Roshana Latarias was set to be crowned queen, marking the first instance of a woman from the Latarias family ascending to the throne… Despite objections to her decision, Princess Roshana remained steadfast in her choice to confer the title of king upon Prince Russek once they married. Tragically, Russek Terensar was murdered in a separate assassination attempt before the two could exchange vows.

- The History of the Three Kingdoms

Khiran dashed through the passageway that the kitchen chute led to, carrying an unconscious Nia in his arms with ease, thanks to his demonic strength. The dagger he had stolen from the crown princess was tucked into this tunic. He originally took it to defend himself in case he ran into any guards, but now he was glad he had it because he needed it to identify what kind of poison Roshana had used on Nia.

Water sloshed in his wake, soaking his shoes and the bottom of his pants but he didn’t falter.

The kitchen chute did lead to a small, underground stream that branched off from a larger river, but fortunately, the water level of the river wasn’t too high or strong. Otherwise, the water current would have swept him away, demonic strength or not.

“Looks like this stream is only used for kitchen waste,” Khiran muttered to himself as he waded through the deeper water as he made his way through the tunnel, careful to keep Nia’s body above the water’s surface. “Thank goodness for the new sewage system. I did not agree to swim in—” Khiran shuddered at the thought. “No gold in the world will be enough for me to agree to that.”

Nia was alarmingly still in his arms. He tried not to think about how shallow her breathing was or how faint her heartbeat had gotten, nearly undetectable if it weren’t for his sharper senses. If he guessed correctly, she must have been poisoned with a sleeping poison of some sort. Her body wasn’t dying, just in a hibernation state, like a coma.

He had no idea why he was still helping her. When he first met her, he thought she was just another ignorant rich girl, but she was unexpectedly driven, burning with a fierce passion, and even surprised him from time to time.

Maybe she reminded him of himself back when he was younger and more naive. Is that why he was still helping her? Or was it out of sympathy now for everything she had to endure?

“Almost there,” Khiran mumbled to no one in particular as he saw an opening ahead.

He had no idea where to go next, but there’s one thing he did know—they can’t stay here. Roshana will send guards after them soon enough, creating search parties to comb the entire capital. Maybe he could make it back to the sagehand? No, if Nia had mentioned him to Roshana earlier, then that safe haven was now compromised. 

The opening at the end of the kitchen chute was closed off by a metal grate, but he picked the lock with ease. As soon as they were outside, Khiran gently set Nia down on the ground behind a shrub to hide her and looked around to get a better bearing of their location. They were just outside of the palace walls, a short distance away from the bustling markets that surrounded the palace.

Khiran, having lost his cowl a while ago, slipped Nia’s off her head to cover his head as his white hair will definitely attract attention.

Hidden behind the shrubs, Khiran took another look to scout out possible ways of escape. Mingling with the crowd of people was his safest bet as there was no way for him to escape without being seen by someone.

With a deep breath, he hoisted Nia onto his back and tried his best to casually walk down the street. To his relief, no one stopped him nor questioned why he had an unconscious girl on his back although he could almost feel a few too many glances burning into his back.

He carefully calculated his top priority at the moment—getting Nia to a safe place as soon as possible and finding a physician to treat her. 

There wasn’t anyone that he could turn to at the moment. He had no family, no friends, no one else he could count on. Much like Nia’s situation.

And his fellow thieves? They were backstabbers that betrayed him the moment he tried to cut ties. They definitely couldn’t be trusted. They would hand the two of them over to Roshana for gold without a second thought.

His best bet would be to hide in one of his secret hideouts for now. How long had he been wandering through the crowd? Minutes? Hours? His clothes are now fully dried thanks to the time he spent under the high sun.

“...heading for Zahdi soon, and I don’t wish to see this place anytime soon.” 

Khiran’s heightened hearing picked up a familiar voice despite the throng of civilians from a distance away. He turned to the direction of the voice as it continued to rant. 

“Can you believe it? Kidnapped and almost sold into slavery! Sure, you can come along until you find a new home or something…”

“Danif!” Khiran called out in a rasp, his throat dry with exhaustion.

The Zahdian boy froze and turned to the demon boy. “Khiran?”

Danif was sitting on a chair, surrounded by Latifah, Takir, and a few other Zahdian people who Khiran guessed to be Danif’s relatives. He seemed to be more relaxed now that his family was around. Three caravans, in the middle of packing, lay behind them. Khiran identified one of them as the one the slave captives had escaped in.

“What—Is that Nia? What happened?” Danif scrambled onto his feet. Despite acting like a bit of a jerk during the escape, he genuinely did care about other fellow captives.

He eyed Khiran with mild suspicions and concern when Khiran lowered Nia onto the chair that Danif had just been sitting in. Latifah and Takir rushed to her side with their eyes wide in alarm.

“What’s wrong with her?” Latifah demanded. “You two left the group early and came back with one of you dead?”

Khiran frowned, debating how much he should tell them. “She’s not dead, she’s been poisoned.”

Takir growled. “It’s barely been a day since you left! What happened?”

One of Danif’s relative shot to his feet as he got a better look at Nia’s pale face. “Is that Princess Alenisha?”

“What?” Latifah, Danif, and Takir shout simultaneously as their faces blanched.

“Hush!” Khiran warned them. He then sighed. So much for keeping the truth from them.

“Are you sure?” Danif weakly asked the person who spoke earlier. He seemed nervous about the fact that he might have offended a princess in their earlier interactions.

“I’ve seen the royal family’s portrait. She’s a close likeness.” Another one of Danif’s family members piped up.

“I thought Princess Alenisha was dead?” Latifah whispered, pressing her hand to her mouth in shock. “I mean, I’m glad she’s not, but how in the world—”

“Listen,” Khiran cut them off. “Her life is in danger. We need to get out of Saraja as soon as possible.”

“Wouldn’t it be safer to return her to her sister or the sagehand or someone like that?” Takir asked softly.

Khiran vehemently shook his head. “It was her older sister who did this to her. Princess Roshana is in cahoots with the assassins that killed the king and queen. We can’t trust anyone here. We need to get out of this kingdom before she sends soldiers after us. In fact, I believe she already has.”

Danif cursed and shook his head. “Crazy Sarajans. Whatever, consider us even for freeing me.”

“I’ll get packing.” His family members jump up and immediately start preparing for travel.

Khiran smiled weakly and nodded in agreement.

“She needs a physician or a doctor!” Takir pointed out.

“I have some medical knowledge.” A woman stepped forward.

Danif shot her a surprised look. “Mother, this is not an ordinary fever or cold. This is poison you’re dealing with. You don’t have the antidotes.”

His mother frowned at him in response. “Even so, I have to check her conditions to determine if she’s in any danger.”

Danif sighed in surrender. “She just wants to diagnose royalty.” He muttered under his breath.

His mother checked Nia’s breathing, her pulse, then cleaned her wound before bandaging that up. She also examined the poisoned dagger that Khiran had stolen from Roshana.

“Danif is correct. I do not have the necessary material to treat this. However, I recognize this poison somewhat. It is a sleeping poison, sometimes used to fake one’s death. The victim usually won’t wake up until they receive an antidote, which I do not have.”

Khiran sighed. “So I was right. I might be able to find a way to get the antidote somehow. How much time does she have?”

“She can last a long time with proper care, as long as we manage to keep her hydrated.”

Khiran rubbed his forehead as more stress manifested in the form of a headache. “Just wonderful. I don’t suppose any of you have a large mirror and a candle?”

Her eyes widened. “Are you going to try and enter the Dream Market?”

Khiran nodded in confirmation. So she has heard of the myths.

Desperate people often turned to two popular options when backed into the corner, with the Underworld being one of them. However, if they didn’t have the money for it, their second option was the Dream Market.

The Dream Market was one of the few places in the demon realm that was open to both humans and demons. It was a large trading hub run by demons that sold magical curiosities, according to the legends and myths. It may seem like a better option than the Underworld, but the Dream Market was harder to access.

To enter the Dream Market, one must conduct a ritual. First, they need a large mirror in a dark room, and they must light a candle in front of the mirror. Then, they need to knock on the mirror and whisper an incantation. If the Dream Market welcomes them, the reflection of the candlelight in the mirror will snuff out, leaving the mirror completely dark, and something from the other side of the mirror will knock back. This meant the mirror had successfully become a portal to the Dream Market.

Lastly, visitors must leave their candles on the human realm side of the portal to keep the portal open, and if the candles were to go out, the human will be trapped in the Dream Market unless they find another way back.

Solutions found within Dream Market are also more unpredictable than the ones offered by Underworld. In addition, prices can be anything, including money. People have bought commodities with their emotions, their memories, and other pieces of themselves. Dream Market merchants aren’t reliable, as all demons have a reputation for being tricksters.

It was a gamble to look for a cure there, but it was a gamble Khiran was willing to take because he also had connections there. In fact, he would have brought Nia there right now, but the laws said that humans had to go to the Dream Market of their own free will.

“Yes, but not here.” Danif’s mother answered. “We don’t keep a large mirror while traveling. They are too fragile.”

“How long will it take?”

She frowned as she carefully calculated it in her head. “We live near the border of Saraja and Zahdi, so it will take about three weeks. Longer if we ran into some trouble, like bad weather or bad roads.”

“Will she make it?” Khiran gestured at Nia.

“Yes, she will.”

“We need to hurry, then.”

As if on cue, someone gave a shout. “The caravans are all set up!”

Danif’s mother nodded. “Let’s get going before the Crown Princess sends her imperial guards here after you two.”

*****

In the Palace

“What do you mean, you lost them?” Roshana demanded furiously. 

Her engagement ring was missing from her finger and she felt humiliated to think that the demon boy dared to steal it from right under her nose and got away with it.

She angrily hurled a gold goblet at her wall in frustration before turning her blazing eyes back to the soldier.

He gulped nervously under her burning gaze. “We searched the whole palace, Your Highness. They must have slipped out through the kitchen chute connected to the Niava river. The grate was found unlocked.”

“Incompetent fools!” Roshana snarled. “Find them! A demon boy with white hair and an unconscious girl! Place a bounty on their head if you have to!”

The soldier nodded his head and hastily left the room with a deep bow.

Roshana sank into her seat with a deep sigh, then crossed her arms over her chest with a cold expression on her face. “Run if you can, Nia. How long can you last without an antidote?”

She reached over to her desk and opened a drawer, revealing several bottles of mysterious substances.

“These poisons are unique ones. You won’t be cured so easily. Speaking of which…” Roshana’s lips curled up in a sinsiter smile as she carefully picked out a bottle and held it up to the light. “I believe it’s time to get rid of my fiancé.”