SECRETS OF THE PALACE

**

Shouts and screams filled the air as two armies raced towards one another. A mountain range rose up almost two kilometers into the air, running through the border between Highlind and Elvarheimn Kingdoms, creating a perfect, natural barrier for two wholly different forces to stand on equal ground. At the moment, two were having an aerial clash between Mages, while ordinary armies were having a standoff in a fort at the mountain’s bottom. The fort was rather ordinary-looking, but was sturdy enough to endure prolonged sieges, even from the largest Empire within Alloy. As flashes of brilliant light illuminated the sky, the things on the ground were much more timid, but also far bloodier. Corpses were lined up in front of the fort as hundreds of soldiers tried to lace up the ladders against the fort’s walls to climb. At the moment, two hundred men or so were pushing a massive ramp towards the wall, and it appeared as if it was only a matter of time before the fort was taken over. While it wasn’t the most precious position for the Highlind’s forces, it was still a favorable spot they didn’t want to lose.

The current Commander of the Imperial Ground Forces of Highlind was none other than Lynne’s father, Median Von Hyorn. At his disposal were some one thousand men who had been holding the fort for almost fifteen days now under the lengthy siege. They were quickly running out of resources – and men – and it was no longer about securing the fort, but rather about making sure they last as long as possible with the least amount of casualties. As he was observing the ongoing battle from the high-built sentry tower, he had a deep frown on his face. He had fought against the proposition to make a stand within the Sylar’s Fort, as it was completely impossible to defend it any longer. While Mages of Highlind were somewhat able to make a stand above and push the enemy forces back as the number of Mages currently employed by both Kingdoms was relatively similar, the story for the ordinary soldiers was much different. Elvarheimn Empire had deployed over one hundred thousand men for this siege, while he was given only five thousand at the start of the battle. While he did manage to cut enemy’s forces by almost fifteen thousand, he had almost lost four thousand of his men, rendering the defense of the fort completely impossible. Yet, he was ordered to guard it for at least one more week, and at the moment he was wrecking his head as to how to make that happen.

“Commander,” a young man suddenly stormed into a tower, sweating profusely. “Enemy forces had begun breaching the main gate.”

“How many men?” Median asked.

“Two hundred or so.”

“Sigh...” Median shook his head slightly. “They really are willing to sacrifice anything for this fort.”

“Naturally,” a man standing next to Median spoke out. He appeared to be in his late forties, bald in head, with naturally wavy beard reaching deep below his jaw. He wore coarse, bronze armor and had halberd stuck at his back. “While for us it’s just another fort, for them it’s the closest they’ve ever come to entering our borders.”

“Any ideas Rupert?” Median asked the man; he was one of his longtime friends, and had the most war experience out of anyone currently here.

“There’s no way we can hold the fort for the week, even if we all decide to go for a suicide mission,” Rupert replied calmly. “So, unless you’ve got another flash of inspiration, we’re fresh out of ideas.”

“… I have one, but it’s stupid, dangerous, and it probably won’t work.”

“It’s still the best we got.”

“… ah, what the hell,” Median shook his head slightly as he cast a glance at the enormous mountain behind him. “Issac,” he then turned to the young lad that stormed into the sentry tower.

“Yes, Commander?”

“Take another twenty men and start climbing the mountain,” Median said, taking out a piece of paper and a quill, quickly scribbling something onto it. “Bring some powder and fuses, measure out these exact amounts from the fort, and place the powder into barrels under these angles. Light the fuses in around four hours. And then run like hell to the fort. Rupert, spread the word to our men fighting on the battlements: the moment they hear a loud ‘bang’, run back like hell.”

“Oh?” Rupert arched his brow, amusing expression on his face. “This oughta be fun.”

“Let’s hope it works before it becomes fun.”

**

Ella led Lynne through the enormous Palace step by step, as Lynne would pause every couple of seconds to salivate over something or something else, and then proceed to curse the excessive spending of the Kings. As such, the journey that would usually taken only ten minutes or so was prolonged to good hour.

‘Guards Quarters’ were located in the western wing of the Palace and were built rather primitively compared to the rest of the Palace. Separated into Main Headquarters and several dozen buildings which served as living quarters, it was fenced off with thick wall from the rest of the Palace and access was restricted to Guards and Nobility only. When guards saw Princess Ella approach, they all took a deep bow before opening the wooden gates and letting her through with Lynne following behind. She casually led him to the Main Headquarters, two story building with only two windows – one on each floor – which was embedded straight into the far-west wall of the Palace’s first floor. On the second floor was only a single room, and when Lynne and Ella entered, they found two men and a woman sitting around a table, discussing something over a large piece of paper which Lynne quickly recognized as the Palace’s map. When the trio heard the door open and the Princess enter, they immediately bowed like all other guards.

“Welcome, Princess,” the woman was the first to speak out; she appeared to be in her late twenties and was slightly on the chubby side. She wore leather armor, handcrafted for her, with a short sword hanging from her waist and a couple of daggers stuck in her belt. She had short, brown hair and oval-shaped face, paired up with brown eyes. Whilst not by any means beautiful, Lynne easily categorized her into the department of ‘I want her’, mainly due to the fact that she was older than him and that she was rather endowed in the chest area. “What brings you here?”

“I brought this idiot along,” the Princess casually said, pointing to Lynne. “Was afraid he’d get lost.”

“And this is?” the tallest of the three spoke out; he was a rather sturdy man, approximately in his mid-forties, with stern face, dark hair and a heavy scar across his nose. He was rather bulky and wore silver – albeit rather worn out – armor, with large war ax hanging from his back.

“Academy’s mainstay guard for this round,” Ella explained calmly as she sat on one of the chairs. “Lynne, this is Captain of the Guard, Edgar Rower, the lovely lady next to him is First Lieutenant Sarah Woyl, and this creepy-looking dude is Second Lieutenant Samuel Rodgers.” she pointed at the third man who was far skinner than either of the other two. He had quite a long face and slanted, blue eyes, with bangs covering his forehead. He wore crude, bronze armor and had only daggers strapped around his belt.

“Eh, Princess… isn’t that a bit cruel?” Samuel asked, nervously scratching his face.

“I’m just making proper introductions.” she replied flatly.

“… eh.”

“It’s quite rare for Princess to escort someone here,” Edgar said in a stern voice, inspecting Lynne carefully. “Any particular reason for the exception?”

“Once you get to know him, you’ll understand,” Ella casually waved her hand as she spoke. “Any updates on the situation?”

“Hm?” Edgar arched his brow as he cast a stern glance at Lynne; the latter immediately looked away, appearing terrified. Please tell them I’m cool, don’t let my embarrassing behavior go to waste!

“He’s fine, don’t worry.” Ella added. Thank you Queen for giving birth to an idiot!

“Alright,” Edgar said, pointing at the map of the Palace. “We have confirmed that it’s definitely someone within the Palace. Two days ago, on the King’s incentive, we have leaked that we are sending reinforcements to the Slyar’s Fort in order to push back the advancing forces. Today a raven came carrying the news that Elvarheimn had pressed even harder, as if they absolutely need to conquer the fort. We relegated the news to the King, and he sent a raven imploring the Commander to hold out for at least a week.”

“So, father believes we’ll be able to discover who’s the leak within a week?” Ella asked, furrowing her brow.

“Ehm, excuse me,” Lynne suddenly interrupted, causing other four to look at him angrily. “Hey, I’m just wondering, you know, whether I should really… you know, be listening to this. This seems like some sensitive stuff. I don’t wanna get in trouble, really! I just wanna stay here for a while and go back to good days in the Academy.”

“Shut up.” Ella sneered at him. “Go on Captain.”

“Yes,” Edgar said, seemingly softening after Lynne’s words; okay, grease them one by one. That skinny snake is still suspicious of me. I’ll need to figure out what’s his fetish. “I’m not sure whether the King believes we’ll be able to discover, or he’s giving us a deadline. Either way, we have allowed this to continue for far too long. However, since it’s Commander Median holding the fort at the moment, we believe seven days isn’t impossible.” Father!! Lynne almost burst out in excitement, but barely managed to hold it in. He perked his ears even more now.

“Yes, Median has always come through,” Ella agreed, sighing silently. “Let’s hope he creates another miracle. Have you managed to narrow down the numbers?”

“Ah, yes,” Edgar said, taking out three parchments and placing them in front of Ella. “Currently, we have managed to narrow it down to roughly seventy names.”

“… what the hell, that’s not narrowing it at all.” Ella furrowed her brows as she spoke.

“That’s what happens when you give Noble titles left and right.” Lynne commented but immediately slapped his lips and began acting nervously as he looked at the four. However, the man called Samuel immediately burst out in laughter, while Edgar actually began nodding. Only Ella and Sarah seemed to have taken offense to his words.

“This guy, ha ha,” Samuel spoke out. “I can’t tell whether he’s a complete idiot or brilliant genius!” Complete idiot! Say complete idiot please!

“One or the other, however offensive it is, he’s right,” Ella agreed reluctantly. “With the way hierarchy is structured, for the news to be sent to the King through the proper channels, it needs to pass at least twenty hands. That, included with the fact that the news can be shared… ugh, this is giving me a headache.” Ella sighed as she spoke. “Let’s sleep on it for tonight and regroup early tomorrow. This way we’ll just keep hitting the same brick wall.”

“Yes, Princess!” the trio saluted as they spoke.

“Oh,” Ella got up from her chair and began walking towards the doors. “Take care of this idiot for me, please.”

“Of course.” Samuel said calmly, causing all hair on Lynne’s skin to stir. As Ella left the room, he was immediately jumped by both Edgar and Samuel, whose eyes were exceedingly red.

“For the love of all the holy, help us!!!” Edgar screamed out in a whisper, gritting his teeth. “You’re young genius from the Academy, right?! You must have some ideas?!”

“Yes, you MUST!” Samuel added.

“What? How the hell would I know anything?” Lynne replied nervously. “I don’t even have a hick of a clue as to what were you talking about.” That bitch totally planned this! Lynne inwardly cursed as he thought back to Ella.

“She brought him here for a reason,” Sarah suddenly joined in, pulling the other two back. “We aren’t saying that you must give us answers now,” she then turned to Lynne, sighing. “But, for the next few days, you’ll be the closest to the King and others up top. Keep an eye out for us, will you? And report if you see anything suspicious?” … is this a cosmical joke? Is universe playing a joke on me? I’m already assigned the exact same thing you freaking idiots! Why me?!! Why me?!!

Shortly after, Lynne was led to one of the living quarters and helped settle. However, the largest pain emerged from his heart when he realized who his roommate was.

“Ho, ho,” Samuel laughed as he entered the room. “We’re gonna have a lot of fun, you and I!”

“… I’m not into guys.”

“… not that kind of a fun.”

“… you look like someone who likes that kind of a fun.”

“… I’ll bury you.”

“… don’t do so while naked, at least.”

“… screw you kid.”