Cecilia POV:

As I’m walking down the tower, I hear the ringing of bells coming from a little to the east.  If I’m remembering correctly, those are the same bells I heard… the day…

I think I need to let off some steam.

I speed walk a bit farther down the hall where I can hear the clanking of metal boots.  It’s a team of Royal Guard, most likely sent to secure me and prevent any assassins from taking use of the spread in security.  The one leading this detachment of Guardsmen is the same guard that accompanied me the other day, though I don’t think he told me his name.  If he did, I probably didn’t remember it, I wasn’t ever really good with names unless I was putting on the mask.

God I hated that damn thing, but being a “ditz” managed to keep Talia disinterested.  Even after I was removed from her employ she was dead set on my position as her… I think she called me her friend once, but I’d rather see her dead than most other outcomes for practically every scenario.

Still, a girl can dream, and that I do, quite often.

I come directly in front of the man leading the Royal Guard as his men form up around me.  The man speaks as he ushers me to follow, his voice was rather deep.

“Unknown intruders in the fourth ring, don’t know how they got there, but we’ll find that out later.  We’re taking you to the tower, safest place in the palace.”

I shook my head in disagreement.

“Nope, I’m fighting.” Cecilia

I seriously need to work off what I just felt.  He simply sighs in retort.

“No, your majesty, you’re going into the tower.” Guard

Just as those words left his mouth, everything went dark.

*************************

Bart POV:

My heart rate starts slowing down after I that Ranger saved us.  We got lucky, and I came to a realization.

There is no way in all hell, that we are staying here.  That knight right there, last time we met, he wasn’t a night.  He was a kid bandit, who my brother swindled.  My brother was a conman, and he got a gold sparrow out of that guy for a bottle of crappy wine that he was spinning off as some healing tonic.  Shawn was about six at the time, but he never forgets a face, it’d be troublesome to get recognised by one of your previous marks.

I glance at Shawn, he just nods in affirmation, his face still a little pale from that near encounter.  One of the guards steps forwards at the head of the pit and starts to say something before a bell starts ringing from somewhere behind us.  Everyone starts looking around as the guards all glance at one another and start shifting in their spots.

“MAXWELL, take your men and keep the servants secure!  EVERYONE ELSE, with me!” Captain

And just like that, most of the guardsmen started off in the direction of the sixth rings wall.  The last remaining guardsmen started trying to guide us into the main building.

Trying being the key word.

“What’s going on?!” Random Man

“W-What’re you going to do to us?!?” Random Woman

“IT’S ALL GOING TO BE FINE!  JUST FOLLOW U--” Guardsmen

Just as he was speaking, an arrow lodged itself into his jugular.  The crowd went silent for an instant, everyone gazing at the man as he slowly falls to his death.  His shield fell from his grip and clanged on the ground as he dropped to his knees, clutching at his throat.  Another arrow fell, this time hitting a guardsmen on another side of the pit, though this one hit him straight in the eye, killing him instantly.

The people in the pit started going crazy and only then did I notice that the other guards starting to group up around what I suspect to have been their leaders.  The people in the area start making breaks for the other exits, but then the arrows started pouring down on everyone.  People were dropping left and right, but instead of heading for the building like everyone else, we started making a break for the guards who had already dropped deads.

Or rather, we were heading for their shields.  Their nice, large, safe, metal reinforced, wooden shields.  Dead people don’t need protection, right?  Shawn gets there first, damn legs.  For an instant, I feel something go through my neck.  I slow for an instant, the sensation leaving as quickly as it came, but what I see makes my eyes widen in horror.  I slowed by maybe a second, but right where I would have been if I hadn’t slowed down, an arrow flies down.  I don’t stop though, just letting out a quick mental thanks to the Primordial and my lucky moon for saving my halfbreed ass.

I catch up to my brother less than a second later and pick up a shield, immediately hiding behind it as I back away under the roof.  I apparently was going into the same tunnel that had taken us into here.  Once I know for a fact that death isn’t going to get rained down upon me, I finally look behind myself.  There are a few shuddering and fear filled applicants, plus my brother with a the other shield.  It looks like these are the other survivors that had managed to run out, at least to this side.  I notice two better armed survivors, the guards.  I take a quick glance towards the pit, feeling the need to wretch as I see the gruesome dead.  There were about 42 applicants, not including us, and 20 guardsmen.  I can see about 13 dead guardsmen and 23 dead applicants.  I try and think through the wave of disgust and nausea, going over the facts.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

There was the bell, which the guardsmen knew about, and obviously had them unsettled.  Then everyone started panicking.  The archers were surrounding the pit, otherwise they couldn’t have hit the guardsmen on both sides, they also had to have been damn good shots, they hit one man in the eye.  You can call that luck, but after seeing them also hit another man in the throat, in the gap between his chainmail and Erkin leathers, I am inclined to disagree.

The guards are talking to one another, though the way they are going about it is all wrong.  They are huddled into a corner, not speaking a word above a whisper, which is wreaking serious havoc on everyone's nerves.  Mine unincluded, after all, how else do you expect me to escape some of the situations that I do?  I just ran through a hail of arrows and was stared down by a knight that’s out to kill me, a Royal Knight, might I add, and I still haven’t fainted!  

Anyways, they need to stop doing that, will end badly, without doubt.  I walk over towards them, their backs still facing me.  I walk quietly, a slight habit I picked while going up over the years.  However, the things I hear from them make me want to slit both their throats.  How can I hear them?  You might ask?  The answers simple, I’m part woodkin and they have absurd hearing in most cases, better than most Beast-Kin, though still not enough to hear a fly a thousand feet away like some will tell you.

Anyways, you probably want to know what they were saying, right?

“I thought you said the attack was supposed to happen tomorrow!” Guard #1

Yeah….

*************************************

Gabriel POV:

I walk as fast as I can while I have Vanar keep a watch out for assassins.  I can’t walk that fast, a side effect of the nature of my legs.  Did you know that Prosthetics are a bitch to walk in?  I DID!

I’ve been making my way towards the tower, where the meeting point for council members is.  The tower itself has a small compartment on it, a door very much like the ones the city builders had scattered along the city after the old capital was burned.  The only difference being, it’s about ten thousand times more complex.

As in, it constantly changes.  I mean, it took a Wood-Kin’s entire life to form a codex capable of deciphering the damn door!  The inscription is a weird one, a story, one that has been coming closer and closer to it’s end over time.  Thing is, it’s not written in Eldar, it’s written in something that’s only been found in a few other places in the world.  That’s what we refer to as Metal-Kin, simply because everything that was written by them is a type of metal that can’t be melted or chipped.  We can’t decipher any of it, as well, which is really funny to watch given how much a certain friend get’s when he finds something he can’t read.

At all.

Wish he wasn’t so dubious though, honestly, there are bandit gangs less shady than him.  

I round another corner, and come right up the place where the doorway to the tower is.  I trace my hand over the runes, and come across the grid section that contains the current day’s entrance rune.  I halt for a second before opening it.  Confusion gripping me.

It’s not the same rune it was before.  Before, the rune was a random letter, or word, in the Metal-Kin’s tongue.  Now, it’s an eye, a colored eye.  The color being an almost luminescent golden and red, shifting from angle to angle.  At the eye’s center rests a pure, black, pupil.  The symbol is something I’ve seen before, but I can’t place it.  All I remember from it is some strange sense of foreboding….

And the smell of roast chicken, oddly enough.

I tear my eyes away from it, promptly turning the dial and watching in wonder as the door opened in a theatrical feat, sections of the stone sliding around in weird patterns towards each direction of the door, defying gravity and the laws of motion.  The mechanics in this wall must be top notch, but no one can look at them because that would involve removing the nearly impenetrable stone of the towers wall.  We say impenetrable, but that’s because nothing in this world can be truly impenetrable.

Right?

I scurry quickly inside, Vanar returning from his watch to follow.  Once we’re inside, I turn a rune to close the door, then quickly moving down the stairwell that flows downwards from here.  Vanar makes fearful and agitated whines, caves being entirely out of his comfort zone.  I turn around and place a hand on his head, curling my fingers to begin scratching right behind his ears.

“Bellan, bellan.  Bellan Urus Vanar.  Calm, calm.  Calm Little Hunter.” Gabriel

Yes, yes, I know.  It’s a mushy turn of phrase, but it works.  You would be surprised at the amount of the Old Tongue that this mutt has picked up.  I don’t care if you believe that it’s impossible for animals to be that smart, but Vanar is just something else.  Plus, physical magics a thing, again, so sue me for thinking my dog is smarter than some of the idiots I enjoy blackmailing so damn much.  

I mean, you beat the shit out of a servant and thought I wouldn’t fucking notice when said servant showed back up with a black eye!  Honestly, you were just begging me to hogtie you into a deeper sense of loyalty to king and country.  

I shake my head a few times, didn’t mean to get that deep into the memory.  I lean back up and start back down the stepped pathway.  I notice a few things on my adventure as well.  The patterned starstone is somewhat… different to how I remember it being.  I never really studied them, but I certainly don’t remember that picture of a hooded woman standing over the a field of corpses whilst holding a pair of curved blades.  I shake my head twice before continuing down the path, not taking note of any of the further scrawlings of dead men and forgotten peoples.

The path continues like this for a time, and eventually I reach the bottom.  The room at the bottom has four connected doorways, and is roofed by a ceiling of blue stone and starstone in the same positions as the night time stars.  The moon is missing from this chart, but that’s understandable.

In the room is a group of Royal Guardsmen line the walls, two to each door.  Saran is also down here, standing at attention and guarding the door, like he’s supposed to.  He sees me and relaxes a good bit, before he goes over to a chair in the room.  I can’t see the room in it’s entirety, as the stairwell comes in straight through the center.

“So, are the others here?  What about her majesty?” Gabriel

He looks at me queerly for an instant before shooting a question at me in return.

“Since when are you respectful of your liege?” Saran

I take a seat across from him, not needing to undo the straps for my legs as the chair was made at just the right height for it to be comfortable for my prosthetics.

“Since said liege didn’t choose me to be a part of council, apparently has a temper to fear rather completely, and--” Gabriel

He cuts me off with a slight grin forming on his lips.

“Is a pretty lady~?” Saran

I just sigh and shake my head at him, rubbing the bridge of my nose with my right hand and supporting my right elbow with the left.

“Saran, do you remember that baroness from Herksley?” Gabriel

He makes an ‘o’ with his mouth and nods in confirmation.

“Right, right.  My bad.  But really though, you should try to find yourself a lady at some point.  You’re already eighteen and have nary a friend--” Saran

I raise up my hand and correct him.

“Tan and Jacob count.” Gabriel

He just rolls his eyes at me.

“Sorry, nary a sane friend to speak of, let alone female friends.  It would do your temperament some good, especially with all the stresses you usually go through.  Don’t think I haven’t noticed you going grey in the hair.” Saran

Right, I forget how strong this guys paternal instinct is regarding me is.  Still trying to figure out just why he actually gives a damn, but regarding my severe lack of family, i suppose it’s for the best.  Not to mention he isn’t wrong.  My entire life seems to be swallowed up by these fucktards who are supposed to represent the best of the Kin.

“Back on topic, are the others here, and is Her Majesty safe?” Gabriel

It wouldn’t do for someone on the council to die out of nowhere.  Not that I particularly like Tor, he creeps me out and, in my opinion, has crossed loyalties between the monarch and his precious clans.  But, the same can be said of many different nobles in the land, mostly the Stone-Kin and Beast-Kin though, everyone else has held a grudge at their ancestral brothers for not offering aid during the Great Upheaval.

“Yes, the others are all in the common room, and Lady Kelleran is currently unconscious in her room.  Tychus was forced to knock her unconscious and carry her into the bunker.” Saran

Ouch.  I turn my head towards the living statue and nod my head towards him.

“Good luck there.” Gabriel

Then I look back at Saran, a particular question returning to my mind.

“By the way, did you notice anything different regarding the sealing on the door mechanism?  The symbol was completely di--” Gabriel

An angered shout interrupts me, it’s source from the room meant for housing Her Majesty.

“WHO THE HELL KNOCKED ME OUT!!” Cecilia

I think Tychus just flinched.