The man clinging onto the edge of my portal realm begged for his life. Even if he spoke the truth about only wanting to take me hostage, I couldn't risk letting him live. We would be alone in my portal realm, and our strengths were incomparable.

I wanted to close my eyes, but I force them to stay open for the task I had to perform. I kicked his fingers, dislodging one hand from the edge of my portal realm.

'Please!' he pleaded with me, the desperate appeal out of place coming from his scarred face and roughly bearded lips. I avoided looking at him as I kicked his second hand from my portal realm, casting him into the void forever. i knew his dying scream would haunt my dreams for a very long time.

I stood up and shook myself fere of sand. I was shaken, but I knew that I had to return to the forest road to take command of the battle. I reached into my boot and withdrew my knife, holding it with the blade pointing downward, and drew a deep breath. I summoned my portal and thrust my head through.

The battle was won. I exhaled the breath I'd been holding in relief and stepped back into reality. I almost scramed when another hand was clamped upon my shoulder, but it belonged to Urzo.

'I was afraid that you were lost,' he said. It was too soon for me to face what I'd done in my portal realm, so I didn't respond. The Dreadwood Forest was quickly becoming a place of abject, limitless horror in my mind.

Five motionless bodies were visible across the battlefield. Three of them belonged to Steib's men; two of them were men of the Reach. Both of those had accompanied me from Haelling Cove. I gulped as I thought of how this would affect my already poor standing with the soldiers in my hometown.

Several of my soldiers were wounded, and so were all of the surviving bruisers. Steib had emerged unscathed, no doubt surrendering without a fight as soon as his bodyguards had capitulated. The unwounded soldiers tended to the wounded and guarded the prisoners. Some disassembled the Baron’s tent.

'Good idea,' I commended them. 'Let us leave the forest as we found it.'

The hostages’ hands were bound and then tied to their horses’ saddles, though the horses' bridles were held by my men. Two of the wounded men were too heavily injured to ride unassisted, and these rode double. Each soldier unburdened by hostages or additional passengers led passengerless horses by the bridle, but even with myself and Urzo leading a horse each we were forced to leave some behind.

'I'll send men out for them in the morning,' Urzo offered, and I nodded. I considered tying them up, but better the horses canter into the forest free than die bound to a tree. I suspected that if they survived the night, they would not be far from the campsite.

We stomped out the campfire and set off. Several times I thought that we were tracked by something in the trees, but either it was my imagination or our pursuers thought better of an assault as we encountered no problems on the ride home. After only half an hour of riding I had the men gag Steib to stop his incessant yammering.

'You'll get a chance to speak for yourself at the trial,' I told him, but despite this concession it took a rag to finally quiet him.

By the time we arrived back at Trackford I’d been riding in the saddle essentially without reprieve almost from dawn to dawn. My body was a wreck, and it was all I could do to pray that the bags under my eyes would be difficult to see in the early morning light. As wer returned to the city, early morning workers already traversed the city streets, preparing to open their market stalls or ply whatever trade they held to their name.

It was time to arrange the incarceration of our prisoners and the relief of the men. I brought the party to a halt and swung Lilac around so I was facing them.

'Men of the Reach, you acquitted yourselves wonderfully,' I said to them. Perhaps it was my fatigue, but I felt genuinely grateful for their efforts in a way I’d never been when they'd been firing arrows at raider longboats. 'Take your horses to the stables, your wounded to the healers, and your captives to the bailiff. Go to your homes or barracks, wherever you belong, and tell your commanders that you have the coming day off.'

The two men from Haelling Cove who survived left immediately, but I think that the others looked upon me with respect. One of them turned to me before he left.

'Countess, if I may,' he paused after this, awaiting my permission to continue. I was surprised that he'd be so polite, though it was technically the correct protocol considering the difference in our stations. I nodded wearily and he continued. 'The others… well, we’ve been talking, and… and they wanted me to apologise to you. For our failure to protect you.'

I shook my head at his unexpected words. In stark contrast to my younger self, I'd not even thought to blame them for what had happened. How different these men were to those of my hometown! Or perhaps they had just known a different Saemara.

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'Think nothing of it. I dealt with it,' I told him.

My words were carelessly chosen due to the lateness (or, more accurately, the earliness) of the hour. I’d meant to say something about how no harm had befallen me, but the words I did use had an unintended effect upon the soldier. His eyes widened and his eyebrows lifted, and he hurried back to his fellows and begun excitedly telling them of my response. I suddenly realised that I’d given the impression that I thought nothing of disposing of the enemy combatant; that it had been easy for me, and he was telling his friends about it.

He saw me as some sort of warrior woman.

I was at once dismayed and prideful. I was certainly heart-warmed by the relationship of admiration I'd achieved with the soldier – especially since I'd struggled to be thought of well among those who guarded Haelling Cove – but there was another side to what had happened. Such a reputation was unbecoming of a proper lady.

As Urzo and I trotted to the stables, I pondered it. I did not consider myself much of a warrior, but I had slain a nymph and a mercenary bruiser with my own hands. That was certainly more violence than most women ever saw.

Urzo and I dismounted, unsaddled our mounts, and then passed their bridles to the willing stablehands. The horses we'd led through the Dreadwood Forest were taken off our hands and Urzo and I were left alone in the street. The city was waking, but all I wanted to do was sleep. I felt I could sleep both the day and night away, and I said as much to the Guildmaster.

'I'm sure you're just as exhausted as I am,' I added to make him more pliable to my subsequent request, 'But would you speak to the bailiff and those in charge of whatever hall is used to hear matters of justice in Trackford in lieu of a throne room? I wish to commence Steib’s hearing one day from now.' I hoped that Urzo's good nature and my inherent status would make my request sound more like an order. In either case, he consented.

'Of course, my lady. I will see that he is unable to bribe or threaten his way out of his confinement in the meantime,' he replied with a grim smirk. I could see that he was just as exhausted as I was, but he still looked me wearily in the eye and added, 'I'm also sorry that I didn't protect you better, my lady. Though I'm sure you had the matter under control.'

I forced a small smile, but when my lips moved all they said was, 'Goodnight.'

He reciprocated my farewell, and my tired legs led me to the Flea Monkey Tavern. I was starting to feel comfortable in its relatively spartan lodgings. I paid enough to cover my accommodation for three nights and tossed the innkeeper an extra copper to see that I would not be disturbed during the day. I had forgotten entirely about my possessions, but thankfully the grateful innkeeper offered to have them brought to my room.

'Could you keep them somewhere secure until I wake up? I don’t like the thought of people coming into my room while I sleep,' I asked her.

'Of course, Countess,' she replied, and I flicked her another copper for her willingness to please. Then I carried myself to my room and collapsed into the warm, padded bed, and tried to drive the memory of the bruiser's final echoing scream from my mind.

I allowed myself to spend the entire day in my bed. Though winter was nearing its end, the shortness of the daylight hours meant that when I eventually woke up it was already night-time. I felt as though I could have gone straight back to sleep, but I resolved to find something to eat before I returned to bed.

I left my room in the tavern and descended the creaking wooden stairs to see that it was past the hour when the bar was most lively. Those who remained were the most drunk or miserly, and I didn’t want to be noticed by such men. Thankfully the innkeeper noticed me from his vantage point towards the stairs, and she left her station to approach me.

'You must be starving,' she guessed, and I nodded like an infant begging its mother for the teat. 'You just go back to your room and I'll send you up something. It won't be warm though: Chef's packed up for the night.'

'That's okay,' was all I could say.

Suddenly I was aware that my mouth was intolerably dry. Delightedly I realised that that was one issue I could solve alone, and so I returned to my room and drank liberally from my canteen. A few minutes later a serving boy with bags under his eyes brought me a bowl of cold broth and a saucer of cheese and hard biscuits. It was tolerable at best, but I lapped it down as quickly as I could and slipped back into bed. I saved half the biscuits for breakfast and instructed the serving boy to have someone knock on my door to awaken me at dawn.

My slumber was haunted by countless nightmares. Travelling through the Dreadwood Forest had awakened something awful in my mind and I could not put it to rest. It was no wonder that the western edge of the forest had become the eastern border of Ebonreach, even though many of the towns to the north of the forest spoke more like folk of the Reach than of Trent. It was not a pleasant place within which to venture.

In the morning I was awoken by a knock on the door as requested. Though I had thought to travel immediately to the bailiff, as I undressed from my heavily creased and dirtied riding blouse and trousers I realised that I needed a bath. I called for a serving boy and had him bring me pales of hot water. It took some time, but I was glad of the opportunity to clean myself. The sand from my portal had seemingly penetrated every crevice in my body.

When I eventually emerged I dressed myself in a white dress and petticoat that I'd packed in Lilac's saddlebags. I'd folded it properly, and it was not overly damaged from the trip. Usually such an outfit warranted a corset as well, but this time I was wearing it only because it was white, the traditional colour of the arbiters of justice. The corset would have raised my bust to an alluring but inappropriate level, considering the formality of a criminal trial. I had not even packed it.

After finishing my cheese biscuits and dressing myself, I emerged from the Flea Monkey almost a new woman and braced myself for the difficult day that was sure to lie ahead.