Gwen whirled on the man, sword drawn and ready to slice him to ribbons if he proved to be foe. But by the gods she hoped he as friend of the crown. The long battle in the throne room and her flight through the palace had left her exhausted and running on little more than adrenaline; she had need of an ally in this dark hour. It was jarring to be called “majesty,” though. With the king dead, it was technically accurate but it made her stomach churn all the same.

“You still serve loyally?” she demanded harshly.

When he passed her to step into one of the cells, she realized a moment before he activated the lock of the hidden exit that he had knowledge of the hidden passage. Which was a great surprise. For Gwen had thought—and been schooled by her father—that only the true royal line would know of this to keep it safe. But here was some... some [i]elf[/i] not only opening the door for her but opening it before she could even rightly remember where it was!

But there was no time for that now. Now she needed to follow him into the foul smelling passage. She pulled the exit closed behind her and decided to inform the man that was apparently trying to help her (she still wasn't entirely sure this wasn't some sort of trick or trap. Having loyal guards turn on you and yours did have a way of inducing paranoia) of her urgency.

“I placed a bit of a diversion which, if it worked should buy us quite a bit of time. However, if it did not, we should perhaps make as swiftly as we safely can. Since it might be that you may be killing me in the near future or we might be dieing together, I don't suppose you would be to adverse to giving me a name to call you by?” She wanted to ask a bit more of him but the stench seemed to fuse to her tongue so thickly she could taste it whenever she opened her mouth so she chose to keep it closed until they reached the sunny outside.

The passage seemed to take an eternity and was so dark that even when her eyes finally adjusted, she found she could make out barely even the shape of the man before her. Though on the bright side, the farther they got from the palace, the less horrible the stench. She was about ready to think they would be spending the rest of their lives in the dark as she strained her eyes listening for any signs that they were being followed that when they came to the end of the passage, she was so little expecting it that she ran right into the man who showed her the way. She gave a quick apology and drew back to a proper distance before being horribly blinded by the slab of stone being pushed open to present the vast, rolling greens of the uplands that overlooked Valeria.

She blinked rapidly in an attempt to keep the stranger in her line of sight as she stepped into the midday  upland but it was a difficulty as the dark accustomed eyes seemed to be content to give her only stabbing pain in her skull for her trouble.