Letters of the prisoner

Amidst of all the commotion, Perseus is interrupted by a shady figure, a young man wearing a raggedy black cloak and face barely visible but he had hair as white as snow and an aura so alarming, came forward to Perseus who remained standing in the Gilgaras tower, looking upon all the chaos he had spawned.

"Bring this letter to Lacquer, orders of Spade Escroc"

Upon saying this the shadowy figure walked away and Perseus waited for him to be out of sight before he opens the letter. He has learned about the downfall of Spade, he was punished for the actions of the very man he sent his hail marry to and the irony made Perseus smirk. This is all Spade Escroc is, a pathetic man who would beg to his enemies the moment he is defeated, having no shame nor integrity and Perseus is impressed by his ineptitude, however this is as far as his shrewdness can take him. Even if Lacquer is wiling to save him, Perseus would no longer let that happen. He thought once that Spade might pose a good pawn but now at his very first strike Spade has already surrendered. "what a pathetic man he is" Perseus thought to himself.

Perseus opened the letter expecting Spade to grovel at Lacquer's feet but he was shocked to see its contents. One would think that a desperate man locked up in the deepest dungeons would be much more humble but no, Spade made it seem like it was to him that Lacquer was indebt to and as Perseus continued reading he understood where Spade gets all his confidence, he has played one of his strongest cards, his trump card against Lacquer one could conclude. The one key knowledge Spade has that could make even a man like Lacquer fall apart, the knowledge that his son Anakin is alive and that only he knows where Anakin is.

Perseus crumpled the letter and burned it, Spade has played a risky move and it all falls apart when he gave Perseus the key role to play. Now Perseus has the very same leverage against Lacquer and this could be a useful scrap of gossip to use in the future, one however that Spade is no longer in, the next sun down. Like all good armies, it always falls apart from the inside and such is the instance for Spade who gave his one enemy the key to his fate.

"Now then its time to put it all together" Perseus muttered to himself as he left the ashes of Spade's final hope in the very tower where he once found out the truth about Anakin.

Meanwhile back in the dungeons Spade remained hopeful of Lacquer's arrival and started planning what his next move would be, normally Lacquer would just save him, take what he wants and leave but in this scenario it is quite different, there is a madman wanting to poison the people that Lacquer swore to protect, and he surely does not know that it is one of his men that did it because through all this, Lacquer remained passive even as Spade massacred his allies. Lacquer stands by what his word when he said that he would only take Rexcarius' head and nothing more.

The thing about isolation is that it makes one lose track of time and for Spade, minutes became hours while from above him his loyal allies do everything in their power to save him. The most obvious attempt was that of Crystal who blatantly showed displeasure to his father who upon Spade's leave remained silent. Crystal justified all she could even going as far as to say she slept with Spade, this of course was false but only by saying something that could also destroy her would people listen. No one would listen to a word Crystal says because to the knights and other inhabitants of the palace, Crystal was also an accomplice but because of her status she was exempted from blame and this infuriated the onlookers.

Blade's attempt meanwhile is much more explosive, he took the all the money from the lottery, including the reward for the winner and purchased the service of assassins. Spade is going to be freed one way or another and Blade is more than wiling to wage war against Cebunilla to make that happen. He swore to Spade that he would protect and follow him to hell and that is exactly what he intends to do, May the heavens have mercy on all that go in his way because Blade conclusively will not.

Claudia is the most confused among everyone, she had no prior knowledge of anything that has happened and back at Spade's ransacked and messy room she remained standing trying her best to hold back her tears. Spade the man who saved her from enslavement and gave her a place in the palace is now facing execution and she has nothing that she could do unlike Crystal and Blade who immediately got to work in freeing him. What could she do after all? She didn't even know how to use magic yet and she didn't have the resources neither, and then she remembered a conversation at the first week of the month with Sabre who swore alliance to Spade, he is her only hope now and she wished to help him.

Claudia looked all over for Sabre and finally she found him at the emergency exit of the palace that only very little know of and that she just happened to come upon by accident. She saw Sabre talking to a shady figure in a brown cloak and before Claudia could go to Sabre, someone pulled her from the bushes. The woman who did it was Sarah her fellow maid and she out her hand on Claudia's mouth to keeo her quiet and continued to listen to the conversation.

"Sabre, shall our attack continue as planned?"

"Yes, it was definitely ours that caused the poison and I say we take advantage of this and continue to add to our ranks"

"And what of Spade Escroc the accused?"

"He shall die, there is no better option for us"

Claudia exclaimed but tried her best to be quiet.

"But why did you help him?"

"I have superstitious beliefs and should Spade die and live on as a ghost, he shall think of me fondly as his last ally before he died betrayed by his own king"

"And what of the lost kittens?"

Sabre turned to the bush from where Claudia and Sarah hid and he sighed in exasperation.

"Leave no witnesses"

And with that the two defenceless maids ran for dear life as two armed and experienced soldiers chased them with the intention to kill.

Despite some seeing it clearly, they simply chose to look the other way. Conflict with Captain Sabre is not worth risking over some pettu maids, one that the traitor Spade owned to make it worse.

Sarah draged Claudia everywhere trying to run, she needed someone to protect them but who exactly? The knights that so blatanly ignored their cries for help? Their fellow maids thag would simoly add to the body cout of Sabre? Sarah prayed and prayed that Alfron would come and save her again. That the man he loves would rise from the dead and save her life. Filled with thoughts of Alfron, Sarah ran to his room which just a week ago they would dine and talk happily in.

Sarah draged the despaired Claudia inside Alfron's room only to see that her knight in shining armor wasn't there, just an azure stone filled with sorrow. Before she could realize it, the two were cornered and Sabre and his lackey came in careful stances, getting closer by the second.

Sarah prayed to her god but Claudia simply remained standing, motionless, grief-stricken by the execution of her master. Sarah wanted to protect Claudia's smile, she wanted her aloof and goofy attitude back, she wanted to save her friend in one way or another. So with all Sarah's strength, she took her lover's remains and blocked Sabre's strong but slow swipe towards Claudia's head. When all hope was lost Sabre's sword shattered upon hitting the azure gem and it is as if Alfron resonated within Sarah.

As if another person was controlling her body, Sarah moved swiftly and precise as with the azure gem in her hand, she punched the lackey and the stone absorbed him. Sabre seeing this understood he was at a disadvantage with that foreign object of Alfron's magnificent power and he backed away knowing it was not a fight worth fighting and as it was over, Sarah returned to ger original state and held the gem closely to her heart, Alfron was still alive and when she needed him, like always he saved her.

Sarah was excited to tell this to his sisters but Zyderine has been poisoned and Crystal was probably in the same despair as Claudia, for now she needed to be there for her friend, the good news will come after.

Claudia lost hope having no one to count on any longer and she decided to end it all, atleast she would not have to see the man who saved her get hanged, atleast she would die knowning Spade was still alive and no amount of comfort from her friend could stop her.

When Sarah was asleep due to exhaustion she decided to leave, she took the death apple and headed to Spade's room to tell her farewell.

As she went back she was about to partake of the apple when she saw a letter with her name on it on his desk. She immediately recognized this handwriting and promplty opened it. The letter said:

Dear Claudia

This may come of a shock to you but I shall be leaving, for good. I want you to know that I have appreciated and cherished the memories we made together in the short period of time when fate brought us together but sadly there are things that are far from our control that would keep us apart. As a friend you have treated me with respect, and as my maid you have done a very crappy job ha ha ha but I wouldn't trade you for the best maid there is. I'm leaving Claudia but this is not the end for you, it is simply the conclusion of our time together. You will find another master, another friend, and another hero and in due time you will forget about me, i have accepted that and I wish you the very best. You once told me that being freed from slavery is like being born once more, I have taken away your chance to live a new and better life and with my goodbyes I hope that you will achieve that. When all is said and done, I would be gone and you, you will be free. This is my parting gift to you my friend, use it well.

. Yours truly, Spade

Tears came rushing in Claudia's face, she threw the poison away and in her master's bed she mourned. She loved Spade that is why she must follow his final request, the request that he has spent his final time writing. In accordance to his request and as an acceptance to his gift, Claudia walked away.

She left the palace and bid farewell to her life as Spade's maid, she left everything, her belongings, her savings, the only thing she kept was the name that the man who loved her just the same gave to her. Claudia bid farewell to this place and in some manners that was the day that Claudia really did die. She left no goodbye and simply left to god knows where, whatever Spade's sentence may be. For Claudia he has died and part of her died with him but the rest want to keep far from that part. It would be better for her to leave her home than stay and watch as it all burns down. In order to save the body she had to cut the leg and in order to grant his wish, Claudia would do everything to forget his memory.