To say the guards were unprepared for such a fierce attack was an understatement. The number that had swiftly begun to filter up the left stairway were almost immediately met with Maritza's furious assault, slammed into walls, broken against the stone. Any who escaped this fate were reeling from the assault of the naga, and thus were ill-suited to defending against the other knights as they pushed their way down the stairs.

But Fanilly had researched strategy enough to know what the trouble of this engagement was. The stairways side by side meant that mercenaries could easily rush up the other stairway and surround them. Even though they were more skilled, being penned in between two groups of mercenaries would mean that they would have to fight on both sides... and that was a dangerous situation in such an enclosed space, especially one that their opponents likely knew better.

One of the mercenaries had been knocked out, cold, by Sir Jarde... but at the same time continued fighting like that would be far more dangerous then she was willing to risk. It was best to aim for capturing the leaders. There was little other choice then to kill their opponents here and now.

On top of all of this, they had to move quickly. They had to. Fanilly couldn't allow herself to fail at this, not when the life of the nem girl's sister hung in the balance.

"... We will split our numbers," she said, finally, straightening near the top of the stairs. The initial defense was being battered through quite effectively, so she had to take the opportunity to dispense orders when she wasn't immediately caught up in the fighting.

"A two-pronged assault will make it harder for them to stop us," she continued. It seemed as if Tyaethe had already hit upon the same idea, having made her way deeper already. "Dame Tyaethe has already headed deeper. Half of our number will take Vosahnn and accompany her, the others will remain with me!"

There were already footsteps hurrying up from below... And she could hear sounds of fighting as well. Tyaethe had already begun to engage someone down there, and given how it didn't immediately stop she had to assume it was someone more skilled then the average mercenary.

Speaking of which...!

Something whistled past her face. It was clear that the one responsible had missed almost deliberately, as if to get her attention, and Fanilly almost immediately took cover to avoid being hit by the followup shot.

It never came.

There, strolling up the stairway almost casually and flanked by reinforcements, was figure of a tall man clad in black leather armor, a hood hiding his features.

"Well well well, the Iron Roses? Hmm, you've made short work of many of our mercenaries, too, just what were we paying them for?" he cocked his head to one side, resting a crossbow on his shoulder. In his other hand was a shortsword. "Are you lot any better, or should I lower my expectations accordingly?"

He glanced towards the mercenaries at his sides, who seemed to be quite concerned about the amount of dead on the stairs and in the entrance hall.

"Well, no matter, I'm certain I know exactly how you got here so quickly and who told you," he continued, his tone still casual as he addressed the knights, "That will cost her one whole sister."

Fanilly's eyes narrowed. Right now, there was still a chance for the others to make it deeper, half of them had to go as soon as they could...!

"With me!" she said, finally, beckoning to Vosahnn and at least some of the others. Her decision-making had to be swift, and if Tyaethe was caught up in fighting and at least one of the conspirators was here it was best for her to take the nem girl and try to force a path deeper into the mausoleum and leave the rest to reinforce Tyaethe. Right now there was still a path down that wasn't fully barricaded...!

[hr]

As three of the Throne Knights including the captain himself(now accompanied by a girl recognizable as the royal family's young court mage) accompanied the Princess and the Roses who had chosen to stay behind to defend her headed into the back halls and up the stairways, it was as if they were taking a stroll into history. Portraits of notable figures, and of course the royal family, lined the walls.

One in particular stood at the end of the hall. It was by far one of the largest paintings, depicting a rather striking sight. The first was a scene that every adherent of the goddesses would know. The towering, black knight, a crown of spines rising from his helmet and clutching an enormous sword . A single, ethereal-seeming young woman in armor, clutching a silvery blade. Both of them on a rock jutting high above a plain. The battle raging below.

The Duel between Saint Lilianna and Orodrunn was the end of the war between all peoples of creation and the forces of the second dark lord. She had in the end miraculously shattered the black blade, Angroron, and pierced his armor to slay him. It was a scene familiar to all those who worshipped the Goddesses.

Also notable was the absence of a particular portrait for one generation of royalty...

Prince Meren, still clad in his gleaming, royal-seeming armor, had butchered the other members of the Royal family by surprise in the night, all save his younger sister, whom he had become obsessed with. Elionne challenged him to battle,  In a bout of furious combat after which Meren believed 'he would make his sister his own', Elionne slew the mad Prince by piercing his chest, and the Royal line survived through his younger sister.

The reviled madman's portrait had been removed from the walls and burned.

Eliabelle turned to the left, and soon enough they reached her room. Within, it was rather lavish, with a four-poster bed laden with pillows(and a stuffed dragon toy) and blankets, a large bookcase full of various volumes, a desk, a body-length mirror, a nightstand, and even access to a balcony. The glass and steel doors leading to the balcony were shut.

Captain Balsung leaned against a wall, as the other two Crown Knights took positions outside of the Princess's bedroom.

"We've heard not the slightest rumor of their return," he said, finally, "As far as we know, they were all captured or slain after the traitor fell to your last captain. They should all be accounted for now, so we've know clue whatever dark and filthy rock these bastards crawled out from underneath.

[url=https://safebooru.org//samples/1861/sample_01301fb2cf23f6143a27d6fcd70932054a38d38d.jpg?1942991]The Court Mage remained silent, blushing faintly and shuffling her feet as she stood as close to the Princess as possible[/url]. Eliabelle, desperate for some form of normal conversation, headed to the bookcase and took a red-bound novel from a shelf.

"S-so, have any of you read [i]Fireheart[/i]?"

It was a hundi-written novel, about a young hundi on her coming of age journey. It had become quite popular in recent years.

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