(Continued from Ch 69, The Man In Rags) 

The Chronicles of Rapina
Chapter 70, Conventional Wisdom 


After Leland's failed plot at the academy, the authorities began arriving in stages. On Sunday afternoon, the day after the unfortunate events, a platoon of soldiers bearing the insignia of Baron Bristol arrived to secure Bristol Manor and to take over patrolling the town of Vargrend in place of the constabulary. They also relieved the Bristol and Gransward house guards that had been guarding the prisoners within the academy's dungeon. Unfortunately, their presence made it impossible to go down into the crypts, but Bellany was still able to talk to Baladus about disguising her ghost hand with illusion by finding Lady Elaine in the Library and asking her to invite Baladus up to the library stacks later. On Monday, the first day of final exam week, an inspector and his staff arrived to pour over the crime scene and to read the statements that Headmaster Bristol had gathered. 

On Tuesday the inspector Baron Bristol had sent began taking official statements in Headmaster Bristol's office. In addition to the investigation at the school, an investigation was underway at the constable's office. 

Inspector Shaw cleared his throat. 

"Thank you for your statement, erm, Lady Norwit. I am glad that you clarified this discrepancy in the statements I have been getting. You and the other primary victims of this plot decided to tell the crowd that it was the dead deputy that was supposed to kill you all, but in truth Reverend Leland had had the ghouls kill the deputy for making an error in the way that he drew you and Sir Steefl into the tunnel. Since ghouls killed the deputy, public suspicion would not have fallen on the constabulary if the peers had been killed according to Leland's original plan. In truth it was actually the ghouls that had been ordered to kill the peers by Reverend Leland, the better to blame their deaths on a deranged priest of Mortaebius. That priest was Guardian Moore who had been ensorcelled to be rooted to the floor while speaking in tongues." 

"Yes, that is correct, Inspector Shaw," Bellany affirmed. "Reverend Leland had enspelled Guardian Moore to be rooted to the ground so that he could not run off while he spoke in tongues. Leland set him up that way to make him appear to be a hostile spell-caster when Leland staged his triumphant defeat of the ghouls. We defeated Leland's intent by turning the ghouls and laying the Guardian down and putting the lid of a sarcophagus and some other stone around him to protect him." 

"Yes, and you also convinced the others that any mention of undead would be fodder for Avengene's engines of propaganda and would likely stain Baron Bristol's reputation more than it would Marquis Avengene's. Thus the ghouls were left out of the story told the public. You substituted the deputy as the killer. You also substituted your overpowering him as he attempted to rape you in place of your lifting lady Bristol off the floor and practically forcing her to command the ghouls to hide in sarcophagi and play dead." 

Bellany raised an eyebrow, "Yes, that is correct, inspector." 

"You seem surprised," the inspector observed. 

"It's just that Lady Bianca Bristol and I have not always been on the best of terms, but it appears that she was absolutely truthful in her testimony to you. I am gratified." 

"Lady Bristol may have formerly seen you as a social rival, but frankly you impressed her with the iron grip of your courage. She knows that you saved her life and the lives of the others. It is an ordeal she will not soon forget. My question is: How did the ghouls get out of the sarcophagi and wind up in the cell in the back of the dungeon?" 

Bellany shrugged. "I think it would stand to reason that whoever rescued lady Bristol also commanded the ghouls to help. Everyone was hiding just before the crowd arrived and it would have been a simple matter for someone to have grabbed the ghouls while I was checking the door to the staircase or later when I was hiding in the corridor." 

"Did you have anything to do with Lady Bristol's rescue once she was held hostage by Herrington?" 

"Goodness, how could I, when I was so busy hiding from Leland and Herrington? I wish I had a more heroic story to tell you, but at least I helped Lady Bristol overcome her horror and command the ghouls earlier on. What did the prisoners from the constabulary say about how they were defeated? I am sure Lady Bristol would probably like to commend whoever rescued her." 

"I am not at liberty to say, but I believe that you and Headmaster Bristol were witness to the paralysis of the conspirators. It makes sense that the ghouls were involved," Inspector Shaw continued while eyeing her closely. "The others said that you went to check the door to the staircase one more time before you were to hop into a sarcophagus and wait for Leland and the crowd to arrive." 

"Yes, I did, but doors do not unlock themselves. Lady Bristol had found that the door was locked and she had not mistaken stuck for locked. I heard people making noise from the direction of the tunnel. I had planned on returning to the sarcophagus that I was originally going to hide in, but that was not practical with the advent of the crowd Leland brought. That is why I hid down one of the corridors instead." 

"Here is a map of the crypt. This is the door to the spiral staircase that leads to the offices. This is where the outside tunnel joins the crypts in the northwest corner. Which corridor did you hide in?" 

Bellany pointed. "I was by the locked door here by the spiral staircase. Bellany pointed at the appropriate spot on the floor plan. This southwest corridor is the one I hid in." 

Bellany looked up the inspector in the eye and smiled at him. 

"You seem bored," she observed. 

"Erm, well it is hardly an investigation worthy of my talents. All but one of the conspirators was handed to us alive. There are certainly inconsistencies in various peoples' stories, but once one knows what the public was told versus what the involved children of the peers actually knew, it is a simple investigation." 

"Really, I would have thought the rescue of Lady Bristol would mystify you considering the strange darkness that we saw." 

"Nay, it was magic and the number of people capable of that kind of magic is miniscule. We are quite sure we know who was behind Lady Brisol's rescue. Unfortunately it is also likely that the person responsible has left the area." Inspector Shaw paused and looked towards the door. "Guardian Kowal, would you like to take over from here?" 

The door to the front office opened and a robed man walked in as if he had been listening at the door the whole time. His left hand was gloved. 

Bellany smiled at him pleasantly. 

"Please stand up and turn around, Lady Norwit." 

Bellany did as she was asked, making sure that the guardian saw her palms but also making sure that they were moving so that it would be impossible to inspect them carefully. 

"You have a notable personal aura, Lady Norwit. Given your courage in the face of extreme adversity, I am not surprised. I commend you on your bravery. Lady Bristol was very clear that had you not picked her up off the floor and forced her to take appropriate action, every one of you would have perished. She also confirmed that it was you who came up with the idea of leaving the undead out of the story told to the public. In doing this you spared Baron Bristol a veritable storm of negative publicity. Your actions were beyond merely commendable!" Guardian Kowal praised.

The guardian turned to the inspector: "Inspector Shaw, I detected no lies in Lady Norwit's testimony and I see no reason to keep her any longer. Lady Norwit, on behalf of Baron Bristol, I thank you for your cooperation in this investigation and for being instrumental in preserving the life of Lady Bristol despite the fact that she had apparently considered you a social rival." 

"You are very welcome, Guardian Kowal. I hope the investigation goes smoothly. I am so happy that I could help. My only regret is that I fear I will never again trust my liege." 

"Aye, that is a sad state of affairs," Inspector Shaw affirmed. 

Guardian Kowal nodded. "You have our heartfelt sympathy, Lady Norwit." 

"Thank you Guardian Kowal and Inspector Shaw. That means a lot to me. I expect to be in residence here at Vargrend's at least until the morning after the championships if you need me for any further testimony. Farewell gentlemen." 

"Fairwell Lady Norwit," the two men said in unision.

Bellany saved her sigh of relief for heading off a circus and preserving her cover as Bellany Norwit until she was back in her room. Thanks to her days with Guardian Thane, she had anticipated the possibility of lie detection magic. She felt the verbal agility she had used to dance around the truth had been effective. Apparently Kowal had not been able to tell that she was holding back the full story of her involvement. She just hoped her luck would hold. She had enough misbehavior concerning reading censored books to explain to her parents without the skill of Baron Bristol's investigators landing her in even deeper hot water.

------- 
After her interview with the investigators, finals week went by much more smoothly than the finals week of the first semester. Before she knew it the last days of school were upon her. Friday the third of June would be devoted to the championship tournament. According to their letters, both Darl and Eleanor Norwit were going to make the trip down to attend the championship tournament, and to escort Bellany back home in an effort to prevent orcs or highwaymen from attacking her yet again. 

As the days of finals week went by, Bellany had found that her memory was such that she required only a tiny amount of study to insure excellent test scores. She spent the rest of her time working on magic, studying to be a priestess of Mortaebius and finishing her painting of Brianna Barter. As the week progressed she easily completed course after course until nothing but awards night and the final tournament remained. 

Spurred on by worries about keeping Nimbus free from pests, Bellany worked on the insect-specific multiple-target drain spell called Drain Infestation. By Tuesday the thirty-first of May, she had got to the point that she could drain the life force from two sow bugs at the same time. On Wednesday she had success on eight beetles that she found under a rock. Finally on Thursday she slaughtered a plethora of ants that were swarming in the sun. She was pretty sure she had the spell right but she still needed to try it when the insects were in contact with the flesh of another creature in order to make sure her targeting was as specific as it was supposed to be. 

Thursday evening after her last final exam, Bellany interrupted her magical studies to go to dinner at the Jordells. The Norwits and most of the other families of the peers would also be there, having arrived to watch the championship tournament the next day. She took her large, nude painting of Brianna Barter to give to James. As it turned out, Bernadine Belgado, Larissa Jordell and James Jordell came to the door of Jordell Manor as the doorman let Bellany in. 

"Come in, Larissa and Bernadine and I were just discussing what an exciting year this has been. It is good to see you Bellany. I missed you when finals started and your lessons in swordsmanship ended. I cannot believe how the school year has flown by and this is my final year here at the Bristol Academy." 

Bellany nodded solemnly. "Yes, time did fly by. I am going to miss you Jamie, and you also Larissa and Bernadine, but I hope to see you here at Vargrend's next year, Larissa." 

"I should be here, and it will be a pleasure to see you again when we return," Larissa affirmed. 

"You know I will miss Master Leafwhisper as well. I brought this painting for you, large and nude per your tastes, Jamie. I would have done a self-portrait, but my mother would flay me alive if I gave anyone a nude self-portrait. I had to save face by using another face entirely," Bellany unveiled the painting. 

"Brianna Barter, the quintessential bad girl," Jamie squealed. "You cannot have got this much detail from that wanted poster." 

"I quizzed Bruhnhilda Daelrath for the details. You can look at Brianna as a representation of my inner self, the naughty girl unbound." 

"She has your body," Bernadine remarked. 

"Indeed, but only someone who had studied Bellany naked would be able to make that determination," James smirked. 

Bernadine blushed. Jamie pointed at her and squealed. "I am so glad you were able to get in touch with your inner self, Bernadine. I hope you were not disappointed." 

"Not at all, being in touch is so fulfilling." 

"I thought you might think so, you skank!" Jamie giggled. 

"James you are the pot calling the kettle black," Bernadine argued. 

Bellany tried to look innocent but was not exactly successful. 

"Is that your best attempt at an innocent look, Bellany? You look like the cat that swallowed the canary," Jamie taunted. 

"My lips are sealed," Bellany insisted. 

"That's not what I hear." 

Bellany laughed at Jamie's remark in spite of herself. 

"I do like the painting. The expression on her face is pure lust. I am positive that I have seen that expression somewhere before. Come back when you are older and your parents have less to say about it; you can re-do the face and hair for me." Jamie winked. "It reminds me of some of the early works of the masters. There is still room for improvement, but it shows a great deal of promise and the proportions are so accurate. You have a marvelous eye." 

"Thank you, Jamie. I am going to miss you. You are such a character I am afraid life will be utterly dull without you." 

"I will be attending The Barravian University of Business and Law in Rosehaven. If it were not for the short leash you are on here at Vargrend's, you could drop by. Larissa has two years left here; perhaps we could contrive a get-together sometime next year." 

"That would be fun." 

"In any case it is hardly time for final goodbyes. We have the championship tournament tomorrow, parents' day Saturday, awards night Saturday evening and the farewell brunch on Sunday morning. After that I will be here a few days supervising the packing for my move west." 

"That is true. I am not even sure when my family will be leaving. By the way, I love this dress you sent me for tonight's dinner. The fabric is magnificent and the cut is so sexy without being particularly revealing. I apologize in advance if mother does not think it conservative enough. I think it is beautiful." 

"Why thank you milady. I designed that especially for your mother. It is so sexy, yet it does not reveal a single square inch more than a dress that she would endorse. It should be delightfully maddening to her. I have had such fun designing for you this year. I hope this latest effort will be quite a coup before the most distinguished audience yet this year. All the peers are here tonight, including Bianca and her mother and grandparents." 

"Didn't her father come?" 

"Oh gods, Bellany, your ruptured memory could get you in some serious trouble this evening. Bianca's father took ill and died several years ago. She is the only child of Baron Bristol's only son. That is why she may wind up Baroness, especially if she marries well." 

"Oh goodness, thank you for telling me, Jamie. I had no idea." 

"Feel free to ask about anyone's lineage. Someone might as well benefit from the drudgery of drilling I had to endure on the subject." 

"I know the Avengene lineage from seeing the family documents in my father's library after the hostile magic, but I am afraid I am ignorant of everyone else's family." 

"Yes, but do you know the Avengenes on sight or just as names in a book?" 

Bellany grimaced. "I only know them as names unless they visited after my injury." 

"Then let me inform you and our friends about our Avengene guests. Lord Ryan Avengene is the first-born son of Marquis Avengene's first-born son, Alexander. Lord Ryan brought his wife Lady Merim Avengene. Their first-born daughter, Lady Beatrice, accompanies them. She is our age and attends school in Yeiraun. They also brought the widow of Desmond, Marquis Avengene's deceased second son. Her name is Lady Linda and her daughter Desdemona accompanies her. Desdemona is a schoolmate of Beatrice. Bellany, you and Desdemona are both granddaughters of the Marquis, whereas Beatrice is actually a great granddaughter. Beatrice will someday be the daughter of the Marquis assuming the succession follows the predicted course to rest upon her father's shoulders." 

"Lord Ryan will of course deny that the Avengenes had anything to do with the plot that was to kill us all," Bianca Bristol growled as she strolled into the room with Glenda Gransward and Bruhnhilda Daelrath. 

"Bianca, darling, it was so good of you to find us," Jamie cooed. "Nearly everyone who was to be done in by Leland's plot is present. I cannot imagine Lord Ryan would fail to deny any involvement on his family's part. There is a chance he is telling the truth, but my feeling is that the grandson is not kept in the same loop as Marquis Byron and his first born son, Lord Alexander. If Marquis Avengene was behind the plot, Ryan may not be aware of it. 

"The conspirators were of Avengene, and Heinrich Li'Yieraun's people, close allies of Marquis Avengene, put on the fireworks. One could certainly make a strong case for the Marquis being behind the plot, nevertheless, I recommend that Bellany should allow Lord Ryan to convince her that Marquis Avengene was not behind the plot. If the Marquis is capable of this plot then he is willing to remove members of his own family that he considers embarrassments. If you have vengeance or escape in mind, it is a far better idea to humor the man and give him a false sense of loyalty before making your move. I would make the same recommendation to you, Bianca. We are now aware that there is an excellent chance that Avengene is a snake and it is well to approach this matter with stealth and caution. If your grandfather wishes to retaliate it is far better to do so after giving Avengene a false sense of security." 

"I suppose you are right, James, but I am not going to find it easy to be congenial," Bianca sneered. 

"That is exactly what acting skill is for, milady. Acting for the Avengenes is just one more thing you suddenly have in common with Bellany. It is sweet that you two seem to be getting along so much better. It is a pity that we all had to be nearly killed together to make it happen. Perhaps the dinner party will not be a disaster of dissonance after all. Let me give this canvas to the appropriate servant and then we will go into the dining room. Everyone is getting seated at the moment. They have been trickling in for hours. We are having a large yet relatively informal dinner party tonight." 

"Oh my goodness that _is_ Brianna!" Bruhnhilda Daelrath exclaimed as she saw the painting that James Jordell was holding. "It is an amazing likeness. I recall you asking for details about Brianna's appearance between classes one day, but I had no idea you were so talented, Bellany." 

"Thank you, Lady Daelrath." 

"Oh please call me Bruhnhilda, we nearly died together." 

"Thank you Bruhnhilda, then, and by all means call me Bellany." 

"You are welcome, Bellany; it is really an excellent likeness." 

"You can look at the painting more later if you wish, Bruhnhilda. I will be back shortly," James Jordell said as he left with the canvas. 

As they waited for Jamie, Bellany spoke to Bianca. 

"I am curious, Lady Bristol, now that we have identified Avengene as a snake willing to go to any lengths in his pursuit of power, were there any mysterious deaths in your family, or Lady Gransward's or Lady Daelrath's for that matter within the last few years? When a man hatches a plot like this one, I cannot help wondering if he has not hatched others before it." 

"Please, call me Bianca, Lady Norwit. I apologize for my misbehavior towards you. I now realize that I could not have been more wrong about your value as a person. Had you decided to die at the hands of the orcs rather than survive besmirched, I fear we all would have perished at the hands of the ghouls." 

Lady Gransward nodded. "I feel very badly about how we treated you as well, and I realize now that if your carriage had not been overtaken you would probably have lacked the strength to drive Bianca to claim her birthright and we all would have perished. Please call me Glenda. For a supposed enemy you have turned out to be an absolutely invaluable ally." 

"Then Glenda and Bianca you might as well call me Bellany. The whole schoolgirl snobbery seems like child's play compared to the reality of life and death that we all faced together. I accept your apologies and would be happy to put that chapter of our lives behind us." 

The three young ladies smiled at one another. 

"Bianca, your father died suddenly, do you suppose it could have been foul play?" 

"My father took ill and died in a matter of days, but our leech was sure it was a disease rather than poison..." 

"A disease can be cured with magic; do you suppose a priest could cause a disease?" 

Bruhnhilda stiffened. "Oh gods! Bianca, Valkyra, I mean Brianna Barter, said that while Evangeline Avengene was raping her he admitted to several crimes the better to intimidate her to keep her silence. One of his veiled threats was about a former victim of his who refused to stay her tongue. If he is to be believed, Evangeline apparently caused her to sicken and die." 

Bianca looked stunned. "You don't suppose... Evangeline Avengene did know my father. I have no idea if he was around before the sickness but my grandfather might know." 

"My mother may also have been a victim of the Avengenes," Bruhnhilda spat. "I managed to get father to admit that there were aspects of my mother's death by trolls that did not add up. I only knew to prod him because Brianna told me that I needed to get the full story about my mother's death from my father without revealing that she had let me know that my father had doubts about the authenticity of the troll attack." 

"There was a time when I would have poo-pooed anything that Brianna Barter said." Bellany tried not to smile too meaningfully. "Yet after what Charles found out and now this whole plot with Leland, I am starting to take her much more seriously. If neither of you suspected foul play, Avengene might have been able to marry you both off to members of his family. He could then have absorbed the lands of Bristol and Daelrath." 

Bianca looked troubled. 

"What is it, Bianca?" Bellany asked. 

"Last year Lord Douglas Avengene made an absolute ass of himself pursuing my hand in marriage. At first I was flattered, but there was something about him that nagged at me. I put him off, but he tried all the harder until he had exceeded the limits of my endurance. I finally had to tell him off. I suppose that is one reason I was so hostile towards you, Bellany. He was a good-looking man from a wealthy and powerful family, but there was something about him that grated upon me. I did not like the idea of the Barony of Bristol becoming absorbed, either. We have strong traditions here. The only time I enjoyed his presence was when he would start subtly insulting James' manhood and the two of them would go at it against one another in a contest of veiled insults. James is such a prissy fop, but I found myself rooting for him. I think I actually got a little too clingy and that is why he turned my hostility towards you into a way to distance me from him." 

"James is a consummate social actor," Bellany affirmed. "I think he cares about you, Bianca, but He is also a disciple of Barraff, the god of commerce. He believes that great families marry for the purposes of dynasty and that young women who represent dynasties of little value are essentially trying to cheat him when they try to get him to fancy them. They would not be suitable unless they represented a dynasty as grand as his." 

"But there is no dynasty in the area as grand as James' unless you count Lord Avengene's." 

"Perhaps James has his heart set on marrying Lord Douglas Avengene then." Bellany winked. 

"He did use those queer comments of his on Douglas in their insulting matches. Yet even if he wanted to he could not marry a man." 

"Yes, I realize that he could not marry a man anymore than he could marry me. He needs a mate who can produce heirs or his dynasty will fall to ruin."

"I thought James' doctor said you were healthy. Is it true you cannot produce heirs?" 

"Bianca, I have no diseases, but I was _with_ a whole tribe of young, virile orc warriors and I never got pregnant. Do you know how barren that makes me?" 

Bianca wrinkled her nose. "Ew, I see your point." 

"Whoever he marries is going to have to be okay with him fooling around with other men and being generally wild and naughty. On top of that she will need to represent a considerable dynasty to make the marriage mutually beneficial from a strictly business standpoint. I imagine James would also prefer someone with wits and acting ability that could help him further his social intrigues. Other than the Avengenes, I suppose a Li'Yieraun girl might qualify if she were the heir to the county." 

"Heinrich Li'Yieraun has a daughter, but rumor has it that she ran away with a commoner and that she may actually be Jackson Jordell's offspring. Cinid is a half elf though. Given the longevity of elves, she is not too old to have more children," Bianca added. 

"How much do you want to bet that any child she has that survives will be a girl who will be courted by an Avengene boy?" Bellany asked pointedly. 

"That would make sense. Avengene wants the same kind of business deal as James. If he can marry every one of the boys in the line of succession to a lady with a dynasty of her own then with every generation his dynasty will gain much greater power." 

"Judging from this plot, he may not be above cooking the books to make sure young ladies wind up heading dynasties. I guess he was sure that he would not be able to marry you off to one of his boys if he was behind this current plot to kill you." 

"Oh I made that abundantly clear. I have no use for all that Vindicator nonsense!" Bianca growled. 

"You do not know how much I wish I could shout that until the rafters rattled. Unfortunately my mother is an Avengene." Bellany sighed. "Oh, and speaking of Vindicator nonsense and Leland's plot, were you able to find a Priest of Mortaebius who could manage the real men in rags? I met Guardian Kowal when the investigator took our statements about the plot, but I did not inquire as to whether he could deal with the true nature of the problem that Leland left for us. 

"You needn't worry, Bellany. Kowal will handle the beggars. Grandfather does not send boys to do men's jobs." 

"That's a relief," Bellany sighed. 

"You were going to work on Lord Avengene's artillery. That is why you took math at the boys' academy, was it not?" Bianca asked. 

"Yes, but after Lord Avengene decided to throw me out like trash, I decided that I will not be doing anything to strengthen his army," Bellany scoffed. 

"Perhaps grandfather could employ you in one of his shops instead." 

"Thank you, Bianca. I am not sure when or if I might be able to leave my family and strike out on my own, but it is nice to know that if the opportunity presents itself, perhaps there is somewhere that I could work without getting in trouble for being a little naughtier than a Vindicator girl is allowed." 

"I feel so badly about spreading those rumors about your naughtiness. I am sure Headmistress Vargrend will get a hold of them and I am afraid she might inform your mother of the reputation that I have built for you." 

Bellany grimaced, but then smiled. "I found some of your rumors to be positively inspirational! Even Jamie could not fault you for lack of imagination. Yet you do have a point. Mother would not be pleased. With Charles she nags about grades, but he can charm her out of being too hard on him for his barely adequate academic performance. I fear I may not be as successful in regard to any 'impure' acts. If you ask mother I am sure she will inform you that a young lady in my position must do everything possible to preserve her virginal purity." 

"Yes of course, because the orcs left you with so very much purity and virginity to preserve." 

"Indeed, I am sure that I have a dim memory of being a virgin somewhere in my mind. If only I could find it, perhaps I could preserve it!" 

"I think it's too late for that. The odd thing is that I have heard far more rumors than I have started. Is there anyone you are not reputed to have been in bed with?" 

"You and Glenda, of course, you two are like two unsightly white marks on my otherwise ebon reputation. Perhaps you could help me with that." 

James returned from his errand and squealed as he overheard the last few remarks of the conversation. "And you could not understand what I saw in Bellany, Bianca. Now you know!" 

"Oh gods, James, Bellany is like a female version of you!" 

"We are birds of a feather and we enjoy flocking together! Bellany knows that that is as far as things can go between us and what is even more curious is that she seems perfectly content with the arrangement. We have had a splendid time together and it has reduced the incessant, subtle prodding of my parents that I ought to show interest in ladies. I think they are overjoyed that I am actually flocking with a hen on occasion rather than spending all of my time with cocks. Come hither now, everyone, we mustn't be late to dinner." 
-------

A few minutes later Bellany and her friends strolled into the great hall where all of the peers and their children were finding their places at the dinner table. Bellany noticed that the Norwits were seated near one end of the table while the Bristols were near the other. Bellany walked to the Jordells first. 

"Good evening, Milord and Lady Jordell, thank you for inviting me to dinner." 

"It was our pleasure, Lady Bellany," Lord Jordell said warmly. "I hope you do not mind us calling you Lady Bellany. Using Lady Norwit with both you and your mother present could get confusing." 

"Not at all, Lady Bellany is fine, Lord Jordell." 

"Splendid. Oh, and congratulations on the win against the champion from Liaern. Perhaps we will get a chance to catch up later after dinner, but for now you had best get seated before the food begins to arrive." 

"Yes, of course, Lord Jordell. I hope to see you later." 

After leaving the Jordells, Bellany nodded or said hello to people who greeted her on her way back to sit with her parents. It took quite some time, as a lot of the people she did not know seemed to know her. She suspected that with the win in swordsmanship and the starring role she had played in the public version of the foiling of Leland's plot, she had been the topic of many conversations. Also, since many of those greeting her were men, she suspected the dress Jamie had designed for her may have had something to do with it as well. She did her best not to give Baron Daelrath a meaningful look and she would have been relieved to have finally made it to her seat, except that she had to face Baronet Norwit. 

For a moment she felt a great deal of conflict upon seeing Baronet Darl Norwit. She now knew that he had executed her father on the order of Lord Avengene. In the more recent past, however, he had been there for her while she was recovering from her death at the hands of the high shaman of the orcs and the intervention of Mortaebius. She realized that he had mistaken her for his daughter nevertheless she could not forget the care he had taken with her. Had she had nothing but the attentions of Eleanor Norwit and Reverend Wright to sustain her she would have gone mad. Darl Norwit had been a good father to her in her short life as Bellany and she knew how he felt about what he had been ordered to do to Brianna Barter's father, otherwise he would never have refused to kill additional members of her family. 

She knew she ought to feel overwhelming hatred, but beneath the conflict of emotion and the pain of her father's death, the truth was that she was a little bit happy to see Darl Norwit. She felt that it was tragic that an otherwise good man had been saddled with an evil liege. During her recovery he had been the only friend she had. She knew there would always be a hollow pit in her stomach when she faced Lord Norwit, but at least she could not bring herself to hate him. He was a good man even if he served an evil master. She knew that she was not really Bellany Norwit, but she wondered if her brief death meant that she was not really Brianna Barter either. She supposed she was Brianna Barter, but she was living a second life as the life of death. 

"It is so good to see you, Mother and Father, Charles and Darren. I am glad you could come eat with us also, Master Leafwhisper," Bellany greeted them. 

"It is wonderful to see you, Bellany," Darl Norwit replied. 

"We missed you during the solstice break," Eleanor Norwit added. 

Suddenly Vern caught Bellany's attention. "Lady Bellany Norwit, Let me introduce Lord and Lady Carnarvon, Mayor and Lady Belgado, and Mister and Mrs. St. Varlans." 

"Good evening, everyone; it is good to finally meet Bernadine, Loyd and Vern's parents. I am sure my infamy precedes me so you know a great deal more about me than I you." 

"Call it notoriety not infamy, Lady Bellany. Valor and skill at arms in a young lady are unconventional, but your decisive action saved important lives and that makes you a hero whether you are notorious or not," Lord Carnarvon argued. 

"Thank you, Lord Carnarvon. I see where Loyd got his graciousness." 

Dinner was served and after pleasantries about the weather and commerce had been exhausted Lord Carnarvon spoke, "Loyd, this is also the young lady that fought that swordsman from Liearn; am I correct?" 

"Yes father, Bellany is the lady that handed Kyle Preston his rump." 

"I should like to have seen that! Since I did not, I would like to hear about it." 

"Master Leafwhisper why don't you tell us what you saw at the match and perhaps Lady Bellany can fill in any details concerning her strategy as well," Lord Gerald Jordell requested. 

"It would be my pleasure, milord. It happened that a few days ago when the tournament with Liaern was scheduled, Lord James took ill. We discussed the matter with Headmaster Bristol and there was only one person James and I agreed would have a chance of beating the champion from Liaern. Kyle Preston of Liaern had only one loss all season. James' record had been perfect thus far this year, thus he would face Preston at the championship tournament even if he had forfeited, but Headmaster Bristol, Lord James and I all agreed that an undefeated rapier team would be far better than winning the championship with a loss or forfeiture to tarnish our otherwise flawless season. It took some arm-twisting, but at last Headmistress Vargrend agreed to allow us to put Lady Bellany on the rapier team. She was already enrolled in The Bristol Academy for Boys because she was taking advanced mathematics, the better to help Lord Norwit with his artillery. 

"I watched the competition myself and was impressed not only with Lady Norwit's skill but with her wit. Would you care to describe your strategy coming into the match, lady Bellany?" 

"Of course, Master Leafwhisper; I knew there were a few young men who knew of my skill with the rapier because they had come to practice here at Jordell Manor. I asked Charles to let them know that I wanted them all to look worried and unsure of my chances at victory. I reasoned that Kyle Preston would naturally think that a young woman would have no chance of beating him. I saw no reason to spoil that illusion since holding it could only work against mister Preston. When I arrived at the contest I made sure to move with a bit of awkwardness." 

"I remember that," Master Leafwhisper said. "The young men looked worried and when the bout started I could tell that Lady Bellany was holding back, pretending to be less skilled than she was. In addition, you must understand that I have been training Lady Bellany for the swordsmanship of the city and battlefield, not the tournament. Her practice blade is heavier than the blades that most young men prefer for tournament use. They use light blades in order to maximize speed. She made it seem as if she did not have sufficient strength to compensate for her heavier blade. After a few spirited minutes of strike and parry, Preston was fooled by her strategy and tried to score based on what he knew of her skill. Lady Bellany countered his move with a surprise riposte and scored a hit to Preston's throat. Why don't you describe your strategy for the second part of the contest, milady Bellany?" 

"I expected mister Preston would take up a defensive attitude for at least a few seconds after being stung by my riposte. While he was still on the defensive I acted boldly with a parry and thrust combination that would have taken a certain boldness to counter. Preston was taken by surprise again. While he was off balance I scored against his mask. He nearly jabbed me for my trouble but he was not able to switch from a defensive to an offensive stance quite quickly enough." 

"Once she scored a second time those of us in the audience with an eye for such things realized that Preston felt that his swordsmanship was taking a back seat to Lady Bellany's strategy. He had been her fool not once but twice! Without a doubt this had bruised his ego. He began a tour de force that I suspect he thought would call Lady Bellany's bluff. What did you think at that point, milady?" 

"I think my father would have appreciated the bout at that point." Bellany grinned.

Darl Norwit chuckled and shook his head. "I can testify that attempting to best my daughter with a rapier while angry is sheer folly!"

Charles and several of the boys who had heard the tale of Bellany's swordfight with her father laughed heartily. 

Bellany continued, "Kyle Preston was determined to prove that no woman was going to best him with a rapier. His anger was controlled, but nevertheless his emotion was driving him. His action was all too predictable. I let him drive me backwards. That was not hard given that he was showing every ounce of skill he could muster. The difficulty was keeping him from scoring while he built momentum. He was being too forceful in his drive and that can spell trouble for a swordsman. While he was in mid step and unable to easily reverse direction I captured his blade with a circular parry and launched the tip into the floor. He was helpless for a fraction of a second and that was all I needed to score a hit to his heart and win the match." 

"Gods Bellany, you had a strategy going for the entire fight! You must have got that from dad," Charles reasoned. 

"Father is a brilliant strategist, although his strategy usually applies to an entire battlefield rather than a single bout. I had a lot of strategic help from James and Master Leafwhisper during the course of my training. James once told me that the moment you outwit your opponent he has already lost the bout." 

"Indeed I did, and she took it to heart. She is a horror to compete against. Half the time she knows what you are going to do before you do!" James exclaimed. 

"I will bet that has taken you down a peg or two, Lord James," Lord Carnarvon chuckled. 

"Actually, I rather enjoy it. It is so novel to be trounced on occasion by a young woman as beautiful and talented as Lady Bellany. I have seen sparring with her do unto other men's egos, but I guarantee you that sparring with Lady Bellany will improve your match, and that is precisely what I needed in a teammate." 

"Were you really so sick that you could not compete that morning, or was Lady Bellany part of your strategy to destroy Mister Preston's ego before you fought him?" Lord St. Varlans asked astutely. 

James giggled. "The bout was scheduled for the morning and I had been sick. I might have been able to best Preston, but why risk it when I had such a red rose of a teammate? Honestly, I was scheduled to fight the same man twice, once at the tournament with Liaern and once at the championship tournament. How boring is that? She did trounce the poor man. I doubt his ego will ever recover! I recommended to Mister Preston that he dance with her at the ball after she beat him, but his ego was too battered. How unfortunate for him. There is nothing like a dance with Lady Bellany to put the stiffness back into a man's upper lip," Jamie cooed, blissfully ignoring the scowls of Lord and Lady Norwit. 

"It is all so uncanny, how could a young lady be taught swordsmanship in the first place?" Lady Carnarvon asked. 

"It is scandalous. I tried to prevent it," Lady Eleanor Norwit confirmed. 

"Charles taught her, and endured serious punishment for his trouble, but in the end I decided that if she could best her brother and me with a rapier, then she knew enough swordsmanship to get herself into trouble. Continuing her training was simply a means to make sure that she could get herself out of the trouble she could get herself into. I had no idea she would go on to become such a sensation. My wife is going to wring my neck!" 

The dinner guests laughed heartily, though Bellany winced at the expression on Eleanors' face, and spoke up quickly. 

"Nonsense father, Charles and I would now be dead twice over if you had not decided to allow me to learn skill at arms. I cannot imagine mother would prefer to be mourning at our prim and proper graves rather than being embarrassed that her living daughter knows how to handle herself in a fight." 

"Touch�!" James Jordell interjected. "I believe she is referring to the highwaymen on the way to school last fall and Leland more recently. I for one am overjoyed that you decided to allow Bellany to learn martial skills. If I knew my life depended on it I would insist that every noblewoman be taught skill at arms. Were it not for Lady Norwit's backbone I can attest that Reverend Leland would have killed several of us here at the table tonight." 

"Indeed, Lady Norwit is a hero to the people of Gransward," Baron Gransward practically shouted. 

"And to the people of Bristol," Baron Bristol affirmed loudly. 

"Not to mention the people of Jordell," Baron Jordell added forcefully. 

"I see your point." Darl Norwit stammered. "If Bellany were a soldier under my command who had saved Lord Charles and the children of other peers she would receive a medal and most likely an immediate promotion or commission," Darl Norwit acknowledged. 

"I should think a knighthood would be in order for such heroism," Gransward argued. 

"Marquis Avengene and I have heard that Lady Bellany was instrumental in foiling this horrific plot of Reverend Leland's," Lord Ryan Avengene interjected. "Since it has been brought up, let me address all present when I say that Marquis Avengene sends his heartfelt apologies for the unconscionable actions of Leland. Moreover he has assured me that Reverend Leland and his co-conspirators were working entirely on their own. The marquis deeply regrets that Leland's zealotry ran away with his sanity so catastrophically." 

"Of course, we could not believe that Marquis Avengene would kill his own grandchildren to further such a heinous plot, but this is not the first time a priest of the Vindicator has lost his sanity." Lord Gerald Jordell glanced meaningfully at Baron and Bruhnhilda Daelrath. "What steps is Marquis Avengene taking to prevent this sort of madness in the future? These celibate priests crack far too easily!" 

"I could not agree more," Baron Gransward said. "Each time one of these priests of the Vindicator cracks, I find myself more understanding of why Baron Daelrath pardoned Brianna Barter within his domain. I am tempted to do likewise. Were it not for Lady Norwit, my granddaughter would be dead. I hold The Church of the Vindicator personally responsible for this affront and if something is not done about these priests I _will_ pardon Miss Barter! For the time being I have given the order that every priest of the Vindicator is to be escorted out of The Barony of Gransward and asked never to return. I have had enough!" 

Baron Bristol nodded. "I concur that the Church of the Vindicator is responsible for the reprehensible acts of Reverend Leland. Headmaster Bristol was appalled at the topics of some of Leland's sermons. The man was practically campaigning for a religious war! I assure you that I am looking into the matter and if I find that Leland's sermons were the rule rather than the exception, you can expect to see every priest of the Vindicator expelled from Bristol! For the time being the Church of the Vindicator shall do penance for failing to curb Leland before he went mad and nearly killed my heir. Any priest preaching anything that could even be misinterpreted as a call to arms shall be asked to leave Bristol." 

"Such heinous actions cannot go unpunished. The Jordells also hold the Church of the Vindicator responsible for the actions of their fanatic priest, Reverend Leland. The Church will find that the cost they will be charged for shipping already reflects our opinion of their performance. If they wish our help or our favor in any matter from now on they will have to pay us handsomely. This includes the whole Barter issue and anything involving any priests of the Vindicator. Lord Avengene's rates will remain as they were as long as he does not front for the church and thereby undermine their punishment." 

"I understand your reasoning and I shall inform Marquis Avengene of your respective judgments against the Church of the Vindicator," Lord Ryan Avengene affirmed grudgingly. 

Bellany smiled inwardly; she knew from talking to the children of the peers that they were all pretty sure that Marquis Avengene was behind the plot to kill them. They and their elders also knew that admitting they felt that way would tip their hand to the Avengenes. Yet if the peers were to do nothing in the face of an attempted murder of their grandchildren that would seem strange even to Lord Avengene. 

The peers knew that Avengene would blame the plot on Leland alone. They had decided to follow that line of reasoning to its logical conclusion. The Church of the Vindicator was responsible for Leland because he was one of their priests, consequently the Church would pay for his perfidy. Thus they had cloaked their outrage at Marquis Avengene with outrage at the Church of the Vindicator. Since the church was able to act on Marquis Avengene's behalf in domains outside of Avengene, expelling the priests of the Vindicator would limit the Marquis' power within those domains. 

Once the Avengene plot had been discussed and punishment meted out to the church the rest of the dinner went smoothly. After dinner there was socializing, billiards, music and other social pursuits. Bellany thought she was going to get away without a hitch until later in the evening when a servant came up and whispered in Bellany's ear. "Lord Jordell's physician would like to speak with you, milady; please follow me." 

While Bellany followed the servant deep into the house, she directed what little life force she had in her reserves to her left palm hopefully to be swallowed up. Thankfully it was near the end of the week, but she still worried that there might be some clue in her aura that she had sent her reserves of energy away. Nevertheless, she reasoned that any effect generated would be a nuance compared to having the energy concentrated in her reserves. She wished she could cast Life Vision and First Sight to better see the energy of Leech Phallon's spell-casting, but she did not dare because the leech was a magic-using priest who might detect her spells. The servant led her to a room set up as an infirmary and left her with Leech Phallon. 

"Leech Henry Phallon, it is good to see you!" Bellany shook the doctor's hand. "Would you like to heal me again?" Bellany grinned while subtly tickling the man's lust. 

Phallon chuckled. "As I recall you had quite a positive reaction to that spell. You are not sick are you?" 

"Heavens no, but you are not the only one who remembers my reaction to that spell. What can I do for you?" 

Phallon closed the door. "Lord Jordell asked me to do a routine exam. He will be along shortly to ask you a few questions that I assure you will be kept in the strictest confidence." 

Bellany smiled teasingly, "My dress buttons in the back." 

The leech repeated the examination he had given Bellany months before, but concentrated more on her feminine organs and the swab tests than on the more general tests of breath and muscular strength. It did seem that he cast a few more divination or detection spells than he had the last time, but she was grateful for his brevity. 

"Have you tried the herbs I gave you?" Leech Phallon asked. 

"I take them religiously. No naughty girl should be without them." 

Leech Phallon smiled. "Then have you been active with someone?" 

Bellany was aware that Leech Phallon was a spell-casting priest. Having recently been subjected to an interrogation wherein a priest of Mortaebius monitored her for truthfulness, she decided to answer in such a way as not to run athwart of a truth-detecting spell. 

"Yes, you have turned me into the class slut!" 

Leech Phallon blushed. 

Bellany grinned and pointed at the leech. 

Leech Phallon laughed in spite of himself. 

"You ambushed me with my own fears!" 

"Indeed, and the look on your face was priceless! If I am the class slut it is not your fault. Bianca Bristol says that I am the female version of James Jordell. We are both very discreet, but we do enjoy being naughty." 

"Phallon nodded and worked diligently for a time on the examination. 

"I see you are also the picture of health. If anything, your aura is brighter than it was the last time I examined you. I see that the life force anomalies concerning your aura and the necromantic left palm appear to be stable." 

"I have not noticed any changes in my palm. It is still a little numb but it works fine." 

Phallon nodded. "Now I had best do that healing before Lord Jordell ducks in while you are still undressed." 

Bellany braced herself as she knew what to expect this time. She began concentrating on emptying her already empty reserves as the spell hit so that the influx of life energy would not collect into an amalgamation of life force detectible by Leech Phallon's spells. 

"Nngaaaaah..." The pleasure of the spell was intense and although she did not quite loose consciousness this time, she was in no condition to do anything for about a minute owing to the magnificent orgasm she had. Before she came down she subtly touched Phallon's mind with a protective, discrete and affectionate note. She hoped to reinforce what seemed to be the leech's feelings about her and thus decrease the possibility that he would reveal the secret of her palm to the Norwits. 

"Oh, excuse me," Lord Gerald Jordell said as he stuck his head into the examination room. 

Bellany's mind was too drugged with orgasm for a quick reaction. 

"I am just finishing the precautionary healing spell, Lord Jordell. Lady Norwit is quite healthy, but she also has one of the more profound reactions I have seen when my healing spell is applied to the feminine organs." 

"So I see. I can come back in a moment." 

"Please come in, Lord Jordell. You have already seen everything you are going to and it will take me some time to get dressed again. The examination has taken long enough and if we are much longer, mother will begin to wonder where I am." 

Bellany stood up and began to dress starting with her panties. 

Lord Jordell stepped into the room, but stayed by the door. "I do hope James has taken an interest in you, milady. If he has not I am afraid my son is entirely blind to feminine beauty!" 

Bellany smiled, "Thank you, Lord Jordell. James does enjoy the look of men and I would not be surprised if he still sees them, but we have spent a great deal of time together over the past few months honing our skills with the rapier. Eventually his curiosity got the better of him." 

"Did he... ah..." 

"He said that he had been led to believe that women were passive, roomy affairs that a man hardly knew he had entered." 

Lord Jordell grimaced. 

"Then it is extremely fortunate that you decided to bank on James' interest in Lady Norwit, milord," Leech Phallon interjected. 

"It is?" 

"Indeed. I have examined few women with internal musculature to match hers." 

Bellany blushed. "It is true that I am quite lively in bed, inside and out. James said he had never been more mistaken." 

Lord Jordell sighed with relief, "Blessed be Amorra!" 

"James is fine, Lord Jordell. I will not go into details because I value James' confidence, but if you ask Master Leafwhisper when James requested more bath time for me you should have some idea of when the ice broke. I am very glad that you did not push James and I certainly would not do so. I am sure it would have been a disaster if I had. He is also aware that I am not only barren but also taking herbs to be doubly sure that there will be no pregnancy from any dalliances. As long as Leech Phallon says that James is fertile, then the future of the Jordell dynasty is secure. I can also assure you that after the time I spent with James the reputation of the Jordell men as fine lovers is going to endure. You haven't a thing to worry about." 

Lord Jordell sighed as if a great weight had been removed from his shoulders. "Thank you, Lady Norwit. You have no idea what a relief that is." 

"It really was my pleasure, Lord Jordell. James is a dear friend and I wish only the best for him. I will miss him now that he is graduating, but I am happy to have spent the time with him that I did. With luck he will meet a lady that he fancies who can add something substantial to the Jordell dynasty and you will be planning a wedding before too many years have passed." 

Gerald Jordell nodded. "Lavinia will be overjoyed. I am so glad that we decided to give James time with you rather than attempting some stronger measure that would probably have blown up in our faces." 

Bellany nodded. "Me too." 
------- 

The rest of the dinner affair at the Jordells passed without mishap. Bellany got the chance to speak with Beatrice and Desdemona Avengene. She found them in a room full of ladies speaking about topics like the weather, masterful poems and insightful sermons. They were about what she had expected. Bianca and Bruhnhilda followed Bellany as she retreated from the room. 

"How well did you know the Avengene girls?" Lady Bristol whispered after Bellany had escaped the other women. 

"This is the first time I have met them after the orcs. They seem awfully vindicatory. It is almost frightening that I was probably the same way," Bellany wrinkled her nose. 
------- 

The next morning Bellany rose early and ate breakfast in the cafeteria with Charles and his friends, as was her custom on the mornings before tournaments. The Friday tournament started early and was destined to go late, even though some of the events were being held concurrently. The crowd was at least double its normal size and the atmosphere was quite festive. 

Bellany was in the audience with Master Leafwhisper to watch Jamie's match against Kyle Preston of Liaern. It started with the usual taunts, but Preston had obviously been coached to prepare him for Jamie's mind games. He increased the speed of the match to the point where most opponents would not have been able to concentrate on talking. 

Bellany grimaced when Preston was first to score a four-point hit to James' neck, but he paid for his ill-advised lunge just a second later when James scored a five-point hit to his heart before he could get his guard back in place. After that James continued to taunt, but his remarks were both terse and rehearsed compared to what he would have been able to deliver to a lesser swordsman. James punctuated his taunts with first one, then another hit to Preston's sword hand. James' annoying style emboldened Preston who managed to drive another hit to the throat through James' defenses. So far James' taunts had done nothing but prompt Preston to strike at his throat. 

After another tense minute of stroke and counterstroke, James' low, quick lunge got under Preston's guard as Preston attempted to set James up with a feint. James' hit to Preston's abdomen brought him to ten points against Preston's eight. As long as James could score first, it did not matter what kind of counterblow Preston managed because James would be over the eleven points that he needed for a win the instant that he scored. Bellany expected James to wait for an opening but then she realized that since James had already been hit, he was attempting to finish the fast-paced match rapidly. When Preston attempted a lunge, James sidestepped and caught Preston's blade in a driving circular parry. 

"Lunge and score, one point - Preston!" The match master announced as Preston took advantage of James' parry to score against James' hand. 

A split second later he announced the win: "Match score, four points for a total of fourteen - Jordell!" James had used the parry and sacrificed the hand hit to strike Preston's chest as rapidly as possible as he withdrew. 

"Match time is two minutes, five seconds!" The match master announced. 

Bellany was one of the first to congratulate James after the match, "Congratulations James, you beat my time handily. You certainly set a lightning pace." 

"Heavens no, Preston set the pace, but he paid for it dearly. I guess he thought that his skill would give him an edge in a fast and furious bout, but my taunting tends to make for fast and furious bouts anyway. He was playing to my strength." 

"Yes, it is a tribute to his skill that he still managed to score eight points. Well fought, Mister Preston. It was a fun match to watch. The rapiers were just a blur of motion at times." 

"Thank you milady Norwit; I know you have a keen eye for strategy. I just wish my skill had been sufficient, but I am glad the match was not an utter embarrassment." 

"I bet you are still stinging from that match you had against Bellany! I guarantee you that if you take her out on the dance floor during the ball you will forget the entire thing." James Jordell grinned. 

Preston chuckled good-naturedly. "Then I will be sure to ask Lady Norwit to dance at my earliest opportunity." 
------- 

Bellany bit her lip as she waited for Charles to step up to take his final shot. At least this time she had a good seat with the other nobles. Actually, she was sitting right next to Bianca Bristol on one side and her parents on the other. The crossbow event had been very tight with Charles and Erol Fobs barely managing to hold onto a narrow lead through the first part of the tournament. Currently they were behind by two points for the final shot because the team from Liaern had out-scored them on the mid-range targets and they had gained but never quite caught up during the long-range portion of the event. 

Bellany blinked and nearly missed Charles as he stepped up and took his shot. 

"Bulls-eye Norwit! The Bristol Academy wins by a single point!" the herald shouted. 

"Oh gods, I do not know how he does that!" Bellany gasped. 

"Your brother is incredible under pressure!" Bianca Bristol marveled. 

"Charles has always has had a kind of bravado that carries him through tight squeezes," Darl Norwit noted. 
------- 

Bellany trotted down the path through the verdant foliage of the garden and made her way into the thicket. She could already hear Timothy making his way down the path. As always she checked the area with her lust sense to make sure that they would have privacy. 

When Timothy came into the thicket she embraced him and whispered in his ear. "I think Headmistress Vargrend must have suspected something when she saw us both near here during the last tournament. There is a spy watching us from the bushes. Pretend that you have come to hear dark poetry that I wrote during my captivity with the orcs. I will recite something about my master the half-orc, half dark-elf shaman." 

Timothy nodded imperceptibly and sat down while Bellany began her recitation: 

"He holds me in his dark embrace, like the depths of midnight given a face..." 

After a brief poetry reading and a little literary discussion with Timothy the two parted, leaving the spy with far less to report than would otherwise have been the case. 
------- 

Bellany grimaced as splinters from Sheldon Wright's lance showered Abraham Steefl. Things were a little different this time, however. When the lance snapped against Steefl's breastplate it broke in the middle and the remainder was past Abraham before it could cause any additional damage as Wright's lance had in the ill-fated joust where Abraham had nearly lost his life. This was the second time Steefl and Wright had clashed during the championship tournament and neither had been able to unhorse the other. Another run would have to decide the championship. 

After several minutes the flag was dropped and the horses thundered down the lists once again. This time it was Wright's lance that slid wide while Abraham's struck and held just below the center of Wright's chest. Bellany wished she could see through the man's helmet as he was boosted from his seat to tumble over his charger's flank. He landed on the turf in a rolling heap. 

The crowd stood and cheered. Abraham's squire removed his helmet and he rode back down the lists waving to the crowd. He also waved the symbol of Bellany's favor that he normally wore on his helmet. When he was opposite Bellany's seat he made his charger rear and saluted Lord Norwit, his liege, who was sitting next to Bellany. Abraham kissed Bellany's favor and flourished it once again before the crowd. 

Bellany clapped and blew Abraham kisses. She was very happy that James, Charles and now Abraham had distinguished themselves this day. The competition was difficult, but they were the best and they deserved their victory bows. Bellany knew that her year at Vargrend's was quickly drawing to a close, but she was savoring the events as they came. 
------- 

Music filled the ballroom at Patel Manor as the dancing at the last ball of the semester began with the father-daughter dance. Bellany regretted that Peter Patel was forced to be on his best behavior due to the number of parents attending the ball, but she had her memories from the time she had spent as Tiffany to carry her through. 

"Goodness Bellany, I do not recall you being such a practiced dancer. Vindicator knows I have two left feet despite your mother's expert coaching." 

"You are doing fine, daddy. The up side of being a social outcast among the ladies and popular with the men is that one hardly ever leaves the dance floor during balls and therefore has little time to fret over the fact that most ladies will not talk to her." 

Darl Norwit grimaced. "I am sorry that the orcs brutalized both you and your social standing. If only I had sent more men with you." 

"James thinks the ordeal imbued me with far more character than is possessed by the other ladies. I am not sure if far more character is what the other young men see in me as opposed to far less virginity." 

"Bellany!" 

"Come now, father, you were a young man once." 

"Indeed I was, and what the young men see in you is obvious. Many of the visitors have no doubt just met you and have no idea how much character you have developed. They see what meets their eyes and that is that you are a very beautiful young woman. You have the tall, slender aspect of the Avengenes, yet somehow you have managed to inherit the robustness of the Norwits spiced quite judiciously over your patrician Avengene figure. It is a combination that young men find particularly captivating. Yet just as important is your strategic use of your beauty. It can be used to make marriageable young men forget practically anything, including your ordeal with the orcs." 

Bellany leaned forward to whisper into her father's ear. "Yes, I think you have said as much before, whereupon I reminded you that I was barren and would prefer to do something useful rather than be a wife with an empty nest. That reminds me, I am so sorry this has to be brought up at all, but you really need to get the full story of the Leland plot from Charles. It was more elaborate than what was revealed to the public and it involved real ghouls that Leland brought in. One paralyzed Charles and me. I may make nice in public towards the Avengenes, but I was there in the crypts. Let me tell you father, the likelihood that a spell-casting, undead-commanding priest of the Vindicator and a 'former' lieutenant in the Avengene military cooked up this plot all by themselves is about the same as a snowball making it through the summer because it was sitting in the shade. 

"Leland also made us aware that there is something wrong with Charles' pedigree that essentially makes him trash that needs to be cleaned up. I cannot imagine that your blood could be cause for such a dire solution. I am aware that it is unusual that a daughter of Avengene would be allowed to marry even the most gifted commoner unless there were extenuating circumstances, but I have already decided to avoid talking about that issue with mother. Nevertheless I wanted to give you a heads up. I hope you will consider the matter very carefully, daddy, because it is obvious that the Avengenes consider Charles and I trash to be discarded. I do not know how Charles is taking it. He was to inherit the title of Baronet of Norwit after you and now he knows just what the Avengenes think of him." 

Darl Norwit grimaced. 

Bellany regretted saying the words the moment they left her mouth, but she knew that Darl needed to be on guard. It was difficult to know how the Avengenes would deal with the aftermath of their failed plot. 

"I am really sorry I had to tell you those things, daddy, but even the greatest general does not make good decisions if he does not know the disposition of the battlefield." 

"I understand, Bellany. I only hope that you are mistaken about Lord Avengene being behind the Leland plot." 

Bellany nodded. "There is no way to know for sure, but you once told me that a good general hopes for the best but plans for the worst." 

Darl Norwit nodded smartly as he spun Bellany on the dance floor. 

For the rest of the evening Bellany danced and socialized and tried to join the gaiety of the ball, but her success was only cosmetic. Her emotions were too strong because of the conflict she felt over Baronet Norwit, what she had told him concerning the Leland plot, and because she realized that the school year was nearly over and she was not sure what Headmistress Vargrend might have to say about her to her parents.

She did have fun dancing with Kyle Preston. He was a bit stiff at first, but he at last succumbed to the motion and the warm tingling sensation Bellany added by massaging his lust with her power. By the second dance he was feeling no pain, with a grin plastered across his lips. 

Bellany clung to Lord Carnarvon during her last dance with him and she must have told Vern that she would miss him three times as they were dancing. She had some success losing herself in the dance with Jamie. He was such a fine dancer and she had become practiced as well, thus dancing with him was wonderful. Nevertheless she had whispered that she would miss him at least twice during moments when they were close even though she tried hard not to be too clingy. Near the end of the ball Bellany saw Darl Norwit take Charles aside and then the two of them made their way out of the ballroom and disappeared. 
------- 

Late Friday night after the ball Bellany placed five sow bugs she had caught that morning on her toes and carefully cast the Drain Infestation spell. All five bugs died and there was no apparent spillover or marring of her skin. She tried the same experiment on Mary's sleeping hand. All five bugs died and Mary was unscathed. Thusly encouraged, Bellany placed eight more sow bugs on Mary's hand, cast the spell and released it from her ghost hand. Once again she was successful in her targeting but the result was still a bit frightening. All eight of the sow bugs not only died, but turned to dust and empty husks of chitin on Mary's hand. Thankfully Bellany's targeting was accurate and Mary's hand was fine. Bellany penned the casting notes and then went to sleep secure in the knowledge that she would now be able to keep Nimbus free of pests. 
------- 

Saturday, the day after the tournament, was parent-teacher day. It was not a day that Bellany particularly looked forward to, but she was glad that she had caught the man sent to spy on Timothy and her before he saw something that would surely have landed her in a convent. She was still a bit nervous about what rumors headmistress Vargrend might have intercepted, but at least she was confident that her school marks were golden. She did not know what her parents might learn in whatever conferences they had scheduled with teachers, but she hoped her secrets were safe. 

On Saturday night Bellany attended the awards banquet with Charles and her parents. They were seated at their own table within the cafeteria, as were many other notable families. During dinner Bellany's parents talked about the performance of their children during the past school year. Charles caught some mild chastisement for his grade in mathematics, but Bellany helped him to turn the conversation to his championship win in archery. Thankfully, Darl Norwit took the conversation a step beyond Charles' grades by speaking about the future. 

"Charles and I have been talking about his future. Previously he was enrolled at a small military academy in Yieraun, but we have decided to try to get him into the Rosehaven Tactical Academy instead. Lord Jordell volunteered to help get Charles in despite the late date," Darl Norwit announced.

"That is great, Charles, congratulations in advance," Bellany said as she patted her brother on the back. 

"I am not in yet, Belle, but thanks." 

Bellany smirked. "Charles, if James says he will lend a hand then I have no doubt that you will be enrolled before you know it." 

"Now as for your marks, Bellany, we have some catching up to do since we thought it better not to bring you back home for the winter solstice..." Darl Norwit said. He then removed Bellany's report card from the previous semester from an envelope. 

"Bellany, your mother and I are very proud of your academic excellence. We had a conference with Headmistress Vargrend and we also had one with Headmaster Bristol. I was alone with the headmaster for the first part of the conference because your mother caught a little conference with your art enrichment teacher. We were both very impressed with the artwork you did for us and for the Jordells," Darl Norwit affirmed. 

"Headmistress Vargrend said that you are one of the brightest and one of the most headstrong young women she has ever taught. Your grammar and spelling are the best in the school and were it not for disciplinary issues you would have taken the top scholar award at the end of the first semester. You did not receive the award because you had been caught breaking into the library stacks to read whatever you could find that was forbidden to worshippers of the Vindicator." 

Bellany blushed. 

"Hah! Bellany you devil, you!" Charles gleefully exclaimed. 

"Charles, this is a serious matter! You should not use such a congratulatory tone! Your sister has a serious problem with authority," Eleanor Norwit said. 

"That sounded like you were quoting Headmistress Vargrend, mother," Bellany interjected. "I do not think it is fair for members of all of the other faiths to be able to read about us when we are forbidden to read about them!" 

"Headmistress Vargrend had a thing or two to say about you, Bellany. Honestly, you got her funding pulled!" 

"That is nonsense and Headmistress Vargrend ought to know it. I never suggested that her funding should be pulled. She put me in a very long detention for reading what was censored. James missed me. The Jordells asked if she could reduce the length of my detention. I am sure they would have been happy had she reduced it even by a token amount. Instead she disrespected the Jordells' request. She of all people should know that one does not ignore one's betters." 

Darl Norwit nodded. "Headmaster Bristol said that he expected that Headmistress Vargrend might attempt to blame the shift in funding on you, but he has spoken with the Jordells and told me that it had nothing to do with you and everything to do with Headmistress Vargrend's behavior towards the Jordells. He said that Bellany and the Headmistress had personality traits in common that were bound to clash. Evidently he thinks you are both headstrong!" 

"I suppose he has a point," Bellany agreed. 

"Nevertheless, young lady, you broke the rules even if you had nothing to do with the Headmistress losing her funding. Your mother and I are not happy about that!" 

"I am sorry that I put you through this, daddy and mother, but what is done is done. Although I am not an authority on all the things Leland was censoring, I am not ignorant and therefore helpless either. Ignorance and helplessness did not help me to deal with the orcs in the past. I hope you will forgive me for failing to avail myself of them in the present!" 

"Gods, Bellany, ever since you came back from the orcs you have had more steel in you than any lady I know. No wonder James likes you," Charles observed. 

"I know that your mother is not happy with the steel, but I see the upside of it. If this report card is any indication then no one can complain about a lack of motivation on your part, Bellany. In every course in both semesters there is nothing less than an 'A'. The comments are along the lines of, 'quietly brilliant.'" 

"Vindicator's lobes, Bellany, you got straight 'A's' at Vargrend's!? Lighten up. You are making me look like the family dunce!" 

Bellany giggled. "But Charles, if I am bright why should I hold back?" 

"I suppose if you had held back when you went to save my life twice during this past year I would be pushing up daisies. That and you broke into the library stacks to read what Reverend Leland was censoring! Hah! You should get a medal for that! If you have to be Lady Brain I guess I can put up with it!" 

"Charles!" Eleanor Norwit scolded. 

"Face it mom, Bellany is gifted and I know gifted girls can be trouble, but consider how lucky you are. You could have a stupid daughter who was incapable of thinking for herself. Is that really what you want?" 

"Uh, well, is it too much to ask to have a daughter who behaves herself?" Eleanor Norwit stammered. 

"There would be no story in that! It would be utterly boring. How may parents have stories like the ones you can tell about Bellany?" 

Darl Norwit cleared his throat. "Let us not dwell on last semester's misbehavior. Headmistress Vargrend assured us that Bellany was paddled and put though a very long detention. She would have told us earlier, but she did not want there to be any chance of Reverend Leland getting hold of it and using it as an excuse to intensify religious tensions even more. As I mentioned, this semester Bellany again got straight 'A's'. Her Elfish teacher allowed her to take the second semester of Elfish even though she had not taken the first semester. Nevertheless it says here that, thanks to Master Leafwisper and Bellany's knack for picking up languages, she is more fluent in the language after a single semester than the other students were after the entire year. To top it off she defeated the rapier champion from Liaern and was instrumental in saving Charles and three grandchildren of peers from death at the hands of Reverend Leland and Lieutenant Herrington." 

"Sometimes I do not know what to make of you, Bellany," Darl Norwit shook his head incredulously. "Yet I respect your heroism and find it difficult to be hard on you after you have saved your brother's life. Your mother and I will never be able to thank you enough for that, and as Charles said, it was not the first time. We would both be in mourning were it not for you. I know that you could not have done what you did without the steel that the orcs put into your personality. You simply would not have had the backbone. 

"As you know, I deeply regret what you had to endure, but had you not endured it you and Charles would be dead twice over and we would have one child, not three. Whatever else happens between us, and whatever you may find out about the past, I want you to know that I love your mother very much. No matter what Leland might have told you, as far as I am concerned every child born of her womb is my child because I am her husband. We are a family and we have got to stick together!" 

Bellany watched a tear slide silently down Eleanor Norwit's cheek. Bellany did not know what was wrong with Charles' pedigree. His own words suggested Darl might not be Charles' biological father, nevertheless Darl was still Charles' _real_ father in the sense of being the man who raised and cared for Charles. Darl obviously loved Eleanor more than Lord Avengene, who would have sacrificed her children on the altar of politics. In spite of the conflict Brianna felt about Darl Norwit because of his execution of her real father, there was no doubt in her mind that Darl was a nobler man than Lord Avengene in spite of his common pedigree. 

"Tomorrow we will be having the Farewell Brunch here at the academy. Charles will be staying a few days before traveling to Rosehaven with Lord Jordell. With luck, Charles will be able to secure enrolment in the Rosehaven Tactical Academy. Bellany, you and your mother and I will be heading back to Norwit by way of the Academy of Righteous Wrath. The first part of our trip will be much as you experienced coming down, but once in Norwit we have decided to go a little further east before heading north. Abraham Steefl will be accompanying us and we will see him off as he begins his training at the Academy of Righteous Wrath. We will also be visiting your mother's niece, Charlotte, at the Convent of Contemplation near the academy. She is the mother superior there." 

"It seems strange to call her my niece. She is the same age as I am. As children we were like sisters. It is just that she was the daughter of Lord Avengene's first child, and I am his last child, and my birth was a bit of a surprise, twenty years after the birth of my eldest brother," Eleanor confided. 

"Indeed, I think you will like Charlotte, Bellany," Baronet Norwit added. "In any case we will spend the night as guests of the Academy of Righteous Wrath and then we will return home the next day. If all goes well we will safely return to our own hearth by Monday night. I have brought a dozen handpicked men. That is as many as Lord Bristol would allow. I have another dozen waiting at the border station on the road between Bristol and Avengene." 

"Daddy, may I ride Starstruck?" 

Darl looked at Eleanor as she spoke up. 

"No you may not, young lady. You are a granddaughter of Avengene. Now that you are getting older you must dispense with this tom-boyishness. You will wear a dress suitable for our appearance at the Academy of Righteous Wrath and the Convent of Contemplation. Honestly I do not know why you bothered asking. The answer should have been obvious." 

"But what if something bad happens?" 

"You just heard your father has that under control." 

"We could be attacked while still in Bristol. Vindicator knows we are not very popular here after Leland's plot. At least let me pack Starstruck in case we have to make an emergency escape." 

"Nonsense, you will need no such contingency." 

"But I have been attacked two times out of two trips to school, how can you say that?" 

"It would not hurt for Bellany to pack Starstruck for an emergency ride, Eleanor. I am doing my utmost to prevent the need for one, but surely you understand that this trip is associated with disaster in Bellany's mind. That is one of the reasons that we are taking so many men." 

"Fine, pack your stallion if it will make you feel better, but you shall not be riding him. Your father has taken great pains for our safety." 

After dinner awards were presented. Bellany watched Charles receive his merit medal for being the captain of the victorious crossbow team. Many of the other athletes also received medals. Bellany smiled warmly when it came time for James to receive his medal. After James received his medal, Headmaster Bristol spoke again. 

"Up until recently we were all under the impression that Lord Jordell was the rapier team. It was assumed to be a one-man show, but in the second last bout of the season Lord Jordell took ill and we found out that we had another student with exceptional talent. It took some doing to convince Headmistress Vargrend that a young lady should be allowed to compete in a tournament, but thankfully she allowed us to convince her that an undefeated season for our rapier team was important enough to embrace the unconventional. 

While Lord Jordell was ill, this other student took on Kyle Preston, the young swordsman from Liarn that Lord Jordell would later defeat to take the championship. The skill and wit demonstrated by the second member of the rapier team were such that Preston was unable to score a single point against her. For saving our rapier team's perfect season this year I am presenting the first tournament medal ever awarded to a young lady. Please come up and claim your well-deserved medal, Lady Bellany Norwit!" 

Bellany blushed crimson and hustled to the front to get her surprise medal. 

There was a great deal of applause while she and James took their bows, and then they returned to their respective tables as the awards ceremony continued. At the end of the boys segment of the program Baron Bristol spoke:

"I would like to advance my personal congratulations to each and every one of this year's distinguished scholars and champions. Every once in a while a young man goes above and beyond the call of duty to accomplish something truly heroic. In the event that this happens we have a special medal. This year a student at the academy exceeded every expectation of courage and gallantry, but what distinguishes this year from all of the others is that the recipient of this medal is a young lady. Lady Bellany Norwit, please come forward." 

Bellany blushed crimson yet again and made her way to Baron Bristol. 

"Milady, my granddaughter is alive today because of your unflinching courage! You thwarted the murderous intent of Leland and his deputies and saved important lives! Lady Norwit, I present you with the Medal of Conspicuous Gallantry, the highest honor that can be accorded a student of the Bristol Academy!" 

There was a thunderous round of applause during which Bellany blushed and curtsied before the crowd. When the pinning was over she returned to her seat.

Once Bellany was seated, Headmistress Vargrend started the girls' awards program. Bellany's name never came up in the long list of poets, culinary artists and musicians that had won awards. She did appear on the honor role, however. When she had finished with all the other awards Headmistress Vargrend stood before the assembled parents and students and paused dramatically. 

"Deciding on this semester's top Scholar at The Vargrend Academy for girls was extremely difficult. There were several worthy candidates and I had grave misgivings about one of our academically gifted young ladies. It is sometimes difficult for professors to get along with a student whose strength of spirit, will, and determination is as formidable as her intellect. Yet there is no question in my mind that this semester's winner is a trailblazer whose intellect will impact the thinking of future generations! 

"At the beginning of the first semester of the Trivium it has always been my custom to discuss the motto of The Vargrend Academy: Morality through Virtue. During the course of this discussion I always request that the young ladies suggest virtues that a young woman might exhibit. Early this year one young lady proposed that Valor was a virtue that could be exhibited by young women. The other young ladies and I felt that valor was inappropriate. Could we possibly have been more mistaken?!"

A brief chuckle ran through the audience.

"Nevertheless I might never have given our winner serious consideration without the clarion voices of two distinguished people. Lady Larissa Jordell suggested that it was not fair for her to be named the top scholar at the Vargrend Academy when she was positive that another student had a more formidable intellect. In addition, Baron Bristol observed that what I had mistaken as an annoyingly headstrong nature was actually a powerful demonstration of moral courage! I was also reminded by Headmaster Bristol that a certain young lady had kept our students from going without food during the vicious snowstorms we had this winter.

"Last semester Lady Bellany Norwit broke the rules in order to access every book Reverend Leland had forced us to censor for the 'benefit' of worshippers of the Vindicator. She endured serious punishment as a result. I was too close to the issue and simply wrote her off as a discipline problem. Baron Bristol pointed out that her courage had informed us that Reverend Leland's use of religion was wrong! This fact was underscored recently in the heinous demonstration that Leland himself perpetrated against the people of Bristol, Vargrend and the Academy. Baron Bristol, Headmaster Bristol and I now pledge to have the same courage as Lady Norwit. We realize that we will face objections, but the Academy will no longer censor its library with regard to individual faiths. We will not simply preach academic freedom, we will demonstrate it!" 

There was a hearty round of applause from the audience before Headmistress Vargrend again began to speak. 

"Although problems in discipline may preclude the consideration of a given candidate and heroic service may recommend it, the core qualification for the top scholar of the Vargrend Academy for Girls is academic excellence. When I spoke with Headmaster Bristol about determining our winner this semester, like any good mathematician, he recommended that I let the scores of each of my candidates speak for themselves. One young lady's scores spoke with commanding authority. Lady Bellany Norwit, congratulations on being this semester's top scholar at the Vargrend Academy!" 

Bellany smiled as she went up to collect her award. She endured another deafening round of applause. Once she had re-seated herself she looked back on her year at Vargrend's. It had been a tough year, but she felt as though she had finally broken through the social barriers that had been placed before her. Yet she knew that she would have no time to bask in glory. The school year was over and she felt sad that just when she was doing so well, it all had to come to an end. 
------- 

"Oh gods, Bellany, I am so spent, but I am positively floating," Mary whispered that night in bed. "You make me feel so wonderful! I had promised myself I would stay up later since it is our last night, but I am so exhausted I know that I am about to drift away. I sure will miss you this summer," Mary whispered dreamily. 

Bellany softly kissed and caressed her way up Mary's limp body from her position between her roommate's long legs. She held Mary and snuggled her for a long moment. 

"I am not gone yet, Mary. You have a wonderful deep sleep. I will see you in the morning." 

Bellany watched her roommate drift off. She was happy that Headmistress Vargrend had decided to put her with a young lady who had no interest in men, but a powerful interest in women. If she only knew how she had played into Bellany's needs, Headmistress Vargrend would have been scandalized! After a few minutes Bellany carefully disentangled herself from Mary and quietly got some clothing on, cast her traveling spells and headed out for the last meeting of the Medusa club. She always looked forward to Saturday nights and regretted that she must suspend her attendance for the summer. 

About midway through the bacchanal, Dempsy poked his head into the bedroom. "Hurry, th' new constable is on th' porch."

Bellany scrambled for the trapdoor while her latest paramour doused the bedclothes and himself with ale. Once she was under the floor she cast her illusion spell. She could hear the events transpiring above her. 

"Welcome Constable Bernard. It is good ta see ye're checkin' up on th' local nightlife. I hope none of me neighbors was complainin' about th' noise." 

"I should think not. It looks like all of your neighbors can be accounted for right here. I have a file left over from the old constable. I am in the neighborhood to check it out. It says he suspected you all had female entertainment, but he was never able to find the woman in question."

"Ye're welcome ta look fer any females hangin' aroun' here, Constable." 

"I surely will, Mister Cooyman. I was trained in Rosehaven as an inspector. You will find my methods are a bit different than those of Constable Herrington who was a military man. Would you mind removing yourself from the bed, sir?" 
Bellany felt a stab of apprehension at the new constables' words. 

"Er, wha? Oh, shhure," Bellany's recent mate pretended to be far more drunk than he really was. 

"Fascinating." 

"What'd that be, Constable?" Cooyman asked. 

"This is a magnifying glass and this is a pair of forceps." Constable Bernard sniffed. "This bed has obviously been soiled by the seminal emissions of several men and... what is this? It is a long, red hair. Do any of the men have long, red hair like this? Ah, here is another. If I had to venture a guess I would say that some wild times have been had on this bed and judging from the viscosity of the emissions I would say these times were very recent." 

"I was jus' dreamin' is all Constable." 

"That hair ain't nothin'. Haley Thomas has red hair. Or it could be left over from one o' the charges of me laundry lady," Cooyman scoffed. 

"Yes, yes, with the fact that I can find only two hairs I realize that there is room for denial of the presence of a lady, but given the evidence I should think there is reason to have a look around." 

"Look all ye want there, constable." 

The constable secured the hairs and a few other samples in vials. He then had his men slide the bed aside and open the trap door. He placed three lanterns under the floor so that every inch of the crawl space was illuminated. Bellany's illusion was proof against the lanterns but when a small deputy came down into the crawl space to check for additional secret doors she began to sweat. Rather than losing her cool she maintained the illusion while casting a mental illusion on the deputy. 

"Shut up, men, I need to know if th' whisper I might of heard was you or something down here," the deputy called up. 

"You heard the deputy, everyone clamp those lips," Constable Bernard commanded. 

Thankfully the time it took the deputy and the constable to shut everyone up was sufficient for a rapid casting of the mental illusion spell. When the deputy poked Bellany's body she was ready. 

"There is nothing but bricks and dirt down here, Constable. I have checked all four walls and the floor as well." 

"It appears that I owe you an apology, Mister Cooyman." 

"Aye, well a man can't fault ye fer doin' yer job, Constable Bernard. Would ye like to have a flagon o' ale with the men?" 

"I mustn't have anything strong while I am on duty, but I smelled some good cider, would you be willing to part with a modest cup for the deputies and me?" 

"It would be are pleasure," Cooyman assured the constable enthusiastically. 

After a few minutes the Constable and his men left and once the coast was clear Bellany came out from beneath the floor. 

"Gods I was sure we were cooked! Girl, how did ye escape three lanterns and a deputy?" 

Bellany smiled. "That is a strict confidence between me and the little deputy." Bellany winked. 

"Haaa! Well 'tis good ta know the little man is no fairy!" 

"I am sure he will deny seeing me if you bring the matter up, and I hope you will act as if no one was down there because that is what the deputy is going to do." 

"Aye of course we will. Thar aren't no wenches here, just one hellova hot medusa! Speakin' o' which I've got somethin' here 'tween me legs that's throbbin for ye." 

"I think there might be something I can do about that," Bellany smiled lustily as the party resumed. 

When the party was over she made sure to remain cloaked in darkness and to take a looping, circuitous route to the entrance to the secret passageway so that even if hounds attempted to retrace her steps the men following them would be in for some confusion. The new constable was obviously more intelligent than Herrington. She needed to take every precaution she could think of. 
------- 

Bellany slept less than an hour that night. She needed to rise early and begin packing Starstruck's saddlebags for an emergency ride. She left the Mortaebian crest in the bottom of one of the bags and added a pouch containing nearly half of the money from the highwaymen. She carried a purse containing a few coins on her person, but she had deliberately left the other half of her money with her spare spellbook in the desk drawer in Baladus' classroom. She felt having a stash of money in a secret location would be a good hedge against an uncertain future. She packed her spellbook, a blank book, pens, ink and writing accessories, some essential cosmetics, a small mirror, her herbs, some provisions from the kitchen, a bottle of water, the rapier and main gauche that she had received as solstice gifts from Jamie, the horse bow and its quiver of arrows that Jamie had given her, her bandolier of throwing knives, a couple of black riding dresses, a light black cloak and some spare socks and underwear. 

In addition she wore lingerie that could be ridden in even if the Vindicator dress she would be obliged to wear would not be suitable for riding without considerable alterations. Just to be safe she strapped the main gauche she had from the highwaymen to her thigh and tied her Starstruck hair sling around her other thigh along with a belt and a pouch containing a few sling stones. The ruffled dress she would be wearing would conceal her hidden articles as well as being extra feminine for the benefit of her mother. She polished up her most stylish pair of riding boots. She planned to wear black shoes to the brunch so that her mother would see them, but she would switch them for her boots before the trip. She was not about to wear dainty shoes that one could not ride or run in. She wished she had a boot knife, as the main gauche was just large enough to slow her down if she needed to sprint.

Once she was done with her private preparations she had to pack her dresses in the trunk that would travel atop the Norwit coach. Mary volunteered to help her but after thanking her roommate she said she needed to take a short break from packing first. She stopped at the library to check her mail and to pour over maps of Bristol and Norwit so that she could see the route that the Norwit coach would be travelling. If they were attacked on the road, Bellany wanted to have some idea of what direction to travel in depending on who was giving chase. Once she was satisfied that she had the lay of the land she returned to Mary and finished packing up the life she had known for the past three seasons. 

The farewell brunch went by very rapidly. James and the other emerald boys were all eager to say goodbye to her and she could tell that Mary was growing more distressed at losing her with each passing hour. By the end of the brunch Mary was a hair's breadth from bursting into tears. Even Bianca Bristol and Bruhnhilda Daelrath were on hand to say goodbye. Bellany noticed that the coach from Daelrath was parked in the academy courtyard loaded and ready for a trip much the same as the coach from Norwit was. Bellany made sure to wish Bruhnhilda a safe journey home. When it was all over Bellany hugged Charles and James and held Mary for a while as the poor girl wept. Then she checked Starstruck's tether and looked up into the sky as she heard a croak from a large raven that seemed to be circling above the academy courtyard. She smiled and got into the coach. She waved to her friends as she and her parents rolled out onto the road. 

Abraham Steefl's charger was tethered to the rear of the coach next to Starstruck, but the charger lacked both saddle and pack. Evidently Abraham's gear was being carried atop the coach. Meanwhile Abraham rode another horse that she did not recognize. Actually, she did not recognize any of the horses that were being ridden by the Norwit soldiers nor did she recognize the animals that were pulling the carriage. She also noticed that the dozen men at arms that Darl Norwit had brought were wearing unmarked livery as if they were common mercenaries. Sir Steefl was dressed to match. Bellany watched the knight from the coach window and waved to him every now and then. 

After going through the town of Vargrend, the Norwit coach headed north at an unusually brisk pace. 

"Mother, can the horses keep this pace up all day?" 

Eleanor Norwit shook her head rigidly. "Young lady, I told you that your father had planned this trip carefully. He has two sets of fresh horses lined up for us before we reach the border with Avengene. I find this pace jarring, but your father does not want a repeat of what you endured on the way down. Our own horses are waiting at the border station along with fresh soldiers. In view of the incident at the academy, your father did not want to stay the night in the countryside of Bristol. The Academy of Righteous Wrath is under an hour away from the border between Bristol and Avengene." 

Just as her mother had said, the men hastily exchanged the winded animals for fresh horses twice before they reached the border station. Although the changing of the horses took only about ten minutes, Bellany did get a chance to stretch her legs and look up into the sky. There was no way she could be certain that it was Nimbus, but she saw a large black bird circling both farms where the Norwits exchanged winded horses for fresh ones. At the border station a group of three-dozen soldiers replaced the original dozen that had taken them through Bristol. The set of horses that replaced their winded animals at the border station was made up of familiar animals from the Norwit stable. Bellany was a little worried over Starstruck and Abraham's charger having kept up the brisk pace for the entire trip, but the fact that neither animal had a rider, a pack or a load to pull had helped them out a great deal. In spite of the weight of the saddle and saddlebags that he wore, Starstruck seemed to be in much better shape than the heavy charger and was allowed to come along on the last leg of the journey. Abraham's charger was left at the station to complete the trip the next morning. 

The Norwit coach arrived at the Academy of Righteous Wrath on schedule just before dinnertime. After eating with the paladins and congratulating Abraham on his induction as a student, Bellany and her family went across a field to The Convent of Contemplation. It was a walled structure surrounded by the hayfields that provided fodder for the many horses kept at the Academy of Righteous Wrath. There were no women outside the structure. Evidently they did not get out much. 

The walls of the convent were over a dozen feet high and built of stone. Even from in front of the walls Bellany could see that there was a church of the Vindicator within the courtyard with a bell tower that was topped with a steeple. She doubted that the raven perched atop the steeple was a regular visitor. She strongly suspected that it was Nimbus who was following her. The oak door that led into the convent courtyard was elevated above ground level and could only be reached by mounting a wooden staircase. The door looked like it was built to withstand a siege. Once through the door they walked down a steep staircase, down a corridor and then up another flight of stairs. A stout door opened before them as they entered a reception room. 

Once inside Cousin Charlotte, the Mother Superior, seemed overjoyed to see Eleanor Norwit and ready to give her and her daughter the grand tour. Even though the Mother Superior allowed the doors to the public reception room to remain open, Darl Norwit had to wait behind a wrought-iron gate just behind where the doors could be closed. Men were not allowed anywhere in the convent but in the public reception room attached to the mother Superior's office. There was a second reception room for the ladies of the nunnery on the other side of the iron gate. Thus important male relatives to the sisters within the convent could visit and converse with sisters, but the iron barrier would separate them. The convent buildings consisted of a church that also housed the quarters and office for the mother superior, a residence hall, a large courtyard and several small outbuildings. 

"This was once just a modest courtyard. You can see that it has grown considerably because of an extension of our walls that was completed just a year ago," the mother superior beamed. "I thought the ladies here would benefit from hard work and with the academy just over the hill providing for our security with cavalry patrols and so on I thought it fitting that we should do something in return. That is why I put the entire expanded courtyard under cultivation. We fertilize the soil with manure from the academy's horses and we produce and store not only all of the vegetables for our own needs, but nearly all of the vegetables for the academy's needs as well."

"That is very impressive, Cousin Charlotte," Bellany praised. 

"Thank you, Lady Bellany, now let me show you the residence hall. We believe in solitary contemplation here. Our rooms are just tiny cubicles, but each sister has her own space." 

The rooms were small indeed, so small that the writing tables in the rooms straddled the foot end of the cots. After the tour of the residence hall the mother superior took the tour through the Church. It was relatively stark but immaculate.

"This is our bell tower. Our bell is not a grand one, but I think it has a beautiful tone and it is certainly big enough to do the job" the Mother Superior pointed upwards into the tower as she entered the square room at its foot. "We ring the bell to announce services and meals. Our champions at the Academy of Righteous Wrath know to come running in the event that this bell rings at any other time." 

Bellany curiously looked up. Something over forty feet above she could see a frame of beams that served as the foundation for a bell cradle that held a heavy brass bell. The rope that rang the bell went up through a rectangular hole in a wrought iron grating affixed to the underside of the beams. From there it went up and around the hub of a big wheel on one side of the cradle. The top of the tower was illuminated by the orange light of the sunset that shone in between the louvers in the windows that surrounded the belfry. 

"That concludes our tour. Let us go see if your father has not grown bored and left." 

The mother superior took Bellany's hand and led her to the wrought iron grate. Darl Norwit was sitting on a wooden bench in the reception room. He got up and came to the gate when the Mother Superior arrived with Bellany. 

"What do you think of the convent, Bellany?" Darl asked. 

"It is very clean and the vegetable garden is impressive," Bellany replied. 

As her mother appeared on the other side of the grating with her father, Bellany suddenly realized that only the mother superior and a few sisters were still in the room with her. 

"Bellany, I had hoped this would not be necessary but Headmistress Vargrend said there were rumors and I had a rumor of my own from some business associates. I asked the new constable for the town of Vargrend to help me look into this when I arrived Thursday and he put it together with another rumor that I had no idea about. I talked with Constable Bernard this morning and he gave me this hair from a weekly bacchanalian party known as the Medusa Club." Darl pointed his finger accusingly "This hair is yours, young lady." 

Bellany blushed crimson. 

"Headmistress Vargrend also extracted the confession of a young librarian's assistant at the academy," Darl continued. "Given that evidence I can only assume that means that the young lady that bested several businessmen that I am slightly acquainted with with a rapier was also you. There are persistent rumors that you have slept with many of the young peers of the emerald estates, not to mention that you are rumored to be James Jordell's naughty mistress." By this point Darl Norwit's face had reddened considerably with controlled anger. 

"Your mother decided that this was the only remedy for your behavior. I know you will not like it, but you will be off the political playing field here and safe from any political machinations of the Avengenes. I see now that your mother was right. I allowed you to have far too much autonomy and you asserted your independence far beyond propriety." Darl Norwit sadly shook his head as his anger drained away to regret. 

Bellany's hackles were standing up as she realized that she was locked in a convent, a scenario dragged straight out of her nightmares. "Daddy, I will go away to be a worldly woman elsewhere if you want, far away, but do not lock me here! Daddy I cannot be held captive again! I will _not_ be a slave again!" As the weight of her situation bore down on her, Bellany lost her temper. She was barely level-headed enough to realize that she could not use magic in front of the Norwits and the sisters. She would have to get the key. She grabbed the mother superior. 

"Give me the key!" 

"Unhand me, young lady. This is just what you need, years to contemplate the error of your wicked ways! Sisters, your assistance is required! Take our new sister to her room and remove her clothing!"

Darl Norwit grimaced from behind the iron gate as he saw his daughter twist out of the mother superior's grasp and hammer her with a combination of blows that broke her nose and brought her to the floor in an instant. Bellany swarmed onto the woman and frisked her as three sisters attempted to pull her off. She brought her elbow up hard against the first sister's temple while bringing her foot around for a swift kick to another sister's solar plexus. 

"Oooh!" The sister felt Bellany's foot hit her belly and force the wind out of her before the blow propelled her through the air to bounce off a nearby wall. She landed in a crying heap. Several more sisters came in to join the fray after the sister who had been stunned by a blow to the temple staggered out to get help. 

Bellany was frantic; the mother superior did not seem to have the key on her. Bellany thought of drawing her main gauche but she did not want to kill these women and the addition of a blade would only cause a hostage situation that the paladins of the Academy of Righteous Wrath would put an end to. 

"Forget the undressing, sisters. We will strip her of her worldly goods after she has had time to do penance for her violence. Take her to a vault of contemplation!"

Bellany fought like a wild thing, inflicting numerous bruises on the sisters that accosted her, but there were so many of them and even in her frantic state she did not want the fight to escalate to incorporate deadly force. In the end they dragged her out of the room, down the hall and down a flight of stairs to a cell in the church basement. 

As they neared the cell, Bellany saw that it had a stout oak door with a simple sliding wooden bar that slid behind a wooden strut installed on the outside of the door frame. The sisters threw her into the dark cubicle, shut the door and slid the bar home. Once they had Bellany contained, the sisters of the convent retreated to tend to their bruised and broken colleagues. 
------- 

She was in another dungeon, not a deep hole in the floor of a church but rather a stone-walled cubicle with a solid oak door. It was the smallest dungeon she had ever been in, but it was still a dungeon and she wept and beat on the door for several minutes before her rage and panic subsided enough for her to realize that she was not the helpless girl who had been thrown into the dungeon of Evangeline or even the novice spy that had been incarcerated beneath Rath Keep.

Bellany sniffled and began to consider her predicament. Most young women thrown into a cubicle like this one would have been blind and disoriented due to the lack of light, but she was a spell caster; there was no need for that in her case. She quietly cast Life Vision and looked around. There was a small chamber pot in one corner of the room. Otherwise the room was entirely featureless except for the door. There was no question that she needed to escape, but the simple bar on the other side of the door was not as easily dealt with, as a lock would have been. She had worked telekinesis through thin layers of material before, notably Abraham Steefl's flesh. She had also used telekinesis in areas that she could not see clearly such as inside most locks. Yet it was one thing for her magic to go around corners and quite another for it to go right through a thick door that fit tightly into its frame.

She knew that the oak door might be proof against her magic. Nevertheless she checked the hallway beyond as best she could with her lust sense to make sure that no one was present. At least her lust sense had little trouble with obstacles. It was more akin to telepathy than telekinesis. Once she was satisfied that no one was outside watching her door she gave telekinesis a try. Despite her best efforts she was unable to budge the bar on the other side with Floating Dagger. If she was penetrating the door at all, she lacked power enough to slide the bar on the other side. A brief stab with Dancing Sword also proved fruitless. Perhaps if she had studied the other side of the door and could have visualized it in better detail she might have been able to get her telekinesis to work. Unfortunately she had been struggling as she had been dragged into the room and did not get a chance to study the door. 

Bellany felt her inner thigh; she still had her main gauche! The sisters had not seen it beneath her finery. She drew it from its sheath and thought back to estimate the height of the bar from the floor. The door opened outwards rather than into the room the way a bedroom door would. Thus the hinges were on the other side. She could not use her knife to try to remove any hinge pins. If she whittled away at the part of the doorjamb on the side of the door opposite the hinges she would have access to the slit between the doorframe and the door. If she could enlarge the slit with her knife she could stick the knife above the bar and walk the bar backwards a fraction of the inch at a time by rocking the cutting edge of her blade. 

If she could escape without using magic, that would actually be preferable, since Bellany was not supposed to have any magic. She knocked on the door but could not tell by the sound where the bar was. She would just have to use her best guess as to the location of the bar. In all likelihood it would take an hour to carve through the portion of the doorjamb she would need to remove, yet since she did not want to leave her prison before the sisters went to bed she might have enough time to complete her task if she judged the height of the bar correctly. Bellany started quietly whittling towards her escape scarcely ten minutes after being incarcerated. 

After another ten minutes Bellany felt a slight chill and turned around. Her life vision allowed her to see a ghost trying to push Bellany away from the door.

"Why are you trying to push me away from the door, Lady ghost?" Bellany asked. 

The ghost looked appalled as if what Bellany had said to her had been a horror. In any case the ghost fled immediately. Bellany cast ghostly whispers just in case the ghost returned. About ten minutes later the ghost did return. 

"What are you doing," the ghost asked her.

"You know what I am doing, Bellany whispered. 

"You mustn't try to escape. The mother superior will be angry." 

"I doubt that I can make my cousin Charlotte any angrier. There is a good chance I broke her nose a little earlier this evening." 

The ghost's eyes widened. "You are in so much trouble! Perhaps you are not in as much trouble as I am, but enough. If you really are related to the mother superior, perhaps that will help, or perhaps she will make an example of you." 

"You are in more trouble than I am? How could you possibly have managed that?" Bellany asked. 

"I slept with another woman as a woman should only sleep with the man she is married to." The ghost hung her head. 

Bellany caused lust to tingle through the spirit as she recalled a few intimate moments with Mary. 

"It is a shame such things send worshippers of the Vindicator into a tizzy. I do not see why it matters. My roommate at school changed to worshipping Amorra because she realized that the Vindicator was not right for her. He does not accept women who love women." 

"Really? Did you sleep with your roommate and change faiths too? Is that why they put you here?" 

Bellany sighed. "I would have changed faiths but my mother is Eleanor Avengene and I knew she would not hear of it. I got incarcerated here because I slept with lots of men that I was not married to. I do not think mother knew about the women." Bellany shrugged. "At least I still have a few secrets." 

"It sounds as if you are totally out of control! I should not be talking to you. After my sin, I took a vow of silence but I am no good at keeping it. I was always locked up in here for breaking it. Now they are just ignoring me. No matter what I say, no one will acknowledge my presence. Even women who get locked in these vaults of silence next door to mine will not speak with me. You would think they would be crazy to hear anything. You are the first lady bad enough not to care about the mother superior's orders." 

Bellany smirked. "Well it is true about being bad enough not to care what Cousin Charlotte thinks, but how many of the girls only acknowledge chills when you touch them?" Bellany carefully touched the ghost's head with her ghost hand, "Mortadeus volata..." Bellany whispered the prayer to cast out compulsions from the ghost's mind in ancient common. 

"What was that language? You... touched me." The ghost looked as if she were crying and then embraced Bellany but her ghostly body and arms went right through Bellany's body. After a few moments she pulled out of Bellany. She looked confused but somehow a little more peaceful than before. 

"Why can you touch me but I cannot touch you?"

"I think you know the answer to the second question. I assume you have tried touching the other ladies. I know it is traumatic to think about this for you, but why let your fears hold you back? Existing in exile like this cannot be pleasant." 

"I have been going out of my mind for years. You cannot believe the pain of solitude that these ladies have inflicted upon me. You are the first person who has talked with me for ages. The others ignore me completely. They do not even give silent acknowledgement of my presence as in the old days. What is wrong with me?" 

"I think you know that. Think back to when you stopped getting any acknowledgement. What was going on?" 

The ghost looked uncomfortable but considered the question. "I misbehaved. I said something to another lady and they threw me into a vault of contemplation for breaking my vow of silence. I complained of illness but they paid no attention to me. I had used that excuse before, but this time it was quite real and I was so thirsty. The fever was horrible and after it ran its course no one spoke with me again."

Bellany nodded and softly stroked the ghost's hair with her left palm. "Was that when you discovered that you could visit women in the vaults next to yours?" 

The ghost looked frantically about.

"Relax, you can face this. I am sure you have known the reason for these things for some time. You have just been avoiding thinking about it. It is perfectly normal for people to avoid pain. Why should you be any different?" 

"But if I am dead why have I not gone to be with the Vindicator or to be punished for my sins?" 

"Maybe you realize that the Vindicator cannot accept you but somewhere in your heart you also realize that your love for that other woman was somehow precious and right, not wrong as you have been trained to believe. If you are conflicted internally, perhaps being unable to progress in the external world is a reflection of your conflict. Or it could be simpler yet, since you know the Vindicator punishes women who love other women, refusing to acknowledge your death allows you to avoid facing his wrath. There is another way, you know." 

"There is?" 

"I think it is obvious that you are sure that the Vindicator would not love and accept you as you are. Amorra embraces all who love. You could find peace with her. I would be glad to take you to one of her temples." 

"I tried to leave the convent once. I had found that walls no longer impeded me and for a few minutes I faced that and put it to use, but what I saw when I went through the outer wall scared me so badly that I never tried it again. I was nearly swept away. How can I go anywhere if I have to face that?" 

"By being aware of you I can anchor you to the material world. If you stick close to me you will be untouched by the chaos beyond the objects that were familiar to you during your life. Since I am familiar with and aware of you I will serve as an island in the chaos." 

"But why can you see me and talk to me when no one else can?" 

Bellany decided to avoid talking about magic or Mortaebius since she did not want to spook the spirit of a Vindicator girl. She also needed to find a way to escape that would not suggest that she had any supernatural powers to those who might later investigate her escape. "It is just a talent I have. Initially I just served as a calming presence to spirits but in time I learned to hear and converse. I am glad that I did. Sometimes being a calming presence is not enough. It helps to be able to listen, don't you think?" 

"You do not know how long I have waited to speak with anyone, let alone a beautiful noble lady with such a wonderful touch. It is hard for me to believe that you could be as bad as you have said. Why don't you stay with me instead of trying to escape? The mother superior will be so angry." 

"Would you really want to inflict a life of silence and solitude on me after what you have endured?" 

"Oh gods no, but you would not be alone. I could speak with you. What is your name? My name is Teresa." 

"My name is Bellany. Teresa, why don't you come with me and find peace. Even if I were to shirk my destiny and stay here, you would still be trapped here in exile between life and death. I would not last long as a sister. I would lose my mind here and act out. Eventually I would wind up athwart of a paladin's sword or some such. Then I would die and I would not stay here because I am no longer a Vindicator girl. I would go instantly to the land of the dead and you would be alone again. Long, silent years would pass and eventually this place would grow old. The sisters would leave and it would fall to ruin and there would be no one to watch to keep your mind off your exile. Leave with me and rejoin the cycle of life and death. The alternative is an eternity of harrowing solitude." 

The spirit leaned into Bellany and cried. "I have been so lonely for so long." 

Bellany comforted Teresa for a time. 

"I need to get back to work on my escape now. You really can come with me, Teresa. I have had spirits ride with me before. You can occupy the same space as my body and as long as you are fairly close to me you will not be swept away and the fear need not touch you." 

"You are comforting and so beautiful! What if I do not want to leave you? What if I just want to stay with you forever?" 

"You can stay with me for as long as you wish if you can put up with me. From time to time I may have other spirits riding with me and you may or may not get along with them. I am also very naughty with men and sometimes women and I am a warrior. You would see lust and death and all manner of things that a nun is supposed to shut herself away from." 

"I would see all the things I would have seen if I had had a life. If only I could have taken my faith more seriously! I might have become a handmaiden of the Vindicator, but I am horribly flawed. I see women so wrongly! Perhaps it would have been better had I seen all those worldly things that you speak of. Perhaps a normal life would have been preferable." 

"I hope you would not have seen quite as much as you would see with me, but yes I suppose you could have seen a lot had you not been locked in a convent." 

"I will check the hallway for sisters who might hear the action of your knife." 

Bellany smiled. "Thank you Teresa." 

A few minutes passed and Teresa returned. "There is no one in the hallway. Is there anything else I can do?" 

"Yes, could you poke your hand through the bar and the door from the other side? I am not sure if I am at the right level. I need to carve this opening at the level of the bar. Maybe later you could check to see if the sisters are asleep. I hurt the sisters enough earlier. I would prefer a clean escape with no further combat." 

Teresa nodded and disappeared through the door. 

"The top of the bar is here, and the bottom is here," Teresa said. She held her hand flat with the palm down at the level of the top of the bar and with her palm up at the level of the bottom of the bar. 

Bellany marked the door with her knife at the appropriate levels. She had been too high and had essentially wasted half an hour. It was important that she make good time. The success of her escape would depend on how much of the night remained once she got out. 

Teresa came back through the door. "How was that?" 

"I was too high, but thanks to you I am now right on target. That was very helpful, Teresa, thank you." 

Teresa sighed. "You have no idea how wonderful it is to have someone to talk with. 

"I am happy to talk with you as long as you do not mind me working while we converse. Conversation would be nice since this is not the most exciting task." 

Bellany worked steadily carving away the door jamb at the level of the middle of the bar. She had decided that carving her way through behind the bar would be better than coming through above it. That way her modifications would not be visible from outside of her cell. While she worked she got to know Teresa. Teresa�s childhood had not been that different from Brianna Barter�s. She had grown up in a small town in Avengene. About an hour later Bellany had carved through the doorjamb and widened the crack between the door and the frame so that she could stick her knife through to the sliding wooden bar. All she had to do was angle the knife slightly before sticking the point into the bar on the left side of the crack. She could then lever her knife so that the knife's point would shift to the right side of the crack. This slid the bar backwards a fraction of an inch at a time. Perhaps several hundred repetitions would be necessary to slide the bar back far enough to open the door but it took scarcely a second for one repetition. 

"There, I think I have it. Do you know how late it is, Teresa?" 

"I think it is after lights out. Let me check to see if the sisters are abed." Teresa left and then returned in a few minutes. 

"Most of the sisters are asleep or contemplating their sins in their rooms. The mother superior is working on paperwork in her study. She has an appliance on her nose." Teresa could not help smiling. 

Bellany grinned wryly. "I must have broken her nose while she and the sisters were trying to subdue me. I am sure there are wounds throughout the convent. I do not take to incarceration easily. It is against my nature to be locked up." 

"That is surely obvious, but you cannot escape. Why are you trying?" 

"Why can I not escape?" 

"The walls are too high. We have no ladders that are near that high and no building or tree is near enough the wall to be useful." 

"What about the bell tower? It has a rope." 

"If you pull the rope you will ring the bell. Even if you could keep it from ringing somehow you could not get a sufficient length of rope. If you climbed up and cut the rope high enough to have a length as high as the wall you would sustain injuries if you dropped from that height back to the floor." 

"Aren't there windows at the top to let the sound out into the countryside?" 

"Yes, but the tower windows are filled with wooden louvers in place of glass to keep out the birds while allowing the sound to escape." 

"Is there an access door to the ledge outside the belfry to allow access to the roof and steeple?�

"I don�t know I have never been up in the belfry.�

"If not, I will need to deal with the louvers. At least there are no bars." 

"The bell cradle is built into a frame of four beams. There is a catwalk around the cradle for maintenance people but you could not climb up to it because the bell rope passes through a wrought iron grille before it reaches the wheel of the bell cradle. Even if you get up to the catwalk and through the louvers on the windows all you could do is lower yourself to the church roof and the roof is not quite close enough to the wall to jump to, and unless you have a hook you will not be able to catch the top of the wall with the rope." 

"That is true, but maybe instead of trying to get onto the church roof, I could remove some louvers on the opposite side. If I moved the bell's rope I could rappel off the bell tower and swing out to the wall. The tower is only about a dozen feet from the wall." 

"That might work if you could get to the right window. Perhaps one of the beams holding the bell goes in the right direction but how would you get down from the wall without being injured?" 

"I could hang and drop if I had to. The fall would be about ten feet. It would hurt but I would probably sustain minimal injuries. I might also be able to figure a way to retrieve the rope. Actually, the entry door that goes through the wall is raised; I could hang and drop onto the landing of the stairway that leads up to it." 

"Yes, that might work." 

"Then it sounds like rappelling from the tower to land atop the outer wall, and then hanging and dropping from the wall onto the outer stoop would be my best bet." 

"It would take forever to carve through several louvers with a knife. Your plan is wild. It is just not practical for a lady. You would have to be an acrobat." 

"Wait, you must have farming implements. They might be more effective for removing the louvers." 

"The mother superior checks all of the gardening tools in before supper and locks them in the shed. She is the only one with a key. You will never get in." 

"I think I can find a way to deal with the lock. Have you any axes?" 

"There are no axes but there is a mattock." 

"That would do nicely. I suppose we had better get started. First let me take off this dress. It was practically created to make running impossible." 

Bellany could feel soft flickers of lust from Teresa as she stripped to her lingerie. As she undressed Bellany reviewed her plan. She realized that she would have to climb around the grille beneath the bell, but she hoped she would be able to get to the catwalk around the bell cradle. If she was not careful climbing the rope, she might inadvertently ring the bell, which would not do. She wished that she could somehow get her dress tied around the clapper of the bell for an extra measure of safety but she did not know if she would be able to use telekinesis with Teresa around. 

A few minutes later Bellany completed moving the bar backwards and pushed the door open. She closed it behind her and slid the bar back into place. The basement hallway where she stood was completely dark. With her life vision Bellany could see the green glow of plant life on the other side of the wrought iron grilles behind the basement windows. Indoors her life vision showed the hallway as a grey expanse. Wooden doors were lighter than the surrounding stone, but the radiant color provided by living things was absent from the basement corridor. Despite the relative lack of features, her Life Vision did provide the sense of depth and perspective needed to navigate in complete darkness. Bellany had witnessed the exception to this rule when she had been caught in a blizzard that filled the air with snowflakes that radiated the same degree of life force as the snow that covered the ground and all other surfaces. Bellany looked at Teresa and spoke in a whisper:

"There, the wonderful thing about the way we opened the cell door is that all the damage is on the other side. The sisters will not know I got out unless they open the door and inspect the other side. Please lead me to the shed with the gardening tools. I do not wish to hurt any sisters as I did when I fought them earlier this evening. Thankfully I had just enough sense left beneath my temper not to draw my knife. If we can accomplish this escape succinctly then I will not have to hurt anyone. That is definitely what I would prefer. Please take me to the garden shed." 

Teresa nodded and hurried ahead. Bellany followed her down a short hallway to the foot of a stone staircase. She took the stairway up two steps at a time, but she moved slowly and stealthily rather than jumping the stairs at a run. She was glad the dungeons were under the church rather than the residence hall, but she realized that the mother superior's quarters were also in the church above the entry area and offices right in front of the bell tower. Thus the use of stealth was still of some concern. Teresa disappeared through the closed door at the top of the stairs, but Bellany could not open it.

"Teresa!," Bellany whispered forcefully before the spirit got too far away.

"What's wrong?" Teresa asked as she returned.

"The door is locked, but I don't see a keyhole," Bellany informed the ghost.

"There is a small brass bolt on the other side."

"This door opens inwards. I might be able to pop the hinge pins." Belany checked the pins and pried at them with her knife. She was able to get one of them to move, but she would have needed a hammer to budge the others. She peered through the crack in the door and located the brass bolt with her life vision. Since there was no door jamb in the way, it took her only a few minutes to carve a wider crack between the door and its frame.

"Teresa, please go to the other side and tell me what is happening with the bolt."

Teresa nodded and stepped through the door.

Bellany stuck her blade through the crack so that the tip of her blade slid over the top of the bolt and tried to work the bolt backwards by walking the blade. 

"Please tell me if the bolt is moving," Bellany said as she attempted to slide the bolt backwards.

"There is a catch � a slot the bolt handle falls into after it is slid into the hole. You will have to roll the bolt towards you and then try to back it up."

"Okay thank you, Teresa," Bellany whispered.

Bellany quietly cast her Floating Dagger telekinesist spell, and then she stuck her knife in above the bolt, pushed down and slowly slid the knife backwards. It might have taken several tries to roll the bolt, but Bellany assisted herself with telekinesis so that the bolt rolled effortlessly and did not fall back to prevent sliding the bolt back.

"It's turning. Okay, now you may slide it back," Teresa reported from the other side of the door.

Bellany gradually slid the bolt by moving the edge of her blade with a twist of her wrist, before lifting and twisting again and again. After several minutes of repetition she heard Teresa on the other side of the door.

"That's got it Bellany."

Bellany opened the door and smiled at the ghost. "Thank you Teresa."

"You are welcome, Bellany. I am not sure where to go from here. I am pretty sure that all of the outside doors are locked."

"Take me to the bell tower then. I might as well get a good look at what I am up against." 

As Bellany followed Teresa into the dark corridor past the upper end of the staircase the soft echoes of her boots upon the floor tiles seemed loud in comparison to the sound of crickets penetrating from outdoors. The utter lack of lighting made it obvious that the sisters did not believe in wasting candles or torches after lights out. It was ironic, but Bellany was glad that Aunt Charlotte had taken her on a tour of the convent. When she passed the doors to the sanctuary she recognized them. Farther down the corridor they passed another door that led to the offices and entry area. As they neared the door to the residence hall Teresa turned and disappeared through the doorway to the bell tower.

"This door is wide open," Bellany whispered as she walked into the tower and looked up towards the bell about fifty feet above her. Unfortunately there really was a wrought iron grille below the bell to insure that anyone that climbed the rope would never reach the bell. Bellany knew one could probably hang from the grille and go hand over hand until one reached a beam, but the beams were large and climbing up from the grille would be practically impossible.

"The doors leading from the residence hall to the bell tower are always open in case we need to ring the bell to alert the paladins at the academy that we have an emergency."

Bellany smiled as she studied the tower. There was a maintenance ladder attached to the wall that started about twenty feet up and went all the way up to the belfry. 

"They must bring a ladder from the academy when they come to grease the works of the bell," Bellany observed.

"They do, but men from the academy do the maintenance while we sisters are kept away."

"If I could get up to that maintenance ladder we would be in business. I could use knotted cloth as improvised rope. What might we be able to get as far as blankets, sheets and tapestries?"

"There might be bedding on the bed you were going to sleep in before you got confined instead, and there is only one tapestry in the convent, and that is the one behind the pulpit," Teresa replied.

"Good, I think we are in business. Let's go to the sanctuary," Bellany suggested.

"But Bellany you cannot use the sacred tapestry as a ladder!"

"Perhaps if there are enough cubicles with bedding that I can raid to use as impromptu rope I will be able to spare the tapestry, but I am not going to search through the residence hall to see what I can find. There is far too great a chance that I would get caught unless I knew exactly where to go. If you want you can search for me and then return and lead me to the right rooms."

Teresa nodded. "If it will save the tapestry I will go search for you. None of the sisters see me even when I want them to."

"Thank you Teresa. I will study this problem while you are assessing the bedding situation."

Bellany looked up once again. If she put tension on the rope very gradually, she might manage to move the bell slowly enough to keep it from ringing. She could then climb up the rope twenty feet and swing back and forth until she was able to catch onto the maintenance ladder. She thought about using telekinesis to wrap her dress around the bell clapper to mute it, but if she was going to use telekinesis she might as well just send her dagger up to cut the rope. Bellany's floating dagger telekinesis spell was still running in a corner of her mind since she had cast it to open the bolted door. She threw her main gauche upwards with as much strength as she could muster. The dagger should have flown twenty or thirty feet upward only to fall back to the ground, but her telekinesis added to its upward momentum allowing the knife to reach the grille beneath the bell quite rapidly. There was a sizable rectangular opening that allowed the rope to go through the grill and up to the wheel. She sent the dagger through the breech. Rope was made of fibers from plants that had once lived. As such it had a certain amount of ambient life force that lingered with it and distinguished it from the iron wheel that it was attached to. This was fortunate since the visibility made it easier to work at such a long distance.

Bellany tried not to fret about the distance to her dagger. Instead she moved her dagger's blade across the rope near the point where it met the rim and began to go up and over the wheel. She cut at a slight downward angle so that the rope would support part of the weight of the blade. She avoided using the point of the blade because it was no longer razor sharp owing to carving she had done earlier. Instead she used the blade closer to the hilt. As she worked she fondly recalled rubbing her golden comb across her clit when she was learning telekinesis in the detention room at Vargrend�s. It had been a trying time, but the freedom it had given her was considerable. She might even have been able to walk right out of the convent by using her telekinesis on the locks, but she needed to escape in a way that did not reveal her as a magician or a locksmith. Before long the severed rope tumbled to the floor. It made more noise than she would have liked, but far less than the slightest ringing of the bell.

Bellany returned her dagger to its sheath, coiled the rope tightly and then tossed the coil upwards towards the maintenance ladder. She used her telekinesis to make sure that the coil went over the first rung of the maintenance ladder twenty feet above her and then fell down along the wall. She put a loop in one end of the rope, inserted her foot and then pulled the other side of the rope to put tension on the loop. She then hoisted herself up hand over hand until she reached the ladder. Once on the ladder she coiled the rope, slung it over her shoulder and climbed up the ladder into the belfry. 

Bellany raised an eyebrow as she spotted a small roof maintenance door. It was not on the correct side of the tower for her purposes, but she was pretty sure there was a ledge that ringed the bell tower just outside. The height would be a little scary, but she could make her way around. The door would certainly make things a little easier than having to break through the louvers. She walked over to the bell mechanism, examined it and found that there was a flat bar that could be engaged to stay the bell. It was fastened with a bolt. Bellany smiled, unscrewed the nut and removed the bolt. She set the fasteners aside and brandished the rod. She used the rod as a pry bar to pry the louvers of one of the bell-tower windows apart wide enough to feed the rope through. She went to the next window on the same side of the tower and pried the louvers apart there as well. Then she fed the rope through and used her telekinesis to grab it and pull it up. She pulled it through the louvers in the next window and made a loop around the short section of wall between the two windows. She was finishing the knot in the loop when Teresa floated up into the belfry.

"Goodness how did you get up here, Bellany?"

"I climbed up the rope and swung to the ladder," Bellany lied convincingly. I removed the stay from the bell mechanism and have been using it as a pry bar. I have one end of the rope secured around the beam between those two windows. That should hold me. I just need to feed the end of the rope outside."

Bellany continued to work on her escape. She pushed the knot between the louvers as she pried with the bar. She then fed the rest of the rope through before heading out the maintenance door. It was secured with a simple sliding bolt on her side of the door. A half moon peeked briefly from behind one of the clouds scattered across the sky as she stepped out on the ledge. The night air felt a bit chill on her arms, but it was bearable. She found the sound of crickets and the spaciousness comforting after being locked in the dungeon, but the height was dizzying. She kept her eyes on her footing and tried not to think about it. Once she made her way around the tower she grabbed hold of the rope and passed it around behind her. She rappelled down the wall of the tower bouncing with increasing leg power as she got down near the level of the top of the wall. Bellany landed atop the wall with a satisfying thud. She regretted not being able to retrieve the rope but she guessed that she probably would not need it. She let go of it and slowed its swing with her telekinesis. It made hardly a sound when it hit the outer wall of the church.

Teresa floated cautiously down from the bell tower to the top of the wall. "I can't believe that you are really escaping. I sometimes thought of escaping, but I was not nearly the athlete that you are."

"Follow me. It's never too late you know. You can come with me to stay, or I can take you to a temple of Amorra if you like," Bellany whispered as she walked rapidly along the top of the wall until she was above the entry stairway that went through the wall from the outside. 

"From here I can hang and drop down to the stoop outside the door into the courtyard. I will stand against the door so that you can come through to me, Teresa." 

The drop stung her feet but did no lasting damage. Bellany stood against the door for a time. She heard the croak of a raven from a nearby tree. Finally she heard a whisper from above her. It was Teresa standing atop the wall where Bellany had stood before dropping down. 

"I had to make sure you got down safely. It is all right. I will stay here. It is my home." 

"I wish you would come, Teresa, but if it is your decision to stay then I must honor that. I am going to leave now. Thank you so much for helping me." 

"You are welcome, Bellany. You cannot believe how much peace you have brought me. Just to feel your touch and hear your voice speaking to me at last..." 

Propelled by her longing, Teresa wafted down from the wall. Bellany could feel the spirit pass into her body, but she did not stay. She passed through Bellany into the land of the dead. 

Bellany paused for a reverent moment: "Farewell, Teresa." 

Bellany looked up at the night sky. Clouds were scattered across it with a nearly solid bank of clouds moving in from the west. The stars shown brightly, but for the moment the moon was behind one of the clouds. Before it came out she wanted to cover as much distance as she could. As she rushed through the fields towards the Academy of Righteous Wrath, Bellany prayed:

"Wise Mortaebius, Lord and Judge of the dead, Teresa's final deeds were worthy. I pray that she will be sent to the goddess Amorra who will see the beauty of her spirit and cherish her rather than despise her as would the Vindicator." 

Bellany blinked back a few tears as the moon drifted out from behind a cloud. She hoped Mortaebius had heard her prayer. She was sad to see Teresa go, but happy that she had rejoined the cycle of life and death. 

As Bellany made her way through the fields towards the academy, she heard a fluttering sound. She held her left arm up as much out of habit as anything else. She was half surprised when a bird landed on it. 

"Croaaak, pruck-pruck mringlegrunglerungle," Nimbus said as if he were complaining to her for having to work such long hours. 

"Goodness Nimbus it is awfully dark to be flying. I am sorry I could not have come out at some other time, but I was locked in that convent and I doubt they would have let me escape during the day so that we could have better light and more sleep." 

"Croaaak-pruk-pruk," Nimbus bobbed his head and then he rubbed his head against Bellany's ghost hand. 

"Let me cast Life Vision on you so you do not crash into anything in the dark, Nimbus." Nimbus took off and landed on the branch of a sturdy bush. Bellany raised an eyebrow and cast her Life Vision spell on the bird. 

"Croaaaak ni-na-na-na-ni," Nimbus exclaimed as he cocked his head and looked around with his changed vision. He seemed to believe that there was an angle that he could tilt his head that would bring sense to the new vision. Evidently he found it because he went aloft scarcely a minute after she cast the spell. 

The Academy of Righteous Wrath was a collection of buildings that clustered around a hill that was capped by a keep. The area around the hill was enclosed by a stockade fence that was in the process of being replaced by a stone wall, but it was a huge undertaking. She did not know how many actual spell-casting priests were in residence at the Academy of Righteous Wrath but she feared what magic might be in place. Perhaps it was just as well that Teresa had not come. If Leland had been able to cast a ward against spirits that gave Baladus so much trouble in a relatively short amount of time, how much stronger might the wards around the academy be if several priests had been able to spend considerable time on them? She hesitated even to go to the academy but she knew that Starstruck was there and she would be far too easy to catch up with if she were to try to escape on foot. In all likelihood no magic would be present, except perhaps in the main keep. 

As she approached the academy, Bellany saw a cavalry patrol on the road beyond the field and froze. The two mounted men carried red-glassed lanterns and wore chain mail. Thankfully they did not seem to be looking for anything in particular. Bellany slowly sunk to the ground and waited until they were well past her before continuing on. She did not want to alert any guards. There were far too many riders available at the academy for her to risk being chased. She used her lust sense and her life vision to check for guards outside the fortifications as she circled carefully around the stockade fence surrounding the Academy. It was a simple matter to follow it to where it nearly met the stone wall that was replacing it. The gap was guarded, but the torch-bearing soldiers paced back and forth before the gap. Bellany decided that it was worth the risk and cast Clinging Darkness on herself before she approached stealthily along the wall. She ducked under the single rail that had been placed across the breech while the guards were heading away from her. 

There were a few pairs of guards wandering along the catwalks on the finished sections of the walls and through the huge courtyard on guard duty. They carried either torches or the same red-glassed lanterns that she saw on the cavalrymen. Thankfully the courtyard was too large to light effectively without going to a great deal of expense. She stuck to the shadows close to the wall where her magical darkness would not stand out and soon made it to the stables. No doubt the cavalry patrols were dispatched from the stables because they were still open in spite of the hour. Two ten-foot wide barn doors stood open allowing horsemen to ride in and check with the sergeant on duty. He stood behind a tall desk illuminated by red lanterns just inside the entrance on the left.

Getting past the sergeant would be risky. Bellany gave the entrance a wide berth and ducked behind the right hand corner of the building to observe. After a while a pair of men that had been patrolling the courtyard stopped by and began talking with the sergeant. Bellany saw her chance and slipped past them into the stables. Once she was well past the men and deep in the stables she squealed softly and listened for Starstruck's answering whiney. She doubted that even a stable hand could have distinguished her soft squeal from one made by a mare. 

She heard her stallion's reply and quickly found her way to his stall where she cast Life Vision on him. He nuzzled her affectionately. Her saddle and saddlebags had been placed over the rail of his stall, probably because the Norwits had planned to be leaving first thing in the morning and there was no sense in double-handling her things. She doubted if her father and mother had even touched them. It was more likely that the same men that unpacked the other Norwit horses unpacked Starstruck in the same way. 

Bellany smiled as she saddled her fine, black stallion. She took a few moments to check her saddlebags to make sure they really had not been touched. When she was satisfied she pulled out one of her black riding dresses and donned it. She also put on the light hooded cloak that she had packed. She thought she had plenty of time since she had apparently escaped the convent undetected. After putting on her rapier, main gauche and her bandolier of throwing knives, she took straw from four other stalls and spread it around in Starstruck�s stall, thus adding a bit of confusion for any hounds instructed to pick up her stallion�s scent. Once she was ready to leave she quietly tore a page from the blank book she had packed so that she could write Bellany's father a note. 

"Dear Daddy," She wrote. 

"Please give my apologies to Aunt Charlotte for breaking her nose.

"I know that mother finds having a lusty daughter unconscionable, but that is just the way I am. You may blame it on natural inclination or on the orcs, but the reason behind the fact is not going to change the fact. I suspect you have known and appreciated lusty women in your younger days as a soldier, but that you are having a difficult time accepting that your only daughter could be one of them. Although I may enjoy men, I find captivity intolerable!"

Bellany paused in her writing as she heard a voice from the front of the stables. 

"Look sharp, Sergeant Caladon! The mother superior just arrived and is heading over to talk to Lord Norwit and the high priest. Evidently Lord Norwit's girl escaped the convent and took the rope to the bell with her!" 

"Hahah!" Both men laughed. 

"You have got to be kidding me, Corporal Wilkes!" 

"No, really, the mother superior had to walk all the way over here because she could not sound the bell. She passed through the gate just a moment ago."

Elsewhere in the stable Bellany's mouth formed into a silent "O." It was obvious that the mother superior must have heard something during Bellany's escape that had prompted her to investigate. Bellany hurriedly finished the note: 

"I refuse to trade captivity under the orcs for captivity under the Vindicator or the Avengenes! I will be the master of my own fate or die fighting! 

Love,

Bellany
------- 

She folded the note and placed it over the rail of the stall before she hastily shoved her ink and quill back into her saddlebag. She quietly led Starstruck out of his stall as she listened to the men conversing elsewhere in the stables. 

"Lieutenant Moggins said we had better start saddling horses because if he knows Lord Norwit, every available man and mount is going to be pressed into service for this search." 

"Then we ought to saddle the fastest mounts first, Corporal, starting with Flashin' Dandy here. With luck we can catch her before she gets too far and complicates the search."

"-Sounds good. As soon as Mother Charlotte talks to Lord Norwit I am certain he will send hounds and a horde of staff members and cadets this way." 

"I hear Miss Norwit became quite the war lady since she returned from being an orc slave girl. What made her join the convent?" 

"I haven't heard - bad behavior maybe?" 

Bellany was tempted to fill the men in, but she resisted. Instead, she cancelled her magical darkness. She would have liked to keep it, but there was too much of a chance that it would stick out now that the academy was awakening and she did not want to be accused of witchcraft in addition to breaking out of the convent. Next she simply rode towards the open door to the stables at a slow walk, hoping neither of the men would notice her since several rows of stalls separated them. As she went she clandestinely cast Bestow Vitality on her pony. By the time she was opposite the stables desk she had finished casting for the third time. 

"Hey, who goes there?" 

Bellany was tempted to reply, but she held her tongue hoping it was too dark for for a positive identification. 

"Damn it, was that her?!" 

She urged Starstruck to a gallop and left the men guessing. 

Half way across the courtyard she saw a group of cadets on foot being led towards the stables by Darl Norwit, but she did not give them a second look. Instead she rode straight for the breach. Starstruck catapulted over the single rail across the breach nearly braining the guards that had just arrived to see what all the commotion was about. 
------- 

Bellany streaked across the field to the road. Once on the road she headed towards Bristol at a pace no horse could hope to maintain for more than a mile or two without magical augmentation. She glanced behind her and saw a rider clearing the rail. 

"Come back here!" Corporal Wilkes hollered. 

He was a smaller man than the stable desk sergeant, but Bellany was sure that Darl Norwit would have chose someone as small as Skitch for his fastest horse if he had had a choice. The large, lanky stallion that Wilkes was riding looked fast. For an instant Bellany had a sinking feeling, but she forced it from her mind. Wilkes had taken precious seconds to make his guess at her identity, and to do so he had come away from Flashin' Dandy's stall. Afterwards he had been obliged to run back and secure any tack not yet on the horse. She had a lead and all she needed to do was maintain it. The life force that she had pumped into her stallion would insure that he would not tire as quickly as the mount of her pursuer. In addition the Life Vision spell she had cast on Starstruck would insure that he was much less likely to misstep in a dark field and break a leg than anyone following her if she felt obliged to leave the road. Unfortunately she doubted that the Avengene mounts would have trouble seeing on the moonlit road even if their human riders did. She gave Starstruck his head and stayed high in the saddle in an attempt not to impede his motion. 

For the first mile Wilkes steadily gained ground. Several more riders left the academy at the rate of one or two riders every few minutes, but Bellany was confident that they would not be able to surmount the lead she had on them. Wilkes, on the other hand, was only about ten horse-lengths back and still gaining, if more slowly than he had been earlier. If she could stay out of their clutches long enough, the bank of clouds moving in from the west would douse the moon and compromise visibility even more, but Wilkes was already too close for comfort. 

"Don't let him catch us Starstruck. We _have_ to get away!" Bellany pleaded over the thundering of her stallion's hoofbeats. For the next half mile Wilkes made small but steady gains. He managed to get to within three lengths of Starstruck's rump, but by the time they were about two miles from the academy something wonderful began to happen. Starstruck began to gradually pull ahead. The other horses gained on Wilkes, but by the time they got within sight of him their mounts were as winded as his.

Bellany guessed that Baronet Norwit had sent his fastest riders with orders to run their horses to death if necessary, knowing that even if some of the horses succumbed to exhaustion it was likely that one or two of them would catch up with her the moment exhaustion caught up with her fine, black stallion. She was not going to let that happen, but she also refused to run her beloved pony to death trying to escape. 

Luckily she had an alternative. She waited for a straight stretch of road, dropped her reins and began casting, making sure her arms were in front of her so that even if one of the riders behind her was blessed with magnificent night vision, he would be unable to tell what she was doing. Bestow vitality was a simple cantrip, but given the jarring speed at which she was moving it seemed nearly impossible to cast. After nine attempts one connected. Four attempts later vitality again surged into her stallion. She cast the spell four times before nearly falling off her mount and thinking better of casting at a gallop. 

As his fatigue drained away, Starstruck's lead began to expand. He gained length after length until there were a hundred yards separating him from the other horses. Over the next ten minutes Starstruck expanded his lead to two hundred yards. Bellany looked ahead. If her memory served her correctly the road would soon begin to meander somewhat and if the men could somehow see her now in spite of the fact that she wore a black dress and rode a black stallion at night, they would not be able to see her shortly. She kept up Starstruck's insane pace until the moment she was positive that she was out of sight of the other riders thanks to foliage and having gone over a rise. She then slowed rapidly and headed into the trees on side of the road. She did not stop until she had gone up and over a small hill just back from the road. She did not want it to be possible to see her even if her pursuers were blessed with a Life Vision spell as she was. 

She listened to horses thunder past at a ground-shattering pace. They were not riding in a formation but in a broken line made up of clumps of two or three horses with Flashin' Dandy in the lead. As she waited for the speedy riders to pass, she cast Bestow Vitality on Starstruck four more times while he had a moment to catch his breath. She also dug through the forest loam and poured a swallow of water into the dirt and then smeared the resulting mud on her face to dull the whiteness of her skin. She was sure there would be a second wave of horses riding at a saner pace a few minutes behind the first group of riders. All she needed to do was to keep ahead of the second wave. She had no doubt that there would be a third wave that was slower yet and consisted of cavalry and hounds. 

Once the men who were supposed to be chasing her down had taken a healthy lead she returned to the road and made sure that she could hear no riders. Once she was satisfied she urged Starstruck to a brisk ground-eating canter. It was her favorite gait; something about the way one rolled one's hips with the motion of the horse reminded her of her favorite sort of riding and she was not above tilting her hips to make the ride more fun than ever. 

She thought about turning towards the northeast in an attempt to ride through Avengene to reach Red Jack. If she waited with Jack, Thane would come for corpses and she could rejoin the chess master. It did not sound very practical. If Darl Norwit managed to get them an uncontaminated whiff of Starstruck's scent, his hounds would eventually discover the change in direction and Norwit would have days to track her down with an army of men at his disposal. Entering Bristol was more dangerous in the short run but more viable in the long run. She thought about trying to find a creek to follow but she realized that the creeks in this part of Norwit joined the river that went over a falls shortly after entering Bristol. She had taken that route before and had nearly lost her life in the process. She had no wish to try it again, this time on a swimming horse. 

She continued to ride towards Bristol. She kept her eyes moving. Her life vision gave her a tremendous advantage in that she could see others long before they could see her. She intended to press that advantage. She thought about using magical darkness, but a priest using a spell to detect magic could easily spot a spell with such a large area of effect from a reasonable distance. It was unlikely that Norwit's men would be using such magic in their search for her, but as long as she could potentially be exposed to the eyes of a priest of Avengene, she decided she would hold off on the magical darkness. Even if she did not use her darkness, she was still a woman in a black dress riding a black pony and the clouds coming in from the west were already beginning to reduce visibility. 

"Gwoork, gwaaark," Nimbus said as he swooped down and flew beside her. 

She marveled that he was able to fly so near to a rapidly moving horse. Her head was moving up and down with the motion of Starstruck's gait but Nimbus flew smoothly next to her, his wingtip nearly tickling her ear as she moved up and down. 

"Hello, Nimbus. I am trying to run from the Avengenes and there are a whole lot of them chasing me. I envy your aerial perspective. I am sure that you can see each and every piece on the playing field from up high in the sky. It is a pity I have not mastered the more advanced version of Telempathic Projection. If I read correctly I could switch from my perspective to yours while maintaining enough awareness of my body's surroundings to walk slowly or to ride Starstruck. It is a shame you cannot talk. You could see their movements and give me insight into the plans of my enemies." 

"Gwoork-gwoork ni-ni-ni," Nimbus said before flying off once again. 

After about a half hour Bellany saw riders trotting towards her from the direction that she was headed. Had the riders she had allowed to pass her doubled back, or had Darl Norwit somehow got word to the border station in the distance? Perhaps he had sent multiple carrier pigeons to the border station in the hope that a few of the birds might fly by night. Perhaps that was what Nimbus had come by to talk about. It was unfortunate that she did not speak raven. Her Telempathy spell would have been nice, but there was no way she would have been able to cast it while riding. _Thank goodness the life force of horses and riders is so brightly obvious to life vision._ 

Bellany glanced at the stars in the sky to make sure she had her bearings and then she left the road. The riders were still over a hundred yards distant and the clouds blowing in from the west had reduced visibility by a noticeable degree. She seriously doubted whether the riders could see her, assuming their vision was not augmented. She headed south and cantered through the fields of several farmers. 

Starstruck could not move as quickly through the fields as he had down the road, but Bellany tried to keep up a rapid pace just the same. Ater about twenty minutes of riding she was obliged to engage in a race with a farmer's dogs. She headed her pony towards a fence and barely cleared it before the dogs would have intercepted Starstruck. At that point she entered an undeveloped area that took perhaps twenty minutes to cross. She jumped another fence on the other side of the area and at that point she was pretty sure that she was riding through a farmer's field in Bristol. She started to work her way north as well as west so that she might eventually rejoin the road. By this time the clouds from the west had advanced a bit more. Visibility for the soldiers of Avengene was getting poor. Already they were probably being forced to ride more slowly. In another hour they might be relegated to riding at a walk and using lanterns. She had no doubt that Norwit had sent as many riders into the area as he could. Yet by now the riders must have figured out that she had left the road in spite of the darkness. That would make their search more difficult. By returning to the road within Bristol she could make better time. Once she had rejoined the road she headed west and then turned onto a road heading south as if she was returning to Vargrend's Academy. 

Not long after she found the road, she saw the life force of a patrol of mounted men in the distance and was obliged to pull off into the cover of some trees. As the men passed she realized that they were soldiers of Bristol. 

"Damn it, Ye 'aven't seen no girl nor 'ave I! Do ye think this is some kind o' Avengene trick?" 

"Could be, but we left enough at the station ta raise th' alarm ifn it is. I could sure use the twenty gold domains." 

"Ye always got ta assume th' long shot. She would 'ave ta be ridin' straight down th' road in front of us fer us ta see 'er. Be 'appy ye got the one domain jus' fer takin' in th' scenery." 

Bellany smiled. She guessed Darl Norwit had increased his manpower within Bristol by offering a modest bribe and a hefty reward to any soldier of Bristol that would help search for her. It was a pity for them that it was so dark. Once the soldiers of Bristol had passed, Bellany decided that now that she was in the Barony of Bristol she would shroud herself in darkness, thus preventing anyone Darl Norwit sent out to question the locals from retrieving information of any quality. She cast Clinging Darkness III on herself making sure that the area of effect also encompassed her mount. She then got back on the road and resumed her brisk canter. After passing a creek she continued south as if she were returning to Vargrend's and then doubled back and rode up the creek to the northwest until she found a road going west. She headed west at a brisk pace adding distance to her earlier misdirection. 

The primary reason that she had continued the charade of being Bellany Norwit after she had remembered that she was Brianna Barter was because looking like Bellany had provided her with the opportunity to attend school at Vargrend's. Training under Master Leafwhisper and Baladus Vargrend had been too good to pass up. She knew she would like to return to study under Baladus, but she realized that Darl Norwit would probably scour Vargrend's in case Bellany returned there. She needed to retire her Bellany act and lie low for a while until Norwit gave up on easily finding Bellany.

By heading west Brianna would be able either to intercept the Daelraths on their way home or to head south towards Rosehaven once she had gone far enough. If she could join the Daelraths, Thane would eventually come to Rath Keep to re-supply them with glyphed arrows for use against the trolls. If she went to Rosehaven, she could try to find Guardian Kowal once he returned from helping with the investigation of the incident in the crypts beneath the academy. Perhaps he would be able to get her in touch with Thane. Yet she knew that Kowal was connected with Baron Bristol, and in spite of her heroics, Bristol might turn her over to Avengene as a peace offering. She hoped that would not be the case, but she knew that one could never predict the actions of noblemen, particularly in regard to commoners. 

She might be better off if she simply went to the main temple of Mortaebius in Rosehaven looking for another priest with an undead hand; yet she could trust no one as much as she trusted the Daelraths and Guardian Thane. Thane had kept her on a tight leash, but he had cared for her in his own creepy way and she knew that he was as proud of her as any father. In many ways he was the closest thing to family that she had left. It was after that realization that she decided to find the Daelraths if at all possible. 

For the time being she knew that she was probably safe. Darl Norwit's hounds were no doubt attempting to track her, but they would not be moving at even half the speed of her pony and they too would have to deal with the farmers' dogs and her misdirection. As long as she maintained her lead, there was a good chance that she would make a clean escape. 
-------

This ends, Conventional Wisdom, chapter 70 of The Chronicles of Rapina.
The story continues in chapter 71 Springville. 
Copyright 2009 by Rapina