Darius waited for Saer near timber houses where servants were returning to get a few hours of undisturbed sleep. The soldiers had been removed from the castle area and were sent to patrol outside until servants woke up. Darius saw many servants walk past by him. Temporary guards even bowed to him, thinking he was a high ranked person.

Saer was not one of them. He was yet to arrive there, and Darius was running out of his persistence. Wernh'An's spy could not risk calling Saer infront of many servants. Suspicion about Saer's disappearance could fall over him. The safest choice he had for the moment was to wait.

He assumed Saer not being in the room would not alarm servants. Those people being crammed inside the small room were not going to mind the absence of a single person as long as it made space for them to turn during sleep in their own will.

Darius found his pawn coming towards the house from the castle. Darius used his smile for a different purpose and stretched his hand apologetically at Saer.

Saer stood with a tilted head.

"I blamed you because I didn’t want to get whipped." Darius said, "They had flogged me yesterday for breaking things."

Saer shook hands with him, but the handshake was shortest he ever had been part of.

"You will also sleep here?" asked Saer.

"No, I've a separate room in cornice."

"Must be nice." Saer squinted at a sack beside Darius's foot.

"I was going to talk about it." Darius said, "Can you put it in the cellar? My bruises will worsen if I carry it."

The mercenary took a deep breath, swallowing his frustration. He had come there to take the vessel, but he ended up going to the storage room with a heavy sack on his back.

Sundown had already happened, so he knew the passage door to the privy could be closed anytime. The guests had started filling the castle and most of them were not happy with seeing guards with swords wherever they stepped to. King Lacroix had loosened security inside the walls for the same reason. But it was just to give them a false sense of being in control for guests. King Lacroix was aware things could go wrong in absence of guards so they had commanded them to return to their locations once the guests were asleep.

Saer had time till then. He just hoped Rikilda had drunk enough water.

Instead of lurking with an open vessel, Saer was no walking by chemise Once again he saw the spot where Darius had cracked glasses. Perhaps King Lacroix was unhappy of letting the family dog roam free in the castle so he had ordered it to be locked in the room where Braden had entered then. It barked at him through the door, telling him to set it free. Saer walked past the noise for the food room.

He smudged sweat off his cheeks then pushed the door open on store chamber. Inside, Saer dropped the sack with a thud and sat on it.

Let the guests get a taste of my arse. Saer controlled his respiration. He inhaled many times when he smelled smoke. It was coming from inside the room. Saer saw a moving sack, then understood it was a source of the fume.

Soon it showed its human like body features.

The scarecrow like figure was standing infront of the door dressed in jute rag. Its face resembled to a doll sewed by an unskilled tailor because its eyes were not aligned, the nose was nonexistent, and near its chin was a thread serving its head as a mouth. When it charged at him, he noticed a knife in his clutch.

Saer hopped away. Its knife jammed on the sack. It pulled the dagger out and intact wheat grains ran out of the cut. Saer felt its breath hit his face and recognized a different type of smell from it. He was familiar with it.

The Calajhan which he had survived in Hilcastle also smelled the same.

"Doppleganger." Saer whispered.

Terrified, Saer's hands reached in search of anything. He found a rusting pan on the shelf.

Saer blocked blows of the knife from the pan. Saer was seeing on the pan because of the doppelganger's swings. He was seeking exit, but the doppelganger had left no room for him to get to the door. It was cornering him more inside the room.

At last, the knife made its way through the pan, making Saer think of his strategy. He pulled it down, hoping it will separate the dagger from its possession, but it looked inseperable. Like it was attached to its handle.

Saer threw the useless pan at the doppelganger by its somewhat spiky handle.

The pan went through his torso and clanged on the other side of the room. But the doppelganger was unaffected. In contrast to Nortze's doppelganger, it was made of smoke and was molded into a doll. It bore no flesh or bones. And it was quicker than the last one Saer had an encounter with.

Another close escape from the dagger petrified him. Saer threw different objects at it, but everything coming in his grasp was lighter than the pan. He scrambled his hands on upper portion of the shelf. Saer felt a sting on his fingertips.

A mousetrap had just bit him.

Saer ducked when the doppelganger jumped at him. Saer landed near the pan but ignored it.

He had an unblocked door. Saer leaped and opened the door.

The doppelganger was outside and its dagger point was coming towards Saer's chest. He clutched its hand before it could stab him. Still, he could feel the knife tip scratching his chest. Red droplets had started to appear.

He twisted its arm, but the strength it had was the same. Saer noticed the hilt, keeping the blade in its position.

Wood.

Saer imagined a huge lightening pass through a tree. He closed his eyes for better concentration. The pain was increasing in his chest as the doppelganger was winning in a duel of strength. Knife apex had pierced muscle on left side of his chest. Saer intensified his thought. And kept on focusing.

The hilt exploded, making him glad about his decision of keeping his eyes shut. His eyes were safe, and the blade had somewhere. The doppelganger devoid of thoughts lost its fingers due to the sorcery.

Wood is related to smoke. Saer understood, observing the damage. Saer dislodged a plank of wood from shelf while the doppelganger searched and picked the blade from its other hand.

It did not look like a scarecrow to Saer anymore. It was just a worn off doll waiting to be smacked on its head.

As it soared forwards. Saer clubbed the plank on its face. The collision sounded like a stick hitting a waving blanket. Saer coughed because of the dust rising from its body, but he went for the second blow.

The doppelganger exploded into smoke by the hit. Black smoke coming from it covered the entire room, narrowing Saer's visibility limit. He could not see the door in darkness. He was astonished at why he wasn’t coughing or suffocating, despite of the cloud smelling like a burnt human.

When the smoke settled, then the doppelganger was a mere costume. Hollow and lifeless. Saer poked the rag with his plank to ensure it had no evil connives left for him.

He was convinced the rag was not worth his time, so he left the plank over it and dashed towards the archway. He ran past it but the locked door at entrance stopped him. The plans Saer had laid existed only behind that door. And the executor was nowhere near it.

His one night had been wasted by the doppelganger – by a plot set by somebody else. Saer returned to timber houses, telling himself he still could kidnap the bride even though he only had one night to do so.