Ladet gazed out to sea. Since he had arrived at Dalenia, the ocean had both captivated him and terrified him. There had not been much opportunity to learn how to swim in the Keglar Kingdom with its tendency for a cooler climate. He had learnt upon his arrival to the Talbecan Empire, and right at this moment, down in that water was where he wanted to be.

He did a slow turn, searching the wall and the courtyard below him. Teal was meant to join him as he had always done since the Emperor and Jale had left the palace. He doubted even a sleepless night would keep him away. Teal was always punctual. Whatever task it was that was keeping Teal away from doing his rounds, must be important.

Ladet heard a shout from another soldier directed to gain his attention. He turned to see a soldier pointing off from the wall, and Ladet's line of sight followed the direction of the man's hand. His eyes fell on a figure, the figure of a young woman, off in the distance, balancing unsteadily along one of the inner palace walls.

"What in all the hells?" Ladet muttered. "Doesn't anyone know how to use the palace paths anymore?"

>>

In hindsight, Lady Annalei chided herself, she should have gone about this differently. For instance, she should have determined whether the height of the walls was going to be a problem. She never thought herself to be someone who was scared of heights, but the walls of the palace were high and inside the palace grounds, quite thin.

Also, she should have considered how she was going to get down when she needed to make it to the outer wall of the palace where she had seen the Lombock start his rounds. And then she should have realised that the Lombock had walked the walls at night where it would have been difficult to be seen. As it was, she had already caused quite a commotion from different people who had spied her on her travels. Now, she had a trail of guards following her to determine where she was headed.

Fortunately for Lady Annalei, she was fit and quite strong, work on her family's farm had ensured that. If she climbed over the edge and lowered herself down while holding onto the top of the wall, she was sure the drop to the ground wouldn't be too bad. Two metres at most? She swallowed down her nerves. That was actually quite high. Why hadn't she thought of this beforehand?

There was no time to delay any further. She could go no further on this particular wall, and she needed to get down to the courtyard to make it to the outer wall. Lady Annalei lowered herself down and sat on the wall. The ground, she noted, was indeed further than she had originally thought. It was too late now.

"I wouldn't try that," a guard called up to her from the ground.

Lady Annalei ignored him and began to manoeuvre herself around. She heard another shout of warning and noted that a ladder was being placed along the wall beside her. Persistence was one of her many virtures, and with her fingers digging into the wall, Lady Annalei started to move her body over and down the side of the wall.

Footsteps on the ladder reached her ears, but her focus was on maintaining her body steady as she lowered herself down. This was going to be harder that she thought. Despite climbing trees, her fingers ached and her arms shook as they started to take her weight. All of a sudden, firm hands clasped around her body.

"I'm capable of getting down, thank you very much," she said haughtily, her voice shaking from the exertion she was placing on her arms.

"You might be able to My Lady. However, I don't want you to hurt yourself just in case."

The solider easily retrieved her from the wall, and with one strong arm wrapped around her waist, he started to descend the ladder. Within a few seconds, she was back on the ground. Embarrassed, she straightened her clothes and glared at the soldier who had carried her. He took a step back with his hands in the air indicating he was only doing his job.

Another man stood beside the soldier. He was tall, fair and standing right in front of her with his hands on her hips. She focused her attention on him for he did not look happy at all.

"What do you think you're doing, Lady Annalei?" he asked sternly, clearly not amused.

"You know who I am?" she asked, surprised.

"Of course, I do. It's my job," he replied, folding his hands over his chest.

"And just who are you?" Lady Annalei asked, lifting her chin despite the fact she knew he was the man who accompanied the Lombock every evening on his patrol. She tried to remain firm and authoritative, hoping she gave off an indication of her social standing and was not a person to be bossed around. On another note, she hadn't expected the young man who walked around with the Lombock to be so handsome this close up.

"Ladet," he answered, "and it's my job to ensure that I'm aware of everyone's movement and safety within the palace walls while the Emperor is away."

"I was actually trying to find you or the Lombock," Lady Annalei began. She had overcome her embarrassment at the need to be rescued for time was of the essence. "Something terrible has happened! Or I should say, is going to happen!"

Ladet frowned, but otherwise looked at her with impatience. "What do you mean?"

"The Lombock, the Emperor's concubine, he's going to be kidnapped!" she exclaimed.

Ladet simply stared and then, threw his head back and laughed. He looked around at the other men who were standing with him, and they joined his merriment. "Of all the people in the palace that I need to be concerned of," Ladet began, "Teal, The Emperor's Lombock concubine, is not one of them. Trust me," he said as he started to turn to leave. "Teal is more than capable of looking after himself. You obviously haven't heard about what happened at the Summer Palace, have you?"

Lady Annalei went to follow him. "Only briefly, but I heard a pair of Kelgan soldiers talking in the Blue Garden. You must stop them!"

Ladet paused and turned back to Lady Annalei. "What did they say?" he asked curiously.

"Only that they were going to take the Lombock back to the Keglar Kingdom," she said.

"Why would they do that? How would they do that?" Ladet asked.

Lady Annalei shook her head. "I don't know, but they said something about the Ashkin poison, and it being able to knock him out."

Lady Annalei watched Ladet take a step back and consider her information. His eyes ran up and down her as if that would help him decide whether she was speaking the truth or if there was any validity to her words. He didn't look like he believed her.

Ladet turned towards Prince Yernal's quarters and stared. "Fine," Ladet finally said, thoughtfully. "I will check on Teal. I'm not that concerned, but I wouldn't put it past Prince Yernal to try and do something. What time did Prince Yernal leave?" Ladet asked.

Aghast, Lady Annalei grabbed Ladet's arm. "They've left already?!" she asked.

"Half an hour ago," a soldier informed them.

Lady Annalei watched Ladet look back to the wall where he usually met Teal in the evening, only to find it was still empty. For the first time since they had started speaking, she saw a sense of unease wash over his face. Ladet waved to the guard beside him. "Go to the Purple Jade Palace and ask the guards if Teal has returned. He may be resting after not sleeping last night."

The soldier saluted and sped off in the direction of the Purple Jade Palace. In the meantime, Ladet turned back to Lady Annalei. "Teal had a similar problem when he arrived at the palace. He didn't like being cooped up. The Emperor gave him extra duties to do to bide his time. I think I should do the same for you. I can't have you climbing up and walking along the palace walls, or getting up to other mischief. It's very dangerous."

Lady Annalei scoffed. "I'm more than capable. I did many different tasks on my father's farm."

"Still, the Emperor would not be happy, if you were injured."

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much. The Emperor won't be visiting me any time soon." She ducked her head in embarrassment at her sudden admission.

Ladet stepped toward her and pointed in the direction he wanted her to walk. "I would not be too concerned, Lady Annalei. From what I know of the Emperor, he likes to take his time to get to know his concubines and you are young, very young. He may very well not spend time with you until you reach your winter of adulthood. No one is looking down upon you for his distance."

Lady Annalei's head flicked up, unable to stop the tears of shame around her eyes. "Thank you, Ladet," she said. "You are very kind."

"Come," Ladet said with a gentle smile. "I will personally guide you back to your quarters where I'm sure your ladies-in-waiting are fretting with worry."

"More like with annoyance," Lady Annalei muttered to herself. "You'll let me know if the Lombock fare's well?" she asked.

"I will, and I thank you for your concern," Ladet informed her. "I'm sure the Emperor would be happy to know of your concern for Teal's welfare as well."