With the encampment near-deserted, Amber began to think about escape. Casey was a simple girl, but she seemed to be free to wander about the camp. When Casey came a second time, Amber asked the girl to visit one of the blacksmiths and try to procure an iron file.

Casey promised to do what she could, and Amber spent yet another day worrying and fruitlessly running one escape plan after another through her mind. If she could get out before the Black Army's soldiers returned, she could flee with both Casey and her son. There was a chance, a small one, but a chance nonetheless, that Amber could escape, this time with her child.

Amber desperately hoped that Casey would bring her the file soon. She would use it to escape the manacles, and while the soldiers were distracted by the battle she and Casey would get away. Amber didn't know how much interest Moragon was taking in the babe he thought was his son, but with other things on his mind he might just let her go.

~

IT WAS raining on the day the soldiers returned. The Black Army had won a great victory against a larger number of Alturans and Halrana, holding against the allied army and eventually pushing them back to the Ring Forts in Halaran.

For some reason though the soldiers Amber overheard were far from jubilant. It appeared they owed their success to the Akari. With a jolt Amber suddenly remembered the stories from when she was a child, and as the accounts of the soldiers sent shivers down her spine she realised what the Akari were.

Revenants were fighting with the Black Army.

Amber jumped when she heard gruff voices outside and fingers fumbled at the knots in the tent flap. Realising it must be Casey she calmed herself, feeling the familiar warmth of excitement to see her child and wondering if the girl had been successful in her quest to get the iron file.

But instead of the girl, a man thrust his head through the opening. Amber put her hand to her mouth with shock, and a horrible sinking feeling settled through her stomach as he pushed into the tent and settled down, crouching on the floor, grinning at Amber wickedly.

"We won today, Alturan woman," Moragon said. "I couldn't tell you how many of your countrymen we killed."

"Who are the Akari?" Amber asked. "Would you have still won without them?"

Moragon frowned. "The Akari are our allies. Their lore allows them to animate the dead. I'm sure you can imagine a dead warrior is hard to kill."

"So they are your superiors, then?"

"No, woman, not even our equals." He pointed to his metal arm and the runes covering it. "I would like to see the Akari replace a limb with one twice as powerful. They have weaknesses, many of them, but for now they are proving useful."