"We emptied the armory, my lord."Another group of green-clad soldiers arrived at that moment. They appeared on the edge of exhaustion, but heartened a... the sight of the long-awaited reinforcements."About fucking time!" said Captain Milan, but with a smile in his voice. "What took you so long, Hayaln?" Oh you know," Hayaln responded in kind. "We thought we'd take the scenic route. Pick some flowers, watch the grass grow..." Well now that you're here, why don't you just take over the fighting? I. "Jus' don't take too long. We gotta get underway."Gedric took Amanda aside. She lowered her head, tears dripping to the sand. "Amanda, I am sorry. I had no idea what this bastard Mandas had planned." He paused. "I cannot see myself turning you over to them. But I do not want to--" Go," Amanda said in a choked voice.Gedric hesitated. His hands squeezed Amanda's shoulders."P-please, just go with them," Amanda said."Amanda, look at me."Amanda forced herself to raise her head. Wet streaks trailed. " He chuckled in her ear."Trouble." She recognised his voice, though not from where it came, until a trickle of blood leaked from Rafael's mouth, and his grip on her arms relaxed. He turned away, and Caerys realised he was supported by the blade of a knife through the base of his skull. "Is there anyone besides me that isn't here to kill you?" her unknown rescuer asked, but turned away before she could muster anything coherent as a response. "Come on." Where are we going?" She asked, and he. This really was something to worry about. Apart from potentially thwarting our life-plans, the takeover had come at a terrible time for Jamie and me because we had just completed the purchase of a large house in one of the most select areas of our city. The price, though enormous, had been attractive for a property of that size so we had taken out a large bridging loan and moved quickly to make sure it became ours. When our ‘old’ house was sold, the borrowings would reduce to a still-large.