"I thank you sir for your timely intervention. It seems..." I was going to ascertain that Sigmar truly watched over us this day, but I figured he would not take to the concept as I would so I continued with, "the gods are watching over us," in a more diplomatic approach. He laughed, jaunting over to our position and wiping the blood from his blade on his own cloak. 

"Yoo ar queite reight," He said in his heavy accent, sheathing his sword. He poised himself as if he were propositioning at court, anything between a duel and a suggestion of courting. "An I seuppose yoor schamberlain iss missing, no?" 

"Very astute sir," I conceded with an inclination of my head. I was eager to move, if for no other reason than to keep myself and Camilla out of harms way. Of course, if I could find Schulz in the meantime, that would be ideal. "I suggest we go search for him immediately, but if you have more pressing business of your own I will not hold you to any quest, sir." 

"Non, I am ze ambassador ah-myself. I will, howevere, follow ze innocent ladie," He remarked chivalrously, smiling kindly to Camilla. She gave him a dazzling smile I could almost believe was sincere, had I not seen her give the same to other courtiers of the court. I saw no reason to pause, and so at my ushering we heading into the main corridor of the west wing of the palace. I had seen violence before, but the deaths of the men a scant few minutes ago and the bodies we found strewn across the floor made me quite glad Camilla and I had not yet eaten breakfast. Some furniture was overturned in haste whilst others were unmoved and even unblemished from the blood that pooled in various imperfections and crevasses of the tiled floor. 

"By the hammer, what could cause such calamity?" I asked aloud, kneeling down to close the eyes of a tilean swordsman. He was no more than a boy, the barest hint of facial hair creeping onto his chin. In the distance, the clash of steel on steel and cries could still be heard, but before we could go further, a familiar face rounded the corner. 

Captain Muller and a retinue of twenty of our imperial men followed him. Some were bruised and bandaged but all looked in fighting shape. The Captain called his men to a halt, his eyes on me first and foremost. He looked past my shoulder and then approached. "Where is the Chamberlain?" 

"He wasn't in his rooms." I said, confusion evident on my face. "Are you telling me you didn't get him out?" 

"Do you bloody see him with us!?" The Captain growled, frustrated. I did not press the issue, even though I was wild before his eyes fell on Camilla. I was not close to the captain by any stretch, but I knew that look. I stepped between the two of them before he even raised his sword to point at the woman. "Who is she? Why are you traveling with a tilean trollop? She could be a spy for all you know!" 

"She is not a spy, hell the men tried to kill her!" I said vehemently. 

The Captain narrowed his eyes at me, a bit of shrewdness finally poking through the haze of anger. "Did you meet her yesterday? Where were you last night?" He asked. 

I laughed as if it were the most predictable and pathetic thing I had ever heard, clutching my staff in both hands, jiggling it as I spoke to give my words more of a mocking tone. "Yes, truly. 'This woman sucked my cock so well that I would vouche for her after being here just one day.' Do you listen to yourself? I found her scared out of her mind in the halls and being assailed, and the Brettonian ambassador here helped me defend her. Don't insult me, even I wouldn't sleep with a local woman after one night here." 

I was glad I sounded very sure of myself, but I braced myself in case Camilla chortled. Perhaps lying wasn't the most noble thing to do, but it kept us from killing each other. The fact it was my mouth on her rather than the opposite gave a bit of truth to the falsehood, and the mental image of her lips below my belt had my heart suddenly racing. Gods, I was hopeless, wasn't I? The small thought Camilla might be a spy and I was blindly guarding her after a wondrous night was also an unsettling prospect, but no, I wasn't going to entertain that idea at the moment. One enemy at a time. 

"So, lead on Captain. Wherever the Chamberlain is, he's not in the west wing." I replied.