As soon as the field disappeared, Cecilia head became heavy and her knees suddenly gave out. She staggered backwards and was about to fall but luckily the man she'd just saved was able to caught her just in time.
He stared at her for sometime, a little dumbstruck at her unearthly beauty and the fact that he was actually holding her.
He tightly held onto the Princess so she wouldn't fall so he felt the hard, long object on that was always on her back pushing against his arm. No doubt, the object was a sword scabbard.
Although he'd seen her during her birthday celebration, this was the first time he was seeing her this up close. And even though she was still wearing a mask, he could see her beautiful almond shaped eyes, her cherry red lips and the shape of her face.
She is indeed worthy of being called an Imperial beauty. The man thought as he helped the dizzy, worn out Princess back onto her feet.
Cecilia was busy wondering how she was even able to do that. She never expected she'd be able to heal an injured person to succeed at with her own health failure.
She needed answers and she was a little scared she'd get them in a horrific way. Strange things have been happening to her since the incident on her eighteenth birthday celebration.
Firstly, the encounter or whatever it was with the pile of dead bodies of the descendants of Cecil, then her mother, this stranger and know new powers.
This is too much for one week. And she'd beginning to realise that her father was indeed hiding something from her. She thought ruefully.
"Thank you, my lady in waiting has gone to get you something to eat. How are you feeling now?" She asked wanting to be sure whether she'd just healed the man or not.
"I'm fine, but aren't you the Princess of Gastonia. What am I doing here and… where is this place?" Peter asked inquisitively and Cecilia sighed.
"Fortunately you're in the Empress's palace, it's safe here so you don't need to worry." Cecilia said with a gentle smile calming the man's curiousity.
"Did you save me from the Imperial palace, from the Emperor's captivity?" He asked again as he had remembered himself still being tied to a chair, holding his breath to evade blinding effect of the Cecil drops.
"Well, I did. But I know you mean no intended harm to me." Cecilia leaned in to the man's current height on the bed, "So I'll help you out, I'll create a diversion to help you escape. You be able to leave the palace ground by supper. Okay?"
Cecilia said in a low tone as though the walls were eavesdropping on their conversation. Peter nodded a bit and immediately turned to the left as he realised she was too close.
"Wait, why are you helping me? Aren't I your supposed enemy?" The man asked in a little confused as a faint blush stained his cheeks and Cecilia smiled lightly.
"Because there's someone who's desperately waiting for you. Someone who needs you alive to live." Cecilia replied in a soft tone.
Indeed there was someone waiting for him, his brother. But how does she know that, all the things about this Princess has too many mysteries in them.
The man turned back to the Princess with a smiled, gratitude evident in his eyes and Cecilia heard his inner voice saying "thank you" as the cold tingling sensation on her ears came had resumed.
"Most welcome." Cecilia replied involuntarily and Peter was once again amazed by the lady in front of him. She was a beautiful mixture of heart, strength, grace and elegance.
He thought, I shouldn't let master anywhere near this beautiful lady. He'd loose himself to her. Hearing this Cecilia chuckled in her heart.
She turned around to get the man some water to drink as she thought his voice was a little hoarse as he'd just woken up. The man got a better view of her back.
She wore a long white lace gown that has a hue of blue and some blue flower petal designs at the end. The white head of the sword was tucked behind her bright blonde hair in an simple backward ponytail.
The man smiled and imaging such a gentle lady swinging the weapon around skillfully. He looked at her from head to toe and didn't reconded that she didn't look like a Worrior at all with the outfit she currently wore.
Unknown to the man, the woman that stood before him could take on twenty three fully armed well trained Imperial Knights with ease.
She handed him the water she'd poured into a silver cups and he smiled at with appreciation before collecting the water and gulping it down.
***
Damien and the other people in the room looked conflicted about how they'd be able to save Peter while he was still alive.
Damien thought of the little treasure he'd encountered in the Emperor's library when he was looking for any useful thing he could attain.
Damien carefully brought out the gem from his pocket, he noticed that the blue side of the gem was glowing a little brighter than the red.
The other studies the small stone in his hand with questioning gazes. They were wondering what a beautiful stone could do to save their subordinate and most importantly, what their master was even doing with it.
They knew that the man wouldn't collect anything that would not be of use to him in the future. The man was very calculative.
The gem in his hands was no ordinary jewel, it was the heart of the beast Cecil had eaten and left behind after dissipating.
But unfortunately, Damien was unaware of the power the gem possessed apart from the unlimited supply space. The only person that knew the true power of the gem was Cecilia.
The only other being that knew little about the gem was the Emperor. This was one of the reasons why Cecilia didn't trust the Emperor, because of the secret behind the gem's power.
Damien tapped on the red side of the gem and it began to glow, suspending in the air. The light was blinding as though the gem was purposely denying their permission to look.
But after a few seconds, an Atlas spread across the floor as the gem slowly dropped down to the middle of the book. Everyone gasped at the huge book. There were only three books like this in Dallaire.
This one belonged to… Imperialia. Stealing such a treasure was a direct insult to an Empire's pride and portrayed the people of the Empire as weak.
When Damien first found the Atlas, he was in too much of a hurry to look at the Imperial symbol on the surface cover of the book.
"A dove with a crown, this belongs to us!" Judson cheered happily and the rest of the men in the room followed suit.
Damien looked over at the book and saw a golden dove with a silver crown on it's head. On each side of the bird, were one golden and one silver barley leaf.
"Indeed it does." Damien said in a calm composed tone as he stared at the stone with that gave warmth to his body, it seemed as though the object completed him.
"Excellent, with this, we can plan out a safe entry and escape to save Peter." A dark skinned, brown curly haired man said with a serious expression and the remaining men obviously agreed.
"Right Rod, right." Damien, being man of few words said sharply and Judson proceeded to open the huge book.
"There are a total of six buildings in the Imperial residence. The Knight residence at the East, the maid quaters at the West, the guesthouse at the North, the Empress's palace at South, the Emperor's throne Hall and the Emperor's palace at the Centre.
The easiest way to get in is through the Empress's palace as it is in the South which is the closest residence to the fences and the closest to the Emperor's palace.
So we infiltrate through the Empress's palace and to the Emperor's palace, sneak Peter out and make a clean and quiet escape by dusk."
Damien said reasonably, squatted to the level of the book and tapping on the places he mentioned. The remaining men nodded in agreement with the plan.
The plan was simply said but difficulty done. There guards stationed in the Empress's palace than in any other part of the palace as though she was some hidden treasure, so to infiltrate and make a clean getaway was indeed an herculean task.
"We'll go by dusk which is the least guarded hour of the day as the Imperial family will be at the dinner table and I'm sure the Princess wouldn't miss it, so they'd be no need to guard the Empress's palace." Judson finally understood the plan and Damien nodded in the affirmative.
"Let's go get your brother back, shall we. Dismissed!" And with that, the remaining men in the room were dismissed leaving Judson, Merlin and Damien alone in the room.
--To be continued…