Adrienne, Merlin, and Arthur were shown to a room in one of the towers of the castle. They found it to be rather spacious and there were enough beds for the three of them to each sleep separately and comfortably. It was slightly less lavish than what they had seen so far but was still considered extravagant by their standards.

“Wow…if this is their standard lodging then I wonder what the VIP room is like!”, Arthur exclaimed.

“Yeah, certainly a bit nicer than I was expecting…”, Merlin added.

“Well even if it wasn’t, we’d only be here for the night”, Adrienne stated as she threw her pack on one of the beds and sat down.

“Hey Adrienne…”, Merlin muttered.

“What is it?”, she asked.

“Sorry about earlier…about you know…”, he said, somewhat dejectedly.

Adriene just looked up at him and smiled. “Merlin, you don’t have anything to apologize for. You didn’t do anything wrong, and you stood up for me more than you probably should have. I mean, we got the reception we were promised after all…”

“I just…it makes me mad seeing you get treated like that…”, Merlin mumbled.

Adrienne walked over to him and took his hand in hers. “You’re a good person, Merlin. I’m flattered that you get so worked up over me, but trust me, it’s alright.”, she said, smiling.

“Thanks Adrienne”, he said, smiling back at her.

“Will you two just kiss already?!”, Arthur shouted.

“W-w-what?!”, Merlin screamed, jumping back in surprise and embarrassment. Adrienne placed her hand over her mouth as her face became flushed.

“What?? Am I missing something or have you two not seen the way you look at each other??”, Arthur asked.

“That’s enough from you, Arthur!”, Adrienne exclaimed as she cast a quick spell conjuring a sticky substance, which she launched at Arthur’s face, sealing his mouth shut.

“Mmffmfmghgh! Mgmgmgmghfhfh!”, he cried as he furiously tried to get the adhesive off of his mouth…

Adrienne then addressed Merlin and Arthur; her face still red with embarrassment. “Anyway, we should all try to get to sleep early tonight! We’re going to have a rough few days ahead of us, and I’m sure we won’t be sleeping in places as nice as this…”

“Got it!”, Merlin affirmed.

Arthur simply mumbled through his sealed mouth and then pointed to the adhesive.

“That’ll dissolve in about an hour…or two…maybe three…”, Adrienne said.

“Mmmmfghghgh!!”, he cried once more as Adrienne and Merlin laughed at his expense.

The next morning, they were awakened by a knock at the door. Merlin quickly slipped out of bed and opened the door to see a knight standing in the hallway.

“Please get dressed. We’ve been instructed to leave as quickly as possible”, the knight said.

After gathering their things, the group was escorted by the knight down to the castle’s stables where they were greeted by a small group of knights. Several horses and a carriage were being prepared.

“It’ll take us a few days to get to Northpoint. Once there, we’ve been instructed to observe and then report back once the mission is completed”, one of the knights said.

“That won’t be necessary!”, a voice called out.

Everyone turned to see Princess Athena come walking up outfitted in her black armor with a black cloak on her back. A war axe hung from a ring on her left hip, and she carried a heater shield in her left hand.

“Princess Athena?!”, one of the knights said. “We thought that you wouldn’t be joining us.”

“My father has reconsidered. He said that I’ll be the only escort necessary”, she replied.

“I see…”, a knight responded.

“All we’ll be needing are four horses, then we can be on our way”, the Princess stated.

The knights seemed confused, but not wanting to question their princess, they relented. Four horses were separated from the carriage and then saddled. Once their supplies had been tethered to the horse saddles, Princess Athena beckoned them to depart. “We should make haste! With just us four I believe we can make it in three…no two days!”

Adrienne, Merlin, and Arthur all exchanged concerned looks with each other, unsure of exactly what to think about the situation.

“What are you all waiting for??”, Princess Athena asked, now mounted on a horse.

They quickly mounted their own horses and followed Princess Athena as she galloped away from the stables and out of the gates. As they exited the grounds of the castle, she put up the hood from her cloak and did her best to conceal her armor, aiming to prevent anyone from the outside from noticing her.

Princess Athena led the group to the northern edge of the Imperial City. They entered an area completely different from the rest of the city. The buildings were run down, decaying, in various states of disrepair. “What’s going on around here?”, Merlin thought. The further into the area they got, the worse the conditions became. They noticed people sitting and sleeping on the streets. There was also a larger presence of knights than there had been in previous portions of the city. At first Merlin thought this may have been an area with a large amount of crime, but that assumption was proven false when he saw a woman approach a knight while holding her child. He was too far away to hear exactly what she asked him, but he could tell she was quite frantic. The knight responded to her request by pushing her away, nearly causing her to fall over onto the child. She was caught by a mand standing behind her who then confronted the nights with several other men. The knights responded by shoving the men with their shields and drawing their swords, threatening them to stand down, as several women nearby cried and pleaded with the men to back away. Merlin then realized exactly what was happening. All of the people they had seen in this part of the city, they were elves…

“So, this is the slums, where they force all the elves to live…”, he mumbled. He looked from his horse over to Adrienne who was riding next to him. Her eyes were laser focused to the front. He could tell she was doing her best to not acknowledge what they were seeing…

Several hours later they stopped near a stream to rest and eat some of their food rations. Merlin had been unable to get the images of the slums out of his mind. “Arthur”, he said, “did you see all that back in the city?”

“Yeah”, Arthur answered visibly disturbed. “It was hard to watch…but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Merlin was angered at Arthur’s statement, but after a moment he relented, realizing that Arthur was correct, they were powerless to do anything…

Adrienne just sat quietly eating her food rations, oblivious to the conversation Merlin and Arthur were having. Merlin thought it probably best not to bring it up to her either.

Princess Athena approached the group from the stream, her hood now down revealing her crown tiara and her flowing strawberry blonde hair. She had also pushed back her cloak, revealing her black armor.

“We’ve made good time so far!”, she said. “Once we’ve rested a bit we can ride again until dusk. Then I figure we can make camp for the night. But let’s not linger here for too long!”

“You sure are all about moving quick, Princess”, Arthur commented.

“It’s because she lied”, Adrienne said, flatly.

Princess Athena took a quick step back and a look of concern came over her face. Merlin and Arthur both looked at Adrienne, puzzled.

“What do you mean she lied?”, Merlin asked.

“Her father didn’t change his mind. She lied to the knights so that she could come with us”, Adrienne responded.

“Wait what?!”, Arthur shouted.

Princess Athena chucked for a moment and then smiled deviously, “It seems I misjudged you dark elf. You’re much smarter than I gave you credit for!”

Adrienne responded with a simple “Hmph!”

“Hold up a second! Why did you lie to come with us?? And should we be worried about the knights chasing after us?!”, Merlin frantically asked.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about them! We were long gone by the time they realized what happened!”, she replied.

“But won’t your father be mad?”, Arthur inquired.

“Sure, he may be upset, but he’ll get over it! Besides, it’s about time I got out of the castle!”

All three of them looked at her, astonished.

“Wait…are you saying you’ve never left the castle…? Like, not even once?”, Arthur asked.

“My father has always been incredibly overprotective. He allowed me to receive combat training and have essentially free reign over the castle grounds, but I’ve never left until now”, she replied, nonchalantly.

“Wow…that must’ve been hard. Spending what? 14 years in the castle without leaving”, Merlin commented.

“I’m 16 actually…”, she responded.

“So that’s why you were so adamant about escorting us”, Arthur said.

Princess Athena answered, “Well, that’s partially it. I meant what I said in the throne room. In a few years I’ll be expected to command a part of our armies, so this is valuable experience for me! Although, I did lie then too…I fully intend on fighting some of the rogues with you three!”

Adrienne, Merlin, and Arthur all exchanged concerned looks with each other.

“That’s probably not a good idea…”, Merlin said.

“And why not?!”, she snapped back.

“Did you not hear what your father said?”, Adrienne replied. “The way he described his experience with magic on the battlefield. And the way the knight detail he sent out here was slaughtered…”

Princess Athena simply dismissed their concerns, “Oh please! My father has always been prone to overexaggerate! And I’ve been training in combat from the time I could walk! I promise I’m a far better fighter than those knights!”

“But if you’ve never been in a real fight then how would you know?”, Arthur asked.

“Excuse me?”, she responded.

“I mean no offence, Princess, but real combat is a lot different than training”, he replied. “I mean, it’s great that you’ve received training and all, but until you’ve actually been in a fight, it’s hard to know exactly how you’ll react.”

Princess Athena seemed unsatisfied with Arthur’s comment. She sat fidgeting irritably. “And you’ve been in combat before??”

“Yeah”, Arthur replied. “The three of us have taken on all sorts of different creatures and beasts before. Our experience with rogues is pretty limited, but just a couple of days ago we killed a wyvern!”

“What’s a wyvern?”, she asked.

“Like a dragon…? Big flying and fire-breathing lizards…?”, Arthur responded.

“Preposterous! Everyone knows dragons aren’t real!”, she annoyingly responded.

“Guess you guys don’t have dragons here then…”, Arthur mumbled.

“Anyway, regardless of what my father says, I’m still not convinced that your ‘magic’ is all that powerful! I’ve never even seen it, so as far as I know if may not even be real!”, Princess Athena said, again annoyed.

Adrienne responded by snapping her fingers causing a small fire to ignite above her hands. Princess Athena flinched and then stared at the flame; her eyes open wide. “W-well this is just a simple parlor trick!”, she stuttered. “And we’ve spent far too long resting! We should get moving again!”

Adrienne, Merlin, and Arthur all looked at each other once again, all acknowledging that they seemed to have gotten involved with a rather troublesome individual…