So were we honoring our deal or not. My dad always said the mark of a decent man, was doing the right thing, when no one was looking. I hoped the Stat... department had at least one decent man.I needed to go about finding out what really happened very carefully. I was probably never going to work for the Lt again anyway, but I would like to stay off his shit list. He had a lot of operatives. It took me a week of running down leads on the net to find the General’s family. Some of those leads took. " I turned back to the whipping block and bent over it, grasping the wooden hand-holds and slipping my feet into position on either side of the wooden spreader bar. The block was one of the few relatively new things in the room, something she had me make myself. It was just big enough that I had to strain to maintain this position. Helen was not averse to bondage when appropriate, but when she was actually supervising me she preferred to do without - she said that her command should be more. This cart seemed to be traveling down the tracks for longer and longer than last time. Then it burst out into the sunlight.The day’s warmth fell on me. It wasn’t even noon, and I gasped at the heat. I had spent the last four days in the cool cells. I had forgotten just how warm it was on the surface. The cart stopped and I found myself in an army camp.I knew this place. It was the same camp that Queen Athirmi had taken Kurtis and me before she sent him on the mission. The dwarf marched over to. Nothing.He held firm, a trick perhaps?Nothing.He chanced a quick glance, but all he saw was utter darkness.He picked up his head. Indeed, she was gone, vanished into the night.Perhaps his intuition had been right; the bridge was some sort of barrierto her. Whatever the case, he didn't hesitate to finish his escape. Hepicked himself up and began racing the half mile back to the house. Heknew this path well and the moon graciously lit his way.He took stock of himself as he ran. Scrapped knee.