Mongo had finally quieted down once more as the merchant’s wagon slowly wove its way through town towards the center. Arms chained together in front of him, he defiantly glared left and right at the two knights who were escorting him on either side to make certain he wouldn’t run.

“Cheer up lad,” Sir Kestrel told him quietly. “We’ll be at the High Lady’s manor and she can help clear things up in a heartbeat for you, if you’re telling the truth.”

“I told you the truth,” Mongo mumbled sourly. “The armor is mine, and it was gifted to me when I was knighted.”

“By the Heir’s Champion no less,” Sir Joseph laughed. “Lad, I might would’ve believed you, except for one thing – the Heir of Andor hasn’t chosen a Champion yet.”

“Well I was told he was the damn Heir’s Champion! I should’ve known better, Michael being a Child of Chaos and all,” Mongo griped.

“So first it was the Heir’s Champion who gave you the armor and knighted you,” Sir Joseph chuckled lightly, “and then it was a Child of Chaos.” Shaking his head from side to side, he just smiled slightly over at Mongo. “I hope you can see how it sounds, my lord. Our apologies, if you speak the truth, but without a badge, a seal, or a letter of proclamation, you have to admit your story does sound a little farfetched. We can’t be certain that the armor wasn’t simply stolen or looted from a knight who fell in the great upheaval and you simply found the body and looted it.”

“We might’ve robbed a few graves, but we didn’t rob any damnable knight’s grave,” Mongo muttered softly and then simply bit his lip to shut up and walked on.

The walk through the town was slow and the city seemed quite a bit different to him that it had been when he’d led his team out on their exploration mission, which seemed like a lifetime ago. Knights in full plate armor were patrolling back and forth down every street -- even along the outer rim of the city. Buildings had fallen or cracked in large numbers around the other spokes where the poor lived, and even many of the inner buildings had cracks and stress fractures in them which made their safety questionable.

Lots of shops had moved a majority of their goods out of the unstable buildings and were hawking their goods along the edges of the street while repairs were being made, which forced travelers and wagons to bunch in tightly together and resulted in massive bottlenecks and roadblocks. Travel inside the city had slowed to a crawl and dozens of naked slaves labored harshly under the hot sun’s glare.

Shocked, Mongo realized that he recognized and knew several of the naked slaves, and they hadn’t been slaves when he’d left! For a moment, he considered asking about them, but then he decided it wasn’t worth the bother. Chances are their families had been forced to sale them to cover healing costs or repair bills from the quake that had hit. Trying to talk to them might interfere with their work, and that might get them beat – or worse.

With all the knights around now, Mongo just had to assume that the slavery was legal and binding. If it wasn’t, they could plead their cases easily enough. No need for him to get involved.

As the knights slowly led him and the merchant’s wagon to the mayor’s home, they were stopped by a different set of men wearing full plate armor. “Halt!” A burly young man of about twenty moved to intercept them. “This is the High Lady Heartstone’s residence now. If you have business with the new knight mayor, you can find him at the chapterhouse down that way.” Pointing off to the left, the guard motioned in that general direction.

“Actually, we have business with the High Lady herself,” Sir Kestrel responded politely. “If she’s available, of course.”

“I’ll send a runner to ask,” the guard replied curtly. “Please, bring the wagon on inside and take a rest off the streets.” Motioning to the other guards standing in front of the massive iron gates which walled off the mayor’s manor from the rest of the central plaza, they jumped to attention and began to push them wide open for the wagon.

“I thought this was the mayor’s house,” the old merchant mused as he slightly shook the reins and eased his wagon in past the private gates.

“It was,” the guard confirmed as the iron gates were being slowly shut once again behind them. “The High Lady negotiated with the kingdom and purchased the land directly from the king. You’re now in the Heartstone Empire, my lord.” Taking a moment to stare at the two knights who had escorted them this far, the guard warned them, “Gondor’s border ends at the other side of those walls. Your authority ended the moment you crossed the threshold.”

“We realize that,” Sir Kestrel agreed, nodding his head respectfully. “Rest assured, we mean no harm and have no intentions to disrupt the Heartstone Empire in the slightest.”

“Don’t make a damn to me if you do,” the guard replied with a half chuckle. “Me and the boys could enjoy the chance to have a nice tumble with a set of the royal knights. Always wondered how tough you bastards were.”

“Tough enough to not need to do anything to prove it,” Sir Kestrel answered with a laugh.

“Then you’re tougher than most of the bastards here,” the long guard laughed, drawing irked glares from some of the others standing nearby. “Any bastard can fight,” he smirked, “but it takes a man to know when not to. Too many of these are still boys, I’m afraid.”

“Now you know there’s no boys her,” a young woman’s voice called out, “except maybe you, Rock.”

Glancing towards the manor house, where the voice had come from, Mongo was astounded to see a beautiful young woman sashaying in their direction. Long blonde hair draped down and around her shoulders, and she was wearing a thin pale robe which seemed to be made of the sheerest spider silk. Untied and flowing freely, it billowed to either side of her, highlighting her naked body as she casually sauntered to them.

“I understand there’s knights here to see me,” she asked, completely unconcerned that she was revealing herself to the world.

“There are,” the guard named Rock replied. “It’s these gentlemen here to see you, but I don’t know their purpose.”

“Well then, let’s find out, why don’t we?” Laughing lightly, she turned and nodded to the two knights. “My lords,” she nodded her head slightly to show respect, “what can I do for you today.”

“My lady.” Bowing slightly, Sir Kestrel bent his head low and held it for several seconds before raising it back up. Sir Joseph did the same.

“We’re here because of this gentleman,” Sir Kestrel pointed lightly to Mongo. “He says many things which are hard to verify and we wished to know if you could vouch for him.”

“Never seen him before in my life,” Le’Nara answered without any doubt or hesitation.

“Then you’ve never gifted him a suit of Heartstone Armor?” Sir Kestrel pressed.

“Nope. There isn’t any Heartstone armor,” Le’Nara said confidently. “A few unique weapons made, but no armor.”

“I thought perhaps he was lying to us,” Sir Joseph said, a half wrinkle of anger on his face. “The things he claims is simply too wild to be believable.”

“Hey!” Pointing a shackled hand towards Le’Nara, Mongo said, “I never claimed to know that woman. I’ve never seen her before in my life! And she’s wrong! MY armor is Heartstone armor!”

“Hush now!” Raising his hand back as if he was going to smack him, Sir Joseph glared at Mongo. “The next you’re going to claim is that you were knighted by the Champion of the Heir of Andor. We’ve had it with your lying!”

“HOLD!” Commanding in a voice that couldn’t be ignored, Le’Nara walked up to stare directly into Mondo’s eyes. “What do you know of the Heir’s Champion?” Her voice was cold steel and she didn’t blink as she stared directly while awaiting his answer.

“Michael…”

“ENOUGH!” Waving her hand to cut off all conversation, Le’Nara turned her attention back to the knights. “Unshackle him. Make yourselves comfortable for a while. Come inside and have drinks or something to eat it you wish. We’ll speak later.”

“Rock.” Turning her attention back to the guard who had oversaw the entrance into the manor’s inner yard, Le’Nara stared at him for a few brief seconds. “This boygirl is my guest. See himher cleaned, give himher whatever heshe wants, and send himher to my library. Treat any of hisher friends or companions the same way.”

“Of course, my High Lady!” Seeing how serious she’d suddenly became, Rock saluted and snapped to attention. All the other guards nearby did the same, instinctively sensing the change in the mood.

“Don’t let him speak to anyone, unless it’s to get something he needs or desires. Don’t question him and don’t let any others question him. Escort him personally and see this task done proper.”

“Of course, my High Lady!”

“And you, boy,” Le’Nara turned her gaze back to Mongo and a cold sweat began to form on the back of his neck. Her gaze was strong and unflinching, making him feel like a bug staring up at the boot descending down upon it. “Hold your mouth shut and we’ll speak shortly. I want to hear all you have to say about the name you just mentioned.”

Turning imperially, Le’Nara strode off rapidly towards the manor house, leaving everyone stunned and hopping to obey in her wake.