Cell mates

"And I'm glad to see you," you reply. "I was afraid I'd never find you again. My experiences back at the village have convinced me that you were right in wanting to get help from Daria to put things right in Zendara, and I felt that I couldn't let you try something so risky on your own." Aaaron looks at you with a curious expression on his face. "For supposedly an ordinary village girl, you take an awful lot on your shoulders. There's something very strange about you, even allowing for your amnesia."

"That's as maybe," you say, feeling uncomfortable under his scrutiny, "but contemplating my character won't get us out of here. Can you tell me why we are being held? And given how I'm dressed, why didn't they arrest me as a suspected New Amazon, rather than make up something that sounds less convincing (at least to me)? They can hardly have taken me for a boy, surely? Come to think of it, one of them called me 'lady'. Since it's inconceivable that you are an imposter, either they are lying when they say they are acting under Prince Aaron's orders, or they have been duped by someone claiming to speak for you. If it's the second, then that sounds as if King Hengist may no longer be in control."

"Yes," Aaron says, "the same thought had ocurred to me. I don't think that should change our plan, though." (You notice with pleasure that he says "our" rather than "my".) "If someone is keeping my father incommunicado, supposedly sick - or even if he has genuinely fallen sick - and is claiming to speak for me, then it's most likely to be Duke Ferdinand. He has no more love for the New Amazons than does my father, and is an even crueller man. That gives us even more cause to go to Daria for aid. I suspect that Ferdinand got wind of my leaving the palace, guessed that I would attempt to warn the New Amazons of the imminent attack on them, realised that I would probably have been too late, and guessed that I would then attempt to get help from Daria. Hence the orders to intercept all travellers. And since he is unpopular with the people, he would make it look as though those orders came from me. Since I left in secret, that would not have been too difficult." "There's an awful lot of supposition there," you comment. "But it will do as a working hypothesis until and unless it turns out to be wrong," Aaron says.

Since escape seems impossible for the time being - this time the chains are securely fixed - you have nothing else to do but talk. Before long your tiredness starts to catch up with you, though, and you yawn. "We could both use some sleep," Aaron says. "There is nothing else we can do for now." You doze off.

You are awoken some time later by:

1. The wagon starting to move.

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