Nell's frown deepened. Then, slowly she crossed the distance between her and Gunthir. She stopped when she was about an inch away from him and slapped the wine goblet out of his hand. "Drink your own wine." She turned then to the groom. "We are done for the night, Serg. You may take the glasses now."

She turned again without another word and walked back to her bedside. She was clearly angry as was evident in the way she swiftly untied her over skirt and stripped to her petty coats. The then climbed into bed. The thought that Randell might have had a hand in this betrayal did weigh heavily on her mind but she would not show this to Gunthir. Instead, she shot him one last cold look. "You may hate me if you wish but your hatred is unfounded and your cruelty does not honor your lost princess. But either way you should be vindicated enough tomorrow. Tonight I am done with this petty quarreling."

That being said she lied down as if to sleep but in truth she was only waiting. She had had enough. The guard had to sleep sometime and when he did she was disappear. She was not yet certain where she would go but she was determined at least not to be found here in the morning.

Gunthir simply grinned as the goblet hit the stone floor and rolled away from him as if his point had been made. He was about to speak but held his tongue for once, yawned stifling it with a hand as Serg got down on his hands and knees dabbling up the wine with a rag before scurrying over to the goblet and retrieving it. He moved to Nell's goblet and put it on his tray.

But as he thoughts churned over departing from this place she heard a crash as something heavy hit the ground. Gunthir had ... he was unconscious! At once Serg dropped his tray on the floor with a clatter as he swiftly moved to Nell's side grabbing her by a forearm.

"Quickly! We don't have long."

Already he was heading towards the door ...

Nell gasped and quickly side stepped the falling brute. "What on Earth..." Serg was suddenly there at her side and pulling on her arm. "Quickly! We don't have long." He didn't give her time to reply but simply began to leading her towards the door. Nell was really too stunned to argue at this point but once they would out of the room and some ways down the corridor she found her voice again.

"Serg, what are you doing?!" She spoke in an exasperated whisper. "You could be killed for this." It hadn't been anything she hadn't been planning to do herself but she didn't like the idea of endangering another in her escape.

"I could be ..." he agreed with her as he stopped in the corridor, pressing on the top part of a wall that let out an audible click as it sank in part way eventually revealing a passage beyond that was inspected by this side at least looked real enough.

It was one of many strewn throughout the castle though as a minor servant Serg shouldn't even realize that it existed. He wasted no time in shooing her in and entering behind her closing the portal then snatching an unlit torch near the door.

"But some things are worth dying for," he moved with her in the gloom some distance before striking the torch least it's light give away the passage to those inside the castle. As it were they didn't have much time before Gunthir awoke he reckoned judging by his size and the fact that he only had one goblet of wine tonight rather than his customary three which he had planned on him having.

They had been lucky in many ways. Gunthir failed to detect the odorless poison and that it still functioned to render him unconscious with a single goblet full since he didn't calculate the poison to his weight for a mere goblet full.

Serg had also been under the belief that Nell would be out to. To make things less suspicious he had to drug her too but fortunately she hadn't touched her wine tonight and her being conscious was easier on him as it was.

"I generally agree but my virtue hardly seems like it should be one of them..." She replied as she nervously looked around the dark passage. "Is this the passageway they used to get into the castle? How did you know where it was?" Even she had not been sure of its location. Her mother had shown her once as a child but she had forgotten it. She had never thought she would be needing it.

She frowned at the walls around her, mold covered stonework flickered in the torchlight. She didn't like thinking of an enemy seeing this secret corridor that had been built for their protection. She touched one wall tentatively. "I wonder if Randell really did betray us..."

"I think so ... and so does your father," Serg answered as they pressed on. "And no, this is not the same passage. My guess is that they don't. Only the royals know of this one and I only know because your father told me a few nights ago. I have no clue as to how many passages run beneath the castle though Randell may have told them about one, then again he might not.

"Gunthir was trying to stir you up, and he was beginning to get to you there at the end. Of course I don't think he would have done anything outside of the verbal given that he would have to answer to Vek but he doesn't strike me as being the sharpest knife in the draw either."

"My father helped you plan this escape?!" She was shocked by this revelation, not because she did not think her father had mounted a rescue but rather that he had been able to. She had seen precious little of her father since the castle was seized and she had assumed he was under at least as tight a guard as she was. "How have you been in contact with my father? Do you know where he is?? We have to rescue him as well!"

She thought back to what Gunthir had told her about the Prince and she suddenly felt afraid for her father's life again. "Oh god, when Vek finds out I have escaped... My father will be endanger! I can't leave him here!"

"I delivered meals to him and he passed me notes on monogramed napkins. Didn't you think it strange that a groom was serving you when a maid could have done the role? He was behind it. There's no time to go back for him, it is his wish that you leave to Dunshire and get word from there to Gerron as to what has transpired here so that help can be sent.

"The king feels that he's in no immediate danger, whereas you were, and he deems himself too old to make the journey to Dunshire and believes that he only be captured before getting too far so he choose to stay for the greater good of the nation you must go on. They will not listen to a groomer, but you are Geoff's only hope."

"Dunshire?! Gerron?! That's a long journey from. We would need horses and provisions. And clothes! Oh god, I'm wearing nothing but my under garments. I can't be seen in Gerron's courts dressed like this!!"

"We can make it to Dunshire by morning if we're lucky and get clothes, horses and other provisions once there for the journey to Gerron. From there it all depends on how Vek reacts to determine how far and fast we can go without making the neccesary adjustments, obviously not to get apprehended of course."

Nell frowned slightly at the thought of journeying to Dunshire on foot all night wearing only her underwear. Still, beggers could not be chosers and it was too late to go back now. "Very well then, what is the plan to get out of the city? Surely their a Spathian guards patroling the streets. Where does this passage let out? Do we have money to use once we get to Dunshire?"

"In the past few days the Sparthian patrols have run the same routes and should be easy enough to avoid. There is a guard on the road, once of Geoff captured in war while a child but he still sympathizes with us ... the king gave me coin to bribe him and we do have some money, if needed in Dunshire though most of our needs can just be credited to the kingdom's coffers. You are know there, it is in Geoff's borders, so your face will be known there and credit given but the king has given me enough coin to purchase the horses and provisions if we are given a hard time about matters or think that this is a trick of some sort."

Nell frown slightly, it seemed they had everything all planned out but why did she still feel so uneasy. Maybe she just didn't like the idea of running away. She didn't want to be raped but it would have put an end to the bloodshed. Still, she regarded her rescuer thoughfully, she had not thought about how her rape would dishearten her people. She had thought she would only would be the one to suffer but for her people who had already been crushed and defeated by the Sparthians... Seeing their princess disgraced and tarnished at the hands of their enemies might detroy their hope entirely. She sighed heavily under the weight of this new revelation. "Let us be quick about it then. You know what you are doing so I won't delay us any longer with further questioning. Lead and I will follow."

Serg nodded. They were underway, traveling throughout the dead of night. The passage emptied out of the castle to the north in a lightly wooded area. Serg cut the torch when they were out of the confined space of the tunnel, least the torch light be spotted.

He lead his way, stepping cautiously here and there around tree roots that were poking out of the ground. He took her hand assisting her as they went as their eyes slowly adjusting to the lack of light. Half an hour later they were coming out near a road though Serg ran parallel to it while still in the woods just incase they had to deal with the unsuspected.

Little did they know that Gunthir had soon awoke and alerted Vek that she was gone. Riders were sent out from the castle to alert patrols on the roads while a small team had been dispatched to capture the pair ... a team lead by Gunthir.

They got to the guard at a check point at the road and paid him off. They traveled further along, slowly making progress until weariness got the better of them and it seemed too dark to continue. "Tomorrow we'll reach Dunshire but it's too dark to press on. It's all down a sloppy incline, something we shouldn't do at night given the field of rocks and the like in the way."

Nell sat down in the brush and rested her back against a nearby tree. She had really wanted to reach Dunshire but she was unaccustom to walking such a long distance in uneven terrain. She sighed wearily. "I'm sorry I slowed us down so much." She pulled her knees up into the chest and looked around forest and the descending darkness. "Do you think it is safe here?"