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Sat Jul 28 17:58:25 CEST 2007

Her worst fears had been realized; Gauihu intended to harm his children. An evil soul has possessed the king, she
told herself. I must release him no
matter what the cost. Gauihu would never harm his children or kill his faithful
captain. 
 
Amz watched Armitage run away and Gauihu stood and screamed for what seemed an
eternity. 
 
Finally he started laughing and returned towards the palace. Amz did not want
to confront him in his current state so she shadowed the king back to the
palace.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>

He seemed quite pleased about
something and seemed to be deep in thought. Amz was glad she had sent the
children on their way already. If something happened to her Trager would make
sure the children reached Callisto. 
 
She waited an hour to let the king settle down a bit, if she the king he would
go to his private chamber and have a drink before making more mad decrees. 
 
Amz steeled herself an approached the palace, entering, she slowly made her way
up to the kings private chamber in the inner tower.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&quot;I'm expected&quot; she
told the guards and they nodded and let her pass.<br>
<br>
Inside she found Gauihu sitting in a chair, his hand seemed to be shaking
uncontrollably.<br style="">
<br style="">
</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&quot;I am here my king&quot;
she said.<br style="">
<br style="">
</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The king seemed not to
notice, he was muttering under his breath.<br style="">
<br style="">
</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&quot;My lord,&quot; Amz
said, &quot;is something the matter?&quot;<br>
<br>
Gauihu looked up and noticed her, a mad smile came to his lips that gave Amz
chills.<br>
<br>
&quot;This is perfect,&quot; Gauihu said.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">--</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>

&quot;This is perfect,&quot;
Gauihu said, nodding. Outside, as dawn broke, shouts and commotion could be heard,
followed by a loud crashing sound and screaming. His eyes didn&#39;t turn from
Amz&#39;s, however; he seemed utterly impervious to the distraction. 
 
&quot;What&#39;s going on?&quot; Amz couldn&#39;t help but wonder aloud. 
 
&quot;The peasants are revolting,&quot; he said with a sneer. &quot;I do
believe they&#39;ll lynch the city guards.&quot; He laughed, clasping his hands
together like an excited child. &quot;It&#39;s perfect. You don&#39;t know, you&#39;ve
never -&quot; 
 
Suddenly his eyes narrowed. &quot;Who sent you? Are you here to kill me?&quot; 
 
&quot;Of course not, my King!&quot; Amz cried out. 
 
Gauihu nodded, slowly. &quot;I thought you were someone else for a moment
there. Say... I have a job for you. I&#39;ll give you a substantial reward. Gold,
perhaps? I know, I can award you the Order of Abington...&quot; 
 
Amz said nothing, wisely allowing him to finish his own disordered thoughts. 
 
&quot;Good, good,&quot; he said, as if she&#39;d agreed. &quot;Well, I need you to
kill someone. Two someones. Their names are Innana and Altham II.&quot; He made
a gesture with his shaking hand, holding it about two feet off the floor.
&quot;About yea high. Spawned from one who used to be a Queen, but who turned
into a cowardly she-demon. You can do this job for me, yes?&quot; 
 
And with that he belted his head back and emptied what was left of a goblet of
wine. The colors around his eyes seemed utterly black-blue. Oh gods, when
was the last time he slept? Amz wondered. 
 
&quot;Oh, and one other job. This one&#39;s easier,&quot; he said, smiling now. He
pointed across the table. &quot;I&#39;d like some more wine. Pour me a cup. You,
too, if you want.&quot; He shrugged dismissively.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">--</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>

Armitage III managed to lose Gauihu in
the street as she traveled back and forth in the shadow. She didn&#39;t know for
sure what the future held but she needed to see that her children were safe. 
 
She finally reached where she left her children and servants. Amz was there
too, so she knew they are safe. But as she looked about, she could tell that
the children and everybody was gone. 
 
Hopefully they were&nbsp; on their way to
Suville; if not they were in the hands of Gauihu's guards.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">--</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>

Amz smiled sweetly. &quot;Of
course, my lord,&quot; she said. 
 
Amz noticed that the 5 guards in the room were distracted by the noises of
battle coming from outside. It sounded like there was a pitched battle right
out in the palace courtyard. She thought she heard the voice of Athys screaming
trying to rally the palace guard. 
 
She quickly palmed a vial of poison and as she was pouring two cups of wine she
poisoned both. 
 
&quot;It sounds like Athys has things well in hand,&quot; she said as she
turned and moved towards the king. 
 
Gauihu sneered. &quot;That traitor will soon taste our ... judge&#39;s Wheel," he
cackled gleefully. 
 
&quot;As you wish, my lord,&quot; Amz said.

As she was about to hand Gauihu the goblet the thought of what she was about to
do caused her to hesitate for a second. It was a fatal mistake. Suspicion
flared in Gauihu&#39;s eyes. He had been a judge for too long and was an expert at
reading body language. As he looked into Amz's eyes she had no doubt he
recognized in her eyes her intention.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>

It was also at that moment
that a stray arrow flew through the tower window that one of the guards was
looking out of into the courtyard below. He cursed and quickly jumped back,
knocking the wine tray and the table behind him over. The vial that Amz had
left on the tray rolled right to the king. He reached down and picked it up.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Amz's mind was racing and she
was seized by a panic.<br style="">
<br style="">
</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Gauihu looked at the vial and
Amz knew she was doomed, he instantly recognized it as a deadly poison bottled
in the Cagilan Empire.<br>
<br>
&quot;YOU WHORE!!!!&quot; he screamed and he knocked the goblets out of her
hands.<br style="">
<br style="">
</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Amz jumped back, she quickly
drew her dagger and lunged at the king, she plunged the dagger down hard into
the neck...</span></p>

...of one of the guards who had jumped between her and the King. He died
instantly and fell on top of Gauihu. Screaming, Amz tried to reach under him to
stab the king. The other four guards were upon her in an instant and she found
herself fighting for her life. Gauihu was screaming in rage and trying to move
a fully armored guard off of himself.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">&nbsp;</span></p>

Realizing it was a lost cause
Amz reached to her belt and pulled a bag full of exploding powder, some
stinking powder, and some short nails off, she threw it into the fire and dived
behind a large chair. As she dove one of the guards drove his sword into her
shoulder. Her scream was followed by a loud bang and a foul stench filled the
room along with smoke and the nails flew in every direction causing a moment of
chaos. Amz used the moment to fly out the door and down the tower stairs as
fast as she could go. 
She could hear Gauihu screaming that he was injured. 
 
The pain in her shoulder was nearly unbearable. As she ran into the courtyard
she was forced to battle two determined looking peasants. She killed one
quickly but took another wound to her thigh before she could dispatch the
other. All around there was a battle raging. She spotted a horse and jumped on
and fled as fast as she could go out of the hell that was Riverholm. 
 
She did not know if it was real or her imagination, but she swore she heard
Gauihu screaming until she was well out of the castle.

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