The tunnel is dark but I still had vision. A shady figure emerged from the tunnel. I ducked down on instinct, my body was tense waiting for his next move. He was too far away for me to  tell who he was.

Is he Tao? Or is he one of Them?

As he moved closer my heart got stuck in my throat. He wasn't Tao and to make it worse- he'd seen me. I turned around and bolted as a knife landed were I'd been seconds before. 

The tunnel got darker the further I ran, yet living down here all my life, I welcomed the darkness, knowing it would hide me from them-at least for a while. 

   My heart lept out my chest when I crashed to the ground-or more like was slammed into the ground.

   I groaned, and spots envaded my vision.

Damn...Can't black out now....Tao....

"We found him!" a voice yelled excitedly. 

"So this person really killed the kind and queen?" another asked.

   I tried getting up, though my body felt heavy as lead.

  "Shall we kill him now?" the excited soldier yelled again.

"You idiot. Shut up." the other hissed. "Kill him, but be quick about it. Don't want anyone else taking the reward."

 I willed myself to get up. 

Come on! Move!

I opened my eyes. The excited soldier was young, maybe younger than me. I looked at him with pleading eyes, and he hesitated-just for a second.

   Blood sprayed my face, and the young soldier's eyes were as shocked as mine.

He fell towards me, the light leaving his eyes quickly, the shock replaced by confusion. 

"!" the angry one yelled. He  grabbed his sword and spun around, looking for the one who killed the young soldier.

   Metalic crimson trickled down my face. It wasn't my blood.

 I struggled to get the boy off me, my body aching.

   Stumbling, I heaved the body off me, looking briefly at the soldier's dead eyes, open and glassy.

A gurled yell came from near me, and at seeing the second soldier go down, knife to his throat, my eyes widened and for the third time that night, I ran for my life.

"Left...Right...Right...." I felt my eyes brighten as the smell of damp earth hit my nose. I was close now.

Bam!

I ran into something.

  "Of all the rotten...!" I stopped as I heard someone groan. I looked down to see Tao on the floor rubbing his upper arm. He looked up and glared at me until he realised who I was.

"Luhan!" He exclaimed with delight. He wrapped his arms around me and proceeded to suffocate me in a hug. "Where were you? I was waiting at the meeting place but when you hadn't shown up after 20 minutes from the time we arranged I got worried. I thought someone had killed-" 

He stopped talking when he saw the blood on my face.

"What happened to your face?"

"Don't worry, it's not my blood. It's the blood of one of the two soldiers who were after me," I explained.

"You killed people?" he asked, confusion heavy in his voice.

"No, there was another person after me, I think he's the one who killed them but I ran away before he had a chance to get me. Actually we shouldn't be staying here, I'm not sure if I've totally lost him yet," I looked over my shoulder and sighed in relief when the darkness remained still.

"Wow, so there was three people after you, two died and one is lost somewhere in the tunnel system. Do you think he's an assasin?"

"Probably. He wasn't like the other two, he was quiet and had very good aim. I'm surprised I'm still alive,"

"Do you think he's the one who actually killed the King and Queen. i mean think about it, if he captures you- dead or alive- he'll get a big reward and no one would suspect it's him because they'll all think it was you. It's a win win situation for him,"

"Well I'm not going to let him catch me or anyone else for that matter. I'll find the real killer and prove my innocence,"

"Where will you start?"

"I have a hunch. But first, we need to get out of here. Are the horses ready?"

"Yes. I've already notified Kris that we would be arriving,"

"Good. Let's go,"

We stick to the walls as we walk quietly to the secret exit that leads to Isosceles Forest, a forest on the outskirts of the town. Next to a tree about 50 km away are two horses, one white, the other chocolate brown. I chose the latter and soon Tao and I set off for Kris's house.

Hopefully we won't encounter any trouble on our way but I wouldn't be surprised if otherwise.