"Your Highness, we did not expect to see you here today" said a guard as he caught sight of Liam as he was walking towards where he was standing.
"Good Noon your highness" came the voice of the other guard standing by, as the two guards seemed to be guarding a particularly large wooden door.
"Good Noon" said Liam.
"Yes, I was not going to come here today, but I have had a change of plans" said Liam.
"Alright your highness" said the guard.
"Shall I inform the jailor of your arrival?" asked the other guard.
"No" said Liam.
"No... there is no need for that, I shall do that myself, Thank you" said Liam.
"It is an honour your highness" said both guards as they bowed and Liam opened the large wooden door and he walked through it.
The sound of Liam's boots clacking on the stone floor could be heard, the path that he was walking through was very dark, with only a few torches hung on the wall at certain timely intervals.
The path was cold and the walls were murky, Liam did not know which was best, being down here in the freezing cold of the winter, or being here in the scorching hot of the summer, because either option seemed unbearable.
Liam walked in silence, until he reached some bar metal gates, which were left open, so he opened the gate and he let himself in.
"Hello" said Liam as he came to a man as the man was sleeping on a chair while casting his legs up on the desk.
As soon as the man heard a voice he opened his eyes and he was left in shock as in his moment of surprise he lost his balance on the chair and he fell down to the ground on his bottom.
"Ahhh, Ahhh your highness" said the man as he ignored every pain he was feeling in his bottom and he immediately rushed to Liam's feet as he bowed.
"Please forgive me your highness, I drifted into slumber" said the man as he begged Liam.
"Please rise" said Liam as he was resisting the urge to laugh, was he that scary that the man ignored all the pain from his fall earlier, and he immediately began to beg.
"No, no your highness, I will stay here till you pardon me" said the man as he refused to get up.
"I pardon you" said Liam, he could not blame the man for falling asleep at all, the dungeons were a very lonely and cold place, and besides the jailor only had one prisoner to look after.
Liam did not except him to waste all his time watching over the one prisoner, although regardless of that, if the jailor had fallen asleep while there were many prisoners then that would have been a big problem.
"You really are gracious your highness" said the jailor as he stood up, his head was completely bald, and his face was very smooth, he had dark circles under his eyes, and his hands were very dirty.
"How is the prisoner?" asked Liam as he looked at the jailor.
"Well your highness, he had refused to speak, to sleep and even to eat" said the jailor.
"I had just disposed of his food before it ends up attracting rats and all manner of creatures" said the jailor.
"I see" said Liam as he looked at the jailor, it was odd for a prisoner to refuse to eat, even when they were charged with heinous crimes, their main concern was their food.
"Your highness, do you require me to bring out the prisoner for you to speak with?" asked the Jailor as he turned to look at Liam.
"No... there is no need for that, I will speak with him myself" said Liam as he looked at the jailor.
"Alright then your highness" said the Jailor as he picked up the keys to the dungeon, from his desk, the dungeon keys which consisted of three iron keys that were hung together.
The jailor walked from his desk and he walked to another iron bar gate and he inserted the key into it and the turned the key and opened the gate and walked further into the dungeon as Liam followed behind him.
After a short while of walking, Liam and the jailor came to another iron bar gate, and this time the gate seemed to be guarding a cell, and there was a man tied up with rope to the chair.
The Jailor chose the correct key from the bunch, and he inserted it into the gate and he turned the key and the gate opened and Liam walked into the cell.
"Why is he tied up?" asked Liam as he looked at the guard who was tied up to the chair his head was held down and his eyes were closed, but Liam knew that he was not sleeping, because he was breathing heavily.
"Ahh your highness, I forgot to mention that I tied him up, seeing as he was very restless" said the jailor as he turned to look at Liam.
"I see" said Liam
"Yes your highness" said the jailor as he nodded.
"Leave us" said Liam as he turned to look at the jailor.
"As your highness pleases" said the jailor as he gave a quick bow and he walked away.
Liam could hear his footsteps gradually becoming faint, and once he could hear them no more, he turned to look at the guard who still had his head down.
The first thing Liam did was to untie the guard, Liam walked to the chair the guard was sitting on and he untied the guard, starting with his arms and then with his legs.
The guard opened his eyes and he began to rub his hands that had been left in that position overnight.
Once Liam was done untying the man he stepped back to his original spot.
"Can you speak?" asked Liam as he looked at the guard with dark hair and brown eyes and the guard nodded.
"Are you thirsty?" asked Liam and the guard shook his head.
"Alright then" said Liam as the guard was wondering what sort of questions Liam was asking him, he thought that the prince was here to interrogate him, or even worse... torture him.
"Now, would you please tell me, how you were involved in the assassination attempt of my father King Alaric of Wyverdale" said Liam as his tone went serious and his eyes were cold, very different from his usual demeanor that he showed the guard earlier.
The guard felt fear, he felt that he had to speak, or else Liam would kill him.
"Your highness" said the guard as he finally spoke up and he cleared his throat as Liam watched him closely.
"I was not involved in the assassination attempt on the King at all" said the guard as he spoke up quickly.
"Oh is that so?" asked Liam.
"Because that was not what I was told at all" said Liam.
"I heard that were the one that blew the trumpet of alarm by saying that there was an assassination attempt on the King" said Liam.
"And why else would you say such, if you were not very sure, or if you had no evidence at all" said Liam.
"It is either that you were part of the assassination attempt and you decided not to go through with the plan, or you were a scapegoat to your members" said Liam coldly.
The guard felt a chill down his spine and he began to sweat, he knew that lying would get him nowhere here, which was why he had decided to come forth and say nothing but the truth.
"The truth is your highness..." said the guard as he looked at Liam.
"I was part of the assassination attempt, but I was given a very menial role" he said.
"You see your highness, I was approached by some bandits some days earlier, they had offered to pay me greatly, if I aided them with their plan" said the guard.
"I was tempted by the offer and I blindly accepted, they had told me that my role was just to simply aid them around the Castle without getting caught" said the guard.
"I foolishly agreed to do so, and the ball your arranged showed as the perfect time to carry out their plan" said the guard.
"But hours before their plan could be set in motion, I began to feel indescribable guilt, and I could no longer go on with the plan, so I decided to come clean and confess" said the guard.
"Your highness, I am aware that what I did was wrong, I betrayed the kingdom, which is why I am ready to take full punishments that will be given unto me" said the guard as he looked at Liam with determination and guilt.
Liam could tell that the guard was not lying at all, so he had decided to pardon him, he would only be punished lightly.
"You are forgiven, but according to Wyverdale law, you will still undergo your punishment" said Liam.
"But I will not be the one to punish you, I will inform the person who shall arrange your punishment to do so" said Liam as he was going to have to tell Zuph to arrange the punishment of the guard.
"I accept that your highness" said the guard as he bowed.
"But tell me this, were you aware of who the bandits were??" asked Liam as the guard raised his head up.
"No... no your highness, we always met in the night, and they would often cover their faces, so I know nothing about them" said the guard.
"But what I am sure of is that they were from the east, they had an eastern accent" said the guard.
"I knew it" said Liam to himself, he was sure that the east were up to this, they were ready to revolt no matter the cost, they were naturally rebels, who wanted their freedom.
"Well then, I shall be taking my leave now" said Liam as he looked at the guard.
"You shall first serve your punishment, and then you will be free to go" said Liam.
"Thank you your gracious highness" said the guard as he bowed and Liam walked away.