"Cover your faces and keep your heads down." Rom told them in a low voice while pulling the hood to his cloak up while making his way to the door, Maya and Sylus did as they were told, waiting on their spot for Rom to check to see if it's safe to go.
Opening the door just enough to see outside, Rom looked around to gauge the situation, seeing that there were quite a lot of people around, he waved his hand while opening the door just enough for them to squeeze through.
Rom blended into the crowd moving at the same speed as the rest of the people, slowly making their way to the northern gate, which quickly came into view since it wasn't very far from Maya's house.
Looking over his shoulder " As soon as we are out of the citadel, we need to enter the forest." Rom whispered to the two behind him, while he kept on walking at a steady pace.
Maya and Sylus nodded and followed in Rom's footsteps staying quiet to avoid attracting unwanted attention.
Suddenly Rom raised his hand causing the two to halt and look at Rom, tipping his chin towards the gate who now had two guards posted asking for papers to whomever wanted to go out of the citadel.
Rom quickly looked around and saw more guards approaching slowly, taking their time to check the identity of people in the streets.
He turned on his heals and made his way back the same way they came with Maya and Sylus closely following him, taking a swift turn into one of narrow streets leading at the back of a blacksmiths shop, out of everyone's sight.
Pulling the hood off his head " They are looking for us!" he mumured gritting his teeth looking down at the ground
" I should have known that she wouldn't let me just leave." he muttered under his breath while running his hand through his thick hair.
" Rom what about the tunnels under the citadel!? his sister suggested in a hushed voice.
" Tunnels?" Sylus echoed what Maya said with a suprised look on his face.
" Yes, the tunnels!" Rom beamed containing his excitement to avoid alerting the guards patrolling the citadel grounds.
Looking up at the roofs of the houses around them " We need to make our way to the east side of the citadel without being seen." he mumured under his breath while lowering his gaze to look at Maya and Sylus who followed his line of sight.
" Come, will take the roofs to stay out of sight." Rom whispered while making his way inside the blacksmiths shop.
The two of them followed Rom inside, looking around at first sight there was no one inside. Quickly climbing up the steps, they made their way to one of hatches that led to the roof. Rom looked at them and nodded, the other two nodded in understanding and quickly climbed up the roof.
They crawled on the roofs of the houses staying low, leaping from one roof to another without too much trouble seeing that houses were built close to each other.
Soon they reached the east side of the citadel without any trouble, siting down on the roof Rom looked at the two people with him and sighed" Ready?" he asked while looking intently at the two who seemed calm and collected despite the situation they were in.
Maya and Sylus nodded in agreement, then looked at each other, Sylus gave Maya a bashful smile causing Maya to blush and giggle.
Rom rolled his eyes " Sylus keep your grubby hands off my sister!" he huffed smiling at the two.
Sylus quickly wiped the smile off his face, looking all flustered " Yes, Commander!" he agreed with a nervous chuckle causing Rom to roll his eyes again
" Not your Commander Sylus!" Rom deadpanned staring at Sylus.
Maya frowned at the two men " You're not a Commander anymore?" she asked in a worried tone, looking intently at Rom.
Rom shook his head and glared at Sylus, who rubbed the back of neck looking down at the roof.
Rom waved the two to follow him, having wasted enough time with useless talk, making his way through the a hatch in the roof inside a shop, that had no one inside. Rom looked around frowning, it didn't make any sense . First the blacksmiths shop was empty and now this shop was empty too, what was going on?
Quickly snapping out of his trance, they made their way to the back of the shop, stepping through the back door, the wall of the citadel laid in front of them. Rom took another look around and made his way to the wall and started stomping on the ground, until he heard a thud, a sign that he had found the entrance of the tunnel.
This one was the one that only him and his sisters knew about, the other ones would've been guarded by now.
Opening the hatch, he waved Maya and Sylus that were standing in the door way and waiting.
Making their way to the hatch in the ground, they descended into the tunnel, Rom closing the hatch behind them.
Rom sighed, looking around in the darkness of the tunnel" We have no way to make light! We need to hold hands, this way we won't lose each other!" he suggested in a hushed voice to the other two, who were mum.
" You can speak now, just keep your voice down!" Rom added feeling a little worried that his sister and Sylus were very quiet.
He heard a sudden giggle coming from behind him making Rom jump from his spot almost screaming.
" Maya?" Rom wispered trying to figure out if his sisters is playing a trick on him, like she used to do when they were little.
" Sylus?" he called out his friend while slowly moving through the pitch black tunnel trying his best not to bump on anything.
Suddenly he felt something grabbing his legs pulling him down to the ground in one swift move. Scrambling backwards from the spot he felt his back hit the tunnel wall, his hand touching something warm, grabbing it with his own hand, he quickly realised that it was a someone's hand.
Panting heavily, he moved his hand up trying to find out more about the owner of the hand, his hand touched something damp that felt like hair, he carried on until he found a face.
Worried that it might be Maya, he quickly grabbed the person the person lying next to him, putting it over his shoulder and started running for dear life.
He ran through the dark tunnel, with the person on his shoulder without stopping or looking back, soon a small light came into his view, making Rom slow down and sigh in relief.
Making his way out of the tunnel, he recognised his sister's and Sylus's voices, they were arguing about something.
Hearing footsteps the two stopped arguing and stared at the entrance of the tunnel.
" Someone's is coming! I hope it's Rom, I really don't know how we lost him so quickly." she spoke in a hushed voice while frowning.
Sylus clicked his toungue " If it's him, he might be able to tell us!" he muttered under his breath loud enough for Maya to hear him.
Rom finally came into their view carrying something on his shoulder, squinting their eyes they quickly realised it's a woman.
Rushing to where Rom was, they quickly grabbed the woman, laying her on the ground to have a better look at her.