I left Haily behind to walk down to my hammock, not because someone was daring to sit on it, but because I wanted to see what Sam was doing with the group gathered around him—besides sitting on my hammock.
The group included Linh and the usual participants in the meetings upstairs. They were having a spirited discussion with voices raised enough to reach my balcony.
The atmosphere was more subdued by the time I made it down, and a few people acknowledged my coming with crossed arms and frowns. I slung my knapsack off and sat on the edge of the hammock Sam hadn’t bothered to vacate. His weight in the centre created a slope that my butt slowly slid down until I was pressed up against him.
Sam grinned at me while I made futile attempts to shuffle back up. “Hi.”
I gave up trying and settled. “What’s going on?”
“General Kylepo started to make a suggestion that the duke didn’t appreciate being made with so many ears around. Then Jeremy came in with some more news about the opera house. So we got forced out of the briefing.”
“Maybe because some of us can’t keep quiet,” a boy sitting near the pond said. “They were right not to trust us if you start running your mouth to the first person you find.”
“She lives here, and if she had wanted to could have been in that meeting,” Sam said.
“This isn’t some chat about infrastructure. We were attacked. We’re on a war footing. I’ve been running around, helping my mother recall officers on leave all morning. Don’t know why some glorified bookkeepers were even invited.”
“One of the major decisions in your war fantasy is if we can afford it,” Sam said. “Something the person who controls the duchy’s flow of roe would be able to decide, don’t you think?”
“Put them away, you two,” a girl said, leaning against a tree the hammock was tied to. “Know anything we don’t?”
“What do you know?” I asked, giving myself time to think.
“Hostage situation at the opera house last night. The building almost collapsed in one area, and at least one officer died. Dragon’s breath is the rumour from the guests there, and the duke knows more but doesn't want to tell even the chiefs just yet.”
They all looked at me with hopeful eyes on what I could add. As usual, I wanted to show off how much I knew, yet in this case, it seemed like there was a good reason the duke didn’t mention the other deaths and details.
The guests already knew about the dragon’s breath that was shown to them, which seemed to have gotten out. However, if people found out about the pillows full of it that could be in any building around them, there may be panic.
“That’s more than me,” I said, to their disappointment. They broke off into smaller groups now that no one could provide them all with another point of discussion.
Sam bumped his shoulder into mine. “No training again today?”
“What did you expect? I would have spent the entire time running laps for what I did, that’s if I was lucky.”
He didn’t try hard to suppress his smile. “It would have been another interesting show.”
I bumped my shoulder into his harder than he had. “It’s not funny. I can’t show my face til she’s gone, and even then, I don’t want to hear what Instructor Daniels has to say about me.”
“I think I saw the corner of his lips curl up when you dumped water on her. She interrupted him a few times when he tried to explain best practices under stress rather than the classroom environment she was used to, so maybe he enjoyed it.”
“I’ll let him calm down a bit before testing that,” I said, leaning back into the hammock and flicking out my hair to let it dangle off the other end.
“You going on a day trip?” he asked, motioning towards the bag. “What have you been up to these last few days.”
“A weeklong day trip,” I sighed. “Palace has been a bit suffocating lately, so I’ve just been out seeing the city.”
“Ah, this is where everyone is,” Amir said, walking up to us all and getting everyone’s attention again. “What’s the word on the opera house? The staff wouldn’t even let me in.”
“We all got kicked out earlier. Only interesting thing you might not know is the owner, Baron Dorohee, is coming down from Jataria. Erin and I were just saying that now makes three of the four original Barons left in controversy. Think someone’s targeting your families?”
“I’d hardly call what happened at our gambling house a controversy. Someone messed up; it’s as simple as that.”
“Yeah, and someone smuggled dragon’s breath into the opera house, simple as that. That mess-up is fracturing our relations with the elves and making the public worry about what’s happening at home rather than the skirmishes up north. While also undermining some of the most foundational families in the duchy.”
“That’s all well and good until you realise one was just an accident and the other an attack of opportunity, not a connected conspiracy. It’ll won’t even be the talk of the pubs after last night.”
I sat up and whispered to Sam that I would go so I didn’t have to listen to these two. It took a bit of shuffling to get myself out of where I’d sunk into the hammock, and Sam ended up having to stand and pull me up.
Amir noticed me but was mid-argument and only got to lift a hand in greeting rather than trapping me in a conversation. He turned his smile into a nasty glare directed at Sam when he thought I wasn’t looking.
Just as I was slinging my bag on my back and getting ready to leave, Yanla walked out of the palace and made a direct path towards me. I thought about trying to walk away quickly, but then we made eye contact, and the whole endeavour felt ill-conceived.
“Valeria, with me please.”
“Hey, when can we go back inside?” Amir asked but didn’t even get a glance out of Yanla before she turned around.
I followed behind her into the palace. “Where are we going?”
“Duke Riker requested your presence. I couldn’t say why.”
Even if she did know, I doubted she would have said so. When we got outside the meeting room, she motioned for the knight to wait before opening the doors so she could take my bags away. They would be waiting for me in the foyer when I was released from the room beyond.
In the room beyond, the duke was in his usual place at the end of the table, his elbows leaning against it and hands clasped together. He looked conflicted as he gave me a tight-lipped smile and stood to walk around the table towards me.
Faraya paced off to the side while Jeremy, General Kylepo, Rowak, and a woman I didn’t recognise argued quietly at the end of the table.
The duke put his arm around my shoulder and led me to a seat near them. “How have you been?”
“Alright, I guess,” I said, eyeing his hand. “Where is everyone?”
“I suppose being called up here without knowing why isn’t the most pleasant,” he said, pulling out a chair between him and Jeremy and pushing it in for me. “We had to clear the room even further in order for the general to make his suggestion.”
The woman I didn’t recognise, with cropped brown hair brushed to one side, was sitting across from me between General Kylepo and Rowak, the general being closer to the duke.
She reached over to offer a hand. “Talia, Head of information gathering for the general.”
“Valeria.”
“Sir, I’d like to know why the general’s personnel could stay while mine were asked to leave,” Rowak said.
“You should have left with them,” General Kylepo snarked. “She’s her because this was her suggestion.”
“A stupid, dangerous suggestion,” Jeremy added.
“You can’t dispute its potential efficacy, and it would be better if the watch is involved,” the duke said. “Please go ahead, Talia.”
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“Yes, sir. I suggested to the general that we use the same source as the one used in Tamil,” she said. “That was a high-traffic area with many mages, and they somehow managed to get close enough to listen in on top individuals' conversations.”
“A suggestion I agree with for more reasons she’s not aware of,” General Kylepo said.
“Bringing two more people in the know could leak this,” Jeremy said. “All it takes is one person being careless, then all the advantage it could provide is gone.”
I shied away from him. It didn’t seem possible that he was talking about Yis, yet his words were true for that situation and stung regardless.
The duke must have mistaken my reaction for something else since he tried to be reassuring. “Don’t worry, Valeria. We’re not sharing everything, and I’m confident they know how to keep secrets.”
“Could you please remove your necklace?” the general asked. Jeremy clicked his tongue and scowled at the man while folding his arms. Faraya was still pacing, and the duke nodded when I looked at him for confirmation. The last two just looked confused.
For the second time in a single day, I dug the mana crystal out of my blouse and placed it on the table. I didn’t enjoy the worry I got from it, which added to my thoughts about what Jeremy had said about telling more people. Especially people I didn’t know or like that much, like Rowak, who seemed only to have rude things to say.
He simply narrowed his eyes at me, but Talia got up to walk around the table without taking her eyes off my chest. She bent down so that her nose almost touched my cheek even as I leaned away.
“You’re part elvish?” Talia asked, parting my hair to check on my ears. “That’s some real talent for only a distant ancestry.”
“We’re not here to discuss the hows and whys,” the duke said. “Just the utility.”
“The utility is endless, so we’d be here all week in that case. If I had a few people like you, I could topple an empire in an afternoon,” Talia said with a gleam in her eye.
“You don’t even have one person like her or any empires to topple,” Jeremey said, and I nodded in agreement to the first part. “So, go take your seat.”
“I will not be complicit in sending a child down into the sewers,” Rowak said. “No matter the talent on display here. We have lifelong combatants dedicated to serving the duchy that can handle it.”
“And have them almost cause an explosion under a residential street again?” General Kylepo said. “This requires subtlety, which the watch is not known for.”
“Oh, and you want a child getting lit bottles of dragon’s breath thrown at her?” Rowak said.
“It’s two to one, what say you?” General Kylepo asked the woman who hadn’t said a word the whole time. Faraya continued to pace without acknowledging the question but gave a small nod soon after.
“That’s two for and two against. Sir, you have the deciding vote,” the general said to the duke. It didn’t seem like Talia got a say, and more importantly, neither did I. If I was going to be sent into the sewers for some asinine reason, I would have at least liked to have a say in the decision.
“Or,” I said, garnering their attention. My anger that was still simmering underneath forced calm might have taken the reins at this point, but I didn’t care, and it was an excellent time to let it. “His vote, just like all of yours, doesn’t matter.”
I was starting to regret not burying my chest full of roe somewhere in the park, but hopefully, Jeremy wouldn’t mind my outburst. They still hadn’t explained what it was they wanted me to do, and my only clues came from them trying to talk over each other.
“I appreciate the concern, faith in my abilities, and…” I said into the stunned silence, trailing off when I got to describing what Rowak’s words meant to me beyond insulting. “But I can make my own decisions.”
“I was about to say just that,” the duke said, and I wasn’t sure if I should believe him or not. “We interrogated those arrested at the opera house last night and got some actionable information from them. I assume you know the basics of what happened by now?”
I nodded. Jeremy must not have revealed his source, which was a little surprising but appreciated.
“They only knew their part in the scheme, but a few said that their leader sometimes went into the sewers for meetings. We can’t ask him for confirmation since he’s no longer with us.
“It’s not the most hospitable place, but the newer additions are spacious enough. The older system, basement, and discovered smuggling tunnels all intertwine down there to make it a labyrinth with new entrances and exits being made and blocked weekly.
“Rowak sent a detachment of officers inside, but they were discovered long before they got to any sort of operations centre and subsequently attacked with bottles of dragon’s breath that had a lit cloth sticking out.
“So, we need someone to get in and tell us where they're currently held up so we can fully surround it without them moving to a different cubbyhole.”
“Which I can do,” I said, with what I hoped was confidence. “I’ll go.”
It didn’t take much time to consider whether I should do it since I’d been doing similar things in Tamil, Jay’s group, and the opera house, if you could count that. I wanted to prove, more to myself than anyone else, that I wouldn’t have allowed what happened at the opera house to occur if I could have stopped it.
There was also a faint hope of preventing seemingly well-meaning people like Brigette, who were in the crowd and might have gotten away at the opera, from being used as part of Zara’s plans. From what I'd heard, their thinking was entirely at odds with each other, and they wouldn’t be working together without a lot of deception.
I didn’t really know who I agreed with, if any, but the younger group’s thieving was minor compared to hostages and dragon’s breath.
Did they even know what they were getting involved in?
“Absolutely not,” Jeremy said. “This won’t be like Tamil. It’s an enclosed space with very few ways of escape. It’s not only the people we’re hunting that you’ll have to watch out for down there.”
“I think she can handle a few pests,” General Kylepo said. “You’re doing your duchy a great service, Valeria. We’re grateful for your resolve and willingness to assist.”
“Sir,” Jeremy said, standing and facing the duke.
“Valeria decided this for herself; they won’t even know she’s there,” the duke said. “She’ll get close, come back to inform us or activate the beacon. Then the combined forces of Drasda will collapse in on them and snuff out this violent faction for good.”
…
I had assumed we would need to wait until night to start, but I had failed to consider that underground didn’t care if the sun was out or not. We walked down different staircases to the deepest part of the palace, connected to the water and sewage system. The castle was actually the end of it all, where the wastewater was purified by layers of enchantments before being let out into the lake.
I turned my nose up at the explanation for the solids filtered out earlier and turned into fertiliser. Despite my initial disgust and apprehension, it seemed the most useful way to deal with it compared to smaller settlements' haphazard approach.
Talia and I were alone together, with me in less clothing than I would have liked. Talia had a roll of dark fabric with which she was slowly wrapping my limbs and torso in. It was a strong, thin material that would make up the base of the following layers she had set to the side.
“This might only stop the bite of a small critter or the slash of a knife, so don’t rely on it,” Talia said. “Better yet, don’t get seen by anything or anyone.”
On top of the binding were similarly black loose pants and a long-sleeved blouse with extra strips of fabric coming off the neck. Those were then wrapped around my face and ponytail to only let my eyes show through a very thin section of the cloth.
“Next is the vest, which you have pockets here, on the sides, chest, and back. A pouch on either side is specially made to fit blades. The duke said you’re allowed one, but I’m giving you an extra two at your ankle and back waist.”
I twisted and turned in the new clothing that was snug enough not to get caught on anything and loose enough to let me move as I pleased. It was a big step up from my regular clothes with a cloak on top.
Talia threw a set of black gloves at me and started placing boots against the bottom of my feet to see which would most likely fit me. All in the darkest shade I’d ever seen before.
The duke had gone to inform Janette and Annalise of where I would be going, something he seemed very opposed to doing. Jeremy, Faraya, Rowak, and General Kylepo were studying a map in the dingy room next door to help direct me to where their group was attacked and the area the prisoners pointed out.
There were a lot of creatures in the sewers, some purposeful that fed on the waste and others that got in to feed on them. I was promised nothing that would come up to my knees, but I didn’t think they’d be an issue regardless of size.
Talia had insisted on blocking my nose with some scented sponge. I was glad it wasn’t daylily, but my entire chest felt filled with the cloying smell of a random assortment of flowers. I’d tried speaking afterwards and immediately shut my mouth when I heard my voice for a blocked nose.
A knock sounded against the old wooden door that might have been bashed in by the action.
Talia went to open it and let the five of them inside.
“I can say that Anna was not on board with the plan,” the duke said with a wary sigh. “An opinion shared by my partner twofold. I may have to sleep in the guest room for a few nights.”
“It’s necessary,” General Kylepo said. “Janette would agree if she wasn’t personally attached. She’ll come around when Valeria comes back unscathed.”
“Here’s the map,” Faraya said, flattening the rolled document onto a table. “We’re here, it’s a straight tunnel to the city and from there…”
She laid out the route that had been marked out on a smaller drawing with only the relevant routes.
“...as long as you remember how you deviated from this path, you’ll be able to get back to any of the access points along the way. We’ll have a team at each of them waiting to relay your info.”
“In case of emergency,” Jeremey said, handing me a mana crystal with silver wiring wrapped around it. “Push mana into this, and it’ll send out a ripple they should be able to feel from the surface. I’m told silver has more power but no subtlety, so no meaning, just a pulse. The knights will know what it means, but it will also scare off any mages down below.”
Rowak gave me a wooden cylinder and said nothing else besides motioning for me to pull on a handle at the end.
Doing so brought out an inner cylinder filled with a glowing liquid that lit up the more it was agitated. Pushing it back inside completely smothered the light again.
“Got it,” I said in my nasally voice.
The duke had the audacity to snort before clearing his throat and patting me on the shoulder. “Good luck, be careful and get out if you don’t see a way forward.”
“Good luck.” “Don’t trip.” “Breath through your mouth.” “Come back safe.”
After those heartfelt words, no one was able to figure out how to open the next door leading into the tunnel. I had to hide in a dark corner while Yanla and other staff were brought down to turn off the enchantment guarding it and unlock the door. They all gave the powerful congregation meeting in the bowels of the palace confused glances as they worked and left.
I was given another round of encouragement and advice as I went through, the doors shutting behind me and leaving me in darkness.