The emperor yawned and sat up, blinking sleepily. When his eyes focused on Arai, he asked, rather pointedly, "Who are you?"

  "My name's Arai," he said. "And this is Leila. We're here to rescue you."

  "Rescue me?" he blurted.

  "Keep your voice down," Arai snapped. "We're getting you out of here. Hurry up and get dressed."

  Arliel stared at him for a moment, but quickly found his resolve. He jumped out of bed, opened the chest of drawers, and started to change out of his bedclothes. "Did Galagus send you?" he asked.

  "Not exactly," Arai said. "But we're taking you to him."

  "How did you get past the soldiers? How did you get past Bellarue?"

  "Magic," he answered. "Leila here is a sorceress."

  "Is that right?" He threw on an expensive-looking overcoat. "What's the plan?"

  "Our companions are waiting for us north of the camp. We're going to cross the Mans River into Manrador and deliver you to Galagus. If we're lucky, they won't realize you've escaped until tomorrow morning."

  "How are we going to get out of the building? Did you kill the guards?"

  Arai hadn't actually thought that far ahead. How were they going to sneak the emperor out of the building? The windows were mere arrow-slits, too small to climb through, and both entrances were being guarded by the soldiers outside. Arai and Lillandra, disguised as Dayan and Bellarue, might try to bluff their way out, with Arliel in tow, but it would be better if the guards believed the emperor was still sleeping soundly in his bed. Lillandra could use her magic to disguise him as someone else, but that might lead to more questions. Arai kicked himself for allowing the soldier guarding Arliel's door to run off; they could have used his likeness to disguise the emperor himself.

  "We talked our way past them, disguised as Dayan and Bellarue," Arai explained. "We may have to do something like that again. Lill--" He caught himself. "Leila? Do you have any ideas?"

  "I could change his appearance," she said. "But I can't disguise the fact that two people went in and three are coming out."

  "You said before that you could make us invisible."

  "Yes, but only for a few moments, and it would quickly use up all the magic left in the Crux."

  "A few moments?"

  She shrugged. "Thirty, forty seconds."

  "That might be enough."

  "I get the impression this rescue was planned out rather hastily," Arliel said dryly.

  "We're winging it," Arai admitted. "But we've had pretty good luck so far." He nodded to Lillandra. "All right. Disguise us as Dayan and Bellarue again, and make His Highness invisible as soon as we step out the door."

  "Very well." She cast the spell, and as soon as the young emperor was finishing packing his few belongings, they headed downstairs. Arai summoned up his courage, then opened the door to the outside; at the same moment, Arliel vanished from sight.

  The soldiers were still standing outside, at their posts, and the one soldier was still trying to rouse the sorcerer-soldier whom Shell had pricked with the sleeping potion. One of the guards addressed Arai: "Everything all right, my lord?"

  "Yes, yes," Arai said, anxious to quit this place before the illusions wore off. "As you were."

  "There's something wrong with Malfus," one of the soldiers said to Lillandra. "I can get him to wake up. Is there anything you can do for him, Your Eminence?"

  Lillandra made a show of walking over to the sleeping soldier and examining him, lifting up one eyelid. "He's probably just had too much to drink," she opined.

  "Malfus doesn't drink," the soldier said doubtfully.

  They couldn't allow themselves to be drawn into this discussion; they were rapidly running out of time. "Bellarue, if you please?" Arai said, impatiently.

  "Yes, of course." And Lillandra followed him across the street. The soldiers exchanged a couple of confused glances -- perhaps Arai had used the wrong form of address? -- but said nothing about it, and soon enough, the two of them were out of sight. As they ducked into a darkened alleyway, the illusions wore off, fading away like a mist, and at the same moment, Arliel became visible; he had been following them closely, apparently, for he was standing right next to them when he materialized. "Now what?" he asked.

  "Now we get out of town," Arai said. "Our companions are waiting for us north of the bell tower."

  Arliel threw the hood of his cloak over his head, to hide his face, and they hurried through the village, making their way to the tower. "Who are you?" Arliel asked again, as they wove through the shadows. "If you're not with Duke Galagus..."

  "We're working with the Steelmen," Arai whispered.

  "The Steelmen?"

  "The mercenary company stationed at the Crevak de Che."

  Arliel considered that. "Galagus wouldn't attack the Holy Legion so long as Dayan had me in his custody," he said. "And that put your employers in New Carmal in danger. I see."

  Arai appreciated the emperor's perspicacity; it was less for him to explain. He had always heard that Arliel XXI, and his father before him, were pampered fools, but apparently this was not the case.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  They kept to the shadows as best they could, moving from one building to the next. Within a few minutes they had made it to the bell tower, and from there they proceeded north, to where Shell and Sir Estil would be waiting for them. The camp seemed to go on forever, though, extending out of the village and into the vast flood plain adjacent to the Mans River -- the Holy Legion's tents, wagons, and cook-fires were interminable.

  But they hurried along, regardless, avoiding large groupings of people and doing their best to look inconspicuous. They were just approaching the outskirts of the camp, and Arai was just beginning to think they might actually manage escape without any serious problems, when they heard a set of hoofbeats coming up behind them. There was some kind of clamor rising all around, in fact, and Arai's worst fears were confirmed a moment later when he heard someone shouting, distantly, "The emperor! The emperor's been kidnapped!"

  Arai's instincts screamed at him to pick up the pace, but he forced himself to remain calm. "Careful," he warned Lillandra and Arliel. "We don't want to draw attention to ourselves." And so they continued along at a half-jog, trying to look as though they belonged, trying not to look as though they were in fear for their lives. Arai was impressed with the emperor's demeanor in particular; he was not panicking, he was not giving them away. He was sweating, though, rather profusely, and if you looked close enough you could see the alarm in his eyes.

  They finally reached the camp's outer perimeter, which ran up against the edge of a dark forest. This, Arai surmised, was where Shell and Sir Estil were likely to be hiding. Unfortunately there were some sentries patrolling this area as well, and the uproar taking place within the camp had put them all on alert. Arai saw immediately that they were going to have some difficulty getting past them.

  He slowed to a walk and quickly considered their options. He didn't think they could talk their way past them, and with the Crux of Illusion now emptied of its magic, he didn't think they could trick their way out, either.

  He grit his teeth. They were going to have to do this the old-fashioned way, he supposed.

  "Get ready to run," he said to Lillandra and Arliel. And then he approached the sentry, an older-looking man wearing an older-looking Balbaroyan helmet, one of those with a set of nails sticking out of the sides. "Where do you think you're going?" the man demanded.

  "My apologies," Arai said, and without another word, he whipped his sword out of its scabbard.

  The soldier's eyes widened. He managed to bring his pike up block Arai's first blow, but Silus cleaved it in two, and before he could decide what he ought to do next Arai leapt up and kicked him in the chest, knocking him roughly to the ground.

  "Run!" Arai hissed at Lillandra. And they all took off together, into the woods, while the remaining sentries -- who were some distance away, but who must have seen the altercation -- shouted out in alarm.

  They raced into the woods, jumping over brambles and ducking beneath branches. Arai and Lillandra, their night vision enhanced by Shell's potions, had little difficulty navigating the forest, but Arliel was practically blind -- the moonlight could not penetrate these woods -- and there were times when they had to practically carry him along.

  Fortunately their pursuers -- and they were definitely being pursued -- had the same problem. Arai, Lillandra, and Arliel quickly pulled ahead, and then they had another stroke of luck, when they stumbled across some kind of animal trail which led them directly to the nearby Mans River. They were just starting to make their way upriver when Arai heard the whicker of a horse to his left.

  Shell, the Assassin's Clock dripping darkness over her shoulders, stepped into view. "You made it," she said, relieved. "Let's go!"

  She led them into a clearing where Sir Estil was waiting with the horses. Sir Estil and Shell quickly introduced themselves to the emperor, and then they were off, racing through the woods, along another path that had been carved through the trees. Their course took them back to the river -- the path ran adjacent to it -- and they rode with all haste; once again, Shell used the Candle of Hours to light the way for the horses.

  Their pursuers were now gaining on them, however; Arai could hear their passage through the forest behind them, even over the hammering of his heart and the stamp of the horses' hoofbeats. They must have organized themselves; they must have realized that Arai's party had made off with the emperor himself.

  Arai ground his teeth. They only had a few minutes' head start over their pursuers; they were very likely to be overtaken. Should they split up? Should they try hiding somewhere in the woods? And where the hell was this bridge Vaix had mentioned? The path was growing narrower; they needed to find the main highway, where they could give the horses their head, and they needed to cross this river.

  Finally, with Dayan's Holy Legion only a few hundred yards behind them, they broke out into another clearing and found themselves looking up at a small round tower that had been built near the edge of the river. Looking around, Arai saw that they had emerged onto the principal highway; the tower, which was about twenty feet high, stood at the end of it, and beyond it...

  Arai stared. Beyond the tower stood the broken remnants of a stone bridge. It had been blasted to pieces, the center having been blown out of it; only a few feet still remained on either side of the river. The stone had been scorched black with mage-fire.

  "They destroyed the bridge," he growled.

  "What are we going to do?" Shell asked urgently. The elf girl was extraordinarily brave, but even she looked frightened; her eyes were wide, and her chin was quivering.

  In fact, Arai had no idea how they were going to get out of this one. The path they had followed through the woods ended when it intersected with the highway; they were totally surrounded by trees now, and there was no other direction they could go. Their pursuers were racing up that same path now, and some others seemed to be making their way up the main highway. They were trapped here.

  Should they surrender? Should they go down fighting? Arai tapped the pommel of his sword with his thumb, trying to keep calm, trying to decide what to do.

  "I have an idea," Lillandra said, reaching into her satchel. She withdrew the Prickle of Ice.

  "What are you going to do with that?" Arai asked. "There could be dozens of them on our tail, maybe hundreds. A single ice spell won't hold them off for more than a minute."

  "That's not exactly what I had in mind," she said. She maneuvered her horse to the edge of the river, near the remains of the ruined bridge, holding out the Prickle of Ice with one hand. She closed her eyes, invoking its power, and then tossed it into the river.

  As soon as the zemi touched the water, it exploded into a white, frosty mist, and the water immediately began to freeze, spreading out from that one spot until the whole breadth of the river was covered with ice.

  "It won't last," Lillandra said. And she was right; the river was already beginning to wash over the ice.

  Arai was impressed with her ingenuity, but this ice-bridge didn't look very stable. "Will it support us?" he asked.

  "I think so," she said. "But not for long. Hurry!"

  Arai threw a glance over his shoulder; Dayan's men were very close now. They were out of time, and this was their only chance. "You heard her," he said, urging his horse onward. He led the animal to the river's edge, and after a bit of cajoling, managed to get it to step out onto the ice. The bridge held, and the horse, growing more confident, began trotting across the ice.

  The others followed, and a minute later they were all safely across. The crossing was not without peril, however; Sir Estil's horse, the last to make the crossing, had started to break through the ice near the shore, and had only barely managed to climb the remaining few feet out of the river.

  By now their pursuers had arrived at the opposite side of the river. Two brave horsemen immediately ventured out onto Lillandra's ice-bridge, but the ice quickly began to crack beneath them, and they were forced to retreat. A moment later, the entire bridge broke apart and disintegrated, washed away by the fast-moving current of the Mans River.

  "Not bad," Arliel said approvingly. "I never would've guessed you were only winging it."

  "Thank you, Your Highness," Arai said. "Shall we?"

  "After you," the emperor replied. And they continued on, into the moonlit night.