The night lights danced under the full moon, and slowly the party faded. One after another the lords went away, for the only reason they set foot on these grounds was that the mighty king himself willed it, although mighty would be too generous of a tittle looking at his miserable physique was
The children sat in the corner, stuck deep inside their own thoughts. When a maid approached them from the distance
"The butler is apologising because he can't accompany you to your quarters" she said "I will be leading you"
As they followed her, she did not ascend the castle, rather they went deeper, staring the sky from the windows, she brought them to their room, it is prepared with the thought of having 6 important guests, as she closed the door behind them, around the room they searched
Sara went to the door checking if it was locked from the outside, and as you guessed, indeed it was, they looked behind the fancy beds, the expensive portraits, the perfumes and drinks beside the gold painted mirrors, no one seemed to be hiding putting his ears anywhere that is near
They sat on their beds, only silence was there, even the winds feared this castle, the boys and girls sat down on two beds beside each other, none started the talk for some time until John spoke
"I guess we all have the same theory"
"Not just us, every lord and lady must have noticed it by now, the king is a puppet," replied William
"The real question is who is the butler, how does he hold that much power and yet no knight or guard dare speak up to him," said Isabel
"At least it is obvious that the commander knows something about it," said John
"Yeh, and the butler knows about us, if he holds that much power already why not just take the crown, it's easy to start chaos while holding all power," said Henry
"Yes, but why the lords and ladies weren't as scared of the butler as they were of the king," said John
"Maybe they are a bunch of idiots," said Isabel
"They can't be that stupid; it may be that the butler kept a low profile up until this point," said Sara
"That might be correct, but why reveal it now, it was too chaotic for me to focus on the surroundings," said John
William opened his eyes wide as they noticed he remembered something, "the reason that made him go towards the king was the tattoo on Henry's cheek" said William, the room staring at the Henry who was as shocked as they are
"The king wanted to reach out to his face, he wanted to check it," said Thomas
"Now that we are talking about it, the commander two was surprised by it," said John
"We can't see the commander's face, the butler's or the upper part of the king's, my dear henry, what you hold there is bigger than us all," said William
"Could he have blood ties to royalty," said Isabel
"I don't think so" replied Sara as Isabel frowned looking at her in disappointment," both Henry's hair and his eyes are black, also his skin is of a lighter shade of white compared to the king"
"Still, that dose not neglect the chance of it" replied William "We can't see the commander's face or the butler's clearly"
"And we have no paintings of the past kings" continued Thomas
"Aren't you guys forgetting something? we know not of the commander's location, he did not appear through out the whole duration of the party, where could the butler have taken him," said Henry
"We are used of him disappearing for longer, but with everything so confusing why isn't he here to explain it like every time," said John
"He has been telling us about how important meeting his highness for a year now, and when the time came, he just, vanished," said Sara
"Whatever it is that is really going on, crying about it is of no help right now" said Isabel as she got up "We need rest, we haven't gotten enough sleep in days" she said going to the girls changing room, soon after Sara followed, with the boys going to their own
In the dark tunnels bellow. The butler walking with his mask on, in his hand he held a candle
Step by step until he stopped, reaching a light in the distance, before him standing on the side was the masked man, a wider space with a horse carriage
"I did not happen to find you in the party above?" said the butler
"I was indeed there" replied the commander
The butler putting aside the candle said "I guess you are, displeased, with its outcome"
In a calm and threatening voice, the commander replied "Today, was a waste, you are delaying the choosing ceremony"
"It might be the outcome of a certain someone not notifying us in advance of what he brought alongside with him," said the butler
"You have learned to talk back I see, boy you better keep your tongue inside before I rip it out, and be sure that your little friend keeps his hands to himself and not destroy our plans" said the commander, he sounded annoyed
He calmed down and continued "there is enough chaos around, I don't need more fire in this castle too, until time wishes it at the very least" said the commander before climbing into the empty carriage to ride it off
"And where will you be heading off to?" asked the butler
"I handed over what I was holding onto, you are in charge of it now," said the commander
"Me? Alone?" replied the butler as he handed him a torch from the wall
"You are the brain are you not? at least that is your only worth right now" replied the commander before riding off into the dark
"You have already started many fires, that would be too much to handle, even for you commander, "said the butler going back int the dark he emerged from