The Crumbling (Lord Dakol and Lady Elizabeth)

This went much worse than he had expected! Someone gave him word that an artifact was in the Empire's palace, and better yet, it was supposed to be powerful with magic. But once he arrived, he immediately tipped off the guards and the chase began. Dirune sped down the halls of the great palace, breathing heavily, obviously out of breath. Sweat rolled down his forehead, making his semi-long raven hair stick to his skin as he turned down into a hallway. Dark crimson red eyes darted to every door, trying to find a room to hide in, but swiftly found that they were all locked.

"Come on!" he breathed, clutching his side as the wound bled through his tattered gray shirt. Dirune tried his best to close up the wound after he was stabbed, but he needed actual medical attention. The blood trickled over his black harem pants and onto his moccasins. The young man of 20 slightly showed off a lean, toned figure, though his legs and arms were more muscular due to the fact that he needed them to free-run. Jiggling one of the door knobs, he sighed as he realized his only chance was the large double-doors at the end of the hall.

"He went down this way!" a guard's voice bark, and as he turned two guards spotted him and ran in his direction. With a swift movement despite his injury, he flipped out a silver, curved dagger from the sheath on his right leg. Stepping forward, he drove the dagger into one of the guard's neck, killing him instantly as he dropped to the floor. Taking his weapon from the corpse, he turned his attention to the other guard. Holding the tip of the dagger by his finger, Malacai flicked his wrist and watched as the weapon hit its mark: the chest.

His hand enclosed around the dagger and attempted to pull it out. He strained for a moment or two, almost blacking out from the pain in his abdomen. With a sickening crack, he pulled out the dagger and started down the hall. Dirune cursed under his breath and sprinted down the hallway, paying no mind to his throbbing wound. Stepping down the hall, not caring whether he made noise or not, he tried double-doors... yes! They were unlocked. Opening the door, he slipped inside and slammed it shut, locking it securely as he gave himself a moment to catch his breath.

However, he didn't expect the room to be occupied. Turning his head, his crimson eyes widened with shock at who's room it was... and who was standing in front of him.

Triana hadn’t expected anything good to come from the evening. Her dark almost ebony hair fell almost to her waist. She had lowered her hair from the braid that she normally kept her hair in during the day. The soft waves of curls from the tight braid made her hair look curly though it was normally straight. She looked out of the window before turning back inside towards her bedroom.

The maids were retired for the night and yet she had no inkling of wanting to actually go to sleep. She heard someone yelling but knowing them, something had dropped on them or they were having an exceptionally bad day. She didn’t pay it any mind at all. She walked towards the center of the room and the fireplace before pacing back and forth a bit.

She knew her father had plans for her to marry some important dignitary. It was befitting her station to do so. The arranged marriages were often done because they wanted the couples to be successful rather than happy. She found the man a bore and had told her father so.

Her eyes watched the flames flicker while her mind took a sidestep. She wanted a second and then started pacing again. The timing had been bad and she knew the kingdom needed her. She sighed softly and had just started to pace again when the ruckus came even closer to her door. Normally, the guards kept the ruckus away from her with the fear of upsetting her. These obviously didn’t fear that. It made her quite angry to know that.

She had turned to go out and confront the guards as her doors opened and a man came through them barreling towards her. She saw him close the doors and turn. She knew that she would make a picture. She stood there like a frightened doe and had her hand up to her mouth before her eyes flashed anger. She did look for a full minute and then cleared her throat as she saw the blood. She looked around her knowing she had no guards and he didn’t exactly look like the peace keeping sort.

She felt a pull and draw towards him and his handsome features had not been cast aside. She heard the other guards screaming and knew that they would be in her room to check it out in a matter of moments. She had a choice to make. She could scream and never find out what was going on because they would drag him away so damned quickly. She made the decision that her own curiosity out weighed turning him in so she grabbed his arm. She wasn’t sure what his reaction would be.

She whispered quickly. “come with me” If he allowed, she would drag him towards the bed and hide him behind a curtain there. The guards wouldn’t be stupid enough to hurt her feelings by asking her to move or to search through her private areas. If they were, she’d have to kick their ass herself.