The room was silent aside from the princess’s soft sobs. Byul was momentarily frozen, unsure of what to do next. She slowly reached out and closed the king’s eyes, his blood stained on her hands. Byul took a few breath, she had to think. Ernesto, Valcorn, safe. She replayed the king’s words, she had to get the princess out of the castle and preferably to Valcorn but that was yet to be decided. Byul slowly turned to the princess, her face was red, tears still running down them. “Princess,” She said not able to hear her own voice, she cleared it. “Princess, we need to get out of here.” Solar shook her head, she was still holding her father’s hand. Byul put a hand on her shoulder. “Look at me.” She said a bit too firmly but she was terrified. To her surprise the princess did. “There is a very good chance the killer is still in the castle. I need to get you out of here.” The princess took a shaky breath but nodded. She gently placed her father’s hand on his chest, covering the hole. She bend down and kissed him on the cheek, some of the blood on his lips transferred to her face but Byul didn’t think it was the time to point it out to her.

Byul got to her feet, feeling them shake as she did, she was almost surprised she didn’t fall back down. She managed to pick up her sword, gripping it tightly in her hand. Byul reached her free hand out to help the princess to her feet, who did almost fall back down but Byul managed to grab her waist. “I know this is hard princess but we need to get out of here as quickly as we can.”

The princess looked at her with steel in her eyes. “You have no idea what I am feeling.” Her voice full of venom.

Byul almost corrected her, telling her she really did, but now was not the time. “We need to leave.” She said with a bit less emotion this time.

Solar took a deep breath, wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hands. “Let’s go.”

Byul moved as quickly as she could down the main hall. The voice in her head told her to run as fast as she could out of the castle with the princess but that would cause too much noise. She looked over every surface, her years of training finally coming in handy.

Footsteps came running down the hall in a quick manner. Byul pressed the princess against the closets wall. She stepped out in front of her and when the footsteps rounded the corner she held her balde out in defense, just incase a servant was coming. Byul saw a flash of silver and struck, blades clashing against one another. She maneuvered a few more blows before she managed to get a look at the face, it was TaeOh. They both stood there shocked, blades locked above their heads, recognition setting in. The dropped their blades and Byul let out a the breath she was holding. “What happened?” TaeOh asked aggressively, seeing the blood on her hands and the princess behind her, still pressed against the wall.

Byul swallowed a few times. “No time to explain.” She looked back at the princess, there was no way to shield her from her next words. “The king is dead, assassinated. He said three words to me, Ernesto, Valcorn, safe.” She was saying all this in a rushed whisper. “He wants us to take her there.” She hoped.

TaeOh processed this fast. He nodded once. “We’ll need to move fast, route two, I’ll go ahead and clear the way, you know where to meet me.” He shot a look over Byul’s shoulder at the princess, one Byul couldn’t read, which was new to her. “If,” He closed his eyes and breathed. “If I am not there, you know what to do.” He meant incase the killer found him.

He and Byul had a plan for that, ever since they were kids. Byul laid a hand on his shoulder. “Not today TaeOh. I’ll see you at the meet.” She wanted to hug him, just incase but she didn’t. Instead she backed up so she was covering the princess, she raised her sword in defense again.

TaeOh gave her one more look, raised his blade and ran off in the opposite direction. Feet slapping the ground as loud as he could without it being obvious he was the distraction. Byul closed her eyes for a second, listening. She could feel the warmth of the princess behind her. She opened her eyes again, looking again with precision. She counted it in her head, two minutes, she had to give him two minutes to cause the distraction.

Finally when the two minutes were up whether or not she was ready she moved back into the hall, bringing the princess with her. “Stay close.” She said now making her way down the hall. Not the same way TaeOh took. Byul and TaeOh spent the time they were supposed to be sleeping, walking the castle. The mapped out every possible route in their head, how to get out of the castle and off the grounds, for reasons such as this. Though this was the first time they had ever had to use their system.

They surprisingly made it a few hundred feet before Solar spoke. “Where are we going?” At least she had enough sense to whisper it.

Byul kept on her track, moving as swiftly as she could. “Princess I am going to need you to shut the hell up.” Byul said through her teeth. “If someone hears us then everything TaeOh just did was for nothing.” To her surprise she actually did shut up.

Byul walked her into the library. There was a window there that was easily climbable, even for a princess, and it was the closest exit to the meeting point. She checked the room the best she could, but her priority was to get them out of the castle. She walked over to the window. “Stand there.” Byul said pointing to the spot under the window. She sheathed her blade and hoisted herself up to the window, opened it and rested on the sill very uncomfortably. She checked the ground below and the surrounding area, there was no sign of anyone. She held a hand out to Solar. “Come on.” She didn’t question it, she took Byul’s hand, she managed to climb up to the sill with her. It wasn’t a very big window, their legs were touching. “We are going to have to jump together, it’s not far.” It was about seven feet off the ground. Solar nodded, still holding Byul’s hand she followed her lead, sliding off the sill. Once their feet touched the ground Byul let go of the princess and took her blade out again. “We can run from here, it shouldn’t be that far.” The princess nodded. Byul reached out and grabbed the princess’s wrist. “Let’s go.” She said pulling her along. They ran off into the night.

Byul let out a relieving breath when she saw TaeOh in the meeting spot. He was standing on the edge of the forest next to two of the horses from the stable. He looked relieved to see her as well, she wasn’t too sure if he was glad to see the princess but it was his job to protect her. TaeOh tossed her a bag. They had bags of essentials always packed and in an easy to grab place. Another system they worked out a long time ago. He threw a cloak at Solar. “Put that on.” He demanded. She didn’t object, she slid the cloak over her dress. “You two take this one.” He handed the reins of the horse to Byul. “I’ll lead.”

Byul nodded and turned to the princess. “Are you ready?”

She nodded. But she hesitated when stepping up to the horse. “I can’t ride the horse in this dress.” Her voice was a bit hoarse from crying.

TaeOh took out a dagger and stepped up, when the princess took a step back he rolled his eyes. “Relax princess, I am just going to cut the sides a bit.” As TaeOh cut slits in the sides of the princess’s dress, Byul hauled herself onto her horse, fixing her bag in front of her so the princess could fit behind her. TaeOh helped the princess on to the horse, Byul tried to keep herself steady as he did. The princess hesitated grabbing on to Byul. “I’d hang on tight princess, wouldn’t want to fall off.”

Byul could have sworn the princess sneered at him but she did as she was told. Her arms wrapped around Byul’s waist, holding on so tight it was kind of hurting Byul but she didn’t say anything. The princess had no choice but to rest the side of her face on Byul’s back. Byul grabbed the reins tightly, hands still had some of the king’s blood on it, she had managed to wipe a bit off on her pants. TaeOh mounted his horse. “Let’s get out of here.” He pulled on his reins, Byul followed his lead. And they were off, horses running at full speed, leaving everything behind them.

They