The guardsman Roquan had hired to keep watch at the Manor gate opened it just enough to allow Amanda and Sirinna to pass. He smiled at them, allowing his gaze to roam over their naked bodies in a manner that bespoke more of appreciation rather than lasciviousness.

Amanda even smiled back at him as she passed.

As the two of them soon turned from the main road, they passed into the encroaching darkness of deep twilight. It lasted for only a few moments. Magical torches lined the sandy path carved through the lush foliage surrounding the Manor, and the closest of these sensed their approach and lighted themselves.

Amanda had to consciously pace herself and not run ahead of Sirinna. She was not simply looking forward to seeing Jollis again, but she wanted to thank him. Not long before Sirinna had begun preparing Amanda to be taken to the Tradesman, Lanno had shown up and requested Amanda's services for the evening. It had given her great satisfaction to hear the disappointment in Lanno's voice when Sirinna turned him down.

She had been spared dealing with the Healer for one night. That was worth something in return.

The torches lighted in sequence, the ones they passed extinguishing themselves as the ones ahead lighted. Though they were barely a quarter mile from the Manor, the jungle was so thick on this side that they might as well have been 100 miles away. Amanda loved it. She felt like she had a small degree of freedom out here, as if Roquan no longer had control over her.

Intellectually, she knew it was an illusion. But it served her well emotionally.

They emerged into a small clearing, in the center of which was a simple hut not much different in design from the slave quarters. Jollis' needs were quite modest, and he would have willingly taken something smaller. He had resisted Roquan's urgings to take the unused Trainer's quarters, the one in which Lanno now resided. It was better for his purposes to remain outside the Manor grounds.

Amanda was not the only one that needed the isolation, though for entirely different reasons. She was smiling again by the time they came to the door of the hut.

"Master Jollis, I bring to you your pleasure for the evening," Sirinna called out.

There was only the briefest of pauses before the door opened. Amanda took this as an encouraging sign that he was as eager to see her as she was to see him. Indeed, Jollis was smiling as he gazed upon Amanda. His lean body was clad in only a silken robe. It was sashed securely about his waist, but the top was loose and exposed some of his smooth chest.

Amanda drew in her breath and let it go, feeling a tingle of anticipation in her sex.

"Good evening to you, little one, I am fortunate to have you grace my presence once again," said Jollis, giving one of Amanda's cheeks a light stroke with his fingers. He lifted his eyes. "And good evening to you as well, my dear Sirinna."

The fact that he had addressed Amanda first was not lost on her. On the contrary, she was absolutely delighted.

"Good evening to you, Master Jollis," Sirinna said respectfully, though there was mirth in her voice as well. She was always pleased to witness another's happiness at seeing Amanda. "I present Amanda to you for your pleasure this evening."

"Ah, but it is always a pleasure to me when she is around," Jollis said as he stepped back from the door to let them in.

Amanda blushed but smiled broadly. She had so missed hearing things like that! Yes, Sirinna always complimented her and said sweet and tender things to her when they were alone, but somehow this was different.

Sirinna gave the chain a light snap when they reached the center of the room, even though Amanda had already stopped walking. She removed the chain and the cuffs. "She is yours," said Sirinna as she backed up towards the door. "Treat her well."

Neither of them looked in Sirinna's direction as she silently slipped out of the room.

Jollis moved to speak, but at the last moment held his tongue. Instead, he placed a hand lightly against Amanda's cheek and simply gazed at her.

And now she makes me hesitate, Jollis thought, partially in bemusement, but partially with concern as well. In what other ways have I been allowing her to affect me?

Amanda was very grateful for the simple touch. The tingle in her nether regions became a low heat. She was surprised herself at how quickly she was becoming aroused in his presence, even considering how she felt about him.

"I must ask your forgiveness, Amanda."

Amanda blinked once and looked up at him in confusion. "For what?"

"I have allowed my work to get the best of me. It has been too long since I have partaken of the pleasure of your company." Jollis stroked her cheek once before withdrawing his hand and retreating to the bed. He turned and sat down on the edge, patting the spot next to him. "Please, little one, come and sit down. Speak to me."

Amanda felt a renewed surge of affection for Jollis. He was interested in her as a person first and sex second. It was ironic that, for once, she wished to turn this around.

She trotted over to the bed and sat down. She smiled and slid her hips to the side until they touched his. She felt her heart beat faster and her hands fidgeted a bit where they lay in her lap.

Jollis tilted his head slightly. "It seems you are eager to tell me something this evening, little one."

"You read me very well, Master," said Amanda. The title flowed smoothly from her lips. Jollis was a person with whom she did not think twice about using that form of address. It was as if somehow in her mind he had earned it.

"May I dare to hope it is because you missed my stimulating intellect?"

Amanda giggled. "I have great respect for your intellect, Master. And I do want to talk. I fear I will bore you, though, since much of what I have to say is about the scrolls I have been reading."

Jollis smiled at her. "Ah, but you assume that I am uninterested in such things. On the contrary, I know of the scrolls. I am quite interested in what you have learned from them, dear one."

Amanda felt her skin flush. She never heard him call her "dear one" before, but she enjoyed it very much.

"But this is not what you wish to tell me now, is it?"

Amanda shook her head. "What I wanted to say to you first was ... thank you."

"Oh? For what, little one?"

"For requesting my services for the evening."

"Ah, but I did try before. It seems you have earned the rather ardent attentions of our newest Healer."

Amanda's eyes grew cloudy, and she simply nodded.

Jollis had a suspicion confirmed at that moment. He had suspected that the Healer would be hard on Amanda, and he had been right. For a moment, he felt a surge of anger. Lanno was a fool and a boor. He knew nothing of how to cultivate such a budding flower of womanhood. He treated her as a thing, a toy.

Jollis quelled the feeling quickly. It was unbecoming and served no purpose. Anger was not to be felt, but was to be channeled into useful action. He had no options for any viable action, and thus the emotion was a distraction and needed to be controlled.

Yet as hard as he tried, he could not rid himself of lingering resentment towards the man.

Amanda struggled with her next words. Her mind vacillated as to whether to say what she wished, or whether to gloss over it and move on.

A proper slave would not have these feelings. Amanda was not a proper slave, she was convinced of that. But she could at least keep it to herself. That was the next best thing, and gave the semblance of being a good slave.

"Master Lanno is not to your liking, is he, dear one?"

Amanda looked at Jollis in surprise. Suddenly it was a lot easier to decide what to say. "No, Master Jollis. But ... it is not my place to say."

"Correction: it is not your place to act on it. It is certainly your place to say."

Amanda shook her head. "It's not considered proper."

"Ah, but now, is that not for me to decide? You are here for my pleasure. What if it pleased me to have you speak of such things?"

Amanda slowly smiled at him. "You're very kind to me, Master. I really appreciate it."

"I am glad to hear this. I wish you to be happy."

Amanda turned her body a little more towards him. Her heart raced. Her nipples hardened, becoming two small nubs on her breasts. The heat in her pussy was becoming a slow burn, her folds glistening slightly in the torchlight. "Master, I-I want to thank you ..." she said, her voice a touch husky.

Jollis paused a moment. He sensed the change in her. It had been coming over her slowly ever since she had arrived. He had already noticed that she had been mildly aroused when she walked in ahead of her Trainer. It had been escalating ever since.

Amanda took the silence as tacit encouragement to be a little bolder. She turned herself a bit more, letting one of her breasts brush against his arm. She placed a hand lightly on his thigh.

"You are a most remarkable girl, Amanda," Jollis said in a soft voice.

Amanda caught the hint of affection in his voice. It sent another flash of heat through her body, eventually centering again on her sex. She felt the wetness in her folds as she moved. Her hand slid up his thigh, moving smoothly against the satin. "You keep giving me things to thank you for, Master."

Jollis was rather surprised by how husky her voice was. And how bold she was. Not just from the point of view of her training as a slave, but by the fact that she was only fourteen. Or perhaps close to fifteen by now. But still very young to be acting in such a blatantly seductive manner.

One part of him wanted to stop her. It was as if some sensibility of his was being violated. Yet he remained still as her hand slid along the inside of his thigh. He even helped her by parting his own legs slightly. Though by this time he need not have bothered, as his manhood had already risen in anticipation beneath his robe.

Finally, he placed his own hand over hers, just moments before she would have touched his hardness.

"I wish this only if it will please you as well, dear one," Jollis said in a voice that was almost a whisper.

Amanda turned two dark and sultry eyes to his. She gently pulled her hand out from under his and slowly grasped his erection through his robe. She let the satin play against him, sliding smoothly around his shaft.

Jollis gave her a look that could be best described as pleasant astonishment when she pulled her hand from his. It was replaced with a look of utter contentment as he felt her fingers around his manhood.

"Yes, this would please me, Master," said Amanda.

Her heart was pounding. She was quite shocked herself at her own audacity. Her body quivered with the rush that it gave her. It was as if she had found a way to both give pleasure as a slave ought and to act in utter defiance of what a slave should be. She felt as if she had bridged both worlds with him.

Without lifting her hand from his cock, Amanda slid off the bed. Her pussy ached with her own intense arousal. She felt an urge to change her plans, to simply straddle his lap and impale herself upon him so she could grant herself relief as well as him.

She kept to her original plan. She dropped to her knees before him. Any remaining bemusement in Jollis' face faded, replaced with anticipation and delight. This was the first time she had so blatantly offered herself, and with a daring that bordered on independence. Jollis knew this was a far cry from the way a slave should act.

He should have been concerned about it. For if his plan were to come to fruition, Amanda needed to know how to be a slave. Yet he let her indulge herself. It was all too easy for him to try and fool himself by believing he was letting her do this as a kindness to her. He knew the truth, that he wanted the attention from her offered unconditionally.

And he did everything to encourage her. He pulled at the cord holding his robe closed about his waist and let it fall loose. Amanda carefully pulled back the folds, revealing Jollis' engorged manhood. There was no trembling or hesitation on Amanda's part. Only confidence remained as her fingers slipped around his cock, stroking it lightly. For a few moments she simply enjoyed the feeling of his hardness in her hand. She even felt a hint of pride that she had made him this excited.

Amanda leaned forward, softly planting her lips on the head of his cock, kissing it lovingly. She held this for a moment, fingers massaging him, until she leaned forward. Very slowly she let him slide past her lips. She pressed her tongue against the underside, giving it a single deep stroke as it slipped into her mouth. She inhaled a musky scent from the wiry pubic hair surrounding his balls. It excited her, her breath coming out in a nasal sigh of contentment.

Jollis took a single deep breath. He was amazed. He had never felt this excited in the presence of a woman, let alone one as young as Amanda. His manhood actually ached from the intensity of his arousal.

Amanda seemed to swallow up his entire cock, her lips sliding all the way down to the base. She drew back just as slowly and sensuously. Jollis thought this incredibly erotic, something that normally no one that young should know how to do, or at least do that well.

And she was doing this because she wanted to.

Amanda drew forward again and then back, tilting her head backwards slightly. The underside of his manhood pressed against her tongue and lower lip more firmly, drawing a low and soft moan from the merchant. She repeated, each time going just a little faster until she reached a steady but still sedate pace, her head bobbing back and forth. The tilt of her head on each backstroke lent a small rocking motion to it, deep-stroking him each time.

For the first time in a long while, Jollis was left speechless, both by his own amazement and the sheer breathlessness that her ministrations were causing.

Jollis felt torn, also a new experience for him. Amanda was so young. She had been trained to give pleasure as a duty. It was so wrong. Yet she gave of herself freely to him. He did not know what he was supposed to feel, or what he was supposed to do.

Why was this girl causing such conflicts in him when everything had seemed so clear to him when he had first arrived?

Amanda heard the shortness of his breath and the low but incessant moaning. She felt quite pleased with herself. She was using her slave skills as she wished it. It excited and aroused her far more than just the sexual act itself could. She felt in complete control again. It made Jollis' home a true haven for her.

She lifted her hand to his balls and fondled them, teasing them further away from his body. She let her fingers circle them, further isolating them from his body to draw out his pleasure and prevent him from reaching climax too fast. She quickened her pace now, her free hand wrapping about the bottom half of his cock and pumping it in time with the movements of her mouth.

Jollis leaned back, resting on his hands to hold him up. He was panting hard now, his pleasure rising, leveling off, then rising a little again, then leveling off again. Higher and higher, little steps each time, a gentle tug on his balls preventing him from reaching his peak just yet.

Great gods, Jollis thought. If she uses this skill on all men with whom she trysts ...

Except that she didn't.

In fact, Amanda had been a little out of practice. The last of the male slaves that Roquan owned had been contracted out, leaving him only female slaves. While Roquan would take her now and then, he rarely asked for this. The truth was, Amanda had not given her best to everyone. It was not necessarily a conscious choice. It was the way she was. She felt more compelled to give her best when she truly liked the one with whom she was partnered.

The last one towards whom she had come closest to feeling that way had been Garas. Amanda had been disappointed when he had been contracted out so soon after he graduated.

Amanda sensed Jollis' rise. It was getting to the point where all she needed to do was let go of his balls and he would soar over the top. It was hard to resist. She was extremely aroused, her body trembling, her pussy very hot and wet. It was only by virtue of the fact that both her hands were engaged that she was not fingering herself. She needed release as badly as he did.

Jollis' moans rose in volume. It was the most noise Amanda had ever heard him make. His thighs where clenching as he reached a point just short of climax. Jollis' head tilted back, his breathing ragged as his manhood ached for release.

Amanda slowly eased off his balls, letting them be tugged back towards his body.

Jollis gasped and his whole body seemed to tense. He hung excruciatingly at the edge, Amanda's mouth pumping furiously on his shaft. Finally he let go with a very loud, guttural groan as his cock throbbed hard and fast inside Amanda's mouth.

Amanda felt the warm splash of his seed against her tongue and the insides of her cheeks. His cock throbbed in a frenzy, spewing stream after stream into her mouth. She tilted her head back slightly, slowing the movements of her lips but continuing to milk him with her fingers. She squeezed her tongue against his sensitive spot just behind the head, coaxing his orgasm to linger for a few more pulses. He moaned deeply, cum still dribbling from the head even as his climax waned.

Amanda leaned back, keeping her lips tightly around his manhood until it slipped completely out of her mouth. She slowly and obviously swallowed, swirled her tongue around her mouth and over her lips, and swallowed again. She closed her eyes and lightly licked his now softening manhood, lapping up a few remaining drops of his seed. When she was finished, she gave the head of his cock a soft kiss before drawing back.

"My dear one," said Jollis in a breathless voice. "You indeed honor me. That was most wonderful."

Amanda smiled, her cheeks faintly pink. Her knees slid apart a bit more, her pussy aching. "Thank you, Master."

"Please, Amanda, stand for me."

Amanda rose to her feet. Jollis lifted his gaze to her bosom. From the way it rose and fell, it was clear she was breathing hard. The nipples were hard and erect. Moisture glistened in her slit. One drop had run a short way down the inside of her thigh. When he reached out and took her hand, he could sense a slight trembling to it.

Jollis had so many questions for her. But they could wait. She needed his attention.

Without a word, he let go of her hand and slipped his arm around her waist, remaining seated at the edge of the bed. She offered no resistance as he pulled her close, her body quivering as it touched his. Her breathing became a light pant as his arm dropped, his hand gently exploring her ass. Her breast pressed against the side of his face, sending another shudder through her.

Jollis turned his head, and his mouth sought Amanda's nipple. Amanda gasped in as much surprise as pleasure when his lips closed around it, his cheeks dimpling as he suckled on it. Amanda uttered a deep moan and closed her eyes.

He had never done this for her before. He had touched her breasts, but often briefly in passing, just lightly cupping them. This was the first time he paid this much attention to them.

Jollis drew his hand up behind her back and pressed her forward. More of her orb pressed against his face, his mouth growing more hungry and insistent. He drew her nipple further inside, tongue licking at the hard nub without pause.

"Uhhhnn! ... oh gods ..." Amanda moaned, her body shivering with the intensity of the ache in her pussy now. She was close to begging him to touch her there, slave training or no, until she felt his free hand slip between her legs and slide sensuously up the inside of her thigh.

Panting heavily now, she slid her feet apart to give him access. He did not try to tease her any further. He knew the extent of her need now. His fingers moved unerringly to their mark, sinking into her wet flesh. Amanda clutched at him, barely resisting the urge to rock her hips against his hand.

Even then, her hips twitched and betrayed her desire. The hand behind her back dropped downward again and gently prodded her hips forward in tacit approval.

Amanda understood. She swung her hips forward and back against his hand. He angled his hand such that she impaled herself on two of his fingers, sinking them into her tunnel.

Her fingers curled tightly around his shoulders as she rocked her hips. Jollis' mouth remained sealed against her breast, tongue swirling around her nipple. Amanda could not keep silent. Constant moans and gasps issued from her partially open mouth, rising to a crescendo along with the growing pressure in her cunt.

The experience was so different from the sexual activity of her slave duties. It was more like her trysts with Sirinna. But even then, there was a subtle difference. She could not place what it was. At that moment, she did not care.

Amanda's hips were moving in a frenzy by the time her pleasure peaked and her pussy began to throb. She moaned and cried out as her orgasm rippled through her, the muscles she had been working the past half-moon almost instinctively clenching and drawing out her climax. His fingers pressed into her womanhood, keeping her going as long as he could.

When her orgasm finally played out, she collapsed against him, panting heavily. He withdrew his hand from her mound and dropped her nipple from his mouth. He wrapped both arms around her and drew her into his lap. She straddled his legs, giving him a questioning look. As she slid forward, her eyes widened when she felt a partially hard cock press against her.

For a moment, her eyes remained level with his. Hers were shimmering slightly, questioning at first, but now growing desirous again. Jollis' eyes were dark, smoldering with an intensity that was almost shocking for her to behold. Had it been from anyone else, she might have felt fearful. Instead, it drew her in.

It was as if she had skipped a moment in time. She had been looking into his eyes one moment and kissing him the next. Despite having just climaxed, her passion was rekindled, her breathing growing heavy again as the kiss escalated. His manhood grew harder and more insistent.

This is so wrong, on so many levels, came Jollis' thought, but it did nothing to stop him. His own feelings had become like Amanda's arousal not long before, so strong that they could not be ignored. He had felt something for Amanda beyond her sweetness and intellect.

Jollis pulled her onto the bed with him. Amanda let him draw her close to him. She let him do as he pleased with her. He sensed her complete willingness and submission to him, and it drove his desire for her to almost unbearable levels.

Their bodies entwined. Jollis smoothly rolled them over so that Amanda was on her back, still kissing her. The next moment, his manhood lay insistent at her folds.

Amanda spread her legs as he slid forward. Her excitement grew to a fever pitch again as his cock filled her, slipping deeply into her still very moist pussy. The intensity of the sensation forced her to break the kiss at last, uttering low moans of delight.

It was so different. Never had a tryst with a man felt like this. The closest she had come was Roquan when he had deflowered her, when he had shown a few moments of true tenderness for her. Even then, it was still not quite the same.

Jollis rocked his hips against her. She cried out her pleasure, even this early, even though she had barely begun to rise. Her emotions were carrying her like a wave on the ocean heading towards the shore, growing higher and more powerful as it approached.

It was wonderful. It was the most pleasurable experience she had since coming to Narlass. It felt so different. It felt like it meant something. She was not a slave, she was simply herself, with her own feelings, her own dreams, her own desires ... and her own passions.

Jollis panted hard as he stroked faster into her. Amanda's hands gripped his arms tightly, her head tilting back as she rocked her hips in time to his movements. Together, their moans grew louder and more strident, both rising together, their bodies moving as if of one mind.

Jollis began to move with an insistence that bordered on frenzy, yet he managed to keep a constant rhythm, letting Amanda keep pace and enhance the impact of each thrust into her tunnel. Her pussy grew slowly tighter as he rose, her muscles clenching as she approached climax.

Amanda abruptly gasped, her cunt gripping his cock as she came. He felt the pulsing of her tunnel tightly around his manhood. His thrusts slowed a bit, but grew more forceful, his body slapping hard against hers. Amanda's orgasm lingered, then faded, but her excitement did not wane, not with his cock still rocking back and forth inside her.

She clutched at him even more tightly. He kissed her again, tongues sliding frantically past one another as Jollis panted harder and harder. So excited was Amanda still that she soared and erupted into a second climax close on the heels of the first. It was in the throes of this that Jollis uttered several urgent and increasingly strident groans until his whole body shuddered. He plunged himself into her as he exploded, his cock throbbing hard against the walls of her tunnel.

Amanda lifted her hips, forcing him deep, enjoying the sensation of his pulsing manhood inside her. It briefly renewed her orgasm, several more soft throbs reverberating through her body. She gave a long, low moan that dissolved into a breathy sigh. Finally spent, Jollis slumped against her, their mutual panting the only sound in the room for the next few moments.

Jollis stirred first. He had to, as Amanda did not want to move. She was enjoying the lingering ache in her pussy and the last few weak throbs of pleasure as he slowly withdrew. She had not felt this relaxed in a very long time.

Jollis gathered her in his arms and gently rolled them onto their sides. He kissed her softly and ran a hand down her side. His lips slowly curled into a smile. Amanda beamed at him in return.

"Fantastic, dear one," Jollis said softly. "Utterly and completely."

"I should be the one saying that. That ... that was ..."

Amanda trailed off. She hoped Jollis would take it simply to mean that she was speechless. She knew what she wanted to say, but it was too much. Even as relaxed as she felt, even as much as she no longer felt like a slave for that moment, she felt it would be pushing things too far.

Simply put, she believed she had just experienced sex the way it was meant to be. A totally shared experience on a deep emotional level. It was something she never thought she could feel with anyone other than Sirinna. The thought of this made her blush.

Jollis sensed her uneasiness. He knew there was something else behind her otherwise happy and contented gaze. But now was not the time to press her for it. Even as emotionally open to him as she was, even as much as this was an ideal opportunity had he been been paying attention to the tenets of his mission, he refused to take advantage of it now.

"Just lie quietly with me, dear one," Jollis said softly, stroking her hair. "It is all I shall ask of you further tonight."

Amanda smiled. "Of course. I would love to."

She had stopped using a title. She had not forgotten it. It simply did not seem appropriate at the moment.

Jollis settled onto his back and let Amanda drape her soft and warm body over his. She ducked her head under his and snuggled against him.

Ah, but what have you done to me, dear one? Jollis thought ruefully.

Nothing was clear to him anymore. Strictly speaking, he had done a great wrong to himself and his mission. He had allowed his feelings and his passions to rule his actions. Would his judgment suffer for it now? Would he hesitate when it came time to make those crucial decisions? Would everything come down like a house of cards because he had decided to indulge his feelings, feelings that he should never have cultivated in himself in the first place?

Jollis draped an arm over her and felt Amanda slowly grow still. It was not the single act of passion that concerned him, but what it might spawn. Already he was feeling twinges of guilt over what might be happening -- no, what must happen -- in the Imperium at that moment. There was no room for such feelings.

For what was to come was far worse than the petty squabbling between ruler and rebels.

Gondas shivered, but only partially from the cool touch of the night air. He glanced up for a moment and tried to hurry his pace as twilight deepened to full night. His feet felt leaden, his steps making the occasional scraping sound against the stones of the street in the commoners' section of the Imperial City.

As night closed in around him, more of the city's oil street lamps flickered to life, casting pale radiance absent of any warmth upon the empty street before him. It seemed to deepen the chill that he felt. His eyes flicked back and forth across the deserted street. There was a curfew in force, and Gondas was skirting the edge of it. Another of Z'haas' "security measures." Gondas himself remembered transcribing that particular order.

He paused a moment when he found the object of his search. It was a nondescript house near the end of a narrow street. A shabbily-dressed man lounged outside of it as he leaned against an empty and broken-down cart. As Gondas approached, the man turned and offered a crooked smile before lifting a gourd as if in toast and taking a sloppy swig from it. "Top o' the evenin' to ya, my good man," he said in a slightly slurred voice.

Gondas just gave him a nod and offered a proper look of disdain.

It was hoped that, to anyone else, the man looked like some random lout getting himself slowly drunk. In reality, he was the lookout. And a distraction, if one were needed.

Gondas turned from him and headed to the door. He barely had stepped onto the small porch surrounding it when the door opened and an arm lashed out, grabbing him hard by the wrist and yanking him inside.

For a moment, Gondas feared the worst, expecting to see a room full of armed Imperial Guards. His stomach churned at the prospect of having been discovered before they had even started. Finally his wide and frightened eyes fell upon the angry face of Huris.

"You're late!" he hissed.

"I'm sorry!" Gondas hissed back, his voice shaky from his scare. "I was afraid of being followed! There are Imperial Guards everywhere around the rotunda, and I had to work late again."

Huris sighed, some of the anger leaving his face as he let go of Gondas' wrist. "All right, but you've missed some of it. We had to start without you."

Gondas heard a low voice speaking. It was soft yet confident and full of regal bearing. He glanced past Huris and through a partially open door into a back room. There he saw a lightly bearded man standing at one end of a table, looking intently at the others gathered around as he spoke.

Gondas glanced back to Huris. "Is that Bennis? I've never seen the man myself."

Huris nodded. "Yes, that's him. And thankful we are for him. He's been thinking about this for some time now. He's got connections, Gondas. More so than I could line up." He clapped Gondas on the shoulder and smiled. "Sorry I got upset. This should be a happy occasion. We're going to end the debacle of Z'haas' rule."

Gondas swallowed and nodded. He was grateful that someone else was taking the reins. He could not stomach it anymore himself. Already this was causing a strain with his wife. He could not tell her about his involvement. While she did not like the Emperor either (mostly because of how he was working her husband so hard) he could not risk anyone knowing about the coup.

"Here, I'll go get you something to drink to calm your nerves. You go and listen to Bennis." Huris made a sweeping gesture towards the open door before stepping over to the pantry.

Gondas gave Huris a weak smile, though the older man's back was already turned. Bennis' words drifted to him as he stepped into the other room. " ... not be difficult once we have breached the inner sanctum of the palace. Despite the heavy security, there is only so much authority the guards are allowed. They will not violate protocol. The idea is to look like we are supposed to be there. Psychological advantage is the key."

There was a general murmur of agreement from the dozen or so co-conspirators sitting around the table. Gondas was quite surprised at the number. Had they managed to obtain that many people? Maybe they had a shot of pulling this off after all.

Bennis turned his head towards Gondas. "Good of you to join us, Gondas," he said. His smile was friendly, but his voice held an undertone of business and even some officiousness to it. He was already falling into the role of Emperor. "I trust all is well?"

"As well as can be, Bennis, considering," answered Gondas, offering a tiny smile in return.

"As I was telling the others, Gondas, this will not be as difficult as it could be. There is nothing that a level head and some clear thinking will not solve."

"To be honest, though, I really believe we have the element of luck on our side. If you had not been so gracious as to accept ..."

Bennis waved a hand in dismissal. "Please, do not place the credit on me. It is you that helped arrange this in the first place."

Gondas did not reply. He did not trust his voice to work at that moment, as tight as his throat felt now. He did not want the limelight. It would have suited him well to remain at home with his wife and let the others carry it through. Only his own moral sense had forced him to come. He did not think it was fair to let the others face danger for something he had helped inaugurate.

He had another incentive as well. The message to him had hinted that this would go a very long way towards satisfying the Yassa Clan's debt. That debt was something the Clan had chafed under for some time. Gondas was looking forward more to the accolades he would get for that rather than what he might receive from a grateful new Emperor upon the throne.

Bennis turned his attention back to the others. "Now, we should go over this in more detail. It is important that everyone know their role. We cannot ..."

Gondas' attention was distracted by a commotion behind him. He turned in time to see Huris suddenly rush out the front door.

Gondas' mouth dropped open. He turned back to Bennis, though now he barely heard the man's words. His heart started pounding. Suddenly there was silence in the room, and all eyes were on him.

"Is something the matter, Gondas?" Bennis asked, furrowing his brow.

The tension in the room was palpable. Even under Bennis' firm guidance, there was lingering fear. All it took was the hint of trouble to set it off.

"I-I don't know. I saw Huris leave just a moment ..."

There was another commotion. Gondas turned and saw the front door open and Huris standing inside it. Bennis stepped over to him as Huris had an animated conversation with the lookout, who now looked a lot sharper and stone-cold sober. The lookout nodded urgently and dashed back outside.

"What is it, Huris?" Bennis asked as Huris closed the door.

Huris sighed, and there was a very troubled look in his eyes. "I am hoping nothing," he said in a low voice. "But when I went to the pantry, I thought I saw something in the trees behind the house. When I went outside to look, someone was dashing off."

Gondas felt his insides clench and gave first Huris, then Bennis a wild-eyed look.

"Was it a guard or soldier?" Bennis asked in a level voice.

"It was a young woman. I didn't get a good look at her, but there was something vaguely familiar about her."

Gondas swallowed. He thought back to the park and the young lady with the fan. No, it couldn't be that.

Bennis considered, cupping his chin with his hand. "It might have been nothing. Perhaps a woman having a tryst with someone in the foliage."

"I saw no one else run off, only her."

"Still, we have no other place to go and we have come too far."

Huris nodded. "Aye, I agree. No point in trying to pull up stakes now. But I thought you should know."

"Jeric has been alerted, I assume."

Huris nodded again and jerked a thumb towards the door. "That's what I was just telling him now. He'll let us know if ..."

The door burst open.

"Imperial Guards!!"

They hardly needed Jeric's shout. As soon as the door was open, everyone could hear the sound of hurried, heavy footfalls and the metallic clink of armor coming down the stone-cobbled street.

To his credit, Bennis remained calm, though there was a note of anxiety to his voice "Bar the door!" he cried. As Jeric and Huris complied, Bennis turned to the others. Several of them attempted to speak, but Bennis angrily waved them silent. "No time for debate! The contingency plan we discussed at the top of the meeting. Now!"

The others scrambled towards the back of the room. Gondas was confused until the one in the lead pressed a seemingly random spot in the wall and a hidden door swung inward.

"I don't know what the contingency is!" Gondas cried, wide-eyed with terror. "I got here too late to ..."

"You're with me," Huris said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. No panicking now."

"But the Guards!"

"No time!" Huris shoved Gondas into another room adjacent to the one used for the meeting. It was pitch black until Huris extracted something from his pocket and squeezed his hand into a fist around it briefly. When he opened it, a blue pearl glowed brightly with a simple light spell.

Gondas was in a sparsely-furnished bedroom. A few children's toys were scattered around the bare wood floor. Huris stepped over to a far corner on the other side of the bed and reached down. A trap door was opened a moment later.

Gondas gasped and jumped when there was a loud noise from the front door. The Guards had just reached it and discovered it was barred.

"There's no escape ..." he said in a hollow voice. "We were betrayed ..."

Huris grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him once. "Stop it. No time for this, Gondas. We knew we might have trouble, but don't go accusing one of us of ..."

"No, no, you don't understand! In the gardens earlier when we ..."

There was a shout and a loud thump on the front door. A pause, then another shout and thump. The wood began to splinter.

"Tell me later, Gondas. Right now we need to get the hells out of here."

Huris ushered Gondas down the rickety stairway leading down to a narrow corridor. On the way down, Gondas uttered a short shriek when his foot plunged through two successive steps as they gave out from under him.

Huris ducked in after and yanked the trap door shut behind them.

Gondas reached the bottom of the stairs and turned. "Huris, this is pointless! We can't get away from them!"

Huris stepped off the stairway and looked up. A rope attached to the trap door hung in the air before him. He grabbed it, yanked it taut, and tied it to a metal pole that had been embedded in the stone wall.

"That should delay them," he muttered. He turned to Gondas and grabbed his arm, pulling the younger man along as he headed quickly down the corridor. "Gondas, this is why you should have been on time. Bennis described exactly what we should do to get away from the Guards and try to regroup somewhere."

"You don't understand, Huris. I don't think it matters because they probably know everything we're about to do."

Huris came to a halt, yanking on Gondas' arm to bring him to a stop as well. "What are you talking about?"

"That woman in the park earlier ... I think she was an Imperial spy."

Huris frowned at this. "This is not the time to get paranoid."

"I'm not paranoid! Huris, tell me, was the woman you saw carrying anything? Anything at all?"

Huris looked thoughtful. "She might have been. It was hard to tell in the dark. Why?"

"The woman in the park had a fan. She kept it pointed towards us. There are spells that can be put on blue pearls that allow conversations to be overheard, but it needs to be directed, it ... Huris, stop shaking your head! I'm not crazy, I know about these things!"

Huris grabbed his arm again. "Gondas, it makes little sense to worry about this now," he said as he rushed along the corridor again. "Maybe you're right. But I hope to the gods you're wrong."

"But it explains how they knew where we were."

"Which could be otherwise explained by an act of carelessness from one of the others!" Huris cried. There was a hint of desperation in his voice. He wanted to believe that's all it was. He wanted to believe that Gondas was just paranoid.

But Gondas did know something of what he was talking about. From his previous clerk positions, he had picked up a lot of knowledge from the various documents that crossed his desk. He knew of the ways that Imperial agents could use magic to assist in their task. A listening spell was difficult, but not impossible for an experienced Mage.

And Z'haas had Q'yros in his direct employ.

"Here we are," Huris said as they got to the end of the corridor. Ahead of them was a door, tilted towards them at an angle. He turned to Gondas. "This leads outside, on the other side of Roolas Road. Head down to the street and turn right. The street fetches up at a dead end. There's an inn there. Go in and ask the innkeeper if room three is available. He'll know what you mean."

Gondas swallowed and nodded. He knew the inn of which Huris spoke.

Huris unlatched the door and pushed it open slightly. Bits of dirt and sod trickled in and littered the floor of the corridor. He pushed it open just enough to poke his head out and take a peek. Satisfied, he opened it wide enough to allow them to leave.

Gondas stepped back into the cool night air. It seemed chillier to him now. There was little light on the hillside. At the bottom of the steep decline was a cobblestone street.

Huris let the door fall back with a muffled thud. It looked like part of the hillside once again. He looked around for a moment before turning to Gondas. "All right, everything is quiet out here."

Gondas nodded absently. He tilted his body to one side to look past the trunk of a large tree in order to see the street below a little better.

"Now, we split up here. Later tonight, you'll get a message telling you ..."

Gondas was startled by a loud "thunk" just handspans from where he stood. His head jerked around, and his mouth dropped open when he saw the shaft of a metal-shod arrow sticking out of the trunk of the tree.

He ducked and dropped fully behind the tree. "Huris! Huris, get down! Get ..."

Huris staggered a step and opened his mouth as if to say something. Instead, a thin stream of blood trickled from one corner of his mouth. The next moment, the light faded from his eyes as he fell lifeless to the ground.

Gondas just stared at the arrow embedded in his companion's back, numb with shock. It was not until another arrow landed in the tree beside him that he snapped back to reality.

He pushed away from the tree to give him some momentum as he slid down the hill. He heard another arrow whiz by him just above his head. As he reached the street below, he tucked into a roll. The moment he came out of it, he dashed across the street and dived into the narrow alley between two houses. Already he heard running, heavy footfalls just off to the right.

He had been right. They knew every step they were going to take. Everyone was heading straight into Imperial Guards.

Gondas was too frightened to think clearly. He ran from alley to alley, through back yards, slogged through watering channels without really looking where he was going. At nearly every turn, he heard shouts of men, booted feet, and clinking chain mail. His heart pounded until he was sure it would burst. He almost hoped it would and spare him what was to follow.

But what was frustrating was that he might never find out how they were betrayed. Someone had to have tipped off the Emperor. That was the only way there could have been an agent trailing them. Until that day, there had been no sign of any surveillance.

They had been so close, and someone had taken it away. It made him more angry than anything else.

Gondas took a wrong turn and emerged onto a street. Several Imperial Guards at the intersection pointed and shouted. Gondas fled, only to come to a dead end at a small copse of trees next to a swiftly flowing river. His luck had run out.

He whirled around with his back to the tree as three Guards descended upon him. They came to a stop a few arms' length from him.

Gondas swallowed and stepped forward. There was no point in cringing or acting the coward now. "I am Gondas Ze'yassa," he said in a shaky voice. "I surrender. I hereby offer myself for arrest and ..."

A booted foot impacted with his midsection. He doubled over from both the wind knocked out of his lungs and the sudden flare of pain from a broken lower rib. A gauntlet-clad fist slammed into his jaw and sent him to the ground.

Gondas lay wheezing, feeling like he was suffocating from the effort of drawing breath against his bruised diaphragm. Each breath was torture from the pain of the broken rib.

He heard new footsteps. He lifted his head, wiping blood from a swollen, split lower lip. It was the woman he had seen in the gardens. She gave Gondas a cold look and handed a blue pearl to the man that had struck Gondas.

The Guard nodded and passed his other hand over the pearl. It glowed and replayed part of the conversation between Gondas and Huris in the gardens. He waved his hand again and Bennis' voice came forth.

The Guard closed his fist, and the sound and light faded. He turned to Gondas. There was the sound of cold steel. "Stand up."

Gondas forced himself to his feet, wincing with pain. He wiped away more blood from his mouth and held his head erect.

"You are guilty of treason and conspiracy against the Imperium," the Guard said, his eyes black in the dim light.

"I ... I-I plea innocence. I will speak my case ..."

"There is no plea. There is no case."

Gondas' eyes grew wild. "I a-am an Imperial citizen! I am entitled to a hearing and trial!"

"Treasonous filth are entitled no rights."

"It is written in our Charter!" Gondas screamed. "You must take me before a judge or magistrate of the court! I demand my right to due process! I know the law ..."

"The Emperor is the law."

"He c-cannot overrule ..."

Light glinted off steel. Gondas' mouth opened wide as if in a silent scream. The moment lingered as an odd warmth seemed to suffuse Gondas' body. Moments later, his knowledge of the law meant nothing more as his lifeless body crumpled to the ground.

"The Emperor is the law," repeated the Guard to the unhearing Gondas, his blade stained crimson. "And the law will be upheld."

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