Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
Her heart hammering from her chest into her throat, Pip followed Jayna down a corridor of the palace in broad daylight.
Both of them wore the black maid dresses with pristine white aprons and white cap.
Between the cap and the way she’d pinned her curly hair into a bun, the tips of her ears were hidden.
Jayna explained the various duties that needed to be done in each of the rooms they passed, as if she really was showing a new maid around.
A few of the maids even stopped to talk with them, and Jayna easily stepped in.
Pip, of course, couldn’t reply to any questions, otherwise her elvish accent would give her away.
Down in the dungeon, she’d left a stack of pillows under the blankets to make it look like she was still there.
As she’d been sleeping most of the days away anyway, given how long she was up each night, the guards wouldn’t think much of it.
Besides, the Mongavarians were focused on Prince Edmund and the secrets he had in his head.
As long as he remained in the dungeon, they wouldn’t check Pip’s cell.
Still, it felt incredibly dangerous to just walk around Landri Palace like this. It was far too bold and brave.
Yet this was the life Jayna had been living for the past two years. A humble maid by day. A spy at night. Although, she could speak Mongavarian like she belonged and her ears were only vaguely pointed.
“And this is the royal wing. Always knock and ensure the chambers are empty before cleaning. We are not to disturb the royal family.” Jayna pointed her duster at the rooms as they passed. Each door was made of heavily carved dark wood of the type that Mak and Pip’s dacha would probably appreciate.
One of the doors opened, and a young man stepped out. He wore a deep blue shirt with a black jacket. His black boots reached his knees while his brown hair was lightly tousled.
Jayna came to an abrupt halt before she dipped into a deep curtsy, holding the pose with her head down.
Pip hurried to copy her movements, thankful that her elven grace hid any awkwardness.
The young man glanced over them with barely a pause, as if they were part of the furniture of the hallway, before he set out down the corridor.
Once he turned the corner, Jayna straightened. Pip did as well and stepped closer, keeping her voice at a whisper. “Who was that?”
“Prince Ryland. He’s in line for the throne, after his brother, father, and grandfather.” Jayna’s eyes lingered on the empty end of the hallway for a moment before she shook herself. “We need to keep moving.”
The two of them continued winding their way through the palace until they arrived at its lower reaches. Jayna neatly got herself assigned to fetching new stockings for the youngest Mongavarian princess, Prince Ryland’s younger sibling, from town.
The next thing Pip knew, the two of them were strolling across a courtyard and out a side gate of the palace.
A stiff sea breeze whipped at Pip’s skirt, and she pressed one hand to her skirts, the other to the cap on her head.
Behind her, the ocean spread out in layers from sandy-brown at the beach to turquoise to deep blue in the distance.
White foam topped the waves as they crashed against the cliffs below the palace in a rhythmic susurration.
Before Pip and Jayna, the path joined the main road that led into the city.
To their left, a huge harbor bustled with ships and noise, from cargo ships entering the docks to lines of iron warships lined up in a sheltered spot beneath the large armaments guarding the harbor’s entrance.
Several of the iron warships patrolled across the harbor’s mouth.
To their other side, seagrass led to a stretch of sandy beach. At this time of day, the beach was filled with people, likely the rich of the city who had the leisure to spend the sunny late summer day lounging by the seashore instead of working.
The city directly before them must be the wealthy part of Landri, given the clean streets, broad brick streets, and stately stone buildings rising on either side, a sharp contrast to the dark smudge of coal smoke that lingered on the other side of the harbor.
At the very base of the causeway before the road entered the city proper, a huge sprawl of stone buildings was hemmed in by a tall stone wall topped with barbed wire.
As they passed the huge iron gate set in the wall, Jayna tilted her head in that direction. “The War Office is in there, along with all other governmental offices.”
Pip risked a brief glance as they passed. The gate blocked off a broad avenue that led to a complex of stone buildings. Men in Mongavarian uniforms guarded the gate, patrolled between the buildings, and stood before each of the doors.
They were going to break into there? She swallowed and faced forward. Was Jayna absolutely crazy? There was no way just the two of them could sneak into that heavily guarded area.
Jayna’s stride remained the same brisk but nonchalant pace as she led the way deeper between shops, taking the time to retrieve the requested stockings, until they ended up on a street of townhouses.
She leaned closer to Pip. “The gardens of these homes back up against the wall surrounding the government buildings.”
Jayna paused by one of the homes, giving the street such a casual glance that it didn’t seem unusual, and strolled up the drive. Pip hurried to keep up, resisting the urge to glance around.
At the end of the drive, Jayna darted around a hedge until they were next to a door to the carriage house.
Jayna motioned to the door. “The lord who lives in this townhouse is currently staying at his country estate with his family. There is only a small staff keeping the house running. We can hide in here until it gets dark.”
Pip unlocked the door with her magic, and the two of them slipped inside.
The carriage house was dim and dusty, the middle empty except for the muddy tracks of a motorcar left on the concrete floor. A few stalls lined one wall, but all of them were devoid of horses.
Jayna led the way to one of the stalls that was half-filled with miscellaneous junk, from a broken end table to what appeared to be parts for the motorcar. She settled into a seat on the old straw. “Now we wait.”
Pip sat next to her, placing her back to the wooden wall of the stall. Perhaps while they waited, she could get her thundering heartbeat under control.
Darkness cloaked their movements as Pip and Jayna crept out of the carriage house and into the townhouse’s back garden.
They were now dressed in dark gray trousers and gray shirts that Jayna had stashed in the bushes sometime earlier in the week.
To complete the look, they had their hair pinned up out of sight beneath knit caps and dark kerchiefs pulled up over their noses and mouths so that only their eyes were visible.
They had a couple of hours until the moon rose, and the clouds overhead hid the stars, giving them a window to sneak into the government buildings in near pitch blackness.
Pip’s breath was hot against her face beneath the kerchief, and her hands shook as she and Jayna neared the back wall. Could she do this?
Someone had to. Fieran and Prince Farrendel were coming. They’d end the war. And this information would be necessary to ensure that the Alliance didn’t leave a problem in the Mongavarian Empire that they’d have to solve with yet another war down the road.
Jayna pressed her back to the wall. She motioned upward before whispering, “I can get us up and over the wall, but there are glass shards and barbed wire at the top. Can you get us over that?”
Pip nodded, realized how dark it was, and swallowed to clear her throat. “Yes, I can.”
Jayna reached out and pressed a hand to the ivy twining over a lattice arbor. A hint of green glowed around her fingers and vanished into the plant.
The ivy on the nearby arbor moved, slithering over the ground until it twined up first Jayna’s legs, then Pip’s.
Pip resisted the urge to shiver or move as the vine wrapped itself securely around her waist.
Moments later, the vine climbed the wall, inching upward over the cracks and crevices and taking Pip and Jayna with it. Jayna’s face was twisted, her eyes focused, as she gripped a part of the vine, still pouring her magic into it.
As they reached the top of the wall, Jayna halted the vine’s growth and glanced at Pip.
Pip took in the jagged pieces of glass embedded into the concrete at the top, along with the rolls of barbed wire.
With a deep breath, she reached out and touched the wire, pouring her magic into it.
Within minutes, she had changed the coils of wire so that they formed a smooth arch instead of running along the top in sharp spikes.
Jayna grew the vines so that they ran over the wires and hoisted both herself and Pip up and over the top. Pip lifted her feet so that they didn’t drag on the sharp glass.
On the other side, Jayna lowered them back to the ground.
Pip exhaled a sigh as her feet touched the solid ground once again, bracing herself against the beautifully solid wall behind her.
The vines retracted from around her waist, but Jayna left them still dangling over the wall. She pointed at it, breathing slightly more heavily as if using all that magic was tiring. “This will be our primary escape route.”
“Are you all right?” Pip eyed her.
Jayna shrugged. “I have plant magic, but I’m not that strong. I can get us back out, but using too much magic will exhaust me.”
Pip nodded. If they got into trouble and had to fight their way out, magical protection would be her job. “Do you need a moment to rest?”
“No, I’m all set.” Jayna flashed a grin. “Now for the fun part.”
None of this was the fun part, but Pip didn’t waste the breath to comment. She crept after Jayna as she led the way across the stretch of lawn and toward the shadows behind one of the stone edifices looming against the darkness.