Val awoke. Blood gushed from her forehead. Her arms and legs were damaged from the fall. She could not move a muscle without it aching.

‘Help me!’ She called. Just then, a handsome man took her hand and flung her over his back. He laid her down on one of the beds of the Palace. His face was shaved and his hair was styled. Is that the prince? Val remembered his face for he was mentioned in the newspaper for saving a family from burning alive.

‘Are you?’ Val’s words were jumbled, and she could not speak properly. The fall had damaged her quite badly in the head.

‘Yes, I am Prince Frederick. My brother, the Emperor, is away at the moment. We must get you to a doctor. I will go and get some bandages. Stay here, you must rest, for the condition you are in could be fatal if it is not treated soon.’ Prince Frederick left the room and returned thirty seconds later with some bandages. He got her to stand up and wrapped bandages around each one of her wounds. Val ached everywhere. That trickster had played her like a deck of cards. How could she have been so stupid? Val thought of confessing what had happened to Prince Frederick but was afraid he would mock her for being so stupid.

‘Prince Frederick?’ Val asked him.

‘Yes, what is it?’ He responded.

‘I have these wounds for a reason,’ Val continued, ‘ You see, I went up the stairs to the Spire of the South, and heard a noise. I decided to investigate and saw that there was a prisoner who was making the noises. I asked him why he was here, and he told me a touching, tragic story. I believed that he should not have been here, for what he did was innocent. I set him free so I could listen to the rest of his story. He told me the rest and as I descended the stairs, he pushed me down them. Then, he kicked me, before opening the gates to the Palace and leaving.’

‘Are the Palace gates still open?’ Prince Frederick inquired, his face alert. If the gates had been opened, anyone could be lurking or roaming around the palace. ‘We must shut them immediately. If anything got in, it would be terrible!’ The young man rushed to the entry of the palace; it was too late. A mob of thugs charged in, knocking Prince Frederick down to the ground. He hit his head on the marble. Prince Frederick stood back up.

‘Hey!’ Prince Frederick roared, ‘What are you doing in here? This is my brother’s palace. Get out of here immediately! I am still a royal!’ The leader of the mob came towards Prince Frederick, towering above him.

‘You took everything from us, so now, we take everything from you.’ The leader of the group of thugs had a rich Mersian accent. ‘It is only fair that we do the same.’ They stormed the High Emperor’s Palace, ransacking everything that the Emperor owned- or at least did own.

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‘We must stop them,’ Val followed after them, limping on her injured leg. Prince Frederick went into his brother’s, the Emperor’s, room. He took a book from the bookshelf - which he knew was his brother’s favourite - and scoured the pages. There had to be a password somewhere. He skimmed through and eventually found it. 1579, the same year the Emperor had been crowned. He read the code aloud and the carpet was moved to reveal a secret hideout. Andrew Liethyn, you genius!

‘Come with me. We must equip ourselves with weapons. In here, are weapons like you have never seen before. It is the only way we can stop those thugs from taking what my brother should rightfully have.’ He took a rapier, ‘Quickly, we do not have much time.’ Val took a spear, which was tipped with poison.

They went down a corridor which led to the throne room. There they were, the thugs. Each one of them stuffed valuables and riches into their large, duffel bags.

‘Hey! If you think, you can take what is not yours, then you have another thing coming. Get ready to be sacred, because I am fear.’ Prince Frederick ran towards the thugs with the rapier and sliced their bags open with it. ‘Scumbags. Now, get the fuck out of here, or else your heads are going to be getting cut as those bags did!’ All of the thugs but one left. They took a torch from the wall.

‘Do not move, or I burn the place down. Give me those riches. Your kind does not deserve them. I said, give me those riches!’ His voice turned into a snarl. Val could tell he was becoming impatient. Frederick had to give the thug the riches or else they would burn down the castle. Frederick could not let that happen. Val ran towards the thug. She held the spear to his neck and said:

‘Drop the torch now!’ She gritted her teeth.

‘Okay.’ The thug dropped the torch on the ground. Sparks ignited. The flames danced. The thug member watched intently.

‘We have to get out of here!’ Frederick shouted to Val. The fire spread rapidly, blocking each exit. Val took Frederick’s hand, and they tried to run out of the building together. As they were running up the stairs, Val tripped.

‘Go!’ She shouted to him. ‘I cannot make it up there with my leg.’ She stayed on the stairs. The thug did not go up the stairs either. Instead, he took Val and carried her.

‘We must go.’ The thug ran through the Tunnels of the Palace, which were only known to Sentries. How did he know where he was going? Val coughed. The smoke seemed to be getting to her lungs. It could kill her if she was not careful. After what seemed like hours of running, they ended up on the shore. They swam into the ocean. Frederick was gone.

‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’ The thug took off his mask and admired the flames. His face was young, not as young as hers, but not old either. They waited in the water together, until a boat came to pick them up. It only then occurred to Val that he was not rescuing her, he was kidnapping her. Before she could swim to safety, a hand pulled her up to the boat. Here she was, a girl who had been knocked down the stairs by an escaped prisoner, and now, a fire victim who was kidnapped by a group of thugs. Her life could not get any better than this, she was sure. Frederick, I have to know if he is safe.

‘Frederick!’ She called. Val saw a man staring at her, waving. It was Frederick. He had survived. The man came running towards her, swimming as fast as he could. He grabbed her hand, but the boat moved backwards, and Frederick did not save her. She had been kidnapped. Kidnapped. So this was what it was like. Val looked at Frederick and mouthed the words: We will meet again. She could only hope they would, the same went for Aurora. The two people she had become close to, Valentin Morosa had lost them. This was not the end. They would meet again, and Valentin Morosa would make sure of it.