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Technoblade did not want to be found. Sure, there was a childish voice in the back of his head that hoped someone would sound an alarm that he was missing. But in reality he would be lucky to get an odd glance when he next showed up to dinner. Maybe they would send a servant to find him if he failed to show up to an important event. Maybe. Chances were that no one would notice one prince of seven missing from the line.
That was all completely unrelated to why he was sneaking down into an abandoned basement without telling anyone where he was going. If he was lucky, he would find a back exit to the palace that he could use until he was caught. The risk of sneaking over the outer walls kept him from doing it too much, but the palace had a surprising amount of forgotten tunnels.
The further down he went the more his hopes dimmed. The staircase was tight, with his shoulders almost brushing the walls on both sides. The air was thick with dust and the way down was only illuminated by the small torch Techno had stolen off the wall before he entered. Was it really stealing if you sort of owned the whole palace? His parents would definitely say it was, but they weren't there to yell at him so they didn't get an opinion.
As he got lower and lower the darkness seemed to press in on the torch, reducing his visibility to only a couple steps in front of him. It got cold too. The type of cold you can feel no matter how many layers you have on, one that seeps into your bones.
He almost fell when the stairs suddenly stopped and he hit flat stone. He held up the torch in front of himself, no longer concerned with being subtle. There was no one down there to snitch on him. Slowly, almost reluctantly, the room revealed itself to him. A large stone room, bare except for a wall of thick metal bars in the middle with a rusted door in the center. He crept forward until he could see what was hidden inside the cell.
It was a box. A rectangular wooden box. The only weird thing about it was how large it was, Techno would have fit inside easily. However it was still rather small compared to the large room.
Why would anyone put such a boring box behind bars? Curiosity and restraint warred in his head for a moment before he reached to try the lock on the door. The lock crumbled under his fingers with little pressure.
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. Had this basement really been abandoned that long? He considered the wooden box again. Considering the lock had practically disintegrated the box was in remarkably good condition. Almost brand new condition.
Once again curiosity got the better of him and he eased the door open, wincing at the screech of rusted metal. He hoped that hadn't echoed all the way up the stairs, because he had no good excuse for being down there.
The inside of the cell was somehow even colder than the outside, and he circled the box hesitantly. On one side there was a basic latch that didn't even have a lock. Or didn't have a lock anymore.
What's the worst that could be in the box? If it was anything dangerous they would have it under better protections than this quite frankly pathetic cell. Without any more thinking he held up his torch with one hand and flipped the box open with another.
The box was holding a corpse.
The torch almost slipped from his hand as he scrambled back from the box, a scream rising through his throat before his back hit the far wall and he forced himself to think.
It was only a body. A remarkably well preserved body, but just a body. He had been to funerals before, he knew what a dead body looked like.
Once he got over the shock of this cell apparently being someones burial place (who would want to be buried below the palace? Much less in this cell?) he moved closer to get a better look.
It was a middle aged man, couldn't have been older than 35, with blonde hair and the weirdest clothing Techno had ever seen, which was a high bar to reach. He was wearing some sort of green and black robe with a wide brimmed green and white striped hat on his head. Techno had never really understood why people said the dead looked peaceful, but this guy really did just look like he was sleeping.
He was grabbing the lid, ready to leave this guy to his weird resting spot, when the man's eyes shot open and flicked in his direction.
He screamed. He dropped the lid and the torch slipped from his hands as he scrambled out of the cell and up the stairs, unaware of the hand that had caught the lid of the coffin just before it closed.
It was weeks until Techno managed to slip his guards again. Apparently when someone is found white as a ghost stumbling through the hallways and refusing to say what happened people start getting concerned.
It would be slightly more bearable if that concern was actually for Techno's safety or his clearly nonexistent sanity. Instead, the concern was how it would reflect on the family if he had been found by a guest or had managed to get out of the palace and make a fool of himself. Which was ironic considering Techno had been sneaking out of the palace unnoticed for years and had yet to cause a kingdom-wide scandal.
He knew it would be worse if he told them what he had seen. And the more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that he just made it up. He hadn't been getting a lot of sleep, and he heard somewhere that that could cause hallucinations. It was a perfect rationalization if he said so himself.
He tried to put it out of his head as he threw himself into what little he was allowed to do under strict supervision. He had lessons of course, but more importantly he still had sword training. It was an 'acceptable' thing to do, so there was nothing stopping him from pouring hour after hour into training. He poured every minute that was normally spent sneaking off into drills and spars. If it didn't come with his family knowing where he was all the time he would have loved it.
Eventually, however, the guards stopped following him so closely and he managed to slip out his window in the dark. The rooftop was slippery from the recent rain, but he knew where the loose tiles were and which shadows let him hide from the watchtowers.
He hung off the side of the roof to kick in the hallway window the servants always left slightly cracked for fresh air. He swung inside, clipping his foot on the windowsill and falling to the floor. There was, thankfully, no one inside to witness his entrance.
There was no point in trying to sneak around, it would only make him more suspicious to the guards. He could be seen in passing, it was only if people started following him that he had to make a get away. Instead he walked with purpose, grabbing a torch off the wall to light the back hallways he used.
After taking the longest possible route to make sure none of the guards had caught on to his escape, he arrived at the hidden staircase again. Halfway down an abandoned servants corridor, it was expertly blended into the stonework. Techno never would have found it if he hadn't been looking for secret passageways in the first place.
He just had to confirm that what he thought he saw was just his imagination. That what he imagined was nothing more than sleep deprivation and lighting tricks. So he pressed the stones that let the door slide open and entered.
The staircase felt shorter than the first time. Less cold as well. Not quite as warm as the rest of the palace, but less like it was seeping the warmth from his soul.
He reached the bottom of the staircase and held the torch up, the darkness fleeing from the light just a little slower than normal.
"Hello mate," someone said. Techno took a step forward to reveal a man leaning against the coffin. The same man that he had found, very much dead, inside the coffin.
He would never tell a soul what he did next, but he froze. Didn't run, didn't attack, just stood staring at the not-dead dead-guy while his heart raced. "Don't worry, I would never attack a child," the man continued, "Would you be willing to answer some questions? It's been a while since I saw a human."
"Who are you," Techno choked out. "and why aren't you dead?" He knew the reasonable thing to do was run but the man did say he wouldn't attack a child, and he needed to know. Plus, the pounding in his ears had gone away enough for him to remember the dagger he kept in his boot.
"You know, most people ask 'how are you alive?' instead of 'why aren't you dead?'" The man said casually.
"Same thing. Answer it."
"Well that's simple," The man held up two fingers, "My name is Philza, and I am a vampire." He looked at Techno expectantly.
Techno's threat assessment of the man just went considerably down and his shoulders loosened. "Come on. At least make up something believable." He would critique the given name as well, but he was self aware enough to realize being named Technoblade did not give him a good base for that insult.
The look on Philza's face was pretty good though. It was clear he expected that 'fact' to be his big reveal. "I can assure you, I am very real." Philza continued after Techno shot him a flat look. "Vampires? Drink human blood? Immortal? Ringing any bells here?"
"I know what a vampire is, and I know they don't exist." If anyone knew it would have been Techno. He had read almost every history book the palace library had, and not one even alluded to the presence of vampires outside of myths and folklore.
Philza squinted at him. It was then Techno realized he was still standing right in front of the stairs and he took a couple more steps into the room. "Can I ask you a few questions first mate? This is a very weird conversation for me."
For him? If either of them got to call this a weird conversation it was not the guy in an old basement calling himself a vampire. "Sure. Not sure how much use I'll be though."
"Just some basic stuff," Philza assured him, "do you happen to know who the current king is?"
Now this was just ridiculous. "King James the fourth." If Philza didn't know that was his dad, he wasn't going to reveal it. Better to have something up his sleeves just in case.
Philza pursed his lips. "And when was King Anthony on the throne?"
King Anthony? It took him a couple seconds of wracking his brain to remember. "That was my- I mean that was the king's great-great-great-great-grandfather. I think he ruled about two hundred years ago. Maybe two-fifty? Why?"
"Okay okay," Philza muttered, "I was thinking it was like three months but two hundred years is almost the same thing. Where am I now?"
"The palace. Some abandoned basement." He figured there was no use in trying to hide the location. Sooner or later Philza would figure out the door to the bars had no lock, if he didn't know already. Lying about that would only serve to make him suspicious.
"Huh. What are you doing in the palace? No offence but you don't look like you work in a palace. And what's your name anyway?"
What was that supposed to mean? "I… My mother works here. Very close to the king. We live here so she's always available. My name is Techno" Technically, none of that was a lie.
"Okay," Philza moved so he was sitting on the edge of the coffin. "So, what do you do for fun around here?"
"Are you really making small talk?"
"Humor me. It's apparently been two hundred years since I last talked to someone."
Techno rolled his eyes but answered. "I like to read, and I like to duel when I can." He may have been downplaying how much he liked to duel but that seemed like a good thing to not tell suspicious strangers.
"What have you been reading lately?"
"Well The Art of War is probably my favorite, but I just read a book that really focused on fighting a battle on multiple fronts beyond just 'don't do that'."
Philza nodded. "I hate it when people say stuff like that. It's just so useless."
"I know! Like obviously I tried to avoid that but I know fighting the enemy on multiple sides is a good tactic when you can manage to pull it off, so what do I do if my enemies try that on me?" Techno gestured angrily with his hands. It had been ages since someone wanted to hear about what he was reading.
Philza hummed knowingly. "Know thy enemy, and never be too arrogant to see your own plans turned against you."
That was… surprisingly good advice. That surprised him so much that he blinked and found he had slowly walked closer to the bars separating them while he talked. In his defence most people rolled their eyes the second he started talking about battle strategy.
Phil did not seem to notice the awkward silence, asking, "When are you expected back? I don't want to take up too much of your time."
There were no windows down there so he had no idea how long it had been. He could lose track of time easily when he started to talk, and he shouldn't be out of his room too long in case anyone looked in and saw it was empty. "Probably soon," he admitted.
"Well I hope you visit again, it gets a little lonely down here," Philza said.
Sure he was weird, but he was also interesting and at least a little knowledgeable about warfare. It couldn't hurt to stop by again. "Maybe. I don't know when I'll be free next."
"Goodbye Techno," Philza said cheerfully, "Until we meet again!"
"See you," He said as he made his way back to the stairs, "Old man."
There was faint yelling behind him as he sprinted back to his room.
Despite telling Philza he didn't know when he would be free, he was descending the stairs to his basement the next day. It wasn't his fault, but he didn't know where Philza was getting food from and the man may be weird but he didn't want him to starve.
So instead he snuck into the kitchen and packed a small bag full of bread and fruit he stole from the storage rooms and went to see Philza again.
"Hello," Techno said as he walked into the basement, "I bring food this time."
"Food?" Philza looked around expectantly, "Thanks man you didn't have too."
"Well it's a bad look for you to starve down here in the name of the bit, so here you go." Techno knocked the barred door open with his foot and winced at the screech. He tossed the food bag to where Philza was sitting on top of his coffin.
Philza grabbed the bag out of the air and looked inside. "You brought me fruit! Thanks mate!" He grabbed an apple and rolled it in his hands. "I realized I kinda asked all the questions last time so do you have anything you want to ask me about?"
There were tons of questions Techno should have asked, like why he was masquerading as a vampire in an abandoned basement, and what he was trying to gain out of the whole thing, but instead he asked: "Have you ever gone travelling?"
"Have I gone travelling?" Philza laughed, "You'll have to get a little more specific than that, we would be here for years if I told you everywhere I've gone."
Techno's eyes widened. He was rarely allowed to leave the palace grounds, much less go travelling across the country. He wracked his brain for the furthest place he had heard of. "Have you ever been to… Snowchester?" It was the furthest north inhabited city and a place Techno was desperate to visit one day.
"I love it there," Philza said, "though it's an absolute pain to get up there, or was when I went."
Techno climbed up eagerly to sit across from Philza on the coffin. "How did you get there? All my books just say it's a long and cold journey. And the maps only have a couple roads marked down."
"Well I'm sure you've heard the people of Snowchester weren't very social back in the day. They did limited amounts of trade during the warmer months, but getting a spot on a traders wagon cost a lot of coin, so I made my way up there by foot from the nearest large city.
"It was mostly a boring and tedious journey. Aside from a couple of wolf encounters I just hiked during the day and set up camp at night. It took I think a month and a half if I remember correctly. Even said, the wilderness was so beautiful that I would recommend it just for the experience."
"Have you been more than once? Or just that one time?" There were very few people in the palace who had gone traveling, and none of them would tell Techno about it if he begged them to.
"Just the once, but I stayed for a few years. Had a little cabin out there and everything. I think you would like it there, seems like your type of place."
"I've always wanted to travel there, but there's no way I would ever be allowed," Techno admitted.
"Why not?" Philza asked. "It's far from the most dangerous place to travel too. Far, yeah, but pretty safe overall as long as you're not attacked by wolves on the way there."
He scoffed. "Yeah I don't think they care how dangerous it is. It's just more convenient to have me here wasting away."
Philza hummed sympathetically. "You said you like studying warfare? That's got to be useful at least."
"It would be, if there was any chance they would let me do anything with it."
"Your parents aren't big on independence I presume?"
"They want me to do everything they want but they also don't want me to go to them for anything. It's stupid. They care so much about what my older brothers are doing, but they just want me to stay quiet and do nothing."
"That sucks, I hope you can change their minds soon," Philza said. Techno abruptly realized he had turned the conversation into just him complaining about his parents and felt the blood rush to his face.
"Why have you done so much travelling?" He asked, trying to steer the conversation back to a safer topic.
Philza waved his hand dismissively. "Not much else to do when you live as long as I have," he said, "Your parents seem like kind of shit people though, if I'm being honest."
"They're good people," Techno assured. And they were. But being a good person did not make someone fit for raising children. "I just think they weren't expecting to have to raise so many children and are done with the whole thing. I wish they weren't, obviously, but my little siblings are a handful."
Philza hummed. "And how many siblings do you have?"
"I'm the forth of seven, so there's a lot of us."
"Well in my opinion having so many kids should be a blessing. I would be overjoyed to have that many children running around."
Instead of acknowledging the heated feeling in his chest Techno pointedly looked around the basement cell. "This seems like a bad place to raise children Philza. No space to run around, no sunlight. You're torturing these poor kids."
"Not here you little shit," Philza said, "Back at my actual house. There are a few other people living there with me, but we haven't had a kid in the house in ages."
Philza would make a good dad, if he thought about it. But he didn't like the feelings that came with that so he decidedly did not think about how good of a dad Philza would be. "I'm leaving before I get kidnapped to your weird basement house."
"I told you I don't harm kids." Philza made an x over his heart with his apple. "I swear I would never kidnap you without your consent."
Techno was laughing all the way back up the stairs.
His parents were the worst. He took back every nice word he had ever said about them as he stomped down the stairs to the basement. How dare they ruin the one thing he had going for him in life?
"Techno? You good mate?" Philza asked as Techno stormed into the room.
"No, life is horrible Philza, did you know that?" he said as he lay on the floor next to the coffin Philza was sitting on again. "Horrible I tell you."
"It can't be that bad. Tell me what happened."
"My parents decided that I actually was not allowed to apprentice under one of the master sword fighters, even though they gave me permission last summer. They wouldn't even tell me why! Just that they thought it wasn't for me!" Techno lifted his head up a bit to look Philza in the eye. "I have put more hours into training than anyone in this palace. It was supposed to be my way out of this place."
Philza didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. At first Techno laid on the ground and thought about how terrible his life just became, but eventually he sat up fully to see what the other man was doing. Philza was staring at the far wall intently. "Philza?" he asked, "You good up there?"
Philza jolted and looked down at him. "I know how excited you were about training under a master. I don't know how to help with getting out of the palace, but I used to have some pretty good sword skills. I could give you a few tips if you want?"
"You know how to fight?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Philza had a scandalized look on his face.
Techno took in the scene in front of him. Philza was sitting criss-cross on a coffin in an abandoned basement, wearing a large green and white hat with a matching robe. None of that screamed 'competent swordsman'. "Look at yourself?" He gestured at Philza.
"How dare you. I'll have you know I spent a lot of time fighting people in my youth. And it's completely unrelated to how I died."
"How'd you die then?" Sure it was probably made up, but he had learned over the past couple of weeks that Philza was a very good storyteller.
"My wife killed me," Philza said with a lovestruck expression, "Isn't she just great?"
"Sure man. We all know killing your partner is the best expression of love." He said sarcastically. But if Phliza did know a thing or two about fighting… it just might be worth it. "If I get some dulled swords you'll teach me?"
"I wouldn't call myself a master or anything, but I can give it a shot."
Techno jumped up and made for the door. "I'll be right back, I'm going to steal some swords."
"Like right now?" He heard Philza ask as he started up the stairs.
"No time like the present!" he yelled back. He needed to see if this could work out.
It was surprisingly easy to steal two of the dulled practice swords from the armory. He probably should do something about his home's pathetic security, but it worked in his favor then. It hadn't even been an hour until he was back in the basement.
He tossed one of the swords to Philza and bounced on the balls of his feet. "Come on, hurry up old man!"
Philza stood from the coffin and rolled his shoulder out. "Let's go on the other sides of the bars, I don't want to damage my bed by accident."
Techno rolled his eyes but moved to the other side of the room, swinging his sword through a few warmup motions. Philza followed him and stood in the typical ready stance, before starting a couple warm ups himself.
Techno could barely see the sword where it flashed through the air. By the time he could see it Philza had already moved onto a different skill. Philza used his sword with one hand, unlike Techno who preferred a heavier two handed sword, and his left hand moved in defensive shield patterns.
By the time Philza stopped moving Techno had no more doubt about whether or not the whole thing was a good idea. "How are you so fast?" he asked. "Even the best of the palace guards wouldn't be able to keep up with that." Techno had put effort into being as fast as he could and he knew Philza would put him on his back in seconds.
"I told you, vampire abilities," Philza said, "speed, strength, that sort of shit. I'm actually considerably slower now than I used to be, if you can imagine."
Techno was going to have to sit down. "I thought you were trying to scam me or something," he whispered. But no one human could move that fast. He spent most of his time studying swordsmanship and war, he knew the limits of the human body. And that was far past them.
"This would be a really shitty scam. What did you even think I was trying to get?"
"I said I thought you were a scammer, not that I thought you were a good scammer," the joke came out unusually flat as Techno tried to wrap his brain around everything. "So you're really telling me vampires are real?"
"Would you go into shock if I said tons of forms of magic everyone has apparently forgotten about are real?"
He just might. "Can we just start stabbing things?" he asked, "I like my problems more stabbable than this whole magic is real issue."
Philza laughed and twirled his sword. "Sure, I can see that you prefer a two hand grip which isn't my style but I think it works better for your strength-" he started.
Philza was a great teacher. Even if he did have to slow down so that Techno could actually see the movements, he was making faster progress than ever before. Even his normal teachers started commenting on how much better he was getting. Though he did have to cut back the amount of time he spent with Philza when some of them noticed he had been absent a lot more than usual.
He debated for days over whether or not to tell Philza his birthday was coming up. He planned to spend the day in the basement training, because if no one was going to care about the occasion then he might as well spend it with someone who actually listens to him.
He packed a few deserts into his bag and snuck out of his room before dawn, not even pretending to go to breakfast like he normally did. If anyone asks he would tell them he spent the day in the library. They never asked, but it made him feel better to make the lies up anyway.
After a long day of training where Techno only left to steal lunch from the kitchens and to check the time, the two of them sat on top of Philza's coffin. Techno pulled out the little cakes he got and handed one of them to Philza. "Niki from the kitchens made these today," he explained.
Philza held the cake up to look at it. "These are so cute! What's the special occasion mate?"
"My fifteenth birthday," he mumbled, already having bitten into his cake.
"That's great! Why didn't you tell me?" Philza set the cake down. "You didn't have to spend your day down here with me."
"I wanted to though. No one really cares when its my birthday, so it doesn't matter. John gets his own festival thrown for his, but I don't think my parents even remember what day mine is." They sat in silence for a while after that awkward statement.
"Have you ever considered leaving?" Philza asked suddenly.
"Leaving?"
"You know, packing your stuff and going. You've got to have enough stuff you could sell to support yourself until you get a job somewhere. Or just travel the world like you want to."
It was a nice thought. Being independent and not living so confined to his family's rules. "Nah, I can't," he said, "I do have friends in the palace, and my family isn't that bad." Okay so really his only friends were Philza and Niki, who worked part time in the kitchens. And his family had been getting more and more unbearable as of late. But leave? He couldn't. Could he?
"If you say so," Philza appeared unconvinced, "Happy birthday Techno, I hope this year is the best one yet."
Techno slammed the door to his room shut and grabbed the largest bag he had. He was leaving the damn palace if it was the last thing he did. They would have to drag him back fighting.
How dare his parents shut him down. Every single career he had pitched was shut down. He couldn't even be a researcher! Nor a writer, a baker, a blacksmith, or a myriad of other random ones he threw out solely to see what would happen. They just wanted him to sit there and do nothing until they needed him for some fancy event or another. All he wanted was to be allowed to do something. Anything. To make something of his life even if it wasn't the thing he wanted to do most.
He threw his most basic clothes into the bag and packed the middle with whatever jewelery he had been allowed to keep when he was dressed up for dances and festivals. It only took a few minutes to ransack the room for anything he wanted to take with him.
Techno started to slide the window open before he stepped back and looked at it. Maybe if it looked like he was kidnapped? He grabbed an empty clay vase that had been sitting on his shelf for years and threw it as the window, smiling as it and the window shattered and fell down to the ground.
He picked his way through the glass and climbed out the window onto the roof. He was halfway across when he remembered Philza. He couldn't leave without at least a goodbye. Philza would understand, he knew how stifled he was here.
He hung the top of his body off the roof to peer into the closest window. It was empty. He had to give the window a few swift kicks once he was hanging off the edge, but eventually it gave in and he tumbled inside.
The room was immaculate and very expensively decorated. It took him a few moments to realize this was his older brother's room. The temptation to trash it was strong, but John was far from the worst of his siblings, and he didn't have time to damage all of their rooms.
As he was leaving he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye. There, just sitting out on the bedside table, was a golden crown.
Techno couldn't help himself, he grabbed the crown off the table. He had seen the treasury, they could afford a new one. As much as he wanted to he didn't wear it yet, taking a shirt out of his bag to wrap it in and set it on top of his clothes.
He closed his brother's door behind him and jogged down the hallway. He had no idea if Philza was good at sneaking around, so he should probably grab swords at some point if they need to fight.
He practically flew down the stairs into the basement, skidding to a stop in front of the bars. "Philza," he gasped, "I'm leaving."
"You're leaving?" Philza asked, "Techno are you okay?"
"I'm leaving. I can't live here anymore. I can't do it."
"What about your friends?"
"Niki will understand. I'll send her a letter or something." The only other friend he had was Philza. An idea came to him. "Come with me," he demanded.
"Excuse me?"
"Come with me. You can't actually like living this basement."
Philza's expression fell. "I'm sorry, I can't. I really can't leave this room."
"Why not?"
"It's a long story but this room was actually built separately I believe to the rest of the palace, making it a different building. I need permission to enter the rest of the palace."
That was less of a problem than Philza was making it out to be. "I'll give you permission, problem solved."
Philza laughed, "Do you own the palace?" he asked sarcastically.
"Prince Technoblade at your service." He bowed dramatically. "Until my parents inevitably disown me I think that counts enough to invite you in."
Philza's face flashed through several emotions before landing on surprise. "Okay yeah, that would work. Can I please come in?"
"Absolutely Philza, you are always welcome," he said and the hair on his arms stood up. The room got noticeably warmer and he swore he felt a breeze for a split second. "Well lets not waste time here."
Philza followed him up the stairs and asked, "What's your plan here?"
"Grab some swords, real ones not the dulled ones, sneak out of the back gate, and hitch a ride in the first direction we can." It wasn't the most sophisticated plan but it would work. It needed to work.
They made it through several halls without seeing anyone. It was a blessing in disguise that Techno only talked (argued) with his parents at night so the palace was mostly empty by then. "Techno," Philza said hesitantly, "How attached are you to the guards?"
"I would prefer not to kill them, if that's what you're asking." He was not against fighting them if they tried to take him back to his parents, but he didn't want to just kill them first.
"Is it okay if I take a little blood though? I won't kill them, at most they'll be a little faint or feel like they got a small cold."
Techno debated it for a moment. On one hand he always respected the guards and their dedication to his family. On the other having a fully fed vampire on his side basically guaranteed he wasn't going to be dragged back by those same guards. "Just make sure they're not hurt."
"No problem." The next time they encountered a set of guards instead of turning around Philza darted forwards and slammed both of their heads against the wall behind them. He unlatched one of their chest plates and dropped it to the ground, sinking his teeth into his neck.
Techno wasn't normally against the sight of blood, but watching someone drink it out of a person's body was a little too much even for him. He inspected the rest of the hallway while Philza finished and rearranged the guards to look less attacked and more fainted.
When he turned back around Philza did look better. Not quite as pale, and certainly more energetic as he darted around.
The next stop was the armory, where Techno took a large broadsword that he attached to his hip. Philza spent several minutes inspecting the room before he grabbed a pair of smaller daggers. "There aren't any swords here I'm comfortable using," he explained, "I might as well just carry two blades."
Techno led the way around the back gate, using the servants passage ways to avoid all the watchtowers. There was a crumbling section in the northwest corner that they could scramble over. He usually avoided it because it was difficult to hide from the watchtowers on bright nights, but luckily the clouds obscured the moonlight.
Just before he dropped over the other side of the wall he looked back at the palace. Barely noticeable among the dozens of windows was his broken one, which looking back was probably not the best decision for subtly. He couldn't find it in himself to mourn the life he lived there.
Once they left the palace grounds Philza seemed much happier, practically skipping through town. Techno pulled the hood of his cloak over his head in case they had sent anyone into town to look for him already. Unlikely, almost impossible, but he liked to be prepared.
"You know, I have a house out in the woods a couple days east of here, if you want to check that out," Philza mentioned casually.
Techno stopped in the street to stare at him. "And you don't think this was an important thing to mention when I suggested hitching a caravan ride in a random direction?" He definitely didn't want to know that Philza had somewhere he wanted to go. A place where he might have friends who don't want Techno around.
"Well everyone might have moved out by now," Philza said, "I have been gone for a while. But I doubt that. Everyone there is pretty attached to the place. They'll love you I'm sure, you'll fit right in."
"How long would I be able to stay?"
"Mate you can stay however long you want," Philza looked at him like that was obvious, "you can stay for the rest of your life, however long that ends up being."
Well any house with Philza was already more of a home than the palace had ever been. If he really would be accepted there…
"I'd like that." He had his whole life ahead of him to figure it out. A life that might be longer than he could ever imagine.