"What's your plan?" I asked Fisk.
He shrugged. "Find Jack's hidey-hole, break in, kill Jack, save Michael."
"Any idea on how exactly you plan to do that?"
"I was hoping you'd have one." Fisk said. "Judith, have you got any bright ideas?"
"We need someone who's got fighting men and owes Michael big time. Money only goes so far when it comes to convincing people, and we may need it for healers and herbs afterwards."
"There's no one like that. Michael doesn't have any friends besides us." I answered her.
Judith looked up from the stew pot. "I'm not talking about friends." She said meaningfully.
Fisk was already disagreeing. "No way. You have got to be insane!"
"Yes, I do," Judith said, "Because it'll take a lot of insanity to pull this off. Now, we need to take a detour and visit her."
"Visit who?" I demanded.
"Lady Cecil."
x-x-x-x
"She's going to kill us, or worse." Fisk said, banging his head against the wall. "How did you talk me into this?"
We were sitting in a small side room. Cecil's guards had been rather bewildered when we told them we were here to talk to her, and we were friends of a guy she'd once held captive. When they refused, we told them we were her enemies and she'd be disappointed if she missed the chance to kill us.
I was scared witless myself, but Judith was a mask of calm.
"I was wondering the same thing myself." A new voice replied.
Fisk spun around. His eyes were still dull and tired like they had been since my parents had refused to help them, but his features had contorted with rage. "You!"
"Yes, that is who you came here to see." Judith said.
"This is all your fault. You ruined his life. He had nightmares for ages after you… you…"
He was losing control.
"Fisk!" I said, yanking him back. "Jack's the enemy now. Not Cecil. Concentrate."
Cecil looked around at the three of us. "I'm guessing you're not here so I can kill you. And you'd be disappointed if you wanted me to. Where's Michael?" She asked.
"He's been kidnapped by an old criminal friend of mine and since he's unredeemed because he refused to drag you to an unfair trail, no one will help us save him." Fisk said angrily.
"So you want me to help you?"
Fisk nodded. "You owe him that much, at the very least. He saved you twice, didn't cut your throat when the aquilas wore off, and became unredeemed for your sake."
"And if I don't help you…?"
"Michael and I die, along with our sisters."
Lady Cecil frowned. It was a good thing I had practice at home with hiding anger. If I hadn't spent the past year biting back everything I wanted to say to my father, I wouldn't have been able to hold back.
"Alright." She said. "I'll help."
"You'll send your men with us?" Fisk asked, with the slightest bit of hope in his voice.
"No. I can't order them to attack. It's still illegal. But I will come with you myself."