Back in the sitting room, Sharm grimaced as she sipped from her cup. "My dear Waithe, great are you as a protector, but this tea tastes absolutely horrible."

He laughed as he took a swig from the mug he held. "My Lady, I claim no such skill. Was it not prepared by the instructions of yourself and Ceres? Still, why must medicinal tonics taste so bad? Unlike this splendid ale." He lifted his mug again.

Ceres replied for her friend as she held her cup at her lap. "It seems their very nature. But I feel better already. Thank you, my dear protector."

He said, "Now that my Ladies have regained a measure of strength, would you help a simple man understand what by the Creator happened out there?"

Ceres drew her lips together. "Ker interfered yet again."

Sharm's eyes shot up. "Again? This happened before?"

Ceres nodded. "Aye. When I first healed Waithe of the Taint. But this is not her way. Did you also sense the Darkness within her? This concerns me greatly. As the Spirit of Death, most loath Ker, but it should not be so. Death is as natural as birth in the cycle of life, and she would not interfere with the living. I fear corruption by the Darkness."

She turned her head toward him and smiled. "And Waithe, I am again truly in your debt. Again I saw your young daughter as through your own loving eyes. It calmed me and the Life Spirits as well. Thus we could face down Ker. I would have liked to have met your Aala."

"It be my deepest desire that I would have that opportunity. Now I must ask, what of that extraordinary woman cloaked in bright light that appeared?"

Both Ceres and Sharm furled their eyebrows. Sharm replied, "What do you speak of?" She turned toward Ceres who shrugged. "We saw no such woman."

Waithe's eyes widened. "How can this be? She was shrouded in the purest of radiant light and laid her hands on your shoulders. And most mysteriously, all other motion seemed to stop. Only then did Ker depart and her interference end."

Ceres jaw dropped. "Motion stopped, say you Waithe? As if time stopped around you?" He nodded. She turned toward Sharm. "Aon? Could it be?"

Waithe creased his forehead. "The Spirit of Time be a Woman of Light?"

Sharm shook her head. "Nay. Spirits do not appear as such."

Ceres stood and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Strange this is. I feel Aon is involved, extraordinary that is in itself, but the Woman of Light... most mysterious. Somehow she is connected to you."

Bewilderment came to Waithe. Why had this mysterious woman appeared only to him? He had no link to the Magic. 

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. The servant bowed as she entered. "We have guests at the gate claiming to be from the Order of Medice. Lord Eudus requests the presence of Lady Ceres, her protector Waithe, and also Lady Sharm to meet them."

Ceres eyes grew wide and her eyebrows lifted. Sharm put a hand on her shoulder. "Fear not, my friend. They shall not have you. Strange, though, with the Order's house so far away, how did they get here so quickly?"

Waithe replied, "Perhaps not so strange, Lady Sharm. They may have known that Ceres might seek out her best friend here and arrived earlier in wait." He caught Ceres' eye. "It may have been also true of your attackers yesterday."

Two men in crisp blue and red uniforms of the Medice Guard snapped their heads around as Ceres entered Lord Eudus' office, flanked by Waithe and Sharm. Eudus, sitting behind his polished wooden desk in a high-back leather chair, held a parchment document before him.

"It seems, my Lady Ceres, that these men claim to have a warrant for your arrest."

Ceres dropped her jaw but said nothing. Waithe replied for her. "On what charges, my Lord?"

"Hmm. It says here sedition, and oh my, treason." He glanced up at the guard. "Very serious charges, don't you think for a young woman who simply left on a journey to visit her friend."

One of the guards, a gray-haired man with droopy eyes and seemingly a perpetual scowl, stepped toward the desk. "This be Medice business, and I assure you, my Lord, that all stands in order. The warrant be valid and enforceable per provisions of the Treaty of Lands..."

Eudus huffed. "Yes, yes, Lieutenant. I am aware of the legalities."

Ceres, her eyes still wide, stepped back slowly. Waithe put an arm around her shoulder and nodded to her, sending the message that she would not be surrendered to them.

Sharm rounded the desk and put a hand on Eudus' back, a twinkle in her eye. "May I, my Lord?"

"Of course, my Lady." He handed her the warrant.

She examined the document. "Hmm. My Lord, the seal seems to be incomplete. And Reverend Quar's signature, it seems smeared. I understand legal documents must be properly embossed and signed?"

He took the warrant back. "Indeed so, my Lady Sharm. We must send a letter to the House of the Order to confirm its authenticity. It should take no more than two months to have an answer."

The Lieutenant's face began to turn red and his scowl deepened. "My Lord, the delay be intolerable! I have my duty. Release the Lady Ceres to me now or the Overlord shall come to enforce it!"

Eudus narrowed his eyes. "No need for threats, Lieutenant. Such matters must be handled properly. It be my understanding that Lady Ceres has a right to protest her arrest, does she not?"

"Yes, my Lord, but only before a Jurist of the Order of Medice. She may make challenge once we arrive at the House of the Order."

Sharm smirked. "No need, Lieutenant, fortunate you are that I am a Jurist of the Order. The hearing may be held here. My schedule is quite full, however. It may be held in a month or two, perhaps longer."

*****

The early morning sun projected spots of light through the trees onto the narrow road. Waithe grinned to himself, escalating to a series of chuckles.

Ceres turned her head to him from atop her horse, peering out from beneath a drawn hood. "What is so funny, my ardent protector?"

He let out another chuckle. "The Guard Lieutenant, never before have I seen a man's face turn so many shades of red and purple. I felt sure his head would explode. Your friend and her husband played him masterfully."

A smile widened on her face. "Aye. I should not take such pleasure in his frustration, but I do. Still, I do not fully understand why we stole away in the deep of night."

"My dear Ceres, the tangled web of bureaucracy would have eventually unraveled, and not in your favor. And each day more men would have arrived to ensure that you remain contained. They may even scheme more clandestine means to take you. Even Lord Eudus and Lady Sharm reluctantly agreed that we leave soon. I must say, though, that your new blue cloak does suit you."

"Fine is the cloth, but I still miss my old comfortable brown one. I hope Sharm's servant girl enjoys it as she pretends to be me. How long do you think the ruse will work?"

"Long enough for us to be long gone. This road on the west side of the Grand River be seldom traveled and we make good time. Still, we should remain vigilant." He cast a crooked smile at her. "I never envisioned that I would be protector to such a dangerous fugitive."

*****

Evening brought them to the village of Woodwald in the northern reaches of Moeras. The marshes to the south had given way to tall pine forests, except those areas cleared for farming. A sawmill dominated the southern edge of the town along the river, surrounded by neat stacks of logs and lumber. A huge water wheel extended out into a narrowed section of the river where the current was stronger.

Barges made their way along canals dug to the side, those going upstream pulled by burros that walked alongside on the bank. One ship drifting downstream caught Waithe's eye. On the deck stood several men in blue and red uniforms, more Medice Guards. They were right to flee when they did.

Waithe pointed ahead. "There. A tavern where we might find a room for the night. Keep your hood up, my secret Lady, especially to cover the mark of the Order on your neck."

Waithe secured a room from the wrinkled gray-haired tavern owner and struck up a conversation. "I saw soldiers in blue uniforms, who be these and what brings them here?"

The owner nodded. "Aye. Guards of the Order, I think. Some stopped here to drink, but they traveled on downriver. They seek someone, but I know not who."

Ceres drew closer to Waithe and grasped his arm. He said, "My daughter be ill. Would you have food and ale brought to our room?"

The tavern owner stepped back and narrowed his eyes. "If it be the Taint, you be not welcome here..."

"Nay, my good man. Just fatigue I think from a long journey, you know how women be. Does the Taint threaten this town?"

"To the north, just into the Ley Lands, it be. We would not have it come here."

Waithe debated whether to educate this man on the Taint, but decided it would be pointless and risky. Men like him feared it irrationally. He could feel a volcano of response boiling up in Ceres, but took her by the arm and led her away before she erupted.