Fortunately for Kaelum, his reflexes acted before the knights were able to see him and he dropped to the ground against the wall, fully covered by his dirty brown cloth.
The knights walked closer and he could feel the footsteps next to him. It was then that he heard a voice in his ear. ‘Don’t make a sound, and try not to react to what I am about to do’ Whispered Tiela. The knights couldn’t hear her voice, even if she were to yell. But it seemed she appreciated the need for stealth nonetheless.
Before he could ask her what she was going to do, he felt a chill creep up his spine just before one of the knights got particularly close. The chill then spread across the surface of his skin. He felt like he was standing naked in a snowstorm, something he’d actually experienced before a particularly bad winter in the slums.
Kaelum succeeded in not yelping in surprise to the chilling sensation thanks to Tiela’s forewarning, though he had no idea what she was doing to him.
A weird sensation rippled across his body while the knight close to him looked in his direction. It was a weird feeling. Like someone was watching him intensely. The feeling moved from his head, the part of his body that was nearest the knight, down to his feet and then it left him and traveled further beyond.
‘They’re no longer paying attention to this area, move swiftly!’ He heard Tiela whisper again.
Not needing another word, he moved as quickly as he could while still remaining quiet. Once he got past the outer perimeter of knights, he was relatively safe from their attention. The change from the ‘outer perimeter’ to the inner was relatively obvious. The grass abruptly changed from dark green to a more pale green, and there was a line of shrubbery surrounding the perimeter with the guest house in the center.
What was that weird chilling thing you did? Thought Kaelum to Tiela.
‘It is a masking spell, it draws the observer's attention away from the person it was cast on.’ Answered Tiela.
‘You felt like someone’s eyes were on you when the knight looked in your direction, right?’ She asked.
After feeling Kaelum’s mental nod, she continued ‘That was one of the knights casting his mana sight, it lets a mage detect things, even if they’re hidden.’
Wait, you can cast spells? Thought Kaelum in surprise so you’re a knight?!
Feeling slightly offended by the amount of surprise in his tone, Tiela responded sharply ‘I’m not a knight, I’m a mage, and of course I can cast spells. I’m one of the strongest mages in the continent.’ Said Tiela ‘Though I can’t cast anything beyond basic spells while I’m not in my own body’
I thought mages and knights were the same things? Pondered Kaelum, completely ignoring the latter sentence.
‘In most contexts, they are’ Answered Tiela in a teaching tone that irritated Kaelum. ‘But a knight is a mage who has sworn service to the king of Kassivir, other kingdoms don’t use that terminology.’
Oh, that’s interesting thought Kaelum. He was always wanting to learn more about Kassivir and the countries outside.
Kaelum focused back on the task at hand. Looking at the guesthouse, it was a building almost as fine as the lord’s mansion. It was a castle esque three-story brick building, with a four-story tower on each of its four corners. It employed many expensive real glass windows and looked to be well cared for.
That’s weird, thought Kaelum, those knights aren’t paying any attention to the area near the guest house, only the areas further away.
‘That's because any threat would have to get through them to even get near the guesthouse.’ Answered Tiela. ‘Besides, the guesthouse itself is in the hands of the White Order, not them.’
Being reminded of the second group of knights keeping watch, Kaelum raises his guard again as he sneaks closer to the building. It would seem that all the knights are inside, which makes it easier for Kaelum.
Now close to the guest house, Kaelum scratched his head before thinking to Tiela, I have no idea how to get in without alerting the knights. Any suggestions?
After thinking for a moment, Tiela responded ‘Try climbing the tower there, the stones look fairly traversable.’
Without hesitation, Kaelum started scaling the twenty-meter tall tower. Near the ground, there were plenty of footholds for him to use, but as he got closer to the top they thinned out. Tiela was on the edge of her (metaphorical) seat. Especially as Kaelum had to make a small sideways jump and missed the stone he was trying to grip..
Having already fallen a few feet in just a fraction of a second, Kaelum keeps grabbing at the wall, hoping to find something to grasp.
After a heart-stopping moment, he finds purchase in the side of the tower, all while hearing Tiela’s frightened shout in his ear. He couldn’t tell who was more frightened. With every change of footholds, he could feel Tiela holding her (metaphorical) breath.
Finally reaching the top, Kaelum hoisted himself onto the top of the main building from the tower, nearly ten meters up. With his knees weak and his palms sweaty, Kaelum didn’t want to be climbing again any time soon. Now to find the princess. He thought.
After searching the roof for a bit, Kaelum came across a skylight fitted into the roof, which he was able to pry open after just a bit of effort. He drops in through the skylight to the third floor. According to what he’d heard, the princess should be on the second floor and the knights on the first. So he should be able to meet the princess without running into anybody on the way.
Kaelum found himself in a large hallway with tons of doors on each side of him, the walls were covered in expensive-looking paintings that he’d have to come back for if he ever found himself wanting to become a thief.
Down at the end of the hallway, he could vaguely see the stairs that led down to the lower floors. Pointedly ignoring all the rooms on the third floor and their purposes, Kaelum snuck as fast as he could while remaining quiet. This turned out to be quite fast, as he was used to sneaking about.
Walking down the stairs, he tried to hold on to the bannister and keep the steps from squeaking as much as possible. Every time the steps squeaked, he’d pause for a moment to make sure no one was coming before continuing. He soon reached the second floor and paused for a moment, thinking to Tiela Does any of this ring a bell? Any idea which room the princess is in?
‘No, I don’t remember this building, it was more than a decade ago for me.’ answered Tiela ‘But I would wager it's the room with the light on.’ She said smugly.
Realizing he had overlooked that fact, and not being able to think of a witty response, Kaelum just continued sneaking quietly toward the room with its light on. After reaching the closed door, he reached for the handle before stopping and pulling his hand back.
How do I talk to the princess? I can’t just walk into her room and tell her I know the future, she’ll think I’m crazy! He thought to Tiela.
After thinking for a moment, Tiela wondered how she would react if a random person walked into her room and started talking about knowing the future. I would probably reach for my long knife. She thought.
Kaelum was currently psyching himself up to meet with an actual princess for the first time while Tiela was baffled that he apparently didn’t count her as a princess.
Tiela ignores his thoughts and says ‘We’ll have to start with introductions and then reveal something only she would know before talking about the future…’
Got it thought Kaelum in a daze, What’s something only the princess of the past would know? He asked absentmindedly with a slight nervousness in his voice.
‘Hold on, let me think…’ Replied Tiela, seemingly thinking of something but she hesitated. Finally, she gritted her teeth and said ‘Remind her that she secretly wanted to marry the knight from -The Dragon Slayer- stories when she was younger’ It was embarrassing to tell him, but they had no choice.
Right, introduce myself, then say she wanted to marry the dragon knight. Thought Kaelum to himself before roughly pushing the door open to Tiela’s surprise.
‘Don’t just barge in! Knock first!’ Tiela’s reprimand went unnoticed.
“Princess Tiela! My name is Kaelum and I know you secretly love the dragon knight!” Shouted Kaelum.
‘WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?!’ Tiela roared in his mind.
Two shocked faces greeted him, he hadn’t expected to find two beautiful women in the bedroom and they certainly hadn’t expected to see him there. One of them was the younger version of Tiela, a real-life princess and more breathtaking than the paintings he had seen.
The other woman he didn’t know. She was just as breathtaking and had long white hair that reached her waist and ruby red eyes. If it weren’t for the faint blush slowly rising on her cheeks, her skin would have been as pale as a doll’s. Both women were in thin nightgowns since it was close to one in the morning. They looked like they had been having a conversation before he barged in.
He didn’t know what he had expected, but he certainly didn’t expect the surprised screams and the fist flying toward his face.
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