The first order of business in Jonas' mind was to move everyone to the room with the open window. Mostly because there was not only a little more light than in the hallway, but then there was also the fact that it had the open window and Jonas expected that they'd need to go there anyway in order to leave when they came up with their next course of action.
Though, it wasn't like he had to convince everyone to move there, he just had to convince Kim, as he was carrying Elmo and she was bearing most of Elin's weight. As such, it wasn't like they would even have the energy to protest the decision if they didn't like it. Assuming they had the energy to care one way or another.
When Jonas motioned for Kim to follow him, she didn't say anything, just merely helped move Elin towards the room. Jonas felt like his eyes were getting sand in them. A sign that he was pushing himself too hard. Even with the stamina potion, it was clear it wasn't going to let him get away from other effects of staying awake for too long.
Pushing that out of his mind, he set Elmo down by the window before turning to face Kim. There wasn't any clue as to when Elmo might wake up, so Jonas couldn't see a reason to wait on this matter, but he also couldn't be sure that they wouldn't need Elmo's spells in the immediate future.
"What's going on?" Kim asked as Jonas hesitated on how to start the conversation this time while she sat down, leaning against the wall, settling Elin down so she was using Kim's lap as a pillow.
"We have just one last thing to do," Jonas merely said, unsure exactly how to put what he wanted to say.
"Well just spit it out, then," Kim remarked, sounding rather annoyed.
Jonas sighed as he shook his head. "Well, as far as I can tell, the chamberlain is at least close to the head of this, but it could also be someone else who's in charge of all of this," he said, feeling like he wasn't able to get out all he wanted to, but couldn't think of what else there could be.
"Well, the chamberlain is the one who had the servants locked up," Kim remarked.
"Maybe, but who's to say that he didn't do that at someone else's direction?" Jonas asked. "If we don't get the head of this assassination plot, then we'll probably not be able to expect to have completed this challenge, as they could always try again another time in some other manner."
"So, what're you suggesting?" Kim asked as she started stroking Elin's hair.
"Either we risk the possibility that they'll figure out a way to have the manor go up in flames and let Elmo and Elin rest here, or we take them over to the rear gates and risk increasing the chance of whoever is in charge to make an escape," Jonas replied. "I think the chance of them torching the manor to be small, but that doesn't mean they won't do it anyway. Yet, we also don't know where to start looking for even the chamberlain."
Kim nodded thoughtfully. "I understand that, I think Elin and Elmo should be safe enough here, but we still need to then know where to go for the chamberlain," Kim replied. "But that's assuming we need to do more. As far as we know, this entire night was the challenge. That as long as we make sure that the king remains alive after this night, that we'll have completed the challenge."
Jonas nodded. "That may be, but right now I think we need to try and complete this as thoroughly as possible, just in case. Besides, for all we know, some of the others are essentially outside the gates to this manor and are dealing with the chamberlain anyway," he said. "If you want to try and wait this out, I'll accept that, but if not, I think we could at least take a look at where the servants that drove the carriages here are. If nothing else, they could have been tied or locked up like the servants you'd rescued."
Kim nodded, then suddenly yawned. "I wish I could say that I was ready to do this, but I guess you can see how ready to go I am," she joked.
"Maybe I should do this on my own?" he suggested. Not wanting to burden Kim any more than he had already. Besides, he thought that he would move faster if he was by himself. Although, he couldn't be sure that it'd be a good idea. He was sure he was getting close to running out of stamina himself. He wasn't sure how much longer he had at the moment, just that he was more than likely close to the last of his stamina rather than a reasonable buffer still there.
Kim looked like she was thinking about it for a minute as she looked down at Elin who Jonas suspected might have fallen asleep. Which meant she probably would get woken up if Kim chose to joined him. He was fine with it either way, but he would prefer having another person with him. After all, having someone to watch your back was always preferable to have when entering somewhere you could expect people to be hostile towards you.
"I'll join you," Kim declared as she looked back at Jonas, her eyes blazing with determination.
Jonas nodded, feeling a little bit of relief as well. It might be a mistake bringing Kim, but he was willing to risk it. He didn't say anything about it because he was sure that Kim was well aware of that fact as well. If she wasn't then she wasn't near as smart as he always had thought she was.
Jonas was about to say something when Elmo started to groan and move. Jonas looked at him and saw his eyes open slowly, wondering if this meant that Elmo would be capable of joining them or if it was essentially a false start for him on waking up.
"Wh-" Elmo started then paused as he put a hand to his mouth and quickly turned to his side as he threw up.
Jonas exchanged glances with Kim, not sure if this meant Elmo would still be out of commission for the time being or if he would be ready to join them as soon as they were ready to head out. At the moment, without Elin being available as well, it was a toss up on the chances. While Jonas doubted that Elmo would be up for it, he couldn't say for sure.
When Elmo finished with his heaving, he spat out some remaining taste in his mouth, though without water, Jonas didn't envy his predicament, as he could tell that Elmo still had some of the taste of his vomit in his mouth. Never a pleasant experience.
"What happened?" Elmo said, when he looked back at Jonas and Kim, his eyes a lot clearer than Jonas had expected.
"Well, I found you with the doppelganger in a side room," Jonas answered. "Though, we're not sure how you ended up that way. There wasn't any indication of what happened in the hallway other than your puke, blood, and burns on the hallway." Jonas paused for a moment before adding, "Oh, and some holes in walls and doors."
Elmo sighed. "I just remember fighting the doppelganger. I-" Elmo said, then paused, looking a little confused. "I don't remember what happened. The last thing I remember was dodging spells."
"Maybe it'll come back to you," Jonas remarked. "If not, maybe Elin can try something when she's feeling better."
"Regardless," Kim interrupted. "We're about to head out to see if we can find the chamberlain. If we can, then maybe we can end this assassination attempt. Jonas and I are going. Do you want to join us?"
Kim's statements were clipped and short. It was clear to Jonas that she didn't have the energy or patience for them to take their time talking about what Elmo did and did not remember. Not that Jonas blamed her. He did allow himself to get off track there for a minute.
"I'll come," Elmo said. "I can still help, I'm sure."
Jonas nodded. "So long as you can walk, we won't have a problem. However, neither Kim nor I will carry you if you can't. We can't say how much danger there will be in general, but we doubt that if we had to carry that we wouldn't have problems," he told Elmo flatly.
Elmo nodded. "I'm sure I'll be fine. While I can't remember what happened to knock me out, I feel well enough to keep up with you guys on my own."
"Then we might as well see what you got," Kim remarked, carefully removing Elin's head from her lap before standing up.
Jonas nodded as he followed suit. They started towards the window and for a minute he thought Elmo had actually changed his mind about joining them. He was still sitting there almost like he wasn't aware of time still moving around him. But then As Jonas started to climb out the window, Elmo stood up and started following them.
As they moved alongm he couldn't help but notice that Elmo seemed more rested than he hmsef felt at that momen. As long as that stayed constant, they might actually be able to get through this.