OK, it's been awhile, I'm sorry. I really don't have much of an excuse. I was experimenting with another account and realized that A) authors notes are fun! and B) I was being REALLY stupid with the whole '10 reveiws' thing. Sorry. I'll do responses next chapter.

The castle is so quiet. I almost expect a soldier to jump out at me. I have to calm down. Now, how do I get in the castle? The plan seemed great up until here. Maybe… no the kitchen will be guarded, or at least someone would notice if someone came in suddenly.

I had come through the small, ivy-covered door in the wall Ash… Lara had left through. It's still open, which means that no one had been out here, or at least they hadn't noticed anything. I was sitting on a bench hidden from the castle by some hedges and trying to think. Perhaps I could follow Lara's path back into the castle. Find that secret passageway. It's worth a try.

I got up and looked around for a bunch of hedges near the wall, or more specifically a hole in a bunch of hedges. Hedge … hedge … hedge. I wished I'd asked her more about this. It's just suddenly occurred to me how amazing it is that there are hidden tunnels in the castle. Hedge… hedge… hedge. My family has worked here for 3 generations, and I've never heard about them. They must be old then, ancient even. Perhaps they even go up to the old towers. Hedge… hedge… hedge. I've always wondered about them. The towers always seemed so tall and sturdy to me. Hedge … hedge… hole!

I've been in these gardens so many times, and yet I never noticed that. I suppose it must have gotten a bit bigger when the princess climbed through it, but it's still surprising what you notice when you bother to look. I had to squeeze to get through the hole, which was still small, no matter how noticeable, as was the hole in the wall behind it. I crawled for a few minutes, then realized there was air above my back. I stood up and cracked my head painfully on the ceiling, which was still much too low.

I kept on walking, sighing aloud with relief when I could finally stand up. But with the sudden lack of discomfort, my mind turned to other things, and I realized that the light was dimming. Soon it was completely dark. I kept on walking, trying not to think about what could be in here that I couldn't see, resisting the urge to brush away imaginary cobwebs.

Suddenly I felt the air whoosh past me, my feet skidded along the ground, and my breath caught in the back of my throat… then I was standing still in the tunnel again. Almost exactly as I had been before. Ashkyla hadn't mentioned this… and it was worth looking into. But later. I resisted the urge to turn around and experiment, and continued further. I should see… there! A little square of light, outlining the tapestry.

It suddenly occurred to me that there might be people in Ashkyla's room, and that it would hardly be unnoticeable if someone climbed through a tapestry over what was supposed to be a wall. I stopped a few feet from the opening and listened: nothing. Then I slowly crept forward and peeked around the hanging.

The room looked horrible. The desk was on its side, purple ink staining the woodwork and forming a pool on the carpet. The sheets had been torn off the bed, and a number of gowns thrown to the floor around the closet. Combs, brushes, and other beauty supplies had been flung about the room, and one of the windows had a sliver of a crack where it seemed to have been hit by a ceramic pot full of cream, which was in pieces on the windowsill. There were purple footprints all over the room, becoming fainter and fainter until they left the room.

As I couldn't see anyone, I had stepped out into the room, missing by an inch what appeared to be a broken bottle of perfume. Stepping around the mess carefully, I got to the door, which was hanging off its hinges. Then it suddenly occurred to me that this was the only part of the scene that made sense. Ashkyla would have heard such a big fight, and most likely would have mentioned it. In fact, she had specifically recalled silence.

Later. I pushed the thought from my mind, and peeked around the door. No one. The silence was beginning to bother me too. What had happened to everyone? I crept down the stairs, the silence wreaking havoc on my nerves. Every step seemed loud enough to wake the dead. When an echoing DONG came rang out from the Great Hall, I felt as if I was going to explode with the sudden rush of adrenaline. I vividly imagined my hair standing on end, and spent several moments breathing deeply before I was calm enough to think.

Obviously there was something going on in the Great Hall. As I walked closer, I began to hear voices, resonating down the hall, going from confused to angry to arrogant. However, I couldn't figure out any distinct words. I would have to get into the Great Hall. How could I get in there without being seen? The whole point of that room was to make an entrance. Wait… there was the balcony. Depending on the occasion, it was used as everything from a vantage point for the King and Queen to a social corner for gossiping duchesses. But right now it would most likely be empty.

I crept around the corner, into the next hallway, and up the stairs leading to the balcony. Slowly I opened the door, praying no one would notice, and got down on my hands and knees, crawling forward until I could see through the bars of the marble railing. And the scene below was utterly beyond explanation. The giant tables and the chairs had been pushed against the walls, leaving the center of the room free. Most of the space was taken up by what seemed to be nobles. Most looked disoriented, with messy hair-dos and wrinkled clothes. It looked as if they had slept in the great hall, on the floor. Off to the side were the servants, looking just as tired and confused as the nobility. I searched their faces frantically, finally resting with relief upon my father's face. But he looked pale, and Jack seemed to be supporting him as he stood.

Suddenly the DONG came again. I turned my head across the room, to the thrones. King Gandon was sitting in the King's throne. The loud gong sound seemed to have come from the soldier next to him who was holding a large shield in one hand and a sword in the other. Everyone was suddenly quiet, staring at the King. He certainly shouldn't have been sitting there. He smiled widely at them, as if welcoming them to a ball instead of addressing a crowd of people sitting on the hard marble floor.

"Good Morning! I apologize for the rough night." He said as if that made up for it all. I saw a few glares pass through the sea of faces below me.

The King's face took a drastic change, becoming remorseful so fast that you barely saw his face change. "I'm afraid, however, that there are graver things this morning than sore muscles. Last night three people were killed." He paused, to let his words sink in, and let his face droop even more. "The royal family is dead."

Gasps broke out across the room. Time seemed to pause, everyone wearing the same shocked expression. The King continued before anyone could recover. "Poor, dear King Phillip was the victim of a poisoning. Through all the bustle and rush of the day, he failed to have his wine tested. And, in some ways, he saved me from the same fate. Before the ball last night were having a friendly meeting, ironically speaking of the future. He poured us both some wine, and took a sip before I could pick my glass up. Suddenly he began convulsing, obviously in great pain. I jumped up, but there was nothing I could do. His dying words were for me to take care of everything for him. And, though it hurt me greatly to do so, I mercifully stabbed him through the chest to end his life quickly."

"I sent my soldiers away, both so that they could tell his wife and daughter and so I could mourn privately. Unfortunately, that was not the last of the tragedy. Beautiful
Princess Ashkyla, who barely had a chance at life, mistook the intent of my soldiers. She jumped from her window, in an attempt to escape, and drowned in the moat. Her mother, loyal to the end, misunderstood as well, thinking her daughter had been thrown out the window, and ended her own life instead of giving it to those she thought her enemy. We will all forever mourn the loss of such a spirit."

"But that is not all. We have traced the entire travesty back to one person." He paused again, this time for dramatic affect. "Para, the Princess's maid. She poisoned the wine, and convinced the princess of my evil intent, telling her to jump out the window. At the same time, she was yelling loud enough for the Queen to hear and panic. Once my soldiers had entered the room, Para confessed to all of it. And instead of seeming remorseful for committing so dire an act she cackled like a witch. And, once she was done, before anyone could react, she had uncorked a vile and thrown the liquid inside down her throat. Her life ended faster than even the King's."

"We immediately called you in here for you own protection. We are not sure what has been poisoned, and whether this was just one mad woman's doing or a concerted effort. Also, as you no longer have a ruler, I shall be taking over. It was, after all, your former King's dying wish. And I would not like to leave this fair country vulnerable to any evil plot. I must leave you now to see to the testing of the food. Please do not try to leave until you can be assured of your safety."

And with that he swept about, long fur-rimmed robes swishing behind him, and left the Hall through the Great Doors being held open by two of his guards, who closed them after him. And with that clang all chaos broke loose. It was as if everyone had been holding their breath, all the air seemed to whoosh back into the hall at once along with all the sound. People were crying, yelling, swearing, standing up and running about.

I looked again to my father. He looked livid. He was yelling something at Jack who, for once, wasn't trying to calm him down. And I suddenly realized that I was angry too. How dare he utter such bold faced lies? Para was one of the most wonderful people I had ever met. When she wasn't attending to the Princess she had been down in the Kitchen helping to stir something or washing dishes with the scullery maids. She groomed the flowers in the garden and carried messages about from one part of the castle to another. She was everywhere, and yet still had time to help those who needed it. When mother died… I waved that thought away. I don't think I'll ever get over that.

Now… now, I needed to leave. It won't be long until someone looks up here and sees me. And then who knows what will happen? I edged back out of the door and closed it behind me as softly as possible, pausing to listen for any noise before making my way back down the stairs. I put my back to the wall and worked my way as noiselessly as possible toward the corner. My nerves were working their way back up through my arms; I was once again tingling with anxiety. One step at a time. I backed around the corner slowly, half expecting to see the King still there, then, unable to take it anymore, swung around to run toward the spiral stairs leading to the Princess's rooms… and, of course, ran smack into a soldier.

A shriek rang out of me involuntarily and he clapped a hand over my mouth, looking almost as frantic as I had to.

"Shh! Do you want to get caught?" He whispered. He sounded slightly familiar. But how could that be? He was from another country … unless… yes. He was one of the guards who had been in the servant's quarters the other day. But then why was he helping me?

I nodded quickly to show him that I would be quiet and he dropped his hand, pushing it through his honey-colored brown hair nervously. "Come with me." I followed him out the unguarded door into the silent garden. I shivered again at the silence. Finally we stopped in a small courtyard with only a small bench and a statue of the Flower Goddess.

"Thank you!" I said as we stopped. I considered asking him why he was helping me, but I didn't feel like pushing my luck, and whirled around to leave.

"Wait!" Damn it. "How did you get in there?"

" I – " Why was I telling him? "Why should I tell you?" I frowned at him. Although I wanted to leave, I felt that I was already being rude and it would only be worse if I left. And maybe I could get some answers out of him, now that I was still here. There were so many things that I didn't quite understand.

Then again … I looked quizzically at him, raising my eye brow at his uniform. He sighed. "I promise I won't tell anyone. I just want to know. Ok, I guess that you have no reason to trust me. You'll just have to believe me though." He looked exasperated, utterly unable to convey what was in his head.

And strangely enough I found a smile pulling at my face. He just looked so vulnerable, so completely confused with himself. He was practically pleading with me to believe him, and I didn't even know him. I had been in this sort of situation before enough times that I could sympathize. Life was often much too hard. But, in this one little instance, I could do something to make everything just a little easier for someone. So that's how I found myself, against my better nature, blurting out, "I used a secret passage way."

…And fairly bursting into laugher at the new bewilderment that crossed his features. I almost wished that I had run into an angry guard instead of him. I could have simply hit him and run, but instead, here I was, laughing in a courtyard with the enemy. And probably looking rather deranged. "I'm sorry. I just really haven't laughed much recently."

Which was true. Not just this past week, but for months. Maybe even longer than that. It's not that I've been sad, it's just that everything's been just happy, never more, never less. And my life has become a routine, boring to think about and not much more exciting to take part in. It's forever mixing and stirring and adding and measuring. I am good at cooking; after all I come from a long family of chefs and cooks, but have never felt the joy I see on my father's face, that glow of doing exactly what you should be doing in the world.

But that's just it. I know I could very well do just fine cooking, probably even moving up to take my father's position one day (although female First Chefs are rare), but I know that my place in the world is not in a kitchen. My place is the world. I want to see the great oceans I had read about in books, water stretching to the horizons. I wanted to wander the enchanted forests and find the hidden glens of magic. I wanted to meet foreign people, with other cultures, to learn other languages.

"Me neither." The soldier's face softened slightly and I realized that he couldn't be much older than I was, maybe 18 or 19.

"What?" I asked. Great way to prove that I was sane.

"I haven't laughed much either. This whole thing …" He trailed off, waving his hand through the air as if pointing to the entire situation.

"Ok, I answered your question. Now I get one." I paused, thinking. His face didn't close up, like I thought it would. In fact, he almost looked eager. Finally I gave up on finding specific wording and relinquished to the overall confusion that was practically floating about in the air. "Why is the Royal Family dead? Why is there a foreign King striding about the palace? What is really going on?"

"Do you have all day?" He joked sourly.

I considered the question. I had never said when I would be coming back to my aunt's house, just that I was going to get information. And really, what better source than the King's own guard? "Yes, actually, I do have all day." I sat down on the bench and looked at him expectantly.

He looked surprised. Then again, I would be too if someone had answered my rhetorical question. "Well, I suppose it all started when King Gandon was training for his Knighthood. Back then he was just the second son of a minor Lord, one who had never been very ambitious. His father didn't even have enough land to split between him and his older brother, so Gandon was forced to find his own way in life. He put his entire life savings into becoming a knight, and worked ferociously towards achieving his goal.

My uncle was the assistant-hostler at the Royal Stables. He managed to heal Gandon's horse when he broke an ankle, and they have been friends ever since. The year Gandon finished his training there was a great tournament. The prize was 50,000 gold pieces and, traditionally, a kiss from the Crown Princess. Of course Gandon won. He fell in love with the Princess, and she with him, and a year later they were engaged.

And then another year had passed and the old King died. Gandon had become the ruler of his country. But, as my uncle has often said, Gandon isn't the sort of person who is ever completely satisfied with anything. He began to want more than just the kingdom of Nirdan. And when his twin sons were born he vested this want through them. He decided that he had to have another Kingdom, so that neither of his sons would have to make their own way in the world. And so he chose Canderon. And here we are." He gave a final flourish and sat down heavily across from me on the bench.

"But why … why are you telling me all this?" It really makes sense now, though. The King had to be crazed to do something so huge.

"Because I don't agree with any of it. I got caught up in the rush and just couldn't escape." He looked sad again, the fervor of storytelling gone from his light brown eyes. And for some reason this disappointed me.

"What do you mean?" I'm just the queen of questions today. I hope he doesn't notice.

"Do you really want to know?"

I nodded.

He smiled briefly, and began again. "When I was very young, both my parents died and so I was sent to live with my uncle. I grew up helping my uncle in the stables, watching the knights-in-training gallop about with swords and bows and arrows. And somehow I managed to get it into my head that I wanted to be a knight.

As I said, my uncle was a friend of Gandon's. As he didn't have the resources to grant that wish, he asked his great friend, the King, to sponsor me. He readily agreed and soon I had joined the incoming First-year trainees. I spent 6 years training until I was knighted. Sir Nathaniel." He spat the title out. "Even then I thought it would be exciting to be a Knight. I spent a year with a group of 11 other knights, riding through the country and enforcing the King's Law wherever it was needed.

And last year I stopped a runaway arrow from hitting the King. All I really did was knock him out of the way, it wasn't really much of anything. And the arrow had come from the practice fields, so it was hardly directed at him. But everyone suddenly regarded me as a hero. I was promoted to the Royal Guard. At seventeen, I was the youngest knight to have joined the elite group in nearly 200 years. So, of course, I was an even bigger hero.

And then, 6 months ago, the King started making plans. He knew that we would be invited to Princess Ashkyla's Crown Birthday, and considered it the perfect opportunity. This castle wasn't very well guarded in this time of peace, and he would be inside of it, regardless. He could hardly pass it up. So he gave us each instructions, and we accompanied him here, to the palace. I, and three others, were told to keep the servants from getting to their rooms, to instead make sure that they went into the Great Hall.

So I spent all of last night keeping people from having the comfortable night's sleep they obviously needed and occasionally terrifying them by accidentally waving my spear at them. And this morning I was patrolling the hallway while the King was in the hall when I saw you rush up the stairs to that balcony. I have no idea what would have happened to you if another of the Guards saw you, and it really was a close thing. I really didn't want that on my conscience. And so I took you out here." He paused. "Well, there."

I almost asked him again why he was telling me, but for some reason I felt like that would be insensitive. Then again, there really is no good response to someone who has just told you their life story. Except one. "I suppose I owe you something now. Ask me any question."

He smiled briefly, as if just waiting for me to say this. "How have you come to be here? You could be the one, tiny wrench in an otherwise flawless plan. Everyone else is where they're supposed to be … except me of course, but that is regardless. What is your story?"

I couldn't help smiling too, perhaps once again at the absurdity of the situation, or perhaps because his was so catching. It was like yawning. Not the smile, the way my mouth had the urge to copy him. Anyway.

"I am the daughter of the Head Chef. It's pretty much a family thing, and I have lived in the Palace my entire life. So up until about yesterday it's been relatively boring. But yesterday, well, my father had been in the Kitchens for almost 14 hours straight and it was high time that he left. The Second Chef, Jack, ordered us both out, and we were walking down the hallway toward the servants quarters when we heard… well, you and three others talking." His eyes wandered for a moment as he drew up his memory as well and he grimaced. I pretended not to notice and continued. "My father jumped to conclusions, which were, I suppose, correct, and sent me out of the castle. I ended up running to a meadow and…" This was where Ashkyla came in. Lara came in. Whatever.

I trailed off without realizing it, wondering whether or not to tell him. He had been trustworthy up until now, but I doubted that anything I had told him before was life or death. And this certainly was. Perhaps he was faking the whole thing to gain my trust and was trying to get me to tell him where the princess was.

That was absurd. How would he know that I knew where the princess was? Unless someone had seen us… well, then they would have struck then instead of now. Still, I had only known this Nathaniel for less than an hour. I had already spewed enough secrets at him.

"And…?" Nathaniel's voice surprised me. My head shot up to find his eyes focused completely on me. I half-way wanted to blush. But I don't blush. And, so what, he was looking at me.

"And I fell asleep in a tree then came back here to find out what's going on." I finished. I was still feeling a bit paranoid and didn't want to reveal even the fact that I had gone to my aunt's house.

He frowned, still looking a bit suspicious, then seemed to shrug it off. "It's not like I told you my whole story either." He said jovially.

Once again, I had no idea as to how I should respond. I really aught to stop thinking so much and stood up. I honestly couldn't think of one more question, and it didn't seem as if he had one either. I hoped.

"Well, that was interesting. I have to go now, see you later." I tried to leave again, as quickly as possible, as it was really just wishful thinking on my part that he wouldn't have anymore questions. And I was afraid that somehow I would tell him about Lara. Ha, that time the name just came naturally.

"Wait!" Of course. He has a habit of shouting that, doesn't he? "I don't know your name." He said pleasantly.

"Oh." I said, trying not to sound relieved. I doubt it worked. "I'm Katy." I stuck my hand out.

He looked at it for a moment, as if at a loss, then grinned and said, "I'm Neil. Not Nathaniel." He grabbed my hand and shook it firmly. I resolved not to gauge his hand texture. Besides, mine was probably as callused as his was. Oops. Oh well, it's not like it matters much. That I noticed, not that his hands are rough. I truly cannot think right now.

"Well Neil not Nathaniel, this time I really do have to go." This time I walked slowly, at a normal pace, from the courtyard and all he did was yell 'Bye.' Maybe that's all I had to do in the first place, instead of inciting his curiosity.

Once I was out of sight of the courtyard I searched along the wall until I found the little ivy colored door. Shutting it behind me, I walked slowly back to my Aunt's house, trying to figure out how to phrase exactly what had just happened. This is not going to be a fun walk.