The Master at Arms stood in his office arguing with the captain of the rear guard over the disappearance of six of his men. "Look Jabble, I can understand how upsetting it is to be missing members of your force but I have questioned every member of the palace and no one has any idea about them. Perhaps they just got tired of the military life and left to seek their fortune someplace else."

Jabble glared at the Master at Arms, "I'm not a fool. I am certain they have met with foul play."

The Master at Arms shook his head, "I'm sure you do. It would look a lot less embarrassing on you if they had been killed or something nefarious than if they just ran off."

"Perhaps you would like me to contact King Merrick," Jabble threatened.

The Master at Arms slammed his fist on his desk, "Go yell it from the top of the towers if you want. I've interviewed every guard who has stood watch in the castle the last two weeks three times. I've tracked down every single visitor that has been here except three who left the town before the last time anyone had seen your men twice. The temple Mistress has been unable to divine anything concerning your men either. None of the royals and none of their sycophants have reported anything."

Jabble finally gave ground, "Fine, but if I find out you are lying to me, you're going to swing on the gallows."

The Master at Arms laughed, "It would certainly be better than putting up with you."

Jabble stormed out of his office.

The Master at Arms shook his head and stepped out of his office and headed down to the dinning hall of the castle guard and got in line for lunch.

"Excuse me sir," one of the junior guards addressed him.

The Master at Arms growled as he turned to look at the man, "Simmons, if you call me sir one more time you are going to have a hard time pronouncing your s's. Is that understood?"

Simmons stared at him with large eyes, "Yes S-Master at Arms."

The Master at Arms asked testily, "What is it?"

"I was on duty outside of the temple and I was told the temple Mistress wanted to see you immediately," Simmons reported.

The Master at Arms sighed as he threw his tray back onto the stack and left.

The door of her office opened and one of the lower Clerics looked in, "The Master at Arms is here Mistress."

She smiled, "Send him right in." She slowly stood up and began moving out from behind her desk as the Master at Arms stepped in and closed the door.

"Mistress, let me help you," he said as he moved up and held her arm until she got around her desk and sat down in one of the chairs.

She smiled up at him, "Thank you Terean. Even with our healing art my hip still hasn't recovered since that guard knocked me into that wall two days ago."

Terean sat down across from her, "You've got to be careful Mistress. Don't leave the temple anymore without an escort. I've got four guards in the main hall to escort you if you need to go someplace."

The Mistress smiled, "Tell me how things are progressing on contacting Lord Walter."

Terean shook his head, "It's much too early. It will be at least another three days before the messenger gets there."

The Mistress nodded, "What about the search for the missing rear guard?"

Terean took on a disgruntled look, "I think Jabble is finally going to back off of it. He doesn't believe that someone doesn't know something. He also doesn't believe his men simply took off but with no proof of anything else he'd look like a fool making a bigger stink about it."

There was a knock on the door and the Mistress held up her hand, "Yes?"

The door opened and a cleric pushed in a cart with two dinners on it and the Mistress smiled, "Oh thank you. I hope you don't mind Terean but I ordered lunch for us."

Terean looked hungrily at the elaborate meals on the cart and shook his head, "It sure beats what they are serving in the guards dinning room."

The Mistress laughed.

A man asked his friend, "So what does he have on him?"

"Barely forty gold and some kind of note," he looked up from the body of the messenger.

The man looked at him disgustedly, "Forty gold? Hell, his horse is worth more than that. What's the note say Charlie?"

Charlie shrugged as he held it out, "I can't read."

His friend took it and stared at the emblem on it and frowned, "Just great, this is the seal of Lord Beyon of Lancaster." He stared at the writing on the outside, "S-s-school? No, that isn't right." He continued to concentrate on the envelope.

Charlie compared his feet to the shoes the messenger was wearing and quickly pulled them off of him and after cramming the messenger's socks into the toes of the shoes he put them on and walked around. He smiled and grabbed the coat off of him and threw it at the other man before he dragged him into the bushes and left his body back there.

"Have you ever heard of Scopula Keep Charlie?" The man asked.

Charlie looked at him and shook his head, "Never heard of that one Peter, let's just forget about it and throw that thing back in the bushes. We should get out of here before someone comes a long."

Peter nodded as he walked over and as he crumpled the envelope the seal broke. He threw it further back into the trees and bushes.

The envelope opened just a bit as it came to rest, "To Lord Walter of Scorpion Keep from Lord Beyon of Lancaster."

Sean and his family passed out of the last gate of Los Angeles, "I can't believe this damn city is so big it has taken two days to get here from the wharf. How's Megan doing?"

Louise looked back into the bed of the wagon, "She's sleeping again Sean, but I think she is okay" Louise reached out and touched his shoulder.

Sean nodded, "Well as long as the weather holds in twelve more days we should be at this Scorpion Keep."

Louise looked at him, "Do we have enough money to persuade this Lord to help us?"

Sean shrugged, "Well we got almost seventy five thousand gold left. Surely he won't be that greedy. I just hope he isn't another fraud."

Rejuvenated by their two day rest beside Lake Perine Lord Walter and his company had been traveling the road to Lancaster in greater spirits for the last three days. Walter looked at Paige and smiled as he reached out and took her hand causing her to stop playing her lute. Almost immediately his charger began to snort and they both broke up laughing.

Walter squeezed Paige's hand, "Are you interested in giving our horses a bit of exercise my Lady?"

Paige squeezed his hand back, "You mean like a race?"

Walter looked up and saw a slight hill at least a mile a head, "To the top of the hill?"

Paige looked up the road and nodded.

Walter looked back at Kaylee and Ralph, "Friend Kaylee, maintain this pace. My Lady and I will return shortly."

Paige kicked her horse's flanks. Her horse leapt out ahead of Walter's charger. "Go," Paige laughed out loud now more than four lengths ahead.

Kaylee nodded, "I will Lord Walter."

Walter looked forward in disbelief before he laughed as his charger realized just what had happened and without prompting took off pursuing Paige and her mount.

Walter's charger was clearly stronger and much faster as she was gaining on Paige in leaps and bounds. Walter leaned forward and whispered, "Its okay, let them win, just make it look good. Okay?" He smiled as his charger snorted in disgust, but as she began pulling up along side Walter could feel her stride shortening and it started taking longer for her to recover some of the distance between them.

Paige was laughing as the head of Walter's charger came up along side her. Paige leaned forward, "Come on, we can't let them win."

As they topped the small hill they both pulled gently back against their reins and their horses began slowing down until they came to a stop.

Walter's charger pranced about in excitement of the just over a mile race they had finished as Paige and Walter both laughed. "Looks like I won this time my Love," Paige told Walter as she reached out and took his hand.

Walter smiled, "Indeed, I guess I am glad we did not have a wager on it then."

Paige frowned, "I knew I forgot something before we raced."

Walter frowned as he looked at her horse as it seemed to be having some difficulty breathing. "That isn't good. The race shouldn't have tired your horse that much," Walter said as he got down off his charger. He stepped up and put his hand to her neck, "What's wrong girl?"

Paige looked down, "Walter?"

He shook his head, "I'm not certain but clearly your horse is in some distress. Hopefully when Allie catches up she might have an idea what is going on."

Paige slid down, "This is my fault."

Walter shook his head, "I was the one that suggested the race, but this is not anyone's fault."

Allie moved forward once they had caught up and Lord Walter called for her. "My Lady's mount was struggling for breath after we reached the top of the hill. Her breathing has finally relaxed," Walter told her.

Allie nodded as she put her hands to the horse's neck and her eyes went white as her power rose. She frowned, "I'm sorry my Lord. The horse has a malignancy. I can ease its condition for now, but I'd recommend when we reach Lancaster to put her down."

Lord Walter nodded, "I feared as much. Should we exchange her with one of the pack horses?"

Paige looked at him, "You're not going to make her carry stuff being sick are you?"

Walter smiled, "No, we'd move the items to the other pack horses and she can just journey with us."

Allie nodded, "That would ease her discomfort in the days to come my Lord."

Walter looked at Ralph, "Unsaddle your Mother's horse for me." Ralph nodded quickly and got down off his mount and began uncinching the saddle. Walter walked back to the pack horses and examined each one before selecting the strongest one. As he removed the packs off of it Sir Cabe stepped up and began moving them over to several other horses.

Sir Cabe looked at him, "I take it something is wrong with our Lady's mount?"

Lord Walter nodded, "Allie said it is a malignancy. She's recommending we put the horse down when we get to Lancaster."

Paige looked at Allie, "Is there nothing we can do to cure this malignancy?"

Allie shook her head, "I'm sorry my Lady. Six months ago I could have, but the disease is running rampant through her body. Possibly the result of the blight, it would take too much energy to fix it all."

Paige nodded sadly.

"There is one possibility," Allie looked at her.

Paige got hopeful, "Which is?"

"Our Lord, as a Paladin his power over disease is near absolute," Allie told her.

Sir Cabe nodded as Lord Walter led the horse up to the front of the company. Allie was still addressing Paige's mount as Paige whispered quietly to her, stroking her neck calmly.

Ralph brought the saddle and blankets over and Walter smiled as he watched him put the blankets on the horse before putting the saddle on and secured it. Scratching at his beard he considered the time as he looked up at the sun's position. He looked down at Ralph, "What do you think Ralph, should we go ahead and stop now or continue on?"

Ralph looked up at his Dad and then looked down the road. Seeing the forest the road ran through in a few miles, "Well, you don't like being in forests where our campfire could cause damage. So I guess we should either stop now or before we get to the forest."

Walter smiled, "Well reasoned Ralph. Friends, let's go ahead and move over by the stream that feeds Lake Perine and set up camp for the night."

After the camp was all set up Lord Walter looked over at the horses and he saw Allie going from horse to horse. He nodded and walked over, "Would you like to talk about it Allie?"

Allie turned and he saw tears in her eyes, "I'd like to apologize and ask your forgiveness my Lord."

Lord Walter frowned, "For what?"

Allie looked at Paige's mount, "For missing the horse's health problem."

Lord Walter smiled as he reached out and put his hands on her upper arms, "Allie, I did not come over here in condemnation. I wanted to be sure you are okay. But since you brought it up, you have nothing to apologize or feel sorry for. You have rightly been focused on the well being of all of us, particularly our Lady and that's what is important. You have been taking care of most of our nutrition by cooking more of our meals than anyone. You have been making sure that we did not suffer when meat sources were gone. It is sad the horse is ill and there is not anything we can do to correct that, but you are not responsible for the sickness."

Allie smiled sadly, "That is very gracious of you my Lord, but as a witch I failed spectacularly."

Paige stepped over, "Walter, I need a favor."

Lord Walter dropped his hands from Allie's arms and turned around smiling, "If it is within my power my Love."

Paige wrapped her arms around his neck, "I need you to heal my horse."

Walter was in the act of putting his hands on her hips when he frowned as his hands dropped to his sides, "My Love?"

"I need you to heal my horse," Paige told him again as her smile faded.

Walter looked into her eyes, "Are you serious?"

Paige punched his arm, "Yes I'm serious. You told us before we left for Aaron Springs that we would all be protected from disease."

Walter ran his hand down his face, "Paige, I was speaking about the company. Not our horses."

Paige's face turned red with anger, "Our horses are part of our company. Why can't you see that?"

Walter shook his head, "Love, if the power was mine I would do it. But the power belongs to the wise Lady and I would not abuse it for anything."

Paige turned and stormed off.

Walter watched as she left and sighed.

Allie smiled, "She'll be okay my Lord."

Walter nodded as he turned and walked back to the campfire. As he sat down next to Paige she turned away from him.

"Oooh, someone is in trouble," Toby said grinning.

Lord Walter's eyebrows rose as he looked at him. Toby swallowed and then grabbed the back of his head, "Ow."

Lord Walter smiled at Happy.

All through dinner Paige spoke with everyone but ignored Walter completely. After she ate Paige got up and went to their tent. Ralph looked up at his Dad, "Is Mom sick?"

Walter smiled and shook his head, "She's just upset with me Ralph." After finishing his dinner, Walter got up and walked over and entered their tent. He found Paige already in their bedroll facing away from his side and their blankets tightly tucked around her. Since she was wrapped up in their blankets he lay down beside her without undressing. "Goodnight my Love," he said tenderly as he reached over to caress covered arm.

Paige chose to continue ignoring him.

"My Lord, it's time for your watch," Sir Cabe said softly from outside their tent.

"Thank you Sir Cabe," Walter told him. He'd been unable to sleep, he'd grown so use to Paige snuggled up next to him or on top of him and her absence was pure torture to him. He rolled to his side facing her, he rose up on his elbow and leaned in and kissed her ear. "I'm sorry I have upset you Love, but I do love you."

Walter got up and walked out of their tent. He noticed Allie wasn't outside as he walked over to the campfire when he sat down after buckling his sword back on. Walter already knew everything had been quiet, but he asked, "Anything to report?"

Sir Cabe shook his head, "Is our Lady still upset with you?"

Walter nodded as he poured a cup of coffee.

Sir Cabe smiled, "Well try not to let it get to you too much."

Walter nodded, "Is Allie okay?"

Sir Cabe nodded, "She's still feeling a little mad at herself over the horse being sick."

Walter looked at him, "I told her she wasn't to blame for that. She's taken such excellent care of all of us."

Sir Cabe laughed, "Sounds like some excellent advice for you to remember when you are mad at yourself."

Walter smiled, "Have a good night."

Walter paced about the campsite for most of his watch. A little before time to wake up Sylvester and Kaylee he walked over to the horses and looked at Paige's mount. He pulled out his necklace and looked at the owl emblem. Taking it in hand he looked up at the stars, "Wise Lady, it is your power. If it is your will let this work."

He reached out and placed his free hand against the horse's neck, "By the grace of Athena." At first nothing seemed to happen and then that white light that had poured into Ralph and healed him flashed out and pulsed into the horse. A few moments later and the light stopped and Walter smiled, "Thank you my Lady."

Walter slowly drifted off to sleep after he returned to their tent.

When he woke next, Paige was missing and he sighed. He'd hoped she would have forgiven him before she'd left the tent and woke him. He got up and looked at himself in the mirror. He felt worse than that day they all ignored him after the wyvern. He closed his eyes and began wrapping himself in the air of being the Lord. He opened his eyes and stepped out of the tent where he saw everyone eating breakfast.

Sir Cabe smiled as he raised his hand, "Good morning my Lord."

"Good morning Sir Cabe, I trust you had a restful night."

Ralph smiled as he sat his breakfast down.

Sir Cabe nodded, "Probably a lot better than you my Lord."

Ralph ran over and hugged him, "Good morning Dad."

Walter fought to stay in his Lord persona but Ralph's expression of love cracked it and he wrapped his arms about the young man and hugged him tightly. "Thank you Ralph, good morning to you. Did you sleep well?"

Ralph smiled, "I did."

Walter messed his hair as they both walked on over to the campfire.

"Thank you Allie," Lord Walter reached out and took the tray of scrambled eggs and bread Allie handed him. He sat down next to Paige and offered thanks to Athena before he began to eat.

Paige turned away from him as she finished her breakfast before she stood and walked into their tent.

Toby sat grinning at Lord Walter until he saw the look on Sir Cabe's face and his eyes opened wide as the smile disappeared.

"I believe the morning dishes are yours to clean this morning Toby. So get started quickly so we can get back on the road as soon as possible," Sir Cabe told him.

Toby opened his mouth as if to say something when Happy slammed her utensils on her tray. His mouth snapped shut as he saw the look in her eyes.

Allie touched Cabe's arm, "I'm going to double check the horses before we get them ready to leave."

Cabe nodded and kissed her, "You heard our Lord last night. It was not your fault. You don't have to keep checking them."

Allie smiled as she squeezed his hand but got up and walked over to the horses.

As she moved down the line checking the horses Happy walked over and began inspecting their hoofs to make sure their shoes were all still properly attached. All the horses were fine as Allie stepped up to Paige's horse and she put her hands on its neck and whispered softly to the horse. As her power rose up she frowned. She kept her hands on the horse but began walking down the side of the horse but she found nothing but healthy cells within the horse.

Allie looked back at the campfire and saw Lord Walter drinking a cup of coffee with Sir Cabe. Allie walked past Happy as she continued checking the shoes and walked up to Lord Walter. "My Lord," she smiled at him.

Lord Walter smiled looking up at her, "Allie, how are the horses?"

Allie nodded, "They are all well my Lord."

Lord Walter nodded, "Good. We should probably begin getting the pack horses loaded then."

"That's not what I am saying my Lord," Allie pressed.

Sir Cabe looked up, "What are you saying?"

Allie continued to look at Lord Walter as he just drank his coffee, "Paige's horse is no longer sick."

Sir Cabe looked to Lord Walter in shock, "Son?"

"I am glad to hear it," Lord Walter stood and walked over and dropped his tray and cup off with Toby before walking into the tent he shared with Paige. He saw she had most of their stuff packed up and he grabbed the bedroll and one of their clothes packs and took them back out and began helping load the pack horses.

Ralph was in the middle of saddling Lord Walter's horse when he saw his Dad had taken the pack horse he had saddled last night for his Mom and was loading packs back on it. Ralph stepped over, "Dad, isn't Mom going to be riding that horse?"

Lord Walter smiled as he shook his head, "Allie said her horse has recovered from her sickness so there is no sense in switching the horses."

Ralph smiled, "Mom will be happy about that."

Lord Walter walked back to their tent just as Paige walked out, "My Love."

Paige turned her head and walked on by him.

Lord Walter sighed and stepped inside their tent and raised the sides and collapsed the tent as he began folding it all up.

It wasn't long before everything was packed up and the horses saddled. Lord Walter untethered his charger and climbed up and rode up to the road and waited for everyone.

Paige stared at her saddle on her horse and looked at Ralph, "Why did you saddle my horse? She's sick."

Ralph shook his head, "Dad said that Allie told him that she recovered from her sickness and to saddle her."

Paige looked up the hill at her husband waiting on them and over to Allie as she was climbing up on her horse. Paige walked over to Allie, "What's going on with my horse?"

Allie shrugged, "This morning when I checked all the horses your horse showed no signs of having been sick at all."

Paige's eyes narrowed, "Are you saying Walter healed her?"

Allie shook her head, "I'm saying she isn't sick anymore. How, I don't know, but the only way I know is if our Lord healed her."

Paige walked over and climbed up on her horse and patted her neck before riding up the hill and joining her husband. She watched him continue to look down the road to the south east, "I'm not sure if I should apologize or thank you first."

Hoping you all are doing well! While the wife continues to have some issues we are for the most part doing well.

Franxine, sorry to make you think Paige was a Yeti or something. LOL And no Walter is not a gorilla. As noted in a later chapter of 'A Knight Among Monsters' he has very sparse hair.

As for the bathing suits (since I got a few questions over on twitter about it.) Most of this is non-plot information so I don't mind discussing it. While this is a medieval fantasy it is not in the past. Like our show Scorpion's pilot the year is 2014, the main thing is that technology came to almost a dead stop during the 17th century. The US never coalesced into a nation. The eastern seaboard is still more or less a British colony. The majority of the US is held by Native Americans and by other races and monsters. California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and a few towns and villages through out the midwest are the only human (non-Native American) controlled areas west of Pennsylvania. But like our world Paris (for the most part) drives the fashion industry.

If there are other questions, feel free to ask them and I will try and answer as long as it doesn't have to do with future plot.

To the Adventure! -Tim