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Captain Lerner extended a hand. "Glad to meet you, Sebastian. Sorry about the mix-up. We didn't know who you were. Je
Sebastian rose to his feet and clasped hands with the man. "No harm done, Captain. I can't fault our men for doing their job."
Sebastian didn't know her plan. He appeared to be waiting for her lead. She gestured impatiently and asked a question she knew he wouldn't be able to answer and, in that way, let him know what it was she intended him to say.
"Did you make contact with any of the infiltrators before you were stopped by the guards? Did you find out who any of them are and gain their confidence? Did you at least get any names?"
Sebastian took her lead and sighed convincingly. "I'm sorry, no. I'd only just arrived and didn't have a chance before the guards. ." His gaze drifted to the floor. "Sorry."
Captain Lerner's eyes shifted between the two of them.
Je
Sebastian was nodding as if he were entirely familiar with the imaginary work. "All right."
The captain held an arm out. "Let's get you both on your way, then."
Sebastian, following Je
"I have it all. Nothing is missing-my word on that."
Outside, in the confining passageway, Captain Lerner pulled the cell door shut. He had the light, so Je
Je
"Is it true what people say?" the captain asked.
Je
"I mean, about Lord Rahl. About how he's… I don't know, different. I've heard men talk-men who have met him, fought with him. They talk about how he handles that sword of his, how he fights and all, but more than that, they talk about him as a man. Is it true what they say?"
Je
She knew that she and Sebastian could kill this man, here, now. They would have the element of surprise. Sebastian, with his hand on her knife, was surely thinking that very thing.
But they would still have to make it out of the palace. If they killed him, it was likely that the body would soon be discovered. The D'Haran soldiers were anything but lax. Even if they hid the dead captain of the prison guards, a check of the prisoners would soon reveal that Sebastian was missing. Their chances of escaping, then, became remote.
Worse, though, she didn't think she could kill this man. Despite the fact that he was a D'Haran officer, she held no ill feeling for him. He seemed a decent sort, not a monster. Tom liked him, and the captain respected Tom. Stabbing a man who was trying to kill them was one thing. This would be entirely different. She couldn't do this.
"We would lay down our lives for the man," Sebastian said in an earnest voice. "I'd have let you torture and kill me before I would have said a word, for fear it would endanger Lord Rahl."
"I, too," Je
She had spoken the truth, but a truth calculated to deceive. The captain smiled, staring off with an i
Je
"I guess that tells it plain," the captain said in the near darkness. "I've served a long time. I had lost hope of daring to dream such a thing." He hesitated, then spoke again. "And his wife? Is she really a Confessor, like they say? I've heard tales about the Confessors, from back before the boundaries, but I never knew if it was really true."
Wife? Je
And what a «Confessor» could be was a complete mystery to Je
"Sorry," Je
"Nor I," Sebastian said. "But I've heard much the same about her as you have."
The captain smiled distantly. "I'm glad I've lived to see a Lord Rahl like this finally come to command D'Hara as it should be commanded."
Je
Je
When they rushed through the last ironbound door before the stairs, they all came to an abrupt halt. A tall, attractive woman, with a single long blond braid, stood waiting for them, blocking their escape route. The look on her face was lightning waiting to strike.
She was wearing red leather.
It could be nothing other than a Mord-Sith.