The Haunted; The Journey

Welcome to the Empire; Part 2

A/N

What's this? An update on time?? Is this possible? Well it's only 1315 words long so probably... Enjoy!!!
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Eve's P.O.V.

I wasted an hour of my free time wandering around. I wasn't really sure what I was looking for but I made mental notes about everything. That dumbwaiter system allows access to the entire castle but not the dungeon. The closest one from there is in the kitchen which is on a completely different floor. The palace garden has 45 different types of trees. There will only be two guards for the thief during the ball. The Empire has trained dogs that can track your scent. The pretzel shop has amazing food! Random facts, I wasn't even sure what I was going to use them for, they just kinda seemed important. Especially the one about the pretzel shop. Those soft pretzels were seriously to die for!!! Especially with the nacho cheese and then the pretzel just melted in your mouth and- Ok, I'll stop ranting about pretzels now... After I wasted my hour I headed to the castle for my time to guard. I had studied the positions of the guards earlier. One on the inside by the prisoners, two in a hallway out of the dungeon (There were doors between the hallway and where the prisoners were kept), and three more at the doors out in the hallway. In addition guards in pairs regularly paced the castle and the outside garden that surrounded it. Turns out the Empire wasn't completely stupid after all... I was hoping to be put on the inside to guard the thief. The chances were likely sense most of the guards were lazy and were more interested in making bets then guarding the thief.

I walked up to the guards outside the entrance to the hall, leading to the dungeon. Two of them stopped their gambling to stare at me, the other just pointed at the door, indicating for me to go in. I nodded at them and walked passed them towed the door. The door was quite tall, about 7 and a half feet tall and was solid oak. It was pretty heavy but swung open with out a sound. I took note as I walked in that your could barricade the door from the inside but not the outside. Effective if the castle was attacked but wouldn't help if prisoners escaped. I approached the two guards in front of the dungeon doors. They were talking loudly and didn't even notice me till I was right in front of them. These guards were complete idiots. They both pointed to the door signaling me to go in. Just as I suspected. I walked in to see another guard waiting to be replaced. By waiting I mean sleeping in a chair. How lazy could these guards possibly be? I cautiously walked over to him and shook his shoulder. He immediately woke up and yelled, "I wasn't sleeping!" Then as he saw who it was, he relaxed and walked out yawning. If I was his commanding officer he would be in big trouble. But I guess you can't help people who are just lazy. I'm surprised the thief hasn't escaped yet.

I walked over to the door and made sure it was shut all the way. These doors were soundproof and the guards were probably to busy talking to listen to me talking anyways. But I wasn't going to take any chances. I had an hour and I wasn't intending to waste it. I turned around and walked toward the thief's cage. The Mages were in a cage together both under the Egam serum. Well, one was under the influence of it, the other pretending. I had always knew but as soon as she made no move to escape I kept quiet. I don't think she knew I knew but I tried to keep most things like that. Next to the Mages was a hybrid, what was she in for? She was asleep on the floor but was scarred and wore ripped clothes. Next to her was the thief. He was awake and sitting in a corner. He avoided eye contact with me but seemed to be aware of my presence. I sighed, this might be a little harder than I thought considering I kinda kidnapped him... I might as well get straight to the point. "Why does the Empire want you?"

The thief jerked his head up, emerald eyes meeting my hazel ones. His eyes were cold, hate dominantly showing but the tiniest bit of curiosity showed. "Why do you care?" His voice was a monotone, lacking emotion but his eyes gave away his curiosity. "I don't know why he hates you, or what he did to you. I have no love or hate for him, but something tells me I'll need to choice sides soon. I want to make sure I chose the right one." He just nodded and then looked down. Another minute of silence. Dang it! Could he quit being stubborn and just tell me?! I sighed guess I'll have to try again. "If you don't tell me, the Emperor will. And I'm willing to bet his story won't be the same. It's your chose, you can make yourself an enemy or a possible ally." That was the best I could do. I had no leverage, nothing else to convince him to tell me why he was wanted. If this didn't work I didn't have anything else to convince him with. The thief sighed, another moment of painful silence. "Fine." He said coldly glaring at me. "But don't think this changes anything." "It all started when the Emperor found the dragon egg..."

"At the time I was his commanding officer, war general, and most trusted adviser. He was a good Emperor than, caring and kind. I supported a ruler like that. Then reports of the last dragon egg came in." His look immediately darkened. I sat in the floor and waited for him to continue. It was a second before he did but his voice changed, it was darker and sad, very solemn. "At first we thought they were fake reports, but when more and more reports came in he decided to check it out. When he got back he had the dragon egg, but the village it was in was gone. He burned the village and," His tone changed to complete disgust, "everyone in it alive to get the stupid egg. When he came back he changed. The egg was corrupt and could change the minds of anyone it touched. Few could resist it, fortunately I've been in the presence of a worse demon before and could resist. The Emperor however couldn't. He started to capture and torture elves because of their races. He was becoming more and more cruel by the minute. I had to stop it. So I snuck into the castle one night and stole the dragon egg. I had almost succeeded but then Dylan caught me. I managed to escape but they already knew I had stole it. When I finally got to my house-" His voice broke off and he looked down. It took me a moment to realize he was crying. "They burned it." He said suddenly, his voice was cold and harsh, filled with emotions that he was barely keeping under control. "They burned everything. My wife and son-" His voice broke again. "They burned them alive in there." He said coldly. He looked up again, his eyes a bit red from crying but filled with so much hate it scared me. "So I've been hiding from the Empire ever since."

I was shocked yet at the same time everything made so much sense. This was wrong, everything seemed so wrong. I knew what I had to do. I sighed and stood up. "I'm going to help you escape from this place." I said firmly looking into the thief's emerald eyes. "And I know just how to do it."
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A/N

Well have fun with that for another week...
BAI!!!

-Eve_enderfire