"I need a hundred platinum coins to pay for the horses out in the courtyard," said Redhawk. He sat back in his velvet chair and admired Willium's study. He took a careful sip of wine and braced himself for the King's outburst.

"What?" exclaimed King Willium. "Are you crazy? A hundred platinum?"

"Your majesty, these are the fastest, most reliable and best trained warhorses in all of Arthian," pleaded Redhawk. "They're more than worth a hundred platinum! I had to barter with the owner to get them at such a low price."

"Low?" shouted the King, standing up and pacing his study. "You call that low? That's an outrage!"

"Sire, the price is more than reasonable, besides we can sell them back later for ninety platinum and then we've only lost ten platinum. Besides consider it a favour for Nebonex. Please pay it. The culprit has almost a two day head start already. We could take whatever the assassin got paid when we catch him, and use that to reimburse our losses," argued Redhawk.

"Oh, all right, here's the key to the vault," reasoned Willium, handing over the key to the knight.

"You won't regret it, Sire," Redhawk assured the King.

"I already regret it," grumbled Willium, crossing his arms, and sitting down behind his desk.

"Lord Redhawk, your payment is most agreeable," said the horse trader, running his hands lovingly through the platinum coins lovingly.

"I thought you'd say that!" repliedRedhawk.

"Redhawk, come here. I want to introduce you to someone," yelled Nebonex. He waved at the knight impatiently.

Redhawk turned around and saw Nebonex standing beside another minotaur, a General by his uniform, or in the minotaur's case, his kilt.

The knight jogged over to join them.

"Lord Redhawk, it is my pleasure to intruduce you to the esteemed General Gisoni, my mentor and friend, who will be leading the legion of minotaurs you mentioned earlier," said Nebonex.

"General Gisoni,"said Redhawk, spreading his arms in the symbol of comradeship.

"Lord Redhawk," the minotaur replied in a rough and thickly accented voice. He duplicated Redhawk's greeting flawlessly.

Redhawk and Gisoni took an immediate liking to each other and were soon talking like old comrades.

"Where's Wynic and Victoria?" asked Nebonex suddenly. Redhawk shrugged, not the least bit worried. By the time the two did show up, half of the knights had shown up in the courtyard, and were loading supplies and checking gear.

"Where have you two been Wynic?" cried Nebonex, running tiredlessly over to Wynic and Victoria.

"Terribly sorry, Sire. We slept in by accident, must have been all the excitement," lied Wynic flawlessly.

"Wynic," yelled King Willium. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you! Give this letter to Queen Elexenia, I understand you know her quite well. It explains the situation here in Athex, and our need of help."

"I'll give it to her, Sire. You can count on me," replied Wynic, stuffing the letter in his pack.

"Good, we'll await your return," said the King. He hurried off to talk to Nebonex.

"Sire."

Wynic turned around in his saddle to see Gith.

"Sire, you know I love you like a father would. Don't you?" asked Gith.

"I do, and I love you like a son should, I think," said Wynic, blinking back tears.

"My father gave this to me when I turned twelve, before I discovered my love of art and painting. I'd like you to have it, I'll never use it," said Gith, handing the assassin a longsword, wrapped with so many furs that Wynic couldn't see it. Unwrapping the weapon, layer after layer, Wynic set the furs on the back of his horse. "It's beautiful," cried Wynic, holding the sword in front of his face.

The sword was almost as long as a long sword, but had a strange adjustment on the handle. It was made of burnished platinum, or perhaps palladium, judging from the white tinge to the shiny metal. It reflected the light of the sun like a mirror. It was surprisingly lightweight, even for palladium. "It's a bastard sword, sometimes called an one and a half hand sword, because you can use it with one hand or two hands. The hilt has been counterbalanced, so you'll be surprised at how light it is. My father told me how it was made during the last Vormian Dynasty. You know how they use carbon dust to make steel stronger? Well, they used diamond dust, diamonds being impossibly strong they make the sword much stronger than any regular blade. In addition the pommel twists off to reveal that the blade is partially hollowed out. If you pour about a cup of water in there, it will make it swing faster and hit your opponent harder. However that means you might tend to overswing, so be careful," explained Gith. "Don't ask about that water thing, all I know is that it works!"

"Thank you, Gith. Paint something for me?" the assassin asked, sliding the blade into his belt.

"What would you like?" asked Gith.

"A portrait of Victoria," whispered Wynic, looking at Gith seriously.

"Do you love her?"

"As usual Gith, I haven't got a clue!"

"Time will tell, Sire. She is a beautiful young Lady. However, I doubt if my old eyes could do her beauty justice!"

"Thank you again, Gith," said Wynic.

"You're welcome, Sire!" said Gith.

Wynic spurred his horse, and galloped ahead to join Redhawk and Nebonex.

"Let's see the description of the assassin, Wynic," suggested Redhawk.

"Victoria has it in her pouch."

"Where's Victoria then?" demanded Nebonex.

Wynic turned around in the saddle, and saw the archeress talking to King Willium. "She's busy talking to the King," he muttered with a shrug, turning back to face Nebonex. The minotaur's face was level with Wynic's, even though the assassin was on horseback.

"Oh! Did I introduce you to General Gisoni?" Nebonex asked, looking around for the minotaur.

"No. You didn't."

"I'll go find him then!" Nebonex said with a wave, jogging towards the gates.

"Who's in charge, Wynic?" asked Redhawk, poking the assassin in the ribs.

"I think Nebonex is."

"I thought you were!"

"Okay," said Wynic, standing up in the saddle. "Fellow comrades, General Gisoni is in charge of the minotaurs and Sir Dillard is in charge of the knights. If there are any problems report to them, myself, Prince Nebonex, or Lord Redhawk. Let's open the gates and get going," he shouted loudly to the knights.

"Great speech! Short and to the point," Redhawk mock applauded as Wynic sat back down.

"What about me?" asked Victoria, riding up beside Redhawk.

"You'll be in charge of scouts," answered Redhawk.

"And what will you be in charge of?" asked Victoria.

"Keeping track of the watch, of course," replied Wynic, knowing how much the knight hated keeping a watch. Redhawk grumbled, but said nothing.

"Why did you make me in charge of the watch, Wynic?" asked Redhawk from across the campfire that night. The sky was dark and the constellations were overcast. The sound of crickets was enough to make Wynic regret coming.

"Because the person in charge of the watch always has to do the last watch of the night since its the time a camp is most likely to be attacked. So I picked you so I would have someone to talk to when I wake up in the middle of the night," the assassin grinned, climbing into a bedroll beside Victoria.

"I knew you made that up," smiled Victoria, pulling Wynic closer and kissing him on the cheek.

"Hey, I had to do something to keep Redhawk busy, or he'd probably drink brandy all the way to Avolic," he said, kissing her back.

"Don't do that here, Wynic. You'll give some of these younger knights nightmares," said Redhawk with a snicker.

"Don't be silly, Redhawk," smiled Wynic. "All of these knights have probably visited Lady Bardelias' bedroom!"

"Very true, very true," agreed Redhawk, rolling out his bedroll.

The next six days went by slowly, filled with boring riding and little talking. The same couldn't be said for Wynic and Victoria, who talked constantly, each day growing closer.

"The scout says that Avolic is about half a league away," said Victoria, to the small huddle of companions.

"Good," said General Gisoni, keeping pace with the horses easily. "My men are getting restless, the heat out here in the desert is causing some severe tempers. They're not used to this!"

"Don't worry Gisoni. Avolic is an oasis, with a powerful geyser, that is said to reach four hundred feet up and spray the entire city with an unnatural rainfall every six hours," Wynic assured the minotaur.

"I hope you're right."

"Nebonex, wouldn't it be wise to say that it is General Gisoni who is visiting Avolic, so we can avoid parades and stuff like that?" Redhawk asked.

"Redhawk, sometimes you amaze me," said Wynic. "The brandy hasn't totally rotted your brain. Yet."

"That's not a bad idea," said Nebonex, running beside Gisoni. He ignored Wynic. "I could act as if I was in charge of Gisoni's body guards."

"We'll go with that then," said Victoria, reaching into a pouch and pulling out the record from the city gate. It occured to her that she was supposed to work today, but shrugged the thought away when she considered she'd probably get a promotion for what she was doing right now. "The assassin is almost six feet tall, black hair, brown eyes, with a scar across his right cheek. He's dressed like a mercenary," she said.

"We don't need to know that yet," Redhawk interrupted. "We have to visit Queen Elexenia first."

Getting inside the city was a simple matter of politics that Gisoni took care of. Afterwards, Lieutenant-General Pollex and Sir Dillard, led the minotaurs and knights to the soldiers barracks, while Gisoni and the companions were provided an escort of fifty Colnic Knights. The knights wore very little armour because of the sweltering heat and the fact that the armour rusted quickly with a rainfall every six hours. They carried more daggers than even Wynic and the traditional weapon was a scimitar.

"Well, if it isn't Wynic Doxon," cried a woman dressed in a beautiful fiery red gown, appearing between the huge doors to the royal palace as the companions entered the palace courtyard.

"Elex!" cried Wynic, quickly dismounting.

Queen Elexenia was barely over twenty years old, with long auburn hair reaching just past her shoulders. She had a childish expression, dark red, pouty lips, light blue eyes and a charming if childish smile. Her figure was slim and a good foot shorter than Victoria. Running across the courtyard, the Queen embraced Wynic and kissed him onthe lips teasingly.

Victoria looked away in distaste.

"I'm sorry, Wynic, I forgot myself, I'm married now, and that was a long, long time ago," apologised Elex. "Come on, I'll introduce you to him." Victoria breathed a sigh of relief, when she heard the Queen was married.

Letting Elex pull him by the hand, Wynic waved the rest to follow.

"Wynic, this is my Prince Consort Lord Jacog." The Queen pointed at a tall man who Wynic barely recognised from his last visit to the palace.

Your Champion?" Wynic asked curiously.

"Yes, that's the great thing about it, he can protect me even in bed now," sighed Elex.

"Remind me to become a beautiful Queen's champion, Wynic," whispered Redhawk.

"Come," said Jacog. "Lets go converse in the sitting room, I'm sure your exhausted, and it's about time to rain again."

"Nebonex, I have the feeling Jacog runs the show around here," whispered Redhawk to the minotaur.

"I think you're right," agreed the Prince. "It's fairly obvious that she doesn't run the place, just lives off it. In the true sense of what a Queen is, she isn't it."

"Wynic," said Victoria, pulling the assassin aside. "How do you know Queen Elexenia?"

"In short, she's a spoiled rotten child. She took a temper tantrum one day and ran away from the palace when she was sixteen, just before I met Redhawk which is probably how he heard of me. Any way, she tried to become a mercenary and probably could have done it, but I managed to convince her not to," answered Wynic. "It's a very complicated story as is she a complicated Queen."

"Did you love her?"

"Once, but that was six years ago, before I came to my senses and realised that she'd never grow up," he answered seriously. "She doesn't have any responsibility and was spoiled as a child, permanently. She probably won't start to act mature for another twenty years. I couldn't wait that long," Wynic explained, pulling Victoria closer. "Are you jealous?"

"I almost was," smiled Victoria. "But not anymore," she said kissing him.

"So why are you here?" asked Jacog, pouring a glass of Kinian Red for Redhawk.

The wine tasted unusual to Wynic, probably due to the heat and the wine had partially evaporated. "Read this," he said, setting down his glass and handing Jacog the letter from King Willium.

"Oh, oh," said Jacog, setting the letter down.

"What is it dear?" demanded Elex, jumping up and running over to pick up the letter.

"Emperor Nebonex has been assassinated and the Empress might declare war on Arthian," Jacog shuddered at the thought of such a war.

"Yeah, so what's it got to do with us?" pouted the Queen, jumping into Jacog's lap.

"We have to send all our knights and our army to Athex," murmured Jacog, putting his arms around her.

"Well, then, I'm going too!"

"What?" cried everyone in unison. Redhawk nearly choked, but managed a "What?"

"What's wrong?" she asked innocently.

"You can't go, it's too dangerous," gagged Redhawk.

"Well if I stay here, my army won't be able to help Jacog to protect me," pouted the Queen. She crossed her arms and held her breath.

"She's got us there," commented Victoria.

"She's right," gasped Elex, standing up and pointing at Victoria in the face. "I do got you!" she declared.

"It does make some sense," muttered Jacog. "The city states on the west coast are contemplating civil war and even now there are rumours of rebellion here. I've been considering hiring Wynic for some time now, just in case. To leave for Athex would erase the danger of Elex being killed by rebels, and when the war with the Minotaur Empire is over with, we can always reclaim the city with just Kinian's aid."

"Whatever," muttered Nebonex. "I"m leaving you to the details. Victoria hand him the description of the assassin. We might get lucky and find him!"

"Who are you to order me about?" demanded Jacog, standing up boldly.

"Prince Nebonex, future Emperor of the Minotaur Empire," said the Prince, rising to his feet and looking down at Jacog. Gisoni and the minotaur guards joined him, their presence seeming to fill up the small chamber.

"Jacog sat back down quickly, full knowing what he had just done to be a very foolish act. "Forgive me, Sire. I knew not who you were."

"Nothing wrong, at the moment we have the same status, really, you are a Prince Consort, one step down from King and I am one step down from Emperor," mumbled Nebonex, sitting down again.

"Show him the record,Victoria," Redhawk said, pouring another glass of wine.

Taking the record from the archeress, Jacog scanned it quickly, but shook his head. Nebonex looked down somewhat defeated.

"Gimme dat," cried Elex, ripping the record from Jacog's hand. She started folding it into a parchment glider.

"Give the record back to Victoria," said Jacog sternly.

"I don't want to," pouted Elex. "Hey," she shouted, jumping across the room and climbing into Nebonex's lap. "I know this guy! I bumped into him in a bar! He looked a lot, a really, really lot like Wynic, except for the scar and the hair and all the wrinkles-"

"What were you doing in a bar? Outside the palace grounds?" interrupted Jacog angrily.

"Oops!"

"What was the bar called and where is it?" asked Nebonex impatiently, standing up to leave.

"It's south of here. It's called the Scorpion's Tail. Can I come too?"

"No!"