Kylin of Arthil, King's Fighter and fourth son of Trame, Duke of Arthil, forced himself not to hang back as he and Traixe accompanied Duke Rilfe to Sofaltis's apartments. His nerves were definitely on edge, but only because he felt so damned guilty. At first he'd been more than happy to see Tisah locked up, thinking that that was the only way he could be sure of having a bride at his wedding ceremony, but ever since he'd opened his eyes this morning he was no longer quite as certain.

Kylin sighed as he pushed a hand through his hair, finding it impossible not to be fair about the problem. If it had been his father who had locked him up after trying to trick him into an unwanted marriage, it wouldn't have been safe for anyone to come near him. It would matter not at all that the marriage had been arranged for his own good, and even being in love with his chosen bride would scarcely have been a consideration. The very fact that he was being coerced would have colored everything else, sending him into a rage and keeping him there…

And what made it all doubly worse was not knowing for certain if Tisah felt what he did. The big Fighter had almost gone to her at dawn this morning, intending to let her know he was on her side, intending to find out if there was any chance she might learn to love him - but he hadn't been able to do it. No one he knew would consider him a coward, but all men were cowards about something. The lucky ones just hadn't yet found their own highest mountain.

"Excuse me, Duke Rilfe, but I need to talk to you," a voice came from up ahead, bringing Kylin out of distraction. He looked up to see Tisah's Fistmates, the four Blades of the Fist she'd been a part of, four of the five men who had come secretly into the castle with Tisah to free her father and sisters from capture. They all stood in front of the duke, and the one who had spoken was the Fist leader Rullin.

"There's something I have to tell Your Grace, something I should have said before now," Rullin continued, his light eyes sober in a face that was just short of being pale under its tan. He was a big man with dark hair who looked dangerous in the black leather of a Blade, but Kylin was more annoyed than impressed. He had no idea what the man wanted, but the Blade should have had the good sense to wait for a better time.

"I hope you're not going to say you and your Fistmates can't stay for the wedding," Duke Rilfe answered, stopping in the middle of the hall rather than rudely brushing past. The duke was more gracious than any noble Kylin had ever met, with the sole exception of his own father. "If you leave, Sofaltis will undoubtedly start a war and I'll probably be its first casualty. She has this odd idea that nothing happens in this duchy without my permission."

"That would be like her," the big Blade granted with a faint smile, the other three chuckling briefly behind him. "No, what I wanted to talk to you about was something else, something - Your Grace, do you have any idea how close the members of a Fist are? Usually they're closer than a family, closer than it's possible to describe to outsiders. We - that is, I - I mean, is there any chance Softy can - well, voice her own decision about who - that is, marriage is so permanent and final, and she should have a man - "

"Who truly cares about her?" the duke asked gently, finishing the sentence while the man in front of him floundered helplessly. "I assure you I want no less for my daughter, and the man I've chosen fits that description. I understand now how concerned you four are, and it pleases me no end. You will, of course, sit with us at the main board during the wedding Feast, just as members of the family should. Sofaltis will undoubtedly start that war with you if you don't. Right now, though, I'll have to ask you to excuse me. We'll speak again later, at greater length."

Rull moved out of the way with his Fistmates after the duke clapped him on the back then continued up the hall. The others with the duke followed him, of course, and nothing was said near Rull until they'd all disappeared. Then Foist put a surprisingly gentle hand on Rull's arm.

"You did the right thing, Rull," Foist said softly, his very light eyes showing the pain he knew his Fist leader felt. "Telling him you wanted to marry Softy would have done nothing more than start trouble, and that man has had enough trouble."

"Now we know why Softy is as decent as she is," Jak commented, looking at Foist rather than at Rull. "I can't say I've met a lot of dukes in my life, but if Duke Rilfe isn't the best of them I'd have to see one better to believe it. He wasn't just talking to put words out. He meant everything he said."

"And he never blamed us for letting Softy fight as part of the Fist," Ham said, his surprise apparently reluctant. "He loves her as much as we do and needs her even more, but he didn't blame us. We're part of Softy, so he went ahead and made us part of him, too."

Rull heard all the words being said to him, but he just stood there with his gaze on the floor, hating himself for being such a coward. He'd meant to tell the duke he wanted to marry Soft and Gentle, but he just hadn't been able to get the words out. Rull knew he wouldn't have been bothered if the duke had laughed at the idea, but what about Softy? What if the duke had agreed to ask her, and she had hesitated the way she'd done a few nights ago? As much as he loved her it would have killed him…

"Why don't we go back to your apartment and have a drink?" Foist asked, this time punching his arm. "It may be too early for these country types, but we never let that stop us before. It'll give us something to do until it's time for the ceremony, and afterward we'll be able to enjoy the wedding Feast."

Jak and Ham agreed enthusiastically, all of them trying to pull him out of the deep well he'd fallen down, but they just didn't have a rope long enough. Only Softy had what would rescue him, and she - she would soon be married to another man.

Rull stood there for another long moment, working to pull himself together. It took some effort but he managed it, and then he was able to let his Fistmates urge him into motion. They had almost reached his apartment when all hell broke loose.

Duke Rilfe of Gensea would never have admitted it out loud, but he could feel his insides twisting just a little as he unlocked the door to Sofaltis's apartments. He loved his daughter very much and in the short time she'd been back had come to admire her as well, but he wasn't looking forward to the scene they would soon be in the middle of. Traixe claimed she was just like her father, and if that were so then Rilfe was beginning to pity those who had come up against him over the years. Could he really be that stubbornly determined, that ready to fight against the entire world if it became necessary…?

"Excuse me, my lord," Traixe said, bringing Rilfe the realization that he'd just been standing in front of the door and staring at it. "My man tells me a breakfast tray was brought this morning, along with the wedding gown you had made. Both were left in the outer sitting room."

"To avoid a confrontation," Rilfe said with a sigh, seeing out of the corner of his eye the faint smile Kylin wore. If the girl's antics had to amuse anyone, Evon be thanked the anyone was the man who had come to marry her. "They were very wise, but it isn't a wisdom we can share. Let's go in."

He lifted the latch and pushed through without waiting for anything that might delay the plunge, knowing without looking that Kylin and Traixe followed. They moved in a body across the outer sitting room and to Sofaltis's bedroom door, none of them commenting on the fact that neither the tray nor the gown seemed to have been touched. The gown had belonged to the girl's mother, altered now to fit the daughter, something Sofaltis would have known if she'd bothered to look…

Rilfe raised a hand and rapped on the bedroom door, fervently wishing the scene to come were already over and done with. None of his sons had lived long enough or stayed long enough to be married, but even if they had it would not have been the same as seeing his eldest daughter wed. A man worried about his daughters in a way he never did with sons, and the end of the ceremony would see him relieved even beyond the safety marriage would bring the girl. He knocked a second time and then a third, still trying to wish the time ahead already behind him, and then he sighed.

"Ignoring us won't make us go away, Sofaltis," Rilfe said in a voice loud enough to be heard on the other side of the door. "Since you won't answer we're coming in without an invitation, and if you try to make a fuss I promise that you'll regret it. Here we come."

Ignoring the feeling that he had somehow blundered into a child's game, Rilfe lifted the latch and strode into the room. He had braced himself against anything from attack to tears and was concentrating on remaining calm as he moved, which meant it took Traixe's exclamation to bring him the truth.

"My lords, she's gone!" Traixe said in disbelief, looking around in confusion from the middle of the room. "This chamber is empty!"

"That's impossible!" Kylin snapped, his face paling with shock even as he immediately began to take charge. "They couldn't have gotten to her here. She must be hiding, if not in this room then in another. I'll look in the wardrobe while you check under the bed, Traixe, and then we'll go through the other rooms one by one."

The two men turned quickly to their tasks, but Rilfe ignored their flurry as he paced slowly to the wide table standing not far from the center of the room. He'd seen a sheet of paper on that table, and knew what it was even before he moved close enough to read it. When he reached the table he forced himself to lift the paper and read, and then he bent his head and put a hand over his eyes.

"My lord, what is it?" Traixe asked from the supposedly soothing darkness Rilfe had temporarily surrounded himself with. "What have you found?"

"I've found a damned good reason for drowning girl children at birth," Rilfe growled in answer, fighting to keep from losing his temper and failing miserably. "The broiling girl has run off."

Traixe and Kylin made the same kind of sound, a strangled denial that was half groan. Then Traixe was beside him and reading aloud from the paper Rilfe still held.

"'Dear Father' - How good of her to remember you're related - 'As your loyal and obedient daughter' - hah! - 'I would never dream of disobeying you' - in a pig's eye! - 'so please take this as my full agreement to the marriage you've arranged for me. I will be delighted to join with the man of your choice - as soon as I return from a most urgent duty I've been called away on. I'm certain we all know that matters of honor must come first, even before filial duty, and your disappointment at the delay is without doubt on the same scale as mine. I will return as quickly as possible, and until I do, I remain, your daughter - ' I don't believe this! What matter of honor? Who called her away?"

"Who could have called her away?" Rilfe countered, his eyes undoubtedly as filled with anger as his voice. "Since she was locked in no one could have reached her, so that nonsense is just an excuse. When I get my hands on her - !"

"My lord, it's possible she isn't really gone," Kylin said, looking more than a little angry himself. "She has to know how badly the enemy wants her, and if she did take off in spite of that - Well, we'll save that for when we find her. She could still be hiding somewhere in this apartment, waiting for you to decide she's gone and so take the guards away from the door. Once that was done she could simply stroll out, then hole up somewhere until - until I-don't-know-what. We can ask when we find her, but first we ought to search."

"Then do it," Rilfe said, gesturing at the two men before he turned to walk back to the sitting room to choose a chair to drop into. That girl! Rilfe watched Traixe stride to his Fighters and send two of them off at a run on some errand or other, and then his old friend and Kylin began to search the other rooms of the apartment. Rilfe simply sat in the chair and stewed, half his thoughts considering how satisfying it would be when he found and punished that outrageous child, the other half sick with worry over the possibility that she really had gone off all alone. If the enemy got their hands on her again, how would he even know…?

The search didn't take long enough for Rilfe to calm himself, but by the time it was over the word seemed to have spread to everyone in the castle. Traixe and Kylin returned to the sitting room reluctantly, frustration and grimness riding them heavily, and just as they did the four Blades of Sofaltis's Fist pushed their way through the crowd gathered in the hall.

"What's happening here?" the Fist leader Rullin demanded, coming forward with the other three. "What's all the fuss, and where's Softy?"

"That's what we'd like to know," Traixe growled, then saw his two fighters coming back from wherever he'd sent them. "Maybe this will give us a clue. You people get out of their way."

Those in the doorway turned and then stepped aside, and the two men were able to come directly into the room. They were both breathing heavily, showing they'd probably run, but not so heavily that they weren't able to speak.

"The stallion's gone, my lord," one of them said immediately, his chest heaving. "The stablemaster said her war horse was in the stall yesterday, but today it's gone. You want me to ask the gate guard what time she rode out?"

"No," Traixe answered with a continuing growl, then turned to look at Rilfe. They both knew that Sofaltis hadn't used the gate to leave, and it wasn't something to be mentioned aloud. The broiling girl shouldn't have known about the secret exit in the stable area, but it was fairly obvious she did.

"Well?" the Blade Rullin demanded again, clearly even more impatient. "What's going on?"

"Apparently Sofaltis has been … called away," Traixe said, turning again to look at the man. "She left a letter saying she has a … matter of honor to attend to, and would be back as soon as it was taken care of. Assuming she isn't kidnapped or killed by our enemies before then. Or doesn't end up dead or taken some other way."

"She's gone?" Rullin demanded, he and the others looking ready to start foaming at the mouth. "Without even telling us? We've got to get her back!"

"First we have to figure out where she's gone to," Traixe pointed out, no happier than the man he spoke to. "She could have picked any direction to ride off in, and I'd be willing to bet she didn't leave any easy track for us to follow. How do we decide which way to go?"

"We'll ride north," Rullin quickly decided, gesturing to himself and his three Fistmates. "She could have decided to go back to our Company, and if she did we'll be able to find her most easily. If Evon's luck rides with us, we may even catch up to her before she gets there. If we do, you don't have to worry about her being kept safe."

Rullin sketched a brief bow toward the duke, then turned and led the remainder of his Fist from the apartment. Once the four of them were in the hall and striding away from other ears, Foist tapped Rullin's arm with the back of his hand.

"I know you probably missed it, Rull, but you didn't say anything about bringing Softy back if we do find her," the light-haired Blade commented. "That was just an oversight, right?"

"If Softy wanted to be here she would have stayed," Rull muttered, giving most of his attention to where he was going. "If she doesn't want to be brought back, I'll be damned if I'll force her into it."

"Rull, she could have come to us when she got out of that room," Foist pointed out, trying to be as gentle as possible. "Since she didn't, I would guess that she doesn't want us any more than she wants to stay here and get married. She doesn't want any of us."

"That's for her to say," Rull stated, ending the debate in the flatly final way he usually did. Once he caught up to her she would have her say, and he intended doing his damnedest to make sure that say was good news…

Traixe watched the four Blades leave the room, and then he turned back to Duke Rilfe and Lord Kylin. Knowing the duke as well as he did, the priest of Evon could see that his lord was fighting to pull himself together. Once he had he could begin to make plans that were sound, but suddenly it seemed that Kylin would reach that point first. The young King's Fighter had been deep in thought since he and Traixe had finished their search, and it was possible he hadn't even heard what the four Blades of Sofaltis's Fist intended to do. Then he pulled free of the distraction, firm decision showing in those light, changeable eyes.

"Duke Rilfe, I'm going to leave at once," he announced, surely unaware of how much he sounded like the Fist leader Rullin. "She can't have more than half a day's head start, and if I move fast I should be able to catch up with her quickly."

"In which direction do you intend moving that fast?" Duke Rilfe asked, looking up at the younger man. The duke was furious, but not with those around him. "The hellion left not a single clue as to which way she intended to go, so how can you know you're going where she did?"

"Once I'm out of the castle, I'll find the right way," Kylin answered, and Traixe realized there wasn't a man in the entire duchy who could have doubted him. "That girl knew she was risking her life by leaving here alone, but she did it anyway to prove how … free she is. When I catch up to her, she and I are going to have a long, pointed discussion about freedom."

"But this time you're not going alone," the duke said as he stood, stopping Kylin from turning and leaving. "This time I want my authority riding with you, so you'll be taking Traixe and a couple of his men."

Traixe found himself battling Kylin for whose protest got said first, but the duke settled the matter by holding up a commanding hand.

"No, Traixe, I do not need you more than Sofaltis does," Duke Rilfe stated, putting that same hand to his friend's shoulder. "We know now that Nimram's plans have changed, and it's my daughter who is in the most danger. And as for how fast you can travel alone, Kylin, be assured that the others won't be left behind. And if you stop to think about it, Traixe is meant to go with you. For what other reason would Evon have seen fit to bring him back to full health so quickly?"

The question caused both Traixe and Kylin to stop and consider, and Traixe, at least, was quickly forced to agree. If Evon had wanted him healed there had to be a reason, and riding with Kylin was the only logical one. If he was meant to stay at the castle, he could have done that while still hobbling around.

"Yes, all right, I can see your point about Traixe," Kylin conceded a moment later, only faintly disturbed. "For some reason he's supposed to be with me, even though we still don't know why. What I dislike most is the idea of taking him away from you, my lord. Nimram may be after Tisah, but that doesn't necessarily mean he won't be after your blood as well."

"I think we can do something to ease both problems before we leave," Traixe said, suddenly in possession of an idea he should have had sooner. "Nimram wants Sofaltis unmarried and her father without an heir. Both wants can be negated with a single marriage ceremony."

"Traixe, maybe you aren't as healed as we believe," Kylin said, eyeing him strangely. "To have a marriage ceremony we need a bride, and that's the ingredient we're missing. Or didn't you remember that?"

"My lord, we're only missing a bride physically," Traixe corrected gently, trying not to grin. "What we have in her place is her father's presence and agreement to the match - and her own indication of willingness in a letter. With all of that, a proxy wedding is now possible."

"And afterward I can register the marriage and the naming of my heir at the same time," Duke Rilfe said slowly, a definite gleam growing in his eyes. "Once the notification reaches the King's Court that little hellion should be safe in spite of herself - but then all the attentions will probably be yours, Kylin. If you're here we can give you help in staying alive, but if you ride off after Sofaltis - "

"Your Grace, I don't expect to have any trouble staying alive," Kylin interrupted, looking faintly disturbed. "It will take a while for your gallopers to reach the King's Court, and even longer before word of the marriage is spread around. Until that happens Tisah will still be in danger, and the only hope we have is that the enemy doesn't know where she is any more than we do. I just wish it wasn't necessary to sneak around behind her back again."

"With a proxy marriage, you mean," Traixe put in, feeling the younger man's disquiet rather clearly. "It might help, Lord Kylin, if you remember that there would be no sneaking around if Sofaltis hadn't taken it into her head to run off. The difficulty we had until now came about through circumstance and misunderstanding; what we're in the middle of at the moment is being caused by a female Blade called Soft and Gentle. She thought she could avoid the marriage by agreeing to it."

"When the truth is we none of us have a choice," Duke Rilfe added with a gentle clap to Kylin's shoulder, compassion clearly all through him for the man who was so obviously in love with his daughter. "A reasonable adult would have bowed to the inevitable, and made an effort to get to know the man she would be spending the rest of her life with. Sofaltis hasn't yet learned what it means to be a reasonable adult, so it's up to us to teach her. It will surely turn out to be to her benefit."

But will it be to mine? Kylin couldn't help thinking as he let the other two men urge him out of the apartment. Tisah wasn't your ordinary woman, and she wasn't likely to accept the fact of a proxy marriage with a shrug and a sigh. Kylin wanted a wife who was happy rather than miserable, but Tisah seemed determined to be miserable no matter how hard he tried. Once he caught up to her his best move might turn out to be not trying any more at all. But first he had a ceremony to go through, and then he had to catch up in the first place…