Chapter 30

Amanda never felt so alone as in those final candlemarks in the carriage as it trundled towards Port Heldon.

Her restraints forced her to remain standing. Her wrists were shackled and hung from a taut chain attached to the ceiling in the center of the carriage. Her ankles were shackled as well, and her body swayed with each bump and dip in the road. The chain on her collar was attached to one of the walls, and it rattled as the carriage moved.

She wished Norlan had not fired Marris. Then, perhaps, she would have had him for company. At least he would have sympathized with her plight even if he would be the one to restrain her. Instead, Halno had restrained her, and he seemed in a hurry. His open contempt for her had been evident on his face. Amanda had little doubt he believed she ought to have been punished more for her recent behavior.

Don't worry, you'll get your wish, she thought with some trepidation but no regret.

The carriage lurched to one side and righted itself in the next breath. Amanda gasped and twirled in a quarter circle in an effort to right herself. She moaned and shuddered as her thighs rubbed together and triggered a brief rise in her glistening pussy. Halno had unsealed her after restraining her, and she longed to free a hand to relieve herself.

Amanda swallowed hard, her heart pounding. She had remembered that lurch from the last time. She was almost there. She closed her eyes and went over the map in her mind. That lurch may just have been the point where the other road forked south.

Amanda turned around so she could get another look at the carriage to confirm again that no guard had been placed with her. The carriage driver was the only other occupant, sitting in a small cab just behind the horses.

Her body lurched forward. The carriage was slowing down. She leaned to one side as it made a slow, tight circle, pointing it back the way it came before it shuddered to a stop.

Amanda heard her heart and ragged breathing in the sudden quiet. She bit her lip to suppress a moan as her pussy flared hot at the memory of her trysts with Gedric. She hoped she could escape with him. She would not mind being his slave for a time.

Gedric drew himself straight before the mirror in his cabin's sanitary. He had attired himself in casual finery, something which would be expected were he about to enjoy a night of intimacy with a nubile slave girl. As he turned away from the mirror, he reached down to his right boot and tugged on a strap. A small compartment opened, and he withdrew the dagger hidden within. He looked it over for a moment before shoving it back inside and closing the strap just as the door to his cabin opened and closed.

He strode out of the sanitary just as Lord Admiral Vortas stepped into the middle of the room. "The carriage has arrived," he said in a somber and somewhat curt voice. "When I left the deck, the driver was showing some sort of document to the guards."

Gedric nodded once. He looked around and let out a small sigh. "I wish I could bring something with me. None of my belongings are particularly valuable, but many have sentimental value. I have kept something from every ship I was ever assigned to since the start of my career."

"I will do everything in my power to save them. Perhaps some day we will meet again and I can return them."

The Lord Admiral's voice had started to trail off, and his eyes glistened. Gedric returned the gaze with an understanding one of his own. The two men surged towards each other and grasped each others arms.

"You are a good man, Fleet Captain," said Vortas in a rumbling voice which quavered slightly. "I do not want to lose you."

"In a way, I do not want to leave," said Gedric. "I feel I am taking a coward's way out, that my place is here with the men I command."

The Lord Admiral shook his head. "No. If you stay here, you may never again command men. At least this way you have a chance to do so again."

A tiny smile broke out across Gedric's face, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Gedric turned away from Vortas and opened it. "Beggin' yer Fleet Capt'n's pardon," the sailor said. "But the carriage wi' yer slave has arrived."

"Yes, thank you, I will be there shortly."

The sailor gave the Fleet Captain an envious smile and left.

"Do not delay," Vortas said when he thought Gedric was hesitating. "Do not raise any suspicions."

"I have realized I am going into danger with no plan of action. I do not know how I am going to change the course of events, assuming that I am being used as a pawn in some grand political game as we had suspected."

"Then you must trust that Amanda came up with something. She is quite clever, even by the standards of Oceanus slaves."

Gedric gave a small nod of his head. He looked back to Vortas as if he wanted to say something else, then rushed out of the cabin, pulling the door closed behind him.

The Lord Admiral uttered a small sigh. "May the gods of the land and sea protect you," he murmured.

Mandas stepped out of his carriage where it lay nestled in a copse of trees just off the side of the road, little more than a shadow as evening faded away to full night. He followed the footsteps of his driver, grass and underbrush rustling in their wake. Two armed guards followed close behind. The light from the driver's lantern bobbed as they reached the edge of the road.

The driver swung his light northeast, towards the curve of the road. "We should be hidden from sight by anyone who approaches from that direction."

Mandas gave a curt nod and turned to the guards. "What of the rest of you? Are you in position?"

"Yes, my Lord," said one. "I contacted the other contingent by Farview as we arrived. They are in place just down the road."

The driver swung his light in the other direction.

"You won't see them," said the guard. "They are well-concealed. The one commanding them is trained in seizure of carriages and other moving vehicles."

"Excellent," said Mandas with a sly smile. "And when they catch the carriage, we will wait a short time, and then burst upon the scene as if we had been rushing here all along."

"Ah, yes, my Lord."

Mandas knew the guard did not quite understand the reasoning behind his orders. It would be easier for them to be concealed along with the rest of the contingent further up the road. But appearance was everything; this was for effect as well as for function. Mandas needed the maximum amount of drama. Those who would soon fall at his feet for any scraps of influence he saw fit to bestow upon them once he was in the ascendant would demand nothing less of him.

"Return to the carriage," Mandas said. "Douse all the lights and keep the horses quiet. Then we wait for our foolish prey to arrive."

Norlan stood amidst the thick of the trees, apart from a group of moving shadows which were his contingent of soldiers settling into their concealed vigil. The only light was the pale glow of the swaying Farview image of High Lord Ardon.

"And you are sure you have enough men, Norlan?" Ardon said in a crisp voice, rendered slightly tinny by the low volume at which Norlan had ordered the Farview session to use.

"More than enough, my Lord," said Norlan. "We were fortunate to find some in the service of a minor Lord who loathes Mandas."

"You did not tell him the details of--"

"No. Only that my plan would hurt Mandas in some way. That was good enough for him."

"Where are you located?"

Norlan hesitated. He had only just noticed the High Lord's jerky motion in the Farview as something more than simply a transmission artifact. "My Lord, are you on the road?"

"I am most certainly on the road and headed towards your position."

"Is that wise?"

"I want to see this concluded to my satisfaction! I am out on a limb with the other High Lords. They originally wanted me to oversee this operation instead of you."

Norlan gave the High Lord a humorless smirk. "They do not trust me."

"Some still harbor the notion that you are executing some grand scheme, but I convinced the majority you were more qualified to run this gambit. But they insist I be there."

"I fear your arrival may be ill-timed if--"

"I am aware of that!" Ardon snapped. "I am a full two candlemarks behind you. That is more than enough time for the carriage to pick up Gedric and head down the road."

"In that case, you do not need to know my position, for you will see it when you come upon the stopped carriage in the middle of the road."

Ardon narrowed his eyes but nodded once. "Very well. I will see you there."

Ardon made a slashing gesture to the side, and his Viewer terminated the Farview. Darkness enveloped the Lord Ambassador.

"Not even you trust me completely, my Lord," Norlan said in a soft voice before turning towards the encampment.

Amanda jerked her head and twisted her body around when she heard the carriage door open. Her eyes widened at the sight of Gedric, and she became flushed with relief. He was here, and now he could somehow put everything right. She could finally surrender responsibility to him. At the same time, a hot flash of desire tingled in her pussy, which oozed between her already damp thighs. And yet she shivered in the fear she was leading him to his death.

Gedric's eyes widened, then narrowed in contempt at her restraints. "They are barbarians in every sense of the word," he growled.

Amanda would have appreciated the comment, but she was exploding with the need to talk to him about the map. She waited until Gedric had stepped closer, but before she could speak, he said, "Where are the keys for your restraints?"

"Over in the corner on the hook," Amanda said, jerking her head to her right. "But, Master, I have something to tell you. I may have a way for us to really escape and--"

Gedric held up a hand and made a brief "shh" noise. His eyes darted about. "Is anyone else here?" he asked in a low voice.

"Just the carriage driver," Amanda whispered back.

"And no guards? No soldiers?"

"I didn't see any, Master, no."

Gedric nodded once. "You said you have a plan?"

"Yes, but only if we can get the carriage driver to take us on a different route."

"In that case, we will need to persuade the driver. Now, remain calm and still."

Amanda nodded. Gedric took the keys from the hook, which was next to the narrow door to the driver's cab. Gedric opened the door and shouted, "Driver!"

"Wot is it, guv'nor?" drawled a voice from outside and above.

"Are you quite sure you brought the right keys for the slave's restraints?"

"Dunno 'bout that, guv'nor. Jus' what they put in there. I got nuthin' t' do wi' that."

"Then perhaps I am doing this wrong somehow. Please come and try to undo them yourself."

"Wot, me? In there?"

"Unless you somehow do not appreciate the naked female form?" Gedric said, letting the unspoken implication hang.

The driver scrambled down from his perch. "Beggin' yer pardon, guv'nor, but I ain't no man-dipper."

A short, sandy-haired man burst past Gedric, snatching the keys from him and stepping up to Amanda. His lips twisted into a lascivious smile. "Sure yew won't be wantin' t' share 'er wi'--"

In a flash of steel, the dagger was in Gedric's hand, then at the driver's throat, his other arm locked around the driver's head. Amanda gasped and stared. The driver struggled until the blade of the dagger impressed the skin of his neck right at his throat.

"Do not move," Gedric hissed through clenched teeth. "Do not cry out. I will slit your throat before you have a chance to do either."

Amanda shivered at the coldness of Gedric's voice, and was quite relieved when the driver stopped struggling.

Gedric slid his arm down and clasped the driver by the shoulders. He whipped the dagger from the driver's neck and poked the tip into the driver's back behind his heart. The driver trembled, his eyes glazed.

"Amanda," Gedric said, and she flinched. "Do you know where this man would be taking us?"

"Yes. There's a road which makes a half circle," Amanda said in a quavering voice. "It heads east from here, then curves south, then back to the west where there's a little strip of beach that I think used to be a port."

Gedric pressed the dagger to the driver's back. "Is that your route?"

The driver swallowed. "Y-yeah... 'sroight, g-guv'nor."

"Don't lie to me now!"

"I ain't lyin'! P-please, guv'nor, I-I ... that's where I'm supp'sed t' take yew all."

Gedric nodded. "Very well. But I think we could do with a different route."

"A-anything yew want, guv'nor!"

"Amanda?"

"There's another road," Amanda said. "It branches off from this one, not far from here. It heads almost due south, right along the coast."

"W-wait, I can't take yew there!" the driver cried.

"Oh?" Gedric said with cold contempt. He poked the dagger into the driver's back until a single drop of blood oozed around the tip.

The driver whimpered. "I-I want to, but ... but that road's in 'orrible shape. It floods wi' the spring rains and it's muddy an' rutted. An' it don't go all the way."

Amanda let out a despairing sigh. She had hoped the gap was just an inaccuracy in Bessa's rendering.

"And yet that seems better than whatever awaits us on your original route, I am sure," said Gedric.

"G-guv'nor, I don't know what yer talkin' 'bout! I'm supp'sed t' take yew all the way there!"

"Master, I think he doesn't know," Amanda said. "The map I saw looked like Ambassador Mandas is waiting near the end of the loop to stop us. But then Ambassador Norlan will be waiting at a point before that."

Gedric frowned. "I do not understand."

"I'm not sure I do either, Master. But where Mandas was planning this escape and now he's actually waiting for us, I don't think he ever intended for us to actually escape."

Gedric's face hardened. "So the bastard could claim he stopped an escape attempt and becomes the hero," he said in disgust.

"But Norlan learned about his plans, partially from me. I'm sorry about that."

"Never mind, Amanda. Go on."

"So I think he's trying to intercept the carriage before Mandas. Then I guess he gets to be the hero instead."

"May the gods curse them all," Gedric muttered. "Playing with other people's lives as pawns." Gedric withdrew the dagger. He grabbed the driver, spun them both around, and slammed the driver against the wall of the carriage.

"I-I didn't know nuthin' 'bout any of this, guv'nor, yew gots t' believe me!" the driver cried.

"Shut up," Gedric snapped. "I do not care what you knew. But you are going to take the road Amanda just mentioned."

"But that road ain't no good!"

"You will take us as far as you can. If we have to, we will walk the rest of the way. Do you understand?"

The driver nodded.

Gedric stepped away from him, still holding the dagger. "Turn out your pockets."

"Me wot?"

"Pockets! Remove whatever you are carrying on your person and drop them to the floor! Now!"

The driver nodded and started yanking small objects from various folds in his clothing. A blue pearl fell and rolled into a corner. Gedric brandished the dagger when he saw a glint of steel, but the nervous hands of the driver had already fumbled the small knife to the floor. Gedric sent it sliding to the other end of the carriage with a kick.

"And that's it?" Gedric demanded. "No more weapons or Farview pearls?"

"It's jus' a pearl t' me mum, that's all!" the driver whined, giving the pearl a forlorn gaze.

"Then you can come collect it once you take us where we want to go. Now, what was your original plan of departure?"

"I jus' start movin' as fast as I can so the guards can't run t' us."

"Then get up there and start moving."

The driver nodded and dashed out of the carriage and up to the cab.

Gedric kept his dagger in hand and braced himself against the door frame with the other. The reins snapped, and the driver called out. The carriage lurched hard, and Amanda gasped as the chains to her wrists became tight and yanked her arms. A cry of alarm from the guards quickly faded behind them.