It was all wrong.The corridor was too tight. The guards were too close. Too tall.It was too cold, suffocating.He was meant to be in the room to at least give him some time to think."Are you alright?"The boy snapped to the voice. What was a blink to him, was long enough to land him on the ground, palms to the floor to keep his entire body from shaking. He didn't know how long he had blanked out for, but the king had taken a knee to come closer to him, washed with concern as a few of the surrounding guards hovered over the scene to see where they could offer help."Come lad, can you stand?"His gut twisted at the way he tried to help him up, but with Vera bracing his other side he couldn't very well squirm away from the king. He doubted that he'd even have the energy if he decided to. But he knew now with the scene he'd caused that he would have to respond with more than a nod.Cilvren would have had his translational enchantments up to date, but there was a standing risk of a few

After scaling a few levels of the roof, they found a cracked window and slipped into an empty guest room, the door to the hall barely ajar to show its lack of a guest.Veronica could see the sliver of a guard's shadow to the left, her hopes withering as she looked back to the window they had come through. But her gaze fell on the boy instead as he whispered a spell into his cupped hands, a small butterfly glowing with golden light fluttering from his palms and out the door.There was a small commotion as the guard to the left spoke with another one, two pairs of footsteps following the enchantment until they grew silent. The boy lead the mission, tiptoeing through the empty corridor until they rounded a corner to face two guards sitting at the end of the hall.Veronica swallowed her gasp, confused as the boy continued to lead her up to them. She heard a noise when they'd gotten close enough, one of the guards letting out a soft snore as his head drooped against the second guard using