Amanda never felt so alone as in those final candlemarks in the carriage as it trundled towards Port Heldon.

Her restraints forced her to remain standing. Her wrists were shackled and hung from a taut chain attached to the ceiling in the center of the carriage. Her ankles were shackled as well, and her body swayed with each bump and dip in the road. The chain on her collar was attached to one of the walls, and it rattled as the carriage moved.

She wished Norlan had not fired Marris. Then, perhaps, she would have had him for company. At least he would have sympathized with her plight even if he would be the one to restrain her. Instead, Halno had restrained her, and he seemed in a hurry. His open contempt for her had been evident on his face. Amanda had little doubt he believed she ought to have been punished more for her recent behavior.

Don't worry, you'll get your wish, she thought with some trepidation but no regret.

The carriage lurched to one side and righted itself in the next breath. Amanda gasped and twirled in a quarter circle in an effort to right herself. She moaned and shuddered as her thighs rubbed together and triggered a brief rise in her glistening pussy. Halno had unsealed her after restraining her, and she longed to free a hand to relieve herself.

Amanda swallowed hard, her heart pounding. She had remembered that lurch from the last time. She was almost there. She closed her eyes and went over the map in her mind. That lurch may just have been the point where the other road forked south.

Amanda turned around so she could get another look at the carriage to confirm again that no guard had been placed with her. The carriage driver was the only other occupant, sitting in a small cab just behind the horses.

Her body lurched forward. The carriage was slowing down. She leaned to one side as it made a slow, tight circle, pointing it back the way it came before it shuddered to a stop.

Amanda heard her heart and ragged breathing in the sudden quiet. She bit her lip to suppress a moan as her pussy flared hot at the memory of her trysts with Gedric. She hoped she could escape with him. She would not mind being his slave for a time.

Gedric drew himself straight before the mirror in his cabin's sanitary. He had attired himself in casual finery, something which would be expected were he about to enjoy a night of intimacy with a nubile slave girl. As he turned away from the mirror, he reached down to his right boot and tugged on a strap. A small compartment opened, and he withdrew the dagger hidden within. He looked it over for a moment before shoving it back inside and closing the strap just as the door to his cabin opened and closed.

He strode out of the sanitary just as Lord Admiral Vortas stepped into the middle of the room. "The carriage has arrived," he said in a somber and somewhat curt voice. "When I left the deck, the driver was showing some sort of document to the guards."

Gedric nodded once. He looked around and let out a small sigh. "I wish I could bring something with me. None of my belongings are particularly valuable, but many have sentimental value. I have kept something from every ship I was ever assigned to since the start of my career."

"I will do everything in my power to save them. Perhaps some day we will meet again and I can return them."

The Lord Admiral's voice had started to trail off, and his eyes glistened. Gedric returned the gaze with an understanding one of his own. The two men surged towards each other and grasped each others arms.

"You are a good man, Fleet Captain," said Vortas in a rumbling voice which quavered slightly. "I do not want to lose you."

"In a way, I do not want to leave," said Gedric. "I feel I am taking a coward's way out, that my place is here with the men I command."

The Lord Admiral shook his head. "No. If you stay here, you may never again command men. At least this way you have a chance to do so again."

A tiny smile broke out across Gedric's face, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Gedric turned away from Vortas and opened it. "Beggin' yer Fleet Capt'n's pardon," the sailor said. "But the carriage wi' yer slave has arrived."

"Yes, thank you, I will be there shortly."

The sailor gave the Fleet Captain an envious smile and left.

"Do not delay," Vortas said when he thought Gedric was hesitating. "Do not raise any suspicions."

"I have realized I am going into danger with no plan of action. I do not know how I am going to change the course of events, assuming that I am being used as a pawn in some grand political game as we had suspected."

"Then you must trust that Amanda came up with something. She is quite clever, even by the standards of Oceanus slaves."

Gedric gave a small nod of his head. He looked back to Vortas as if he wanted to say something else, then rushed out of the cabin, pulling the door closed behind him.

The Lord Admiral uttered a small sigh. "May the gods of the land and sea protect you," he murmured.

Mandas stepped out of his carriage where it lay nestled in a copse of trees just off the side of the road, little more than a shadow as evening faded away to full night. He followed the footsteps of his driver, grass and underbrush rustling in their wake. Two armed guards followed close behind. The light from the driver's lantern bobbed as they reached the edge of the road.

The driver swung his light northeast, towards the curve of the road. "We should be hidden from sight by anyone who approaches from that direction."

Mandas gave a curt nod and turned to the guards. "What of the rest of you? Are you in position?"

"Yes, my Lord," said one. "I contacted the other contingent by Farview as we arrived. They are in place just down the road."

The driver swung his light in the other direction.

"You won't see them," said the guard. "They are well-concealed. The one commanding them is trained in seizure of carriages and other moving vehicles."

"Excellent," said Mandas with a sly smile. "And when they catch the carriage, we will wait a short time, and then burst upon the scene as if we had been rushing here all along."

"Ah, yes, my Lord."

Mandas knew the guard did not quite understand the reasoning behind his orders. It would be easier for them to be concealed along with the rest of the contingent further up the road. But appearance was everything; this was for effect as well as for function. Mandas needed the maximum amount of drama. Those who would soon fall at his feet for any scraps of influence he saw fit to bestow upon them once he was in the ascendant would demand nothing less of him.

"Return to the carriage," Mandas said. "Douse all the lights and keep the horses quiet. Then we wait for our foolish prey to arrive."

Norlan stood amidst the thick of the trees, apart from a group of moving shadows which were his contingent of soldiers settling into their concealed vigil. The only light was the pale glow of the swaying Farview image of High Lord Ardon.

"And you are sure you have enough men, Norlan?" Ardon said in a crisp voice, rendered slightly tinny by the low volume at which Norlan had ordered the Farview session to use.

"More than enough, my Lord," said Norlan. "We were fortunate to find some in the service of a minor Lord who loathes Mandas."

"You did not tell him the details of--"

"No. Only that my plan would hurt Mandas in some way. That was good enough for him."

"Where are you located?"

Norlan hesitated. He had only just noticed the High Lord's jerky motion in the Farview as something more than simply a transmission artifact. "My Lord, are you on the road?"

"I am most certainly on the road and headed towards your position."

"Is that wise?"

"I want to see this concluded to my satisfaction! I am out on a limb with the other High Lords. They originally wanted me to oversee this operation instead of you."

Norlan gave the High Lord a humorless smirk. "They do not trust me."

"Some still harbor the notion that you are executing some grand scheme, but I convinced the majority you were more qualified to run this gambit. But they insist I be there."

"I fear your arrival may be ill-timed if--"

"I am aware of that!" Ardon snapped. "I am a full two candlemarks behind you. That is more than enough time for the carriage to pick up Gedric and head down the road."

"In that case, you do not need to know my position, for you will see it when you come upon the stopped carriage in the middle of the road."

Ardon narrowed his eyes but nodded once. "Very well. I will see you there."

Ardon made a slashing gesture to the side, and his Viewer terminated the Farview. Darkness enveloped the Lord Ambassador.

"Not even you trust me completely, my Lord," Norlan said in a soft voice before turning towards the encampment.

Amanda jerked her head and twisted her body around when she heard the carriage door open. Her eyes widened at the sight of Gedric, and she became flushed with relief. He was here, and now he could somehow put everything right. She could finally surrender responsibility to him. At the same time, a hot flash of desire tingled in her pussy, which oozed between her already damp thighs. And yet she shivered in the fear she was leading him to his death.

Gedric's eyes widened, then narrowed in contempt at her restraints. "They are barbarians in every sense of the word," he growled.

Amanda would have appreciated the comment, but she was exploding with the need to talk to him about the map. She waited until Gedric had stepped closer, but before she could speak, he said, "Where are the keys for your restraints?"

"Over in the corner on the hook," Amanda said, jerking her head to her right. "But, Master, I have something to tell you. I may have a way for us to really escape and--"

Gedric held up a hand and made a brief "shh" noise. His eyes darted about. "Is anyone else here?" he asked in a low voice.

"Just the carriage driver," Amanda whispered back.

"And no guards? No soldiers?"

"I didn't see any, Master, no."

Gedric nodded once. "You said you have a plan?"

"Yes, but only if we can get the carriage driver to take us on a different route."

"In that case, we will need to persuade the driver. Now, remain calm and still."

Amanda nodded. Gedric took the keys from the hook, which was next to the narrow door to the driver's cab. Gedric opened the door and shouted, "Driver!"

"Wot is it, guv'nor?" drawled a voice from outside and above.

"Are you quite sure you brought the right keys for the slave's restraints?"

"Dunno 'bout that, guv'nor. Jus' what they put in there. I got nuthin' t' do wi' that."

"Then perhaps I am doing this wrong somehow. Please come and try to undo them yourself."

"Wot, me? In there?"

"Unless you somehow do not appreciate the naked female form?" Gedric said, letting the unspoken implication hang.

The driver scrambled down from his perch. "Beggin' yer pardon, guv'nor, but I ain't no man-dipper."

A short, sandy-haired man burst past Gedric, snatching the keys from him and stepping up to Amanda. His lips twisted into a lascivious smile. "Sure yew won't be wantin' t' share 'er wi'--"

In a flash of steel, the dagger was in Gedric's hand, then at the driver's throat, his other arm locked around the driver's head. Amanda gasped and stared. The driver struggled until the blade of the dagger impressed the skin of his neck right at his throat.

"Do not move," Gedric hissed through clenched teeth. "Do not cry out. I will slit your throat before you have a chance to do either."

Amanda shivered at the coldness of Gedric's voice, and was quite relieved when the driver stopped struggling.

Gedric slid his arm down and clasped the driver by the shoulders. He whipped the dagger from the driver's neck and poked the tip into the driver's back behind his heart. The driver trembled, his eyes glazed.

"Amanda," Gedric said, and she flinched. "Do you know where this man would be taking us?"

"Yes. There's a road which makes a half circle," Amanda said in a quavering voice. "It heads east from here, then curves south, then back to the west where there's a little strip of beach that I think used to be a port."

Gedric pressed the dagger to the driver's back. "Is that your route?"

The driver swallowed. "Y-yeah ... 'sroight, g-guv'nor."

"Don't lie to me now!"

"I ain't lyin'! P-please, guv'nor, I-I ... that's where I'm supp'sed t' take yew all."

Gedric nodded. "Very well. But I think we could do with a different route."

"A-anything yew want, guv'nor!"

"Amanda?"

"There's another road," Amanda said. "It branches off from this one, not far from here. It heads almost due south, right along the coast."

"W-wait, I can't take yew there!" the driver cried.

"Oh?" Gedric said with cold contempt. He poked the dagger into the driver's back until a single drop of blood oozed around the tip.

The driver whimpered. "I-I want to, but ... but that road's in 'orrible shape. It floods wi' the spring rains and it's muddy an' rutted. An' it don't go all the way."

Amanda let out a despairing sigh. She had hoped the gap was just an inaccuracy in Bessa's rendering.

"And yet that seems better than whatever awaits us on your original route, I am sure," said Gedric.

"G-guv'nor, I don't know what yer talkin' 'bout! I'm supp'sed t' take yew all the way there!"

"Master, I think he doesn't know," Amanda said. "The map I saw looked like Ambassador Mandas is waiting near the end of the loop to stop us. But then Ambassador Norlan will be waiting at a point before that."

Gedric frowned. "I do not understand."

"I'm not sure I do either, Master. But where Mandas was planning this escape and now he's actually waiting for us, I don't think he ever intended for us to actually escape."

Gedric's face hardened. "So the bastard could claim he stopped an escape attempt and becomes the hero," he said in disgust.

"But Norlan learned about his plans, partially from me. I'm sorry about that."

"Never mind, Amanda. Go on."

"So I think he's trying to intercept the carriage before Mandas. Then I guess he gets to be the hero instead."

"May the gods curse them all," Gedric muttered. "Playing with other people's lives as pawns." Gedric withdrew the dagger. He grabbed the driver, spun them both around, and slammed the driver against the wall of the carriage.

"I-I didn't know nuthin' 'bout any of this, guv'nor, yew gots t' believe me!" the driver cried.

"Shut up," Gedric snapped. "I do not care what you knew. But you are going to take the road Amanda just mentioned."

"But that road ain't no good!"

"You will take us as far as you can. If we have to, we will walk the rest of the way. Do you understand?"

The driver nodded.

Gedric stepped away from him, still holding the dagger. "Turn out your pockets."

"Me wot?"

"Pockets! Remove whatever you are carrying on your person and drop them to the floor! Now!"

The driver nodded and started yanking small objects from various folds in his clothing. A blue pearl fell and rolled into a corner. Gedric brandished the dagger when he saw a glint of steel, but the nervous hands of the driver had already fumbled the small knife to the floor. Gedric sent it sliding to the other end of the carriage with a kick.

"And that's it?" Gedric demanded. "No more weapons or Farview pearls?"

"It's jus' a pearl t' me mum, that's all!" the driver whined, giving the pearl a forlorn gaze.

"Then you can come collect it once you take us where we want to go. Now, what was your original plan of departure?"

"I jus' start movin' as fast as I can so the guards can't run t' us."

"Then get up there and start moving."

The driver nodded and dashed out of the carriage and up to the cab.

Gedric kept his dagger in hand and braced himself against the door frame with the other. The reins snapped, and the driver called out. The carriage lurched hard, and Amanda gasped as the chains to her wrists became tight and yanked her arms. A cry of alarm from the guards quickly faded behind them.

Gedric glanced at the door to the cab before slipping the dagger into his belt and lifting the ring of keys. "Now let me free you properly, Amanda."

"Thank you, Master," Amanda gushed in relief.

Her heart leapt as Gedric released her and drew her to the bench which stretched along the wall opposite the door. Did she dare hold out hope that they could really escape? Or were they going to find only a deserted beach? Was Mandas crafty enough to actually arrange for a pickup which was never meant to happen?

She tried not to worry, finding some solace in Gedric's touch as he curled an arm about her waist.

Norlan waited and listened with the spotters near the edge of the road. They stared into the dark, waiting for the telltale flicker of the driver's lantern, or the clop of the horses' hooves upon the packed earth. They saw nothing but the occasional faint flicker of fireflies and heard nothing but the rustle of leaves.

Norlan was normally a patient man, but this was pushing it to the limit. His career was riding on this. He imagined the map in his head again and could see no means for the carriage to bypass them even if Amanda had somehow learned of his plans, which itself was an impossibility, for he had revealed nothing.

He saw no chance for failure. The carriage will arrive at any moment, and it will be over. Then Norlan need only reveal the conspiracy, and Mandas will be finished as an Ambassador and perhaps even imprisoned for his treachery. Mandas simply could not win.

And yet, he had the uneasy feeling the carriage should have arrived by now.

"It should be quite soon now, my Lord," the guard beside the door to Mandas' carriage whispered.

Mandas narrowed his eyes as he peered through the trees, but he could see very little. The moonlight was hazy, shining through a thin cloud cover which had blown in from the sea over the last candlemark.

His lips curled into a small smile. He could not have planned it any more perfectly. Everything had fallen into place. He failed to see how Norlan could have discovered his plans. The slave girl would never tell him, not when her foolish little mind could be so addled with the false hope of escape from the "terrible" Urisi.

And Marris? He was too much the coward to reveal his plans to Norlan. No, Mandas finally had the upper hand. After all this time of living in that uncultured lout's shadow, he would finally rise over the barely-uplifted peasant.

He saw no chance for failure. The carriage will arrive at any moment, and it will be over. Then Mandas need only reveal the "conspiracy," and Norlan will be finished as an Ambassador and perhaps even imprisoned for his "treachery." Norlan simply could not win.

And yet, he had the uneasy feeling the carriage should have arrived by now.

The carriage lurched and swayed, its wheels alternately bumping hard over boulders and squelching through mud. The horses snorted as they labored to pull the carriage over the rutted and broken road, neighing when their hooves sank into the muck, followed by the frenzied cries of the driver and the violent snap of the reins.

But most of the cacophony had faded from Amanda's perception, heard only as a distant drone. Gedric had taken pity on Amanda's heightened arousal, and now his fingers played in her wet folds. He teased her pleasure slowly and steadily upward as Amanda moaned and squirmed. His hand remained steady and sure despite the gyrations of the carriage, his other arm wrapped around her waist. She leaned into him, taking solace in the warmth of his body even as the air grew cool and moist from the ocean spray foaming against the shoreline not far from the edge of the road.

Amanda did not hold herself back. She did not risk an interruption before her pleasure could be consummated. She did not believe they had a lot of time before ... before whatever was going to happen would happen. She frankly had no idea what the immediate future held.

The finger stroking her womanhood now wriggled into her tunnel. She gasped her delight into his shoulder, her hands clutching his arm both in pleasure and the need for reassurance. His arm squeezed her as now two fingers slid back and forth inside her folds, sending her pleasure soaring and her breath into a heavy pant.

She slid her hips forward but did nothing else to assist. As much as she wished she could return the favor, she wanted someone doting on her for a change. As if understanding how precious was their time, Gedric thrust fast and hard into her needy pussy.

Amanda's fingers curled hard around his arm as she rose past the point of no return. Her pleasure plateaued and strained at the edge, and her pussy suddenly clamped hard around his fingers. She threw her head back, yet no sound came forth; the intensity of her orgasm had robbed her of the power of speech.

Her hips jerked hard with the first few throbs before she could regain control. Finally, her throat unlocked, and she let out a short cry, followed by gasping moans. Gedric pressed his fingers to her sex, stroking slow and deep, keeping her climax raging in her dripping folds.

"Oh gods ..." Amanda moaned as her orgasm finally faded. Yet Gedric continued to massage her womanhood, easing slowly, and Amanda gasped as her orgasm was briefly renewed.

By the time Gedric withdrew his hand, Amanda had become limp. Her eyes closed, and she let herself enjoy the last few moments of lingering pleasure. "Thank you, Master," Amanda finally had the strength to whisper.

"It is a very small part of what you deserve for what you have done for me," Gedric said in a soft voice.

Amanda sighed. "I don't know if I really have done anything for you, Master. There may be nothing at the beach when we get there."

"I know. But it is a chance. It is more than I would have had if you had not helped."

Amanda tried to seek some encouragement in his words, but she suddenly felt Gedric grow tense. When she looked up, Gedric was withdrawing his dagger. "What is it, Master?"

Her words trailed off as she realized the carriage was still, canted at an angle, dipping towards the rear right. Gedric leapt up at a noise from beyond the door to the cab and brandished the dagger the moment it opened. The driver flinched at the sight of the blade.

"Why have we stopped?" Gedric demanded.

"We can't go no further, guv'nor!" the driver said in a quavering voice. "One o' the rear wheels is stuck up to 'er axle in mud and the 'orses are exhausted. An' I looked up ahead wi' me lantern. There jus' ain't no more road."

Gedric gestured to Amanda, who immediately leapt to his side. He placed an arm around her and held the dagger towards the driver. "Then we will walk the rest of the way. You will provide me your lantern."

The driver looked stricken. "Me wot?! Yew ... yew can't do that! Yew can't leave me in the dark out 'ere!"

"You will have the lights from the carriage."

"Fat lot o' good that will do me if I get unstuck and want t' 'ead back!"

Gedric advanced with the dagger.

The driver whimpered and cringed. "Okay! Okay! Yew can 'ave the bloody lantern!"

"I am happy you have seen fit to submit to reason," said Gedric in a dry voice. He gestured with the dagger. "In the back."

The driver edged around Gedric and Amanda and pressed his back to the rear of the carriage.

Gedric motioned to Amanda to head towards the main door before saying to the driver, "You will stay in here for a candlemark before you even think of coming out. Then I don't care what you do. Do I make myself clear?"

"C-clear, guv'nor, very clear!" the driver babbled, his shimmering eyes on the dagger.

Gedric backed towards the door Amanda had opened. "Let's go, Amanda."

Amanda stepped out of the carriage and uttered a surprised cry when her foot immediately sank into cold muck. Her next step found only more unstable mud, and only Gedric's hand on her shoulder stopped her from falling into it face-first. She heard the squelch of Gedric's boots beside her, and her nostrils were filled with the fetid odor of dank earth and horse sweat.

As Gedric detached the lantern from the cab, Amanda looked around. Even with the lamp, the darkness seemed impenetrable. She heard the low roar of the sea, and she became homesick for the Manor back in Oceanus. The distressed neigh of one of the horses broke her reverie. They were trying to lift their hooves from the boggy earth and having little success.

Gedric directed them in a wide path around the horses, playing the lantern's beam along the path ahead. The light revealed only loose mud and brackish pools of water. Gedric stayed slightly ahead of Amanda, one arm still around her to keep her steady.

"Here, I see something up ahead," Gedric said. His lantern had found a ridge of dirt and loose rock. Their feet made a wet racket in their eagerness to reach it. By the time Gedric set a boot upon it, Amanda's legs were aching from the effort of slogging through the soggy ground.

He clambered upon the ridge and pulled Amanda up. Her legs were coated with mud and grime to her knees, and Gedric's boots were also encrusted. The ground was harder though still damp, and the rocks were uncomfortably sharp against Amanda's bare feet.

Gedric shone the lantern ahead. The map had been right; the road became little more than a ragged path atop the ridge. The sea raged a disconcerting distance straight down, the right edge of the path a sheer drop. To the left, boulders and the gnarled roots of trees broke up the path.

"This will be safer if we go in a line, Amanda," Gedric said, his arm sliding off her. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Master," Amanda said in a quavering voice. "I can follow. Just ... just hold my hand or something so I don't lose sight of you in the dark."

Gedric nodded and gave her an admiring look. He grasped her hand and placed it behind him, then picked his way down the path, Amanda trying to follow in his footsteps.

Norlan would have sworn he had sensed the sudden increase in tension among his men before he heard the rattle of wheel and clop of hooves. He ducked down behind his compatriots just as the first flicker of light appeared.

"About bloody time," a soldier muttered.

"Quiet!" his companion hissed. "You better notify the commander."

"Right." The soldier scrambled away into the underbrush.

"He's right, though," Norlan whispered. "It took too long."

"Does it matter, my Lord? They're here and we're about to catch them."

Norlan peered over the soldier's shoulder. The moon had slipped out from behind the clouds and cast a pale silvery glow over the road. The carriage stood in sharp relief, larger than Norlan had thought it would be to transport only one slave. The horses appeared to have some sort of adornments about their heads and hooves, like he would expect from those belonging to a ...

As the carriage swung past his position, the moon flashed from the polished surface of a coat-of-arms.

"Great gods," Norlan muttered. He burst out of the forest and ran alongside the carriage. "Hold!"

Soldiers poured from the forest just in front of the carriage, brandishing their swords and crossbows. The horse in the lead panicked and reared up, neighing loudly. The other two tried to go in different directions, canting the forward wheels of the carriage to one side. One of the rear wheels briefly left the ground as the carriage tipped.

"Hold, damn you, HOLD!" Norlan screamed, but the soldiers had already stopped, having seen the mistake for themselves. The carriage wheel thumped hard to the ground and the carriage door opened, nearly catching Norlan in the face.

"Just what in blazing hellfire is this?!" High Lord Ardon shouted as he burst from the carriage.

"My sincere apologies, my Lord," said Norlan in a breathless voice. "We were still set to catch the carriage carrying--"

"What?! You do not have it yet? It has not arrived?"

Norlan was quiet for a moment. "No, my Lord."

"Then I would say you have been had!"

"I do not understand. This makes no sense. This is the only path they could have taken, save for ... for ..."

"For the one you said we did not need to worry about!"

Norlan shook his head. "No. There is no way they would know about it. There is simply no way."

Ardon frowned. "Unless your slave told him."

"I told her nothing of our plans. I did not show her the map. Do you take me for a complete fool?"

"That is not a question to which you wish to hear an answer right now."

"They must have turned inland, my Lord, it is the only--"

"I took care of that," Ardon sneered. "I felt you were putting too much faith in your supposed knowledge of Mandas' modes of operation, so I had a contingent placed at the main road into this area. They reported seeing the carriage head in but not out."

Norlan's hands curled into fists. "Dammit ... damn her ..."

"Mandas didn't play you for the fool, Norlan. A slave did. You idiot."

"Now is not the time," Norlan snapped. "We need to get to the beach before they do. The other path is more difficult and will likely force them to walk part of the way. We may get there first if we leave right now."

"Yes, but from this point on, I am giving the orders!" Ardon declared. He turned away and called out to the soldiers, "Who is the commander of this group?"

A soldier stepped forward and raised his sword briefly. "I am, my Lord."

"Get three of your best men and get into the carriage. The rest of you, go to the Oceanus Fleet and arrest the Lord Admiral."

Behind him, Norlan stiffened, and he had to clamp his jaw shut to prevent himself from pointing out the obvious danger of that move, not to mention Ardon's questionable authority.

Ardon rounded on Norlan, his face livid. "And you, get in the carriage as well, and keep quiet."

Norlan kept his face impassive as he climbed into the carriage. Yet in his mind he was raging. His hand fell upon the pocket which held the potion which would silence the cause of his troubles forever.

If only he had used it before that night.

"Where in blazing hellfire are they?!" Mandas whisper-shouted for the sixth time.

"I do not know, my Lord," said the guard in a voice of forced patience.

"It could not have taken this long," Mandas muttered. "Even if Gedric took pleasure with Amanda, they should be here by now. There is no way ... no way ... Norlan could know of my plans! Not unless ..."

Suddenly Mandas' eyes went wide as he finally entertained the possibility that the one key element of his plans did not work as he had intended. Yet the next moment he was shaking his head violently. That could not possibly be it. He would have had Amanda begging for a means of escape if he had not offered it. She could not be as clever as those fools in Oceanus had claimed her to be.

"Wait, my Lord, I hear something!" the guard said.

Mandas let out a shaky sigh of relief and dropped into the grass beside the guard. "Finally! Yes, I see it. It is ... wait ..."

A carriage burst from around the bend, its horses' hooves a rolling thunder kicking up a constant spray of dirt which hovering like a fog near the ground. The carriage's speed had canted it to one side, the driver snapping the reins with fevered passion.

"My Lord, I don't think that's--"

But Mandas already understood. "Tell the others to hold!" He screamed to be heard over the roar of hoof and wheel. "HOLD! STAND DOWN!"

He need not have bothered. The other guards were not prepared to stop something with such momentum, and when they had recognized the coat of arms, no amount of platinum in the nation would make them stop and seize it.

Mandas stepped out of the forest, staring down the road in confusion. "That was ... that was a High Lord's carriage!"

"Yes, my Lord," said the guard. "High Lord Ardon I believe, if I saw the crest upon the side correctly."

Mandas rounded on the guard. "Ardon?! But ... he and ... Norlan ... Norlan ... NORLAN! DAMN HIM AND THAT SLAVE TO BLAZING HELLFIRE!"

The guard backed away.

"Don't just stand there!" Mandas screamed. "Get my carriage ready! We have to follow them, now!"

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