Nate took note of where Sean's room was located, before following him out and down the hall. Sean gestured him to follow and exhaled heavily as the guards started to follow them. Nate smirked to himself. The guards were like the ones he had to deal with back at home. Glancing back at the guards, Nate smiled brightly. One of the guards jerked his head as he looked at Nate with worry. Nate winked at the guard, took off after Sean. Grabbing Sean's arm, Nate coaxed him into a run. Sean yelped in surprise as Nate took him around a corner. Nate pushed Sean against the wall and as the guards came around the corner, Nate shoved them down. Nate flashed Sean a smile, then jumped over the guards to run. The pain that shot up his legs threatened to make his legs buckle, but he fought through it. Especially, when Sean ran after him laughing. Sean was fast on his feet. He caught up easily and was even starting to pull ahead with a smile that shined brighter than the sun coming through the windows along the hallway.

Sean led him through the hallways to avoid the guards that were trying to find them. Sean slid across the marble flooring, grabbing Nate to pull him into a room before the guards at the end saw them. Nate panted with a grand smile on his face. Sean panted with a smile of his own. When he heard footsteps coming closer, Sean pointed to a wall by a large wooden desk, panting out softly. "Over there. Quickly." Nate went to the wall confused, until Sean flipped open something called a globe and pressed a button. The wall popped open, and Nate opened it to a set of dark stairs. Sean shut the globe, then quickly ushered him inside. Closing the door behind them, Sean whispered to him wickedly. "The castle is full of these. I hunted them all down for fun when I was little." Nate followed him down the spiraling narrow staircase. Sean stroked his hand over a soft glowing blue rock built into the grey stone brick wall, telling him warmly. "These always fascinated me. I don't know where they came from, but they give off this soft calming light. Don't you think?" Nate put his hand on the glowing brick, nodding. He recognized it.

He was a little shocked to find the glowing rock here. Nate's fingers moved to slowly to touch Sean's. Sean inhaled deeply as their fingers made contact. Sean's hand started to shake a little before he pulled his hand off the wall. Clearing his throat, Sean started to walk on, mumbling out nervously. "You shouldn't do that... I don't mind you admiring me... but... I get this feeling that... it means something else to you." Nate quickly rushed down the steps to cut Sean off. Pressing a hand to the wall to stop him on the steps. Sean pressed his back to the wall, not meeting his eyes as he uttered out in a wispy voice. "Please, don't. Nothing can come of it... Even if I wanted to try it... I'm bond by my royal blood... I can't." Sean ducked under his arm, leaving Nate to frown a bit. Nate could understand what he meant. As a royal himself, he knew the pressures of being the only heir and the importance of royal unions to unite kingdoms. Still, he could tell that Sean wasn't happy and wasn't going to give up so easily. If he could change his own fate, then he could save Sean from his.

Hopping down the steps to stop Sean, he pushed him back against the wall gently. Sean tensed, turning his head away from him. Nate touched Sean's jaw, lightly turning his head to make him look at him. When their eyes met, Nate gave him a small smile and placed a hand to Sean's chest. Sean's gaze fell to look at his hand, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. Sean was so scared. Leaning in, Nate brushed his forehead against Sean's temple. It was the only way he knew how to comfort him. Sean's breathing hitched. Then pulling away, Nate traced his fingers down Sean's smooth shirt and walked off ahead of him. He hoped by showing him that he wasn't upset that it would allow him to stay close to him. He'd find a way to save him. He wanted to see him happy. At the bottom of the staircase, Nate opened a rounded door and his jaw dropped. Sean followed him out into the bright room, telling him in a warmer voice. "This is my father's secret garden. Upstairs is his office. I was never allowed in here." Nate glanced around at all the green flower bushes and listened to the soft sound of trickling water.

The place was surrounded in more stone and glow rocks with small iron gates fencing off the path through the large garden. A thick fog hung over the mossy cobblestone path. Nate followed the path, seeking out where the running water was coming from. While he listened to the soft chirping of tiny creatures flying around. Sean pointed to one of the small creatures, telling him with a smile. "I've been bringing some birds with beautiful songs here. Just to add some life to the place. I've got Wood Thrushes, Woodlarks, and a Musician Wren." Nate let Sean pass him as he said with excitement. "It's this that I'm most proud of though." Nate lowered his eyes from the birds to see Sean walk to a large pond in the center of the garden. The pond had a stone border and a stone arch rise in the center with a smooth rock within it. The arch had hanging green vines and the smooth rock was rippling over with water. All around the large pond were lily pads and beautiful coral rocks. Nate took a seat on the stone wall, causing Sean to caution him. "Easy. I don't know how deep the pond is. I'd hate for you to fall in. Look." Sean picked up a small rock and dropped it in.

The rock sank farther and farther beneath dark surface never making a sound. Crossing his arms, Sean told him. "See? I think this is why my parents never let me in here. They were afraid that I'd fall into it. I keep adding fish... but they keep vanishing... I'm thinking there is a hole that is letting them out. But I can't get it fixed right now. I'm trying to manage the budget in case of town disasters." Nate waved his hand like a fish, then snapped his hands together like they were jaws of a predator. To his surprise, Sean understood enough to say. "You think there is a bigger fish in there? It's possible. I don't know why my father built the place. There are no other doors leading down here and as far as I know... no servants know about it. If it was a deep sea fish my dad caught, then... I'm afraid to mess with it until I know what it is." Nate raised an eyebrow, looking over the pond more closely. Noticing something, Nate reached into the water to pry something from between some coral and rocks.

Sean moved closer, touching his shoulder as he asked. "What? Find something?" Nate removed his hand from the water to stare at the glistening scale between his fingers. The scale was small and in the haunting light, it glinted a deep red with traces of a golden yellow color. Sean leaned closer, asking completely perplexed. "What is that? A Red Snapper scale?" Nate gave him a shrug, passing the scale to Sean for him to hold. Sean looked it over trying to figure it out. Nate already knew though. It was a Mermaid scale. Mermaid scales were softer than male scales. Adjusting, he leaned over the water to look as deep into the water as he could. Was there a mermaid in here? How had Sean's father even gotten one? He started to wonder how friendly a captive Mermaid would be and tensed. Had Sean ever stood so close to the pond before now? Glancing over at Sean, he saw the water move subtly like a soft breeze had made the pond move. Jerking up to his feet, he grabbed Sean and moved him away from the pond's edge.

Sean staggered, almost tripping to the ground. Nate kept himself between Sean and the pond though, watching as something big moved beneath the lily pads. Nate moved closer to the pond, catching the glimpse of something under a cluster of lily pads. He could see her torso and what appeared to be something around her neck with a chain. He couldn't see her face, but she had gorgeous long red hair that blended in with the red roots of the lily pads. Sean put a hand on his arm, asking in a startled voice. "What is it? Did you see it?" Nate nodded, keeping his eyes on what he could see of the mermaid. It was obvious that Sean knew nothing about her. Nate could sense her anger and see it in the way she held her arms at her sides. She was aggressive. Sean tried to step around him, asking as he looked at the pond. "What are you staring at? Is it still there?" Nate raised a hand to stop him from going to the pond. Sean stopped, then gasped as the pond sloshed water. The Mermaid was diving deeper now. Sean's jaw dropped, upon uttering out. "Holy shite... Whatever is in there is big."

Nate waited until the water stilled before lowering his hand from Sean's chest. Sean shook his head, huffing out softly. "Well, whatever it is... Do you think it was curious? I haven't put any fish in there in a while... Maybe it thought I was going to feed it?" Nate widened his eyes a bit, then pointed to Sean before letting his fingers pretend to bite him. Sean took a step back, uttering out in understanding. "Oh... Ya. I can see that... Predatory fish. Got it. Thank you." Nate patted, Sean's arm, then turned his eyes back to the pond. He felt terrible for the mermaid. He wanted to help her, but he couldn't do that now. He'd have to wait. It was too risky to move her now. Sean slipped the scale into his pocket, clearing his throat as he told him reluctantly. "We should go back up. The guards will be freaking out right now. And hopefully Verlaine is ready now... I'd like to go to town before it gets late." Nate turned to follow him. While Sean worked to open the door, Nate looked back toward the pond.

Through the foliage, Nate could see the Mermaid's hand creeping over the edge of the stone wall. She rose just enough to peek over the wall with those dark eyes of hers. She stared right back at him with narrowed eyes. She gave him goosebumps. The way she looked at him with such hatred was unsettling. Sure, he looked human, but he'd never seen such anger directed at him before. Sean tapped his shoulder, using the hand signal for his name as he said. "Hey? Are you ok? Spooked you good, did it?" Sean chuckled lightly to break up the tension and Nate grinned back. From the pond a loud splash drew their attention before a distressed screech broke out and made them jump in fright. Both of them bolted toward the staircase as fast as they could run. Nate let Sean go first, then slipped in. Just as he was closing the door, he heard the mermaid suddenly cry out in a strained broken voice. "Nathan?!" Nate closed the door but froze behind it. The mermaid knew his name? That didn't seem possible.

Turning on his heel, he rushed up the steps after Sean. Bursting out back into the office, Sean stumbled to the ground and stammered out breathlessly. "What on earth was THAT?!" Nate shoved the wall back in place, falling back against it. He had no answers that he could give him. He was in shock himself. Sitting on the floor, Sean blurted out. "In all the times that I have been down there... THAT has never happened! What was that? I've never known a fish to shriek like that!" Nate shrugged. Sean hadn't heard it call his name and he was grateful for that. Sean started to laugh a little, telling him in relief. "I'm glad you heard it too... Otherwise, I would think that I'd lost my mind..." Nate smirked a little, until the doors to the office burst open to reveal a handful of guards. The moment they saw Sean, they asked brashly. "Highness? Are you alright?" Some guards rushed toward Nate, blurting out. "By order of the king, you are under arrest!" Sean was helped to his feet by guards, while Sean yelled out over the chaos going on. "Whoa! Everybody stop!"

The guards all stopped to listen as Sean told them all seriously. "I'm the king and I'm ordering you to leave him alone! We were just... having a little fun." The guards glanced around like they were both concerned and confused. Rolling his eyes, Sean told them gruffly. "Call it a training exercise? I wanted to see how long it would take you to find us. Relax." The guards all relaxed as that sank in. Then from outside the room, Anslo burst in with Verlaine at his heels, shouting out. "Highness?! Are you alright? What happened?!" Sean raised his hands to calm them, quickly informing them. "Relax! I was just doing a little training exercise. Something to kill time and keep the guards on their toes." Verlaine threw herself into Sean's arms, making Nate clench his jaw with jealousy. Anslo began to chew Sean out for pulling such a thing without informing people. While Nate's mind drifted from them. He was thinking about that Mermaid. How had it known who he was? He was human looking now. There was just no way.

Licking his lips, he glanced out the large window beside him. Outside, he could see the private dock that Sean had mentioned. Right now, there was a large ship docked at it. The men he saw were unloading things from it. Yet, from a smaller vessel, men were unloading barrels of fresh fish that servants were helping to take inside. From beside the small vessel, Nate smirked as he watched Mark discreetly snatch a large crab from one of the barrels. Mark then fled under the water and Nate let himself relax. At least, he knew Mark was alright and still swimming around. He wanted to talk to him, and it was killing him to wait. He had so much to tell him and ask him. Would he know who the Mermaid in the secret garden was? Sean brought his attention back by taking his arm and asking him curiously. "We're heading into town now. Can you ride a horse?" Nate nodded, then thought to himself. Did they ride seahorses on land? To Be Continued...