I ordered the men to dismount. The horses were tied to trees and equipment retrieved from their saddlebags. Two soldiers stayed behind to guard our horses while Urzo and I led the other sixteen soldiers into the woods We deliberately avoided straying more than a few metres from road and the fire in our field of vision at all times. To get lost in the Dreadwood Forest at night would have been to invite disaster.

We spread out in the trees as we approached the campfire, treading stealthily through the underbrush. I found myself hunching forward in the most unladylike fashion. I contented myself with the thought that it was probably too dark for any of the soldiers to clearly make out my figure.

I soon found myself with my back to a tree; as close as I dared get to the campfire. I peered around to get a look at the campsite but the distance, darkness, and foliage conspired to prevent me from making anything of the scene. All I could see was a tent and a handful of indiscriminate figures. Thankfully, Urzo's keen eyes availed themselves to me.

'It's them,' he confirmed.

I frowned, and asked, 'How can you be certain?'

'I know them,' Urzo replied. That still didn't explain how he could see through the trees and the distance, but I decided to trust him on the basis that he’d been the one to discover the campfire.

'Alright, how should we do this?' I asked him.

'You are in charge, Countess,' he replied sternly.

It was an inappropriate tone to take with a Countess, yet I said nothing as I realised that he was right. Timoth was not here to take charge of the soldiers. I had to decide how to handle the situation.

I thought about it, and decided that there were two options available to me: diplomacy, and force. Diplomacy was preferable, but the risk was that if diplomacy failed, I'd have revealed our presence to Steib's men and given up the advantage of surprise.

'How many men do you see?' I asked him. He paused to count before responding.

'Six, but I don't see Steib. He’s probably in the tent, in which case he might have a couple more men in there with him. I count nine horses. His men are armed with swords and axes, but carry no shields,' Urzo said.

'How can you see so clearly?' I asked him incredulously. I peered past the tree again as as if to check that my previous survey had not been at fault, but I still found the darkness nigh impenetrable.

I could not see Urzo very well at all, but I think that he shrugged. He gave an unnatural pause before responding, 'I just can.'

I thought that was an odd response. I don't know what I had expected him to say, but his tone definitely hinted that he was concealing something. I began to assess his motivations. Was he really on my side?

I swept the thought aside. He’d come this far, and certainly the eighteen men of the Reach were loyal to me so I couldn’t see how he’d stand to gain from betraying us. I suspected that he had taken some illicit stimulant and was reluctant to admit it. After all, our mission was essentially legal in nature.

Sixteen soldiers against six to eight. Our numbers were superior, we had the element of surprise, and the men of the Reach were well-drilled in using their swords and shields in formation, though the wide area that we now covered in the woods prevented the use of a proper shield wall. I decided to try diplomacy, for I felt that we had a tactical advantage even if we lost the benefit of surprise.

'They don't have any archers, do they?' I asked Urzo with an invisible smirk as I summoned the courage to approach the camp.

'No,' he replied, which only added to my curiosity as I would have expected him to say that he couldn't see any.

I took heart from the lack of ranged threats and stood to my full height.Straightening my dirty clothing and tidying my hair, I walked towards the camp. Each step was a new nightmare, filling my head with the possibilities of my own demise. I forced my eyes to the ground, watching my riding boots crunch dirt and fallen leaves underfoot. What if Steib's bodyguards attacked me on sight before the soldiers could come to my defence? What if Urzo was wrong and these weren't Steib's men, or their numbers were greater?

Nonetheless, I knew my duty, and I forced myself to weigh my competing fears. If I resolved the matter quickly I could spend the night in a warm bed. If I failed, or didn't make an attempt, then the pursuit would have to continue. As such, my feet carried me mechanically and methodically to the edge of the treeline where I paused upon hearing a shout.

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'Who goes there!?' one of Steib's ruffians shouted. I looked up and saw that he was pointing at me. His right hand flew to the hilt of the sword at his waist.

'I am Countess Saemara of the House of Tfaeller. Heir to the throne of Ebonreach,' I said, using my full title to put hesitation into the hearts of those who would oppose me. For some reason, the title of Halivaaran Princess flashed through my mind accompanied by an heartening image of Prince Alum. I steadied myself with the thought of his approval.

'Countess?' another man asked, almost in shock. I guess it was pretty crazy to him that I’d come in person to apprehend the Baron. He did not stand ready for combat, and instead slowly approached me. I put out an open hand to signal him to stop.

'I have thirty men with me,' I lied in the hopes of intimidating him into non-resistance. 'We are here to arrest Baron Steib.'

The six men wandered together and stood before me frowning. They were soon joined by three more men from the tent, as Urzo had suspected – or known – including Steib himself, who stood behind them. His stature was such that he could not see over his own bodyguards, but I could see his width through them.

'Where are your thirty men?' one of them eventually asked.

'In the trees, watching,' I replied. 'If you attack me they will kill you.'

'Never, Countess!' one replied in horror, shocking me. Did my good reputation in Trackford extend even to miscreants? Or perhaps they just gave me the respect due to my title. I reassessed my situation: these men were not hired bandits, they were hired guards, such as a merchant would use to safeguard their wares. They escorted a felon, but they had their limits. I could use that.

'If you give up the Baron, you will not be tried for attempting to help him leave Ebonreach,' I promised them.

'Aye, but we gave our word,' another bodyguard said, conflicted.

'I paid you well!' Steib protested, pushing his way through the bodyguards and forcing them to face him. I knew that I had to take advantage of the divide that lay between them.

'Your options are to die, or to relinquish the Baron and take your money. He will be given a fair trial,' I added the last in the hopes of swaying them. I knew that it was not an easy thing to convince a fighting man to go against his sworn word. The next bodyguard who stepped forward said as much.

'I am sorry, Countess, but unless our situation is hopeless we cannot yield without fighting. Honour demands it,' he said. I sensed Urzo approaching but I did not turn to face him. I spoke only to the soldiers before me.

'Is not thirty against eight hopeless?' I asked him. As if to punctuate my suggestion that there was no realistic way for the bodyguards to survive the night, my words were followed by a shrill screech from some inhuman beast in the distance.

'I have not seen thirty soldiers, Countess. Only one lady and one merchant,' he replied. He was right, the blue silk and linen of Urzo's shirt made his status obvious. Still, I was faced with the decision of whether to reveal the true numbers and locations of my soldiers or not. It would be a bad decision if the situation escalated to violence, but diplomacy had taken me this far.

'Men of Ebonreach, step into the light,' I told them. There was probably some proper military command that would have sufficed, but I knew it not. Not for the first time that night, I wished Timoth was with me.

'Countess, I do not think that is wise,' Urzo whispered to me, but it was already done. My soldiers stepped beyond the treeline one at a time. When the soldier spoke, fifteen of my men had appeared.

'I'm sorry Countess, but I count only half the number you claimed. That is not hopeless. Honour demands that we fight,' he said.

'But-' I began, wanting to complain as if to my Father about some chore I'd been assigned, but my words were cut off as Steib's bodyguards suddenly drew their swords. After a second's hesitation they charged at my soldiers.

And one of them charged at me.

My eyes widened in fear as he approached, and as I thought to move aside I realised I was paralysed. Despite the other man’s earlier suggestion that killing me would have been unthinkable, the only thing that prevented him from reaching me now was Guildmaster Urzo's valiant flying tackle which sent the burly bodyguard sprawling to the grass.

All around us, the night was awakened by the sounds of combat as steel met steel. I saw none of it as the bodyguard rolled away from Urzo and pushed himself to his feet. His eyes met mine for a moment and I realised that I was still his target. He rushed at me and suddenly my feet were working, but it was too late. Seeing that I could not escape him, I panicked and threw up a portal and dived through it.

Halfway in, I felt the bodyguard's hands around my ankles. I tried to kick myself free but his grip was tight, and I tried to pull myself over the sand into the safety of my portal realm but the sand provided poor purchase compared to the grassy dirt. The bodyguard retained his grip on my ankle with one vice-like hand and clambered into the portal with me, releasing his grip only when his other hand had clamped down upon my shoulder. At that point I was able to scramble the rest of the way into the portal realm, but I couldn't prevent him from entering it with me.

Yet, though the sand had hindered my desperate crawls previously, it provided an unexpected benefit as the unprepared bruiser lost his footing and slipped over. He crashed to the ground beside me, and when he struggled to regain his balance I summoned all of my courage and all of my strength.

And I drove my shoulder into his chest, pushing him into the void.

His scream of terror echoed through the unnatural silence of the portal realm as he toppled from its edge. Somehow he managed to grab a fistful of dirt with his fingers, leaving him hanging in the void with only one hand preventing him from being lost forever. He quickly threw up another to steady himself, but I was above him and he saw that I was not going to let him climb back up. I pulled the cloth bearing my portraits and mirror out of reach of his grasp, in case he thought to use them to barter for his life, or destroy them out of spite.

'I beg Yoru's mercy of you! I was only going to take you hostage. You were why the situation was not hopeless,' he said, pleading with me to let him live.