There was a long pause as Mathuriel took this all in.
Then he seemed to straighten up, as the embers of a plan ignited in his brain.
Ella was telling the truth. She had to be. Everything about her story made sense.
"Thank you Ella. I'm sorry."
He gave her a short hug. "We'll stop him. I promise."
He turned to Allora. "Come on. We've got a wedding to crash."

The guards rolled their eyes, then pointed at the disguised Valeria.
"She'll help you get around. Pardon me ma'am, but someone's gotta help these damned rookies. Go on, the pair of you."

Ella froze when he hugged her. She hadn't expected a reaction like that from him after she did what she did. When he said they will stop the king she nodded
"Thank you"
she then remembered something
"There might be someone who can help you. A man in the dungeon, I spoke to him briefly before the king chained me to the bed. He said he could help take down the king. I was supposed to go down and take a pint of blood to him. But as you can see I am unable to go anywhere. Maybe you two can sneak down there and let him out, just be careful of the guard standing watch down there"
she thought she heard a noise outside her door
"You two better hurry before the king or his men find you"


Allora nodded then walked over to Mathuriel
"Are we going to tell the others about this?"

Valeria smiled gently. "I'd be happy to." She replied. "I could use the extra walk." She turned to the 'rookie'. "Follow me." She instructed, then turned and began to walk towards the training grounds. Luckily for her, she knew where it was.

"Well...what impeccable timing she has. Problem is, I can't be sure if this is Valeria or her sister."
Keeping these thoughts to himself, Elyan nodded to the other guard.
"Yes, sir! I'm sorry for the inconvenience, sir!"
He started to walk with the person he thought was Valeria. Elyan thought to himself along the way, trying to decide whether or not he could trust the person he was walking next to.
"Worst case scenario, I guess I could knock her out like I did those guards, but...still. I'd hate to get that rough with a girl if I can avoid it. But at this point, I suppose it's a chance I'll have to take."
He started whispering in his normal voice to see if she'd recognize him.
"Hey. Is that you, Valeria?"

Valeria paused and turned to the 'rookie', and raised her index finger to her lips to silence Elyan. "Shh." She said, and nodded her head slowly. "There are a lot of ears here that in support of the King." She whispered, as she moved closer to Elyan. "Just be careful what you say around here, and how you say it." She added in the same hushed tone. "Any Lord or Lady can accuse you of being a traitor to the King, and the other guards won't hesitate to kill you on the spot." She warned.

Elyan whispers back to Valeria.
"Duly noted."
He appreciated the advice, but what he appreciated even more was knowing that his little gamble paid off. Whatever happened between Valeria and her sister, at least Elyan knows that they have another spy in the castle gathering information. Knowing this, he decided that now was the best time to split up again and continue their own investigations. He cleared his throat and started talking in his "rookie" voice again.
"Um, thank you very much, my lady. I believe I can find my way around from here. Please, I can't possibly ask you to take up any more of your valuable time just to help someone like me."

Valeria smiled courteously, nodded her head once, and walked back into the castle. She walked over to a group of potential ladies in waiting to the new queen that the castle seemed to be in a buzz about. 'He doesn't waste any time; does he?' She thought to herself.

Mathuriel shook his head.
"They would attempt to get her out and blow their cover - we have to stay secretive."
Then he looked at Allora.
"How complicated an order can Skye take?" he said, curiously.

Mathuriel smirked a little, then took some paper and a quill from his pocket - don't ask - and scribbled down a note that read:

"The king's wedding is tonight. I and Allora plan to crash it at the vows. Target the king first. Find ways into completely innocent positions. Good luck.
Mathuriel."

"Can Skye deliver this to them in the castle?" he asked.

Allora nodded then took the note and tied it to Skyes leg
"She remembers faces pretty well and since she she is a hawk she will be able to spot them from afar"
Allora walked over to the window holding her arm out and Skye took off in flight to find the members of their group. Allora then turned to Mathuriel
"And for us?"


Ella sat quietly on the bed with the covers over her. She looked up at Mathuriel
"I'm sorry for what I have done to you all"

Skye flew around the castle for a while until she spotted Elyan. She flew down to him and landed on his shoulder awaiting for him to take the note tied onto her leg

Elyan looked curiously at the bird sitting on his shoulder. She seemed to have a note tied to her, which Elyan untied and took.
"For me? That's odd...hmm, have I seen you before? You look somewhat familiar."
He looked at the note in his hand and immediately his face went pale.
"WHY DID YOU DELIVER THIS MESSAGE TO ME?!"
Although he was practically screaming in his mind, he didn't make a sound. He knew that would be the quickest way to completely blow his cover. He simply rolled up the note, tied it back onto the bird's leg and sent her on her way. Then he started to make his way out of the castle as discreetly as possible.

Valeria 'felt' the bird pass by her, and watched at it landed on a chair. 'I've seen that bird before.' She thought to herself.
The group of prospective ladies in waiting to the Queen to be moved closer to the garden, as one of the older Ladies spoke to them...rather harshly. Valeria carefully moved with the group, and sat down in the chair the bird was sitting on. Seeing paper attached to its leg, she looked into the bird's eyes, then to the paper. Swiftly, and carefully, Valeria took the paper and read it. "Should be easy enough." She said, as she gave the paper back to the bird, then hurried to catch up to the prospective ladies in waiting. If she stayed with them, she should be able to get close enough to the King and Ella, without drawing too much attention.

Elyan makes his way back towards the entrance and finds the same guard in front of the gate that he met before. He groans slightly as he gets ready to use his rookie voice again.
"Sir! I just got back from basic training, they said that I have the makings of a great archer, sir!"
He pulled out his bow and looked around for something to hit. He saw a practice dummy that was pretty far away, readied an arrow and hit the dummy right between the eyes. It was a pretty impressive shot, to be sure.
"Does this mean that I have what it takes, sir? It would be a great honor if my first night on duty could be for his majesty's wedding tonight!"

Mathuriel nodded, satisfied.
"Good."
He looked back at Ella. "We'll save you. Don't get us wrong, Ella. We will save you. I promise."
He turned, hearing footsteps. "Allora, get close, now."
He took her arm, and with one last brave smile at Ella, the pair vanished.

About twenty seconds later, the king entered, with a lizard's smile.
"Now who was my pretty bird twittering away to, I wonder?"

The pair reappeared just outside the door of the palace dungeon, that had been magic-proofed.
The guards blinked and nearly dropped their weapons in shock. "What the-?!"
Mathuriel clubbed them both around the head and they dropped. A quick rifle found the keys, and they descended through the dungeon until they found the cages Ella had told them about.
"Who are you?" Mathuriel spoke aloud, hoping the prisoner wasn't asleep or deaf or something.

The guard looked doubtful, even in the face of Elyan's impressive shot.
"Sorry, boy, that position is for veteran guards only. You are clearly still a rookie, because you wasted an arrow showing off!" he said crossly. "Now go and pick it out. Tonight you are going on the battlements making sure no-one attacks the castle. If you're found anywhere else I'll have you whipped! You are dismissed."

Ella had rested her head on her knees which were drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. When the king came in she lifted her head slowly then shook it.
"I wasn't speaking to anyone"
She had fear in her eyes knowing that he could hurt her again
"I-I as just mumbling to myself about the wedding. I was wondering what dress I would wear"


Allora stood next to Mathurial waiting for a reply. Her crossbow at the ready

Elyan quietly scoffed in disappointment.
"Well, so much for that plan. But I guess the battlements should be close enough. All I have to do is take down a few guards standing between myself and a nice, clear shot against the king."
Luckily, the smile on his face couldn't be seen through his helmet as this plan formed in his mind. He saluted the guard.
"Yes sir, right away!"
He then retrieved the arrow, put it back in his quiver and made his way to the battlements to scout out the area.

Mathuriel raised an eyebrow.
"And why would we do such a thing? This level of magical protection is borderline insane, and makes me think perhaps you're in there for a reason. Would I be mistaken? Granted, you may want to kill the king, but why? And what guarantee does that give us that you won't kill us right after?"

The king smiled, and gently stroked her sore cheek. A cruel smirk lit his face up.
"Don't worry, my pretty little queen," he said with dark glee. "I will solve the problem - you are to attend the wedding naked. A bridal veil, at most. Does that make you feel better, now that you don't have to choose?"
He clenched his fist against Ella's leg, letting her know there was a right and a wrong answer.

Ella winced when he clenched her leg. She then nodded
"Yes it does"
she looked up at him
"But do you want the whole kingdom to see your queen's body fully?"

Valeria continued to follow the group of prospective ladies in waiting to the new Queen...though no one save for the King and perhaps a servant or two had actually seen her....none of the servants would say anything to anyone out of fear of what the King might do to them if they spoke out of turn. The small group ended up in the room in which the King would get married in...as the older woman discussed where each of them would stand.
"And you," the older woman stood in front of Valeria; "you'll be standing next to our new Queen."
Valeria could hear the envious groans from the other girls.
The older woman glared at the other girls; which silenced them.
Valeria smiled warmly, and bowed her head slightly in response.

Elyan looked around at the battlements and the courtyard, mentally noting every place that he could.
"First up...let's say I start my patrol route in one of these places."
He looked towards a few different positions on the walls.
"There's not much of a shot to take from any of these positions. I need some higher ground..."
He quickly found a watchtower nearby. The top of the tower had a perfect view of the entire courtyard, and it was fairly close to the battlements.
"That'll work. So let's say they have two guards stationed outside."
He mentally pictured the guards in his mind, and how he would take them out as quickly and quietly as possible.
"I'll make my way inside the door. There might be a guard or two slacking off inside...that should be easy enough to deal with."
His eyes drifted towards the top.
"There's definitely going to be someone stationed at the top. I'll get his attention by pretending to call for help...then I'll take his place and "watch out for the king." If things start getting violent, I should be able to line up a shot in just a few seconds."
After thinking all of this out loud to himself, but not loud enough for anyone to hear, Elyan left to wait for the wedding.