"Pleased to make your acquaintance. Duchess Amber Rossric," she said, rising from her seat. Tomas did the same, but he excused himself to leave the room. The young girl in front of her had a fair face, framed by long black curls falling past her shoulders. She was much shorter than Amber.

Immediately she struck Amber as a girly girl, in a dress and probably bearing no fighting skills. She'd rarely met any other woman like herself, so it wasn't really surprising. From the girl's reaction, she gauged her to not be highborn. "Tell me, what do you do around here?" she asked, taking another sip of wine, and, gesturing to the empty chair Tomas had left: "Please, have a seat."

------

Tomas walked along the battlements of the hall. In the distance he saw the female guard again, talking to what seemed to be a group of whores. He turned his gaze upon the rest of the city. It was beautiful, the thatched buildings topped by thick snow. A few specks landed on his face, which he brushed off. He shivered. At this moment the forklands would be pleasant and sunny, but strewn with dead corpses. He could still feel the sting of his wound each time he walked, and the image of half of the general's face being ripped off. [i]I should have recued mother... where is she now? [/i] He was sure he'd seen two guards take her away from the bloodbath, but were they loyal or traitors?

It was no use to think of this now. They had a different war to fight.

To his side, much further on, he saw Joakim overlooking the city with his dog. He walked towards the lad.

"Joakim... Would you know where one could buy some weapons or armour? I'll need some for battles to come."