I ran.

Yanking my skirts up far higher than was probably ladylike, I knotted one side to keep fabric out of the way of my feet as my boots ate up the distance. I ran right past the library, and down the corridor. The thud of Grethan's boots behind me raced to the beat of my heart. Danger. Death. Fear. This was the man who killed my brother, the one I watched stab Davery and get away with it.

Outside, if I could get some open ground I could outrun him. Probably. It was the one thing I was well and truly good at. I had seen Grethan fight before, there was no way I could take him on. But my throwing knives, I was skilled with throwing knives. They may help too.

The grounds outside were the best bet. Somewhere behind me there was yelling. I reached the stairs to get down to the first floor and for one heart stopping moment I nearly tripped on a top stair but was able to recover. Pain was shooting up my leg, and I was certain there was a light sprain.

Grethan growled behind me, I wasn't gaining much distance inside. I hit the first floor and ran through the empty halls for the main doorway.

Bursting through the front door the cold air hit my face like a wall. The two moons were eclipsing, Shadow's trick in full bloom, and the bright light overhead cloaked the gardens. I spun, taking out the thin knives Panther had given me and sticking Davery's knife in the waist of my gown. The gardens had space to dodge and run that I didn't have inside the castle, but the pair of us would attract attention out here.

Good, he can get caught.

As Grethan came through the doorway I turned enough to throw the first knife at him. Picturing the knotted stump I'd spent days of my life throwing at. The blade sinking deeper and deeper with the passing years until Dirk was satisfied with my progress. Only it wasn't a stump I hit this time.

I sliced through his shirt and grazed his shoulder. The sound he made was satisfying, but a graze wouldn't do much to stop him.

There was yelling somewhere behind us now that couldn't be coming from Grethan. Maybe the gate guards but I couldn't be sure. With any luck, it would be Pettypiece or someone under his command that could sweep questions about my identity away while still dealing with Grethan.

My assailant was almost on me now, and I turned sharply to the side and sprinted for more open ground through an arched rose gate. A perfectly open garden clearing, ideal for a queen's picnic or the scene of a knife fight.

"I'll hit you like your brother!" He snarled.
It stung, and in a breath of distraction I nearly slipped whole dodging an errant branch of thorns that must have been clippings dropped from the trim garden.

It slowed me just enough. Grethan had caught me in a tight spot and his blade bit into the meat on the back of my arm right over the elbow. Tears flooded my eyes and I was afraid it would all be over, that I couldn't recover.

But one face rang clear in my mind. A tousled head of hair with messy green eyes not unlike my own. Davery. My brother, who had been in a position very like this one, facing the end of the very same knife.

"Grethan!" I screamed, dodging him and spinning the opposite direction we had been going in. I threw my second knife, and for good measure took out the heavier blade from my waistband. Davery's knife had a better heft to it, more like the ones I was used to than Panther's thin blades, and I threw it.

Whatever I could say about Grethan, he was a good fighter. He dodged the first knife beautifully but the second came fast for him. Davery's blade sank deep into the tissue near his neck, missing his collar bone by a hair's width.

"Grab him!" Someone yelled behind me. Two men came at Grethan, who's blood was dripping down his tunic from Davery's knife, which was still stuck there. Somewhere in the haze of adrenaline I registered that one was Pettypiece. Or, was adrenaline always so hazy? My head was a little woozy. Between the running, the sprained ankle, and the dripping wound on my arm, my vision was blurring.

My grip on my movements was starting to slip, and I knew it. But he was restrained now, already his hands being tied by the guards even as I stepped deftly toward him.

He snarled up at me, even as they pushed him to his knees. Reaching out, I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of the knife, and whispered, "mine."

I pulled Davery's knife from Grethan's shoulder, causing him to growl out in pain only seconds before the falling sensation took me to my knees. Closing my eyes as the blood loss made the garden spin. Voices, some angry, some concerned, rippled around the scene. I did not want to open my eyes though, for fear of being sick in the grass.

"Hush," someone said in my ear as I was pulled from the ground. "We're getting you to a bed, rest."

And so, I did.

~

My body was moving to a swaying sensation. Up and down in a rhythm of sorts. Peeling one eye open, I saw the inside of the castle again. With its large fancy portraits on the walls and plush carpets underfoot. I was being carried. I opted to close my eye again, and let the blackness take over once more.

~

I woke to sharp pain in my arm. In my wound, to be exact. I was laying on a bed, and alcohol was being poured into the sliced skin.

"Blade's piss that hurts," I murmured.

"She's awake." Captain Pettypiece.

"Salysta, can you hear me?"  A face drifted into view. The prince.

"Rorik," I croaked.

"What happened?" He asked. My eyes shifted around to get more of a sense of where I was. We were in an unfamiliar room and Rorik sat in a chair by the bed while Pettypiece cleaned and dressed my arm.

"Girault, I heard everything. Grethan works for him. They found me listening and Girault told Grethan to kill me." I closed my eyes. "You saw how that ended."

"You heard Girault?" Rorik asked. "What did he say?"

"He wants the city desperate enough that he can get a mob to riot when the king returns. I think . . . I think he wants there to be an accident." I couldn't bring myself to outright say 'kill your father' but Rorik was smart, he knew what I meant.

His face paled, and he leaned back in his chair.

"I see. That, we can assess later. Are you alright? you went through quite an ordeal just now, the palace is in an uproar. Is your arm the only damage?"

I assessed myself.

"Minor sprain in my ankle, that one's nothing. Bruising around my side but that doesn't feel too serious. No just my arm really I guess."

"The arm is a deep one," Pettypiece said.

"I can tell." I mumbled into the blankets. "No more alcohol, please."

"I'm glad it's not worse," Rorik said. "That bastard."

"What's our next move?" Pettypiece asked.

"We need to get proof. Did Girault say anything at all that would make you think we could have something on him? I'm sorry, I know you're injured but time is of the essence. I can't call treason on a noble without proof."

"No, he didn't say much. He did tell Grethan to stay away from his estate. Grethan, what happened to him?"

I gasped as Pettypiece wrapped a bandage around my arm.

"Steady now, good job," the captain soothed.

"He's being questioned." Rorik smiled. "You did more damage to him than he did to you, did you know?"

Not enough. He was alive and well enough to question. But . . . It was something.

"Good."  I sighed. "Where is Girault?"

"Upstairs, as if nothing happened." The prince pursed his lips. "He believes he can talk his way out of this. He probably can too, its his style. He knows the word of a peasant in a court of nobles won't go far."

"He sent his nephew to distract me," I admitted. "I almost didn't find him."

"I was sent a distraction as well," Pettypiece said. "You were the better of us tonight, to find him and overhear him at all. What we need now is proof."

"What we need now is help. Prince Rorik, it's about time we had more eyes on him." I sat up, being careful with the arm.

"It's still dangerous, I need people I can trust." He looked haggard. Tired beyond his years. In that moment I saw another sliver of Davery in him. What weight did he try to carry alone to haunt his eyes like that?

"Still, we need the help," I insisted.

He sighed, but nodded. "I assume you mean those who have helped you and your brother, which speaks well of them. Would you trust them with your life? The lives of the people of this city? The king? It may come to just that before we see the end of it."

"My prince, more than my own which I've had the possibility to lose the moment I started life in the Swamp, I would trust them with your life." I stared back at him, realizing how much his life had actually come to mean to me. More than my own, certainly. But I would follow a leader like Rorik forever. This is who the people need watching over them. Not soft Braeton, though he did good for the people in other ways. Not hard Mason, who held no compassion though he was a masterful general. The king wouldn't be around forever, but with all three of his sons Unays may survive that. But none of it, none of the pieces of the royal puzzle would fit together for Unays without Rorik.

"Captain, I saw one of my friends at the ball. If I described him to you could you find him? After the commotion I'm sure he's around the castle looking for me," I said.

"I could do that. Highness?" Pettypiece looked to the younger man for approval.

"Alright. After that, tend to Grethan's accommodations. I believe you know what to do." He gave the Captain a wolfish grin, then turned to me. "We could use the help, but I'm most interested in what Grethan says after a few days with the Snakes."

"They're real?" My heart froze. I had through them a tale to scare naughty children.

"Very," Rorik answered.

That sent a chill up my spine. The Snakes were the ruthless inquisitors saved for no less than high treason. They would do a lot more than ask nicely.

"And for you, I don't think you should leave the grounds for now."

"Me? What?" I asked.

"I would like you to stay here with the captain, I'm afraid Lord Girault might try something on you. I won't lose anyone in my service, do you understand me? Stay. Here." Rorik was very serious.

"Yes, sir." Looking around, I still couldn't place where this room might be. "But first, where is here?"

"My rooms were closest Miss Aylward. Don't fret, I have a cot in my own office. You are not removing me from my only bed," Pettypiece answered and my eyebrows shot up. I looked around the plain room. There was little decoration, even the blankets were a full, scratchy brown wool. The desk was orderly and had one half burnt candle on it. It was as stiff and boring as the captain, somehow it added to his charm.

"Of course it is." I turned to Rorik. "About recruiting more eyes . . ."

"Yes?"

"Are we still keeping your involvement out of it? What should I tell them?"

"Captain, I'll have you play the roll of mastermind for now, I think. You certainly would have reasons to be so involved in the city affairs at any rate." The Captain nodded at this. "I enjoy my reputation as a recluse and an airheaded bookworm. Don't look at me like that Salysta, I know what the court thinks of the youngest prince. For now, everything works better this way. Just get a watch on the Girault estates. That would be the biggest help to us, eyes we can trust on it."

"Yes, sir," Pettypiece replied and bowed. I tried to do the same from a sitting position on the bed but only succeed in paining my arm further.

"I need to go before I'm missed. I will take most evenings in the library room if you need to report anything. If I'm not there leave a coded message. From now on code will be under the name of the letter's recipient, alright? Salysta, Arden, or Rorik." The Captain and Sly nodded. "Good. I'll be going then, and gods watch you."

The prince left quietly, pulling his cloak around him as he shut the door.

"I wonder sometimes about being his pawn," I said out loud to myself, then turned to see Pettypiece. "Oh, but I don't mean that in a bad way!"

"No Miss Aylward, I know your sentiments exactly. But I can firmly say this about his highness, I would follow his orders anywhere, he would never lead us astray. You've earned his trust which is no small ordeal. He has few others on his level, and it appears to be a lonely existence. I hope you stay with us in the future."

We watched the door for a moment contemplating the third prince who had just left through it.

"Captain, what do you mean by stay in the future?" I asked. I had assumed I would be a destitute orphan again after this mess was cleared up. That was our only connection, wasn't it?

"If his highness has not spoken of it to you, it is not my place." He gave me a rare smile. "I will just say this, I hope your station in life has not instilled a distaste for a better one."

"What does that mean?" I was tired of these games tonight, the prince was one thing but if the captain started them as well my head would start spinning.

"Who is this man I should be looking for in the castle? Are you so certain he wouldn't have been caught and escorted out by now?" The captain smiled and asked. I sighed. There was no use trying to get anything out of him now.

"No, he will still be here until he knows what's become of me." I decided to leave out the detail that he had been in and out of the palace many times before, likely undetected. "You're looking for a tall boy about my age. He has sandy hair, very lanky, was wearing a full faced silver mask earlier tonight. He goes by the name Bricker. Your best bet in finding him is telling every dark corridor you see that Sly sends for him." I grinned wickedly. "He will not be ready for that at all, I wish I could be there to see it."

The captain smiled, bowed stiffly, and went on his way. I quickly fell asleep waiting.