Never before had overcast skies been so welcomed. A hazy blanket of gray hung over the heartlands, bearing the brunt of the sun's harsh rays. Moribund Edward, swaddled in a filthy black robe, sat huddled upon the back of a donkey clinging to life. Emily remained faithfully at Edward's side while the former chamberlain of Felboge Keep led his donkey down the road. They were a queer sight to behold, a beautiful young woman dressed in soiled palace finery accompanied by a shirtless vagabond jockeying a donkey bearing some shivering wretch. Passersby regarded the unusual party with raised eyebrows. The chamberlain paid little mind to the passing onlookers; Prince Edward's life depended on his timely arrival at Castle Bathory.

In the early afternoon, the three had crested a hill and were afforded their first view of the Capital. Castle Bathory, a massive citadel with magnificent spires reaching toward the sky, sat in the center of a dense and sprawling city with its own skyline of far less grandiose watchtowers. Ringing this great city were the greatest walls in all the land, 30 feet high ramparts built out of the native sandstone with parapets and numerous guard towers with onagers affixed atop them. Surely, within such impressive fortifications, Prince Edward would be safe.

"Your majesty, you are nearly home! The castle is in sight at last!" The chamberlain exclaimed.

Edward groaned, but he had soon fallen silent. His labored breathing was the only sound, but even that was quieting down. Emily bit her lip. She fought tears. She looked ahead towards the castle from the hilltop. She prayed for Edward as they continued on towards the castle. 

The highway ran ahead of them another mile through the patchwork farmland of the heartlands to the northern gate of the Capital. As the road neared the gates, a teeming line of wagons and people stretched out, standing before the closed gates of the city.

"Best to just turn around," a wagon driver said as he rode up the highway in the opposite direction. "You'll not get in. Castle guard's locked the Capital down. Only folk with prior appointments with the guard captains are allowed through the gates."

"What for?!" The chamberlain snapped.

"Assassins tried to kill Prince Edward a few days ago is what I heard," said the wagon driver, pulling the reigns on his draft mule so as to stop the beast. "Heard firedust was involved, killed a lot of innocent folk. They're saying his brother, the feller up in the Weald, that 'es behind it. Whatever happened, it was real bad, and now nobody's getting in. Hope you lot don't need to get their too desperate-like."

"But I do! I am escorting our prince back to the castle at this very moment! They have to let us in!"

The wagon driver took a glance and the huddled body upon the donkey and let out a snort of laughter.

"Yeah? And I'm 'is majesty Zachaeus 'imself!" The driver flicked the reigns to galvanize the mule to continue on, snickering to himself as he went.

"They have to let us in," the chamberlain repeated to himself, pulling the donkey along down the road to the Capital.

The three arrived at the rear of the gathered travelers and wagons halted by the locked gates of the Imperial Capital. The chamberlain led Edward and Emily over the shoulder of the highway, cutting around the line and eliciting a hateful barrage of cursing from frustrated travelers. After an hour of weaving and budging through the crowd pressing in at the entrance, the three had arrived before a contingent of guards standing before sealed gates of the citadel.

"Let me in! It's just a wagon full of apples for God's sake! They're going to go bad and I'll be ruined if I don't do something with them soon!" One merchant demanded.

"I cannot let you in," a guard reaffirmed. "No one is allowed into the Capital until further notice. Now, take your wares elsewhere."

The chamberlain led Emily and the donkey-mounted Prince up to the gate, drawing irritated glares from the guards posted at the gates.

"Can't you see that there's no entrance into the city? Turn around."

"I am defector from the court of Ulrek Bathory, escorting Prince Edward and this foreign dignitary back home. His majesty needs urgent care. Let us in immediately."

The guard's stoic visage broke down for a moment as his frown cracked into a grin.

"Hah! If nothing else, that is certainly the most creative excuse I've heard all day. But my orders still stand. Please turn around."

"Please..." Edward groaned from under the robe. "Help."

The eyes of all the guards within earshot opened wide upon hearing that voice. These were the guards of Castle Bathory, and were well acquainted with the voice of Edward Bathory.

"Y-your majesty?" A guard asked, drawing closer to the robe-swaddled being atop the donkey. One gently pulled back on the hood and gazed upon Edward, pale and bloodied and shivering.

"OPEN THE GATES!" Screamed the guard, loud enough for the guards in the gatehouse high above could hear. "OPEN THE GATES AND LET THEM THROUGH!"

[hr]
As soon as they had been permitted through the gates, a carriage and a large guard escort had been summoned to take Edward, Emily, and the chamberlain up to the Castle. Within the hour, Prince Edward had been placed in the castle's infirmary and was being attended to by a dozen surgeons and apothecaries, with the ever-present Emily at his side. The chamberlain had elected to stay outside of the infirmary, giving the healers ample room to work. He remained in the vestibule just outside for any word as to the prince's condition. No sooner had the chamberlain sat down on a bench within the waiting room that a number of the castle's honor guards clad in magnificent plate armor approached.

"So it was you that we have to thank for returning our prince to us?" A guard adorned with a flowing cape of red silk asked of the chamberlain.

"I am," he reported.

"I am Commander Yorrek of the Castle's Guard, and I wish to express gratitude on behalf of the entire guard. We are in your debt."

"I was but serving our Prince and King. No need to thank me." The chamberlain noticed that Commander Yorrek's cordial smile withered at once upon uttering the word 'King'.

"We understand you have gone to great lengths in that service, in the most literal sense. You have traveled a long way to be here, have you not?"

"Indeed," the chamberlain affirmed, his own smile disappearing as he recalled the journey. "I was, until recently, a servant of the Baron of Felboge Keep. Ulrek means to commit terrible crimes against the Empire, and I must relay what I have witnessed to our King at once so that he can adequately prepare himself."

The guards exchanged nervous glances to one another while the guard commander paused for a moment.

"That will not be possible," said Commander Yorrek.

"And why not?" The chamberlain demanded, standing up from the bench. "This is critical. Zachaeus must be notified at once."

"His Majesty is... missing." One of the guards behind Yorreck blurted.

"Missing?! How is he missing? This is our [i]King[/i], not some keyring you've misplaced!"

"Don't lie to him," said Yorrek somberly. "He deserves to know the truth."

"The truth?" The chamberlain asked with wide eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Come with us," ordered Yorrek. "And we shall show you."