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"How many guards?"

"Likely a dozen. Perhaps more."

"And who's commanding them?"

"One of four men."

I pointed to the road.

"Three are loyal to Fitzwalter. The fourth is Captain Ralf Sedding."

"Who's he?"

"An experienced officer from the Blyth garrison. Twenty-two years in service. I've known him since he was a corporal."

"Can we trust him?"

"I trust him to think before obeying an unlawful order."

"That's not quite the same thing."

"No. But it's something."

She considered the map.

"And if one of the other three commands the convoy?"

"Then we'll have to stop them the usual way."

"Arrows?"

"And a tree across the road."

She nodded approvingly.

"And if it's Sedding?"

"Then I intend to try something rather foolish first."

I sat back.

"Robin, where's my seal?"

She blinked.

"Which seal?"

"The royal authorization seal you stole from the second drawer of my desk in September."

Her mouth opened.

Then closed.

"The one I told you I'd come and retrieve the following day," I continued, "and subsequently forgot about because I was occupied falling in love with you."

She stared at me for another moment.

Then she reached beneath her shirt and pulled out a cord.