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The princess stood by feeling hopeless as she watched her father thrust about uncontrollably in his chair. His eyes were rolled so far into his skull that his blue irises were barely visible; a seemingly impossible amount of sweat rolled down from his head. The princess let out a small whimper of hopelessness.

"He was perfectly fine almost a minute ago," the princess exclaimed. "Rhyon, what the hell is going on here!?"

The princess turned to look at a man standing next to her who, judging by the way he was clad, was a high-ranking individual in the military. He had short golden-brown hair and looked at the princess with warm brown eyes that were full of concern. He promptly placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around so that they were facing each other.

"Jewel, everything is going to be okay," Rhyon said in a smoothing voice. "We will figure this out".

Just as this was said, the king let out a loud, throaty cough which nearly threw him out of his chair. Rhyon was immediately by the king's side to help him back onto the chair but the coughing did not stop there. With every passing second the coughs became more frequent and were let out with more force. It wasn't long before the king's face was a very dangerous shade of red.

"Why has no one come to help us already!?" Jewel wondered.

"I am going to go get some help," Rhyon said racing toward the door. Just as Rhyon's hand touched the doorknob however, the king's coughing and thrusting stopped at once.

"Wait!" Jewel shouted back to Rhyon. "I think he may be okay now. He is trying to say something. Do not worry about getting help".

Rhyon kept his hand on the doorknob but looked back at Jewel. "Jewel, would it not be better to get someone else just in case of-"

Jewel rolled her eyes. "Ry, you do not have to be so precautious all the time. Now, please get over here."

Rhyon mumbled, "Please do not call me Ry," before reluctantly walking back to where Jewel and her father stood. Halfway on his way to her, he looked back at the door and began to turn slightly toward it. However, he decided against it and continued on his way.

The look of concern that was once on Jewel's face was replaced with a look of irritation. Her hands were on her hips and her heels tapped impatiently on the floor underneath her. She sucked in some air between her teeth. "I know I heard him say something just a second ago."

Despite what Jewel said, the room remained silent and the king remained unnervingly still. If it wasn't for the reassuring movement of his chest, one would have thought that the king was lying in his chair dead. All the while, Jewel stayed in her position, confident that the king would begin speaking very soon. Meanwhile, Rhyon's feelings of uneasiness grew strong as he turned his eyes toward the door several times.

It was just before Rhyon was going to ask Jewel if she had mistaken hearing something that the king finally made some indication that he did indeed have something to say. Jewel became very alert when a small "heh" escaped the king's lips.

"Did you hear that?" Jewel asked Rhyon in amazement. Rhyon was unable to respond verbally so he nodded his head weakly. His mouth was pressed into a thin line; it was difficult to tell what he thinking at the moment.

"Heheheh". The king's head was lowered but it was becoming easier to hear what he was saying. Jewel put her hands on her father's shoulders asking, "Yes, what is it?"

"Heheheheheh," the king responded.

Jewel shook her head. "I do not understand what you are trying to say."

The king kept up with his strange noises as he gradually got louder and spoke more frequently. Soon, it became quite evident that the king was laughing- at first softly, then wholeheartedly, and at last, hysterically. Jewel insisted on keeping her hands on her fathers trembling shoulders.

"What is so funny? Tell me what is happening!"

When the king continued to laugh with complete disregard for what his daughter was saying, Rhyon knew something was wrong. Jewel, however, did not pay attention to the signs that should have been becoming clear to her. Either way, the events that took place next were something that neither Jewel nor Ryhon could have seen coming.

The king looked straight at his daughter, eyes wide with an unidentifiable emotion, yet the color seemed to be drained from them. His head was titled over ever so slightly and a devious grin was plastered on his face. In one swift movement, he rose from his cushioned chair, and grabbed hold of his daughter's left hand tight enough for some of the color to drain from it. Jewel was finally realizing that something was not right.

"Who ARE you?!" Jewel screamed while trying to break free from her father's grasp. This only made him hold on to her even tighter, causing Jewel to yelp in pain.

"Shut up you annoying brat," the king said through clutched teeth. He lifted Jewel from the floor effortlessly and hung her in the air dangling from just one arm. She kicked her legs around frantically while screaming madly. This did nothing but anger her father more, causing him to wrap his hands around her throat.

He laughed once more. "I bet this will get you to shut up!"

Meanwhile, Ryhon was already at the door. He decided that he would go and get help although Jewel had tried to convince him otherwise. She would surely want extra help now that she was in a dire situation, right? Ryhon was surprised when the door would not budge even after putting much of his strength into opening it which confused him. One could tell just by looking at him that he was a very physically fit man and even if the door was jammed, he should have been able to open it eventually. But even after he proceeded to remove his sword from its scabbard and use it to pry open the door, his efforts were futile.

Ryhon mumbled to himself, "Why will this door not open? I am certain none of us have locked the door when we entered the room."

"Ha, it's no use. The door is locked by magic". It was the king speaking, still holding Jewel's neck between his hands.

Ryhon shook his head in confusion. "The king is not able to use magic…."

"Aw, that fool you call king can not do much of anything. But I can! Now, I don't think that you'll want to call for help. You see, there is only one simple thing I need this king to do for me. It is so simple that his subjects will be unaware that any of this has happened. Now, we wouldn't want to worry the innocent citizens about this little incident, would we? I will let this noisy girl go along with sparing your life if you keep quiet about this. What do you say?" The king let out a small grin.

"Open the door," Ryhon said sternly.

The king's brows frowned a bit. "Oh, what an unfortunate choose you have made! I can not, of course, let you get away with revealing this secret quite yet."

The king threw Jewel at Ryhon. She slid across the crystal-like floor where Ryhon kneeled next to her as she coughed and regained her color. The king looked at her with disgust.

"What a stupid, meddling girl! But it doesn't matter. Since I know neither of you will keep quiet about this, you can die together!"

With a snap of a finger, the doors that were so difficult to open just a minute ago opened effortlessly. Outside the open gold doors, Ryhon and Jewel could see the reason why no one seemed to make an effort to come to their rescue earlier. Standing outside the door were two men, looking as if they were simply walking by before being turned into two life-sized action figures. Jewel had to rub her eyes to ensure that she wasn't really looking at two statues made by an extremely talented sculptor. She gasped softly.

"I know you may not have fully recuperated yet," Ryhon whispered to Jewel, "but we need to get away from the castle for the time being."

"Are you crazy?" Jewel whispered back loudly. "You will have to leave me here. They may not hurt the princess but they would definitely not let you get away alive if they knew you were trying to escape the castle with me. And no one would believe us if we told them what happened because that imposter who they think is my father would tell them otherwise."

Ryhon smoothed Jewels hair down. "It is not safe here. My duty is to ensure that you are safe. Nothing else is more important than that."

Deafening clapping could be heard behind the two. The king said with a mocking smile, "Oh, how sweet! You two are creating a little mood over there, are you not? Behold! It will be impossible for you to make it out alive. Die!"

With that, the king snapped his fingers once again. This time, the men outside of the door began to move. The king was bent over in his chair, looking like he was in severe pain. Under his breath he whispered, "This body is already exhausted after casting only a few spells," which no one else was able to hear. The two men ran to the king's aid readily as if they were not frozen just a second ago. The men asked the king what was wrong. He promptly pointed to Ryhon.

"That man…. He's trying to run away with my daughter. Don't let him get away!"

The two men stared at each other in confusion. Ryhon was their superior and was known for his extreme loyalty to the king. The king and Ryhon were close like a father and son would be. However, the guards knew they could not disobey the king's orders and once they saw that Ryhon grabbed Jewel and began to run away, they were convinced enough to beginning chasing after them. The king could be heard laughing hysterically one more time before he finally collapsed out of his chair from exhaustion, landing flat on his face.

Ryhon and Jewel already had a head start out of the living room but the two men were catching up fast. It was evident that Jewel was slowing the two down. Ryhon looked behind them and knew that a collision was inevitable. He also knew the only way they would be able to leave the castle would be to fight their way through. Ryhon patted his scabbard and looked over at Jewel.

"We will have to fight if we want any chance of getting out of here safely," Ryhon informed Jewel. "Just stay close to me, and I will do the fighting."

The moment soon came when Ryhon and Jewel were face-to-face with the two men. "Ry, do not underestimate me just because I am the king's daughter. Watch this. FIRE!"

One of the men was hit by a lick of magical fire. Jewel smiled at her accomplishment. "I also know Ice and Esuna. And if I run out of magical energy," Jewel removed her heels, "then I can use these babies."

It was clear that Ryhon did not completely agree with the thought of having Jewel fight but he knew she would persist until she got her way. Besides, there was not much time to discuss it and Ryhon knew that whatever the princess said was final. They got into battle stance and were able to defeat the men with ease. The two gave each other a high-five but they knew there was no time to be celebrating – they still had to navigate their way out of the huge castle.

Rhyon and Jewel ran down the long hallways which was proving to be difficult. They both were pretty familiar with the layout of the castle but under so much pressure, they barely knew which way to run next. Because of their panic, they did not notice that a group of guards were sneaking toward them from a turn they recently ran pass. One of the men swung his sword at the two with a great amount of force. Luckily, Rhyon was able to dodge the attack and also get Jewel out of the way.

"Very sneaky," Jewel said catching her breath. "I didn't see them coming at all."

Rhyon nodded. "This is what we call a back attack. The enemy waits for you to be caught off guard and uses that opportunity to attack you from behind. It is an ideal time to hurt you for more damage than if they were aware of being attacked. We were lucky not to get hit this time."

"Well let's finish what was started," Jewel exclaimed, getting into battle stance.

After the two defeated the group of men, they push onward, this time being more aware of their surroundings. At one point, Jewel saw that there were two men standing idly within their path. They were paying the two no mind!

"Look, Ry. Those two don't even see us coming." Jewel motioned her head toward the two men.

Ryhon nodded. "Yes, I see. We have a chance at a preemptive attack."

"A what?"

"A preemptive attack. We can attack them while they are not aware of us and hurt them about twice as much compared to if they were aware of our presence."

The two cleverly maneuvered over to the men and each was able to strike down a man in one hit. Jewel was evidently amazed at the feat but Rhyon urged her to keep going.

The two kept running until they got to the front of the castle. As expected, the front door was heavily guarded and a large group of men were entering the castle. Ryhon and Jewel checked out their situation from afar.

"They must be coming back from training," Rhyon mumbled to himself. "That means the bridge is drawn – but not for long."

"So what do we do?" Jewel asked with a worried expression. "I mean, you are strong, but there is no way we will be able take on that many."

"We run as fast as we can."

Jewel's eyebrows went up in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"We run as fast as we can and try to get lost in the crowd. The bridge cannot be drawn at the time with so many crossing it. We use this opportunity to cross the bridge. However, they will be able to clear it quickly so it is best we try to move as swiftly as we can."

"Sounds risky," Jewel said. "I am surprised the ever-cautious Rhyon would think of something like that."

Rhyon smiled at Jewel and grabbed her arm as he headed toward the crowd ducked down with Jewel barely able to keep up. Jewel smiled back as she felt a strong surge of adrenaline flow through her. What she didn't see was that Rhyon's smile disappeared as quickly as it appeared. He could not stand putting the princess in this type of danger but he felt as though he was running out of time to think.

It only took a few seconds for the crowd to notice that Rhyon and Jewel were among them. The once orderly line became a confusion of bodies and screams. Good, Rhyon thought to himself. If they all scatter in confusion, we may have a chance. The two were able to reach the bridge despite being hit and pushed several times (sometimes intentional and others not). Rhyon knew they were running out of time when he heard orders being shouted. Some were running toward the castle while others were running toward the other side. Either way, the bridge was being cleared while Jewel and Rhyon were just making there was across with much difficulty from the aggressive crowd. Rhyon began to wonder what would happen to them. If they made it across, they were doomed. If they turned back, they were doomed. If the bridge were drawn, they would mostly likely stumble back and fall into the hands on those waiting at the entrance. There was nothing else that could be done. It is best to keep fighting until the end, Rhyon told himself.