As Matthias continued walking down the dirt road he ran into Silos, who had a little bit of a curious look on his face. Matthias jumped at the sight of his teacher and fell speechless and felt a little uncomfortable.

"Silos... what are you doing up here?"

"I should ask you the same question. You weren't at training this morning and I was afraid something might have been wrong. So I came up to check on you. But you seem to be fine. What was the reason for your absense?" Silos asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh- I was just feeling a little under the weather this morning so I decided to sleep in for a little bit. I'm sorry that I didn't send word to you."

"Yes, Thomas didn't seem to know where you were either. He said he hadn't heard from you all morning. He and I practiced this morning instead. But you seem to have made a full recovery from your 'sickness' so I expect to see you bright and early as usual. And dont worry I'm sure that you will have plenty of time to take the city girls out on a walk afterwards." Matthias looked a little awestruck for a minute wondering how the heck Silos knew where he had been all morning. He didn't say anything but looked at Silos as he was walking away who before he slowly turned smiled at him and then gave him a secret wink. Needless to say Matthias felt a bit concerned after his encounter with Silos. He was a bit nervous now on re-entering the halls. He didn't really say too much too anyone the rest of the day. He noticed a time or two where Thomas was sending him what seemed like glares across the table at dinner. But he decided to call it an early day and went to bed earlier than usual. He put on his nightly wardrobe which included just a white gown-like shirt which was threaded at the chest and a pair of slippers. He walked into his room which resided in one of the two towers above the great halls, the other belongind to his parents. He placed his hand behind the only lit candle in his room which was on his nightstand and blew out the flame sending the whole room into darkness aside from the pale moonlight streaming into the window. His window, as usual, was open, for he was one who always enjoyed looking up at the night sky. Although when Matthias looked out of his window he heard something on the other side scratching at the brick. He stood a few feet from it and stared at his window seal, and then he heard it again. He very slowly approached the window, not knowing what was making the scratching noise from the opposite side. He stopped as he reached the window and before he knew it an animal jumped onto his window seal scaring him half to death. It was the chipmunk, the one that he had saved a day ago. It was breathing rather hard from the long climb up the tower. Matthias looked at him then laughed.

"I mistook you for a threat my friend. I thought you might have been a thief. How did you find me up here?" He asked the chipmunk as it stared briskly at him. It's little ear twitched and it sat back down on its front legs. He smiled at it, "You know you aren't supposed to be up in here. But don't worry, I won't tell anyone, but you must stay hidden and discreat. Is that a deal?" He said taking another look at the chipmunk. It's ear twitched yet again at the question it was asked, "Ok," Matthias said again and he walked over too the window. He caught a glimpse of what was outside. He looked out over the city with the chipmunk sitting next to him. Out of nowhere Matthias heard a scream in the dead of night and saw a shadow running down the dirt road. He could hear the sound of guards yelling amongst themselves. Matthias then noticed that the place the shadow had left was Illiana's garden.

"ILLIANA!" He yelled and then hurriedly dressed himself. He looked down out of his window to survey his surroundings. Without thinking twice about it he lept from his window to the roof of the Halls. He landed on the rough tiles shattering a few of them sending them plummetting down the side of the building. He slid down the slanted roof and grasped onto the edge of one of the columns. He wrapped his arms around the column and slid down to the bottom of the stairs. He landed right in front of the entrance to the Great Halls and then proceeded to run in the direction of the thief. He first ran down the road to Illiana's garden. A number of citadel guards lay on the ground, with their throats slit and the old woman and Illiana had gone missing. With dead rage at the sight Matthias darted after the shadow of a thief. The thief came back into sight as Matthias began to catch up with him. He was heading for the white stone wall but Matthias was dead on his heels.

"STOP! MURDERER!" Matthias yelled without slowing down. The thief reached the secret door hidden in the wall and pressed in the five bricks. The door slowly began to slide open to reveal the forest, and without patience the thief waited for just enough space to slide his narrow body through. The door began to shut behind him and he continued running into the woods. Matthias just barely alid through the tiny crack in the door. Now they were alone, one with a bloodthirst of capturing the other. The thief turned his head back to see the distance between he and his predator. Whilst turning back around his head smashed into a tree limb that had been hanging there, and sent him hurling to the grassy floor. He limpered back up and jogged past the tree and jumped into the pond of which Matthias and Illiana had swam in ealrier that day. Matthias jumped in after him and caught him by the back of his shirt. He pulled the thief backward off balance taking him under the water. He pulled him up to his feet by his shirt.

"WHERE IS SHE?" Matthias demanded pulling the thief up to his face by his shirt. "WHERE IS SHE?" Matthias reached up and pulled the black hooded mask off of the thiefs head letting down long blonde hair and revealing two beautiful blue eyes. "Illiana?!" He stared blankly at her not believing his eyes. "What's going on?! Are you ok? What happened? Where is your mistress?" She looked like she was about to burst into tears. He picked her up out of the pond and carried her onto the soft grass and laid her down. He held her head up to him. She looked into his eyes.

"They've taken her," Illiana whispered softly, " The guards, in the middle of the night, came from nowhere and burst into her house. They took her too the dungeon and then sought off after me."

"What? Why?!" Matthias asked her with all sympathy.

" I came back trying to find her, but - "

"You came back? Back from where?" Matthias asked. She looked at him for a minute and tried to sit up. She managed to get eye level with him. She sighed very deeply and tried not to cry.

"I'm sorry," she cried. Before she could say anything else an ambush happened they were surrounded by men who were all dressed in black to hide their faces. Before he could react Matthias had a sack thrown around his head and tied to keep him from being able to see, then his arms and legs were binded together. He fell to the ground and squirmed trying to free himself of the ropes.

"ILLIANA!" He cried before recieving a serious blow to the head.

He awoke several hours later dazed and confused, his head hurting from having been cracked against twice now. He was sitting somewhere on a hard cold surface, and he could here muffled voices around him.

"I'm sorry miss.."

"Release him now!"

"NO! He's one of them! I say we put a stop to it now!" Lots of other voices upraised this comment. Matthias could hear footsteps approaching him and he felt a cold chill go up his back not knowing who it was and what they might be getting ready to do, as the footsteps got closer he heard the blade of a sword unsheath. The black sack that had been hiding his face was ripped off of his head and thrown across the room. He saw a very dirty man standing in front of him with a sword and a dirty grin, obviously: not a good combination. He raised his sword high above Matthias' head. Matthias closed his eyes and waited for the impact of the blade but her a clash of steel right above his hairline. He opened one eye to see Illiana standing next to him. She had apparently blocked the chop to his head with a sword of her own.

"I said to release him," threatened Illiana.

"Well we can't now, he has seen us," said the man with his sword hovering above Matthias' head, "He might go and tell his daddy on us. And then you know what that would mean for us? AN AMBUSH!" The man glared at Matthias with a passion to spill his blood. He stepped back angrily and replaced his sword in it's holder. Illiana put away her sword as well and turned to Matthias. He was sitting on a cold hard floor surrounded by a bunch of men and woman who looked very angry at him. He could tell that they weren't the highest of class but that wasn't really what was worrying him right now. Illiana stared at him with a sorrowful look. She went up behind him and cut the ropes that bound his hands and feet. He grabbed his wrists, for they were red and swore from the ropes rough texture rubbing into his skin. He stood up and looked around at everyone standing above him.

"So what do you suppose we do about this Illiana?" asked the man along with the rest of the outcasts.

"About what? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Matthias yelled as everyone swore at him.

"As if you wouldn't know you treacherous prick!" a woman yelled at him.

"KNOW WHAT?!" he yelled back. Everyone continued to yell and curse at Matthias.

"AT LEAST LET ME EXPLAIN IT TO HIM!" Illiana yelled to the angry crowd.

"Explain what?!" He said. Illiana looked at him very nervously.

"Listen, Matthias, what I am about to tell you may be hard for you to hear, but it's true," she said very delicately, "Your Father... King Matthew II, is not the king that you know him to be. Long ago when Your father's father, Matthew I still had the throne it was a much better time for us all. King Matthew was a king of equality and gratitude, there were in fact two kingdoms in this citadel. The maliathans and of course the ginians. It was a city of brotherhood, but your father always kept his distance from the maliathans. He was always a man of domintation in class. To him we were just a bunch of thieves, and gypsies and low-lives, he didn't look at us like your grandfather did. So that is why, after King Matthiew's death, your father took the throne and banished all of the Maliathans from the citadel and slaughtered any that remained. It is believed that your father hired an assassin to murder the Maliathan king. We, ourselves, were forced into the woods, and our lifestyles have turned... well to less than satisfactory in order to survive."

"AND THAT IS WHY WE LIVE LIKE DOGS! BECAUSE OF YOUR FATHER, THE KING!" yelled the nasty looking man.

"HOLD YOUR TONGUE ICTHUS!" Illiana yelled back at the man. She looked at Matthias who stared at her in disbelief, "I'm sorry that I lied to you Matthias. I never did actually live in the citadel. My parents were both Maliathan, they both died during the banishment of our people... i've been orphaned for 17 years. I began to work for a lady, by the name of Mithral, who lived inside the citadel when i was 6 years old. She was also a maliathan, but she was too old to live out here. So she stayed in the citadel secretly. Most people believed that we were all dead, but as you can see, alot of us have survived. I worked for the lady all this time, helping her around the garden. But someone somehow found out that she was a maliathan. That is why they came to her house tonight. The citadel guards took her too the dungeon. And that's where she is now. After that the guards sent for me, but i fought my way out of them, and that's when you caught me. I'm sorry that I didn't say anything to begin with, I was just a little afraid to. You are the heir to the ginian throne. I didn't know where your views lied. But after we met, I began to realize that I can trust you. I would understand if you never wanted to see me again... But I wasn't pretending when I was with you..."

Matthias stood there speachless, dumbstruck at the words that he just heard. He wasn't sure if he believed it or not. He trusted Illiana, but this was so much to bare all at once. Would his father really go all these years without breathing a word of this to him? He was the prince.

"I need to be alone," Matthias said.

"I understand," Illiana said as a tear rolled down her cheek. She didn't say anything else to him. Illiana figured he was mad enough at her. Instead she ran to the two big double doors of the gothic room and burst through them in tears. Matthias slowly made his way toward the doors feeling the weight of the maliathan's judgemental stares. He could hear their whispers as h pushed open the doors and walked outside. His head was spinning and his eyes hurt, his legs were wobbling and he felt off balance. He looked into the trees for some sort of answer and then he darted off into the woods flying past the trees and limbs surrounding him. He kept going and going and running until he felt sick. He reached a bush that looked somewhat familiar. He took a step around it and saw his the hidden pond. He stared at it for a minute. Then Matthias very slowly walked over too the water. He fell too his knees and leaned his body over the pond. Matthias saw the reflection of himself staring back at him. He glared at the face in the ripples of the pond water and smacked the water where he had seen his self, splashing water in every direction. His face fell into his hands and he wept. All of his life, he never knew. He didn't know what to think. He felt like all the responsiblity was his for never having said or done anything. He continued to cry...

"WHY!!" He shouted at the forest through tears as his face turned red. He didn't know what to do. He was the heir to a murderer; a liar. And it was his father. He bagan to wonder who else knew and didn't say anything. Was everyone lying to him? Could Illiana be lying to him? He had to be sure.

Matthias approached the front gates of the citadel the next day as the sun was still young and high in the sky. A guard looked down and spotted him.

"IT'S THE PRINCE!" He yelled, "OPEN THE GATES!" The giant rusty doors opened again and he walked through them with tears still in his eyes. He had been missing for a day now and this brought attention to the villagers as he walked in. Everyone whispered as he continued down the dirt road.

Silos saw him and ran up to him in a nervous sweat. "Prince Matthias are you alright?!" Matthias did not answer or look at him. Instead he just kept walking looking straight ahead. He reached the steps of the Great Hall while and he could still here people whispering. He took a step and then stopped. He wasn't really sure if he wanted to know the truth of his Father's actions. He breathed in deep and proceeded to walk up the steps. Inside the halls the king and queen sat in there thrones whilst his father talked to Thomas' father. The king looked up at his son who had just walked up too him with tear filled eyes.

"Where have you been?!" His father said with more anger in his voice than he had concern. His mother ran up to him and threw her arms around him.

"We were so worried!" She said while holding her son very tightly.

"Maliathans..." Matthias stared at his father. His father looked at him blankly not realizing for a minute what his son was talking about. Then his eyes grew blank and he looked like he had just been shot. "So it's true then?" Matthias said as a tear rolled down his cheek. He looked down very ashamed. He backed away as his mother's embrace eased and he looked up at his parents. His mother began trying to explain.

"Matthias -"

"Father, how could you do something this horrible? How could you forsake so many lives just for your own selfish reasons?!"
"SELFISH! THOSE PEOPLE WERE A DISGRACE TO THIS KINGDOM! THE ONLY THING THAT THAT SCUM DID FOR US WAS INFECT US ALL WITH IT'S DISGUSTING VIRUSES! I SAW FIT TO DO WHAT WAS BEST FOR MY PEOPLE! AND I WOULD DO IT AGAIN IF THE OCCASSION EVER CALLED FOR IT! WHO TOLD YOU OF THIS?!"
"SOMEONE WHO OBVIOUSLY CARES MORE ABOUT ME THAN YOU EVER DID! AND THOSE PEOPLE AREN'T THE SCUM IN THIS KINGDOM, IT'S YOU, FATHER! AND I'LL BE A DAMNED FOOL IF I ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE ANY FURTHER! MARK MY WORDS, ONE DAY YOU WILL MEET YOUR FATE, AND NOT ONLY BY MY HANDS BUT BY EVERY HAND THAT YOU SAW FIT TO BANISH! TRUST ME FATHER, THE OCCASSION WILL CALL FOR IT!" And with that Matthias turned and stormed away out of the doors and down the dirt road never to return until the time called to avenge all of the innocent lives that were once lost.

Well that's the end of chapter 3. Let me know what you think of the end part there. I'd kind of like a second opinion. Does it sound ok? Reviews and comments please :D