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It’s to this section Illan leads them. Trying not to hurry and draw unwanted attention to themselves, they forge their way through the crowds upon the streets until they’re able to see the masts of the docked ships ahead.

“Miko!” a young girl hollers and he turns to see her wave at him.

“One of yours?” Illan asks.

Nodding, Miko disengages from the group and moves to see what she wants.

With a worried expression, she hurries to meet him halfway. “Thank goodness you’re here!” she exclaims.

“Why?” he asks. “What happened?” Illan and the others have come up behind him to hear what she has to say.

When she sees them approach, she looks to Miko who nods assuringly, “They’re my friends and are going to help me rescue Gwynne and Daria.”

“Paul told me to wait here and tell you the ship is called the Black Topaz,” she says. “It’s tied down at the docks, he didn’t say which one it was, just the name.”

“That should be enough,” he assures her. “You wait here, there might be trouble and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

With fear in her eyes, she nods her head.

Miko turns back to the others and asks, “You heard?”

Illan nods. “Let’s hope Fifer has already located the ship.” Continuing down the street to the docks, they leave the frightened girl behind. The street doesn’t go much further before they’re able to see the harbor open up before them.

The docks are in a mass of confusion as ships are loaded and unloaded either by porters carrying the goods off down the gangplank or by use of one of the several cranes located throughout the dock area. One ship, a smaller two masted deep sailing ship is currently having a coach lifted aboard.

Miko’s blood goes cold when he sees the sailors on board that vessel are from the Empire. “I think we’ve found it,” he says and begins moving toward it.

A hand on his shoulder stops him and Illan says, “Patience. They’re not leaving yet.” He indicates several more coaches and six other wagons which have yet to be unloaded. “Let’s move closer and see what we can do.”

As they make their way closer, Fifer disengages from the crowd and approaches. “That’s it,” he says as he nods toward the ship. “From what I can gather, most of the Ambassador’s group has already boarded. The Ambassador has yet to make his appearance.”

“Any sign of James?” Illan asks.

“Not yet,” Fifer replies.

“Illan!” Miko exclaims quietly.

Turning to see what he’s excited about, he looks to the window of the carriage being lifted on board by a crane and sees a small face peering out. “The kids?” he asks.

Miko nods. “That’s the little one, Daria,” he tells him. He stands there and watches as the coach is swung over and then lowered onto the deck. Sailors then push it over to the cargo hold where several sailors congregate near the coach’s door. Over their heads, he sees the door to the coach swing open but the men there block any view of the children as they’re being led into the hold.

“We have to do something!” he says. “We should tell someone.”

“And what would anyone do?” Illan asks. “That’s a diplomatic vessel and for the authorities to search it would be tantamount to a declaration of war in these shaky times. They’ll not risk that on our word alone.”

Miko glares at him, his rage wanting to be released. Pushing it back down, he lets it simmer against the time when it can be. And woe to the person who feels its wrath.

A group of kids makes their way toward them out of the crowd. As they draw near Miko can see that Paul, the leader of the group of kids, is very distraught. “They just took them on board!” he states angrily.

“I know,” Miko tells him.

“What are we to do?” Paul asks him.

One of the older girls comes toward him tears streaming down her face and says, “Daria’s my sister. We can’t let them have her.”

Laying his hand upon her shoulder, he wipes away an errant tear before it can travel very far and says, “Don’t you worry. We’ll not let them be taken.”

Then from the direction of the castle area, a murmur begins working its way through the crowd and they see a group of