The Contract

"That is why I did that. I am here to save your armies once again."

"My armies do not need you to save them. Last time you led us away from victory, remember? That is when I found out you were a spy and threw you in prison." He said with such venom she did not know if even the fact that the men were still enchanted would spare her life this time.

"As soon as I was out of that prison, I was contacted. Some of my peers thought that I had misunderstood the instructions I had been given that day. Some of them thought that I was just showing the fact I was a stupid female and should not have been entrusted with that mission or any other. But my employers were not so misled. They knew that I took you away from the fighting on purpose and are after blood."

"Wait a minute. You are going to have to explain yourself in a little more detail." His voice had a margin of curiosity in it now, and just a shade less animosity.

"You were walking into a trap that would have wiped out your entire army and you would have been the last and slowest to die. I had been tracking and spying on you for months and had set it up. That night I was to prove you were not as honorable as everyone thinks and then you would lead the men into the trap that would kill them. You would be sent back to your people broken, barely alive, and doubted. The rumors would start that you knew it was a trap and tried to abandon your men. It would eventually drive you to your death, but first it would kill your spirit and military success." She could tell by the look on his face that he was starting to believe her and that he was getting angrier. She dropped her gaze to her hands for fear her eyes would give her heart away, "I could not carry out that mission, so I led your men to believe that I was a girlfriend you had left behind when you went to war who could not take it anymore and must see you. Told them it would be most unkind to interrupt us and went into the tent. When I didn’t come out until the next morning, they were free to draw their own conclusions."

"You let the men believe that I slept with you that night while you led me to think you were sent from a village in distress and cried for hours?!"

"It was the only thing I could think of that would get you and your army out of there in time. If they thought for a second the mission was not going as planned, they would have marched on your camp in the night when you thought they were still leagues away and you were unprepared." Is that a note of pleading? Why is she telling me this now? How can I believe this is true? I trusted her before and it lead to ... Was that the disaster I had thought it to be?

"And you expect me to just believe you now that your intentions are honorable and let you have the run of the camp?"

"No. I expect you to follow me into battle." She looked straight into his eyes when she said it and he nearly fell off the desk he was leaning against. How could anyone be that audacious?

"How do I know you are not using your charms to convince me that you are not deceiving me yet again?" he countered.

"There is no way to show you without a doubt, but if I could do anything to gain your trust it would be this" and she pulled a glowing blue dagger from its hidden sheath and handed it to him. He immediately knew it to be Veritás, Retribution’s enchanted blade. She then put her hand over his and placed her other on the blade. As quickly as lightning, she had sliced her hand and said, "I bind myself to you for the duration of this contract. I will give my life to save yours and to avenge it if I cannot prevent your demise."

"That is the first part of the binding of an apprentice to the master. I have not agreed to let you live, let alone train you in anything!"

"That is also an Oath of Truth."

"What significance is that supposed to have?"

"The blade was a gift to me, enchanted by the same wizard who enhanced my voice. If I break my Oath, it will pierce my heart."

"And if I refuse to take you on?"

"Then I am bound to follow and do all I can from the shadows." She said, but her voice was not as strong as it had been until now and she hoped he did not call her bluff. If he refused at this point, they all might be dead by morning.

"And what is this ‘contract’ you spoke of?"

"Let me stay on as your new apprentice and I will lead you to victory against your enemy without ever letting on that you are being guided to their weaknesses."

"What’s in it for you?"

"I told you my life is in danger. They know I am out of prison and think that I am trying to return to fulfill my contract to spare myself from the fate they have in store. They don’t know what I have learned in that place or that I can look the part of a soldier. To be the apprentice you took on last week when they saw me as myself after that would be a perfect cover. As long as you are alive, my life will also be safe. But we must move quickly. We need to move camp this night, before day break."

"You told my men that I took on an apprentice and you want me to move the whole camp by morning?!" He barely believed he had heard correctly.

"You will find that your men are already moving and yes, I did let them believe you had taken an apprentice. There is one other thing. You need not tell anyone who I really am."

"Like I would. They would think I have lost my mind and start to question my leadership, but why do you say that?"

"There are many other spies among your men and I don’t know them all. If I told you the ones I do know, they would know what I’m doing immediately and they would change their strategy. Right now they think they are toying with me by letting me believe I can win back their favor until they can catch me."

"I will go along with your plan for now, but if you show the slightest sign that this is fraudulent, I will put that dagger through your heart myself. Release my men before you morph into a man and meet me outside for practice in one hour."

As she rose to leave, she looked back at the man who's world she had rocked with the news she had delivered and felt saddened by the sight of such a strong person brought to a position like this. "You might find comfort in the knowledge that Ian is more faithful to you than to his wife." He looked up sharply. She was still looking at him and said softly, "I know. We tried."

"Ian would sooner castrate himself than step out on his wife. How did you test that?"

She smiled. "I promised him I would never give away the details," she replied and stepped silently out of the room.