Dominic lay in his bed that night, exhausted and simply staring at the ceiling, willing sleep to come.
So, when the lights of the Palace kitchens were dimmed by a figure in his window, Dominic was aware enough to know that he was in trouble.
His room was not at ground level, you didn’t just end up blocking his window by accident.
The figure silently climbed through the window as Dominic removed a knife from his storage cube and waited. If it was a thief, he didn’t need to overreact. Killing a forge worker because they tried to steal supplies from his room would cause all sorts of uncomfortable questions with the Nobility and the Palace Guards.
Especially in the middle of a war.
Steel flashed in the dim light from the courtyard lamps, and the silent figure swung downward at Dominic.
Instinctively, he reacted. Not with the knife in his hand, but with an Arcane Blast. The figure’s arm was separated from its body, and an agonized scream echoed in the stone room, which caused lights to go on all over the courtyard, and an alarm bell to start ringing.
The figure turned to flee, but Dominic hurled his knife at its back.
The blade rang off metal, and the sound of guards shouting outside was accompanied by the sound of running feet.
In the silence of a late night in the Palace, few things were as recognizable as the sound of steel on steel.
The intruder fell out of Dominic’s window, half a second before another ring of metal on metal announced the arrival of the guards, who had crashed into the intruder as they came around the corner of the path.
"Grab the intruder. They’re already wounded." Dominic shouted.
"Got them. They’re not going anywhere." A deep voice announced.
Then, the lamps in the rooms all around the garden were suddenly lit, and firelight revealed simple black clothes, and a faceless cloth mask with only eyeholes cut.
But Dominic could see the pain in those eyes as the man held the bleeding stump of his right arm. He didn’t struggle, he didn’t try to run, he just lay on the cobblestones and struggled to stop himself from bleeding to death.
But more alarm bells were ringing from all over the Palace, not just this one courtyard, and Dominic could sense the satisfaction of the captured intruder as the alarms continued.
Dominic’s door burst open, kicked by someone who didn’t realize it wasn’t latched, as Dominic hadn’t bothered closing it all the way when he went to bed.
"Royal Sorcerer Dominic. Her Highness requires your presence." The Royal Guard declared.
"Guards, you have it from here. His arm is on my floor. Kindly take care of that before someone traumatizes a maid. I don’t know if his weapon was enchanted or poisoned, but it’s also on the floor." Dominic informed the guard outside in a shaky voice, as the adrenaline rush began to wear off.
"You were attacked as well?" The Royal Guard at the door asked.
Dominic nodded. "Just a few seconds ago. The garden alarm was the first alarm to go off."
The Royal Guard tapped his arm, and a crystal glowed red for a moment before a three-person team of guards rushed inside.
"Shit. Here too. Check on the Master Smith." The new arrivals shouted, panicking.
"Oh, calm down. You didn’t think that some idiot assassin could get to me, did you?" Pops grumbled from what sounded like the main room of the suite.
Dominic ran a brush through his hair and began pulling on his armour before putting on his mage robes and then his chest plate. There was sure to be a formal meeting within an hour, and he might as well be dressed for it now.
"Sorry to leave you with the Chaos, Pops. The Princess has called for me."
The old Dwarf just laughed and waved his hand. "Go, do your job. I will work on security for the windows, so that the next one doesn’t wake me up in the middle of a good dream."
The Royal Guard turned to lead Dominic into the hallway, but the entry was blocked as more Royal Guards came in.
"Is the Advisor alive?"
"Alive and armoured. We’re off to see Her Highness Alexis." The Guard confirmed.
"Good, good. Everyone is called to the Strategy room. There will be doctors there if needed." He announced, then ran off down the corridor toward the Royal wing.
Dominic’s suite was between the Palace Guard barracks and the Royal Wing, but not between the Royal Guard quarters and the Royal Wing.
A fact that escaped him, but not the guard with him.
{Stop Jackson when he arrives at the Royal Wing. I want to know where he’s coming from.} The guard with Dominic whispered to a crystal on his sleeve.
Everyone was on high alert today, and even the smallest of discrepancies was being analyzed, in case there were more traitors.
Dominic noted that they weren’t going for the Strategy Room, but down the less used route to the Royal Quarters, where they would be in bright light for most of the way. If the Princess was no longer there, then they would probably head for the Strategy Room, but the Guard who had been sent to get Dominic was not deviating from his orders.
Two Royal Guards stood on post at Princess Alexis’ door when they arrived, and the door was opened without hesitation.
Dominic didn’t notice that the Guard had stopped until the door closed behind him, leaving him alone with the Princess and two terrified maids in her quarters.
"Your Highness, as you requested, I am here."
Alexis nodded, and Dominic noticed the bandage on her arm, as well as the dried blood on the bed.
"They came for you as well? Do we know who it is yet? I left the one who came to my room with the Palace Guard." He asked.
The Princess’ pale eyes flinched as she moved, revealing hidden wounds. "The one who attacked me was a Palace Servant. She had been with us for eight years, and had been working the Royal wing for the last two."
The maid tending to the blood on her skin openly wept. "If our Mistress wasn’t such a light sleeper, I can only imagine the tragedy."