Darius’s mansion was a sizable three-story house with tasteful stone columns facing the front. Behind these columns were large windows set into the detailed stonework. Surrounded by a privacy wall of about the height of two people, it looked like the perfect private getaway, especially with the array of guards that patrolled the grounds.
Except Ayax and Elizabeth had raided buildings far too often and knew a lot of tricks. For one, Darius had ensured his staff maintained several trees growing in the grounds. These grew so close to the privacy wall that it was a piece of cake for Ayax and Elizabeth to scale the wall and use the foliage as cover to get inside.
Evading the guards wasn’t too difficult either. Unlike in their younger days, the pair didn’t have to throw rocks or make distracting noises. They just had to wait until the guards chatted with one another, distracting themselves enough so that the pair could just tiptoe by and get into the building through one of the large windows.
Inside the mansion was where things got tricky.
Elizabeth quickly peered around the corner down the long hallway. The sitting room they’d entered was empty, but she could hear voices in the mansion. “I didn’t expect this place to be so big. Good thing the guards are bored out of their minds,” she whispered.
“Probably helps that this technically isn’t a military site,” said Ayax. She followed Elizabeth into the corridor, their feet quietly stepping over the fancifully embroidered carpet. “Darn, I want a carpet like this.”
Elizabeth peeked around another corner. “I didn’t realize you had such expensive tastes, dear.”
“A girl can dream. By the way, you think Darius has a secret dungeon underneath his mansion?” Ayax asked.
“That would be horribly stereotypical. Not out of character for Darius, but horribly stereotypical regardless.” Elizabeth snapped her mouth shut and pulled back, pressing a finger to her lips. She put up two fingers, indicating two guards down the hall.
Quietly, stepping almost in sync, the couple retreated in the opposite direction. The mansion was large enough that it had more than one hallway that cut through the building.
“Well where would he stash Leila?” Ayax asked under her breath as they crept through. All they could see right now were the typical things one would find in a rich noble’s mansion: paintings, the odd tapestry, fine mahogany. All of this was intriguing but none of it was what they were looking for.
“Well let’s see if we can find a stairway into the metaphorical dungeon.” Elizabeth raised her hand, her eyes narrowing at a nondescript white-painted door. “Like that one.”
“Hmm.” Ayax looked around the door, noting how it appeared to be underneath one of the house’s staircases. “It is odd that there is no sign of a room behind here.” Readying her staff, Ayax gently opened the door and stepped down the staircase. There was no light, so she whispered a Word of Power to summon some at the tip of her staff. Elizabeth closed the door behind them as they descended into the depths.
The staircase spiralled down for some distance until it went flat. Walking on the stone-paved ground, the pair could see light glimmering from beyond a corner ahead of them.
Elizabeth nudged her girlfriend. “Ayax, are you ready?”
Ayax shook her head. “Too late to go back now,” she whispered.
“I’ll be with you. Let’s go.” With that the pair stepped forward, together, turning the corner.
Down a corridor was a guard post consisting of a table, a lantern and a few chairs. They found the guard at the post, sleeping quietly on one of the chairs. Behind them, down the corridor, were rows of prison cells. They weren’t the iron caged ones out of a movie or film set. Rather, they were just doors set into the walls.
“Really?” Elizabeth asked, trying not to sound too indignant.
Ayax arched an eyebrow at the sleeping guard. Without further ceremony she plucked the keys from the table, making sure not to let them jangle. “Really. I’ll check on the cells. Can you tie her up, Liz?”
Elizabeth studied Ayax for a good long moment. The troll took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine. And I need to ”
“Alright. I trust you” Elizabeth took out a rope that she carried on her belt and after gagging her, started tying her up. Meanwhile, the troll made her way down, peaking through every one of the dungeons.
Unsurprisingly, the cells were dank, but Ayax didn’t quite expect them to stink as much as they did. Then again, it made sense the cells weren’t cleaned.
Her ears picked up a faint hiss of a weak breath. Steadying herself, Ayax followed her ears to one of the cells and using the keys, opened the door.
“Heh, are you here for another round—” the weak voice cut off and Ayax found herself meeting Leila’s wide dark brown eye. Singular eye, because the other was swollen shut.
The troll flung the door open and strode in, her boots tapping on the damp flagstones. Leila stared up at her. She was dressed in a raggedy shift stained in several places with blood. Dirty bandages wrapped around her hands to the point Ayax couldn’t tell the fingers apart. The woman tried to struggle to her bare feet, coated with scabs, but collapsed against the wall. A foul smelling bucket sat in the corner of the room.
“Leila, just sit down.” Ayax exhaled slowly and knelt down. “Damn they did a number on you. Hang tight, Liz and I are here to get you out.”
Leila swallowed. “I…what did Scarlet tell you?”
“She didn’t tell me. She gave us a report.” Ayax bit her lip. “Look, I don’t plan on hurting you. Janize has demanded your return. Come on, I’m going to hoist you onto my shoulder.” She reached forward, only for Leila to raise her hand with a whimper.
“Just kill me. I…killed your mom, Ayax,” Leila croaked.
Ayax closed her eyes. “You’re making this really fucking difficult right now so can you just please be quiet.”
Leila shrugged. “It’s the truth.”
The troll pinched the bridge of her nose. “You lied like, all the time. Look, I don’t have time for this. It’s almost like you’re trying to get yourself killed—” Ayax frowned as Leila did her best not to cringe. “Seriously. By Galena just shut up.” The troll picked Leila up and studiously ignoring her groans, hoisted her onto her shoulder.
“Ayax?” Liz called out.
“I’m coming. I got Leila. She’s in a bad way, though. Wanna take over?”
“Sure. We might have to make this quick—” Elizabeth stared at Leila before quickly just cradling her in her arms. “Yeah no, we got to go.”
The pair raced up the steps, past the tied up guard who was still sleeping. Ayax, staff tight in her hand, pushed the door open.
The moment she saw feet from just beyond the doorjamb, Ayax kicked the door open into the passer by. Bringing her staff at the ready, she came around to find a servant staggering backward. Wincing, the troll quickly cast a binding spell, causing the servant’s arms to lock to the sides and her mouth to shut.
“Go! Oh crap.” Ayax’s eyes widened. In the distance, down the long hallway, she saw the mansion’s main doors open and several guards march in. There was a lot more behind htem.
Elizabeth scowled. “Shoot. Ayax, we got to hide. Get some smoke up and follow me!”
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Vulpina slammed the empty cell door behind her. “How the fuck did they just leave? We made sure Leila couldn’t walk and the house is surrounded by guards?”
One hand steadying himself against the dungeon wall, Darius pinched his brow. “Ah well, nothing we can do but just keep searching for them.”
Her fury evaporating in an instant, the blonde-haired woman regarded her father with a glance. “You seem uncharacteristically blase about this, dad.”
“You just haven’t dealt with the Lightning Battalion long enough. They have a habit of upsetting your plans no matter what you do.” Darius pointed at the still tied up, but now very much awake guard. “You are docked half pay and assigned to latrine duty. Let it be known that she let an extremely valuable prisoner escape.”
Vulpina swallowed. “They will have taken her to Janize by this point. We need to move—”
“Not hastily. Our preparations aren’t ready yet. Start massing backup supplies here and fortifying this mansion. I’ll contact Scarlet. We’ll have to move faster before Janize reveals what we did to Leila. She can’t arrest us immediately, though.”
“She has her own Royal Guard and most of the city’s troops in her pocket. Quite a few nobles have sworn to her too,” said Vulpina, biting her lip.
“And none of our elite veterans, Vulpina. Patience. If we act hastily we might lose everything.” He patted his daughter’s shoulder. “Now go and tell Scarlet. I’ll be right behind you”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“Yes father.” Vulpina ran back up the stairs, followed not too far away by Darius. The pair separately left the mansion, though, their troops remained.
High above these soldiers, watching from a dusty window in the attic, Ayax scowled and retreated. Bending slightly, one hand held in front of her to brush past the cobwebs, the troll crept silently across the cloth covered floorboards. She and Elizabeth had laid out the spare carpets, window curtains, tapestries, any clothing that could deaden their steps, across the attic’s floor.
“Well shit, they are not leaving the mansion,” Ayax whispered to Elizabeth. “I don’t see them rummaging through the grounds, though.”
Elizabeth gently tucked Leila underneath the least dusty sheet she could find. “Hmm, at least they’re not actively searching for us. They must think we left.”
Leila whimpered, “Out of a frying pan and into the fire.”
“Would you rather have stayed and kept being tortured?” Ayax drawled.
Leila tried to sit up. “Better than having you for company—Aghmmphf!” Her muffled cry was stifled by Elizabeth’s firm hand before she was gently pushed back down onto the makeshift bed, her head resting against one of the mansion’s spare pillows.
“Leila, just rest. Ayax, can you give me the bandages? I’ll try to fix her up. It looks like we’ll be hear for a bit, or at least we can get Leila moving.”
Ayax rummaged through her belt pouches and started handing over bandages. “You don’t want me to try healing her?”
“Do you think you can focus?” Elizabeth asked.
“Not with her quipping like that all the time, but she might have internal injuries.” Ayax grimaced as she recalled the sight in Leila’s cell. “Leila, be honest with me, did you excrete any blood?”
“What do you mean by ex—Oh.” Leila scowled at Ayax. “Ew. You pervert. Why would you look there?”
“You reek of blood and faeces. Besides, I’m a pervert for only one woman.” Ayax leaned over and kissed Elizabeth quite promptly on her forehead, making the human glance up from where she was opening the medical kit.
“Ayax. Really. Also, Leila, it is a good question. We need to know if you had any internal injuries.”
Leila grimaced and nodded once.
“Yeah, I’ll have to try something.” Ayax let herself look at her mother’s murderer, her eyes narrowing. “Anything else you want?”
Leila shot Ayax a sidelong glare with her single good eye. “Don’t you want to know why?”
Ayax covered her mouth, fighting back the urge to screen. “I want to know why you keep trying to get yourself murdered. You want to stay with Queen Janize, so why are you trying to commit suicide by pissing me off?”
The troll glared at the human Otherworlder. Elizabeth did so as well from the corner of her eye, but with no small interest.
Leila said nothing, and so Ayax letting out a long exhale, pulled out a handkerchief. Wrapping it so tightly it was like a ball, she knelt down and passed it to Leila. “Put this in your mouth. The healing might hurt a bit.”
Leila snorted. “Compared to what they did to me, I think I’ll be fine. I won’t even whimper.” She bit down on the makeshift mouthguard and closed her eyes.
She was half right. It didn’t hurt that much but it still hurt enough to make Leila whimper. All the pair could do was try to keep the Otherworlder quiet.
Their ability to get out of this mess relied entirely on it.
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To get into the Palace District, Frances and Tara planned for the Colonel to escort them as servants. Frances initially thought this would be too difficult, but a few plain dresses later and the trio were following Tara into the Palace district.
“I’m surprised we can get in so quickly,” whispered Frances as they walked up the road. The district itself was on a hill overlooking the city. Parts of the district were even built up right to the edge of cliffs. From where Frances stood, she could see Minairen spread underneath her.
Tara glanced over her shoulder. “The palace is always hiring. There are always open positions to fill with so many in the war. Besides, there are enough guards surrounding important people and places that no folk would try anything stupid.”
She wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t like Frances could see a guard no matter where she looked. However, as they walked, she did see that every mansion, or keep had guards patrolling around or atop of them.
Honestly, the variety between the different mansions and stone keeps were quite frightening. There were a few wind-swept ones from weathered stone that looked almost archaic. As the group walked on, the buildings around them seemed to get more modern.
And thankfully, nobody actually approached to interrogate them. They did get a few guards waving at Tara, who waved back. One time, a soldier asked if Tara was bringing some kids to the kitchen.
After that guard left, Hattie nudged her mentor. “I guess it also helps you also are short enough to pass for someone quite young, Frances.”
Looking up at Hattie, Frances made a face before turning back to Tara. “Are we getting close to the Blue House?”
Tara nodded and gestured ahead. “It’s in that park.”
Morgan swallowed. “You mean that park with the guards?”
Tara nodded slowly as the group looked toward the mansion and its sapphire curtains. It was very much indeed, surrounded by Alavari soldiers.
“Damn, how are we going to find out if uncle is—” Morgan’s breath caught in her throat as the Blue House’s balcony door opened. A familiar, lanky figure waltzed onto the balcony and started to do some stretches. The guards of course, glared at the prince, who made a face.
“That could be an illusion,” said Hattie.
“Could be, but I don’t think we have a choice.” Frances took a deep breath. “Looks like we will have to use that plan you readied, Tara. Get your regiment on standby near the inn.”
The young troll nodded. “What do you plan to do?”
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The thing that Frances had noticed about the perimeter around the Blue House was that all the guards were focused on looking towards the building and not outside.
This meant that Frances, Hattie and Morgan could approach quite close to the guards before they let all hell break loose.
As they went from tree to tree, slowly advancing on the sentries, Morgan felt a pit fill in her stomach. Underneath her dress, she wore her armor. She had her helmet on her head and Lightbreaker in her hand.
She’d just chosen at the worst time to remember that she’d never actually fought in an actual battle. What was she doing? Why did she think this was a good idea—
A gentle hand squeezed her shoulder and Morgan looked up to find Frances smiling at her.
“Morgan, I’ll take care of you so just do your best. Remember, your uncle is in that mansion and we need to get him out.”
“I…thank you, mom.” Morgan smiled sheepishly. “Did…were you worried on your first battle?”
Frances sighed. “I froze actually and if not for Edana, I would have been badly hurt.” She readied Ivy’s Sting. “A story for another time. You target the guard on the roof. Don’t worry if you miss or miscast. Just keep casting. Hattie?”
“Ready,” said the half-troll, her eyes narrowed on her target, the nearest sentry post.
Frances nodded. “Let’s go.”
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Although Timur was bored enough that his mind felt almost numb, his ears stiffened the moment he heard a voice he knew very well sing. Unabashed elation made him leap to his feet and run to the window. Dread halted him in his steps.
“Oh no. Frances. Shit!” Running, Timur raced for his room. His feet thundering up the stairs, he threw the doors to his personal chambers open and made for his bed.
While he’d been hoping otherwise, Timur had considered what he might do if someone tried to rescue him. So he’d been doing some planning and preparation of his own.
Reaching underneath his bed, Timur yanked a duffel bag he’d been preparing and pulled out a hand drawn map. While the guards had been horribly unfriendly, they had brought him books to read by his request. After much thought, he’d requested a very specific book.
He’d also been stuffing his bag with anything he thought could be useful. Dried provisions, silverware from the mansion that he’d plundered and sharpened into makeshift shivs. He’d even managed to procure a pack of playing cards and enchant them with some of the spells that Ayax and his friend Captain Aloudin had taught him.
Nothing could have prepared him for when he ran down the grand staircase and for the first time in weeks, saw his beloved niece kick the doors of the mansion open.
“Morgan? What the—”
“Uncle!” Morgan slammed into him, knocking him back several steps. She was far heavier than he last remembered, but that probably was because of the armor she wore.
“Wait, but how did you—” Timur looked up to see Frances slam the mansion’s doors behind her once Hattie had slipped in. “Oh honey.”
“Timur, love.” They embraced, sharing a brief, desperate kiss. Yet for both of them, it felt like a balm soothing their pounding hearts. “Sorry, I’ll explain later, but we got to go,” said Frances, pushing a spare wand into Timur’s hand.
“Do you have a way out of the Palace District?” asked the prince.
Frances winced. “We have allies once we get out of the district, but we were relying on surprise.”
“Then I have a plan, follow me. We need to get to the Red House!” Timur exclaimed.
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They broke through a window of the mansion, leaping onto the grounds where they proceeded to leg it from the Blue House. Before the guards could converge onto them, Timur led them right into a maze of hedges and before their eyes, they lost their pursuers.
“Uncle, what’s the plan exactly?” Morgan stammered.
Timur checked a corner. “Remember how Queen Ulania was assassinated, Frances? Archmage Star and Zirabelle had prepared a secret tunnel in the Red House.”
Frances stammered, “Wait, you found it? But you were in the Blue House?”
The prince grinned, “They let me have my pick of reading material and one of the things I requested were histories and plans for the design of the different palaces. There’s only so many places you can put a tunnel and have it easy to access.”
“How can we be sure nobody’s found it?” Hattie asked.
“Well nobody has known about how the assassins got into the palace even now. They wouldn’t have been looking for, or found a tunnel,” said Timur. He glanced at Frances. “By the way, why are Morgan and Hattie here?”
Morgan piped up. “Uncle, we insisted on coming with mom.”
“You insis—wait, mom?” Timur grinned, shaking his head slowly. “Oh wow, I have been away for too long.” The group rounded a final corner and came upon the Red House.
The structure had clearly seen better days. Once upon a time, the palatial mansion had been a grand red brick structure topped with terracotta tiles. Its two extending wings had framed the H-shaped building, giving it several natural courtyard areas. Yet, although most of the building from the outside looked fine, part of the domed roof in the centre of the building was collapsed. This opened a great hole where the impromptu group could see the remnants of a mural of some sort. The curtains for all the windows were also all drawn tight, with a number of windows actually boarded up. So the Red House stood amidst the still-tended garden around it, a quiet, deserted structure amidst the other palaces of the Alavarian rulers.
“Thank Galena, I was hoping it was deserted,” said Timur. He grabbed the door, but found it locked.
“Uncle allow me.” Morgan took a deep breath, flapping into the air, she swung her battle claws.
The weapons sheared through the metal lock like it was paper, tearing a hole through the door.
Timur whistled. “Very nice. Your gift, Frances?”
“Yes,” she said, smiling proudly. The group hurried in, slamming the doors shut.
It looked as if nobody had lived in this place since Queen Ulania’s death. Candle fittings and railings were covered with dusty or rotting tarps. All portraits and tapestries had been removed, leaving only hooks or holes in the walls.
The group found themselves transfixed however by the sight of the grand hall they were in. Craters and cracks pockmarked the floor and ceiling. Scorch marks, claw-like rips and debris slammed into cut stone and plaster marred the once beautiful room.
“I got this,” said Morgan. She raised Lightbreaker and waved it. Balls of violet light spread out, dissipating into the air and suddenly, the room brightened as if it was day.
Frances patted Morgan’s shoulder. “Good job. Hattie and I will fortify the door and delay them. Morgan, you help your uncle find the tunnel.”
“Do you have a plan for when we get out of the district?” Timur asked at Frances’s nod, the prince beamed and the pair leaned in to kiss briefly. “We’ll be quick.”
“Hurry.” Frances turned to Hattie, who was already levitating furniture against the door. “I’ll see if I can delay them from that hole up there,” she said, pointing up at the open dome.
“Got it. See you soon, Frances.”
Frances nodded, there wasn’t much time left. She ran up the steps, some of them were battered and there was even a hole in the spiral staircase. Finally, she reached the second story and racing along the landing, she managed to get to the gaping hole in the dome.
Guards were lining up and taking cover amongst the bushes and trees surrounding the Red House. The many flashes of the afternoon sun on musket barrels told Frances what she suspected.
“Timur, we’re not getting out of this one unless you find that tunnel!”