Nadya

After Draco alerted the guards, he was led back to the throne room to appear before Prince Rayad. 

Prince Rayad was seated upon his throne and surrounded by his trusted guards. When Draco entered, he saw that the entire throne room was empty except for them.

Draco approached the prince's throne and stood before him, and he saw that the prince was visibly peeved.

"I am glad you are safe. My subjects informed me what happened to you." the prince said. 

Draco shook his head, "I'm fine, the assassin was pretty weak." he said. 

The prince smiled lightly, "That is good. I was attacked in my chambers as well. It seems that this palace is not as safe as I previously thought." 

This surprised Draco, but he was also confused as to why he was a target.

"Why did they come after me?" he asked. 

The prince sighed, "It seems there is a mole in my camp. The only explanation is that my brother must have learned that you have a way to kill him." 

Draco nodded, "That makes sense, so what's next?"

"We're going to have to advance our timetable sooner than anticipated. How much time do you need to prepare your secret weapon?" the prince asked.

"I can execute my plan immediately." Draco replied, not divulging too much information. 

Prince Rayad seemed lost in thought, "Very well. My forces will be ready to attack the capital in around three days. Ensure you are prepared to move out by then." 

The prince was about to dismiss him, when Draco remembered something and spoke up.

"Right, I almost forgot. Some of my men are wet behind the ears, they might need a crash course to be ready in three days." 

Prince Rayad nodded, "I will have them brought to training in the morning." 

After saying that, he dismissed Draco back to his residence. 

This time, when Draco walked through the hallway he noticed there was an increased guard presence. 

When he walked into his room, he found that another guard had been stationed inside the residence. 

This guard was powered, and Draco was surprised the prince put such a value on his life. 

Draco didn't feel like this was necessary though, and he told the guard to leave. However, the guard didn't respond and simply stood at attention next to the door. 

Shaking his head, Draco went back to the room and found Snow waiting on the bed for him. 

"Draco! There's some man in the living room." she complained.

"I know, it's for our protection. Don't worry, we only have to put up with it for a few days." he reassured her. 

Truthfully though, this breach of privacy pissed him off as well. Unfortunately he was in no position to make more demands of the prince, and he knew that this was for their own sake. 

Draco put it out of his mind and went back to bed with Snow. 

Their sleep was uneventful, and it was only a few hours until the sun rose above the palace. 

Draco awoke from his sleep to find that Snow was missing.

This put Draco on guard, and he grabbed one of the desert bandit's swords he had kept next to the bed. 

Creeping out of the room, Draco looked for signs of an attack. 

However, the smells of bacon soon wafted into his nose. Draco looked towards the kitchen and saw that Snow was just cooking breakfast for him!

Draco walked over and grabbed Snow from behind, kissing her on the cheek. 

"Breakfast? You really are an angel." Draco whispered in her ear. 

Snow blushed, shaking Draco off of her, "I'm just being a good girlfriend!" she exclaimed shyly. 

Draco laughed, and took a seat at the dining table next to the kitchen. 

Snow soon brought the food to the table, and they ate and chatted happily while the powered guard at the door watched over them. 

They put the man out of their mind, for they weren't going to let somebody else spoil the mood. 

After they had eaten, Draco changed into a fresh set of clothes and left the residence. 

He looked around inside the rooms, and found that most of his forces had already left. Apparently, they had been summoned to the training grounds. 

Draco left the residential hallway and walked through the throne room. It was currently empty except for a score of guards, and Draco was led through the giant doorway at the end of the room. 

Once outside, Draco saw that Prince Rayad's forces were already training in the concrete pavilion. 

His soldiers were going over martial arts techniques, and Draco looked for his own forces. 

They were easy to spot though, for they were quite ramshackle in appearance. 

Prince Rayad had assigned them an instructor, and he yelled at his troops as they went through basic combat drills. 

Draco stood and watched for an hour, curious to know more about the prince's training regime. 

He saw them start to go over martial arts techniques as well, and this made Draco want to try it out for himself. 

However, he had to keep up appearances for his men. He resolved to ask the prince at a later day to provide him with a personal trainer. 

Draco eventually grew bored, and he left the pavilion to explore the palace grounds. 

The palace guards gave him suspicious looks as he walked about, but they left him alone as he walked about. 

The palace had many long corridors, all decorated with gaudy and fanciful designs. He walked for many long minutes before one of the corridors opened up to the outside.

Walking out of the corridor, Draco found that it led to a lush garden. 

This garden was simply massive, and it was filled with flowers and plants of unknown origin. Some of them seemed almost magical in nature, and they glittered with strange lights as they swayed in unnatural ways. 

'It's almost like they're alive.' Draco thought, looking at a blue plant that was twisting around itself.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" a feminine voice suddenly said behind him.

Draco spun around in alarm, but quickly relaxed when he saw the gorgeous woman standing behind him. 

"Not as beautiful as you." Draco laughed.

The woman blushed, and she giggled as she held a hand over her mouth. 

"Oh my, you're a charmer aren't you?" she said. 

"I just say it like I see it." Draco said, reaching a hand out to the woman.

The woman took his hand in her own, and Draco gently kissed the back of it. 

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance my lady, my name is Draco." he said. 

The woman smiled, showing her pristine white teeth. 

"You can call me Nadya." she said. 

Nadya smirked, "You know, I already know who you are. Everyone in this palace does." 

Draco showed a wry smile, "I didn't know I was so famous already." 

"Well it's to be expected. The rumors say that you have a way to defeat the usurper in Tripoli." she replied. 

Draco shook his head and shrugged, "Oh that? That's nothing."

Nadya laughed, "So humble. Tell me, Draco. How are you planning to accomplish such a feat?" 

Draco smiled at her, "A magician never tells his secrets." 

Nadya pouted, "No fun!"

She leaned in closer, peering at him with eyes that looked like brilliant green jade. 

"Come on, you can tell me." she whispered. 

However, Draco just lightly blew onto her nose, tickling her and causing her to jump back. 

"You might be beautiful, but you can't seduce me like that." Draco said.

Shock appeared on Nadya's features, "S-seduce?! How scandalous." she exclaimed.

She was about to say something else, when a female servant ran into the garden and grabbed her attention. 

"Princess! Your brother has requested your presence." she said, panting heavily. 

Nadya turned back to Draco, annoyance written all over her pretty features, "We're not done! I'll see you later." she said. 

Draco said nothing, and he simply waved Nadya off with a smile as she hurriedly rushed out of the garden. 

After Draco saw the princess off, he was lost in thought. 

'So they were a princess, huh? I didn't know Prince Rayad had such a beautiful sister.'

Draco put Nadya out of his mind, focusing on how to best execute his plan. 

He wondered when exactly he should blow the horn, for he didn't even know how long it would take Formica to appear. Draco planned for every possible scenario, and he continued to think this over for the entire day. 

Once the day had passed, Draco went to sleep with Snow. 

He even made love to his girlfriend, paying no regard to the guard standing just outside the room. 

When Draco woke up he ate breakfast, and then left the main palace to watch his forces continue their training. 

Draco had also instructed that the robber he recruited earlier from the store, Hamza, be freed to participate in the training.

'Ham' was quickly proving his worth, and he seemed to be a natural combatant.

He watched the man knock down his other troops during sparring matches, and he didn't even look like he broke a sweat.

Overall, his troops seemed better off today, but he could still tell they had a long way to go. 

Draco also remembered that the uniforms he ordered should be ready by now.

He requested a vehicle from the prince, and then picked up Snow and left the palace courtyard. 

Draco was excited to see how the new uniforms came out.