In the Lord's chambers of Castle Faircone lie a Princess. She lay like a lifeless doll in the Lord's bed. The Lord of the Castle had given up his chambers and moved into a guest chamber with his wife. Princess Emily Ayer was still in shock. She was in shock over her brother's death. Her brother had been the anchor that supported her through the chaos and kept her strong.

Immediately after Ayes was attacked, her whole life fell apart. The King and Queen, both of her parents had stayed behind while she and her brother escaped. The Royal family assumed they would be held hostage considering how tightly knit the Kingdom of Ayes held its families and powers together. However, the moment Argon conquered the Capital city Alicia, Zephias immediately beheaded the King and Queen and left their heads on spikes near the Castle gates.

The Kingdom of Ayes went into shock. Emily and her brother were shocked, but her brother Michael stayed strong. He took care of her, and then when they were escaping he died for her. Emily could only weep alone in a stranger's bed.

There was a female prisoner in Castle Faircone who had been questioned, for over four hours. She had blonde hair and green pointed eyes and was a classically trained mage her name was, Ann Winbeary. "I won't ask again tell us who you are?" Standing across the cell was a shorter man with a bald head and glasses. Lord Faircone unironically was known as a Fair Lord, but he never tolerated anyone who stood against the Crown or Ayes.

"My name is Ann! I'm a mage of Elion! My mission was to secure the Royal family and make sure they stayed alive! I'm not your enemy! We don't want Argon to take over Ayes it would be devastating for us if they did so! Also, why would I bring the Princess here if I had nefarious intentions!" The knight standing next to Lord Faircone said, "I can't imagine that she is lying, she saved our Princess after all, but I think we should stay on the side of caution, without verifying the information she's giving us we can't completely trust her. Not with the Princess here, and not without our due diligence." The Lord sighed, "You're right, Sir Jeff. Miss Ann, I apologize for the inconvenience, but until we verify your information we will have to hold you in our prison keep for the Princess's safety. Sir Jeff, please undo her bindings. We will treat you with the utmost respect as our Countries Hero once we gather a little more information, so please forgive us for any rude treatment." "Some Hero I must be to be bound in mana-restricting chains!"

Lord Faircone bowed his head deeply before apologizing a few more times. The knight Jeff opened her cell and undid her bindings. Ann grumbled, "You know I can escape if I want to, right?" Ann glared at the two of them as her restraints were undone. She rubbed her wrists with both hands before saying, "Treated like a hero, huh? What kind of hero is locked in a cell." "The difference between a hero and a villain is the point of view, Miss Ann. Heroic deeds can be seen in a good or bad light. We don't know you or your intentions. Our kingdom has been conquered, and we have no idea what the future has in store for our country or our people. All we can do is be cautious in a time such as this."

Ann wasn't bluffing, she could have escaped when her bindings were loosed, but she thought it wise under the circumstances to be patient. She had already sent a message back home and only had to wait for a response. Ann was trained in dealing with political situations by Duke Mayweather himself. "I just have to be patient. Politics is always best approached with a soft touch." As Ann thought to herself how proud her Lord would be of her, Lord Faircone was already heading towards the Princess.

Lord Faircone went up the stairs and down the long narrow hallway toward his room. He knocked and asked, "Princess Emily, is there anything I can get for you?" He was met with silence. "Princess, you need to eat something. We will bring you a nutritious dinner in a few hours. I humbly ask that you at least eat a little of it tonight."

He walked away while shaking his head. He said to his wife, "I'm worried for the Princess. Her family's death has crushed her. She has lost everyone she knows and loves. I know it isn't fair to bring this up, but there is little hope of her gathering anyone in a state like that. I'm afraid Ayes is truly lost." Miss Faircone could only sigh, "She needs time. I'd be no different if my family was slain. It is unfair to expect her to come away from her family's death with resolve right away, or charisma for that matter." "We don't have time. Ayes truly has only a little time left."

The Princess lay face down. Her ears twitched from time to time, as they processed the information around her. She was able to hear their conversation despite being in her room. The walls were thick and insulated, making it difficult to hear any noise coming from inside or outside the room. Despite the thick insulation and the growing distance between her and the Lord of the castle, she could hear every word spoken. She couldn't respond emotionally to what they were saying at all. Every word bounced off of her heart. It was at times like this that she wished her hearing was the same as everyone else around her.

Her hearing had always been superhuman. It had passed down from her Great Grandmother, who was supposedly a legendary scout. She had never told anyone of her gift, but she had heard stories of her Great Grandmother and the others involved with the founding of Ayes. At one time, she thought that maybe she could use her hearing to be a hero like in the storybooks, but now she was older. She didn't think of her hearing as a gift anymore or that it was all that useful. All she had ever used her hearing for growing up was eavesdropping, and now when she had to listen to things that hurt, she couldn't even turn her hearing off. "Brother." She sobbed. "What do I do?" All the Princess could think about was her family. She thought she was useless and weak. "If it wasn't for me, my brother would still be alive." The Princess wept.

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"How long do you plan to keep crying?" She shot out of her bed in fear. "Who is it?!" In the corner of her room, a man walked out of the shadows and stood in front of her. He had brown hair and glasses, with an expression that would terrify children and small animals half to death. "My name is Darien. I came here to make sure you were still alive. I wanted to see if I could use you to crush Argon." Darien shook his head with disappointment, "Unfortunately, you are a little too pathetic." The Princess was shocked, she couldn't understand how a man had been able to enter her room without her hearing him. "I'm going to take you to the Red Tower, where you will be safe." "The Red Tower? I'm not going anywhere! My-m-my people, they need me!" Emily's eyes were red from crying, and her heart fluttered like a scared squirrel, but in the face of the strange man in front of her, a tiny seed of determination sprouted.

"How are you going to help your people while lying in bed? What are you going to do when Argon shows up here in a few days, and the Faircones sacrifice everything to protect you? I heard your brother sacrificed himself for you. Your mother and father did as well? Do you think you are worth it?" The Princess looked into Darien's eyes. His eyes seemed as though they would gobble her up at any moment. "The reason your family sacrificed themselves for you princess isn't that you are the most capable one in your family. It isn't because they could leave Ayes in your capable hands. They sacrificed themselves because they are honorable. They did so because they love you." He took a step forward and said, "You want to save your people? Do your people need you? Sure, you can do it, but do you really think you are going to be saving anyone in bed?"

Emily felt wronged and screamed, "What else am I supposed to do? I've lost everyone! Everyone I Love! My family! My country! My people! I don't know what to do! What am I supposed to do!" Darien smiled, "You're supposed to fight, Princess Emily. You aren't ready to fight right now so I'm taking you with me." For the first time since her brother died, something different than grief bubbled up in her heart, "I can fight!" The Princess got out of her bed and stood in front of Darien. She stared straight into his eyes with her own eyes bloodshot from crying. Her face purple from exhaustion, she stared daggers at Darien waiting for a response. "How scary."

He waved his hand at her, and she flinched in fear. Darien stopped his hand an inch from her face. "My child is three, and he's tougher than you. He gets smacked around daily by his mom in his studies and faces it head-on. Princess, if you are going to do anything for Ayes, you are going to have to do so boldly." Rocks quickly gathered and surrounded the Princess' mouth and arms. The Princess's eyes widened in shock. He lifted her like a potato farmer taking his potato sack to the market, and carried her down the hall kicking and screaming. The situation changed in mere moments as guards heard the commotion.

"Princess!" Guards quickly surrounded Darien. "Halt! Unhand the Princess!!" Darien walked slowly towards the guards, "I'll bring the Princess, back when she's ready to fight. Right now she's not ready to fix her own damn hair." The guards screamed, "Stop!" While pointing spears at him. Darien chanted, "Rock Serpent." The earth around Darien rose up into the shape of a massive serpent and hissed before charging at the guards. They couldn't even react as they were slammed into the walls to the left and the right. The guards were glued to the walls with a dense earth coating as Darien walked toward the stairs. The noise had grown loud enough for the people downstairs to hear.

"Where's the Princess!" Lord Faircone came up the stairs with his knight and a few guards before seeing Darien. "Unhand her, Villain!" He pulled out a dagger he had hidden on his person, but Darien simply flicked his wrist in response. Lord Faircone, his knight, and all the guards were stuck to the walls unable to chant a spell or react at all. The infamous Red Tower Master started to whistle as he entered the Prison keep. He saw Ann in one of the cells, "Ann? Ann Winbeary?"

Her expression was one of pure bewilderment, "L-L-Lord Northwood! Wh-wh-what are you doing here!" "I came to kidnap a Princess what do you think I'm doing here? We received your message, and we are responding to it." The guard near the prison door looked at Ann and said, "I knew it! You were a villainous spy this entire time!" Ann cried, "No! No! I promise I'm only trying to help!" The rock serpent following Darien charged at the guard by Ann's prison door and stuck him to the prison door to her right. "They were so nice! Why are you attacking them? Shouldn't we be talking to them first?"

Darien responded gruffly, "Talking takes too long, and we don't have a lot of time." He snapped his finger, and the lock on the prison door exploded. Ann left her cell and ran up to check on the Princess. Darien handed her the Princess and said, "Your mission is to get her past the border into Elion. I can just leave with her now and go back with her, but I have another mission. I need someone to watch her and take her while I cause a distraction."

Ann held onto the crying Princess whose eyes were red and panicked. "I'm sorry, Princess! Our Red Tower Master is rude and mean, but he's a good guy! I promise!" Darien frowned as he walked up the stairs. The Princess could only stare at Darien with as much anger as she could muster which wasn't much. "Is Caspian alive?" Ann lowered her head, "I don't know." "That's fine. If he's alive I'll find him, and if he isn't." Darien clenched his fists, "Nevermind. Make sure she stays alive and well." Darien went back up the stairs. The Princess and Ann soon heard screams and explosions throughout the Castle. The castle started shaking, and the Princess glared at Ann. "I'm sorry! Our Red Tower Master can be a bit of a bull. He won't hurt anyone." "Arghhhhh!" Screams echoed into the prison keep as she said that. "Not too badly, I think." Ann sighed as she cast a spell. The prison keep was soon filled with mist. "Let's go."