“Slow down Sehun!” yelled Lay as his legs struggled to keep up with the messenger.

The castle halls were darker than usual, many of the torches on the walls having been inexplicably extinguished. Several black arrows littered the floor along the maze-like path towards the North Entrance.

As the two burst through the heavy wooden doors, they were greeted with swords. The guards backed away at once as they recognized the messenger and the medical officer.

“Where is General Suho?” demanded Sehun, ferocity etched in his face.

Before the swordsman could answer, Yixing sighted the leader of the White Army, who was directing a large group of horsemen. Suho was shouting out orders, pointing to different sections of cavalry with his sword and instructing them where to go. As the party divided, Sehun ran to the General.

“What news, messenger?” called out Suho as he dismounted, handing over the reins to a flanking cavalier.

“General, the North Tower has been compromised!” replied Sehun, trying his best to remain calm.

Suho’s eyes widened as he stared at the messenger. “What do you mean, ‘compromised’?”

“The rope has been cut!” exclaimed Sehun urgently, grabbing ahold of Suho’s forearm and dragging him towards the castle entrance. He no longer cared for protocol. They had wasted enough time already.

“And the Prince?” asked the General, following the messenger’s lead. Yixing walked close behind, unsure of what he could do to actually help.

“We’ve received no word from him ever since the bell rang and the staircase fell.” Saying it all out loud was making Sehun even more anxious. It was taking all his self-control to keep himself from breaking down.

“I asked you to protect him at all costs, Sehun! Why weren’t you with him?”

“WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!” yelled the messenger, finally snapping. “THE PRINCE IS IN DANGER!”

Suho pulled his arm out of Sehun’s grip and stopped walking at once. Yixing skidded to a halt, barely avoiding a collision.

The messenger continued for several more steps before sinking to his knees and burying his face into his hands.

The General stared at the fallen figure with a pained expression before turning to Lay. “Yixing, I need you to go to the West Wing and fetch Admiral Park. Tell him that I need a team of sailors to report immediately with equipment to scale the North Tower.”

Lay nodded in obedience before breaking out into a run down an adjacent hallway.

Suho walked over to Sehun and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I need you to pull yourself together. There are messages to be delivered.”

“I’m sorry,” replied the messenger as he fought to regain his composure. He got to his feet but kept his head down, ashamed to look the General in the eyes.

“Tell me exactly what happened, Sehun. It is essential for me to know the details before I can decide on an appropriate plan of action.”

Sehun took a deep breath as he attempted to organize his racing thoughts.

Suho reached out and gripped his shoulder once more. The comforting sensation was just what the messenger needed to come to his senses.

“The Prince asked me to deliver a message to you after I took him to the North Tower,” began Sehun. “I left him at the base with two of the tower guards. But before I could reach you, I heard the warning bell ringing, so I ran back. By the time I got there, both the staircase and the bell had fallen. One of the lieutenants ordered his men to leave the premises, assuring them that the tower could not be breached and that the Prince must have cut the rope himself because he felt threatened. That’s when I asked Yixing what happened and nobody knew. We ran to the courtyard to find you, but as soon as we got there, puffs of black smoke filled the air. I think it was coming from these odd black arrows, but we couldn’t see who was shooting them. Several of the torches went out, so it was impossible to see. I think the smoke was extinguishing the flames…”

“What was the message the Prince asked you to deliver?” interrupted Suho.

Sehun looked up into the General’s worried eyes. “He wanted me to tell you not to hurt him, The Black Spy.” Luhan’s haunting last words were tugging at his heartstrings.

“They retreated,” replied Suho, talking out loud to try to make sense of it all. “The hooded soldiers. They just gave up the fight all of a sudden, as soon as several of their horsemen joined them. There weren’t even any words exchanged between us or even between them. It was as if they had planned to run away as soon as the two teams reunited. We decided not to pursue them because they hadn’t even taken anything…”

The General stopped midsentence as understanding dawned upon him.

Sehun was fighting back tears. “Do you think they could've taken him?” he asked, almost hysterically.

“They couldn’t have!” replied Suho with widened eyes. “There was no sign of him! It doesn’t make any sense! How could they have penetrated the North Tower? And even if they did, how could they have even escaped once the staircase was cut?”

Sehun was having trouble breathing as terrible thoughts filled his mind, thoughts of Luhan bleeding to death as he lay trapped atop the North Tower. Since the King and Queen’s murders, he had heard far too many horror stori