For all our panic, it was too late to leave the study by the time we realised what was going on. Clanking footsteps grew louder and louder outside and the rain had grown louder still to cover the noise before we were fully aware of them.

Oberon above, please help us!

I recognised the guards as Harold and his companion and as they drew nearer to the study, their voices echoing down the corridor. Soon enough, Adrianne and I were going to be caught if we did nothing; the seal on the brown manila folder was still unstuck, open on the coffee table and the letter in my hand was far too crumpled to be left passably on the table; if the guards were to look closely, they would realise there were other, more unwelcome souls present.

Adrianne dashed back to grab her letter and I tucked the one in my hand into her folder, putting a stop to the loud crumpling sounds. We crawled under the leg space, surrounded by the sides of the desk and made sure our skirts did not touch the floor. She set the manila folder on her lap and I rested my back on the wood, listening intently.

The other guard's voice grew louder, until suddenly, the door opened. A flash of lightning zipped across the sky angrily, splashing the room with stark white light.

"Harold, for the last time - there is no one here, I say!"

"And I say I heard a sound here, Richard! I will not be satisfied until I investigate every corner of this blasted manor, even if it is only a rat!"

The one called Richard scoffed, retorting, "A rat would dare not enter His Grace's study, or anyone else for that matter, lest our heads be the first to fly."

I frowned at his words, the unfamiliar image lingering unpleasantly in my mind.

Father is not the sort of man to do such a thing.

They entered the study and placed their lantern on the coffee table, for the light was not as bright as it could have been and their steps approached us no longer; the small, quiet thud caused Adrianne to shuffle slightly and her hair shifted down her back. My heart quickened, noticing the yellow strands sticking out past the side of the desk and I yanked it quickly out of sight.

"Alright, fine. Here we are now, with not a soul to hear us and it's the middle of the night, as you wished. What did you want to say?"

We could not hear anyone make a sound for quite a while after that; the one called Harold held his tongue far longer than I imagined comfortable and Richard seemed to be uneasy as a result, judging from the sound of shifting metal plates.

I thanked the heavens constantly for that telltale sign, even long after we escaped from the study; it would have been nightmarish if we had to judge when to move without that noisome armour.

A long time passed, with only the rain filling in the silence and an occasional thunderclap in between; without the metal clinking, I would have crawled out with Adrianne too early and we would have been caught all the sooner for it.

Harold finally spoke.

"It appears to me that the boy, Marcus... He feels... off in some way." Harold paused, as if trying to gauge Richard's reaction.

Under the desk, I made out Adri’s figure as she shifted to look me in the eye, "Surely he does not mean our little rabbit, Marcus?"

"I don't know... He should not be referring to his name directly at all and on that note, Marcus is not a rabbit or 'our' anything; he's just mine! My brother!" I pouted slightly, though I felt happy she had attached herself to my dearest little brother, but the confusion I had drowned out that pleasure very quickly.

Richard seemed to think much the same as us, judging from the uncertain shuffling. He said something else, but we could not hear over the loud pitter-pattering. The shadows cast onto the shelves behind us grew darker as the men stood in front of the lantern.

"Do you happen to mean the young lord, Marcus Kaiser Von Hestion, or the squire in training, the boy Marcus?"

Richard's silhouette was cross-armed and his head was pointed down to the shorter man.

"I mean the lord, Richard. He strikes me as odd, whenever he comes home to train. Lady Celestine and Lady Eliza-"

"Harold, please, you must remember protocol. I do not know why I must remind you so often to refer to them as Lady Celestine Cassandra and Lady Eliza Vivienne."

Harold's voice took on a nasty edge, "Because their names are far too long for their own good and they are human, the same as us. Besides, they are not here now, so I can speak however I please!"

Harold was gesticulating wildly at this point and I could see the pent up frustration show in how fast and blurred his silhouette moved along the wall.

"You ought to watch your tongue," Richard sounded dangerously aggressive in that moment and Adri pressed herself closer into me, shaking lightly, "it is not wise to speak such words in the house of the Duke. Now spit it out - what is your concern?"

"The young lord Marcus, he spars with Nicholas, down in the training grounds. If you recall, he sent him sprawling in the dust the other day, though Nicholas is two years older than he."

Harold paused, uncertain, before continuing on.

"As soon as His Grace and the Lady came to observe, Marcus threw the match with a silly mistake, tripping on his feet. I was sure the Lord would catch onto it, but he merely brushed off the dust and patted him on the head! The Lady chewed out Nicholas for being too rough, then put him on stable duty with Captain Evander being none the wiser!"

The taller silhouette was shaking his head, unimpressed.

I also felt unsure at that statement; my sweet little Marcus would never do such a thing and he was far too cordial to even think of throwing a match, much less against someone he could easily beat...

But, if that's the case, then what of the incident at school? Was that also merely cordiality?

I shook my head, focusing. The cramped nature of the leg space had long since cut off circulation in my leg and I gently, meticulously, switched position. Adrianne also moved beside me, all the while making sure no sound, not so much as a swoosh, was heard. The rain pelted the windows harder and another flash of lightning hid the silhouettes for a second.

We zoned back in.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"He is a boy, Harold. It is obvious to anyone that he will not win every match he partakes in."

"But the very idea, Richy! He has not lost to Nicholas even once, though they had no less than fifteen bouts! I was the boy's instructor before Captain Evander; I know very well his capabilities and it is too queer not to notice such odd behaviour, not to mention his strange obsession with the young lady Eliza."

This piqued my interest and another clap of thunder echoed from the hallway, nearly drowning out his words.

Marcus has an obsession in me? Surely it is nothing more than that of a child...

The older knight also seemed to catch on. His shadow straightened, turning to face Harold properly.

"What? How come?"

"He always faces her window when he trains, Richard; the one up above the arbour over the southern courtyard outside."

The clank of the armour plates rang out again and shadow Richard was confused; he prompted Harold to explain further with a wave of his hand.

"You don't know? The young lady's window is on the second floor, directly above that arbour near the outer courtyard - the one adjacent to the training grounds. Marcus often stares in that direction during his spars and I heard it said how he asked the Lord to plant wisteria trees to decorate the paths there. It strikes me odd whenever he glances there; his eyes pick up a menacing sheen and for all his youth, his sparring becomes all the more fierce. There was a point where he had knocked Nicholas to the ground and he did not stop; he nearly sliced the boy's arm, with this maniacal grin on his face and his eyes as out of focus as I had ever seen them, 'til I knocked the blade away. He is as dangerous as they come, Richard. Dangerous!"

I glanced at Adrianne, shocked. Marcus was not one to behave as such and nothing he ever did, outside the Incident, even hinted at such a ludicrous disposition as the one Harold was suggesting. Adri stared at me, open-mouthed and we turned back to the men, watching the shadows on the shelves pace about, before a sudden flash of lightning made me jump.

Richard remained silent for a very long time, holding his tongue. Eventually, once he had formulated his thoughts, he began.

"Harold, as senior knights, it is our responsibility to watch and guide the young lord in his training. Whether or not he won every battle with opponents twice his size, we must accommodate him and if the Lord or Lady steps in, then we cannot do anything about it. As for the thing with the young lady," He paused, his voice taking on that dangerous edge, "it is not wise to spew such unfounded rumours from idle maids, nor does it make sense for him to behave so carelessly. The boy has always been a cordial child and it does him a disservice to speak of such things. Now then, we have spent far too long in this study and the Lord does not enjoy unwelcome visitors. Let us go to the East Wing and complete the rounds at the South. Once we finish, we can call up Reginald and Kairo to take our place."

Harold seemed unhappy, judging from his response, but he assented with a sigh, "Very well, Richy. I’ll trust your judgement on this. Come, let us be on our way."

Richard’s shadow threw his arm around Harold and as they took their lantern, the walls grew darker.

"You, my dear friend, need a drink; the work has gone to your head, I dare say. I will buy you one at the tavern when we have finished."

"Shut up."

Soon enough, the heavy door slammed shut once more after the lantern's light had fully vanished from the shelves behind us, until eventually, the silence returned. Adrianne and I peered out from behind the shelf and we pulled out the manila folder with us.

Neither of us spoke for a long time, there in that muted, tense silence, too confused to say anything. The thunder in the distance grew louder again and the harsh rain pelted the window.

"How much time do we have left, Eliza?"

"They ought to be on their way back; it takes roughly twelve minutes to get to the hallway intersection, then another thirty five to the East Wing and another thirty five back, which takes around an hour and twenty two minutes until they manage to get back to our room, assuming they don’t make it to the ends."

"Can we make it in time?"

"If there are no more distractions and we clean up quickly, then yes."

Quickly, Adrianne lit up a small candle on the right-side mantle and carefully melted the back of the wax seal. I pulled out the important letter and as fast as I could, counterfeited a copy onto a fresh sheet of paper, which was similar enough to be passable. While she worked on resealing her file, careful not to disturb the engraved sigil, I successfully attempted a decent recreation of the original.

In that still quiet, even the slightest shuffle made us jump and the godforsaken rain did not let up a single bit as it pelted the window panes. After a good ten minutes of quick work, I fanned the letter over the candle, smudging parts of the writing with my finger once it dried. Soon, it looked practically identical to the original and even had some of the same texture markings to boot.

I placed the letter in the drawer with the important files, making sure to file it based on the date as Father had done, before leaving. While the drawer was locked and required a key, it was resolved quite easily; I pulled the shelf above it, placed the letter inside and replaced it once I had finished; such a simple tactic, really. I should have known that Father was not one to store files in such an easily accessible drawer, but I was a child who knew no better then.

In the end, the rain covered our footsteps as we headed back to the bedroom; we dashed up and down the landing, reaching the intersecting halls and we turned right to hide back in the abandoned room and wait for the next set of guards.

This time, it seemed as if we had travelled faster, for I felt that we had reached the bedroom far quicker than before; I did not get caught on the landing rails again and we spent no time by the niche in the wall, arguing like bluebirds.

Once we had reached the bedroom, I collapsed onto the mattress, sinking into the soft, clean fabrics. Adrianne crawled in beside me, taking up the right side and we stared at the ceiling for quite a while. The rain slowed to a quiet din and neither of us spoke for some time.

"Say, Liz..."

"Yeah?"

"I would say that was exciting and you certainly had yourself a splendid idea..."

I waited.

"...but what are we going to do about the letter? Surely Father has to know about this."

"We cannot tell him, Adri. Lord Xandros Asphodel will wonder how you came about this information and then Father would know from him. We would get caught in the course of seconds and neither you nor I would be able to face them again."

She frowned, rubbing her hand over her face.

"Do you still have that letter?"

"Yeah. It's right here."

I pulled it out, unravelling it.

Here, in the safety of my room with my dearest friend beside me, we read the letter once more.

…

To the Duke of Eastern Valia and the Southern Isles,

Greetings, Lord Alucard. It is wonderful to know that you are faring well and that your son is growing up splendidly. I hear the young Lady Eliza is turning out to be a wonderful lady and rumour has it that she rivals the likeness of Fayer. Unfortunately, I would very much prefer to be discussing pleasantries all day, if not for one large and quite frankly troublesome, issue that has occurred.

Here in Northern Estray, you will recall that we share the border with Lord Devienne's territory and the Hemeoths he manages do frequent our estate at times, although not many. The reason I bring this up to your attention is dire and we need the assistance of the Hestion knights:

Certainly after last summer, the grain harvest has been plentiful and the people sang the praises of the Hestions throughout the town as they pulled the yield into the grain storage. Once the fall had fully set in, however, droves of Hemeoths have been targeting the storage towers, with two already fallen to the beasts. The people cannot hold them back any longer and the Towns Guard are having enough trouble managing both town and the ensuing raids.

It appears that during the fall conquests, when Duke Devienne and his knights travel to fight the beasts, they have become aware of the lacking food and are beginning to travel towards us in an effort to sustain themselves. Either way, the situation is worsening with every day that passes.

If this continues, Estray may fall to the Hemeoths, along with the food supply and it is possible that other estates nearby will do the same. As we both know, Estray and the north-eastern estates are the main source of the grain for most of Valia, with the central-eastern estates providing much of the wine, fruit and meat. The south-eastern ones are ignorable as they manage the seafood supply and Hemeoths are not fond of saltwater. There is nothing between Estray and the central estates to prevent the Hemeoths from spreading and if we don't soon stop them, it may be that we suffer at the hands of the Triyaers as a result. I await your swift response.

Sincerely, with my heartfelt wishes,

Marquis Leon Victoria of Northern Estray