The palace guards stood outside the gate, standing watch. There were about four of them, all tall and formidable-looking.

From where the three friends hid and watched, they could see the guards clearly. The king meant business. As the news of the map was being spread through the kingdom, he had taken measures to protect the palace from thieves such as themselves.

Tum was thinking fast. There usually two guards at the gate, but now, they were doubled. It meant the map was very valuable. They could even steal it and sell it off to the highest bidder, a risky venture. Almost as if Buckle could read his mind, Buckle spoke.

"Must be something, this map," he said.

"I have never seen four guards in front of the palace gate," Bonnie said. "Not to talk of the ones inside. It is like they are expecting to be attacked."

"Peasants," Buckle said.

The others nodded at this insight. They had almost forgotten why they were there in the first place. The war between the royals and the peasants was coming to a head soon, and the royals did not want to be caught off-guard.

"We need a distraction," Bonnie said, watching the guards, her brows pulled together in a frown.

It was twilight, so Tum could see a part of her face.

"How do we get that?" Tum asked.

"We pay for it."

"Wait, from our money?" Buckle asked.

"Do you want to get in or not?" Bonnie asked.

Of course, who wouldn't want to get in? There was the map to the crystal sword at the other side of the gate, and precious stones awaited them at Quil's place.

The guards at the gate first saw a dwarf walk up to them. He was small and seemingly harmless, and they felt they could use him to relieve themselves of the tension gathering around the palace.

"Who do we have here?" The first guard asked, moving close to the dwarf.

"How would you like to have me?" the dwarf asked.

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The guards could not help themselves and started laughing boisterously.

"Are you laughing at me?" the dwarf asked.

Before the guards' eyes, more dwarves appeared, poised for a fight at the perceived insult their member had received.

"Okay, enough of this," The first guard said, but fear was beginning to creep into his voice.

The belief ran deep all over Kora about the dwarves' ability to speak to the devil and place curses on whoever insulted them. In Kora, dwarves were left alone even when they were at fault.

Amid the chaos unraveling, three figures crept around the back of the guards and through the gates into the palace.

Once they were inside, Tum turned back to the gate to hear voices rising as the guards and the dwarves went at each other. They had not begun fighting yet, but the distraction was enough for the three of them.

"What did you tell the dwarves?" Tum asked.

"You don't call them dwarves," Bonnie said as they walked along the hallway.

"What do you call them?" Buckle asked.

"Their names," Bonnie replied.

"Well, what did you tell them?" Tum asked.

"You don't want to know," Bonnie replied.

The hallway where they walked along had torch holders that would cost an arm and a leg in the market that Buckle started thinking of swiping one to take along with him to the market. Bonnie was worried that someone could come around the hallway at any moment and find them standing there, in the middle of busts and expensive statues, intricate carvings made into the wall, and golden torch holders, whose use Buckle could not quite understand.

Why use gold to make a torch holder? He wondered. But the royals and their ways were one thing that Buckle had never understood since he was born. All he wanted was a simple life, one where he could go out to the fields and roll over the ground with children and his wife, one where he could drink at the marketplace and not be judged for it.

"We have to blend in," Bonnie said, stating the obvious.

"Why? We are already inside the palace?" Buckle asked.

Bonnie gritted her teeth.

Just then, they heard voices coming around the hallway. In front of them, there was a turn to the left, and it was from this direction that they heard the voices.

"Quick, we have to hide," Bonnie exclaimed.

Tum was instantly thrown into panic. His eyes flew from one door to the other before he dashed to one of them. He tried it and discovered that it was locked from the inside. The voices coming around the hallway had gotten louder, which meant the people were nearer.

When Tum tried another door, he was relieved to see it open. Without thinking and before Bonnie could say anything, he pushed through the door. Luckily, it was an empty room. Bonnie and Buckle flew into the room after him and they shut the door.

Bonnie left a crack open and peered through it till the cause of their panic came around. It was the king walking down the hallway accompanied by a vast number of guards and handmaidens. Bonnie observed the clothes on the servants' bodies and realized they would have been caught if they had remained outside. Their tattered and worn-out clothes screamed peasants. The servants looked richer than they would ever be.

There was a girl behind. It was Tum that pointed her out.

"Who is she?" he whispered, a little too loud for Bonnie's comfort. The latter had not even noticed when he came up behind her.

"Shhhh," she said harshly.

The girl paused and turned towards the door.