The castle had always been well guarded, but Jaejoong noticed the number of guards had been doubled tonight. The Oracle could be the one behind the changes. She had probably thought he would return to the castle to talk to his parents or get some of his things and provisions for his escape out of Solaris. The Oracle had assumed that a well-pampered prince like him would not be able to survive for long in the streets of Solaris without provisions.

The Oracle had misjudged him, and Jaejoong was counting on the fact that she, being always cloistered inside the temple, would not know about the secret passages in the castle that led to the inner courtyard of the temple.

"All clear!" called out Cloud as he was coming out of the secret tunnel to the castle.

The tunnel could be accessed from the base of one of the castle walls, below the northern lookout tower. The tower sentries would have to lean way out of the tower in order to see the base of the wall or anyone who had flattened his body to the wall. Jaejoong had timed his approach to the wall at the moment the sentries would be marching to the other end of the wall. He had been doing this for years, so he knew exactly how to slip past the sentries' watchful eyes.

The tunnel was well hidden. One could not easily find the entrance to the tunnel even when he was standing in front of it, unless of course he was aware of its existence. The mounds covering the bases of the wall looked like ordinary packed soil, except for one which was a large rock painted to look like soil. Pushing this rock to the right would trigger a mechanism that would open the tunnel. Jaejoong discovered this tunnel when as a child, he started exploring every part of the castle. One of the tunnels he crawled into led to this secret passage, enabling him to get out of the castle. Of course, he kept this discovery to himself. He didn't know who built the passage, but it looked like an escape route during the time when wars were still prevalent in Haldor. The castle was built during the time of his ancestor Tarim, and he had to fight several wars before Haldor finally saw peace under the guidance of the Oracle.

Wars and sieges were already things of the past and could only be seen and experienced today through the adventure dramas performed in the various Solaris theatres.

The existence of this tunnel had long been forgotten. The Oracle might know about this, but Jaejoong hoped she was too busy trying to get rid of those dangerous ideas that had sprouted all over the city.

Jaejoong quickly followed Cloud into the tunnel until they reached the bend that would take them straight to the Oracle's inner courtyard. Cloud went ahead again, and Jaejoong patiently waited for his return.

Minutes passed and Cloud had not returned. Jaejoong started to worry. He gave Cloud strict orders not to go wandering about. But the cloud's curiosity could have made him stray to one of the other tunnels.

Jaejoong breathed a sigh of relief when he finally heard Cloud's excited voice.

"We are in luck, Jaejoong! The Oracle is walking in the inner courtyard and only two handmaidens accompany her!"

"Did the Oracle see you?"

"She didn't even notice me when I flew in front of her face!" he chuckled. "I was invisible to her."

"No guards?"

"The guards are all outside the temple!"

By tradition, no guards were allowed inside the inner courtyard. Their presence was only allowed in the outer courtyard and around the temple. Only in special circumstances were the temple guards allowed inside the temple itself.

"We need to be sure. Go back and look again, Cloud."

The black cloud snorted, but he followed Jaejoong's orders.

In less than a minute, Cloud was back again.

"As I told you before, the guards are all outside the temple! Now, hurry up before you lose your chance to confront the Oracle. If she enters the temple, we would have a hard time getting to her."

"That won't be a problem since I would be using the Sword of Truth to break down the door of that temple," he said firmly. Their plan to distract the Oracle seemed to be working since no alarms had been raised since they entered the secret tunnels.

The Oracle must be very troubled by the return of those dangerous ideas to their owners. She must be trying to find out how it happened and who was responsible.

Jaejoong began crawling after Cloud. This passage was much smaller than the passage used and known by his father and the regents. That passage according to Cloud was now heavily guarded. No one guarded this passage because only Jaejoong knew about its existence.

Cloud was the first to emerge into the temple's courtyard.

"All clear! You can come out now!" yelled Cloud.

Jaejoong adjusted the scarf on his face. He would be committing a crime tonight. And he had no intention of being recognized by any witnesses, thus the need for the scarf. No one must know that Prince Jaejoong was the one responsible for killing and destroying the Oracle. He must remain a victim, unfairly and unjustly condemned by the Oracle to get the sympathy of the people. The Oracle's death would become proof to everyone that she was not all powerful and immortal. Doubt would be planted in the minds of the people. Her prophecies and words would be que