Lotus awakened. She looked around and saw that only Kim was still in the room. She rose from her bed and lighted a cigarette, then walked over to Kim and woke her.

"What….what do you want?" Kim mumbled.

"Come on, I don't want to face them alone." Lotus replied.

"Oh shit, I'd forgotten." Kim said, slowly rising from her bed.

Kim shook her head to get rid of her sleepiness and walked into the bathroom, where she splashed some water on her face. Lotus fixed her hair, putting it in a big tail, with one lock dancing on her forehead. "Come on, get a move on." she yelled towards the bathroom.

Lotus walked to the door and opened it; looking over her shoulder, she saw Kim exiting the bathroom. She stepped into the narrow cave and started walking towards the dining-room. After a few moments, Kim joined her at her side.

"What's the rush?" Kim asked.

"I just want to get it over with, that's all. Maybe they've finally come to their senses." Lotus replied.

"I sure hope so, if we don't function as a team when we are on our mission, were doomed."

They crossed the main cave and entered the dining-room. Lotus saw Black and Liz were sitting together having breakfast. She sat down next to Liz and Kim sat down next to her. Liz and Black both stared shamefully at their plates. "We're sorry." said Liz.

Black started to cry and Lotus saw a tear running across Liz's cheek, too. "It….it doesn't matter. I just hope that…that you're over it now." she replied.

The small boy she had spoken with earlier walked up to her. "What's with your friends?" He asked innocently.

"Oh, nothing. They're just feeling a bit sad, that's all." Lotus replied. "Can you bring me some breakfast?"

"Sure, what do you want?"

"Just some sandwiches and a beer."

"I'll have the same." Kim added.

Black and Liz had stopped sobbing but were still looking down at their plates. Let's just forget it over happened." Lotus said. "And stop being ashamed of yourself, you didn't know what you were doing; call it temporary insanity or something."

Both of the women nodded. Since they were still in a rather awkward situation, they ate their meals in silence. After the meal, they went to the training area and they practiced their different skills. During these exercises, the women slowly put aside the events of the previous night and behaved normally towards each other again.

The rest of the week was rather uneventful. The nights were spent drinking, eating and laughing in the dining-room. Ister realized he didn't stand a chance of getting in bed with Lotus and basically left her alone. She became good friends with Sabathan. She found out that he had been married once and had two children. All of them were slaughtered by the emperial forces when they raided their previous hide-out. Now she knew why he hated Sharon so much.

The end of the week came fast, far too fast for Lotus anyway. She finally had found a place where she belonged, where she was free and happy. The evening before their departure, the lords gathered again and went over every detail of the mission until she was bored sick and completely drunk.

The next morning, Lotus awakened with a mild headache. She was alone in the room with Black, who informed her the others were already having breakfast. "I can't remember a thing of what happened." Lotus mumbled.

"Sabathan found you in the main cave talking to a pile of crates and brought you here." Black replied, holding back her laughter.

"Oh, great."Lotus groaned, getting up from her bed. "That sure will have made a stunning impression on him."

"He didn't mind, he was a bit drunk himself." said Black, who now started to laugh openly.

"I'm glad my life is so amusing to you."

"You know it's nothing personal, it's all just so incredibly funny."

"I know, I know. Let's just get a move on or we'll be late."

Lotus went into the bathroom and washed her face and hands. She fixed her hair like she had done so many times before. She walked back into the room and saw that Black was ready to go. "Don't forget to take everything you need with you," Black said. "I don't think you'll get have chance to come back and get it later."

Lotus put on her ammo-belt and flung her weapon around her shoulder. "OK, let's go." she said.

They walked to the dining-room. As they entered, Lotus saw most of the people who were coming with them had already gathered there. She and Black sat down by Liz and Kim. "You better eat fast." said Liz, as a servant handed them their plates. "I think we're leaving in about 15 minutes."

Lotus quickly devoured the warm stew, which tasted quite nice but looked like something the cat dragged in. When she had finished, she lit a cigarette and saw Sabathan entering the room.

"The horses are saddled." he said enthusiastically. "I can't think of any reason to stay here any longer, so let's go!"

Everyone rose and followed him to the stables outside the cave, which were cleverly hidden amongst trees and bushes.

"You'll find disguises in your saddlebags." Sabathan said. "We'll put them on when we get close to the city as it's getting dark."

The stable-master led Lotus to her horse and she mounted it skillfully. She rode out into the open, where the others had already gathered, and waited for her friends. She lit a cigarette, thinking this might be the last one she could smoke in peace today; in fact, it could be her last one altogether. She peeked into her saddlebag and saw her disguise was some sort of brown garment.

By this time, all of the men and women had gathered in front of the main gate. Finally, Sabathan emerged from the stables. He rode on a majestic black steed, which made her small brown horse look like an overgrown donkey. He passed Lotus and winked; she nodded in reply. He took the lead of the small army and started their long journey towards the city. They rode on a rather narrow path, so only two horses could ride side by side. Lotus was riding next to Kim; behind them rode Liz and Black. Whenever they encountered a wandering trader or a group of farmers, the pour souls fled into the forest with terror and fear in their eyes.

After about 4 hours, they passed the ruins of Arkham's castle, which was completely deserted, except for a few skeletons. The sight of their former home seemed to make the others sad; Lotus, on the other hand, hadn't spend much time there, so she wasn't on the verge of crying like the others, though she still felt some sadness.

A few minutes later, Sabathan decided to rest for a while; he told them he knew of a small clearing in the forest which was easily accessible, yet out of sight of the main road. There was water for the horses and themselves too, he told them.

Lotus dismounted her horse and led it to a small pond that was fed by a small stream. On the other side of the pond, the small stream continued on its downwards path. She left her horse at the stream, where a few others took care of them, then joined Sabathan and Liz, who were sitting on the dry grass. Liz handed her a few sandwiches and a flask of beer. "How far is it to the city?" Lotus asked Sabathan.

"I think maybe three hours. When we get there, it will be quite dark." he replied. "When we've changed our clothes, we'll abandon the horses and the men who are now taking care of them. We'll split up there and, well, you know the rest."

Kim joined them. "I talked to someone who said lord Arkham was still alive." she said, exhilarated. "He's said to be wandering in these forests somewhere with a bunch of loyal troops."

They were all delighted by this news, though Lotus and Liz didn't think this information would help them with their mission, and said so.

"If I knew you'd react like this," Kim said, slightly offended. "I wouldn't have told you in the first place."

"It's great news." replied Liz, smiling at her friend. "It's just that it's not very useful at the moment."

"I know, I was just trying to cheer you guys up; everyone is so down and stressed out at the moment." Kim pouted.

Sabathan wiped his mouth and stood up. "It's great news indeed." he said. "If we return from our mission, we'll surely try and find him, but for now, we must be on our way."

Lotus got up and collected her horse by the pond. She mounted and lit a cigarette. At least her preceding cigarette hadn't been her last one, so she was feeling quite contented.

Sabathan took the lead again and they were on the way to the city. After about an hour, misfortune showed its face for the first time; they encountered a group of about twenty imperial soldiers who were on their way to the city, too. Since they had no horses, they were going much slower than the rebels. She knew they would have to pass them, and they probably wouldn't let them pass peacefully. They had some luck though; the enemy hadn't noticed them yet, so the element of surprise on their side. Sabathan ordered Lotus' squad to sneak up on them on their right side, while another one would sneak up from the left. His squad and the other one would attract the attention of the enemy. When the enemy had focused their attention on them, they would hit them from all sides.

They all dismounted and left the horses by their caretakers. Lotus and her friends ran about a hundred feet into the forest, before starting to run into the direction of the slow-moving procession. Upon reaching them, with now only a strip of forest between them, Sabathan started the attack. Lotus saw the enemy soldiers fall to the ground; some to take cover, others because they were hit. When they started to return fire, she started her ambush. They started running towards the trapped enemy soldiers. When they were only a few feet away from them, still not noticed by the enemy because of the cover of the forest, she discharged her weapon. Because of the silencer, it only produced a soft plopping sound, but enemy soldiers were dropping like flies. The soldiers had discovered the other squad that sneak-attacked them, so they were backing up into the forest, right in their direction!

It was all over in about a minute. They walked into the road and found they had killed most of the soldiers. Lotus found one who had survived their ambush, Liz found another. By this time, the other squad emerged from the forest. "Thanks," said their lord. "You saved our lives."

"Don't thank me; thank Sabathan for giving us these silencers." Lotus responded.

They hid the bodies in the forest and covered the blood on the road with sand. Only one of their own soldiers had been killed; he was swiftly, yet neatly, buried. "Nice going." Sabathan said to Lotus. "I'm glad to see you don't freeze under pressure."

"Thanks," she replied. "but what are we going to do with those two wounded men?"

"What do you suggest we do with them?" he asked.

"At first I wanted to kill them, but I think it would be better for our consciences if we tied them to a tree or something."

"I agree, they might bleed to death, but there's a chance they will be found." Sabathan said, signaling to Ister.

"What do you need, Sabathan?" Ister asked.

"Tie these two men to a tree and prepare for departure." Sabathan replied.

After the two men had been tied to a tree, well in sight of the road, they walked back to the horses and continued their journey. After about two hours, it was starting to get quite dark; Lotus knew they were probably getting very close to the city by now. She was right; a few minutes later, Sabathan stopped and pointed into the forest. They entered the forest through a narrow path, Lotus could feel branches scratch her face.

After about a minute they came to a small clearing. Everyone was completely silent, so as not to attract the attention of wandering soldiers or civilians. Lotus dismounted and lit a cigarette. When everyone had dismounted, Sabathan gathered them in a small circle. "We'll wait half an hour before we start so it will be completely dark, except for the moonlight. Use this time to get in your disguises and eat something or whatever. I just want to emphasize that on your way back to the horses, whether the mission has failed or succeeded, make sure that no one sees you or follows you. We wouldn't want them to set a trap for us here, now, do we?"

He wished them good luck and so forth and so on. When he had finished, Lotus walked back to her horse and got her disguise from the saddlebag, then she walked to a quieter part of the clearing and started to put the big brown garment on over her uniform. The other women soon joined her. When she was done, she sat down and lit another cigarette. Liz sat down next to her. "I guess this is it." Lotus said.

"I guess so." Liz replied.

Kim and Black sat down as well. "Are….are we going to die?" Kim asked with fear in her voice.

"I think so, in fact I'm pretty sure I'm going to die…" Lotus said, deeply inhaling the smoke from her cigarette. Her cynical remark made Kim even more scared; Black didn't seem too confident anymore, either. "Don't you listen to her, honey." Liz said to Kim. "We're not going to die, there's just a small chance one or two of us will never see the light of day again."

"That'll cheer her up." Lotus said to Liz.

"Oh, shut up." Liz retorted.

"I'm sorry, it's just my way of dealing with the situation." Lotus apologized.

"What do you mean?" asked Black.

"Well, if I think the mission will result in my death and I do see a chance to survive, I will have done better than I had expected and I will be able to feel good about myself, even if the mission has failed."

"That theory only works for people who don't mind dying." said Liz with a smile on her face.

A man walked up to them and told them that it was time; they all got up and followed him. Lotus was walking next to Kim, who was now trembling with fear. "What's the matter with you?" Lotus asked, putting her arm around her. "You're acting as if we're going to jump in an active volcano."

"I….I'm just so scared." Kim replied and started to cry. "You know, two hours ago, in the forest. I…I didn't fire my gun, I….I just froze, I couldn't move no matter how hard I tried."

"Well, maybe you should stay here then." Lotus said softly.

"No, no I won't let you down." Kim responded, wiping away her tears. "I'll be there for you, I swear it."

Lotus patted her on the back. "That's the spirit, now come on, we're starting to lag behind."

They quickly joined the others again. They were standing on the main road, looking around to see if they could spot any unwanted onlookers. "Now," said Sabathan. "we split up, and don't forget," he continued, focusing his attention on the other two squads. "start the diversion in exactly 45 minutes from now."

With these words, the other two squads each started to go their own way.

They waited for a while, until the others were out of sight. "Jesus, man," Sabathan said to one of his soldiers. "Hide your weapon under your clothes! Do you want us to fail before we have started?"

The man quickly did what was asked from him and looked to the ground, ashamed of his forgetfulness. They started walking towards the city. After a few minutes, they reached the point where the road started to go down. They could now oversee the entire city. The palace was in the exact center of the city. Lotus lit a cigarette and enjoyed the relative beauty of the view.

Kim had fortunately started to calm down a bit and wasn't trembling any more. Lotus looked down at the road and where it led; she estimated they still had a mile to walk to the edge of the city. They stood there, overlooking the city for about a minute. Lotus didn't want to waste any more time and started to walk down the road, towards the city.

Suddenly two shady figures appeared in front of them, walking in the opposite direction. As they came closer, Lotus could see it was a guard and a woman, probably his girlfriend or something. "Another group of people," said the girl. "how odd."

That was a rather stupid thing to say, because Lotus immediately unveiled her gun and shot them both. "You can't be too careful." she said, looking at all the eyes that were staring with amazement at both her and the bodies.

"She's right." said Sabathan. "Quickly, hide the bodies behind those bushes."

After the bodies had been hidden and they were on their way again, Kim joined Lotus at her side. "How could you just shoot them dead?" she said incredulously. "And in cold blood too."

Lotus stopped walking and looked Kim straight in the eyes. "I want this mission to succeed, damn it!" she said. "I want the Empress dead and I want Brianna back!"

"Brianna?" Kim replied with a puzzled look on her face.

Lotus realized what she had said and quickly started walking again, looking at the ground. Kim ran up to her and joined her at her side again. "Who is this Brianna?" she asked. "You mentioned her a couple of times, but I didn't know she meant so much to you."

Lotus couldn't help but tell her the entire story then. This time around, she didn't omit a single detail; not that they were in love, not that Brianna had betrayed her and not even what happened in front of the cave on that dreadful day. Kim was amazed by the whole story. "I…..I had no idea." she stammered.

Lotus didn't say a word, but she was feeling quite relieved to be finally telling someone the entire story. She was feeling quite contented as well. It amplified her motivation; she was now certain that life without Brianna wasn't worth living, therefore the only alternative was to die trying to get her back.

They had now reached the edge of the city and she stopped without thinking. Sabathan immediately grabbed her by her arm and forced her to start walking again. "Act natural." he whispered.

They were now walking in the streets of the city; the city that would surely fall into anarchy if they were to succeed on their mission. As they got closer to the walls around the palace, the streets got busier and busier. Lotus could hear laughter from the many bars, crying babies from poorly-lit houses and salesmen loudly advertising their wares. No one appeared suspicious of them. They had completely blended in with the normal citizens, just as they had planned.

When they reached the main gate to the palace, she could see the other two squads, one on each side of the gate, a few feet away from it. The others appeared to be discussing something or another, but a few nods in their direction told them that everything was OK. Lotus nodded back and they continued on their way.

They walked around the walls until they reached the back of the palace walls. Since there was no back gate, it was quiet there. The houses were not lit and Lotus presumed that the good citizens who lived in them were fast asleep. There were two guard towers which could spot them if they weren't silent or tried to use flashlights. They were standing between the towers, which were about 200 feet removed away from them. "This is it." whispered Sabathan.

He flung a rope with a small hook on it over the 10 feet high wall. He did so successfully; Lotus heard the hook cling on the other side of the wall when he pulled the rope back in. She grabbed the rope and was the first to cross the wall. She found herself on a clear, deserted strip of land about a hundred feet wide. She could see lights inside the palace but she didn't hear or see anyone inside it.

After some time, the others also climbed the wall. Two of Sabathan's men stayed behind to cover the other side of the wall. Sabathan was the last climber; on his jump down, he grabbed the hook, pulling it back with him to the grassy palace grounds. He flung the rope across the wall again from this side, to ensure their escape, then looked at his watch. "The diversion will start in exactly 3 minutes." he said.

They carefully sneaked up to the palace until they were underneath a small window, which was on the second floor, nine feet above. Lotus knew that behind this window was a small corridor which led to Sharon's dressing room and that the dressing room was adjacent to the throne room. She was breathing heavily from excitement and so were most of the others. Sabathan seemed the only one who remained calm. "Now." he suddenly whispered.

A few moments later, they could hear gunfire coming from the other side of the palace.