Hilde’s head was swimming as Gilbrecht half helped, half carried her up the castle’s twisting stairway. Dimly she was aware that the knight was talking to her, asking her questions. There was something she wasn’t supposed to talk about but she couldn’t remember what it was. He asked about Cedric and some woman who Cedric knew, or was supposed to know? By the time they reached the oaken door of the chamber the questions had stopped. 

The knight took her into the room and laid her down on the bed. The drugs he had put into the wine had done their work. She claimed she didn’t know that Cedric used the name Reiner, she thought he had told her his name was Reiner but couldn’t remember when. Perhaps it would have been better to have had the questioners put the fire to Cedric and make him talk but they needed Isolde to perform her ritual. Sigmar’s work could not be delayed because a sorceress decided that she should throw herself from a tower because a former lover had been tortured to death.

Gilbrecht was an honorable man, he would never dream of taking advantage of a woman in Hilde’s condition. There was an obscure sense of guilt at having drugged her for information. He did permit himself an appreciative glance at her somnolent form. His eyes tracked down to where her belt had dragged her trousers down slightly over the curve of her hip. He was just about to turn away when he noticed something there. Something in his training jolted in the back of his mind, overpowering his chivalrous inclination to turn away. With a sense of dread growing in his heart he moved over to her and began to slowly pull the fabric away. His eyes bulged in horror at what he saw.

Hilde came awake with a start. Her mind was still fogged with the drugs but there was a new clarity somehow. Gilbrecht was standing over her, he had dragged her trouser down over her hip. His eyes were wide and he was ashen pale. Rage and fear flooded her. The adrenaline pouring into her system purged the drugs faster than any alchemist could have done. Gilbrecht opened his mouth to shout. She surged to her feet driving her shoulder into the knights stomach. He reeled back, snatching for a sword that wasn’t there. She hit him as hard as she could with a balled fist, driving it deep into her stomach. He fell backwards tumbling over and she followed him down landing on his stomach. Gilbrecht was a trained soldier and he outweighed her by a hundred pounds. Even unable to should he kneed her in the chest sending her sprawling back to the bed. He tried to yell to sound the alarm but his breath wheezed in his throat from her attack. With a choking gasp he darted across the room and leaped atop her, powerful hands closing around her throat.

Hilde thrashed beneath the knight, her vision pulsing red in time with her heartbeat. Her hands scrabbled futilely at his, but it was like trying to dislodge tree trunks. The world started to fade around her. She spasmed beneath the knight, her hand fell to her waist, brushing a hard object. With her last energy she drew her pistol from her waistband, pressed it into GIlbrecht’s stomach and pulled the trigger. The last thing she saw as the world crashed towards blackness was a flash of light and the smell of burning powder.