Sometimes plans were made solely out of necessity. Other times, plans weren’t made at all. The wise thing to do would have been to meet with other members of the court, slowly getting to know the ranking members to look for an opening, exploit a weakness, or leverage a friendship.

Since whole families were already dying, it seemed this zone might deceptively be the hardest hit yet. Without a central place to get an accurate head count, I could only guess how much time they had left. One thing I knew for certain was that there wasn’t an abundance of time to go about things the smart way anymore.

Surely the palace couldn’t be that hard to break into. Many of the former adversity management members would be easy to spot, given that they were cats and dogs. More than likely, their presence would be limited to the palace grounds to avoid making the common folk uneasy.

It was risky. Getting caught would mean being kicked out of the zone or, worse, imprisoned. After spending some time in the jail cell of an unhinged sheriff, I had no intention of repeating that experience.

I’d sent Ghost to scout, finding the best location to drop in without being immediately caught.

“There’s a servant’s quarters you could drop into. It isn’t going to be empty, but if you wait for the right moment, you should be able to pull it off. Servants won’t be as vigilant as soldiers,” he said.

Good. We’d already been here almost a full day, so the idea of not wasting more time was appealing to me. We were already on the edge of dusk, and it was clear that talking to the prince directly wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

Using my enhancer, I began to scale the wall. It would be impossible for a normal person without tools, but thankfully it gave me the extra grip I needed. No one would ever suspect someone walking around without tools could enter here.

My foot slipped, and my heart stopped for a moment. I was high enough up the wall at this point that a fall would be very unwelcome. Having to deal with a broken bone would set me back a few days.

Eventually, I managed to reach the top. I paused briefly, looking back in the direction I’d just come from, shuddering. It never looks as high from the bottom as it does from the top. Despite using the enhancer, it was taxing on my fingers to linger in one spot for so long.

“Let me know when to cross over,” I complained to Ghost, who was perched at the top.

“Quiet,” he scolded.

Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one sitting here holding his entire body weight from his fingertips.

“Not to rush you, but if I don’t cross over soon, I’m going to have to drop.”

He ignored me, his eyes continuing to scan the courtyard.

“Now,” he said, disappearing over the wall and flying down.

I crossed over, quickly making my way down the other side before my fingers gave out.

I sucked in a quick breath through my teeth, clenching and unclenching my fists.

“A shame you didn’t bring your climbing gear,” he said.

“If only I could see the future, huh, Ghost?” I quipped quietly.

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“Now what?” he asked.

“Now what…” I repeated, sighing and looking down at my feet. “Now I don’t know. I have no idea where Adversity Management is. Or rather, former members. If you didn’t spot any of them when you flew over, they must be inside the palace. That means—”

I paused, noticing several men running along the wall, their faces fully covered and swords drawn.

I looked to Ghost, and he nodded. He’d seen them too.

“Fly up. Keep an eye on them. I’m going to follow and count on you if I lose them.”

Without an answer, Ghost flew into the air. I sprinted to catch up with them, not sure what I’d do if they happened to catch me following. I didn’t know whether they were friend or foe, but they were certainly up to no good.

As we passed between the small buildings that made up the servants’ quarters, I stopped briefly to observe them preparing to scale the next wall. Unlike me, they’d come prepared. However, I was eager to follow their lead for now. They’d likely researched patrols and knew the best times and places to advance.

After the last man scaled the wall, a total of seven, I followed without tools again. Everything from my shoulders to my fingertips was burning. It would’ve been nice if they hadn’t dragged the rope with them to the other side.

I briefly lost sight of them, but Ghost signaled their direction just in time for me to catch up. Wherever they were going, they were in a hurry. Whatever they were planning, it wasn’t good.

We were running through the military quarters now, and the men I was pursuing had gone to the rooftops. The way they were moving indicated serious training. Likely everyone in the group was an accomplished martial artist and very fit. Without my enhancer, I doubted I could have kept up with them.

As we were about to pass from the military quarters to the inner palace, I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I turned to see a large man with a death grip on me, his other hand resting on his sword. I looked in the direction of the men, just in time to see them disappear over the inner palace walls.

“What are you doing here?” the man shouted.

I looked in that direction again, and they were gone. Their tools had already disappeared over the wall.

“Sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to believe me. There are seven armed men in black running toward the inner palace. They just scaled the wall. If you take the time to verify what I’m saying, I’m afraid it’ll be too late.”

He hesitated for a moment, noticing the sword at my hip. He looked to the inner palace, then back to me again. “Balder, with me!”

A large anthropomorphic dog approached us. Just who I was looking for, but now wasn’t the time to think about that. He picked up a large spear and rested it on his shoulder.

“General?” the big dog said, more of an acknowledgment than a question.

“If this girl tries to escape, capture her. She claims there are armed invaders heading toward the inner palace. There isn’t enough time to mobilize, and I don’t want to scare them away. We’ll be outnumbered.”

Balder simply nodded, and we sprinted in the direction of the inner palace.

Our path was more direct. Accompanied by a military official, we moved unhindered straight through each gate. Eventually, we made our way to the doors of the palace, just in time to see one of the guards run through with a sword. As we spilled into the courtyard, two soldiers lay dead on the ground as the men scaled the steps with swords drawn.

“That’s far enough!” the general shouted.

No fancy words were exchanged. The seven men immediately turned and attacked us. Three against seven wasn’t great odds, but I knew even before we arrived that the odds would likely favor us. Balder was a former Adversity Management soldier, grown in a lab to be perfect. Whoever this general was, he’d seen his fair share of conflict. I wasn’t sure where, since this zone had been controlled by Adversity Management, but clearly he’d gained some field experience somewhere.

Despite the seven men being highly skilled, the fight was over before more than a dozen blows could be struck. I’d activated my enhancer, taking down three without wounding them before the general and Balder were able to land their first strikes. That left them with two each, which turned out to be little more than a warm-up for any real fight that might’ve come afterward. Thankfully, that was the whole of it.

The general had killed one of the men, but the others were alive. Several managed to make it to their feet and sprint away. Balder turned to pursue them but was stopped by the general.

“Let them go, Balder. We have two or three here who can talk, and that’s plenty.” He turned to me, slapping a hand on my shoulder. “You spoke the truth and may very well have saved our prince’s life. What is your name?”

“Taylor,” I said.

“I’m General Junwei. We’ll save the rest of the formalities for later. For now, we need to make sure Prince Renyi is safe and secure. Balder, see to the prisoners.”

Seems I’d found an opening after all.