#1554  [Rewritten by Penthesilea]

     “We can do vigilant,” Bladey said. “That’s second nature to the mother of a toddler.” They watched as well armed citizens and servants went about their business. “It looks like we are as prepared as we can be for now.”

#1556  Penthesilea
     

BOOM!!!!!

    An explosion shakes the countryside.  “That's my girl!” Penthesilea exclaims.

#1558    Penthesilea

     “Dear girl, that threat is always there! But, and this is a big ‘but’, we cannot let it dominate our lives to the point where we forget to live! So, we will live while we live and if we must fight, we will fight all the better because we know what we are fighting to protect!”

#1561   Penthesilea

     Bladey managed to hide her bark of laughter by turning it into a cough. “Excuse me,” she gasped. “I inhaled a bug.”

#1563   [Rewritten by Penthesilea]

     “If you don’t mind, my Lady, I think I will visit the hot springs,” Jasmine  says. “The elves are making it into quite a beautiful spot and I think that a soak will settle my nerves.”

#1565   [Rewritten by Penthesilea]

     Jasmine blushed slightly. “I’d like that, my Lady, if he wishes to come.”
     “I’ll sure that he will. Now run along and leave the worrying to me.” Penthesilea watches Jasmine leave and then she and Bladeraven turn their minds to other things.

#1567   [Rewritten by Penthesilea]

     Penthesilea slips away from the gathering without being noticed and heads for her workroom. A message has arrived and there is a man she needs to speak to. Unfortunately, he is in East Madridoor and he will be expecting her to arrive at the meeting place shortly. Fortunately, it is a place she has become very familiar with.

#1569     Penthesilea
     
     The Keyholder returns from The Night Club and summons her Spy Master to discuss what she has learned. Then she returns to the party. Only MoonCat and Spirit had noticed her absence, exactly as she had intended. She will brief them later after they have retired to their tower for the night.

#1571     [Rewritten by Penthesilea]

     Late afternoon found Penthesilea riding toward Crowhaven with a small guard.  She needed to meet with the Lady Mayor of Crowhaven and that lady had ordered the city’s mages to put a ward around the town to prevent Gating in or out. To discourage thieves, she had said and Penthesilea had privately shook her head at the woman’s paranoia. So Penthesilea was on horseback, which she didn’t mind in the slightest, heading for the town. It was a beautiful day for a ride and nothing out of the ordinary had occurred so Penth had decided that, given her magickal defenses and with the escort of several Castle Guardsmen, it was safe enough to ride to Crowhaven rather than take a coach or aircar.
     They had passed the halfway point on the trip to Crowhaven and were deep in the woods that the road passed through when, without warning there was the crack of a rifle shot and Penthesilea felt a stabbing impact on her thigh. She looked down to see an injection dart sticking out of her leg. Even as she opened her mouth to scream a warning, shots rang out all around them and her escort fell from their horses, dead before they hit the ground. She tried to spur her horse into a gallop but the drugs were already affecting her and her legs would not respond. She tried to fight as rough hands pulled her from her saddle but it was useless. Then, everything went black.

#1573  [Rewritten by Penthesilea]

     Penthesilea woke up with a throbbing headache but that was the least of her problems. The first thing that she became conscious of was that her shoulders hurt almost as much as her head.  That realization was immediately followed the knowledge that her arms were drawn up over her head and bound. Not good, she thought to herself. She remained limp and concentrated on what she could learn as full awareness returned.
    She felt cool, almost cold, air on her skin. All of her skin. She was naked.
    She was standing upright and a wide strap of what felt like leather went around her waist binding her to a pole behind her.
    Her ankles were also bound, a bit more than shoulder width apart, to stakes or something similar in the floor.
     Without moving, she tried a simple magick, a spell to see if anyone else was in the immediate area.  And was hit by an attack of vertigo that would have made a less disciplined woman retch. Once it passed sufficiently, she tried to reach the girls through the inspeaking.  The vertigo was worse that time.  When her head cleared again, she took stock. She had been kidnapped and dosed with a potion that suppressed her ability to work magick. Likewise, her ability to communicate with her daughters had been blocked.  She was naked and bound to a stake, likely the center pole of a tent since it didn’t feel or sound like she was outside, and in a position that made access to her body very convenient. She didn’t have the slightest doubt that her captor, whoever he was, intended to rape her at the first opportunity and once he had had enough of her turn her over to his lieutenants to be raped by them. She didn’t doubt that they knew who she was. Too much effort and planning had gone into the ambush. They wouldn’t be holding her for ransom or sale to a slaver. Whoever her captor was, he  likely intended to break her by means of repeated gang rape and once she was sufficient broken, use her to take control of the Castle. He would keep her dosed with the drugs that would keep her from using her magick while he did this and probably for the rest of her life. Little did the fool know that Penthesilea, Fates willing, would be alive when he was dust and dry, charred bones.      

#1575  [Rewritten by Penthesilea]

     Kodiak regretted having to abandon the horses but here was nothing that they could do. The “return to camp” spell was too strong and with Penthesilea unable to work magick there was no way for her to break it. They were fortunate in that they had both been able to control their mounts long enough to safely dismount with their gear. Then as the horses galloped back toward camp, they made fast tracks in another direction. If there were any trackers among the raiders worthy of the name it wouldn’t be long before they would backtrack the horses’ trail to find where they had turned back to camp. Thinking the same thoughts, they both kept to the hardest, rockiest ground that they could find. There was no sense in making it easy for their pursuers. They continued on their way to the stream that they had intended to use to confuse their trail. Kodiak’s army scouts had reported the existence of a waterfall with a cave behind it and under the circumstances, he thought that it was the best place to hole up for the rest of the night. Penthesilea was stronger than any woman he’d ever known but she was beginning to stumble a bit and he knew that the amount of drugs that she had been given had likely not cleared her system.  She needed a safe place to sleep until at least some of what she’d been dosed with had worn off. It was also turning cold as it frequently did in this land. Kodiak was dressed for it, Penthesilea was not. She had dressed for a social call on a local official and while her clothing was practical, she had not hobbled herself with a long skirt, it was not intended for a mad dash across rugged terrain.
     They found the stream without much delay and Kodiak led the way upstream toward the waterfall which they could hear in the near distance.  Once they reached the waterfall, Kodiak left his pack with Penthesilea while he checked something out.  He had found that waterfalls frequently had nice, reasonably dry caves behind them and if that was the case here, it would be a perfect place for them to rest.  Penthesilea crouched beside their gear to wait for him. She was grateful for the rest.
Kodiak returned shortly with the news that a nice dry cave awaited them behind the waterfall. The way was a bit slippery because of the spray but it required no hard climbing. Kodiak took up the pack and led the way.
     Kodiak had reached the mouth of the cave when it happened. A bit of wet moss under Penthesilea’s boot, having borne Kodiak’s weight three times, gave way and she fell from the trail sliding to the chest into the rushing, icy water.  She managed to grab an outcropping and held on until Kodiak could reach her. He pulled her soaked and shivering from the water and back onto the trail.

#1577  [Rewritten by Penthesilea]

     While Kodiak checked for pursuers, Penthesilea huddled in their blankets trying to get warm and cursing herself for her clumsiness. The fact that Kodiak had not scolded her made her feel worse. He had only ordered her out of her wet clothes and into the blankets once they were in the cave. She had obeyed, knowing that she would never get warm if she stayed in her wet clothing. They didn’t dare have a fire because the hunt for them was no doubt up. She only hoped that they could elude their pursuers long enough for the potion she’d been given to wear off and her magick to return. She tried a spell designed to warm herself and quickly learned that the potion was still working. The vertigo wasn’t as bad as it had been when she had first awakened but it was bad. Miserably dizzy, she laid down on the floor of the cave.