Chapter 18: The Plan Comes Together

Waking up, I found myself on my back with a heavy weight pressed against my chest. Cracking my eyelids, I found a dim dawn light piercing through the uncurtained window. It was a little too warm, and I tossed the blanket off me slightly with a slight push of my arm, revealing what was preventing me from sitting up.

Four was lying at an angle; more than half crawled on my chest. The lower half of her thighs and calves were dangling off of her side of the bed. Her hip and shoulder were all pressed up onto me, her arms pillowed under her head, supported by my chest. She snored softly, the sound so low that I could barely make it out. The only thing I could see was her mop of slightly tangled dark hair.

Looking around the room, I stiffened quickly but then relaxed as I saw Nine sitting in the corner chair, watching. She greeted me with a diminutive smile and put a finger in a shushing motion to her lips.

"Ah, that's how the window got open," I murmured to myself. I beckoned her closer with my free hand, and she came over and knelt beside me, putting her head on the pillow next to my ear and whispering into it.

"Good morning, master."

I turned my head to face her. She pecked me lightly on the lips. After she pulled back, I swished my tongue around my mouth, imagining the morning breath, but she didn't seem to mind.

"What happened while I was gone?" I murmured back quietly.

"One is with the carriages. Your escape plan is working perfectly; we threw them off the trail before finding you, and your current cover story is still intact. The identity is burned, obviously, but no one should be able to trace where we came from or where we're going."

"Will people recognize our faces?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No, and I made sure to silence anyone who could."

I winced. The only people who got a good look at us were the clerk at the carriage and the guard at the gate.

"How many?"

Nine held up two fingers.

I felt a little bit nauseous but understood that it probably had to happen. I maybe could have planned a little better, but that was done. "What of all the advisors who saw me come out of the carriage?"

"Not much I could do about that," she said.

"But it seems the heir and Queen know who did it already. But they're not spreading the information."

"Good. Do you know why the search was started then?"

"Yes. One of the guards started it before the Queen or heir ordered anything. They weren't able to call it off without looking too suspicious. They talked about it but decided it wasn't worth the exposure. Would make them look complicit."

"Ah, it was as I expected. Anything else, then?"

"Uh, the Queen burned the letter. But I think you saw that." Nine said, "They had a private conversation alone in their chamber about the troop movements that had threatened their neighbors, ordering their troops back to their normally scheduled placements. I assume that was the goal of our contractor."

I lifted my unencumbered shoulder slightly in a half shrug. She seemed to accept that.

"What's our timeline?" I asked.

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"Whenever she is awake," Nine said, nodding at Four. She turned around, sinking to the floor and leaning against the bed so her head was resting next to mine. Now, we could keep talking without her having to kneel down. Four groaned at the slight rocking of the bed but didn't stir.

"You two are the talk of the town. Everyone wants to know what noble lady is slumming it."

"Is there a mob waiting outside or something?" I asked.

"No, but there are a few watchers. We'll give them the slip once it's a little later, and there'll be talk of it for a while. Putting it together with the assassination will be unlikely," Nine shrugged.

The whole plot seemed a bit convoluted, but that was Four's area of expertise, and if she really thought this would reduce the chances of anyone tracing me down and tracking away our getaway... Well, it was better than having Nine silence innocent witnesses, so I went along with it.

Gently, I tried to scooch Four onto the bed off my chest. It was a slow process. Nine helped a little bit, but halfway through, Four woke up and flailed around, smacking Nine in the face and elbowing my jaw.

"Huh? What? What's going on?" Four said as she sat bolt upright. Nine staggered back, holding her nose. I rubbed my jaw.

"It's morning. Are you ready to go, my lady?" I said in a joking tone, and she swiveled her head to look down at me, and a spot of drool puddled onto my chest. Her face turned beet red.

"I'm so sorry," she stammered. "I didn't mean to."

I waved her off. "Don't worry about it."

She seemed shocked. Was that not something that I would have normally gotten upset about? I felt like everyone expected me to react differently. But I just didn't feel like the angry man they expected. Also, why would she have even risked sleeping next to me if she knew this was a possibility? Perhaps I also required that of them.

Nine seemed to watch with faint amusement and laid a hand on Four's shoulder and squeezed slightly. Four reached up and brushed her fingers against the hand. The confusion still was written on her face, but slowly, as she woke up, she seemed to understand that I actually wasn't mad at her.

"Relax," I said. "I am not going to overreact about something so small as you sleeping in. Since you did such a good job yesterday, I think you deserve a reward. Nine, what should we do for her?"

"I don't know, master. I'm sure any reward will be well received." Nine said, and Four nodded her agreement. She seemed less than excited about the prospect of a reward.

"Well, Four, why don't you think about it and get back to me before we get back to the castle? If it's reasonable, I will grant any request." She nodded. "If you have to talk with One about it, I'm sure she'll have some ideas."

Four nodded, a little more confident this time. Well, hopefully, One would help me get the rest of the Numbered on board with my whole 'not being a terrible human' policy.

I tried to think back overnight and see if I remembered any dreams, but it didn't seem like I had any. Perhaps the task was done a day early, so maybe I was half expecting to be called as soon as it was done, though. Well, tonight, I probably would end up having to report my mission’s outcome.

"All right, here we go," I said, standing upright and walking over to my clothes. I felt like I had an audience as I dressed, but I ignored the two women and put my colored poncho on to cover up my fancy garb. I did remarkably well and kept the morning chill out, though the sun was quickly heating everything up. Nine nodded to us and slipped out the window, as graceful as a cat.

Four blinked and looked down at her lacy underwear and exposed nipples before slithering into her dress faster than I thought possible. She turned around, and I carefully buttoned the top button. She gave me a soft smile.

"Thanks," she said in barely more than a breathy whisper. Hopefully, she'd be more comfortable around me, and by the time we got back to the castle, she would be fully on my side. I'd have to get One to work on her a bit, but at least we'd have things to talk about in the carriage. There was a lot to discuss about this whole operation, and it wouldn't be any more awkward silences, at least.

I opened the door for her to lead the way downstairs, and her heels clicked on the wooden floors and down the steps. The inn's common room was still empty at this early hour, except for a couple of people in the corner who paid us no mind as we dropped the key on the counter and walked outside without even waiting for the innkeeper to come and tell us goodbye.

We headed right for the gate to make our way out of the city and rejoin the carriage. We had no problem making it through the now-open gate. Not even a guard stopped us, and the whole way through the rings of the city only took 30 minutes of quick walking rather than hours of carriage riding in a circle. I needed to remember this next time I came here. Unless I needed to make an entrance, walking was faster.

There was a line to get out of the city gate, but it didn’t pose a problem and we were soon heading out to the carriage, and Nine joined us outside the city walls as we made our way back to find the rest of our party and head home. I couldn't wait to be done with this whole business.