The next morning, they rose early, had a quick meal, and broke camp.

"I have to admit," Naissus said to Amichen, as he shook leaves off the blanket they had wrapped around them, "your leaves felt pretty close to a real bed. I'm not sore in my hip and shoulder like I usually am when I sleep on the ground."

"I'm glad."

"Me, too. I don't need anything to make my left shoulder worse."

Shortly thereafter, they moved out in the same formation as the day before: Naissus riding at the front, followed by the other knights and squires on foot, with the magician, physician, Amichen and Polonius riding a little behind them with the packhorses. Naissus sent a portion of the foot soldiers out to scout around them.

It wasn't long before one came back reporting that there was a road nearby. Naissus led the group to the place where the scout indicated. It wasn't much of a road—it wasn't paved or even made of compacted earth like the major road that ran between Shi-Ha and Hyrule, but it was clear from the pressed leaf matter and the branches hacked from trees to create a clear area that the path was nevertheless used for wagons and foot traffic.

"Let's see where it goes," Naissus said. Scouts hurried off to see what was ahead, while some flanked out to either side to make sure that there was no ambush waiting to hit them in the flanks.

It was mid-morning when one scout came hurrying back and spoke quietly with Naissus. Naissus called a halt and had everyone present group up.

"What is it?" Amichen asked.

"We've found a village," Naissus replied.

They had to wait about twenty minutes before the last of the scouts returned. After Naissus heard all their reports, he addressed the entire group.

"There's a little village a mile or so down this road with eleven small houses. There appears to be no one there but women and children, but there may be men around—especially if they know or suspect we're coming. They've probably figured out by now that they can't teleport or communicate telepathically, so they should be suspicious."

Naissus looked over his small band. "We have enough knights for each man to take one house and clear it of all its inhabitants." He pointed to three squires. "You three are to take possession of everyone who is sent out of the houses. Make sure they have no weapons on them—search even the women and children—then have them kneel in the center of the village until we have searched every house."

The squires nodded.

Naissus looked at his knights again. "Make sure that you search the houses very well. Make sure there are no attics or cellars or false walls where people can hide."

"What about us, sire?" one of the unselected squires asked.

"I want you three to circle around the village—one to the south, one to the east, and one to the west. Patrol and make sure that no one sneaks up on us while we're busying emptying the village. "

They nodded.

"I don't think I'm in your count," Sir Polonius said as he glanced over everyone present, counting heads.

"No. You will stay with Amichen and the doctor and Master Graydon."

"Begging your pardon, Your Highness, but you need all the manpower you can get."

"Yes, and I also need you to hold this road for me. I don't want anyone getting in and I especially don't want anyone getting away. If there are others out in the woods, we don't want anyone slipping through to go warn them."

Polonius nodded.

Naissus dismounted. "You three," he said, pointing out the squires he had designated as scouts, "go ahead and get into position. Make sure you aren't seen. I'll give you a twenty minute head start."

They hurried off at a brisk jog.

"Now we wait," Naissus said.

The men spent their time stretching and checking their equipment. A couple even sat down and appeared to meditate.

Amichen got off her horse and she and Naissus walked a little way from the others. "Are you afraid?" she asked him quietly.

He let out a heavy breath, then smiled a little. "I think every man is nervous before battle."

"It might not be a battle; there may only be women and children here."

"True. And they may not give us any problems. But that is its own problem."

"How so?"

"Because there must be men somewhere. You never have a village of women and children but no men. And if all the men have left, it's probably to hunt for us. And the thought of another ambush worries me more than anything."

"If this is a trap, you don't have any reinforcements," Amichen pointed out. "Sir Polonius and three squires aren't enough to help."

"I know." He smiled thinly. "We'll just have to hold our own."

"Can't you bring in reserves from outside?"

"No. It will take too much time for the magician to open a hole for us so we can bring more people in. The longer we're out here, the more likely we are to be found. If this isn't a trap, then the men might be just off hunting and can come back at any moment. If they fortify themselves in their houses, I don't think I have the manpower to dislodge them."

"But if they're already in there, fortified and waiting on you—"

"Then I guess we'll have to retreat," he said.

A moment later one of the knights came over, interrupting them. "I think it's about time, Your Highness."

Naissus nodded, then kissed Amichen. "Get back on your horse and stay with Sir Polonius. If trouble comes, flee. If you keep going north, you'll eventually reach the highway and the picket line."

She started to say something, but suddenly became choked up. He seemed to understand, though, because he took her hand in his and gave it a tight squeeze. "Be careful," he whispered, then kissed her once more.

She let his hand go only reluctantly. "You too."

He smiled at her, then turned and walked back to his men. A minute later, they were moving down the road at a brisk pace.

Sir Polonius came over leading Amichen's horse; Naissus' horse had already been tied off behind Graydon's. "We ought to follow them a little way, Your Highness. We need to make sure that no one tries to escape and the doctor here needs to be close enough to respond if he's called for."

Amichen remembered when Talent had fallen to the rhino. "Yes, let's get a little closer," she said, taking the reins from Polonius.

"Do you need help?"

"No, I think I can manage."

Amichen got onto her horse by herself and felt rather proud. "Lead on, Sir," she said.

Polonius took the four of them to within sight of the little village, then Sir Polonius stopped them. "Here is close enough."

Amichen strained to hear sounds of fighting coming from the village. Although there was the occasional shout, there didn't seem to be any noise of sword-on-sword. But Amichen's human hearing wasn't as good as a Hylian's.

"Do you hear any sound of fighting?" she asked Polonius.

"No, Your Highness."

"Is that a good thing, you think?" she asked anxiously. Arrows made almost no sound and the bandits were obviously good archers and not afraid to shoot.

"I think it's a good thing," he replied, making her feel a little better. "If they were in trouble, we'd hear it."

That was true. Even if they were being shot, there would be the sound of men in pain and shouts of alarm. The occasional shouts she heard sounded like neither.

"What would we do if they were in trouble?" Amichen asked.

Polonius' face—which had been none too happy—grew darker. "Nothing. My duty is to protect you and guard this road." Then he sighed. "Although I don't know how I'm going to meet my destiny if I have to stay away from the fighting."

"What destiny?" Amichen asked curiously.

"My star chart said I had two choices in my life: to live as a humble farmer, as my parents and grandparents had, or become a knight of great renown and die in service.

"My parents gave me the choice to stay at home or go to the Academy and pursue knighthood, and I chose to be a knight. Even during my vigil my father came to me and told me that I did not have to go through with it—that I could still come home and take over the family farm and live a peaceful life and die in my own bed. But I loved the idea of knighthood and honor the way that other men love a woman; I couldn't imagine living without either. So I decided to live in glory and die doing my duty.

"Only . . . I haven't died. Every time I've faced an opponent, I've thought, 'This could be it; my last.' To be honest, I never thought I would get this old. But here I am."

"Naissus and the others said that knights usually retire long before they're your age. Is that why you're still active? Because you're still looking for your death?"

He looked thoughtful. "I hadn't looked at it that way before, but yes, that's probably accurate."

"I'm sorry I'm keeping you held back, but I very much appreciate your sacrifice. I would be afraid if I didn't have you with me."

Polonius looked mortified. "Oh, Your Highness, forgive me. I didn't mean to imply that I dislike doing my duty for you."

"It's alright, Sir Polonius. My mother always left someone behind with me when the court went somewhere, and I know that staying with me fell to whoever drew the short straw. It's not something anyone wants to do, but I appreciate it all the same."

He looked even more appalled. He reached over for her hand, then bowed quite low to kiss it. "Your Highness, I should be happy to volunteer to stay with you anytime. In fact, I was already planning to ask Prince Naissus if he was in need of a bailiff or captain of his household guard when you move to your new duchy. I believe I would prefer to serve the two of you more than anyone else."

"Why?" Amichen asked, genuinely curious.

"Because I have a lot of respect for the prince; it's not easy to come back after what happened to him, but he's staying the course. And you are such a sweet lady, I can't imagine serving anyone better."

Amichen smiled, feeling warm all over. "I will ask Naissus if you can come with us. Of course, it will be a few years, I'm sure, until everything's built and we can move in."

He laughed. "It seems that I'm made of time, Your Highness; I can wait." Then he bowed and kissed her hand again. "Regardless, I am your man. Ask of me and you shall receive."

Amichen was surprised. "I don't know what I've done to earn your respect, sir, but I am thankful for your friendship."

He smiled. "What have you done? Nothing much—just made me feel better about being old."

A moment later, they were interrupted by someone whistling long and shrill. When they turned to look, they saw a man standing outside the village, waving his arm.

"That's our signal," Polonius said, taking up his reins. "Let's see if they need any help."

Amichen and the others all followed Polonius at the trot.

"How goes it?" Polonius asked when they came near the man.

"No problems. No one here but women and children."

"No one hurt?" the doctor asked anxiously.

"No."

Amichen breathed a sigh of relief. With renewed confidence, she followed Polonius into the village.

She was actually surprised by what she saw. There was nearly a dozen round, wattle-and-daub houses with tall conical roofs covered in some sort of reed thatching. The common area between the two rows of houses was unpaved, but leaves and pine needles kept it from being muddy. Between the houses were tidy gardens full of vegetables and behind some houses there were small sties with pigs and even one with a cow. Chickens clucked anxiously in the common area and fled from the oncoming horses.

It was all so normal. It could be any village anywhere. Nothing about it screamed bandit hideout.

At the far end of the common area, there was a large group of women, children, and a few old men. They were all sitting on the ground with their hands on their heads. A few of Naissus' men stood over them, swords drawn and ready.

Naissus walked over to Amichen and Polonius. "Not a man of fighting age among them," he told them in a low voice. "But every last house has the coins in it."

"So we know at least some of them came back here," Polonius said.

Naissus nodded. "The problem is: where are they? Why leave their women and children unguarded if they knew or suspected we were coming?"

"Because they know you won't hurt them," Amichen said. Naissus and Polonius both looked at her in surprise. "Why risk yourselves guarding something that's in no real danger?" she continued. "In fact, the women and children are more at risk if you have a pitched battle here, where they are. Better to leave them where they'll be safe, then retreat to some place easily defendable."

"I didn't realize you were a student of tactics, Your Highness." Polonius said, sounding impressed.

"It's hard not to get an education when you grow up with the Queen of Shi-Ha as your mother." She looked at Naissus. "There are near-constant squabbles and raids between noblemen in my country. This isn't the first time I've known women and children to be left behind when an enemy approaches. In fact, if you don't leave them behind, it's considered an insult to your enemy—like calling him dishonorable to his face. To leave them behind is to acknowledge that your enemy is an honorable man who can be trusted to care for them properly."

Naissus looked back at the group of villagers. "Somehow, I don't think they were left behind as a compliment to us."

"Regardless, we have to do something with them," Polonius pointed out.

"It is customary to take them away and hold them for ransom," Amichen said.

"We'll take them back to Hyrule, but not for ransom," Naissus said darkly. "I want nothing less than those bandits' heads."

"But what will you do with them?" Amichen asked anxiously.

"That's my father's decision to make." He noticed her looking at him fearfully. "He won't execute them, if that's what you're worried about. Unless they're wanted for their own crimes, he will probably just detain them until we're sure we have most or all of the bandits, then they'll be released. But, if it were me, I would release them one at a time and send them off to various places so they can't easily find one another again."

Polonius nodded. "Break up their community."

"Exactly. Most of them probably won't get into any trouble without their menfolk, but you can't ever tell what they might do if they're left together. There are legends of a group of widowed women in Erenrue who banded together and created their own village in the mountains. They defended themselves against all bandits and Shi-Ha raiders, and it's said that when Erenrue went to war, they volunteered to fight and even the knights were amazed by their ferocity."

"Are those the ones who supposedly drank the blood of their enemies?" Amichen asked.

"Yes." Naissus looked back at the prisoners. "I don't want these women to get a similar idea. I think we all prefer our blood to stay in our bodies."

Naissus left to oversee the disposition of the prisoners. It took several hours because Master Graydon first had to fit all of the prisoners with a magical set of ankle shackles that kept them from teleporting or using telepathy, even once they were outside the magical barrier. Then he had to set up his equipment and cast a spell that allowed him to open a localized hole in the shield. Naissus relayed their status directly to his father and received an update from most of the other Hyrulian groups: they had found nothing so far. No reports had been received from the Erenrue or Shi-Ha contingents, so it was possible that they had found something, but it was unlikely; elsewise, they would have reported in, just as Naissus had done.

Some additional reserve troops were teleported in and Naissus put them, half the squires, and one knight in charge of the prisoners. They packed up all the food they could carry and marched out, taking the prisoners back to Hyrule. Naissus specifically instructed them to take a different route out than the one they came in, in case the village had been a trap and the enemy was lying in ambush, just waiting for a portion of the force to come back by with prisoners in tow.

Noon came and went while they were sorting things out, so Amichen went into one of the houses and helped herself to something for lunch. She made something for Naissus and Sir Polonius too, and when she saw the other men looking at their lunches with naked longing, she went back and began to make more. Soon, she was feeding all of the men—much to their gratitude.

It was well into the afternoon by the time they finally saw the prisoners off. Naissus gathered up his men to discuss the situation and Amichen went along with them.

"Do we want to press on while we still have a few hours of sunlight left?" he asked. "I think we can assume that the bandits are somewhere relatively close by, so that either leaves us finding and engaging with them about the time we start to lose our light, or make camp in what is most assuredly enemy territory—and with our number reduced by four. Or do we stay here? We'll be a bit more scattered, but that can also work to our advantage as it makes them scatter to take us on."

"We could set our own ambush," one knight suggested. "If they just left to go hunting or something—if they didn't suspect that we were coming or that we would get this far—they might return and we could catch them off guard."

"True. Even if they fled because of us, they might be tempted to come back under cover of darkness to check on their families or get food," another one agreed.

"Maybe we should all occupy a house and get fires and lights going, as if everything is normal. What men we have to spare can keep a watch or walk a patrol."

"Who is good at climbing trees?" Naissus asked, looking out over the men. A couple of the squires and a couple more of the younger knights raised their hands. "You four go ahead and rest as best you can; when it gets dark each of you will get in a tree where you can watch over the village. If the bandits return, sound a horn and alert the rest of us. Everyone else will sleep with their boots on and their swords at their sides, ready to spring into action."

Naissus assigned a few men to a patrol, then he and Amichen went back to the house where she had been preparing lunch.

"I guess I better get started on supper," she chuckled.

"I appreciate you feeding everyone earlier," Naissus said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed in the one-room house. "But don't feel obligated to feed everyone supper, too. They can fend for themselves."

"I like feeling helpful," Amichen said. "So far I've just been tagging along, more burden than help."

He held his arm out to her, beckoning to her. She went to him and he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. "You are not a burden," he said firmly. "And . . . I will admit that I've been glad to have you with me." He smiled a little. "I just wish I could ride in the back in Sir Polonius' place; the two of you sound like you're having a good time."

Amichen laughed. "We are. But he would be all too happy to trade places with you. He says his destiny is to die in service, so he'd prefer to be out front."

"All the more reason to have him in the back," Naissus said. "I don't want a suicidal person to be in charge of my men."

"I don't think he's suicidal, just . . . heroic."

"There's only a fine line between the two."

"Actually, I think he's accepted the fact that he seems destined to live and die an old man. He said he wanted to ask about serving us once we have our duchy."

"Really?" Naissus asked, looking surprised. "I wonder why?"

"He said he admired the way you've been training—what was it he said exactly?—something about you staying the course, I think."

Naissus smiled. "I shouldn't be surprised that a knight that won't retire approves of me refusing to do the same."

"Will you give him a place?" Amichen asked.

"I would be honored to give him any command or position he should ask for—although, to be honest, I'm not sure if I feel right being in command of someone like him. He's a better knight than I'll ever be."

"Don't sell yourself short; you still have many years left to catch up."