The people's Palace was a three day walk on foot, but luckily Clement's family had some horses since his father was such a fan of riding. On horseback it would be at least twice as fast. Layla walked into the stables were Clement was readying a horse for them to take to the Palace.
"Filbert!" Layla enthused walking up to the chestnut horse and feeding him an apple from her hand. She stroked his head and kissed his nose. "I haven't seen you in a while, old guy. Have you been too busy harassing the lady horses to spend time with me?" Filbert whinnied in response.
"Well now you've gone and offended him." Clement chastised, "You're not that old. Huh, buddy? She's just being mean." Clement looked at Layla with a hurt expression on his face.
Layla fed him another apple to prove she wasn't as mean as Clement tried to make her out to be. "Are we almost ready to go? If we leave soon we can be there long before nightfall."
"Ready to go when you are. Just stop feeding him apples or he'll be too fat to move." Clement said jokingly before he climbed on the horse's back.
Layla climbed on behind him, "And you said I was mean, but there you go calling him fat."
Layla held onto Clement's waist as they lurched forward onto the dirt path. They were both surprised how fast Filbert was able to move. They were two towns over by mid afternoon and by night fall they had already arrived at an inn just outside the People's Palace. Layla dismounted and felt a tingle as her legs hit solid ground for the first time in hours. She reached her arms toward the sky and tried to stretch out her tight back. She took Filbert into the inn's stables while Clement got them a room at the inn. She gave the good horse and apple fro getting them to the People's Palace so quickly. As she tied the horse's reins down she noticed the stable boy was watching her with a funny look on his face.
"Can I help you?" Layla asked
"Er...no...um...nevermind." the stable boy stuttered.
"Well, in that case," Layla offered, "How about you get my horse some water and food?"
The boy nodded before running from the stable. Layla glancd at the dirty pail he left on the floor. How is he supposed to get water without a pail? Layla sighed and picked up the pail and got some water for Filbert from the trough outside the stable. She gave the horse a goodbye kiss before following Clement inside the inn.
Layla stopped in her tracks when she walked through the door. The room was full of D'haran soldiers. She scanned between the red and black uniforms until she spotted the green of Clement's shirt. She squeezed between the crowded tables until she was at Clement's side.
"What's going on in here?" She whispered to Clement, "You'd think the entire D'haran army were in here by the looks of it." The men were daunting, but they weren't nearly as terrifying as the Mord-Sith who attacked her and Will.
"I thought the same thing. Maybe there was some sort of training at the Palace," Clement offered.
"Perhaps." Layla said as she scanned the faces of the officers looking for some familiarity. She still never found out what happened to her father after he joined the D'haran army. She used to dream that he'd return one night in his uniform a bonafide general or commander, but he never did.
"Come on," Clement prompted her, "We can get a good meal, and then I got us a room upstairs. I couldn't afford two, but I can sleep on the floor if the bed's too small."
Layla and Clement sat at the only unoccupied table. As she swallowed her bites of bread and sips of wine Layla started to feel as though some of the soldiers were watching them. She eyed a man with a slight beard and green eyes which kept stealing glances at their table. He was balding on top of his head and he had a scar peeking out from under his collar. The longer she sat there, the more she started to feel as though they weren't supposed to be there.
Stupidly, Layla grimaced at the man the next time she caught him glancing at them. After a short word to his comrades, he stood and swaggered over to their table. He had just opened his mouth when a shout came from across the room.
"By the creator!" A scrawny soldier in oversized armor stood by the bar and pointed directly at Layla, "It's her!" Recognition spread across the soldiers' faces.
Clement stood and took Layla's hand, "Let's get out of here." He whispered to her. They tried to run out of the crowded room, but each time they squeezed through a set of soldiers another statue of red and black blocked their path. Layla was grasped by the elbow and yanked into the arms of a soldier.
"Lord Rahl 'ill be wantin' to see you 'mmediately, luv." the large man cackled. Layla was dragged out of the inn and led towards the people's palace. She shouted protests at the men that escorted her and Clement into the palace, but they promptly ignored her.
Women and children came out of their houses to gawk at the spectacle. Beneath the din Layla heard the people hum "It's her" as they whispered between their friends and neighbors. As she was dragged through the gates of the palace, she saw a small paper blowing across her path in the dirt. She yanked herself free and ran a few paces before another soldier pushed her right on top of the paper. She looked at the crumpled page as they hoisted her into an upright position. She saw a crude drawing of her face staring back at her from the page with the word bounty written across the top. The image wasn't a perfect replica; there a few imperfect marks here there that proved the artist had never seen her, but it was her face nonetheless.
Layla tried to lock eyes with Clement so that she might signal him to look at the page, but the soldiers had knocked him unconscious and were literally dragging him into the palace behind her. Whatever she was going into, she would go into it on her own.
Will and Ervis had started to become really good friends after the time they had spent together in the dingy and wet cell. Ervis told him all these stories about his adventures over the years. Will heard about his escapades with women, a young man with magic more powerful than he could imagine, and a clever escape from the hull of a pirate ship.
"And then," Ervis narrated dramatically, "HE ATE THE BERRIES ANYWAY!"
"No," Will's voice came out like a whisper, "You're kidding?"
"It's the absolute truth," Ervis said putting his hand to his heart, "Of course, we all thought he would die that very moment. But he just turned to us and said 'Wot is it you dumb hogs are starin' at? Stop lookin' a' me like yuv only jus' seen a naked lady for the first time.' and we all knew he would live."
"Really?" Will asked in shock, "Do you know what happened to him after that?"
"Aye," Ervis's face became more grave, "I went to his funeral two years ago. I hadn't seen him for fifteen years. Not since we had that beer down at the old watering hole." A warm smile spread across Ervis's lips, but before long it turned into a frown again and he looked down at his hands and sighed.
Will didn't know what to say, so he just sat there and said nothing. When he and Ervis weren't talking Will was usually thinking about why he was there, and what Rahl really wanted with him. He hadn't been summoned by the ruler of D'hara since the first interrogation he had with Rahl, but the Mord-Sith who kidnapped him, Triana, had questioned him on several occasions since. He tried to forget the pain of the agiel, and wondered how much longer he would live if Darken Rahl didn't need him anymore. Will felt a pang of regret for answering Rahl's questions about his family.
Before too long the silence was broken by a clamor of shouts from outside. They tried to peek through the small windows, but all they got was the view of some feet and a cloud of dirt in their face. They returned to the floor of the cell coughing.
"What do you suppose is happening?" Will asked Ervis
"I don't know," Ervis responded with a look of consternation on his face, "You don't usually see a fuss like that. People don't like to fight when they're taken to the Palace because they're so afraid of what he'll do to them." They two men debated possible explanations for the excitement, and came up with some outlandish claims.
This time they were too involved in their conversation to hear the boots of the Mord-Sith coming down the hallway. The door opened with a clang, ending their chattering. They stared at the leather clad women as she grabbed Will and yanked him from the ground before pushing him out the door.