The twins immediately launched themselves at her, clutching at her waist. The prince sniffled but neither of them were crying. The Solaris had a sword strapped to his hip and a haunted expression on his face. Taurin clutched at Nilda’s hand and didn’t let go. The unknown man with them had a guard uniform and a sword at his hip as well. None of them seemed to be hurt and they all looked prepared to run, dressed in cloaks and travel leathers.

Nilda briefly explained to the Solaris what happened - the Gate at Diess, the soldiers, the blocked path with archers. His face grew increasingly grave as she described killing people disguised as Caelisian guards at the castle. She cast the unknown guard in the room a dark look.

“I think we should be careful about people we don’t know well,” Nilda said stiffly, clutching the twins close to her.

“Hey, I just joined his lordship last month,” the guard said defensively.

“It’s fine,” Taurin said quickly. “He happened to be in the dining hall when they started attacking. He helped defend us.”

“I helped hide us,” the princess said fiercely. “It was hard but I did it!”

Nilda held the little moon close. Thank the Parts they were all safe. “I saw smoke outside,” she said. “I believe they will set the castle on fire to drive us out. We can’t stay here.”

“There is a path down the cliff out by the viewing platform,” the Solaris said. “Few know about it and even fewer use it because it is dangerous but - ”

“I will make the path safer,” Nilda quickly said. She passed a look at the guard who seemed to fumble with his sword as he drew it. After training under Rask, soldiers and guards developed a kind of confidence and held themselves differently than untrained men - this stranger lacked the confidence entirely. “You should come with us. They are killing everybody in the castle.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the amateur guard said nervously. She would be annoyed if she didn’t feel sorry for him. She would have to speak to Rask about training his men faster… but Rask wasn’t here. She pushed the thought from her mind. He would be able to defend himself. He must have escaped. He must.

Being the one who knows where the hidden path is, the Solaris led the way out of the room with Taurin clutching the back of his tunic and the guard behind them, sword drawn. The twins insisted on clutching to Nilda’s dress with terrified little hands and she hung back, feeling out the stone to make sure nobody followed them. She held the twins close in case either of them made too much noise, ready to muffle them in her dress.

It was a short walk down the stairs and crossing a corner of the dining hall out to the large viewing balcony just behind the dining hall. It was built off the side of the mountain and the castle to maximize the view of the sky above, perfect for watching sunsets and moon rises on clear evenings. Often, skywatchers would use it when it wasn’t occupied for banquets or parties, using strange contraptions to view the stars or clouds.

Now it was entirely empty except for a chilling wind sweeping in from the mountains. Nilda watched as the Solaris led them down a narrow path off the side of the castle which ended with heavy shrubbery creating a wall.

At that moment, Nilda felt her skin crawl. Her senses tuned to the rocks to watch for footsteps behind them turned to process the steps in front of her, to the strange guard she’s never seen before. He was walking down the narrow path and she could sense the strange pattern coming from him.

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Step. Click. Step. Click.

There was one other person she knew who had that strange clicking step in his gait and it was one of the Lunaris’s guards. Nilda had seen him at the banquet months ago and he looked completely different from this guard, but the clicking step was nearly identical. Nilda trusted her instincts and clutched at the little moon’s shoulder a little harder than intended; the princess didn’t make a sound.

“Hide us,” she whispered down to the girl. “Now.”

The moment the princess shrouded them, Nilda saw the guard’s demeanor change from fumbling awkwardness to determined intent. She stretched an arm out to will the rocks to close around his feet and hinder him, but for some reason they wouldn’t respond. With unnatural speed, the guard pounced at the Solaris and Taurin who were both crowded by the shrubbery.

The Solaris was targeted first. The guard plunged his sword through him. Before Taurin could tell what was happening, she was shoved with incredible force and her scream disappeared with her off the cliff. Feeling numb, Nilda kept trying to enable her powers to work but nothing happened. The Solaris, still alive, cursed and tried to draw his sword but the guard knocked him over and drew out his bloodied weapon. Nilda grasped the twin’s heads and shielded them from watching their own father’s bloody slaughter.

The prince whimpered and she moved, still enshrouded by the little moon. Again and again, she tried to will spikes out to kill the assassin but it never worked. She went back into the dining hall, softening their steps and clutching the children close to her, lodging them into a dark corner as the assassin sauntered through the entrance after them.

“I can feel you trying,” the guard said, his voice changing accents from standard Gaian to something of a Kuvanian lilt. “Fortunately I am shielded by the Gods.”

Nilda frowned - she was able to soften the stone underneath herself and the children, but she wasn’t able to manipulate the stone near the assassin. Experimentally, she let out a spike of rock burst forth nearly ten paces from the man aimed at him. When the stone got too close, it simply stopped short. The assassin laughed. He wandered to the other side of the dining hall, checking every corner.

“What do you think will happen if I come close to you?” the man asked. “Do you think the princess’s little trick will keep you safe?”

After checking a corner, he pulled tablecloths off of tables and lit them on fire by the torches on the walls and threw them near a wooden decorative column. It caught on fire, filling the hall with smoke and flame. He was trying to force them out of hiding.

Methodically, the man took the torch and lit things around the room on fire, gleefully waving the flames under the giant map of Caelis until the frame burst into flame. The sight of it made Nilda shudder with sudden recognition.

You were given a purpose, Nilda of the Heart. What was it? Do you remember?

That thing that was speaking through the emissary said those words and they meant nothing to her but now she remembered. She painfully remembered. Long ago, she asked the Being in Smoke what she was supposed to do and it had bid her to survive.

Survive until the world burns.

The map went up in flames and dread overtook her heart. She clutched the twins closer to her torso and understood what she had to do. The twins. Everything in her life, everything she’s gone through, everyone she’s met, every map that she had followed was for this moment. She had to save the twins.

Nilda waited until the assassin’s back was turned. As quickly and as quietly as she could, she steered the children towards the exit and hastily drew up rocks as thick as she could to block the exit behind her. The man definitely noticed - slashes of sword to stone rang out, then the tell-tale scraping of shoes scrabbling up against the wall.

Nilda didn’t check to see if the wall was thick or tall enough to hold him back. She turned, grabbed the children, and ran.