"My lord, your fortification plans for the village are moving along swiftly", said the Town elder, as he handed him a glass of wine. "Here this is for you Sir."
"Good, make sure everyone is working as hard as they can, so we can be prepared for a future attack", responded Sir Baldwin. He then takes a sip from the glass of wine and his face shows signs of disgusts, "It's bitter, I don't like it."
"Sorry, my lord, I meant no disrespect. I should of have had it tested before I gave it to you." The Towns Elder quickly grabbed the wine bottle and gave it to someone standing around. He then asked, "Would you like another one? I promise you; all of our wine doesn't taste like this."
"No, just make sure everything gets done in a timely manner," said Sir Baldwin with a tone of annoyance. Right as the town elder had left the room, a soldier came into the room.
"My lord, I have some information you might want to hear", said the soldier kneeling in front of him.
Sir Baldwin was still annoyed from tasting the bitter wine, so he was not too interested in hearing new information. "Be quick, I don't have time for something that's not important." He grabbed the glass of wine to make himself seem more important than he was.
The Soldier began to speak, "Well sir, I'm sure you've heard of the third prince."
"of course, I have heard of the treasonous third prince. It makes me sick to my stomach to believe someone with so much privilege would try to betray the king." Replied Sir Baldwin, he felt that treason was the worst thing a person could ever do. "But, what about him?"
"I have found out that he has been staying in this very town, Sir" replied the Soldier.
Sir Baldwin suddenly stood up as soon as the words finished leaving the soldier's lips and said, "We must find him immediately, we'll tear this town apart if we have too." Sir Baldwin became filled with excitement and had a devilish smirk on his face. "Finally, this is my chance to prove my loyalty to the King" said Sir Baldwin.
"I have also learned that he is making an attempt to leave soon, so if you want to catch him, we must act fast", said the soldier.
"You're right, but first I want to know how you know so much about this plan of his." Sir Baldwin stared directly at the soldier "As your superior I order you to take off your Helmet and reveal yourself to me."
"As you wish Sir", The soldier grabs their helmet and gently removes it off their head. Long dark chestnut colored hair came flowing out from underneath the helmet, landing on the back of the soldier. A smooth pale face with eyes the same color of the endless ocean was now clearly visible to Sir Baldwin, leaving him surprised.
"I am Damira, my lord. I was sent here by General Don."
Every day since making their plan, Aeron and Pierre would walk by the escape route to make sure nothing had changed. The night before they planned to leave, they all went to the same room to run through the plan one more time.
"Rose and Alana are going to the shops at the top of the road," Said Aeron pointing at a map of the town. "Pierre and I will meet up with you guys and then we can leave together."
Pierre then adds "We have to make sure that we are not acting suspicious, we don't want the soldiers to find out about Aeron's identity."
Rose asked "So, shouldn't we have a backup plan just in case something messes this whole idea up?"
"Our plan should work fine since no one knows about it", replied Pierre.
"I have a question to ask you guys?" Elise asked while she was sitting toward the back of the room. "Why are you guys leaving the town?"
Silence filled the room as each one of them looked at one another. Pierre and the girls looked at Aeron and after a few more moments, Aeron finally looked back towards Elise. "Elise what I am about to tell you is a secret you can't tell anyone else, not even your father."
Elise knew that Aeron was going to tell her something important, so she braced herself. "I understand", she said in response to Aeron.
"I am the third Prince of The Venied Empire, and Alana is the fourth Princess of the Venied Empire." Even after trying to prepare herself, Elise was still overwhelmed. She just stared at him trying to process everything.
"Wait your royalty, I'm sorry I didn't realize sooner," she starts acting strangely.
Pierre then asked, "Are you okay?"
Elise gave an awkward smile "I don't really know how to address them now." Then a thought dawn on her. "Wait if those two are royalty, who are you two", said Elise whilst pointing at Pierre and Rose.
Rose laughed a little "We're not as important as those two. I used to be a maid in the palace and Pierre is their supposed guard."
"Just talk to us like you have been doing. It's not like any of that stuff really matters anymore," said Aeron. "Anyway, Elise will you help us get out of here. I don't want us to cause this village any trouble."
Elise stood up and look out the window contemplating what she should do. Then when she made up her mind, she turned around. "Of course, I'll help you. I already owe Pierre my life, so it only makes sense that I would help you."
Alana grabbed Elise's hands "Thank you from the bottom of my heart." The rest of them thanked Elise then they got back to the plan.
"Alright there is an area on the west side of the village that nobody goes to. I think if we go there during the middle of the day, everyone else should be helping work on the fortifications so we can sneak out the west exit," explained Pierre. "To make sure nobody sees us we are going to need Elise to go to the gate first and make sure it's clear. If it looks like we can't get through we might have to start a distraction and have the gate guards break it up."
After some time had passed, they ironed out the plan and came to an agreement. "Alright guys let give this our all tomorrow," said Pierre. Just outside the door the agent sent by general Don was ease dropping on their conversation. "Let's see you try and escape this time," she whispered to herself. When she realizes that they were don't with the plan, she walked away just before the girls came out the room.
The girls were standing outside of their room. "Alana, do you want to go take a bath now? I really think I could use one before tomorrow," asked Rose.
"You to go ahead without me. I'll go later I need some time to think alone," replied Alana. The other two left and Alana went into the room. She sat down on her bed trying to relax, but then worrying thoughts began to plague her mind. All she could think about was their plan going wrong and her brother being captured or worst. A feeling of anxiousness filled her entire body. Her leg started to shake, and she could hear the pounding of her heart in her ears like war drums. One worrying thought lead to another leaving her feeling trapped inside her own head. A far away voice coming from deep her mind called out to her, "Breathe, you must Breathe." Alana took in a deep breath and as the air fill her lungs, she felt a wave of relief sweeping away any anxiety she felt. She got up and walked over to a mirror in the room. Her face was covered in sweat and she was still trembling. She took another deep breath with her eye's closed allowing to get back to normal.
Alana was about lay down, when she remembered that she picked up a book in the tomb. She pulled the book out of her bag because she didn't get a good look it when she first got it. The book was black with silver line designs on the front. There was nothing on the cover of the book that indicated who had written it. She also remembered a voice telling her that she would gain power if she opened the book. She was curious of the strange book, but she still didn't trust the voice either. Just as she was about to open the book, she heard Rose and Elise at the door. She quickly hid the book under her pillow and gave a suspicious smile to them when they walked in.
"Umm Alana is everything alright?" asked Rose. "Yeah, I'm fine," quickly responded Alana. "Well now that you guys are back, I'm going to take my bath now." Rose and Elise look at each other and then sighed. Alana left the room leaving Rose and Elise in the room. "I wonder if she okay," said Elise. "She was acting kind strange, wasn't she," curiously replied Rose. They both sat down on their beds. "I hope this plan works. Once Aeron and the rest of us get out of this country the better," said Rose.
"I wanted to ask you this earlier, but if Aeron and Alana are royalty why are they running away?" asked Elise. The room feel into an awkward silence and Rose just stared at the floor. Rose then explained "Well, it's actually more about Aeron. He had to leave because of something he did, and we decided to follow him." Elise then asked, "I just don't understand what he could have done that would force him to leave the country?" Rose was hesitant and stopped herself from answering "It really not my place to answer that question. I you really want to know you should ask Aeron or Alana." The room became silent again. Elise felt that there was a gap between herself and her new friends, and the gap was slowly growing every second.
Rose noticed the awkward atmosphere in the room and tried to lighten the mood "We can talk about this another time, but anyway Elise, what do you think of Pierre huh?" Elise's face became red and she quickly turned away. "Think of him what do you mean?" responded Elise. Noticing Elise's embarrassment Rose smirked, "You know do you like him?" Elise started trying to avoid eye contact "Well in the tomb… he saved my life, but…" Rose chuckled at Elise while she thought to herself "She's so easy to read so cute." They continue to talk for some time until Alana comes back to the room.
"What are you guys talking about?" asked Alana. "Oh, nothing really" replied Rose. "How was your bath?" Alana sat down next to Elise, "It was great, I felt like I really need It to help me relax." Elise smiled, "I'm glad you enjoyed it, since it's probably not what your used to." Alana laid down on the bed, "Don't worry it was just as good as the bath in the palace was." Elise looked curious, "Do you miss it?"
Alana sat back up "Miss what?" she replied. "The palace and your luxurious life," said Elise. "Well, I do miss it. I also miss my family, but as long as I'm with my twin everything will be okay," Alana looked to the window, "I hope there doing okay. Hopefully I'll be able to see them again one day."
Pierre left to eat leaving Aeron only in the room. Laying on the bed thinking about the tomorrow. He thought to himself, "I hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow I hate putting all my friends in danger because of me." He took his shirt off and got up to look himself in the mirror. He traced the marking that's on his chest "This is definitely connected to my visions and that sword." When he looked at his eyes in the mirror a flash of memories had hit him. They were memories from when all of them were capture by bandits. Then the voice from the tomb spoke as the memories played, "These memories show your true power Aeron. You will be able to unlock your abilities when your desire is strong enough."
Later at the town hall, Sir Baldwin was giving more orders to villagers. Damira entered into the room, and once Sir Baldwin noticed her, he cleared everyone out of the room. "So, did you find out any more information about the Prince's Plans?"
"Yes sir, I know his found out his entire plan to leave the village," responded Damira. "We should be able to stop and capture him." Sir Baldwin gave a murderous smile, "We're going to ruin this little plan of his and give this traitor what he deserves."