Chapter 5 Ian’s Sin Captain Tane was aware of Victor moving around the tent only because there was a black shadow that wasn’t staying still. "See ya in a while!" he said as the shadow slid under the back of the tent. There was a light pat on the tent near his head in reply.Victor made his way silently up the river to the pool at the bottom of the small waterfall. He navigated through some tall reeds to the shore and started removing his disguise. Finally, Sylvia thought as she unlaced her corset, it feels like forever since I have had this thing off.  She thought it felt like heaven as she walked into the water.

Ian looked at her. He had wanted this. His captain would banish her before she could do any more damage if he said nothing. She had fallen to her knees and Mikail was preparing for the strike. "Wait." The captain turned toward Ian."Is there more?""Yes...and no. She is telling the truth. It was before you took her on, so there would not have been any promise to keep. I have born the weight of this sin for quite some time."The captain looked at Ian hard. He was trying to decide if Ian was reacting to her influence or if he was acting out of his own will. His answer would not come from Ian."Ian, you did nothing wrong.""How can you say that? You know what happened better than I do m

As they climbed into the coach, he took off his hood to reveal that he was indeed nobility. He was the lord in charge of this city. Sylvia relaxed a little. Then he started talking. "I cannot be seen in public with you, I apologize if I startled you."            "There is not much that can startle me, but I am on a tight schedule at the moment.""Ah, yes. It is widely known here that you follow Captain Tane. But that means you do not have much time because his moves have become more secret of late. My problem is this: I am in charge of maintaining the peace in this city, but one of my top guards does not always want to follow the law. I have not been able to find anyone trustworthy who will tell me what goes on, but I have heard that he takes ruthless advantage of any female prisoner he comes in c

Chapter 7  New Strategy The next day while Victor was out with the men doing general chores, a message was delivered to the captain. He read it, reread it and still could not make any sense out of it so he called Victor in from his regular chores to look at it. Maybe he could understand and translate it; after all he had read the enemies’ journals."Victor, come in here for a moment," Ian called, "the captain wants to see you."Victor handed over some rope to the man next to him and walked into the captain’s tent."A f

Victor was carrying a pack that seemed unusually full for a mission of such stealth, but no one questioned him and, in truth, the captain was the only one to notice. For the rest of the day they made their way quietly through the forest not daring even to speak to one another for fear of alerting someone to their presence. That night they were to make camp in a grove where there was much brush to give them cover. They found, upon their arrival, that a group of ten enemy soldiers had had the same idea.Victor smiled. The captain knew that he had planned this and that this group was the first they were to dispatch. They were far enough away from the main enemy encampment that the shouts of the men would not be heard and the captain could engage them his own way – where they could see him and know what was coming. Sylvia still didn’t understand why he insisted on being so visible instead of making