The next morning Darken Rahl was still in bed when he heard a gentle knock at the door. He laid there pretending to be asleep as a woman entered the room, placed a tray at his bedside then proceeded to tend to the fire. He thought about the captains words the night before. Captain Falcone hadn't challenged him in front of the men, which was in his favour, yet he hadn't backed down either. Darken Rahl wondered how far he could push the captain. He thought it might be fun to drag this woman into his bed and ravish her, then see how Captain Falcone would react when she ran to him in tears with a torn dress and ruined reputation. He just hoped she wouldn't be too ugly.

His thoughts were interrupted when he became aware of someone sitting on the bed beside him. He opened his eyes and stared into the deepest green eyes he had ever seen. The young woman sitting on his bed was about twenty five years old; she had pale skin and was plainly dressed with her hair covered, as was the style of the female servants in this castle. However, this was no simpering servant, begging not to be raped; this one had a knife to his throat. No, wait, not to his throat, she was twirling the knife around a lock of his hair. She didn't look at him and spoke quietly as if to herself.

"They say that if a woman uses a magical knife to cut off a lock of a man's hair while he is sleeping and places it in a magical locket, she will have his heart forever."

Darken Rahl looked at her, he could easily have taken the knife from her and plunge it into her heart but, her confidence and audacity intrigued him.

"Is that what you plan to do to me?"

She looked at him and gave a mischievous smile "I haven't found the locket yet." She got off the bed. "You really ought to be more careful with your magical knives Lord Rahl. I found one of the servants trying to pry open a tin with this." She placed the knife on his breakfast tray and left the room.

Darken Rahl was stunned, that was not how he expected the encounter to go. He got out of bed and examined the knife. It was actually a dagger, the blade was about seven inches long, there were no marking or runes on it and although it was a finely crafted weapon, it gave no outward appearance of being magical. He made a mental note to show the dagger to his wizard Geller and see if he could determine more about it.

He dressed and as he ate his breakfast, he heard the sounds of people moving around as the castle came to life. He had been here less than twenty four hours and this was the second time the inhabitants of this castle had caught him off guard.

That morning Darken Rahl and General Egremont met with Captain Falcone and his Lieutenant. He sat in the captain's office and had the garrison records brought to him. Darken Rahl wanted to understand more about how this particular garrison was run. Lieutenant Gray presented the record book which showed the offences committed by the soldiers and their corresponding punishments. There were surprisingly few entries in the book, he had expected more.

"There are not many entries in this book lieutenant?"

The lieutenant stood to attention and stared straight ahead. "No my Lord, the men are very well behave my Lord."

"What is the usual punishment for the men?"

"Depends on the offence my Lord, the standard is either a flogging or solitary confinement"

Darken Rahl thought about last night's conversation with the captain. "Have there been any incidences of rape lieutenant?"

"Not for some time my Lord."

"What happened to the last man that committed such an offence?"

"He died my Lord."

Darken Rahl looked at the captain, who's face showed no emotion. "Died?"

The captain spoke. "I think you misunderstood the question Lieutenant, Lord Rahl wishes to know what the man's punishment was."

"Sorry my Lord. The man received the standard punishment of a flogging and thirty days solitary confinement."

"Then how did he die?"

"Oh, a terrible accident my Lord."

"Accident?" The man was not being disrespectful, but getting the information out of him was like pulling teeth. He took a breath. "What, accident?"

"He accidentally ate some ground glass while in solitary confinement my Lord."

Darken Rahl stared into the Lieutenants face, the lieutenant stared straight ahead. He spoke very quietly and deliberately. "How can someone accidentally eat ground glass?"

"Never did find out my Lord, we had an investigation and everything, it's all in the report. We interrogated everyone who knew him; no one had a grudge against him. He had taken his punishment like a man and was respected for that. Even the young woman he ravished forgave him, she took him a cake while he was in prison, to show no hard feelings of course."

"Of course." Said Darken Rahl as he studied the lieutenant.

The lieutenant continued. "Normally solitary confinement means just that, but as it was his last day, the guards said she could talk to him. They watched as she handed the cake over and gave a little speech about how she forgave him and hoped in time they could become friends. From what we could ascertain, he fell ill later that evening. It was a terrible state of affairs my Lord, the poor chap took two days to die, absolute agony. It's all in the report if you want to read it my Lord."

Darken Rahl looked at the lieutenant and the captain; they both had the same non committal looks on their faces. He looked at General Egremont who just coughed and looked as unbelieving as Darken Rahl felt.

"What happened to the woman?" he was thinking of his encounter that morning.

"Married one of the guards and they now have three children. I believe they are living somewhere in the north of D'Hara. Begging your pardon my Lord, but I would just like to say it was nice to see something good come from such an unfortunate occurrence. Would you like to see any other records my Lord?"

Darken Rahl, started to wonder what would have been in his supper that night if things had gone differently this morning. He decided not to pursue things for the moment and changed the subject. "Let me see your store records."

"Yes my Lord," the lieutenant motioned for the quarter master to bring in his records.

"I suppose you have the usual amount of thievery."

"Not for some time my Lord"

As the quarter master entered the room he noticed that the man only had one hand. Darken Rahl rubbed the side of his head, he could feel a headache coming on, it was going to be one of those days…………