Being a prisoner is horrible. There's not really any way to describe how terrifying it is to be completely at the mercy of your mortal enemy. They'd searched us and stripped us of all our weapons, including my pack and Tuck's bag of explosive powder. When the leader opened the small cloth sac and discovered its contents, I was afraid he'd kill us right there. He didn't, though � partly because then they wouldn't be able to prove they'd captured Cols in possession of explosive powder and would therefore get a better reward if we were presented alive, and partly so that they could interrogate us. Torture us. Already I was rehearsing in my mind the techniques we'd been taught at Mission Training for not succumbing to torture and talking.

There was nothing Tuck and I could have said to each other without being overheard, but I doubt my teammate would have spoken to me anyway. I could now see why he'd rather die than become a prisoner. And if we did talk when they interrogated us, we'd be more help to our side dead than alive. That was a depressing thought if I'd ever had one. I fought to find positivity in the situation. Instead, an unexpected surge of anger nearly overwhelmed me. Forget Captain Gill and his positive thinking! What good could that possibly do me now?

Our wrists were bound behind our backs and the Barons were leading us along by ropes around our necks. At first they'd even blindfolded us, but our constant stumbling had slowed the party enough that they removed the rags from around our eyes.

All of the was nothing compared to the knowledge that we were fast approaching a Baron prison. We'd passed two buildings of some sort, so we were well into Baron territory. I'd lost track of how many days we'd been dragged along. I'd completely given up on thinking positively and sunk into a deeper depression than I'd ever come close to experiencing before, interrupted only by the massive fear that seized me from time to time.

I started reflecting back on the better times of my life, realizing that I wouldn't have much longer to do so. I realized that, while warm and safe, my life growing up at the child-rearing facility had bored me to tears. I had many great memories from Mission Training � the snowman episode and all our practical jokes, having a best friend for the first time, and of course that fabulous day when Captain Gill had told me that I was going on a mission. And when I thought about my very favorite experiences, almost every one had occurred while I was out missioneering. At least if I�m going to die, I thought stoically, this is how I want it to happen.

We trudged up a steep, muddy hill and reached the top. From there I could see quite an expanse of countryside. It was Baron countryside, to be sure, but it didn't look all that different from the Col ground upon which I'd been raised. I tried to look out on the vista serenely before I was yanked over the top. As I stepped quickly to avoid whiplash, I noticed a strange motion among the trees far away. I stared out, sure I'd seen something, as a wall of trees was put between me and whatever it was. At the next opening in the foliage I saw it again, honestly only half curious through my depression but still welcoming anything that could break the tedium of our march.

I got that break. My eyes opened wide and I felt my jaw drop a little as I realized I was seeing an army slowly approaching. Still a great distance behind us but making progress, and clad in blue! I had an urge to jump for joy and shout so that they could find us and rescue us, but my heart sank immediately back down as I realized I couldn't do that, and let these Barons know they were coming. Two captured missioneers were not valuable enough to warrant the attention of an army.

I felt a sharp pain in my shin and staggered. The Baron holding my leash jerked me sternly back into position. I gave him a spiteful look, but he wasn't even turned my way. To my surprised, it was my teammate who was glaring back at me. I was taken aback. Tucks shook his head once, almost imperceptibly but with his expression as intense as I'd ever seen it. What? I mouthed the word at him, trying to convey the question mainly with my face so as not to let the Barons see that we were communicating.

He rolled his eyes slowly upward, toward the distant hills behind us. I began to turn to look but Tuck shook his head again, even more forcefully but just as subtly. As I paused I understood: he'd spotted the approaching army, too, and I, like a foolish gawking Baby, had been staring at them. We couldn't allow the Barons to notice them, too. We couldn't give any sign that they were there.

I turned and faced grimly forward again, nodding my head slightly so that my teammate would know I'd gotten the message. I wondered how long ago he'd spotted them. And how long it would be before the Barons noticed. I wished there were some way we could warn them.

We'd only gone a few more kilometers when one of the Barons suddenly jerked up, and I knew instantly what he'd reacted to. "Pirates!" he shouted, pointing. "Captain, look! It's a whole army!"

Before he'd finished speaking, before the Captain could even turn around, Tuck was standing at the limits of the cords binding him, yelling, "You're spotted! You've been spotted! Col army! Col army! You're spotted!" I joined in, shouting at the top of my lungs, "Col army! You're spotted! You're spo-" My voice silenced as I was jerked backwards by my leash. A boot caught the backs of my knees, and my legs buckled and I fell over. I kept screaming, though I think my words stopped making sense. So did Tuck, who was on the ground next to me with two Barons on top of him. My yelling momentarily stopped when I was punched hard in the face. Then strong hands encircled my neck, and my voice was choked off. I kicked and twisted from the hands, fighting to breathe. Finally I felt a cloth gag being wrapped around my mouth and pulled tight � so tight it seemed the top of my head would be squeezed off. But the hands finally released me, and I gasped despite the cloth. For a moment I actually forgot about the situation and simply exalted in the joy of air.

When I came back to the world, Tuck and I were lying on our backs on the ground, both bound and gagged, while the Barons surveyed the scene out behind the trees. I had a feeling the army hadn't heard us; even if our voices had reached them, over that distance our message would have been convoluted beyond comprehension. What can we do? I asked myself, half-panicked. There must be something we can do.

The Baron leader turned to us. "Your friends are still coming strong," he announced with satisfaction. I didn't have to look at my teammate to see the loathing in his eyes for the man; I knew it was just the same as mine.

He turned back to his fellow Barons (actually, they had all moved to face him). "Kipley, go back to the settlements we passed; Traina, Sumanor, go on ahead. Warn as many as you can. And be sure between the two of you to get the barracks � it may be the only way to summon an army quick enough. Hurry � we don't know where they're planning to hit."

"Maybe they know." One of the Barons jerked his head at us.

The word flashed behind my eyes: Interrogation! No! Too late I thought of trying to influence the Captain.

But he shook his head, after considering for a second. "No time. Go!"

Three Barons took off, one south and two north. The leader and the tall, thin Baron remained with us. Though of course I was disappointed that the army had been discovered, I couldn't suppress a flutter of hope at the fact that there were now only two Barons guarding us instead of five. Maybe we had a chance�

"What are you doing? Get up! Let's go!" the Captain yelled at us. Tuck and I struggled to get our feet on the ground as the Barons yanked us up by our collars. I hated that man.

The Barons took our leashes in hand and pulled us along quickly. I kept trying to come up with a way to escape, and I know Tuck was, too, because every time I looked at my teammate he was deep in thought. When the sun began to set I noticed his expression had once again become stubbornly resolute, and I grew excited, as this meant he'd come up with some idea.

I found out what he planned as we were sitting around a campfire for the night. It was a simple plan � the hardest part was his explaining it to me, since the Barons had positioned us on opposite sides of the fire, and we were both still bound and gagged. The result was that we had to have the entire conversation with our eyes. I was inordinately proud that we could do it. It was easier for me with my empathy, but it was difficult to make Tuck understand what I was saying. Luckily he was the one doing most of the talking.

The tall Baron had killed a small animal in the forest, and while the two cooked it over the fire we had our secret exchange. And I managed to conceal my shock as I comprehended what my teammate wanted us to do.

Like I said, the plan was quite simple. All we had to was push the Baron leader into the fire. And the small bag of explosive powder he'd confiscated from us and subsequently tucked into his own waistband would take care of the rest.

Normally I probably would have objected, except that we needed to escape, and didn't have much time, and this could work. Desperation has a way of persuading a person to compromise their principles. And after the ship trap episode I'd seen that that the effects of explosive powder were horrifying but it wasn't off limits. Besides, Barons had certainly used it to kill enough Cols already. I was rationalizing and knew it but ignored this fact.

The Captain kicked me roughly as he passed and sat down. And if anyone's going to suffer a violent death by explosion, I thought grimly, this is the person for it. Again I nodded curtly to my teammate in confirmation. The question was, how were we going to do it? We both still had our hands tied. And how would we evade the other Baron once we'd done it? I wriggled my hands experimentally, as I'd done a thousand times already. My bonds did feel slightly looser than they had earlier in the day, but I was still far from pulling out of them. I might be able to untie Tuck's hands and him mine, if we could get near each other and free from Baron eyes. It was far too much to hope that they'd both go to sleep.

I didn't expect them to give us an opportunity to act, and they didn't give us much of one, but we when got the faintest glimmer of a chance we took it. Not long after they'd finished their meal the Captain went to sleep sitting on a stump next to the fire, while the tall man took the first watch. He had a tendency to wander on patrols, as we'd previously observed, though when all five Barons were present it was usually one or two of the three who'd left that remained awake. When the tall Baron's back was turned, Tuck looked directly at me, and I knew we were going to do this now, bound hands and all. We were simply going to have knock the Captain into the flames as we were, and in the ensuing confusion of the explosion untie each other's wrists and faces. Hopefully the tall Baron would be too busy dealing with his Captain to come after us while we did so. It was a very risky plan, especially considering that we had no weapons with which to fight the one remaining Baron, and that it would probably take us a good couple minutes to untie our hands. The best we'd be able to do would be to run away and hide in the darkness before we could be chased. I saw one major flaw in this plan, but I as I had no way of communicating it to Tuck, I let it be.

We wanted to wait until the wandering Baron was as far away as possible. Of course, once he was out of sight, we had no idea how far he went. Just because he took a minute or two to come back didn't mean he was walking all that time. I nodded slowly to my teammate, indicating that I was ready and that I'd follow his lead and go when he deemed the time right. Tuck only waited for two patrol cycles. The third time the Baron left my teammate immediately and noticeably tensed, and I knew that this was the time.

When the Baron had been out of sight about thirty seconds, Tuck stood up, silently and slowly. As I rose with him, I suddenly felt free already. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush. We stared at each other across the fire for a second, and then Tuck shrugged (not the best signal upon which to begin a dangerous attack, I couldn't help grimacing) and we surged around behind the Captain and started from about ten feet back so we'd hit at the same time, and ran forward and dove at the man's broad back. I drove my shoulder into him and pushed with all my strength, and the two of us toppled the Baron forward into the campfire even as he grunted and, for a brief moment, opened his eyes.

I looked into those dark eyes, entranced for a second, and fell forward into the fire with him. I'd forgotten that with my arms tied my balance was thrown off, and I had no leverage. In an instant of panic that seemed to last for minutes and I knew I'd never, ever forget, I tried to get up and couldn't move. I think I felt Tuck kick at me, but there was really nothing he could do either though he'd managed to stay on his feet. I rolled over and rolled away from the heat of the fire as fast as I could, not caring what rocks and objects slammed against my face, not even fully comprehending until a second later that the bag of powder was going to blow up while I was centimeters from it. I didn't really even hear the explosion, but I felt the blast of wind and heat. Fiery particles were driven painfully into my bare face and neck. It seemed the air itself was on fire � I breathed it in and my lungs sizzled and screamed. I kept rolling over and over the ground, faster and faster, though I could barely breathe and couldn't see. The cloud of heat suddenly ended, to my immense relief, and I breathed in as deeply as I could with my mouth still gagged. Where was Tuck? The other Baron was probably back by now, and if we got separated we had no way to free our hands. I couldn't even get up. But there was nothing I could do. I kept rolling, hoping Tuck would spot the motion, hoping Tuck would and not a knife-wielding Baron.

I still couldn't see, but I suddenly felt something fall on top of me, pinning me to the floor. The panic that started to bubble up vanished quickly upon the realization that my hands were being grabbed at, my wrists; it was Tuck on top of me. By sitting on my back he managed to work on the knots binding me � it seemed to take forever! I realized he couldn't see what he was doing, but�I forced myself to make us of the time to take deep breaths and calm down a little. Then my bonds went slack, and I pulled my hands free! My wrists ached from being tied for so long, but that was the least of my problems. I actually ripped the cloth away from my face and turned, opening my eyes, to quickly untie my teammate.

"HAH!" I heard a triumphant shout that was half a growl. I mentioned earlier that I'd perceived one potential flaw in our plan, whether Tuck had realized it or not. The problem was that the plan involved the tall Baron's being delayed by attempting to aid the Captain, giving us time to find cover. But I knew this wouldn't happen � the man didn't care a second about his Captain's life. He probably wouldn't care about us, either, except that we meant a reward. And unfortunately, though I'd rolled faster than I would have thought possible, I'd gotten nowhere near as far as I would have on my feet. So locating us had been no trouble at all.

I looked up at the Baron standing over me, clothes and hair blown by the heated wind, fire blazing in the background. The man was actually grinning down at us, a grin both sick and triumphant, his eyes glazed and glittering in the first show of emotion I'd seen him make. His knife was raised above his head, glinting in the light of the flames as he stood in what would normally be a very vulnerable position, except for the fact that we were defenseless. I couldn't even duck out of the way when he brought his knife down, for my teammate was still tied on the ground under me. So I did something unexpected. I attacked the man. Even as he started to swing his arms down I sprang from my crouched position and dove at him, twisting my body to slam my shoulder into his knees, attempting to take him down, closing my eyes and bracing myself for the sharp pain of his knife puncturing my skin. I felt nothing and opened my eyes just in time to see the man get up from where he'd fallen and dive back at me, knife blade raised. I rolled and he stabbed the dirt centimeters from my neck. I scrambled to my feet a fraction of a second before he did and grabbed a burning piece of treebranch from the ground, needing a weapon. He came at me again and I used the branch to block his slash. Already weakened by the fire it crumbled and split immediately. I dropped the wood and spun to dodge the next swipe of the knife, and I heard fabric tear as I moved just in time. He'd cut me, too, I realized a second later as I felt my side start to burn with pain. It's just superficial, I assured myself. I dodged another swing and ducked behind a tree, putting it between the Baron and myself. He wasted no time deciding, simply picked a direction and followed me, slashing even before he was fully in my sight. The knife embedded in the tree's trunk so close to my head it almost cut my ear off. It took the man a second to pull the knife free, and I used the time to scamper away, running back toward the fire since the only other direction I could have gone would have led him back to where Tuck still lay unable to move. I was thankful the Baron hadn't found us a few seconds sooner, or my hands wouldn't have been untied either, and he'd have made short work of us.

But that wouldn't even matter unless I could do something with my freedom. I stopped in front of the fire and half turned, blinking sweat from my eyes, to see the man running back at me, mouth open and knife arm back. I crouched and without taking my gaze off him grabbed a handful of ash from the floor, ignoring the burn in my palm as I did so, and hurled it at my attacker, not ten feet away and still closing fast. He stopped and shielded his face with his hands from the burning specks, and I dashed forward and grabbed his wrist in attempt to wrestle the knife away from him. But I'd pressed my luck too far this time, for he recovered quickly and I soon found myself straining to keep the blade up and out of my throat. I was forced over backwards so far that I fell, landing hard on my back and losing my grip on the man's wrist. But fortunately the Baron needed his hands to break his own fall and I slid forward so he landed sprawled on top of me. Instinctively I brought my legs up and kicked the man below the waistline, as hard as I could, and pushed the lower half of his body up and over me, then scuttled away. For a few seconds he remained on the ground, doubled in pain, and instead of using that time to attack I leaned my hands onto my knees and caught my own breath, for the wind had been knocked out of me when I fell. Then, slowly, the man got up, face red with pain and rage. I straightened as he charged and swung hard but wildly. I jumped away and darted back into the woods, realizing that I couldn't do this forever and I needed some kind of plan. The Baron wasn't following me anymore, and I was afraid he'd remember Tuck and go after him. So without any real idea what I was doing I ran back out toward the Baron and blew by him, his knife just a second too slow to catch me as I passed. He immediately picked up the chase where he'd left off and ran after me. I was out of breath and my heart was pounding so hard I thought it would explode, and then an absolutely insane idea surfaced in my brain. Without thinking about it and with nothing to lose I turned and ran straight into the fire! It was the second time in my life I'd done that same crazy deed, but this time my clothes were dry and I was already out of breath. Squinting with a hand over my eyes I was barely able to see out between my fingers, but I ran for what I hurriedly estimated to be the center of the relatively small but spreading blaze and by beautiful luck found the dead Baron Captain, lying prone on the ground. His body was blackened with fire and slimy with blood at the same time. Trembling in horror at what I was doing and fear that the tall Baron would be upon me at any moment and I wouldn't even see him, I felt around the dead man's body. I half-expected the leader to rise up and maul me. And then I found what I was looking for � a long-bladed knife � and pulled it out of its leather case, and was running away from the corpse the next instant. My legs and back and shoulders already burned and I felt flames growing on me, and holding the knife out and above my head I dove and rolled out of the fire to extinguish myself. I was on the opposite side of the blaze from where I'd gone in. I coughed and gasped and willed myself not to pass out as I ran back around the edge without even stopping for a full breath of air. I held up abruptly, thought, when I saw the Baron, facing away from me. He didn't seem to have followed me far into the blaze. I raised my stolen knife to throw it at him, then stopped and lowered it. My aim was normally pretty accurate, but right then I could barely see, and I couldn't afford to miss and waste the knife and the element of surprise that it gave me. I hoped the man hadn't figured out what I'd done. I don't know if I moved or made a noise, but the Baron suddenly turned and saw me, and instantly charged. I dodged as he swung at me, careful to keep my weapon concealed, and felt the breeze of his knife slicing by. Then I made an unpredictable move and crouched as if to attack, lowering myself into a vulnerable position, and had to dive to the ground to avoid his sweeping blade, in the process entangling my feet in his to take him down with me. As I'd hoped, he landed on top of me, just like before, only this time he wisely pinned my legs to the ground before I could move any further. I clutched the Captain's knife firmly, just beside my right leg. I stared up into the Baron's wild face, once again backed by the raging flames, as he raised his weapon high above his head for the killing blow. For a fraction of a second I fought the bizarre impulse to freeze and never move again, and then I fluidly brought up my right hand with its concealed knife and plunged the blade into the Baron's unguarded chest until the hilt pressed against his flesh.

Mouth still open, eyes still wide but not with shock as much as furor, the man collapsed limply on top of me, knife slipping from his hand and dropping harmlessly aside. I pushed his body away, my elbows and wrists suddenly rebellious as panic chose that moment to set in. I scampered away backwards on my hands and feet, and managed to stop shaking enough to get up and run back to where I hoped I remembered Tuck was lying. I felt scared and sick and crazy. It's okay, Bryt, it's okay, I tried to soothe myself. It's over and you're alive. It's over and you're still alive, and you're free. I'd calmed slightly by the time I reached my teammate, again letting relief begin to wash over me. With fingers still shaking and moving twice as fast as they were supposed to it took longer than it probably should have to untie Tuck. I dimly realized he'd rolled further back into the woods as the fire had progressed. His reaction as soon as he was free of his bonds startled me � he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly to him. Surprised but grateful I buried my face in his chest and let him hold me as I shuddered, allowing the fear and shock to slowly pass.

"Well, Bryt," Tuck said quietly, "you can officially call yourself a missioneer." Whether he meant the statement to be funny, solemn, sympathetic or even degrading I didn't know and didn't care, but his voice was comforting, and eventually I looked up and back at the scene the two of us had managed to create: one spreading fire, two dead Barons�and two free Cols.