Outside, the city of Aberon was quiet, and it was time for Rose to make her move. She was still weak from the dart, and she wasn't sure if she could use magic yet, but she had to try. There was no telling how long they'd keep her here and she had to get out of here. With that in mind she took stock of her assets.

Her captors must have been thorough as she had no weapons. Her bow was easy enough to spot, as were her arrows and her dagger, so they were gone. Her flint and steel for starting fires had also been taken, which she wasn't too happy about—while she might not have been able to use them to escape, they could be hard to find in some places. She had nothing to work with.

Then she heard something. She thought that her captors had gone to sleep, but apparently they just didn't have much to say until now. "The Elf probably needs to use the privy," the Knurlan—she could tell by the accent—said. "You take her."

"Why me?" the Urgal asked.

"I will not do it, so you must," the Knurlan said.

"I won't, Nustarv," the Urgal said. "They aren't the actions of a true Urgralgra warrior to take an Elf woman to the privy."

"They aren't the actions of a member of the Dûrgrimst Vrenshrrgn either," the Knurlan—apparently named Nustarv—said. "You do it."

"No!"

Rose saw this as an opportunity. If she could get them to untie her on the way to the privy, then she could fight her way out of there. She was still too weak to do much, but strength and speed weren't everything. Besides, if a fight couldn't be won, she could always run.

She tried getting her keepers' attention by shouting through the gag and she got it. Nustarv shouted, "Oh have you got something to say?" Rose nodded. She heard the sound of footsteps—both Nustarv's and the Urgal's—coming over to her. Suddenly the blindfold was removed to reveal a brown bearded and bald Knurlan with a sword at his belt and a strong Urgal behind him. "Look me in the eye and tell me that you won't scream."

She nodded. As Nustarv reached for her gag the Urgal said in disbelief, "You don't trust her, do you?"

"I trust her about as much as I trust you, Tadgruz," Nustarv said.

Urgal scoffed. "At least I'm paid to trust you," Tadgruz—the Urgal—said.

Nustarv drew away from Rose to look at Tadgruz in the eye. "You barely get anything."

"And that meager amount is to trust you," Tadgruz said. "I am here to do battle with a Dragon Rider, and a worthy challenge it will be." So they were after Lynde! While it could be likely they were talking about a different Rider, Rose couldn't risk thinking like that. She had to escape and stop them before they killed Lynde!

"You do realize Gerlach went to go kill her without you?" Nustarv said.

Tadgruz shrugged. "Marybe, but that would make me very blue."

Nustarv chuckled. "Gerlach hates it when you start to rhyme."

"Yes, but without him around I can do it all the time," Tadgruz laughed.

Nustarv sighed. "You know, perhaps we should trust each other more. I think we would get along well. A swordsman like me and a giant like you could make quite the coin." Rose impatiently grunted, bringing their attention back to her. He removed that gag and asked, "Alright, what do you want to say? But don't scream because I have a nasty temper and sensitive ears."

Rose moved her jaw around experimentally at first and then said, "Just this: maybe you should let me go to the privy by myself?"

"But one of us would have to watch you," Tadgruz said.

"Is there a window in the privy?" Rose asked.

"No."

"Then I can't escape. Let me loose and I promise not to run to the window immediately." The two mercenaries looked to each other. Tadgruz nodded and Nustarv began to untie her.

She stood up and stretched. She relished in the restoration of her movement before Nustarv tapped her back with his sword. "The privy's over there," the Knurlan said pointing to a door to her left. "Get to it and don't take too long."

"I won't," Rose said, and went in there.

After she relieved herself, she picked up the chamber pot and prepared to attack. She opened the door and threw the chamber pot at Nustarv. He was smaller, not as tough, and a bigger threat to her so he got the chamber pot. It hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out. The contents of the pot spilled out and splashed Tadgruz. Then began the real battle.

The Urgal was angry and ran at her with his horns pointed down. Rose dodged out of the way at the last second, though she was slow and she sustained a cut on her side. Tadgruz was worse off, hitting the door to the privy and getting his horns stuck in it. He must have been used to fighting groups rather than a single opponent to make a mistake like that in close quarters, and she could use that to her advantage.

She climbed onto his back and began to squeeze his throat. He struggled and tried to claw at her, but he couldn't get at her. He managed to get his horns out of the door and began backing up into a wall. As she braced herself for the impact, he stumbled and fell to the ground. She checked him and he was just unconscious, not dead.

She managed to get out from under the Urgal and starting looking around. It looked like a room at an inn. It was an unusually spacious room, and had another room through a door. Her equipment was in that room, and as she was putting away her dagger she heard a knock at the door.

She approached the door lightly and carefully, as it could've been more mercenaries checking in on their comrades. She drew her dagger and opened up the door, keeping the dagger out of sight. She was surprised to find a portly woman behind the door with a scowl on her face. "What are you doing up here?" she nearly shouted. "I heard a commotion, and I thought I told you scum about doing that sort of thing up here!"

"We'll be quiet from now on," Rose said, keeping her dagger out of sight but ready to swing down. It was doubtful that this woman was in league with the mercenaries, but it was better safe than sorry.

"Good because I'll raise your rate again if I here another peep out of you lot," the shrewd woman said and stormed off. In Rose's opinion, women like that were good at draining the life out of all who were around her that dared listen. It was best to ignore such women, no matter how sweet for however short a time they were. As she climbed out the window she decided to stomp on the floor twice just to annoy the woman and perhaps whoever was paying the bill.

She leapt to ground and began to run. She was slower than before, but she knew where to go since she could see Borromeo Castle on its hilltop location quite clearly. She eventually managed to it, get in, and go to Herbst's room. He answered the door quickly enough—she didn't think it would've been wise to go in through the window in her current state—and she said, "Lynde's in danger. We need to leave now!"

Herbst nodded. "Let's go."