Rescuing Dad

Amber wiped her hand on the dirty sheets and whispered softly in Dan's ear, "Get to sleep, Danny," before her body shifted back to her side of the bed. Dan turned away from his sister and soon fell asleep. He had a plethora of dreams that night but not one of them featured the Kantan woman! .

Dan and Amber were up at dawn the next morning. After a relatively heavy breakfast, which they forced themselves to devour, despite scattered piles of vomit; residue from the soldier's excesses, the siblings hit the road once more.

Away from the town Dan's conscious became restless. "What will we tell Dad about...?

"NOTHING, you big dummy. What has happened MUST remain a secret between us. You know how sad and distracted Dad had been since Mom passed? This would kill him!"

"But..."

"We did what we needed to and NOTHING more and THAT is what we tell Dad!"

"Are you sure, Amber?"

"I'm positive, Danny. It is even possible that when we are both very old that we look back on these days and smile."

"I hope you are right, Sis. You have been right about everything so far."

"Nice to see that you recognize genius when you encounter it."

"Don't push it, Sis."

The two then smiled, shook hands, and made their way further down the road. The road was long and dusty and twilight was pressing in as the prison camp loomed in the distance. Dan presented his pass at the front gate. He and Amber were marched further into the facility by men armed with crossbows. Proving that Leon had not raised an imbecile, Dan refused to reveal the gold hidden in his tunic until the Katan officer in charge of the prison camp produced his father.

Hours after dark, Dan, Amber, and their father made their exit from the prison camp. Leon carried a safe conduct pass and a lantern as the trio began to reverse the path Amber and Dan had hiked. Leon was surprised to see Amber and so much of her at that, but when Dan explained how important she had been to Dan personally and how her disguise had allowed them to reach this point unmolested, Leon was much more sanguine. Even so, he made sure that Amber had her own room at every tavern stop on the return journey.

To the delight of everyone, the war between Katan and Dan's country soon ended. Not much had been decided and no great victories had been scored by either side. Wiser minds compared the war between the two countries as a squabble between two belligerent children who simply had to test each others metal. Suzy, on a return visit to Dan's home village, noted his mysterious new maturity that made him, somehow, even more handsome. It did not take Dan much convincing to get her to sneak into the hay loft with him. Under her clothes, Dan found Suzy almost as enchanting as Amber. In the hay, Suzy was really nice but Dan realized that it would be a very long time indeed until memories of the touch, the smell, the sweetness, and the wonder of making love to his sister faded.