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"Your nation's forces have moved to defending the palace. It's less likely that they'll be focusing on those leaving the country, but don't stick your head out until I say."

Alex's directions though simple were restrictive. Though Salin knew it was to ensure that no-one knew where he was, he didn't like it. Having left the safety of the palace and whatever remained of the royal guard, he was travelling to enemy territory. At least, that was how it was how his father had said it.

The sun still remained behind the overcast day, and it eventually turned to rain. Getting out of the city was painstakingly slow due to the amount of citizens trying to do the same. Salin didn't know where his father went, only stating that he had urgent business elsewhere and leaving in the morning before the siege.

Alex looked out of the carriage's window every now and again, and he occasionally spoke to the driver. Judging from what little he knew, Salin guessed that the driver of the carriage was either hired for a serious sum of currency through a contract, or that the particular fox was loyal to the cause in Keldrin.

The prince knew very little of the lands of Keldrin himself. He didn't know much beyond what he was taught, half-mixed with warning messages from King Gerris. The land he had studied consisted of multiple mountain ranges and valleys extending north to south about 100 kilometres into the border from the west. Beyond that was a number of smaller regions which contained a number of military bases and agriculture.

A massive river which followed the mountain ranges divided the land of Keldrin, and he had heard that the capital itself rested right in the middle of it. It seemed that that industry flourished due to the Lutrine being able to take advantage of the river's flow, but the attempts made in Tarsin to replicate results fell far from the expected success.

Salin leaned back in his seat, and he found himself unable to keep awake. The impulse decision to follow after Alex had made him tired, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Alex glanced over, and upon seeing the now sleeping fox, he sighed. They weren't out of danger yet, but they were out most of the immediate threat. His infiltration of the palace had been taxing on his body, even though he had trained himself to scale walls, avoid detection and minimise noise.

A run in with one of the Royal guards forced him to fight just before he could reach Salin. That particular fox was relatively young in comparison to the guards he had seen trying to fend off the Lutrine at the gates, and suspected he lacked experience to try and take someone on in real combat. The otter had managed a non-lethal approach in their combat, but ended up breaking the nose of the fox in the process. It left Alex tired and battered, but he felt too restless to shut his eyes. He continued to glance out of the window as daylight faded into the evening. They were just short of the border, but extended travel out in the night was not preferred due to the increased presence of thieves and bandits.

The rain continued to pour down, and visibility of the road ahead didn't make it ideal. The driver already had been given direction, and the carriage drew to a stop by a roadside inn. Alex was thankful despite the laws in Keldrin that most inns were willing to overlook the fact the enemy was in the land. That is, at a price.

"Salin, you need to get up. You'll be safer inside." The tone of Alex's voice was more reassuring even though they weren't entirely out in danger, and the fox forced his eyes open. His body felt exhausted, and his mind didn't want to think. He sat up, and saw the otter before him, a small gesture towards the door. "We're at a small inn which should be taking us for the night."

He followed the otter in without a word, and the fox found himself in one of the guest rooms on the second floor. A window was present, just large enough to squeeze through should he need to escape, but small enough that no-one could easily peek through from the road below. A candle on a little stand lit up the room dimly, but it was a welcoming change to the rain which effectively reduced visibility to nearly nothing.

"Sorry for... showing up out of the blue." The apology made the fox turn from the window. Alex had secured another cloak, a deep green in colour. He could tell it was made for travel during the rough weather, but the fact he was carrying it rather than wearing it meant that he wasn't leaving tonight.

"The hell am I supposed to do...?" mumbled Salin. "Allegations against my father, and they'll almost certainly try to implicate me. Not to mention my father intends to shift all the blame on me, but I don't even know if it's true."

Alex wanted to offer some support, information on what he knew. But he knew that the fox wasn't in a well state of emotion, and he judged it best not to say anything more on the matter. "One step at a time, Salin. You need your rest. A step at a time, we'll worry about it when we get to that."

The otter departed for the night, presumably to a room he had of his own, the prince thought. Salin attempted to remove his troubled thoughts as Alex had said, but they made themselves known the harder he tried. Failing that, he tried to sort through them, trying to make sense of it. How was it true, and how did he, his son not know of this father's plot? With a frustrated groan, the fox disrobed and slipped under the covers of the smaller, stiffer bed. It was certainly a step down from the bed that he had in the palace, but Salin was too worried to complain. He curled up, and the rain was the only sound surrounding him as he fell into a restless slumber.

Alex was boarded up with Issac, the driver of the carriage. The otter was glad that the fox, although older and a bit more rough-mannered knew what to do. Without his help, Alex was certain that infiltration of the palace and reaching Salin would've been significantly more difficult to achieve, if at all.

"It's going to be another week of travel if the rain keeps falling," Issac said as he chewed down a slice of beef, which was sided with roasted potato and herbs. One of things that was good about the inn was the food, cooked at the standard which could rival even those cooking for the royalty. The meals were simple however, and that simple trade between quality and cost was acceptable to them.

"I don't think the rain will last the entire week though. Give it half the day tomorrow, and it will probably be clear again," stated the otter. "The roads will be a bit damp and it would be a bit slow to travel, but the winds won't be as troublesome."

"Assuming that's the case," responded Issac. "You already know what to do if we're stopped, but in case they see that we're carrying the prince of Tarsin out of his own country, there are most likely orders to ensure he is 'returned', whether of his free will or not."

"I know. You know. The contingency plan. It's risky, but anything is better than letting Geris carry out his plan. If Salin knew just how much his father did under his muzzle, and what he got away with..." The otter let his words carry off. The executions weren't the only thing that King Geris had done. The demolition of the Lutrine embassy that Alex himself had lived in, the imprisonment and torture of any who dared to try and offer even as much as refuge. Massive fines were imposed on so-called 'witnesses' who were claimed to have been seen in the presence of any otter and failed to report them.

All of it added up through the course of Geris' reign. The king of Tarsin before Geris had been much more welcoming of foreign relations and had undertaken initiatives to establish civilised trades between themselves and the Lutrine in Keldrin to the east, the Canid and Feline in Enzoa to the south as well as the Ursine from Relgar to the west. No concrete reason came to light as to why it was that Geris had decided his enemy were to be the Lutrine.

"It would make him sick." Issac spoke in a manner which was blunt but genuine, and had grown to be the sort of fox which could easily start an argument. He had been in a fair few brawls in his younger age and could at least brag about the fact that he of all of them was still alive. He was however always in the state of negativity, bringing down even the most assuring speeches and daring plans before their execution.

"Anyone who heard of it for the first time would be right to do so." The otter stood up. His eyes didn't meet Issac's, and the fox knew that Alex's unease was starting again. "I need to do a round before I think of resting. You can take yours."

"Alexander."

The otter stepped out into the corridor, and began his sweep. Keeping to the walls to not let the floorboards creak, he refreshed his mental image of the inn.

'Salin's room just at the top of the stairs. We're next to him, and another room, possibly occupied since the door's shut. Across the hallway are another 3 rooms, which might be vacant and a means of hiding us... or someone else.'

The otter stepped silently down the steps and did the same with the first floor. There was a small dining area which also served as a bar, as well as a casual lounge room and washing facilities. There wasn't much beyond that, but that was to be expected of an inn in the middle of the highway.

He returned back to his own room, and took up an ambush position by the door, ready to react should anyone draw near him, or the prince.