"Why do we still have to clean all of them? If the king wanted to keep these many women unconscious, he should have brought in more maids," one of the women grumbled. The room was suddenly lit, but the three intruders were out of sight.

The silent maid saw a shadow by the door, and immediately turned to the other;

"Go handle the other, I will handle this woman. When I'm done, I'll join you," she said.

"Are you sure?" the other said and she nodded.

"Okay. Be sure to come fast," the other said then left.

"Sirs, I'm going to close the door now. You can come out," the maid the moment her companion left and pushed the door close to reveal Walter

"You must be the maid he was talking about," Walter said and did not hesitate to place a knife to her throat.

"You are here for the lady, right? You did not come alone did you?" the maid asked.

"What is your name?" Walter asked.

"Lisa. The lady said some people will be coming for her one day. You are them, right?" the maid answered.

"Yes," Walter answered.

"This is not the lady. Nobody knows who the real lady is but the king. But he does not know that I do," she said. Only then did Lord Morge and Lord of Merve come out from their place of hiding. The girl remained stiff, staring at Walter's knife on her throat, till he put it down.

"How do you know?" Lord of Merve asked.

"The lady wakes up from time to time. No one but me knows that. I'm not sure why, but the poison in her is weakening. She told me to wait for those coming to get her out. She told me about herself and said if I help her get out of here, she will help my sister and myself," Lisa said.

"You will pass her from the window. Just look down and pass her," Lord of Merve instructed.

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"She won't be strong enough. Where is her room?" Lord Morge asked.

"The one just next to this," Lisa pointed.

"Good. Go there and wait for us," Lord Morge instructed and she nodded and left. Lord of Merve went through the window and crossed to the other room slowly. By the time he had gotten there, he found the other maid unconscious on the floor and understood the Lisa girl must have hit her hard. Lord of Merve saw the lady and frowned; she was dressed exactly the same as the other. This king must have planned it so that it would be hard for one to know who was the real lady and who was not.

He carried her from the bed and slowly through the window. He passed her down to Lord Morge, who was balanced on the window sill below. Lord Morge slowly collected the woman and passed her to Walter on the ground.

Then Lisa followed; she went down in the same manner and landed on the ground. When everyone was out, it was easy to leave. Their destination was the city. Lord Morge's town home was the closest to them. Sneaking around with an unconscious woman over Lord of Merve's shoulder did not make moving around an easy thing. They had wanted to enter a carriage towards the townhouse but saw that all carriages were being checked in front.

Seeing as those armours were not familiar, they figured the king of Northern Lan had found out.

Lord of Merve was the obvious choice to carry the unconscious lady because he was the heavily built one amongst them. With the carriage out of the question, they had to walk; things were starting to get complicated.

Every turn the group took, seemed to be a dead end. They had managed their way into the city, but it was getting more difficult to stay hidden. Their path ended them on Barkley Lane, a high-ranked neighbourhood in the heart of the city; still a far way from Lord Morge's city home. Walter moved alone ahead to scout the path. The way was blocked, so he returned to give them the news.

"There is no path ahead," Walter said.

"We must get off the streets before high-ranked martial artists get involved. Why the high-ranked martial artists are not the ones searching for us, is beyond me. But, there is still a chance to escape, we must take it," Lord of Merve said.

"What about Lady Steinhouse? Her mansion is on this lane," Lord Morge suggested.

"She after all, already knows about us," Lord of Merve nodded in agreement.

Only Walter thought this was a little fishy. Why were their pursuers not high-ranked martial artists? If the king of Northern Lan had truly discovered that the lady was missing, wouldn't he go all out? Why were they here of all places? Lady Steinhouse; was it because he was not truly eager to see her that caused his suspicions?

"Walter, get her to clear the way for us to enter. No one should be present. The last thing we need is the maids gossiping about it by morning," Lord Morge said.

Walter sighed. Why was he the one going? They were the ones who had grown up with the lady, why must it be him who goes? Swallowing his confusion, Walter approached the Steinhouse mansion. He knocked on the side entrance and a guard appeared.