I tried to find a pattern in how Vash decided which way to go and which not. I tried to find some kind of sign that marked the correct path, but I couldn't find anything. Still Vash seemed to be perfectly able to find the right way, and that was enough for me. I only hoped I wouldn't need to find my way back through here without a guide, I would be lost in seconds.
At first it had been easy to keep track, only a few branches and intersections but the closer we came to the palace the more branched the tunnel became. Intersections were made of up to five tunnels by now and as we advanced Vash pointed out a few that lead to other secret entrance points in and around the palace.
"How do you know all this?" I finally asked when we changed into another tunnel that was branching of diagonally from ours. "How do you know which way to go?" At first Vash didn't seem to have heard my question, but then he turned his head just slightly to look at me.
"Ludwig and I spent years on mapping this thing."
"You two are childhood friends?" Mathias asked from the back.
"Kind of. More like our parents liked to put us together with that Edelstein brat and ever since then we have been partners in crime. Or something to that effect." Vash shrugged and turned his head around again as we approached the next intersection. "This is the last one, at the end of this tunnel lays the exit point."
I sighed with relief. I could walk relatively comfortably in the tunnels, unlike Mathias who had to keep his head low most of the time. But still the tunnels were narrow and the air was sticky, and after being down here for this long I craved a fresh breath of air. The others must have felt the same, because once we were in that last tunnel Vash strides became more hurried and even Mathias seemed to be more impatient.
We reached the end of the tunnel and there was some sort of wooden panel that would have fooled me for a dead end weren't it for Vash who opened a hidden peephole to check the area outside. "Perfect." He whispered and pushed somewhere to the side. I had expected it at this point but it still was impressive to see the panel slide to the side and give way to another dusty tunnel. Okay the sliding was impressive, the dusty tunnel wasn't so much.
"What the-?" I couldn't quite hide my disappointment, I seriously had enough of tunnels. "Vash shot me an annoyed glance and strapped his rifle on his back again. "We're still below ground and this tunnel is part of the palace' own underground tunnel system, that is used by servants, well was used but anyways." And indeed the tunnel was different from the one we had just emerged from. The walls were covered in wooden panels, and we had just stepped through one of them.
Vash headed to the right and lead us up a rather steep slope that soon ended into a spiral staircase behind a door. Several other doors went off from platforms on different levels but Vash almost led us to the top of the stairs to another inconspicuous door that led into an empty room that I recognized as a seldom used recreation room that was part of most noble's quarters. I had a similar one, even less frequently used. Vash closed the door behind us, then slipped open another smaller panel and revealed a tiny bell. He rang the bell in what could have been a random sequence but the way Vash's face was focused I figured it was deliberate.
"It's to let the owner of the rooms know that a servant or in this time an ally has arrived. You wouldn't believe how many servants have been killed or injured because their master thought they were intruders." Vash explained as he set the bell back in its place and closed the panel.
It was close to terrifying to think how much secrets in this palace its residents had no clue of. There could be a secret door like this in my recreational room, or rather there was most likely a secret door like this in my rec room, the hell I had that exact small panel in my rec room, with the bell behind it much likely.
I should stop thinking about it, it gave me a headache.
Thankfully the door opened (the normal door not the secret one) and in came a ruffled looking Ludwig who didn't seem pleased at all about the intrusion. Or maybe this was just his usual look after waking up. But it sure was strange to see his usual meticulously slicked back hair hanging in his face, it gave him a whole different appearance.
"Well that was quick." Ludwig said dryly and gestured for us to follow him out of the room and into the main room. His rooms had an almost identical built as mine, but aside from that it had a whole different touch to it. "I didn't expect you until noon at least. The main room had the luxury of windows to the outside and from the light that poured in I judged that it was sometime in the early morning.
"We didn't want to waste any time so we risked a night flight." Vash nodded towards Mathias and sat down in one of the chair Ludwig offered. "So how is the situation?"
"Unchanged." Ludwig sat down across Vash after both Mathias and I had settled down. "We still are pretty much in the dark about the when and where but we have pinned down the who pretty well. Eduard's cover has been compromised, they haven't yet figured out that he is a traitor but they suspect it. So he can't provide us with the necessary information anymore. We have to keep our eyes open and hope for the best." Ludwig grimaced as if 'hoping for the best' was nothing he liked to have to say.
"Wonderful." Vash muttered, right as the bedroom swung open and Gilbert entered. Unlike Ludwig he was groomed and primly dressed, only his hair was in its usual mess. His face lit up as he saw us and only a stern look from Ludwig prevented him from greeting us with a hug. Vash on the other hand didn't seem too pleased to see Gilbert. "Gilbert." He said with a forced note to his voice.
"Zwingli." Gilbert answered, looking as if he had just bitten into a lemon. "Should have locked the doggie door." Gilbert muttered under his breath, earning him a sharp look from Ludwig and a barely impressed eye roll from Vash.
"That's enough." Ludwig said with finality and both fell silent. "We have more urgent matters, and no time for petty feuds."
"Lord Bondevik, you should stay hidden until the ambassador arrives. I have an unused room that you-"
"No." Gilbert's voice was sharp and not only Ludwig looked surprised as he spoke. "You should go and find Berwald, if you wait until the feast he will definitely be dead, but right now he might still be alive." And then almost as if an afterthought he added: "You promised."
Ludwig looked angry and about to lash out at Gilbert but then he caught the other's eyes and his expression softened ever so slightly. He still looked pissed but he stayed silent. Vash looked amused for some unknown reason.
"I'm not saying you should blow your cover, just save him. They are too busy to bother with watching the pits all day, now is your chance. And you can go and save Tino too." To hear Gilbert over the telefonator had been hard, but to now see him, hope and despair clearly intermingled in his eyes was almost too much to bear. I had felt bad about Berwald but I hadn't spared so much of a thought about him being still alive and that just maybe we could save him. And I had felt mostly bad on behalf of Tino.
But I would save him and I would save Tino. I owed it to them and I would make sure that they didn't pay for their help with their lives. And then I would make sure that the rebellion was stopped and this country would finally come to peace. It was the least I could do.
It was weird to think how I had started out, seeking revenge and now all I cared about was peace. It was the right thing to do however. And knowing that I was fighting not for myself but for others, for people I cared about and even those I didn't, was a good feeling. It felt better than fighting for revenge ever had.
But first we had to get there.
"Are you sure Berwald is in the pit?" I asked.
"Most likely. I don't know for sure though."
"You have this day to try and find him, tomorrow the ambassador will arrive and then security will be too tight for an ant to move unnoticed. According to Eduard Tino will be executed shortly before the coup, as to present him as the culprit afterwards. You can't question the dead, so he won't be able to contradict them." It was unsettling in a way to listen to Ludwig, his voice didn't betray any emotions, even when he talked about Tino's fate. But then again this was not the right time for emotions. We needed to keep a clear head.
"But timing is of the essence. The dragon pits are closed during the celebrations so if we make sure to get Berwald out before that we can make sure that word doesn't get out afterwards. But you will have to find their inside man and silence him or else he could alert the others. I will send someone to bring you in, the guards at the entrance are advised to let no one pass but I know a few secret ways." Yeah I had noticed.
"I can't allow you to go and rescue Tino today unfortunately, it would be too soon and then we would lose our only advantage." Ludwig stood up abruptly and walked over to a cabinet at the far wall. "But we can use that to our advantage." He filed through the contents of the cabinet, before he finally found what he was looking for. He closed the cabinet again and returned to his chair.
" We still don't know for sure when the coup is. We can just guess." I pointed out. Ludwig laid the key he had retrieved on the table and pushed it over to me.
"Yes, but if the coup isn't during the feast we'll have to blow our cover anyway, we will have to do something before negotiations start. If that happens we are planning on exposing the traitor on Sadik's side. It will be a messy affair and will probably spoil our negotiations but as long as it will bring an end to this rebellion. But it is the Emperor's wish that no more innocents get caught in the crossfire."
"So all we can do is hope that they strike as planned." Gilbert added. "We will give you a list of the people who are part of the rebellion so that you know for whom to look out. It is not necessary to kill all of them, in fact it would be better to leave some of them alive so that they can confess. But you should take out the heads." I nodded and tried not to think about the fact that we were talking about killing like we would talk about the weather.
"Vash will enter the North tower disguised as a guard and make sure to get Tino out before he can get executed. I know you want to go in yourselves, but you have to trust Vash with this." Ludwig nodded once towards his friend, who didn't seem too thrilled about the idea but returned the nod nevertheless. "The North tower will be guarded pretty well, by both loyalists and rebels so if you came too close you would blow your cover."
I didn't like the prospect of letting someone else handle Tino's rescue, but Vash was capable and Ludwig was right.
"Do we know anything about the location of the rebels?" I asked, already playing through plans in my head. It would be nice if they were all in one place but I figured that wouldn't be the case. It would be too easy.
"Most of them will be at the party, you just need to lure them out and off them, one after another." Ludwig supplied, toying with the key in his hands, I wondered why he had taken it out in the first place. "But a few will be positioned in strategic places to oversee the coup. We don't know where those places will be but I can take an educated guess." He gestured towards Gilbert who got up and vanished into another room.
"I'll map them out for you." Gilbert returned with a map depicting the palace grounds and rolled it out flat on the table. "The feast will take place here." He pointed out the central dining hall, adjacent to the kitchens. "Most of the guards will be there, I tried to manipulate the watch schedules so that only loyal guards will be there but there are not enough to cover the entire area. Lord Kirkland is invited, he and his dragon will be seated here, close to the Emperor as befits his rank." Another tap on the map. I wasn't even surprised at this point that Ludwig memorized the entire seating order and could locate them on a map.
"The Imperial court will be seated around the Emperor. Lord Kiku is the leader of the rebel part, he sits right next to the Emperor. Unfortunately weren't able to seat him elsewhere, he is too influential and can just change the seating order back to his liking. Lady Mei is his second hand and sits to his other side. Lord Soo is fiercely loyal to the Emperor, but his usual seat on his right side is taken up by the ambassador this time. Lord Kaoru, the Emperor's personal assistant is not exactly loyal but I know for sure he will stay neutral."
My head was swimming at this point. But even more than that it made me feel sick with the knowledge that these were the people who plotted my parents' dead. And all this time they had just been there, whispering their poison into Yao's ear, going unpunished for god knew what other crimes. I was glad that it was about to end.
"At least two or three other will most likely be also in the great hall, close to the entries to make sure no one can escape." He circled the positions of the doors with his finger, then pointed towards the positions at the table closest to said doors. "The tricky part will be the ambassador. I know for sure that he is not interested in supporting our war efforts so they will have to bypass him. His word might however still hold enough value with his king that he can foil their plans by telling him what had transpired so they have to make sure that he can't tell. That means either killing him or luring him out so that he doesn't see what happens."
"We have to protect him at all costs, his life is almost as valuable as the Emperor's." I concluded, tapping my finger against the smooth table surface. "I guess you will make sure that nothing happens to them?" I asked, glancing over to Ludwig.
"Yes, together with Roderich. He's in on the plan. I think we can also count on Lord Carriedo, he's clueless most of the time, but he knows what's right." I nodded and returned my attention to the map.
"Where are the other strategic points?" I asked and followed Ludwig's finger as he explained the spots and their value. "There were more spots than rebels, which would make things complicated but I had at least an idea where to look. "Where is their man on the ambassador's site seated?" I asked when he was done and I listened again as he explained that I would have to guess for his identity since we didn't know which of Sadik's men was the traitor.
"It won't suffice to just stop them." Vash said after he had stayed silent for the entire conversation. "If we just kill them, the blood will be on our hands and no one will believe us. The Emperor's words will be compromised too. We have to catch them in the act." Ludwig nodded gravely.
"So we have only a thin window of operation, we have to make sure no one gets hurt while leaving no room for doubts at the same time."
"Well that affects us, but I advise that you two," Vash indicated both Mathias and I with his head. "you make sure that the right people get hurt. How's your shoulder?" He turned his attention to Mathias.
"Better." He shrugged, but I knew him long enough to notice the slight hints of pain in his pose. It still hurt but he wouldn't let himself be impaired by the injury. I only hoped that it wouldn't trip him in some other way. It was after all still a liability. At least we wouldn't have to fly.
It was far from the well thought through plan I would have liked but it was a plan. One I could work with.
"Here, that is the master key for the lower levels. With that you can open Berwald's cell. I trust Vash to be expert enough with lock picking to run in such troubles." Ludwig handed me over the key. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Ludwig had a magical unicorn up his sleeve.
"I'll prepare a disguise for you so that you can pose for some lesser Lord from the countryside. Mathias will be your brother or something. Gilbert will show you to my arsenal, you can take whatever you want. I'll give you an hour for preparation, then my man will be here to collect you. Make sure you don't cause a commotion and by the gods, don't blow your cover." Ludwig instructed before he got up, and excused himself from the room to finally fix his appearance.
"I'll fetch breakfast." Gilbert said jovially and grinned at me before he left to do as he had said.
I figured this would be the start of two very busy days.
...
