Darken was reading the daily reports. "No, no, no! Ellie, Ellie!

"What is it?" Ellie rushed into the room full of concern

"Get me Falcone! Don't just stand there gawping girl, get him now!"

Ellie ran out of the room. Darken scowled at the reports that lay on the table before him. Although they had been sent from the People's Palace every day, neither he not General Egremont had actually read any of them, they had been so busy planning his escape, that the reports seemed irrelevant. Now he was on his own with nothing much to do in the mornings he had decided to read them and they were wrong, horribly wrong. It was that idiot General Gadd, the devious little bastard that he was had no tactical sense what so ever. Captain Falcone arrived, it was the first time he had seen him since the 'incident', the man looked wary.

"You sent for me My Lord."

"Yes, I need you to send a message to one of my Generals."

The captain looked at Lord Rahl, but did not move. "A message?"

"Yes, a message, you can use your own wording, set it in code, send it by the medium of dance! I don't care, but it needs to be sent!"

Captain Falcone still didn't move and looked even more suspicious. Lord Rahl lost patience and thrust one of the reports into his hand. "Look at this!"

The captain read the report. "I don't see anything unusual about this."

"Maybe not, but when you see this and this!" Lord Rahl thrust two more papers into his hands.

Captain Falcone read them and became concerned. "This isn't right, these troops are in the wrong place, it will leave the other two regiments completely exposed. How did this happen?"

"Gadd!"

"The man's an idiot!"

"I need to see all the reports since I've been here and maps of the whole territory."

Within half an hour Captain Falcone had galvanised the whole resources of the castle. An old dining room that lay unused within the wing Lord Rahl currently resided in was prepared by the servants, curtains opened and dust sheets removed so that they could use the long dining table to lay out the large scale maps the clerics brought from the castle library, boxes of reports were brought into the room and laid out in chronological order. General Egremont was brought to the room and apprised of the situation, then for the rest of the day the three men poured over maps & reports.

Messages were sent constantly back & forth between Martello Castle and the People's Palace. It transpired that General Gadd had written that unless he heard to the contrary he planned to move his men to a certain location. This was a devious ploy by Gadd to withdraw to a safer location, he was hoping that while away from the People's Palace Lord Rahl would either not see the letter or failed to realise the implications and Gadd would be able to stop fighting and relax in relative comfort until he was ordered to move. The gamble had paid off, unfortunately in moving his troops he had ordered other soldiers to occupy the location in his stead, this had a huge knock on affect with various companies moving to different locations. Most captains & lieutenants had simply reported their move to Lord Rahl, some of the other Generals wrote questioning the validity of such moves and emphasising their vulnerability at the loss of support from other troops, all these reports had been unread and now there was chaos.

Soldiers could be forced to march at blistering paces, but the support for the men only travelled as fast as the horses pulling the supply wagons. It would take days to restructure the army and get everything back into some semblance of order. The three men worked through the day, planning discussing and at some points arguing about what should be done. Ellie brought in food and drink from time to time, but the men barely stopped and continued to read and work as they ate. It wasn't until late in the evening that an exhausted Lord Rahl returned to his chambers escorted by Captain Falcone.

"What is she doing here?" Ellie was sleeping in a chair by the fire with a blanket over her.

"Lady Ellissia has slept in here every night since you have been unwell My Lord."

"She doesn't have to do that any more, she can sleep in her own bedchamber from now on."

"That might be difficult My Lord, you currently occupy her bed chamber."

"But I thought…"

"…these were my chambers, I would not have presumed to take them over after the general's death. Lady Ellissia had lost so much, it seemed fitting that she had them."

Darken thought about the argument and the insinuations he had made, no wonder she had been so angry. "Well she can't stay here, find her somewhere else to sleep." He blustered.

"She can move back into her old bed chamber, it is situated in this wing, that way she can remain close by to tend you."

"Yes, do that, I'm going to bed." Darken marched through to his bedchamber before Falcone could reply or awake Ellie.

Alone, Darken thought to himself. Why did she make him feel so guilty, it was all her fault anyway, if she hadn't crippled him with her magic he wouldn't have been in this situation. He couldn't think about it any longer, he was too tired. Darken threw off his clothes and climbed into bed, it had been a long day and it would be another long day tomorrow.

The next few days as anticipated were long and tiring, Darken had no time for relaxing in the garden or playing games of chess. This incident had made him realise how easily everything could slip from his grasp if he didn't keep on top of everything. He also hadn't been sleeping well and had been having 'the nightmare' again, this time it had taken a different course with 'The Seeker/his brother' taking over his army and leaving Darken defenceless and alone as he ran across the countryside trying to escape his own generals. In reality, order was eventually restored to the army and Darken now insisted on meeting with Captain Falcone every morning in order to review the daily reports. One morning after the meeting has ended Captain Falcone made a request.

"I would like to release your guards and have them put under my command."

"Why should I allow that?"

"Because they are getting lazy, they have nothing to do all day and fights are breaking out over petty arguments. The men need something to do to occupy their time. I could release them now, but without your command, they could not be trusted."

Lord Rahl thought for a moment, it would be easier when he decided to retaliate if his men were already freed and armed. "Very well, I so order the men to be released into your command, any man that disobeys your orders will answer personally to me."

As Lord Rahl was escorted back to his chambers he decided that if he hadn't won that stupid game of chess within the next few days he would find another way of escape. He would request supper with Egremont that evening and tell him of his plans who could then in turn prepare Denna and his guards to be ready to act at a moments notice.

The next day he sat out in the garden playing chess with Ellie, his mind was only half on the game as he was formulating a new plan of escape when she quietly said.

"They look like dead people." She didn't look up and continued to study the chess board

"Who do?"

"People that are confessed, they walk and talk and eat just like everyone else, but they look dead, your move."

"Oh." Darken was surprised by her answer to a question he had asked days ago, he absentmindedly moved a chess piece. "Have you seen many confessed people?"

"A few, the first time I saw one I was a child, it terrified me, I ran screaming to my father.

"What did he do?"

"It took a while for him to work out what I was talking about, the man was another general who had been in the camp for about a week. To my father and everyone else, the man looked perfectly normal, he thought at first I was having a vision that the man was about to die, so he put the general under armed guard to protect him. The general misunderstood the action and revealed his true purpose, it was then father realised the man was confessed."

"Is that how my father found out about your abilities?"

"It's checkmate, you've won the game Darken."

Darken looked down at the board, while they were talking, he had been moving the chess pieces without thinking and somehow he had won. He quickly realised he hadn't won, she had deliberately lost and was letting him go. He sat silently as she gathered up the pieces and put them away.

"When do you plan to leave?" she asked.

"Urm, tomorrow?"

"I'll tell the captain to make preparations."

"No, don't, I'll…I'll tell him myself… in the morning." Darken felt torn, he wanted his freedom, but he wanted to stay and find out more about her abilities.

That evening as he dined with Falcone and Egremont he said nothing about leaving, but continued to ponder on the best course of action. She had given her word that he could leave, but would she go willingly with him? He doubted it, he wanted her co-operation and if he arrested her she would be sure to resist, also at the castle he was still outnumbered, if he left and returned with reinforcements, or even sent for them she would be gone before they arrived. He could threaten to harm her friends, Falcone and that servant girl Mary, but would she fight back instead? He suspected he hadn't seen a tenth of her powers, Darken had never known anyone who could pick up an agiel for the first time and not buckle under its pain, her ability to not only touch it, but to also amplify it's energy was astounding, he could hardly imagine what she would do if her friends were threatened. On the other hand she had started to talk about her powers and had deliberately lost the game to set him free, why? Was she expecting leniency, did she think they were now friends? Darken continued to mull these thoughts around in his mind, but ultimately he kept coming back to the same thought….

How could he possibly give up such a prize?