Tina turned, looking up at the clock tower as the bell rang out. She counted the bell rings until the bell’s ringing faded away. 12. It was midnight. She had been roaming the empty streets since the sun disappeared over the horizon, hours ago. Shortly as the sun had started to set, she had noticed a group of men walked through the streets with a torch and a ladder. They stopped at street posts, placed the ladder against the street posts, climbed the ladder, and lit the lanterns sitting on top of the street posts, illuminating the streets with a soft glow.

  It was something she didn’t expected from a medieval themed city. She half expected it from a city during the Renaissances Period or early Victorian Era. She frowned. She forgot when the Renaissance Period started and ended. She was sure the Victorian Era was around the turn of the 20th century. She sighed and shook her head.

  Now, Tina stayed within the glow of the lanterns as she walked through the streets. She couldn’t believe half of what she saw. Who would have thought that Camelot would have trolleys like San Francesco did or have stations for those metal, gear like horses to shut down for the night? She knew Camelot of the legends didn’t have those devices. The town started to remind her of a steam punk themed city.

  She past store fronts, selling the simple everyday things to items should not exist for this time period. In front of one store, selling what appeared to be stone tablets with signs saying ‘Sell on Historical Tablets- 25%’ and ‘The Unofficial Biography of the 200th King of Camelot: Uther of House Drake, Available now!’. When she saw that, she frowned. They couldn’t be suggesting that those stone tablets were similar to books, were they? What did they mean by ‘The 200th King of Camelot’? She looked up at the store front. A large sign sat a couple feet above the door, announcing ‘Stone Books’.

  “The mystery deepens,” Tina murmured, blinking, before she moved on. She made a mental note on returning back to the ‘stone’ book store and grab one. She strolled past some of the area she past earlier when she first arrived in Camelot. It was weird to see the once crowded bustling street so empty. Even back at home, there were some places that always had people out late, well into the wee hours of the morning. It was mind boggling to see the streets bare of life.

  Tina paused, looking at the outer wall of the castle, frowning. This was where she had entered the town, right? She tried to remember. There was a stable across the archway of the wall. She glanced toward her left and saw the stable. She smiled. This was where she entered the town. She continued on her way until she sensed something with her spirit energy. It was coming from her left, on a nearby street. The energy seemed to flex up and down like the owner was trying to do something with it or at least working on something, requiring the use of spirit energy. She turned her head, intending to check it out when a voice rang out behind her, “Excuse me, My lady.”

  Tina twisted to face the speaker, taken off guard. The man stood point of a triangle formation was tall and bulky like a bodybuilder or a quarter backer, staring at her with a pair of hard eyes. She couldn’t see what color his eyes were, but his hair was a light shade of red, nothing like the shade she had or that mysterious General had, but in the fire light of the nearby lantern, she spotted strikes of blond hair. He wore a loose tunic in the style of a tank top with two dark colored ribbons crossing over his chest, slipping over his shoulders. A thick belt held up his pants around his middle as he held a sword at his hip. A cloak was clipped at his collar bone.

  She was pretty sure this man was a knight from the golden drake on the cloak he wore. He was not alone. Her eyes darted over the man standing behind the blondish red hair man’s left shoulder.

  This man had chocolate brown hair that curled at the ends. It was kinda cute in Tina’s opinion. She couldn’t tell exactly where he wore other then it was dark clothing. It could be the fact he also stood slightly behind the blondish red head. He was a little bit taller then the man standing point for the trio.

  Tina looked over to the last man, standing behind the blondish red head’s right shoulder. He reminded her of an average fighter from the cage, lean, but muscular from how tight his skin was on his arms. He was slightly shorter of the three. His dirty blond hair was slicked back over his head, but that was all Tina could see in the limited light she had to work with. However, she did noticed one thing about them. They had to some of most handsome human males she ever seen. The men back home had nothing on these gentlemen.

  “You are aware there is a crew few in place, my lady,” the blondish red head, the middle knight, spoke in a questioning tone.

  “I was not aware of it,” Tina said, “But thank you for informing me.” She started to walk down the street and away from the trio.

  “I’m sorry, my lady,” he continued, “I must ask to you return to your lodgings.” He stepped forward. “May I escort you?”

  “I’m heading that, good Sir Knight,” Tina replied, “What are your names?”

  “I’m Sir Gawain, a Knight of the Round Table,” the blondish red head introduced himself with a bow.

  “Sir Leon, at your service, my lady,” the man standing behind Gawain’s left shoulder, stepping away from Gawain before he bowed to her.

  “And I’m Sir Bors,” the last man introduced himself as he bowed.

  “It’s honer to meet such great knights as yourself,” she hoped she was not lying it on thick, “As for my lodgings,” she went on before they could get a word in. She wanted to see the town more before she did though. “It’s not far from here. I will be fine.” She didn’t want to have an escort. Apparently, the Knight was not used to being told no from his reaction. He blinked at her.

  The Knight on right snorted in amusement and said, “I think that is the first time I heard a Lady tell the Great, Bastard Knight Gawain no.”

  Tina shook her head, walking on, leaving the trio of knights behind. She reached a corner, disappearing around it, listening to the voices of the three knights. She frowned. They sound like they were coming closer instead of traveling further away. She let out a soft growl. She glanced around the road before she spotted an alleyway and darted over to the mouth of the alley way. She darted her gaze back up the road before she turned her attention to the alley way. She narrowed her eyes and stepped into the alley. She didn’t bothering waiting for her eyes to adjust to the very dimmed light before she hurried down the alley and spotted a large trash bin. She crunch down on the far side of it and diverted her attention to the street.

  Tina didn’t have to wait long before she spotted that trio of Knights. They walked by the mouth of the alley way. She heard one of them make the comment in his deep voice, “I guess she was telling the truth.”

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  “I don’t know,” the knight with chocolate brown hair, Leon right? - said in a tone that gave away his doubt, “The way she was dressed…she had be to a part of the court, not part of the working class.”

  “I noticed that as well,” the third voice rang out. It had the gentle tone to it. It had to be the third Knight. He did have a gentle demeanor about him. “Perhaps, we will find out soon. After all, the Funeral ceremony will be happening tomorrow then the public choosing. Maybe she will show herself during the ceremonies.”

  “True,” the deep voice stated. They continued to talk, their voices drifting away on the wind.

  Tina counted to ten before she stood straight. Her back gave a twinge of pain as she did. She ignored it. She glanced behind her before she moved out of the alley way. She reached the entrance and peered out of the alley way. She stretched out her spiritual sense.

  Tina sensed the three knights walking away. There was people in the nearby buildings, but the way their presence was slowed and steady like they were in a deep sleep. She frowned as she glanced at her feet. There was something moving far, far underground. She knelt down and placed her right hand on the dirt covered stones, trying to sense more. It was hard. That meant that distance had to be at least a half of mile under the stones. All she could tell was there was someone with enough spiritual energy to be classified as a humanoid moving through something. She ‘watched’ as the person moved one way, paused, before they turned around and moved to the north, unknowingly following the knights. Eventually, the unknown person repeated their movements, again, and again. She frowned. The person turned his way to the south, then the east, and drifted out Tina’s range of sense.

  She stood up with a frown. That was weird. There were obviously tunnels under neath the town, but she didn’t know where the tunnels lead to. It would be something she kept in mind.

  Tina glanced up and down the street. She knew there was a chance that trio of knights wouldn’t be the only ones out on the streets. It would make sense. Security was tight after all. She was half surprise the military wasn’t the ones walking through the town. Either way, she had to get back to the castle before she got stopped by another group of knights out on patrol. She moved onto the street, hurrying without breaking out into a run, prepared to dart into a darken alley if she needed to avoid the patrols

  Tina let out a sigh. The night was so peaceful before that trio of Knights had stopped her. She had been enjoying herself, just roaming through the sleeping town, and take her time, seeing what this Camelot had to offer. She frowned, thinking back to that stone tablet store. Camelot had stone books. She personally thought they would use scrolls, not stone, to write on. Unless there was something she didn’t know about these stone books.

  She kept her senses spread wide. She didn’t want to taken by surprise again by another patrol and this time, they could force her accept their escort back to the castle. She rather liked the freedom she had at the moment.

  Tina paused as she sensed another trio approaching from behind her, just down a side street. She mentally cursed. She probably walked by the street and didn’t pick up with her spiritual sense the fact they were there. She glanced around and spotted an alley way. She hurried over to it. A nearby gas lamp shun into the alley allowing Tina to spot a series of stacked boxes and crates along the alley side of a building, leading all the way up to the roof top. She grinned. She glanced at the nearby street. She heard different voices drifting through the air. She didn’t have much time to reach the top.

  Tina approached the crates and lifted the skirt over her left knee before she placed her foot on the edge of the box. She shoved off with her right foot and crunched over the box before she repeated the process, trying to gain speed until she reached the top of the boxes. She panted as she stopped and peered at the roof top. It was a flat roof with stones like gravel covering it. She sat on the edge of the building before she swung her legs over the roof’s edge. She planted her feet on the stone covered roof top and stood up. She moved away from the alley, hearing the voices drawing near, stopping far enough away from the edge of the front side of the building to get a look at the second patrol she had spotted.

  This patrol, she noticed, was different. It had a pair of guards following a knight. Tina frowned. The pair of guards were dressed what she could only assume as the standard issue uniform. The guards wore dulled silver breastplates with a pair of dulled silver gauntlets, covering their forearms. They also wore shoulder guards. They, however, didn’t wear any armor on their lower half.

  The Knight the two guards were following had minimal armor on, covering the vital points on his upper body, but it appeared he was threatening to burst out of his armor, anyway. He was also bulky.

  “Where did that person go?” one of the guards questioned, looking up and down the street. His voice held an Irish accent.

  “Are you sure you saw someone on the street?” the other guard responded. The knight paused, giving the guard a look. The first guard shrunk under the knight’s gaze.

  “We don’t have the time to play these kind of game, Guard…?” the Knight trailed off.

  “Murphy,” the guard replied, “Sir Steven.”

  “Guard Murphy,” the knight, Steven, started, “We have had over a hundred of Lords and Ladies who has traveled into Camelot. Right now, they need protection. We don’t have the time nor energy to be chasing another ghosts. As the result of wasting my time, I will be discussing this with your superior.” He paused long enough to cause Tina to think that Murphy should have answered with his superior name. “And since you are not smart enough to realize that I don’t know your superior name and now you are wasting more of my time by asking for it -”

  “It’s General Bartholomew,” Murphy interrupted the Knight. Tina winced. He should have waited.

  “Now, you have the guts interrupt me?” Steven’s tone held a dangerous note. He took a step toward Murphy. Tina’s eyes narrowed and reached down to grab a piece of the broken up stones. She bounced it in her hand. She watched as Steven raised a fist then she chunked the rock as hard as she could across the street. It banged off of something mental in the alley way, loudly.

  Steven lowered his fist, looking past the guards. The other guard spun around. Murphy half turned to where the noise came from. Steven pushed passed Murphy and headed over to the alley. Neither guard moved to follow.

  Tina turned away and walked over the far edge before she peeked down. She didn’t see anyone in the alley. She turned and walked back to the edge she had climbed over before she twisted on her heel, breaking out into a run. She grabbed her skirt, tightly in one hand as she spirited over the gravel and leaped over the roof. She brought her legs up under her. Her skirt rippled as she flew over the gap between the two buildings. She soared over the edge of the new roof and extended her legs out. She slid along the gravel and crunched down. She didn’t want to roll over her right shoulder and aggravate her back any further she already did for the night. She breathed out of her nose as she rolled her shoulders, feeling the pull of injured muscular. She glanced toward the castle. She still had several more blocks to go before she reached the main fork leading up into the castle.

  Tina repeated her actions a couple more times until she spotted a couple darken figures in an alley way when she leaped over it. She landed, sliding on the gravel. She frowned and turned before she walked over to the edge of the roof top. She peered down, trying to see.

  There was a coppery smell in the air, drifting up. Tina scrunched her nose. Blood. That was blood. She would recognized that smell anywhere. She narrowed her eyes. Through the dimmed gas lamp cutting the darkness of the alley, she thought she spotted a figure kneeling in the center of the alley way. Nearby, another figure looked on. However, Tina felt something crawl up her spine. That figure was not only watching the one kneeling, but his or her eyes watched Tina. Something on the ground glowed with a faint red color. Her eyes widened as she recognized the symbol. She remembered having a conversation with an enemy turned ally during the Black Moon Tournament about blood magic and how they used their own blood as well as runes to increase their power, explaining the reasons why they were faster then their opponent and was more willingly to fight back to back fights then take a break.

  As much as Tina would like to stick around and finish watching what was going on, something told her to get her ass moving. She straightened and spun, her skirt flared out. She grabbed the skirt’s hem and darted across the roof top before jumped over the alley way.

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