Crouching down and crawling under the bench, Alex noticed a large hole cut out in the wall that seemed to lead under ground. Ares lead him through the hole, into a small tunnel that lead out to the opposite side of the building, and into the alleyway opposite where the guards were walking.
Ares motioned for Alex to be quiet, and quickly lead him down the alley, and to a small shack that seemed like it have been used for storage.
"We should be safe here for a while, since the guards have already been past this area." As he looked at Alex, his heart rate picked up even faster. Alex's skin was glistening with a thin layer of sweat, he was breathing heavily, and his dark brown hair was a bit disheveled from crawling through the tunnel and running down the alley. Ares always thought his friend was lovely to look at: caramel colored eyes, dark brown wavy hair, and a strong muscular frame. Though, today was the first time he actually caught himself looking at Alex with thoughts of physical attraction. He snapped himself out of his trance, and looked away quickly to calm his mind.
"So, you asked if I had any inkling about what could have happened to Argos? I think I may have picked up something from the guards recently that could be helpful." They sat on two small stools that were positioned in the middle of the small shack. Surrounded by broken trinkets and pots, they continued their conversation.
"Two weeks ago, I had a few guards chatting with each other as I was making my nightly rounds around the city gates. One of them kept talking about his friend who was a royal guard inside the king's mansion. He said his friend's job was to make sure the prisoners in the small jail on site at the mansion were staying in line. He's been doing this job for a couple months, but he's never been allowed back down a certain hallway of the jail. It's completely off limits and no one is allowed back there unless they have a pass signed by the king himself. It's a complete assumption, but if somehow the previous king is there, it would make sense that no one would be allowed back there."
Alex couldn't believe all of this had happened while he was gone. It was still such a shock to hear such things, because the city had always been so calm and peaceful. "Is there anyone that has been helping you through all of this? Anyone that you can trust?" Alex knew that this must be such a difficult thing for someone to do all on their own. Another wave of regret came over him, 'I should have been here for Ares.' He thought.
"Yes, actually there's a small group of men and women who have been meeting for a while now. We all want things back the way they were, and all of us agree that the only way to do it is to find Argos and to get Hector and his men convicted of treason."
"Well, I'm in. You'll obviously need some muscle to round out your team, so I'll happily step in and grace you with my presence Ha ha!"
Ares couldn't help but smile, remembering how confident Alex always had been, and being glad that he was able to hear Alex say something so cocky at least one more time.