After a boat journey back to Shusoran, Prince Ayn went around the town, seeing if what that villager had said was the truth. Bags and hurriedly-packed possessions littered the ground, as though there hadn't been enough time for an evacuation (if an evacuation had even taken place). Ayn entered one of the houses.

"Hello? Anyone home?" he called. There was no reply. Mieu and Wren did the same and checked the houses for anyone. When they finally finished their check of the town, they decided to check on the castle. A piece of paper was sticking out of a nearby bush, and Ayn picked it up. He found that it was an envelope. On the front, it said 'To my friend, Prince Ayn'.

"Wow, someone took the time to leave you a letter! Why didn't someone leave me one?" Mieu said, jealous at the fact that she hadn't got a letter. Ayn tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter. He opened it and read aloud. It said:

Dear Prince Ayn,

I'm sorry I could only leave you this hastily-written letter, but the cyborgs attacked us so viciously that we were forced to leave the castles in a hurry. Don't even try going to Cille - your father isn't there. He hot-footed it before I did.

At the moment, I had decided to tell everyone to evacuate to the Bernink Province, where there's a huge cave. You might have already been told this by a villager of Rysel, and I know your distrust of villagers. Let me tell you something - that's why I had to leave you this letter, so that you'd know for certain that everyone had gone to the Bernink Province.

But, my oh my! Disaster struck us all, for Princess Thea was taken, just as we were leaving Shusoran Castle! Don't go after her just yet, though, my friend. Come to the cave in the Bernink Province, and I'll tell you more there.

Lots of love,

Your friend, Lyle

X X X

P.S. Tell Mieu, Wren, and anyone else who's joined your group I said hi.

After Ayn had finished reading Lyle's letter, he looked into the envelope again. There was another scrap of paper inside. The prince pulled it out, and it was a hastily drawn map of the Bernink Province, showing the cave where Rhys, Lyle and the rest of the townsfolk had evacuated to.

"At least Lyle was kind enough to leave us an idea of where he went. Anyway, I could have used my internal GPS to find them all." Wren said. But, to his surprise, Ayn was sobbing.

"What's wrong, Prince?" Wren asked.

"What about if the cyborgs attacked them as they were leaving? What if someone was killed?" Ayn cried, trying in vain to stem the flow of his tears. Mieu put an arm around his waist.

"Look, they've got Lyle. They're going to be fine. Lyle's a tough fighter." she said, although Lyle wasn't as good a fighter as he was seventeen years ago. He was in his mid thirties, possibly even late thirties.

"Mind you, Mieu... Rhys is a fairly tough nut." Wren said. Ayn cheered up slightly.

"Well, my father's defending them, and so is Lyle. Yeah, they should be just fine." Ayn said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Come on, we'd better go to the Bernink Province and have a good old chinwag with our friend Lyle." Wren said, and he lead Ayn and Mieu back to the boat, and then towards the Bernink Province.