Unaware of what was currently transpiring in the mansion, Annabeth had her own difficulties to worry about.
The sword had swung through the air towards Annabeth's neck. But in the next second, the sword had slashed through empty air.
Annabeth had heard the crunch of boots against gravel. She was moving the moment she had heard the sound and long before the fountain's reflection showed her two attackers.
She sloshed through the fountain and came out on the other side, bare feet landing on dry grass. Thankfully, Annabeth had kicked off her high heels earlier, or else she'd trip and already be stabbed.
Luckily, she had her knife secretly strapped on her calf. Moving her dress out of the way, Annabeth took out the weapon before staring down her enemies. But her attackers were surprisingly familiar.
The two men wore the uniforms of Black Knights. They were the ones who were on patrol in the garden. The one on her right had a small mole near the corner of his left eye. Annabeth recognized this man as one who had escorted Percy a few times. Were they enemies who had hidden themselves in the Black Knights Order then?
But the men seemed to be in a trance. Their expressions were emotionless and their eyes were blank.
"Hey!" Annabeth yelled, but the men didn't seem to hear.
Unfortunately, they were holding swords, and she was wielding only a knife. Logically speaking, they had better range and the much better weapon. Not to mention, her dress was highly restrictive in motion and her training could not compare to that of a Black Knight's. She had no choice but to yell for help, hoping that somebody would hear her. If all the other knights on patrol were also enemies, then she would be doomed.
Both men went around the fountain on two different sides, trying to trap her. Sometimes the best defense was offense. Annabeth rushed one man. Perhaps he was not expecting her to be so foolhardy as he stumbled when Annabeth used the hilt of her knife to twist the sword out of his hand.
With a well placed kick, Annabeth knocked the man down and ran towards the mansion, yelling for help. Hard stones dug into her bare feet but she ignored the pain. If she stopped at any moment, she would surely expect to be decapitated. For whatever reason, she had been given a second chance at life, and she wasn't going to die now without any reason.
She was about to run into the nearest door, but a shadow blocked her way. Shit! Annabeth cursed. It was another Black Knight in the doorway.
"Wait!"
The Black Knight raised his arms towards her. Annabeth dodged, forced to turn back to where she came from.
The two men who were originally after her were nearing from the garden's direction. Annabeth ran around the perimeter of the house, trying to look for an open window or door to hide in. But her earlier screams for help were successful as people began wandering outside from the mansion. Still, they were too far or did not notice the situation to help.
Annabeth scanned her surroundings to look for a suitable place to hide. There, an open window!
Unfortunately, the open window was four floors up. Gritting her teeth, Annabeth began to climb the trellis underneath the window that had been set up for rose vines to climb. Fortune was on her side, as the wooden trellis was stable enough to support her as the vines scratched at her hands and bare feet. The trellis was high enough to climb up to a balcony on the third floor. Perhaps she could open the door there or swing herself up to the open window on the fourth floor.
There were more shouts underneath her now but Annabeth was too focused to look down. There were sounds of a sword fight below her.
"Eek!" Annabeth yelped when an arrow nearly embedded itself in her right hand. She had to climb faster.
The loud clamor coming from the garden made it easy for Percy to detect where Annabeth was. To his surprise, three of his own Black Knights were chasing her down. But how could it be? Percy spent time and hard work ensuring there were no moles in the Black Knights Order, and especially not the Black Knights who were sent to guard his mansion.
Shit, Percy cursed. Annabeth was somehow scaling the walls, even with her long dress. Hopefully, she would remain out of trouble while Percy and his guards dealt with the attackers.
Percy knocked down one attacker, who he recalled as Michael Yew, who raised his bow to shoot at Annabeth. He reached Michael just in time. The arrow flew out of the bow but the trajectory was off and the arrow only landed close to Annabeth. Michael Yew was known for his deadly precision in archery. Had Percy not reached Annabeth in time, Michael would have pierced her easily. Michael's face was blank even when Percy slashed at and snapped Michael's precious bow.
He focused on the last one standing. The knight was Adrian, one of the newest recruits that Percy had personally handpicked two weeks ago. But Adrian's face was also blank and held no recognition in seeing Percy's face.
More victims of the fascination magic? How powerful was this user that he or she could trap this many people at once? Not to mention, whoever was behind this had the capability of accessing his mansion. The culprit must be one of the attendees of the engagement party.
Percy easily disarmed Adrian and knocked the new recruit out with a good whack to the head. Hopefully, the fascination magic would wear off by the time Adrian woke up. A few of his Black Knights hauled Adrian up to recover.
Now where was Annabeth? Percy looked up to see Annabeth crawl through an open window on the fourth floor.
All the tension out of his body seemed to release. She was safe.
Wait. Hold on, wasn't that where his bedroom was?
Percy's body stiffened again. Annabeth had just gone into his bedroom where all the aphrodisiac candles were. The fumes would surely not have had enough time to be aired out when he opened the window. He had to get to her in time before more trouble ensued.
"Take care of the men." Percy ordered. "We'll thoroughly investigate who is behind all this."
He turned away and looked towards the window where Annabeth had gone through. Going through there directly would be faster than going through the mansion. Ignoring the surprised shouts of his knights and servants, Percy climbed up the trellis.
Kelli grumbled as the Castellan maids served her and Princess Medea fresh chamomile tea. The Colchis princess did not seem disturbed, calmly nibbling on a cookie. Kelli briefly wondered if being graceful was something that naturally came to the princess.
Just why were they so different from each other?
Birth was the answer Kelli came to. All because Princess Medea was born to a royal family. Just like Annabeth was born as the daughter of the first son of a Baron while Kelli was a daughter of a second son. How unfair was that? Simply because of her birth, Kelli had to endure being compared with the other ladies of more noble birth.
When Kelli had opened that door after the failed carriage switch, she had been shocked to see such a beautiful woman at her house. Then that woman had presented herself as Princess Medea.
Kelli had been stunned at seeing the foreign princess, whose ethereal beauty shone with her small nose, full lips, and her amber honey hair. Compared to her, Kelli's own beauty seemed to diminish. It was fortunate that the princess was not interested in Luke, for Kelli would have a hard time diverting Luke's attention back to her. Interestingly, the princess had wanted to sponsor her in return for the use of the White Knights Order. Kelli agreed willingly to persuade Luke in supporting Princess Medea as the wife of Prince Jason. And Kelli would be a countess or even a higher position once Medea and Jason became the next heir to the kingdom.
Kelli was satisfied with that plan even if their goals took a long time to implement. That was until she saw her cousin at the engagement party. It had irked her to death that Annabeth didn't seem to care that Kelli had snatched Luke's heart and had even ascended the ladders of nobility two rungs higher than a count. Annabeth had looked happy, and far too pretty for Kelli's liking with the expensive blue roses and pearls in her golden blonde hair. Kelli felt like a brown rat with her dark hair compared to the brighter hues of Annabeth's and Medea's hair. If Kelli wasn't living well, then she didn't want anyone else to be living better than she was.
She eyed the black onyx ring on Princess Medea's finger. Out of all the beautiful riches the princess could afford to adorn herself, a plain onyx ring was chosen. That Kelli couldn't understand.
A servant came in and whispered in the princess' ear. Medea's expression perked up.
"How interesting," Medea murmured. She dismissed the servant.
"What? What's going on?" Kelli demanded.
She hated being kept in the unknown. Due to Medea's higher status, Kelli couldn't complain too much.
Medea smiled. To others, the smile seemed to be gentle. But Kelli knew the truth. After all, it was the type of smile Kelli wore the most often.
"It seems that there has been a disturbance at the Ducal house of Jackson." Medea sipped on her tea. "Pity it was resolved quickly." She thumbed her onyx ring tenderly.
Kelli glanced at Medea suspiciously but kept her thoughts to herself.