Later that night
The evening had descended over the kingdom of Corona, filling the ever-stretching black sky with thousands of stars. Alongside them tonight, however, was part of a visible moon as it was the time of the month where, over the nights, the largest light of the night sky would gradually begin to reveal more and more of itself until it became a full moon and hung in the night sky like a white sun. It looked very peaceful, but, unfortunately, it was not the exact same for the people of Corona.
News of what had happened in the market today had quickly spread around the kingdom and many feared that a group of assassins or an underground criminal society was active in the city, believing the murder of the Crusader commander and the kidnapping of Rapunzel to be linked somehow. The captain of the guards had reassured the citizens of the city, after being informed of the body of Crusader commander Geoffrey being found in the market, to remain calm and that they would find the killer of the Crusaders and have him brought to justice. However, this was doing little to calm the anger of the Crusaders, who were furious at being framed for the kidnapping of Rapunzel and many of them believed this was a retaliatory attack, one which Harry Godwinson, the new commander of the Crusaders now that Geoffrey was gone, had vowed to make Corona pay for unless they quickly found the man responsible.
Eugene and Altair, however, were also facing problems with the result of Geoffrey's death because the man who had fled from the market and alerted the guards to what was going on had told them Eugene had been in the market with this strange man in a white hood. Although Rapunzel had denied this, as had Eugene, it had only put him under increasing suspicion from the people in the city, some who did still hold a slight grudge against him for his past as a thief, going as far as accusing him of helping this man commit the murders and even taking part in it. Eugene had to, again, deny this, though he hated having to lie about what was mostly true, because he knew that if they were proved to be correct, then he could face prison, or possibly even death, something which he wanted to avoid, especially now when the entire peace of the Holy Lands, and now possibly even the future peace of Corona, was at stake.
Right now, the two had gone back to the castle, after going with Altair to Salad's to tell him the mission of getting rid of Geoffrey was over, whilst Altair stayed at the carpentry, pondering with Salad over what they were to do next.
Salad was sitting behind the table, a curled fist in front of his mouth and a look of worry on his face. Altair was sitting across from him, a hand on the table with his fingers drumming on the wooden surface of the object. Both were locked in deep conversation about how they were going to be able to find Robert's lieutenant now with the sudden scare in the city.
"Altair, you must understand that it will now be difficult to find him now," Salad was saying. "With this scare going around the city, I won't be surprised if he tries to flee tonight,"
"I know that, Salad!" Altair snapped back, frustration lingering in his voice. "I just need to think about how we can catch him before he does leave,"
"It could be too late by then," Salad sighed. "I do not think we should have involved those two in the first place, Altair," he said, causing his friend to look up at him. "They know too much! They could spill the beans and let the guards of this city know at any moment!"
"Well It's too late to change that now, Salad! In case you have forgotten, I took her with me out of the city and into the forest and I had to tell the captain of the city guards why I was here! I know it was a bad move and I did not want to do it, but It's too late to change all of that! Besides, as much as I do think it is dangerous to let them in on this mission of ours…I do owe my life to them for saving me,"
"Saving you?" a look of confusion came across Salad's face. Has he not been telling him everything of what happened today in the market?
Altair nodded. "Yes. Eugene helped me in getting rid of the guards and cornering Salad and Rapunzel had kept an eye out for her lover and prevented him from him and me being killed," he sighed, rubbing a hand hard down his face as if trying to tear it apart. "I think I have developed a friendship for them,"
Salad shook his head in disbelief. "Altair, you know what Al Mualim will say about this when he learns to it. You know what could happen to you,"
Altair nodded again. "I know, but…I'm ready to face that. The master will just have to accept that they helped me today and have helped us in our mission. Be honest, Salad. Without them, this would have taken a whole lot longer and be made much more difficult. Plus, only they and the captain know, besides us, of what we are doing here and the captain has kept the guards off our backs whilst we search the city, so, at least, some success has come out of this,"
Salad took in what Altair was explaining to him and did nod slightly in agreement. It was true. Eugene and Rapunzel, despite falling into this unintentionally, had helped them out a lot and made this mission a whole lot easier. Plus, the captain was keeping the guards away from them whilst they searched the city for this lieutenant so that added to it being easier.
Still, though, what would Al Mualim say if he found out about these new people in their mission? It was breaking one, or possibly even more, of the Creeds and he had wanted Robert to be found and eliminated, not leave his best man searching around the city like a headless idiot trying to find the man they were after. Oh, he would be most displeased with this when he found out.
"Altair," Salad began after a few moments' silence between them. "I-"
Suddenly, he was stopped and looked worryingly with wide eyes over at the door. Altair looked over towards it as well like a dog being aware of something peculiar to it. They had heard a small tap on it from the other side. There were no plants near it that could make that noise against it and there were no animals either, meaning only one thing: someone was on the other side of the door, listening to them.
Slowly and quietly, he stood up and walked over to the door, quickly looking over his shoulder back at Salad and signalling him to get a weapon in case this happened to be soldiers or guards. Salad obeyed and rushed off behind his counter to find something to use to defend himself if need be. Altair stepped closer to the door, reaching out to the slot with one hand and placing his other hand on the end of his sword, ready to pull it out if this came to a fight.
When he reached it, he gripped the handle of the slot and, gingerly, opened it a tiny fraction and moved his mouth near it.
"Who's there?" he whispered in a demanding voice.
"Altair, It's us," came an instantly recognizable voice. Rapunzel. Quickly, he unlocked the door and opened it to reveal her standing outside with Eugene. Pascal was sitting on her shoulder. "Quick, inside!" he urged them.
"No, Altair, you have to come with us," Rapunzel told them.
Frustration and nervousness began to grow within him. "Why? What is it?" he demanded.
"The new Crusader commander is at the fortress," Eugene told him. "He's talking with the captain, probably over something important,"
Rapunzel nodded. "Yeah, we best go," she added.
Altair sighed and looked over his shoulder at Salad, who was watching them nervously from behind the counter, waiting to see what they were going to do, but fearing that they would all be seen.
"We'll be back soon, Salad," he told him and he ran out into the street, closing the door behind him. The almost complete pitch blackness of the street hit him instantly, only just being penetrated by the little light coming in from the sky and the candles in the windows of the houses along the streets and the castle windows high above them, each one like a lighthouse for them when they needed it. Altair could only just see Eugene and Rapunzel in front of him.
"I hope this isn't dangerous," he told them.
"It won't be," Rapunzel reassured him. "C'mon, we'll explain on the way,"
They ran off back towards the castle, Altair following them as they began to explain what was going on.
Several minutes later
The main castle courtyard was a large oval-like shape with the ground and the walls of the courtyard being made of polished white stone, almost giving it a chalk-like colour. The back of the courtyard had a kind of raised stone floor with a set of stairs on both sides of it leading to the large bronze front opening of the castle. Opposite it were the two large wooden gates that led into the courtyard, separating the entire castle from the city, with the walls on both sides of it and walkways on the top big enough for two men to walk down them from the towers to the gatehouse building side-by-side. On the left side were several more stone raised grounds with a clear space on them where a small silver piano was placed. On the ground in the middle of the courtyard was another large sun engraved into the stone, exactly like the one Altair had seen the other day in the courtyard with the two stone walls depicting Rapunzel and her parents and then her and Eugene.
On the main street, Rapunzel, Eugene and Altair ran towards the courtyard entrance. As they had gone through the city, the two had explained everything that had happened to Altair. Apparently, the Crusader captain Harry and two more soldiers had arrived at the courtyard and had confronted the captain as he was about to lock the gates and he had ordered all the guards into the castle and walked with them over to a secluded part of the courtyard to talk to them in private. The two did not know what and had tried to listen in, but the guards at the door prevented them from sneaking into the courtyard, plus the windows were too high, the doors onto the walls were locked and, overall, they were inside the castle and they knew it would be best for Altair to hear this as well as he had better hearing then they did.
Eventually, they had managed to sneak out of the castle by going to one of the platforms on the side of the castle and, using one of her mother's old wedding veils and tying it around one of the stone banisters of the railing around the edge of the platform, climbed down to the ground and headed off to the carpentry. With this new Crusader here after today's event, there was bound to be something important that was about to be uttered here and they had to find out what it was.
As they reached the orchard near the gate, which lay partially open, Eugene turned to the others.
"Okay, we'll try and climb up the trees to get onto the wall and hear what they're saying," he said to them.
"What if they hear us?" Altair asked.
"Look, I told you, we will do whatever we can about this!"
The three looked over towards the gate and saw it opening. Fear gripped them, realising that they could be seen. Altair grabbed Eugene and Rapunzel and pulled them back into the darkness between the trees and the building and the wall and they crouched down, their eyes set on the gate as they watched it open more and more until it stopped suddenly, leaving a ten foot gap between it and where it had been. Silence filled the air for a moment before they saw several figures emerge. From the light of the buildings nearby, they could just about make out Harry, which was also helped by the fact he and his guards were wearing white clothing, which lights up easily in the dark. The fourth figure, who stopped by the gate, was obviously the captain, which they could tell by his voice which was coming from the fourth figure's direction.
"Well you best keep an eye out on the streets then!" they heard Harry snap at the captain. "And you better keep an eye on those soldiers of yours and those priests and scholars that are here as well!" he added with a firm tone. "If you don't, then we'll have to step in and deal with them. We are, after all, fighting for peace,"
The captain sighed. "Look, I promise you, we will find this man and we'll have him for you by tomorrow," he assured them.
"Best do!" Harry growled.
The three in the darkness watched as he and his two guards walked off down the main path disappearing behind the building. The captain watched them go for a moment before growling and slamming his hand on the gate with a loud thud.
"C'mon," Rapunzel said to Eugene and Altair, standing up. "We best go talk to him,"
They nodded and got up and followed her over to him. He heard the rustling of the few bushes around the trees and looked up, a little hint of fear in his eyes but he concealed it well. He was a soldier after all and had been trained to hide his fear many times before.
"It's us, captain, don't worry," Rapunzel reassured him as she emerged from the darkness, Eugene and Altair behind her. "Sorry if we scared you," she added apologetically.
"What are you all doing out here?" he asked them. Then it hit him. "Oh, It's about what was said, wasn't it?" he asked before they could tell him and they nodded. "No surprise there," he muttered under his breath.
"What did they say, captain?" Altair asked.
"They said they wanted to conduct searches of the houses in Corona to find the man who killed their commander," he told them. "I have no doubt you were all behind it," he said and they nodded. "Well," he continued. "I said they would have to wait until tomorrow before they could do that and I promised them that we would find him by tomorrow and take him to the gallows for execution. That will, I hope, calm them and the city down at least and prevent a war from breaking out, It's the last thing we need,"
"What about Robert's lieutenant?" Eugene asked him. "He could be leaving by now in fear for what happened,"
"Look, Rider!" the captain pointed a finger at him, his eyes narrowing dangerously and his voice going into a deadly growl. "Right now, I have to worry about a war between these Crusaders and the city than some damn lieutenant! I promised to help you and I have, but I can do no more!"
"Alright, stop!" Altair stood between them, stopping Eugene from arguing back. He turned to the captain. "Captain, did you say that you would have someone by tomorrow?" he asked. The captain nodded. "Then with Harry the only one left who knows about the lieutenant, It'll be the perfect time to get him and make him reveal who he is,"
"Do you think It's possible?" Rapunzel asked him.
"Yes," he replied. "Plus, it may be the only chance we have left to catch the lieutenant. Provided he will still be here by tomorrow," he added.
"Then you best stay the night here," the captain told him. "I'll just lock up the gate and then we'll get rid of the guards and find you a spare room,"
Altair nodded. "Thank you, captain," he replied.
The three walked past him into the courtyard, Eugene giving him a look of annoyance as he passed, which the captain returned. When they were inside, he closed the gate and locked it shut, sealing the castle off from the outside world as if it were no longer wanted.