Palace Of The Third King

As we left the archive room and stepped beyond the door, out of sight of the soldiers, Rose began to question me again. It was natural for her to seek answers given the information we had uncovered. As a knight, she had to prioritize the safety of her people and her king.

"Tell me, Ryuu," she said. "What do you make of the letters?"

"The king's seals on the letters are similar to the ones I've seen in other kingdoms," I replied.

"So you plead guilty," Rose said.

"But the fact that the letters were stopped and checked before they arrived is highly suspicious," I countered.

"Prove it," Rose challenged.

"What's more," I continued. "Before I came here, I saw the writing of the second king with my own eyes. His writing was right-handed, but this letter is written with a left hand."

"How do you know that?" Rose asked.

"From the stamp," I replied. "The stamp is left-handed. Only a lefty would do that."

"You're a detective now," Rose said with a smile.

"You asked for answers and I'm telling you what I know," I said.

"What about the kidnapping of the prince?" Rose asked.

"We didn't kidnap him," I replied. "He came with us of his own accord."

"Do you know where he is now?" Rose asked.

"He left with Lezlie about four days ago," I said. "They're traveling east."

"If you bring him back, you can plead not guilty," Rose suggested.

"No, we can't," I replied. "They could easily claim that he was bewitched. We'd be incriminated."

"I suppose you have something else in mind," Rose said.

"If we can wait until the meeting of the kings, I can speak to them and tell them the truth," I said.

"When the kings meet, they'll already know the truth," Rose said. "Why are you so eager to speak to them?"

"You don't understand what's at stake," I replied. "We have to be prepared because if he comes…"

As soon as Rose heard the sound of approaching footsteps, she grabbed my arm and pulled me in the opposite direction. It was just like when we were in town. Being caught here with the person she had presented as a prisoner would have branded her a traitor. Worse still, she could have been sentenced to death along with me. As a knight, she knew the rules as well as I did and didn't want to be caught. I followed her with quick and silent steps towards the other exit of the palace.

To our dismay, the other exit was also full of soldiers. With both exits blocked, our only option was to head upstairs. As the soldiers closed in on us, we made our way up the stairs. The palace was taller than others I had seen and the stairs seemed to go on forever. If we continued like this, it wouldn't be long before we were caught. The area we were in was wide open and offered little cover. Despite our dire situation, Rose seemed to have an idea.

When we entered a room at the top of the stairs, Rose quickly locked the door behind us. A quick glance around the room told me where we were. We had entered Rose's quarters. The room was simple and unadorned, not at all what I had expected for a knight. Apart from a bed and a dresser with a mirror, there was little furniture.

I stood still and turned to Rose. "Pretty plain room for a knight," I said.

"Yeah," she replied. "But it's more than enough."

"As long as we're safe here," I said.

"Yeah," Rose agreed. "But not for long. The outside will be illuminated during the evening shift and at sunset, the soldiers won't be able to see much from the hill. If we can make it to the window at the end of the corridor, we can jump into the jungle on the other side."

Rose spoke, I noticed a family portrait on top of a small dresser next to the bed. In the center of the frame was a young girl, with a woman on the left and a man on the right. They were posed in a family portrait. I approached the frame and asked Rose about it.

"Who are these people?" I asked.

"That's my family," Rose replied. "The girl in the middle is me."

"You were quite young here," I said.

"Yeah," Rose said. "When I was little, my dad wanted to have the portrait done. It's a family memento."

"Do they live here too?" I asked.

"No," Rose replied softly. "They were killed a long time ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. "I didn't mean to cause you pain. I apologize."

"It's alright," Rose said. "You get used to it after a while."

"Was it the Epics who did it?" I asked.

"No," Rose replied. "The person who killed my family was a single individual. He came from a lineage with only the will to kill in his eyes and no compassion. He was of wolf lineage.

I didn't want to believe what Rose had said. She had told me that it was one of my kind who had murdered her family. Despite what my father had done, people still thought of our kind as dark and terrible.

I didn't want to react badly to Rose. After all, she had lost her family too. But her words forced me to pause and reflect.

Pushing my thoughts aside, I asked: "Can you tell me who did this?"

"It doesn't matter," Rose replied. "In my eyes, everyone in the wolf clan is the same. I became a paladin because my family respected them. My father said it was never good to hold a grudge, but I grew up with anger and a desire for revenge. My hatred has never been extinguished and it never will be until I take my revenge on the wolf clan."

I could see the pain in her eyes and the anger that consumed her. I wanted to tell her that there were still good people in the world.

"What about Alpha Prime?" I asked. "Despite what he did, do you still blame everyone else?"

"You don't know how much it hurts," Rose replied. "Alpha Prime may be a good man, but no one else thinks like him."

"We don't know that," I said.

"Go out and look at the world, Ryuu," Rose said. "No one cares about goodness anymore. All they care about is power."

"There's always something worth fighting for," I said. "Even you, as a paladin, know that better than I do. I'm sure that's why your family loved the paladins - because they fought for what was right."

Our conversation made me realize that it was best not to tell Rose about my lineage and what I was fighting for. I thought it would be better to wait until the meeting of the kings. Once I had gained the king's trust, I could talk to her about these matters. After all, she was a paladin and the king's word might carry weight with her.

After a short time, the sun on the hill gave way to darkness. Rose approached me, ready to move.

"If we're going to move, now's the time," she said.

At her words, we opened the door and checked the corridor. As she had predicted, there was no one around. We quickly made our way to the window at the end of the corridor and opened it, preparing to jump from the palace into the forest. I looked down and then at the forest in the distance.

I didn't know what Rose was thinking, but jumping from this height and distance wouldn't be enough to reach the forest.

"I could jump from here," I said. "But it would be impossible to reach the forest."

"I know," Rose replied. "But don't worry, I have a plan."

"I don't suppose you're thinking of jumping?" I asked.

"I have a better idea," Rose said with a smile.

Rose pulled out her sword and began to spread vines around the glass. She had the ability to not only grow vines, but also to shape them and stretch them in any way she wanted. The vines took on a specific shape, wrapping around the corners of the glass while leaving the center empty and stretched out.

Once she had enough vines tied to the glass, she created a catapult-like system and moved to the center of the vines.

"Come on, Ryuu," she said. "We don't have much time. The soldiers could change their sight at any moment."

"Will it really work?" I asked.

She answered my question with a question of her own. "Or don't you trust me after all this?"

I moved to where Rose was standing and wrapped the vines around my waist. I started walking backwards as Rose stood next to me.

"There are two of us," she said. "So you'll need to use your leg strength or we won't make it to the forest."

"Hold on then," I said.

"You'd better watch your hand," Rose warned.

As soon as she finished speaking, I lifted my feet off the ground and we were launched out of the window, our arms linked together. I did as Rose instructed and used all my strength to support my legs before jumping. We were thrown high into the air, so high that it felt like we might touch the clouds.

We were falling towards the forest as planned, but since we were so high up, injury was inevitable - especially for Rose. While we were in the air, I tried to move behind her to shield her from harm, but she refused my help. Instead, she drew her sword and extended it towards the forest, pulling out more vines in the direction of our fall.

We landed on the vines and didn't suffer any injuries.