The difficult part was that all of the same elements that served to make the lodge work for hunting made it defensible too. It had rings of ditches around it, probably there to keep game in place for hunters, but they would slow horses just as easily. It had wooden towers from which to spot deer or stranger beasts and shoot them, but those would let soldiers fire down at attackers just as well. The stone walls might serve to keep guests warm, but they would keep enemies out, too.

Then there were the soldiers there. They camped at the edge of the hunting grounds, at least a small regiment of them, clearly preparing for war. There were spearmen there and archers, knights and swordsmen, all in a camp flying King Ravins colors, surrounded by wooden stakes.

Please tell me that theres a plan, Kay said, with obvious nervousness.

Theyll have taken Lenore to the lodge, Rodry guessed. He could see horses tied up outside it. We ride up like we belong there. We wear King Ravins colors so that the soldiers think its their own returning from ambushing us, and hope that gets us inside.

Thats why you had us take the tunics and flags? Kay guessed.

Rodry nodded. Hed planned for this. He didnt say how fragile that plan was, how easily someone might recognize them by all the ways in which their forces clearly werent the ones that had set out to intercept his. He didnt say that, in any other circumstances, he would hold off, find a different plan, do this another way.

There was no other way; his sister was in danger.

So he pulled on the red of King Ravins forces, set off in the direction of the lodge, and tried to pretend that all was well. He and the others were far enough from the encampment that they wouldnt be able to make out individual faces, just the red that proclaimed them to be on the same side. He saw one of the soldiers wave, and ignored it, kept riding.

There were two guardsmen by the doors to the hunting lodge, and the closer Rodry and the others got, the more concerned they looked. A hundred yards off, and they looked surprised that so many men would be coming at the lodge. Fifty, and they were shouting, trying to ready their weapons.

Rodry hit the first of them even as he stepped forward, ordering Rodry to halt. His sword swept down, all but cutting the man in half. Beside him, the sergeant lanced a spear through the chest of the second.

Go, your highness, the man said. Well hold the way for you.

There was no time for hesitation now, no time for thought. Rodry leapt down from his horse, Kay, Seris and his other friends following in his wake while the soldiers from Varss regiment spread out around the entrance to the hunting lodge, ready to hold it against any who came.