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Pacing about the room, Illan stops every other time he passes the window and glances at the sky. The dawn isn’t very far away. Out on the streets, the soldiers and guards who earlier were combing the streets have all but disappeared. When the sun rises, he plans on making his way to the castle to see about James and what exactly is going on.

Glancing over to the bed, James’ friend Dave is fast asleep. How he can sleep while his best friend is in jail escapes him. Miko on the other hand, he’s known him to sleep through anything. So the fact that he’s asleep on the other bed hardly surprises him.

Not only does he have James to worry about, but Jiron and Fifer still have not returned. That’s got him extremely worried but could be the result of the curfew and they’re simply unable to return. He may have Miko try to locate them while he heads to the castle. Resuming his pacing, he churns over the events in his mind, and worries about what may be happening to James at this very minute.

When at last the first rays of morning shine on the walls of his room, he immediately moves over to Miko and wakes him up. “It’s morning,” he says.

Coming quickly awake, he rubs the sleep out of his eyes as he stands up. “Any word from James?” he asks.

Shaking his head, Illan says, “No. Jiron and Fifer are still missing as well. I’m going to head up to the castle to see what I can find out. While I’m gone, see if those kids you are acquainted with can help in locating Jiron and Fifer. I’m not sure what part they may have played in all this, but I’ll kill them if they’ve gone and done anything to exacerbate the situation.”

“What should I do with him?” Miko asks, motioning toward the sleeping Dave.

Shrugging, he replies, “Tell him to stay here. We have enough to deal with right now without him making matters worse.”

“Alright,” he says. “When are you planning on being back?”

“I have no idea. But if you find those recalcitrant members of our group, tell them to stay here at the inn until I get back.” Moving to the door, he opens it to leave. As he passes through, Miko’s ‘Will do’, follows him out into the hallway.

Closing the door, he walks quickly down and takes the stairs to the common room below. The room is empty except for one lone early riser. Miss Gilena is nowhere in sight, she must’ve returned to her bed shortly after he had gone up to his room. Leaving the inn through the front door, he moves onto the street and heads down toward the gates leading to the castle.

The contingent of guards at the gate has doubled since the last time he came by this way. As he draws near the gates, the leader of the group moves to intercept him.

“No one’s allowed into the castle area at this time,” the guard tells him as he comes to a stop.

“A friend of mine was taken last night and brought here,” he explains. “I want to know what happened to him.”

The guard eyes him suspiciously, knowing full well who it is Illan is talking about. “Sorry, but orders are, no one enters without expressed permission,” he states. “And I’m fairly sure you don’t have that do you?”

Shaking his head, he says, “No, I don’t.”

“Then you can’t pass through,” the guard says with finality.

Almost ready to turn away, he pauses and then asks, “Can I send word to the Archive Custodian?”

The guard is somewhat taken aback by that. “If you give us a letter, we can see that he receives it,” the guard replies.

“I don’t have a letter,” he explains. “Is there a way you could just tell him that a friend of James is here and would like to talk with him?”

The guard thinks about it for a moment. Shrugging, he says, “Very well,” He glances behind him and waves over one of the junior guards. “Find the Archive Custodian and tell him a friend of James would like an audience with him,” he tells the guard.

“Yes sir,” the guard replies before turning and running through the gates in search of Ellinwyrd.

“He may not be up yet,” he says. “It’s still quite early.”

“I’ll wait if it’s all the same with you,” Illan tells him.

“Suit yourself,” replies the guard who then moves back over with