighting seemed to be quite intense. It was going to be very, very, very costly battle for the attackers...But there was not the slighest doubt about the upcome : the peace-time garrison of the Citadel was between 2000-2500 soldiers, including of course bad soldiers, but also elite units. This force was already reinforced by the units that the King bringed with him in Lessaria...and could be reinforced yet by the various barracks of Lessaria. In conscequence, staying in the Citadel was nothing less than a death sentence...

Renard tried to remember the general layout of the Citadel�Their room was in a kind of maze of such relatively small rooms, made out of huge appartments cutted down by walls of light masonry (considerably lighter, anyway, than the almost meter tight outer walls) Unfortunately, their room was in an angle, meaning that two walls out of four were in the said heavy masonry. The third one was the hallway wall. But the fourth one was separating them from another similar room, empty ! The problem was that the door of the said room was of course leading to the same hallway, that would be still patrolled by guards, until the Inquisition decided to give the assault on their room. There was an hope, however. Ten rooms down in the hallway, there was a guard post, presumably fitted with one of the crude, but efficient, security system of the Lessarian Citadel. Because of the stagerring number of Kings, Queens, bishops, dignitaries that have fallen due to various plots and conspiracies (Nobles from the highest rank, having most of the time nothing to do, seemed often to do more plotting than breathing...This could be from relatively funny stuff, such as the dreaded feuds about ranks and ���tiquette�� to plots of the magnitude of the false Zodiac Legend....). most hallways of the Citadel could be blocked by very heavy porticulis, in the hope of blocking rebels long enough for reinforcement to come. Once the porticulis were released, it took hours, because of their sheer weight, to open them (while it took only few seconds to release them...) If they reached the guard post, managed to dispatch the guards without alerting the troops in the hallway, then drop the porticulis, they could at least leave this level, where most of the elite units were likely concentrated. Renard was pretty sure that they no others ��Heretics�� in the sector...and he really hoped that he was right, since releasing the poriculis would trap them too...That short term plan would be a starting point for getting out of this trap...Long term plans would be laid latter, outside of the Citadel, and if possible out of Lessaria...

The person that should release the porticulis was obvious : Corail, whose small height and stature were very appropriate : she would only a small opening in each wall to reach the guard post...She took out her dagger, and started to dislodge bricks...The cement was relatively soft, and the work progressed quickly. During that time, Flora and Renard were busy screaming various insults at the intention of the Inquisitors, the guards, the King, and generally anyone within hearing range. This have a double advantage : it drowned the noise Corail was making, and it�s could persuade their ennemies that they were merely standing in their room, preparing themselves as best as they could to the assault..

When the attack come, the door swinged wide open at the first hit of the ram the attackers bringed with them : the ��Heretics�� have not blocked the door on their side...They have made, using the furniture, a small barricade...The attention of the guards was drawed toward the barricade...not toward the nearly invisible wire that have been laid out just after the door. The two first attackers collapsed when they walked over it. With the total darkness in which the room was (for covering the hole made out in one of the wall...) this leads to great confusion, especially when Singleton and Renard used their firearms, and Flora her longbow...The officer, noting that the assault had really a bad start, ordered a withdrawal. The ennemy left on the room two dead, but also two wounded, that Saphirre knocked down using the handgrip hor her longsword. When a relative calm had returned, Flora and Renard noted that the Ennemy had a recon sign : a white armband. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the room that could be used for making minimally credible armbands....And the ones on the ennemy soldiers would not be very credible, as there was currently a lot of red stains on them...Noting that two of her soldiers were missing that, the female officer in charge of the assault, really caring for them and fearing that in their despair, the Heretics would kill them, she tried to discuss with Renard...

-Don�t do stupid things, she shouted from the hallway ! Killing those soldiers will bring you nothing ! I...I cannot promise that ishowing mercy is going to help you at your trial for Heresy , this would be a lie, but killing them will certainly not help your case !
In other times, Renard would have certainly a certain sympathy for the officer. The current circumstances, were, however, a bit innapropriate for offer her a cup of tea...But as she was valuing the life of her soldiers, her involontary help could be verry precious... She would hesitate before launching a second attack ; that could end quite bad , as the Heretics had nothing to lose, this could give enough time to Corail for suceed in her task.

She managed to do it...The guard post was a small room, ��defended�� by what was clearly not the elite of the Citadel garrison. The good soldiers were already engaged, or guarding the key points of the Citadel, like the gates, the Throne Room, the Chapel...The fighting was really, really intense...but, globally, it ended like Renard have thinked. Sure, many of the veterans of the War of Ajora did go down fighting, some in a truly spectacular way, but they still go down...One of the most spectacular fight was the one of Meliadoul, who tried to reach the Chapel for expressing (with her sword...) her feelings on the leading Church official in Lessaria, Cardinal Caetan. The Cardinal had twenty guards with him. Meliadoul swordplay alone had reduced this number to three, when archers sent in reinforcements had transformed her into a hedgehog. She was still conscious when Caetan, shaking from the precedent encounter, ordered his reining guards to immobilize her...while he was bringing down his heavy staff on her face, until it broke up...When Meliadoul, still alive, was sent in her cell, she was no longer having a face, and battle hardened veterans were deeply shocked by her mere sight....

It was a heroic way of getting captured, sure, but, finally, seventeen guards killed or not, it was Caetan the winner, and he would get away of this with a severe blame from the Inquisition, who knew that disfigured accused (especially one that were quite pretty before their arrestation) were giving it a bad reputation. But this would cost Meliadoul er life (even if she, by miracle, avoided death, with her injuries, she would never have a normal life...) As she was making her way to the guard post, Corail was determined to not have this end...Living for fighting (and winning) another day was the best option...

She opened in perfect silence the last door, only a few centimeters, for not raising attention...Using a small mirror for not exposing herself, she looked in the hallway. Perfect. They were the only ��Heretic�� group on this hallway, but not on this level, and the sounds usually coming with a frantic battle were audible from the guard post, making the guards quite nervous. And prone to panic if they were surprise attacked...
But Corail had to dispatch them quickly : altough the hallway was making an angle (hiding the guard post from the elite groupe trying to get them back at their chamber) the two points were quite close, and if she did something wrong, reinforcements would arrive extremlly fast, pinning her in place...A few seconds later, the guards, noticed a thumping noise, made by an small black object that just landed on their table...They all raisded from their chairs, drawed their swords-and were covered by wood splinters as an loud explosion happened, followed by smoke, bursting a sizable hole in the table. This was too much for mere recruits : following to the letter their orders, they withdrawed and tried to reach the nearest elite reserve unit (the King was not dumb, and was not wasting the life of his soldiers...For instance, sending recruits against Agrias was clearly suicide...), unfortunately already sent in reinforcements...Corail estimated that she have around five minutes at best to complete her task...As she moved into the room, she noted that actually, her weapon, one of those new things developped into the Fifty Years War, a ��grenade�� had done quite minimal damage. The psychological effect was out of proportion with the actual damage...(And she had just one of them...She would be in deep trouble in the guards came back, or if someone in the hallway had heard something...) Anyway, releasing the porticulis correctly would be easy : one of the said porticulis was mere meters from their room, in the opposite direction than the guard post. Releasing it would either cut the guards from their reinforcements...or, if lucky, could divide them.

Corail was about to perform her task when she noticed some movement in the corner of her eyes... Corail cursed herself mentally. There was also an officier in the room, in a dark corner, visibly asleep at the moment she launched her attack. But wearing armor, and certainly much stronger than her. She had left her longbow in the other room...In classical combat, killing him with only a dagger would be very hard, but possible.

-You could just pretend, she said calmly, that you never saw me, and resume sleeping.

-Yes, said the man to the astonishement of Corail....I could say that....if....

Corail thought for a moment that she have managed to pull out a kind of mind trick ...until she noticed, with horror, the way the man was looking at her. What he wanted was clear.

The way Corail took her dagger was also a very, very clear way to answer...

The obscene smile the man had faded, but he was not worrried too much...Corail was not much a threat for him. The man was, judging by his insiginia and his coat-of-arms, a Noble (his behaviour was also typical of a noble, Corail thought with pure rage)

-Last chance, said Corail very seriously. Ignore me...or face the conscequences.
..
-YOU ask me to surrender, peasant girl ? Soon, you are going to beg me to kill you !

The train of thought of the noble was also extremly clear : he had a golden chance to capture alone (or kill by ��accident��..) an Heretic... A female Heretic. A very pretty female Heretic. The kind of victim that no one would care about, ...or that could be killed without trouble after....The second hypothesis was certainly the one he choosed...

Corail dropped her dagger, and backed herself against a wall, looking terrorized. The Noble grinned, visibly enjoying her apparent fear. He did not think that this way, Corail was shielding her hands from his eyes. Her hands, and the wire previously twisted around her left arm, currently ready to be used against the Noble if he came too close...

But his was the Noble that finally nailed his own coffin by his last sentence..

-If you don�t scream, I may look the other way long enough for you to flee...

Corail was a very gentle person, and she hated to kill. She hated it almost as much as the Nobles, probably more. Her basic plan wheb she had saw the Noble was to distract him just long enough with her demand to simply look away (no one would have accepted to do that, with the Inquisition) to come close to him, then to pass her wire around his neck, use it until he collapsed...and let him live. But in the current situation, this plan was somewhat revised...A flash from her past came back to her, that make her clench her fists. That Noble bastard (Bastard was usually a term that angered Nobles a lot, because all their rights were coming for their supposed glorious ancestors...the fact that it was making Nobles furious being the first reason why Corail was always using this insult...) would not get out of this with his live...Corail said, in a barely audible voice, the name that have been trigerred in her memory :

Lysithea...The Noble could not understand...And he would not have cared, if he knew who was Lysithea... He did not notice that the eyes of Corail were not showing the slighest true fear when he approched her...Dropping the wire, Corail tried to push the noble away. Rather, she did something that looked that way, for cover her true action. The Noble, now mere centimeters away from her, grabbed her right wrist as Corail was attempting to strike him on more him, laughing...It�s a this moment that he noticed that something was wrong, as there was now on the lips of Corail an indiscutable thin smile of victory...He never realize until it was too late that Corail had unsheated his own sword with her left hand, and was silently raising it in his back, drawing his attention....A few seconds laters, Corail was trying to remove all the blood that she received in the face-she was much smaller than the Noble, and his neck was basically at her eyes level....She was not very skilled with large swords, such as the broad one used by the Noble, and while extremly effective, her strike was really, really not surgical...There was a water tank nearby, for collecting rain water (In the hope, not often realized, that if guards had drinkable water at their disposition, they would be less drunk when on duty...) No longer carng about the Noble, who was not death (altought he would be in a few minutes), she took two minutes to clean herself and her upper clothes (showing like that would raise question from Flora and Renard...but also from the average Lessarian) It�s at that time that she noticed another injury. The Noble had grasped her wrist so brutally that it have severly bruised, to the point that she was slightly bleeding from this place...This triggered a reflexion that was quite appropriate...

-You really think right now that the blood of the Nobles is different from the ones of others Humans ? (This was a reference to the constant allusions by Nobles to their bloodlines.) Me, I�m pretty sure that it�s the same time, y� know ?

The Noble maybe heard the sentence, but he was no longer in a state of answering it. Corail released the porticulis and left the room in a hurry, to assist her friends...