( ::))<br/><br/>The ladder creaked and dust fell from it as the girl made her way up it. As she nears the top, a shout erupts, "Hold it!"<br/><br/>A man appears from the room above, peering down the hole and aiming a crossbow at Rhianna. He grimaces, and then speaks, "It's a...<em>girl</em>."<br/><br/>Another head peers down, eyebrows furrowed. These were not Alweistrom's soldiers... but nor did they look like Tythe's paladinic crusaders. These men were the conscripts of Eslund, the newly aquired vassal state of Tythe. They had avoided battling upon their own home soil, but that did not stop them from following the Tythians' call to war upon Alweistrom.<br/><br/>There was little time for Rhianna to ponder this, as she was grabbed out of the hole by a pair of soldiers and brought to kneel upon the hay-covered floor.<br/><br/>It appeared that the passage led to a warhorse stable outside the Castle, but its hidden entrance was discovered, it seemed. As about half a dozen conscript soldiers (each more unruly looking than the last) stared at her, one in particular stood up and asked, "Who is she?"<br/><br/>One soldier leaned forward, scrutinizing the girl's feature. "By the gods. I believe it's the Lady Somerset."<br/><br/>"Lady Somerset?" Another replied, scoffing, "The Tythians said no one from the castle survives..."<br/><br/>"Wait." Their apparant leader commanded, brushing the crest of his horsehair helmet. "She's heir to this place, now. We could ransom her off quite nicely..."<br/><br/>"To who? -Her parents?" Another said, acting as if she wasn't even there, "Desiter has already claimed their heads."<br/><br/>"A prince, maybe." The leader mused, "To lay claim to these lands when the Tythians leave, perhaps. We keep her. Quietly. Hidden from the Tythians."<br/><br/>"And until then?" A previously silent Eslundian said.<br/><br/>Their commander looked at Rhianna for a moment. "Do whatever you will." He said, looking away, as if slightly annoyed. "But don't kill her."