Chapter 21-The Mission

The night sky is littered with shining stars like jewels covering a fine and endless black fabric. The smaller orange moon resides in the exact center of the larger white moon covering up all but the edges. The aroma of food and wine comes from the palace even from beyond the walls. The palace is well light and can be seen from several city blocks away. Large crowds of nobles gather. Many people coming from far away arrive on Shiek drawn carriages. Each person has their own set of guards and even maids or butlers working for them. None are obviously flaunting any slaves. However this does not mean they do not have slaves, just like the king.

Aarushi and I walk through the luxurious palace gates with her arm in mine. I wear my usual leather armor with glamourous silver ruby encrusted sword at my side. Aarushi wears the elegant white tight fitting dress I bought her yesterday on our date. She looks absolutely stunning. Rhea applied make up to both Aarushi and herself. Aarushi’s hair has been curled and her nails where done. Aarushi was beautiful without the makeup but when I see it for the first time I lose my breath.

As we pass the gate one of the guards says “That’s a really nice sword he has, but his armor is shit.”

“Forget that, look at the woman he is guarding, she is so pretty!” the two guards continue talking as we walk past.

I notice all the light near the prison cells are out. The whole area around the dungeon is darkened out making it impossible to tell if there is even a building there. To not draw attention to that area several statues and hedges have been placed in front of the darkness. All the precautions the king set up to prevent people from noticing his slaves will help us free them even easier. It also proves even in this world slavery is socially unacceptable.

Lucarus and Rhea walk in behind us shortly after. We must pretend not to know each other. Rhea is going to try to distract the second prince and the king while the three of us help the slaves escape. However if that fails Aarushi will try to distract them as a plan b.

As we get to the palace entrance we are stopped and one of the guards asks “Hey you two!” he comes up to us and examines us closely. “You look familiar, where do I know you from?”

Crap does he recognize me from when I was captured? Is my cover blown? Maybe I should never have come.

“Oh I know your Deadra from the team eternal flame! Your team has been doing really well! When do you plan to try to take on the wyverns, or maybe even a troll?”

Relief floods over me. “We might be doing that soon.”

“Haha I understand I would be scared too. Is this why you decided to do an escort mission tonight? Need extra gold for new equipment or something? You know if you want I can talk to the king and get you a position on his royal guard. You will get new weapons and armor along with a steady intake of gold.”

I shake my head and say “No I am sorry the arena is my true calling. I am merely doing a favor for a friend right now. Here is my ladies invitation.” I pull a royal degree from my pouch and pass it over to him.

He scans it over before giving it back and waiving us through. The guards at the door pull their spears back opening a path for us to move through. “Have a good evening my lady. Deadra come see me if you ever change your mind.” I nod my head and wave at him as I enter the building

Aarushi tightens her grip on my arm and says “You’re not really thinking of taking his offer are you?”

“Of course not, it’s called acting Aarushi. If we don’t want to get caught we must act.”

“Oh, ok good!”

We enter the dining hall and sit near the exit in case we get the chance to escape. Lucarus and Rhea sit on the opposite end near another exit.

The king stands up with his second son standing next to him at the head of the largest table. He taps his glass with his knife receiving everyone in the hall’s attention. In a loud and controlling voice he says “Today we celebrate my second son Thelan for turning 15 years old. He will be the one to take my place on the thrown due to the misfortune that stole Bowen’s life from us. Tonight Thelan will be allowed to take a woman as one of his wives. I know many of you have come in anticipation for this and I wish you all the best of luck. May the festivities begin!” The people sitting at the tables all cheer as food strolls out from the kitchen.

There are several servings of bear, rabbit, shiek and many more types of meets all scattered about the table. Several types of fruits and vegetables are presented as well. Bread and pasta alike are served along with countless types of sauces. Whine and whiskey are both available for us to drink, it is far more delicious than the home made silver liquor my village makes. Multiple times I am forced to slap Aarushi’s hand from refilling her goblet with more wine. Candles are light every few feet on the tables.

A couple next to us sloppily eats their food. Reaching over other guests and taking things off the serving plate with their hands. I can’t say Aarushi is much better. She may look like a princess today but her manners say otherwise.

“(Burrp) Deadra this stuff is so good! Why can’t we eat like this all the time!”

A man dressed in a something reminding me of a brown over coat and beret sitting across from me looks up from his meal and says “Wait your Deidra? The one from the arena? I saw your fight with the monsters. After that day I have seen all of you and your team’s fights.”

Aarushi puts her hand on my shoulder and says “Why are you so popular? Why doesn’t anyone recognize me?”

I start to talk but am interrupted from the man across from me. “Deadra what are you doing in a place like this? Where are Lucarus and Aarushi?”

Not sure what to say I sit in silence. I don’t want to ruin our disguise.

Aarushi raises her fist in a heroic way and says “I am Aarushi! And we are here on a secret mission!”

I slap the palm of my hand to my face at Aarushi’s ignorance.

“You’re Aarushi the leader of the Eternal Flame? The crimson haired goddess of the arena! I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize you in your current state.” He bows his head in apology. “What is your secret mission? Do you plan to assassinate the corrupted king?”

I immediately cover Aarushi’s mouth to prevent her from talking before saying “We are just trying to get closer to the king in hopes of gaining a higher position. Aarushi hopes to marry the prince and I want to join his royal guard.” Aarushi licks my hand in an attempt to have me remove it but I stay firm in my stance.

The man crosses his arms with an angry look on his face. “Damn. I had wished you guys were smarter than that. This king is a tyrant who deserves nothing but the chopping block. Everyone in our house celebrated that night.”

Still holding Aarushi’s mouth in fear of her revealing I killed the prince I say “Why are you here now if you hate the king?”

The man gives off a strange look of astonishment. “You don’t know? This whole city is in economic collapse because of the king’s high taxes. I guess a gladiator like you wouldn’t know since he gives them special treatment. Everyone even the nobles such as myself are having trouble scraping by for food. My self alone with many of my friend’s give what we can to the poorer residents of this city and because of that I came here for the free food. You will find many of the others here have the same motivation.”

I glance around at everyone else. They are completely ignoring our conversation and are focusing on eating. More people than just the couple with rude manners are crazily trying to get as much as they can. Several people are packing meat and bread into any container that they can.

Not only are the slums dying in this city but all the residents outside of the arena.

“So you say everyone here hates the king? Do you know how trust worthy the people around us are? What is your opinion on slaves?” I finally release my hands from Aarushi. Saliva drips from my hand along with a smeared red lip shaped imprint. I wipe my hand on my leather leg armor and look at Aarushi.

She presents her best puppy dog eyes before saying “What did I do wrong?”

Both the man and I ignore her.

In reply to my questions he says “Not everyone does but I know several people who do. They are also very trustworthy people. I frown upon the idea of slaves. I hear rumors that the king owns his own slaves and it eats me up inside.”

I scratch my chin for a moment with a slight humming noise resonating from my mouth. Looking around I notice every door is covered by guards. Our plan will only work if no one notices us release the prisoners.

“I can’t tell you the details but would you like to help me?” He nods his head. “Alright I want you to make a distraction for the guards.”

“We should wait tell we go to the ball room. While we are traveling there the guards around us will be less.” He pauses for a moment. “I could start a quarrel with some of the other guests and then you can escape.”

I nod my head in agreement. After that her whispers to each person to his side and they continue it down the line. I am not sure how trust worthy this man is but he can’t ruin any plans since he does not know what we are doing. Worst case scenario is that he will not cause a distraction and we will have to find another way.

After this we eat our meal in silence. I stuff as much food into my bag as I can, it will be given to the slaves.

The king once again rises. Ringing of metal against glass silences the people in the massive dining hall. “We have all eaten our fill and the food is no longer hot. Let us now start the festivities. Every one let us move to the ball room!”

A set of guards open the door leading to the ball room. As everyone stands up to go I wrap my arm around Aarushi’s arm and guide her over to Rhea and Lucarus. As I set off the man I was talking to grabs my shoulder.

He says “I don’t know how you escaped from the fire on the day you were put up for execution, but thank you for everything you have done.”

When did he recognize me? Did he witness the execution? No I don’t have time to worry about this, I need to focus on the mission.

I brush his arm off and give him a nod. He nods back before disappearing into the crowd. I keep moving as well. I finally catch up To Lucarus and Rhea in the hall way.

I do not look at Lucarus or Rhea but begin talking to them. “If a ruckus happens in the hall way we need to all make our move then. It will be the best time to strike.”

Lucarus says “What do you have planned?”

“Just watch and see. Follow my lead and keep your head down.”

We anxiously walk through the large corridors with the mass of people on all sides of us. As we near the ball room shouting from every direction fills the hall.

“Im going to kill you!” sounds from in front of us.

“Stop that man he stole my money” resonates from the back.

“Guards help, I need help”

Screaming and yelling continues as everyone scatters around in the chaos. The guards run in every direction trying to calm the people down. Small riots wash over the crowd around us.

I yank Aarushi with me as I charge out of the crowd. I dart toward the exit while keeping my head down. With all the ambient noise there is no need to stay quiet, we only need to be fast.

After we escape the corridor we find ourselves outside the palace shrouded in the darkness near the slave’s cells.

I turn around to check on everyone. “Is everyone ready?”

Aarushi tightens her grip around my arm and takes a deep breath. “Yeah I think I’m ok. This dress is a bit hard to move in though so I don’t think I can help fight much.”

Lucarus nods his head and says “I’m as ready as I’ll every be.”

Rhea nods her head “Yeah I’m good.”

“I am here to help too.”

Everyone’s vision shoots toward the voice. The man I was talking to at dinner stands in the back of our group waving slightly.

I walk up to him angrily and grab the collar of his brown over coat. I pull his face toward my own and angrily say “What are you doing here?”

He starts to perspire from his forehead. “You only told me to make a distraction, but I figured you could use my help. I stole some keys off a guard. Here have them.”

He hands me a ring of black keys. I release his coat and say “Just don’t get in the way. This is an important and very sensitive job.”

“Thank you. My name is Alexia, allow me to be of service to you.”

We continue toward the prison cells hiding behind the hedges and statues. We are lucky and come across no resistance or guards on our walk across the garden. When we get ten paces from the cell we hide behind a lion statue looking toward the cell. The same rank smell from last time I was here emits from the cells. Several dozen men women and children in iron shackles sit within the dungeon. The look of defeat and dread covers each of their faces. The old man I talked to in my last visit is nowhere to be seen. A single guard stands at attention outside the door.

Aarushi whispers “What do we do now? We need to get past him.”

Rhea says “I’m not sure. We need to find a way to knock him out without alerting any of the other guards, but we also need to make sure he doesn’t wake up during the night and alert any one either.”

In my mind one idea flashes through my head. We could kill him. It would be nothing for me to shoot myself over there and completely take him out in a flash. It would be quick and easy. I have killed once before what is one more life? No I can’t allow myself to turn into a murderer. It might be one death now but it could amplify to several more in the future. Why would I even let myself think such a disgusting thought?

Alexia says “Why don’t you just knock him out then tie him up with one of the prisoner’s shackles and take him with us?”

“That’s a good Idea. I will knock him out using my special technique.” I stand up and move out from behind the statue.

Before the guard even notices my presence I vanish from the spot and reappear with the back of my blade ramming the back of his head. He falls to the ground in an instant. I place fingers on his neck to check his pulse. Aloud I say “Good” he is still breathing and his pulse is normal.

I take the keys from my bag and unlock the prison door. The others in my group come to the door and guard the entrance. I step inside and hand the set of keys to the first person that walks up to me. She is a petit woman with brown matted hair. Her hands are thin and dry. She wears nothing but tattered brown and black rags. Her collar bone protrudes out from her sunken chest.

She coughs up a small sentence “(cough cough) you really came back for us.” She smiles and begins unlocking her shackles.

From the entrance of the door Lucarus throws me another set of keys and says “I got them off this guy, it will help speed it up.” He then pulls his bag off and tosses it to me. “I also filled this with food from the banquet.”

I hand the bag Lucarus gave me to her after she unlocks the chains binding her. “Share this with everyone and help everyone unlock there shackles. I have more food inside my bag as well” she nods her head and does as I said after shoving a piece of bread in her mouth.

I go around unlocking each person’s chains with the help of the brown haired woman. I hand each one of them my bag and let them grab whatever food they desire. As the food is presented to them their faces brighten up slightly and the glossy look in their eyes fades away. These people have been living without hope for so long.

Something inside my chest grows warm as I help each one of them. Is this the feeling you get when you help someone? I feel really good right now. It feels as if a weight in my chest has been lifted. Maybe I should stop being such a selfish person and begin helping people more. After we get these people to safety I will discuss this with the others. I think I want to become a hero. I want to help this town. Maybe I could become like Robin Hood from my first world; stealing from the rich king and giving to the poor people of this town. Haha yeah like that will happen.

After all the food was distributed and everyone is free of their restraints I ask the woman that I first unlocked “Where is the old man from last time?” She looks down at the ground in silence. “I understand, say no more.”

It’s sad I wasn’t able to save these people in time. I wish I could have given him the joy of fresh air and freedom one last time before he died. We don’t have any time to greave, we need to keep going.

I walk to the door and shouting behind me I say “Everyone stay quiet and follow us, you are not free yet. We still need to escape from this palace and the city.” We can’t go out the front gate so instead we will scale the walls behind this cell. Since they are not as agile as our race is I doubt they can climb it like the three of us can. Actually I am not sure if Rhea can even climb the walls. Either way it doesn’t matter we have a plan. Lucarus will sit on the top and help pull them up as I push from below. On the other side Aarushi will be there to catch them.

We exit the cell and walk behind it. I look up at the twelve foot tall wall. Lucarus and Aarushi run up it with ease. Now that I am in full health I can do the same.

While on the wall Aarushi points to the other side and says “Hey isn’t that the monkey from earlier?”

Lucarus replies “Hey I think you’re right! What is he doing here?”

The next instant the wall to our right explodes as a person flies out from it. Their body flies through the crowd of slaves. Impacting into the outside of the cell wall it falls apart on top of them. Mica the blue haired woman stands up from the rubble practically unscathed, both her blades are out and she has the look of fear and anger embroiled on her face.

A man in a grey hood and an imposing aura steps out from the broken wall holding two large scythes.

What the hell is happening?