We climbed down to the street and made our way to the royal kitchen. It was big, with two storeys and about a dozen chimneys poking out of it. There were also guards at the front; I guessed nobody was allowed outside or inside, except the supplies and ingredients they must have need, along with the food that was needed to be taken inside the castle. Sam and me skipped backwards along the path; we guessed around some turns and corners, and managed to find ourselves in the alley next to the kitchen.

It was quiet. We crouched next to the sidedoor. I kept my ears focused; keeping track of the footsteps of the guards in front of the alley a dozen paces away. Lamp-light shone through the curtains draped about the window, outlining the moving silhouettes of someone inside. There was a door leading in next to us, but it had a large bronze lock on it.

“Can you get that lock open?” I whispered, and he nodded.

“That’s what I’m here for, right.”

I tried not to notice the doubt clouding over his smile.

I moved over and crouched over in front of the door. Sam took out his lock picks and fiddled with the lock; I had no idea how lockpicking worked, but I sure hoped he did. If the guards saw us now, we had no choice but to run for it; I didn’t trust Sam’s feet as much as I did his hands.

I stayed waiting. My hands were sweaty; I could feel my blood rushing through my body and warming it up. The excitement I was feeling was overwhelming; I hoped I was able to think properly through it. It wasn’t after long when I heard a pronounced click from the lock, and I turned to see Sam gesture towards the door. He began to open the door, but I grabbed his arm and slowed him down. I peeked through the small gap, relieved to see that no one was in view and that the door didn’t make any awkward creaking sounds. We sneaked inside, trying to use the chairs and tables as cover.

The place was filled with dark iron stoves and chutes leading to the chimneys. Cupboards and containers lined the walls while tables filled the rest of the space. Plates were covered with silver domes; fresh produce covered with cloth and meat hung in a corner; utensils and cooking pans lying in a large wash basin, and there I saw a couple of women washing them.

A chill ran down my spine. I looked at Sam and noticed that his eyes were as sharp as and focused too on the women. There didn’t seem to be anybody else in here. The bell had either worked well as a distraction or maybe everybody had gone to the castle to deliver dinner? Something felt wrong, but I did think I was pretty lucky.

I spotted a wooden staircase to our right, which was in in the adjacent corner to the women. I had a feeling there was something of value upstairs, and Sam lead the way. He was as silent as a cat; I could barely hear him breath. My footsteps weren’t near as silent as his, but the slow pace at which I moved seemed to make up for it.

We moved up the staircase, and I think I caught one of their eyes when I turned over the corner from the last step. I didn’t stop to check.

There were cupboards in the rooms here too. I opened one to find bowls, napkins, and spoons; and turned around to see Sam do the same.

There was a small bag of silver coins, which I quickly took. He didn’t seem to mind; I was planning to share at the end anyway. I adjusted my cloak and turned to him, my eyes still on the stairs.

“Don’t overreact, but-” I started, with a tone that might have sounded too patronizing.

“Cut the crap,” He said.

I took out a glass vial from under my cloak and waved it in his face. He must have taken some time to take in this new information; he slumped towards the wall and gave out a long sigh.

“You’re not surprised?” I asked.

“I thought you would ask me to sneak in,” he said, rubbing his eyes, “Let’s do it then. A royal assassination, huh? Funny as it may be, it’s hardly the worst thing you’ve mentioned.”

I nodded.

The two women downstairs still weighed heavily on my mind. I walked towards the stairs, but Sam didn’t move an inch towards me.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re doing this for her, though? That’s…” he said, eyebrows furrowed, “ well, another coin wouldn’t hurt.” I chucked a coin at him, and he fumbled for it; I should have thought of the noise it would have made if it did hit the ground. I had just come into possession of a respectable amount of money, even if it didn’t amount to more than 10 gold; I guess that was still enough reason to not think rationally.

We crept downstairs, only to find that there was nobody there. I checked the plates with the silver domes on them; they had dishes ready to serve. I started carefully dropping a small amount into each. Sam mentioned assassination, but this was just going to loosen their bowels and give them a really bad fever. I didn’t want to be responsible for somebody’s death, and even though this could severely hurt somebody if they were of a very weak composition, I had no doubt there were dozens of alchemists waiting to dote on the royal family.

Sam had been quiet, even though we were the only people in the building. Everything was a bit too convenient. I continued to fill the plates with the concoction I had managed to obtain from Raz.

I was on the last plate, and I turned to look at Sam; but he wasn’t here. Had he ditched me? The door was slightly ajar, and I realized that that prideful and principled piece of shit would not have approved of my actions. Why was someone like him a pickpocket?

I heard the two women beside the kitchen in the alley, eerily close to the door he had used. I heard a sword clang on chainmail, and I knew then that they had guards with them. We hadn’t sneaked past them, not at all. MAybe they stood there afraid, aware of our presence, and then left for help as we went upstairs.

I ran to the front door and wrestled with the knob, but it didn’t budge. I heard the door creak open in the back, and I got on my knees and crawled between two stoves near me. They felt warm; I hugged my knees and stuffed as much of myself as I could into the gap. I tugged my hood on.

“I saw the two of them around there. Can you go upstairs and check?” One of the women said. I assumed she had pointed somewhere when she said it; I was curious to know exactly where she had seen us, but it didn’t feel like the right time to ask.

I heard some footsteps in my direction, and I tucked the vial below the stove. I wondered if they would believe that the green concoction in each of the plates was my spit; I didn’t want to be punished for attempting to poison the king when i was just trying to make his day reasonably bad.

I didn’t think I could fight a man in armor and win; worse yet, I just didn’t see how i could manage to not get caught. Running was out of the question; I was faster than the average person, but these soldiers really weren’t not trained to be normal.

My lack of motivation and conviction got me in the end. Maybe if I really wanted to do this, I could have thought about a way to get out of this situation.

The footsteps drew closer; I tried my darndest to lay as still as I could.

It wasn’t enough.