A week has passed. The guards are agitated, the prisoners are overworked. In large hallways, the walls are covered with ancient weapons and portraits of royalty, all scrubbed from head to toe, constantly moving from one thing to the other, no break in sight.

Alice too, cleaned up the dust from the ground, a rather tall wooden broomstick in her hand.

Where is he?

She kept turning her head left and right, too many people were blocking her sight.

I haven’t seen him since that day. Since I’ve given him that necklace that is. Now that I think about it, I knew him the longest out of everyone here, but he never told me the specifics of how he got captured, I think it was because he stole something, but I am not sure-

“The hell are you doing!”

An elderly man, wearing dark red armor, raised his shoulders in anger, pushing her, “Hurry it up you peasant! We don’t have the entire day before his arrival! Can’t believe he’d come so soon-What are you fools blocking the way for? Get back to work!”

He scratched his short white hair, carrying a giant metal box covered with small holes

Ah great, General Benedict is here too. This day is going to be great. What even is in that box of his? A dog or something. You know what, I don’t care. I need to get this over with to find Mister Miroslav-Huh?”

Among several guards walking all over the place, she spots a familiar face, unnoticed by anyone else entering a nearby hallway.

Was that him? What’s he doing going there? Aren’t the commanding offices that way? Why would he…

She again looked over the area, noticing how the guards aren’t paying attention to anything other than their work.

“Hm, maybe if I” she walked across the way, pretending to clean with her broomstick, no one noticing anything strange, “Phew, good thing that worked, here I go”

She entered a long hallway, feeling a sense of loneliness as she traversed them. Had it not been for the occasional candle placed on small wooden shelves, it would have been impossible to go through it. But those candles did not give off hope, for they also showed off marks of blood splattered on the walls, some fresher than the others. She couldn’t do anything but pretend they didn’t exist as she moved forward, but they were there nonetheless.

“Ugh,” she heard a sigh deep into the hallways.

“Mister,” she grabbed one of the candles, “Is that you?”

“Little one,” the candle’s light showed off his dirty clothes and ruffled hair, “What are you doing here?”

“What am I-What are you doing here? We need to get back before anyone else notices we’re gone-”

“Heh,” a burst of unusual laughter came from his lips, “There’s no need.”

“What are you talking about-Woah!” 

A small bag was thrown her way, “When we’re finished with today, come with me. For now, we can finally-”

“Who’s there!”

Farther back in the hallway, a loud voice echoed, several candles losing their lights as it met the two’s ears.

“Oh, it’s you two,” an ever so lovable soldier graced their presence, “The brat and the geezer.”

“Ah-good day,” Alice hid the bag behind her back, stepping a few steps in front of Miroslav, “What is the one and only brave Graham doing here, is he finally getting the promotion he deserves (and to leave us alone from now on and forever on)”

“Oh shut it,” stomping his way, he pushed her to the ground, pointing his sword at her.

“Little one?!”

“You too,” he grabbed him by the collar, spitting on his face.

“Mister-”

“Stay down,” he now pointed his weapon against Miroslav’s neck, “unless you value his life.”

“What,” she got back to her feet, “Let him go first you-”

“Pfft.”

Before anyone noticed, Miroslav chuckled, then began to laugh his stomach off

“Pfft Hahahaha,” his laughter echoed through the entire hallways, frustrating the guard more and more, “How pathetic.”

“What did you just say?”

“Am I wrong though,” he removed tears from his own eyes, “Look at you now, another rich guy who became a knight thanks to his parental influence. But instead of killing beasts, helping your citizens, and trying to return our magic, here you are, threatening a young girl and a harmless old man. You must really hate how your life is going.”

The blade in the guard’s hands began to shake, “Why you, do you have a death wish-”

“Oh, go on ahead, kill me, that’s what you wanted for years, wasn’t it? Just one question, then what? You kill me and let my body turn to ashes, in front of a young girl, ready to report to other officials. Then I guess you kill her too, and her scream would be echoed through the halls, then everyone would come and see what you’ve done. Then I guess, you’d lose your rank, return to your ever-so-rich parents, then they disown you, and then you’d work as a butler to another family or die homeless in the streets. So kill me, kill me and see that nothing is changed, you’ll just continue your life of misery and emptiness until the day you die yourself.”

“Why you piece of-”

“That’s enough.”

During their talk, Alice grabbed the bag and pulled out what was inside. A smug smile appeared on her face when she kicked the guard to the ground, her legs unchained and covered in blue flames once again

“W-what?! But how?”

“Heh, how stupid,” Alice helped Miroslav get up from the ground, “You people were so busy with cleaning the place that no one was left to guard your weapon stashes, including, a small bag filled with a certain key.”

“What, that can’t be, there was-”

“A new recruit who immediately left after ‘someone’ told him he was needed somewhere else. It did take quite a bit to figure out who it was the past few days.”

“Is that what you were doing the past few days.”

“Sorry, little one, didn’t wanna get you caught in the crossfire.”

“What’s all that noise,” several steps could be from the hall’s entrance

“Crap,” she used her broom to knock Graham out, “they heard us, we need to get going-”

“It’s alright, here’s the plan,” he whispered to her ear

“What?! You’ll stay here?”

“Yes, to distract them, and then-”

“What makes you think I’ll do that? I can’t just-”

“Listen, you can fly again right?”

“Where’s Graham?” The voices kept getting louder as the soldiers approached

“Hurry, before they get you too.”

“Ugh…”

“What’s going on,” the short-haired General appeared, several guards behind his back, weapons in their hands, “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“Oh, General Benedict! I am Miroslav Blazeheart, and I was trying to clean is all.”

He looked around the area, not finding anyone else but him “Where is Officer Graham? Has he passed the area?”

“Hm? Oh, him! Yes, I think he went over there, checking the weapons I’m pretty sure, though he hasn’t come back in a while, I can guide you there if it doesn’t bother you.”

The box next to the general started to shake, he hit the top of it and it stopped moving, “...Fine, hurry it up. I don’t have the entire day.”

“Of course!” Miroslav then carefully looked above. When he nodded, Alice then flew to the opposite direction, carrying Graham on her back.

—

And here’s part 3 and things are getting tense! This didn’t follow up the original outline I made for it but I say it’s still good, if you have any thoughts do share them in the comments below! Also, the chapter will include two more parts before it ends so I hope you read them too! Thanks for reading and goodbye!