Roots and Oxygen

Chapter 16 - Intruder's Misfortune

Sage was on house arrest, until someone tried to break into the Palace.

He was dragged out of bed at three in the morning by a beefy guy dressed in black, and a beard so wiry, it stabbed Sage's palms when he tried to wriggle out of his grip. Sage tried to yell and kick to get away from him until the man told Sage that he was a bodyguard that worked for the Palace.

Sage almost didn't believe him until Oxley hovered by the doorway, half asleep and covering his ears. He then heard the alarm, high pitched, loud enough for everyone to have to shout over it to be heard. "Come with me, Your Royal Highness." Sage had no choice. The bodyguard held his wrist and pulled him down the corridor, and another, and another until they were at the back of the Palace.

Sage was shoved into his father's office where another bodyguard met him by the door disguised by his father's bookshelf. Sage had never been inside the panic room. He had hoped that he would never need to be comforted by its cold thick walls.

The door was shut behind Oxley and yellow lights flickered in the dim short hallway. "Boys?" their mother's voice called out from down a set of stairs, and behind another door.

Sage entered the room first. His parents stood together in their pyjamas. His mother's hair was wrapped in a silk scarf, his father wore fluffy black slippers. The room was square, bleak, bare, and as cold as Sage expected concrete walls to feel. The alarm was an eerie distant sound above as he embraced his parents.

"What's going on?" he asked when his mother thanked her God that he was safe.

"Someone broke onto the grounds. They had made it into the servant's quarters until he was stopped by a member of staff. The man was carrying a weapon and wanting to get to your room, Sage."

Chills crawled down Sage's spine. "What were their intensions?" he asked. The shock must have been visible because his father stepped closer and clasped a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't care if they only wanted to talk," Haliver said. "They broke in with a weapon, they're going to prison, and you're going to a castle in the country until this madness blows over."

Sage licked his dry lips and sat on a bench in the corner of the room. His head had spun since the funeral. Now it was making him sick, and not just in his stomach. Sage's head felt too full to think. "Uh, is the intruder still here?"

"Yes. The police are on their way. He'll be well detained in the meantime." His dad sat next to him.

"Who was the member of staff who stopped him?" Oxley asked. His tone was very rarely serious. It made Sage feel colder. "They need a raise."

"It was Mister Taro Vinea. I don't know what he was doing up at that time, but I thank the heavens that he was," Marigold said. Her red silk dressing gown swung by her ankles as she paced.

Sage looked up when he heard the name. "That's my new Valet. Was he hurt?"

"No, only his knuckles, I assume. The security said that he gave the man a whopping punch to the jaw."

Sage allowed himself to relax at the absurdity. "He hasn't even been here a week," he said with a shake of his head. If that doesn't show his loyalty, nothing will.

"Which means he hasn't gotten his first paycheck. I'll be sure to stick in an extra month's wage. Who knows what could have happened if he wasn't in the right place at the right time?" his dad muttered with a deep frown.

Sage's face paled a little. He didn't want to think about how anyone could possibly get into the grounds, never mind the actual Palace. "What now?"