Derrick expertly broke the neck of the fellow he was tackling with and dropped him to the floor dead. One dead and one prisoner. Perfect. With more knights entering, he stepped back and let them take the last few on. Turning, he glanced at the windows. Walking to one of them, he studied it. "Erik, sir, you need to come see this." He pushed the window open and shifted the bars easily out of place. Looking at Erik, he whispered, "They had inside help. They would not have gotten in if the window had been latched and the bars welded in place. Someone set the Princess up."

Outside voices lifted into shouts. One of the stable hands ran in. "Trouble. The young Prince and his four friends... their horses returned riderless!"

*****

Lighting a lamp, Tracy placed her cloak up on a hook. Then she turned to look around her home. She was tired and didn't feel up to cooking or making a large supper. So she settled for slicing an apple. Apples can be eaten, seeds and all, just fine. So she didn't bother to remove the core. Instead, she settled by the fire with a book and started munching.