Dew soaked his wool as he landed in the rose bed. The perfume was overwhelming, a dizzy mix of sweetness and earth. Alex crouched among the blossoms, scanning the palace windows. No alarms yet, but he could feel the tremor of wards flaring on the outer walls. The elves had been inside — and now the palace was waking.
He padded toward the little postern stair he and Elara had used earlier. The stone door was hidden behind a curtain of ivy. He butted it with his nose and it opened on well-oiled hinges.
Inside, the passage was dim. He crept up, hooves muffled by damp moss. The system chimed softly:
Quest Update: Escape Completed. Rewards Claimed: Perception +2, Map Fragment, Wool-Glide unlocked. New Objective: "Protect the Princess." Optional: Reveal True Nature (Y/N?)
Alex snorted. Not yet. Being a pet still had advantages.
At the top of the stair he eased the panel aside. Elara's chamber was dark except for one guttering candle. She sat cross-legged on the floor in her nightdress, hair loose, staring at the window as if waiting. Thistle perched on the sill, ears twitching.
The rabbit spoke first, voice a rasp. "You smell of ink and danger."
Alex bleated softly, stepping out of the secret door. Elara gasped and hurried to him. "Where have you been? You're covered in dust!" She brushed at his wool, eyes wide with worry. "Did you sneak out?"
"I told you," Thistle said, hopping down. "This isn't a normal lamb."
Elara frowned. "I know he's special. I can feel it." She cupped Alex's face in her hands, peering into his eyes. "But he's still mine, aren't you?"
Alex forced another gentle bleat. Inside, his mind spun. How much does she suspect?
The princess stood and went to the window, looking out at the dark gardens. "The horns were closer tonight," she murmured. "Father says the elves wouldn't dare cross the border, but…" She hugged her arms around herself. "I'm not so sure anymore."
Thistle's whiskers twitched. "You shouldn't be sure. Their scouts were in the library tonight."
Elara turned, startled. "How do you know?"
The rabbit nodded at Alex. "Because our woolly friend here was there."
Elara's gaze swung back. "Is that true?" She stepped closer, lowering her voice. "Were you really…out there? In the library?"
Alex hesitated. The system flickered:
Choice: A) Keep pretending. (+Stealth) B) Reveal partial truth. (+Trust) C) Reveal full truth. (+Unknown Outcome)
He weighed it. Too much honesty too soon could ruin his plan, but a total lie might cost him the princess's help. He chose the middle road.
He bleated once, then lowered his head, pawing at the rug. Elara's eyes softened. "You…wanted to explore?" she whispered. "Or you heard something?" She crouched until her forehead almost touched his. "You're trying to protect me, aren't you?"
He didn't answer. He didn't have to. She smiled faintly. "Then we'll protect each other."
She stood and went to a writing desk. "Father won't listen. The court mages won't either. But if the elves are inside the palace…" She set her jaw. "We need to act."
Thistle hopped onto the desk. "Act how, little princess? You're thirteen. They'll lock you in the tower if you try to warn them."
"Then I won't warn them. I'll prepare." She looked back at Alex. "We'll prepare."
Alex tilted his head. This was…unexpected. He had planned to use the girl, to move through the palace as her harmless pet. But she was already thinking like a conspirator. Maybe, just maybe, an ally.
Elara began pulling out scraps of parchment, drawing crude maps of the palace. "This is the garden," she muttered. "And here's the library tower. If the elves can get in there, they can get anywhere."
Thistle snorted. "Your father's men can't even see half the passages you're drawing."
"That's why we'll use them." She tapped a hidden corridor on her sketch. "Smugglers built these centuries ago. Father never sealed them. If we know them, we can move unseen."
Alex hopped onto the chair beside her, looking down at the map. It matched the fragment the system had given him. He felt a thrill of recognition. This child had knowledge he needed.
Elara smiled at him. "You understand, don't you? You're clever."
Thistle rolled his eyes. "Next you'll be giving him a sword."
"Not yet," she said. "First we hide him somewhere safer than the pasture. Tomorrow I'll have the stablehands build a little house for him near my quarters. And at night…" She lowered her voice. "We train."
Alex's heart thumped. Train? As in, she'd train with him? This was turning better than planned.
Outside, the horns faded, replaced by the heavy clang of the palace alarm bells. Guards shouted in the distance. The sky in the east had begun to pale.
Elara blew out the candle and crawled back into bed. "Sleep, both of you," she whispered. "Tomorrow everything changes."
Thistle hopped to his usual spot at the foot of the bed. "You're inviting trouble, Highness."
Elara stroked Alex's wool one last time. "Trouble's already here," she murmured. "At least this trouble is on my side."
Alex settled on the rug, curling his legs under him. Dawn light crept through the window, glinting off his horns. He closed his eyes, mind racing with the codex's words: harbinger of change or collapse.
He'd meant to be the wolf in the fold. Now he wasn't sure who was hunting whom.
The system's final message floated before him as he drifted into sleep.