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that must be asked in person.”
    “I do not question your allegiance, sir,” Marik said, his eyes lowered from shame.
    Knight Captain Brace Hawkden put a hand on his ranger’s shoulder.  “You must trust me, old friend.  Find the princess and meet me at our camp in two days.  If I am not there in three, then you may take her into the city.”
    “Yes, sir.  I’ll do as you ask.”
    Brace left the ranger to continue the search, regretting he had to leave his knights and friends under this circumstance.  It took him nearly an hour to retrace his route back to their horses.  His thoughts were solely on the deeds that he had done and their immediate actions.  He was worried sick for Princess Elissa.  Like any dangerous mission, there were always risks.  He knew that, but he also regretted that he had to put the princess at such a risk.  But regardless of the risks that the princess was enduring, he was placing himself at much greater risk.  Like hers, his life was also in danger.  But not only his, all his knights.  The honor and trust that had been built up for so long now hung the balance.  He was placing so many in danger, risking so much.  The consolation had always been that the reward was so great.  But now he doubted that there was going to be any reward in the end.

 
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
    Conner woke with a start, throwing off his blanket and jumping up from the floor.  Panting and soaked with sweat, it was all he could do to keep his heart from exploding out of his chest.  He still saw their eyes.  He knew it was a dream, but he still saw their eyes.  His hand had drawn the bow and loosed the arrows, striking those men down.  He knew he killed one, and had a good sight on two others.  Maybe they lived, maybe they were dead.  He did not know, but his dream told him all he really needed to know.  The eyes were full of life and then they were cold and dead.  The faces stared up at him, ghostly and thin, eye sockets dark and sunken.  It was by his hand that they were dead, and he knew that they were back to haunt him.
    He fell to his knees, trying to keep the room from spinning so fast.  If he had food in his stomach, he knew he would have thrown it up.  He forced himself to not think of them as men, but as animals.  To think of them as men was too much.  He had killed and he hated himself for it. 
    He fell back onto the floor and took in his surroundings.  He was in a simple room with straw on the floor for a bed, a handful of blankets on top to keep warm, and a table with two chairs.  A curtain separated his room from the rest of the house.  It was open, showing a shaggy bearded man stoking the fire in the fireplace and an elderly woman placing a plate of fresh bread on the table.  They were dressed in drab clothes, stained and dirty.
    “You’re awake!!” The man called out.  “I am glad that you are well.  Welcome to our home.  I am Marcus.  And this is my mother Melda”.
    Conner, surprised and a bit taken aback at his surroundings barely squeaked out his name, “Conner.  I’m Conner.”
    Marcus stood and asked.  “Are you feeling okay?  You were not doing so well yesterday.”
    “Yesterday?  How much time has passed?”  Conner looked around for his clothes, his bow, and his quiver.  He was tired, despite having slept for almost an entire day.
    “You came upon our village yesterday afternoon,” Marcus replied.  “You slept all day and through the night.”
    With a wide, nearly toothless smile, Melda said, “Your fever was strong, but it broke overnight.  You look hungry and we have bread.  Come, sit.”  She gestured towards the bread, sitting on the table, steaming in the cool morning air.
    The house was simple, not much different than what Conner lived in.  There were two rooms, one with beds for sleeping and the main room.  The fireplace filled most of one wall.  The fire was now small, but large enough to heat the small rooms.  For a moment