Retio climbed silently up the stairs, looking around and up, keeping to the shadows. He was determined not to be surprised. There were a few rooms on the way up, but all were empty.

It was about half an hour before he reached the top of the staircase. It led to a room which had a large balcony outside. Retio cautiously looked out.

The sky had clouded over, and it was starting to rain gently. But Retio could see the whole castle, and far below, the land. Everything was tiny. He looked down. It was about a thousand feet to the courtyard below. Suddenly Retio heard faint voices. He looked up and strained to hear.

"We did a good job capturing those two," said one voice.

"It was a piece of cake. The High Lord already knew they were here, and besides, the fools had been shouting before. Dead giveaway," added another voice.

"Silence!" said a deep, commanding voice. The others fell silent.

"Neither is the one the High Lord is looking for," the deep voice continued, so quietly Retio almost fell off the balcony trying to hear.

"We must wait for him. Obviously he took the wrong stairway. But first we must eliminate the others."

Retio backed away and a small gasp escaped his lips.

"Sh!" said the voice. "Someone may be listening." Footsteps were heard, and they stopped directly above Retio's balcony.

Retio backed slowly into the room and ducked behind a nearby bed soundlessly. There was silence, then a rushing of air and the sound of a heavy body hitting stone. Retio froze. He crawled under the bed and peeked at the balcony from under the covers draped across the bed.

A huge black bird walked into the room. He must have dropped from the balcony above. He slowly surveyed the room. His eyes swept over the bed where Retio was hiding. Was it his imagination, or did his gaze pause slightly? Retio began to feel small tendrils of fear.

Underneath the bed it was rather dusty. Small movements stirred it up, and it reached Retio's nose. He felt a tickling start, and he knew he was going to sneeze. He held his breath.

That didn't help.

"Ah-CHOO!" sneezed Retio. Instantly he knew he was done for. He looked frantically around for some place to hide.

The bird came closer to the bed. With a sudden swift movement, he stooped and swept the covers away from the bed, revealing...

Nothing.

Puzzled, the bird bent to look under the bed. But there was no one there. With surprising gracefulness, he leapt over the bed and looked around the other side.

There was no one there.

He ran out and looked down the stairwell. He looked all around the room and in the rafters.

There was no one there. It was as if the sneeze had been only his imagination.

Grumbling a bit, the bird convinced himself that he had heard a guard sneezing upstairs. After all, his hearing was remarkably sensitive. He leaped off the balcony and soared into the air, spiraling up and up until he was lost to view. Then he suddenly swooped back down and landed on the balcony. His footsteps receded into the floor above.

Below, Retio didn't dare breathe a sigh of relief. He slowly crawled out from under the bed. He'd had to switch positions several times to avoid discovery, but the bird had not seen him. Then he scrambled out of the room and back down the stairs. He had to tell the others what he had heard!

Sonic and Tails climbed the stairs in silence. There was nothing of interest there, not even a door or a window.

Tails said suddenly, "I wonder if Alene is okay?"

Ah... thought Sonic. So he does like her...

Aloud he said, "I'm sure she's fine."

Tails nodded, but he still looked worried.

After about half an hour of climbing, they reached an end to the stairwell. There was nothing there save a window.

Sonic looked outside. He saw a black speck in the sky. It got larger and larger until Sonic realized it was a bird and likely a guard, and ducked down behind the window, grabbing Tails. He heard a rush of wind as the bird came near to their window, then took off. Sonic looked back up in time to see it vanish into a nearby balcony.

"I don't know what that was," he told Tails, "but there's nothing up here. We need to go back down."

Tails agreed and they hurried back down the stairs.

They reached the bottom and found Saermore waiting for them.

"Retio, Knuckles, and Rouge are not here yet," he said quietly.

As if on cue, Retio burst into the room, panting slightly. He took stock of who was there.

"Good, you're here... but I think Knuckles and Rouge have been captured," he said.

Quickly he related what he had overheard, and his narrow escape from the black bird.

"We should go after them!" declared Tails.

"I don't know..." said Saermore. "If they were captured so easily, what's to stop the guys from taking us?"

"We have to rescue Knuckles and Rouge!" declared Sonic. "Let's go!" Together they ran up the stairs that Knuckles and Rouge had taken.

After about half an hour, they reached a set of huge double doors. Sonic stepped up to them. As he did, Saermore heard a faint hiss.

"Sonic, look out!" Saermore dived at him the knock the blue hedgehog aside. Just in time.

A snake, hissing and spitting, dropped down from the rafters overhead. It wrapped itself around Saermore, and then flung him up. Above them something caught him and slithered out of sight.

"No!" cried Retio. "Saermore!"

The snake, hearing his voice, turned to him. Its sightless eyes fixed on its new target.

"It's blind!" hissed Tails. "It's attracted to whoever speaks!"

The snake hesitated, confused. It turned as if unsure as to who to attack. Sonic took advantage of this to whack it hard on the head. It dropped to the floor and started rolling limply down the stairs.

The three paused for a moment, breathing hard. Sonic looked up to where Saermore had been taken, but there was no further movement. Slowly, Sonic turned and flung the doors wide.

It revealed a throne room. Kerrigan was sitting on the throne, and beside him was Nine. The throne was surrounded by ten eagles and one big black bird wielding an ornate staff. Sonic recognized him from the bird he and Tails had seen from the window in the stairwell.

"Welcome," said Kerrigan. "I see you have defeated my guardsmen. Not without cost, of course."

Sonic flushed slightly red. "You're going to pay for that, Kerrigan!"

"Really?" asked Kerrigan in a smooth voice. "How much would you like?" He laughed without humor. Then he flicked a finger. "Come, Nine," he ordered, and stood up. "Let's leave these people to their little fights."

The eagles and the black bird moved forward menacingly.

Kerrigan said nothing, but he and Nine vanished with a small flash of light.

The birds moved until they surrounded the small trio.

Retio heard a small noise, and some ceiling paint fell on him. He looked up.

Up on the ceiling, suspended in chains and struggling like a trapped rabbit, was Knuckles. Beside him was Rouge, similarly struggling. They were making frantic gestures at him as far as their bonds would allow, and Knuckles was tying to shout something from behind his gag.

"Imph f tp!" shouted Knuckles.

Retio couldn't understand him, but he knew he had to get them free. He looked about for any sort of weapon. Then he noticed a grand tapestry hanging from the ceiling. The top of it ended quite near to where Knuckles and Rouge were.

A flash of inspiration came to Retio. He bowled through the circle of eagles, and Sonic and Tails, having no clue as to what he was doing, followed him, trying to stop the eagles from reaching him. Retio reached the curtains and began climbing rapidly up them, using his claws to hold himself securely. Finally Sonic and Tails realized what he was trying to do, and they began to fight the eagles and prevent them from taking off. It was a Sisyphean effort, as the eagles they could not reach spread their wings and took off. They clawed at Retio. Retio slashed viciously at them, causing them to fall back.

"Skkkkkrreeeeeee!" screeched the black bird. "You shall not live!" But Retio had now reached the top, and took a pole that held up part of the tapestry. He swung it at the nearest eagle, causing it to fall to the floor with a crash. It did not get up.

The rest of the eagles took the hint and flew away, but hovered just out of the rod's range.
Retio carefully walked out along the thin line of chain that led to Knuckles and Rouge. Reaching Rouge first, he ripped apart her gag her and slashed through her bonds. Rouge spread her wings and glided away, to help Sonic and Tails.

"Thanks!" she yelled, before plunging into the fray.

Next Retio freed Knuckles.

"Thanks!" he panted. He also flew down, and started bashing every bird in sight. The black bird stayed carefully away from the others. Sonic circled to him.

"Afraid to fight?" he taunted.

"No..." replied the bird. "I am waiting for you." He lunged.