Back in Kirmanock, Marie, with the rest of the men there, had been staying inconspicuously hidden with the homeless people.

They tried getting information about Winter and Nathaniel, but there was nothing to be heard.

"I say we head to The Palace." suggested one of the men.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Marie asked, sometimes these boys came up with the stupidest ideas.

Marie supposed it was unladylike and uncharitable to call them stupid. But, so was joining an outlaw camp!

"I don't know, but it's better than staying here, it's cold at night." The other men nodded in agreement.

Marie sighed, "Any other suggestions?"
"Apparently I am surrounded by people who have no imagination."

"Here's what we'll do," she started, "we can head towards the Palace, but we are not taking any often used roads, understood?" She thought.

"Yes, but, one question." said the guy who suggested going to the palace, "Who put you in charge?" The guy was tall, with short blonde hair, and seemed to be the one the other two would follow.

"I'm not in charge," Marie contradicted, "I am simply the only one that can think of the implications all you guys' bad ideas will bring!"

"Bad ideas?" the guy asked, "If we had such bad ideas, then how come you agreed to them?"

"I only agreed to one, but do you seriously think going to the jail house was smart? It's as if you're trying to get us caught!" She exclaimed.

"Well it isn't as if you're helping any!" The tall blonde fellow said. All the other guys nodded their agreement.

"Not helping!" Marie said in rage, "If it weren't for me, you guys would be in jail! And you, unlike Nathaniel, probably won't get your own trial!"

And so it was decided they would make their way to The Palace using back roads and staying as hidden as possible.

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Walking through the forest path, Marie, complained once again, that they were lost.

"We are not lost!" Jenson, the tall blonde guy exclaimed.

Marie, checking her mental map she had from living in Dirland before, knew there was no place where the trees could be this thick except Dirland Forest, which was a six day journey from The Palace.

They had been traveling for eight days, which, even for taking back roads, was too long for not coming upon the castle.

She sighed in annoyance "Jenson! You are lost, admit it! We are in Dirland Forest, not Dirland Palace."

"I'm not lost." He said with a teasing smile.

"Oh? Then where are you?" She asked rhetorically .

"Dirland Forest." He said, bending down to look her in the eye while smirking, a teasing glint to his eyes, then he straightened and continuing to walk along the path.

"Should have seen that one coming." She thought to herself.

But, then again, they had no guarantee that Winter and Nathaniel were even at Dirland Palace, so what was the point in hurrying?"

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A lady servant -the same one who had foretold of Nathaniel's presence in the tunnel- had been promoted to houskeeper. A position way above that of a noble prisoner servant.

It was in the middle of the day, when none of the noble's were ever in, when she was found cleaning one of their rooms by none other than a noble.

He cleared his throat to announce his presence, she had been bending down dusting a small cabinet, but jumped up in surprise quicker than she knew she could.

"You!" he said.

"Me?!?" she asked, starting to get scared.

Did she do something wrong? She quickly checked her list of proper protocol for servants, and to to her horror she realized she had talked back to a noble, and she was staring.

"Yes, you, the one that told of the Prince's presence in the magical tunnel."

Now she was really confused, "Magical tunnel?"

"Now, what do you have to say for yourself?"

She stared at him with a scared blank face.

"The other day, in the library, why were you there?"

The lady servant blushed, remembering The Chamberlain's presence a few weeks ago when she had almost destroyed herself by talking to The King.

"Uhhh.....hmm, ahh." She couldn't form words, she knew she was done for, the end of life as she knew it.

Knolls was staring at her, waiting for an answer, when she started crying, blabbering things about how she didn't mean to.

"Calm down, calm down. I'm not going to have you hanged." He said, that managed to calm her, at least a little.

"You're not?" she asked, suppressing her crying.

He shook his head, smiling.
"Now, tell me why you spoke of The Prince's presence." he said gently.

Which caused her to start crying again.

"That was why he said it! He doesn't know the whole story!" She thought, now sobbing emphatically.

"It's okay, it's okay. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He smiled, "I'll figure it out sooner or later." He finished jollily.

She couldn't decide if his good natured raillery made her uneasy, or lifted her spirits. So she just gave him a timid smile that he seemed to rejoice in.

"Well, I'm keeping you from your job." He said, heading towards the door. "Farewell, we shall meet again." and with a nod of his head and a happy smile, he was gone.

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Robert Hood sent word to The King that, despite what he thought, Nathaniel was indeed held against his will in an outlaw camp and in need of a ransom for his release.

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"I knew something like this would happen! What did I tell you Knolls? Outlaw skills bah! My son is no more fit to be an outlaw than he is to be king!"

Knolls rolled his eyes good naturedly, "At least you know where he is and how to get him back." he pointed out.

The King nodded, deep in thought. "It was probably that Neric girl that lead him right to them. And he was so blinded by his heart he didn't notice!" the only conciliation The King had was that Nathaniel would have realized how wretched the Neric actually were.

"Don't judge the girl so harshly, a child can't have much evil in their heart." Knolls said, as if reading his mind.

"Whoever could you be talking of?" asked The King.

"The girl, she's not one to do evil." repeated Knolls.

He knew of Winter from Marie, of whom he considered a daughter. Her father had died in the war, and her mother of heartache. Being a friend of the family, he took her in, until she ran away to Nathaniel's camp, but he knew she would be safe there.

He was also the reason she found out about Nathaniel's trial so fast, he was quick to help her when she was in need.

"And how do you know this?" demanded The King.

"Connections." Knolls said with a secretive smile.

"And I suppose you aren't going to tell me who?" asked The King exasperated.

"You suppose correctly your majesty. But, rest assured, if it was important, you would know." His secret smile still in place.

Now it was The King who rolled his eyes, "Of course, always one to value your loyalty."

"You'll never guess who I just saw!" Knolls said, his face lighting up and changing the subject effectivley.

"Who?" The King thought he might as well go along with it.

"The old hag!"

"Truthfully? You're still going on about that?" asked The King, tired with the conversation.

"Yes! She looked scared half to death when I recognized her, who knows what was going through that mind."

"As well she should be, the little wench." said The King, remembering the fear she had caused in him.

"I hardly call her a wench, just a sniffling servant." joked Knolls.

"Sniffling servant?" asked The King, getting into a jolly mood.

"Of course, she bawled her eyes out." said Knolls.

"What gave her cause to cry?" asked The King, his anger towards the servant subsiding and curiousity taking it's place.

"She feared she would be hanged for talking to you." explained Knolls.

"Punished lightly maybe, but hanged? Am I known as such a ruthless King as that?" he questioned himself.

"The war with Nerica has put little faith in your kindness." Knolls informed.