In the early hours of the morning, Elshana and Vashti “borrowed” a horse and carriage from a random city dweller’s garage and began their mission. As Vashti drove the carriage through the forest, Elshana braced herself another blood owl attack even though she knew it was an irrational fear. Blood owls were nocturnal. Besides, if the blood owls saw her again, they would probably fly away in fear of another shadow attack.

“You sure you know how to get there?” Elshana asked. “This forest seems awfully…vast.”

“I’ve travelled to and from the city many times,” Vashti replied, urging the horse to go faster. “I was a top royal guard. My duties were not confined to the estate.”

“Hah. You said duties.”

Vashti gave her a disapproving glare. “Hush. We’ll be nearing the estate soon.”

The familiar fence that surrounded the estate came into view. Vashti made a hard right and led the carriage deeper into the forest. Not wanting to alert anyone of her presence, Elshana kept her mouth shut. Vashti stopped the carriage in front of a slab of cement that didn’t belong in the forest.

“Wait here,” she whispered. “Don’t move and don’t make a sound.”

Elshana stood on the concrete slab. When she stomped it, she felt that it was empty underneath. “What—?”

“I just told you not to make a sound.”

Vashti prayed to the spirits that Elshana wouldn’t screw up something so simple before turning the carriage around and riding toward the estate. When she neared the gates, she was stopped by two guards.

“You were banned from these grounds two days ago,” an older guard with grey hair said. He gripped his spear in his gloved hands. “Leave now or I will have to use force.”

Vashti hopped off the carriage. “I believe there’s been a misunderstanding,” she said. “Isidro, Elshana, and Mazidi were banned, but I was not. It was my job to make sure they made it to Cinder City without any resistance. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a mountain of paperwork waiting for me in my office.”

The guards crossed their spears to form an X in front of Vashti. A guard that couldn’t have been older than fourteen said, “I’m sorry ma’am, but we can’t let you in without a direct order from the king.”

Damn, Vashti thought, I was hoping this wouldn’t happen.

But it was happening, and Vashti had to think on her feet. “The punishment for defying a superior can be quite severe,” Vashti said. “If you don’t let me through right now, I’ll report you to King Tanno myself. He doesn’t take insubordination lightly.”

The two guards looked at each other with uncertainty. The older guard cleared his throat and said, “Vashti, you know I have the utmost respect for you, but the rules are rules.”

“If you truly respected me, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Vashti replied.

“Ma’am,” the younger guard began, “what exactly is the punishment for insubordination?”

Vashti crossed her arms. “You saw how King Tanno treated Isidro when he displeased him. And Isidro is his son. I can’t imagine what the king would do to a couple of disrespectful guards like you.”

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The older guard lifted his spear and the younger guard followed suit. Vashti forced back a smile as she passed through the gates. Just before she entered the main entrance of the house, the younger guard called out, “You’re not going to report us, right?”

Vashti didn’t bother turning around. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Once she was inside the estate, Vashti hid in a supply closet. Those two guards had been easy to trick, but she knew that many of the guards weren’t fools. If she caused any suspicion, then the plan would collapse. There was only a brief period of time Vashti knew she’d be able to walk the estate freely: lunchtime. That’s when all the guards would be gathered in the cafeteria for a meal that would last precisely one hour. She had to get Elshana, get the map, and be out of the estate in less than sixty minutes.

“No pressure,” Vashti muttered to herself. “It’s not like the world will end if I don’t succeed…Oh, wait.”

When the lunch bell rang, Vashti cautiously emerged from the closet. With no one in sight, she walked down a spiral staircase that led to the basement. It was a damp, vast room with about as much personality as a paper clip—but it held a secret. Vashti walked to the center of the basement and pulled a hidden handle in the ground. A tile lifted, revealing a secret escape route. She jumped down into it and held her nose. Unfortunately, the escape tunnel was only a few feet of dirt away from the septic tank.

Vashti had discovered the tunnel by accident. She was mopping the basement floor when she tripped over the handle. When she showed Isidro the tunnel, he said, “It’s a neat find, but it’s of no use to me.”

Not so useless anymore, Vashti thought as she walked down the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, she would climb back up to the surface and find Elshana waiting for her.

Vashti would never admit it, but it bothered her that Isidro hadn’t granted her access to the archive room. She would’ve been okay with it if he hadn’t taken Elshana, a girl he’d met days prior, into a room he hadn’t showed Vashti, his faithful servant of many years.

I’m sure it was unintentional, Vashti told herself. I‘ve never had a reason to go into the archive room until now. If Isidro needed something done in the archive room before this mess, he would’ve asked me…right?

Vashti didn’t have much time to think before she reached the end of the tunnel. She pushed open the cement lid and called for Elshana to jump into the hole. Elshana did and landed unceremoniously on her bottom.

“Ouch,” Elshana said. She held her hands over her nose. “Why does it smell like my bathroom after I ate a bad fish?”

“Get up,” Vashti commanded. She checked her watch and saw that ten minutes had already passed. “Hurry, we don’t have much time.”

Elshana and Vashti jogged to the other end of the tunnel and climbed out onto the floor of the basement. Vashti motioned for Elshana to follow her down the hallway toward the archive room. When Vashti spotted a guard walking their way, she yanked Elshana around a corner just in time to avoid being seen. It felt like an eternity before they safely reached the door of the archive room. Then came the next challenge: the fingerprint lock.

Elshana held her finger over the lock. It denied her access. She did it again. Denied. “I guess my clearance expired or something,” she whispered. “Now what?”

Vashti turned around to make sure they were alone. “I can melt it. But since it’s a royal lock, the guards will be alerted that the lock has been compromised. That means we’ll only have a few minutes to search for the map before the guards come looking for us.”

“Any better ideas?” Elshana asked.

Vashti didn’t answer and held the lock in her hands. The metal went form silver to red and melted almost instantly, leaving the door wide open. The two girls ducked inside and immediately went to work. Vashti scoured file cabinet after file cabinet but to no avail. Just when she was about to give up hope, she heard Elshana whisper, “Found one!”

The map was a work of art. It was stitched with a delicacy and finesse that the world had lost when paper was invented. Although the exact shape of the landmasses and oceans were inaccurate, it still looked similar enough to the world that most people wouldn’t question it. Vashti snatched the precious map from Elshana. There was no was she was letting such a klutz hold on to something so important.

“I believe the correct response is thank you,” Elshana said in response to Vashti’s grabbing of the map.

“The mission isn’t over,” Vashti said. “We still have to make it back to the city.”

And that was going to be nearly impossible. When they left the archive room, they were met by two dozen guards. Each guard had their spears at the ready, and a few were even poised to use their magic.

“It’s over, Vashti,” one of them said. “You can’t escape this.”

Vashti knew he was right. 2 against 24 was impossible even if Elshana managed to get her magic working. As she raised her hands in surrender, she remembered a technique Mazidi had taught her long ago. A technique Vashti had failed to master. Vashti could produce a flash of light so strong that it temporarily blind everyone in the room. The problem is that the light used up so energy that she passed out every time she did it. Still, if Elshana managed to get away it would be worth it.

“Elshana,” Vashti said, “I need you to promise me that you won’t stay behind and try to save me”

“What?” Elshana asked.

“Do it!”

Elshana nodded. “Okay. I won’t.”

In less than a second, Vashti shoved the map over Elshana’s eyes so she would be immune to the strength of the light. Knowing that she could very well lose her life for her betrayal, Vashti produced a quick beam of light that sent the guards into a frenzied panic. As she lost consciousness, she pulled the map away from Elshana’s eyes.

“Get out of here,” she said as she fell to the ground. “Remember…what you promised me.”

Elshana stood still over Vashti’s body. The guards were stumbling around, desperately grabbing the air in search of Elshana. With the map in hand, Elshana said, “Thank you, Vashti. I’ll make your sacrifice worth it.”

Just as the guards began to regain their sight, Elshana disconnected the horse from the carriage and rode deep into the forest. She held the map so tightly it may as well have been her child. She didn’t stop riding until she reentered Cinder City. She left the horse in the marketplace and sprinted toward the motel. When she reached the door of her room, she stopped before she opened it. She had to prepare herself for the anger that would be waiting for her on the other side.

As she pushed open the door, she braced herself for Isidro’s reaction.