Eric Lentan had long since recovered from the news that his friend had been taken.  As far as he was concerned, Karogen was dead.  Lentan, for all his cunning and strategy, did not understand his enemy as thoroughly as he thought.  Rather than murdering Karogen in a bloody spectacle, as House Javier - Lentan's former masters - would have, the Lady of Kazmer was letting Karogen rot away in a cell until his mind was dry and pliable.<br/><br/>He sat before his cold video screens and watched his struggle unfold, hoping that Karogen hadn't been allowed to speak too much before he died.  On a deeper, nearly buried level, he hoped Karogen hadn't suffered for long.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>The First Sergeant in Hempstead made a routine check-in with his brigade HQ, receiving more orders to sit and wait.  For the moment, his platoon was out of the war.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>"Listen to me, fellas," Halvorson called as the Slayers climbed aboard.  "We're going to my brigade HQ.  They got everything we need there to unload our wounded, regroup, and rearm."  He looked at Baz.  "You can talk to the colonel when you get there.  He'll help you sort everything out.  I still don't know that this idea about a rescue mission from the Palace is all about, but the colonel's got a direct line to the Commander.  If this guy the Lady's holding is important, the Commander will decide if he's gonna be rescued.  Until then, I think we should all just settle down.  Everyone got me?"<br/><br/>O'Toole looked at him and nodded.<br/><br/>"Heretic, take us out to the main road and head north.  Turn right when I tell you to," Halvorson called.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Inside the Palace of the Wolf, Lady Alhanda was looking over Eric Lentan's history file again.  The angry boy had no doubt become a man.  With that came responsibilities, even as a slave.  Did Lentan have children? Who was this Jessica that Karogen had mentioned?  Her staff were running checks on all the female slaves named Jessica in Kazmer, but it would take time.<br/><br/>There had to be some way to get to this man.<br/><br/>Reports had come in from nearby Houses.  House Javier was putting up with shallow human resistance.  The humans were spread out across several townships and had only managed to fully secure one, but they were surrounded.  Lord Asturi was confident they could be put down soon, but in his arrogance he had offered to reinforce Kazmer.  House Shenzai was not about to let any of Javier's troops into the city.  Asturi was a pompous cur.  Lady Alhanda was not about to massage his ego by letting him "assist."<br/><br/>House Blotar had all but fallen.  Baron Deral had been barricaded inside his opulent castle for several hours, letting the human scum overrun all of his armories.  Undoubtedly they would start supplying the humans in Kazmer and House Javier's lands within the day.  Other disjointed reports indicated that this wasn't a localized event... humans across the whole world were rising up against their masters.  That was all the old man had said the whole time her guards were flaying and scorching him - "humanity rises."<br/><br/>Let Lord Asturi be pompus.  Alhanda had to concentrate on securing her city.