“Ah, I see,” said Athgar, “the Church wants this hushed up.”

“Fine by me,” said Natalia, “I don’t have any problem with it.”

“Nor do I, I suppose,” said Athgar.

Cyric looked across the open area to the stables beyond. Three horses were being brought out, already saddled. “These are for you,” he said.

“Three horses?” asked Natalia.

“Two actually,” said Cyric, “the last is for me. I’m going to escort you out of the city.”

“But I can’t ride,” objected Athgar.

“Nor can I,” added Natalia.

“It’s not that difficult,” soothed Cyric, “and these horses are old and know their business.”

“You’re giving them to us?” asked Athgar in surprise.

“Yes,” Cyric replied, “to do with as you wish.”

“But why horses?” asked Natalia. “Why not send us by coach?”

“That’s simple,” said Athgar. “Coaches are easy to locate and have to keep to the roads. With horses, we can go cross country, making it much harder to be followed.”

“You learn quickly,” said Cyric.

Cyric pulled himself into the saddle, sitting comfortably while others moved to help his friends mount. Athgar looked extremely uncomfortable in the saddle while Natalia appeared quite pleased with herself.

“My rear end is not going to like this,” the Therengian complained.

“Nor mine, if the truth be told,” responded Natalia. “I wish they’d taught us riding at the Volstrum.”

“I thought they had,” offered Athgar, “you look so comfortable sitting there. It suits you.”

“It’s purely show, I promise you,” she replied.

“Now that you’re done here,” said Cyric, “where will you go?”

“North,” said Athgar with some determination. “There are rumours of survivors who've escaped from the slavers. We’ll seek them out if we can.”

“And if you can’t find them?” asked Cyric.

“Then we’ll go wherever we need to, to keep Natalia safe.”

“Come along then,” said Cyric, “it’s time we were going. You’ll want to be well out of the city by dark.” He urged his horse forward, the other two following along behind him.

They made their way through the outer keep, where rescuers still picked through the fire-ravaged barracks, searching for survivors.

Athgar looked past the Temple Knights, to the smouldering wreck of the building in the background. "Fate is strange," he said at last, "my journey to here began in ashes, and now, it ends the same way."

"No," corrected Natalia, "it's our journey, and it has only just begun."

Epilogue

Autumn 1103 SR

Stanislav Voronsky shifted in the dirty straw, his eyes staring into darkness. Time in this filthy prison no longer had any meaning, merely stretching on forever, neither day nor night, an eternity with no chance of escape.

Distant footsteps drew his attention. Someone was approaching, he thought, is this to be my final day? They halted outside the door to his cell, and then a voice spoke out, loud and clear.

"Unlock this door," a woman said, "then leave us."