Crow’s heart began to race as the knights walked down the hallway. He was concealed behind the statue, but if any of them decided to do a search for intruders, he had nowhere to run. He held his breath as they walked up to his hiding place… and then past it, continuing on to the double doors at the end of the corridor that likely opened up to the king’s chambers. He exhaled softly in relief. It seemed like they were only interested in checking on the king after all. He watched from a distance as one knight stepped forward to knock on the door.

“You Highness!” the man called urgently. “There’s been an incident in the palace. Please open up!” He took a step back, exchanging a nervous glance with the guard beside him as they waited for a response. After a moment, the door opened, and the knights all stood at attention. Crow craned his neck curiously, trying to catch a glimpse of the man he was going to rob.

The Younisian king was a rather short man. He was advanced in age, well beyond the years of anyone Crow had ever seen before—granted, he had lived among peasants who often died young. His hair was silvery but still long and full. It framed his face like the mane of a lion, giving him a mystic look of wisdom. His skin was wrinkled, and he had permanent crinkles at the corners of his eyes. He looked like a man who spent most of his lifetime smiling or laughing, completely unlike the king of Brerra, who spent his days scowling about one thing or another. His kindly appearance almost made the thief feel bad for plotting to steal from him.

The king looked up at the knights with a questioning look in his still-bright eyes, “Tell me what has happened.”

“Someone poisoned the stew that the servants ate tonight,” the first knight explained hurriedly. “We suspect the girl that was taken in this morning, as she was nowhere to be found when the rest of the staff fell ill. The court physician is currently undergoing tests to diagnose the poison, but it’s still unclear whether it was meant to be lethal or not.”

[i]Penelope,[/i] Crow felt a trickle of fear run down his spine. [i]They know it was her. Oh gods, I sent her right to them! We should never have split up.[/i] He leaned a little closer towards the men at the end of the corridor, straining to hear the rest of their conversation.

“Oh, dear,” the king knit his brow sadly. “I do hope everyone will be alright. Why would the poor girl do something like this?”

“We are unsure about her motives,” the second knight chimed in. “However, we suspect she may not be working alone. We believe she was sent ahead to remove obstacles in order for others to invade the castle.”

“That’s why we’re here now,” another knight nodded. “The intruders may be after you, my liege. You must allow us to give you protection until the rest of the guard captures the assassins!”

Suddenly, everyone spun around as a crash was heard at the other end of the hallway. One of the Aeklora statues had somehow dropped its golden orb onto the ground. Crow felt his blood run cold as he realized that, in his eagerness to eavesdrop on their conversation, he was in full view of the patrol of knights. All eyes fell on him.

He stood up and took a step backwards, feigning confusion, “This isn’t the bathroom? Sorry, I must have taken a wrong turn.”

“Get him!” a knight shouted, and the patrol charged.

Crow bristled and spun around on his heel to run back down the corridor. [i]Damned goddess![/i] he silently swore, looking frantically for an exit. He turned a sharp corner, heading for the northern wing of the castle with the guards hot on his trail. Again, there were no exits. He cursed out loud this time, forcing himself to sprint faster despite the pain in his left leg.

Rounding a final corner, he saw the staircase up ahead and felt a rush of excitement. Finally, a way out! He ran for the entrance to the stairwell… and then faltered as he saw a second patrol of knights coming up to the fifth floor. He gritted his teeth and whirled around again to run back the way he had come, momentarily losing his footing in the process, and ducked past the startled knights behind him. They stumbled to turn around and chase him back into the north wing again.

[i]Come on, come on,[/i] he thought urgently. [i]There has to be a way out. There’s always a way out![/i] Running back towards the west side of the castle, his heart began to sink. For once, there was no way out. He was cornered between the knights and the king’s chambers—[i]The king,[/i] he blinked, suddenly coming up with a plan. It was risky, but at this point, it was all he had.

Turning the last corner into the western wing, he hastened his pace one more time, heading straight towards the old man who was still standing in his doorway. For a fleeting moment, the thief wondered why he seemed so calm with a potential assassin in his midst, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. As soon as he was close enough, he grabbed hold of the man’s arm, pinning it behind his back as he retrieved his dagger from his boot. Holding the blade up to the king’s neck, he narrowed his eyes at the guards. They skidded to a stop, eyes wide with terror.

“That’s right,” Crow snarled. “Back off or I’m taking your precious king down with me!”