Video: Kiss from a Rose

Chapter V - Dazedly in Love

The night had passed and the sun was rising from behind the horizon. The sunlight entered Aerrow's accommodations through the thin curtains and woke him up. He stood up and stretched himself, then painfully rubbed his back. Man, he had never slept in such a soft bed. His back was aching like hell, he really wasn't used to it. Radarr, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the fluffy mattress. It was like sleeping on a cloud!

Aerrow smiled at his buddy and decided to let him sleep. And it was then that he heard it: the faint sound of someone singing. That was the most beautiful voice he ever had the pleasure to hear. He put on his boots but didn't bother with his armor, then he left the room.

The sound was a little bit clearer. He tried to figure out where it was coming from. He walked by the corridors until he found a small living room with two guards blocking a passage that led to a stairway. The very area where the sound was coming from. He approached them, and they crossed their spears in front of the path.

"Halt. This entrance is for executive castle personnel only." - they said in unison.

"Executive personnel, so not even you can go in there?" - he asked.

"We are members of the Princess' guard, so we may go there." - the one on the right told him.

"But the Princess has requested to be alone, so we're not supposed to disturb her unless necessary." - the one on the left explained.

Oh, so it was the Princess who was singing! Wow! Her voice sounded even prettier than he remembered! But apparently, he wasn't allowed there. Still...

"So you're going to just sit here? What if something happens to her while you're not watching? How can you be that irresponsible?!" - he tried to appeal to their guilt. But that didn't seem to work.

"The Princess is no damsel in distress, young Sky Knight." - the first guard said.

"She's a very talented Crystal Mage. Much more powerful than you can imagine." - the second one completed.

"I'm not saying she can't defend herself, but what if she's overwhelmed? We could give her a little help." - he suggested.

"You have noble intentions, but Your Highness won't be needing us anytime soon." - the guard said.

"Besides, if anything happens to her, we'll know." - the other one pulled out a kind of necklace with a blue crystal - "If the Princess feels threatened, scared, is sick or harmed in any way, this crystal amulet flickers."

"That's... Incredible. I didn't know you had access to this." - the teenager commented.

"Yes, we're fully aware of the Princess' safety. Now, please, move along. We need to go back to work." - the guard on the right told him.

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving." - Aerrow said nonchalantly.

Looks like he had no way to get up there... Unless... He took a quick glance at the guards again before turning around the corner and walking into another hallway. He managed to identify the most prominent details on their armor. Yeah... They didn't look like any guards alright. Their armor was quite distinctive from the others.

He walked around as if he were just minding his own business in order to lower any suspicions towards him. His eyes scanned the places he went to in search of a member of the Princess guard. He found one near a table right outside the kitchen. He quickly hid behind a wall on the corridor he had come from so he could observe him.

The man was drinking some tea or something like that. While he wasn't particularly paying too much attention to his surroundings, he didn't exactly have his guard down. Darn it! He walked backward so the guard wouldn't spot his head poking out from the corner. If there was just something he could do to... He suddenly bumped into something: a glass bottle. It nearly fell on the ground, hadn't he ducked just in time to grab it.