Ray was brought back to another, larger clearing where several horses were stationed. He was lifted up onto a brown stallion in front of the aggressive guard who took far too much pleasure in his discomfort. Ray had never ridden a horse before, and it didn't help that his hands were tied behind his back. The guard, too, took only the minimal required effort to make sure he didn't fall off. Gavin marched over to a beautiful steed with hair like woven gold. He put on foot in the stirrup and swung up onto it easily with far more grace than Ray had ever seen Gavin move before.

There was one horse more than the total number of men here. The extra was a stocky beast that carried the carcasses of two deer and several rabbits. It seemed that the prince had been out on a hunting trip. When everyone was on their mounts, Gavin led the hunting party through the woods confidently. Another guard slid up next to Gavin to chat with him, and Ray could overhear them talking. This guard was dressed slightly different from the rest, with more armor pieces that were better kept and polished than the rest of the guards. The guard's voice sounded familiar as well, with a clipped accent, but Ray had more trouble placing it.

"My prince, this Enderman is troubling news," said the guard. "If we had known that there was such danger here, your Highness, we would have never let you go out..."

Gavin raised a hand from his reigns to shush the nervous guard. "Sir Dan, do not fret about that." Oh. Dan. Of course. Why was Ray not surprised? "The Enderman have never come so close to the city; you wouldn't have known. Besides, I can take care of myself." Gavin turned his head to face the guard, and Ray could see his wide, stupid grin. Dan sighed and slumped in his saddle.

"I just fear that they are becoming braver, your Highness," Dan admitted.

"They might be, but it is possible this was just a scout. Highly likely, in fact. I wouldn't worry too much just yet, Sir Dan."

Ray suddenly started to slide sideways on the saddle. He squeezed his thighs to try and stabilize himself, but he surely would have fallen if his guard didn't roughly grab him by the arm and yank him back. By the time Ray was steadied again, Dan and Gavin had moved too far away to eavesdrop on anymore.

The forest began to thin, and Ray realized that they had started following a packed dirt trail. The dirt trail melded into a packed gravel road just outside the forest, which in turn transformed into a paved cobblestone street. After travelling for probably two hours, the hunting party had left the forest, crossed a short stretch of farmland, and approached a tall stone wall that stretched for a few miles in either direction with turrets every 200 feet or so. A wide, softly shushing river cut the city encased by the wall into two to Ray's left. The smaller half contained a massive tower that looked to be cut from all the same stone. Ray would bet both of his arms that that belonged to Geoff.

The cobblestone road led to a wrought-iron gate raised for the daytime. As they went under the arched entrance into the city, the guards posted there bowed respectfully at Prince Gavin and did double takes when Ray passed by. Whispers and second looks followed Ray as the hunting party wound their way carefully through the afternoon crowd and turned from their broad street left onto an even broader street. From his vantage point on horseback, Ray could look across the top of the crowd to see his first looks of the castle.

The stone wall cut inside the city, preventing needless peasants and commoners from wandering the castle grounds at all hours. There was another gate that was opened quickly at the approach of Gavin's party. Inside this gate was a small courtyard with a round little fountain in the center. Ray couldn't even see half of the castle from here, stretching from side to side. He had a feeling he wouldn't be seeing it soon, either.

Most of the guards left to take care of their own horses, but three boys dressed simply yet finely rushed up to take Gavin's, Dan's, and Ray's horses. They did not go through the enormous wooden double doors in front of them. Instead, Ray's aggressive guard gripped him by the scruff of his neck and veered off to the right with Dan and Gavin. Ray was shoved down an open-air hallway decorated and supported with stone arches, through a smaller, locked wooden door, and down a tightly winding staircases lined with torches.

The stairs led to a dungeon with cells of varying sizes lined up next to each other. It felt like a maze to Ray. They exited the staircase, pulled an iron gate closed across it, locked the gate, and took a few turns past cells to a wide open area with single-person cells and a staircase built into the wall. The room was brightly lit by torches, and there was a large roughly-carved table with benches in the middle of the open floor. At the table, sitting across from each other and discussing something in low voices, were two more familiar faces. But before Ray could shout at them, he was thrown into a cell with a pile of straw in the corner. The captain of the guard looked up from his muttered conversation to smile warmly at Gavin. He stood and embraced the prince.

"My prince!" Michael said, pulling back, Gavin's hand lingering on his shoulder. "How was your hunting trip? I see you've brought me a criminal?" Michael looked ready for battle. He wore a shiny breastplate with gold designs welded into it. At his shoulders, a bear pelt was clipped with steel studs at the front paws and fell down his back, the head of the bear sticking up like a hood behind his head. Yellow sleeves were visible at the upper arm, and they fed into gauntlets that matched his breastplate. His pants were dark brown and were almost completely covered by matching armor. A red-orange sash was tied around his waist just below his breastplate. A helmet rested on the table with a red-orange plume sticking out the top of it. Judging by the pattern, Ray assumed that was also Michael's.

Gavin grinned and shifted his quiver into a more comfortable position. "My guards found the Rose Thief, supposedly, though he wears very strange clothing."

"Speak for yourself," Ray mumbled, looking down at his Team Lads shirt, red shoes, and blue jeans. He was ignored. He sat on the cold stone floor and waited, trying to wiggle out of his rope binds.

Michael's eyebrows shot up, and he turned to look at the second man at the table. Ryan frowned and stood, approaching the iron bars to look at Ray. Ryan did not wear one lick of armor. He wore a tightly fitted black doublet embroidered with silver and gold thread on top of a white shirt with long billowing sleeves that covered his hands completely when they were resting at his sides. He wore a black leather belt and undyed pants that stopped just over black, inch-high heeled shoes. An orange cloth was tucked over his belt at the back and left side, and Ray could tell that this was to cover small, narrow pouches that were hooked onto his belt.

"Anyway," continued Gavin, "I cannot stay long. Soon after finding the criminal, we were attacked by an Enderman. I must go report this to the king."

Michael's eyes grew wide, and even Ryan glanced sharply back at the prince. "Of course, Prince Gavin." Gavin nodded at Ryan, then waved at his two companions to follow him out of the dungeon, leaving Ray alone with Michael and Ryan. Michael approached the iron bars to study Ray just as Ray finally wiggled out of the rope. He rubbed his wrists and stood back up, trying not to look too pitiful.

"This is not the Rose Thief," Michael said confidently.

"Thank you," Ray said, making Michael narrow his eyes.

Ryan stared at Michael. "How are you so sure? This man looks exactly like him, if not dressed a little strangely."

Michael stepped back from the bars and crossed his arms, making his metal gauntlets clack together. "I'm sure. Young man, what is your name?"

Young man? Michael was like, two years older than him! "Ray," he said, feeling foolish for introducing himself to someone he already knew.

Ryan gestured at him fiercely. "He even shares a name with the thief! How can you not think this is the same man?"

"I share a name with the previous king of Roosterteeth," Michael pointed out. "Names mean very little. No, you'll just have to trust me. I know the Rose Thief better than anyone."

Ryan gritted his teeth and swept away from the bars, putting his back to Ray. He seemed deep in thought. He said finally, "For all anyone else knows, though, we have the Rose Thief in captivity. We could execute him anyway."

"What?" Michael and Ray shouted simultaneously.

Ryan turned to face Michael again. "The Rose Thief has been terrorizing our city, our kingdom, for a few years now. If we execute him, even if he is just a lookalike, then morale will be raised."

"I cannot stand by that," Michael said. "That's dishonest."

"Which is better, the life of one man, or the state of all our people?"

Ray wanted to say the life of one man of fucking course, but before he or Michael could answer, footsteps echoed down the stairs that Gavin had gone up previously. Ray watched as first fine, black knee-high boots appeared, then dark red pants, then a green tunic belted at the waist with a rope braided with gold thread. Shoulders followed with a dark blue half-cape attached over one shoulder with a bunch of white feathers pressed over it like a flat wing. This cape was long enough to cover the man's left arm entirely. Ray saw a trimmed orange beard, and finally, Jack was entirely visible.

"I hear we have the Rose Thief," he said, stepping down off the last step.

"Not exactly," Ryan said.

"How do you mean?"

Ryan glanced at Michael, who said, "He looks like the Rose Thief, but is not. Ryan wants to execute him anyway to raise morale."

Jack hummed to himself, stroking his beard with a black-gloved hand. When he spoke again, he looked pained. "If the perceived threat is killed," he said slowly, "then people will sleep easier at night. We would just have to make sure that the real Rose Thief is covered up."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Ray asked.

"Shut up," the three said in unison. He shrunk back into his cell. Michael looked defeated, his shoulders slumping.

"I can see I'm outranked here," he said glumly. "If the king's chief advisor himself agrees with Ryan, then there's nothing I can do." Ryan reached out and put a hand on Michael's shoulder.

"The king mustn't know," Jack said. "The only people who know he is not the real Rose Thief should be us three."

"And the real one," Michael added under his breath angrily.

"He shall go to trial and lose, then," Ryan said. "He will be hanged in two days, I expect."

A guard came down the stairs to replace Michael at his post and the trio fell silent and left. Ray leaned against the back wall of his cell and sunk back to the cold ground. He breathed in a damp, shuddering breath. He was going to die. There was no way around this. He began to shiver, both from fear and chill.

His own friends were going to hang him.