Lani woke up just before the mark of 11 that night when she heard a knock on her door. She got out of bed and opened the door to see Lord Yami standing there.
"You were asleep?" Yami sneered at her.
"I was tired from all that went on today. You can't blame me for falling asleep," Lani defended herself.
"Well, you have to be really quiet walking through the palace at this hour," Yami said. "And we can't walk together because that would look suspicious to the wandering servants around here." Then Yami commanded her, "You must walk at least 13 paces behind me at all times and look as if you are a wandering servant too. Do you understand?"
"Perfectly," Lani answered with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Good," Yami said sharply. He left Lani there then and turned right. Lani counted a few steps and then decided to start off after him. I don't really care how many paces behind him I am, she thought. I have to be able to see him to know which way to go so I can't be too far behind him.
After walking through a maze of hallways, Yami finally came across a servant. Oh no! Yami thought, That's one of my own servants! He tried to avoid the servant, but it was too late. His servant had seen him.
"Lord Yami!" he cried. "What are you doing wandering the palace at this time of night? I thought you were sleeping."
"I couldn't sleep, Rekmet," Yami started, "So I decided to go for a little stroll around the palace."
"Well, you should get to bed or people will think you're up to something," Rekmet said. "Come, I shall escort you back to your room." Yami looked back to see Lani appear around the corner. She had heard everything. Yami pointed to the door right behind him and then followed the servant back to his room since he had no choice in the matter.
Lani watched Yami go and slipped through the door that Yami had pointed her to go to. The room was dark and damp and smelled of mold. Lani didn't see Prince Duke anywhere in this room. Where do I go now? As if in answer to her question, she saw a trapdoor on the floor and pulled it open. Then she climbed down a ladder, pulling the trapdoor closed, into an even darker room where she could see a figure waiting.
"Your Highness, is that you?" she asked. A candle suddenly went on and Lani saw for herself that the figure was the prince.
"Where's Yami?" he asked. "You did give him the message, right?"
"How would I have known where to go if I didn't? Of course I gave him the message."
"Well, where is he then?"
"Just as we got to the door, Lord Yami's servant found him and made him go back to his room. I suppose that means I'll have to deliver the message to him, right?"
"Yes, I suppose so." The prince sighed. "You may give the message to him at the inn he goes to almost every night. The Inn of the Falcon is what it's called. Tomorrow night, go there and give him the message, but make sure he is alone first."
"Okay, so how do I get out of the palace and find the Inn of the Falcon, Your Highness?" Lani asked.
"As for getting out of the palace, you can bribe a guard." Prince Duke took a few coins out of his sash. "Only use them to bribe a guard. Finding the Inn of the Falcon will be no problem since many people outside the palace know exactly where it is. You can simply ask one of them."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Lani said. "So, what's the message?"
"As you may know, I have bribed many people to join in the rebellion against the queen. The problem is, I do not have all the money I have promised everyone. I need more gold."
"So what you mean is that you're going to steal, right?"
"Precisely," Prince Duke replied, but Lani could tell this was not something the prince looked forward to. "And there is only one place I can get enough gold to pay off the people that I have bribed."
"Where's that?" Lani asked, not completely wanting to know what the answer was.
"My father, Kind Tristan's, tomb." There was fear in the prince's voice as he spoke of robbing his own father's tomb.
Lani gasped when she heard this news. "You can't rob King Tristan's tomb!" she cried. "It's impossible! For one thing, you'll die of suffocation when you get down there and for another thing, you'll be haunted with his spirit for the rest of your life! You can't do it! If you die down there, Queen Anzu might as well reign forever!"
"Lani…that is your name right?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Lani, I am not the one going down into the tomb. Lord Yami and I agreed on this long ago. We knew this would eventually come up."
"Wait…so you're not going into the tomb?" Lani asked. "But then, who is going into the~" Suddenly, realization struck her. "Lord Yami is going down there?" she asked then, practically choking on her words.
Prince Duke nodded. "Along with a priest, another lord, and a few loyal servants."
"You know he could die, right?" Lani said, her eyes beginning to mist with tears.
"Yes, Lani, I do."
"Then why are you doing this? I thought he was your friend!"
"This was something we both decided on long ago. Please give him the message, Lani. Tell him that he is to do it in two days, at the mark of ten."
"And what if I choose not to give him this message?" Lani asked, defiantly.
"Then you shall suffer the consequences. You were hired to be a messenger, nothing more. Do your duty," Prince Duke said, sharply. "Now it's time that you had better go to your room and get some sleep. And don't," he added, "give this message to anyone but Yami."
Lani nodded and climbed back up the ladder and pushed open the trapdoor. She closed it behind her and made her way out of the room and through the maze of hallways back to her room. It had been a very long day and Lani would be glad to sleep. If I can even get to sleep anyway, she thought. However, when she got back to her room, she could not even get in bed, for there was a cloaked figure waiting for her at her door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope all of u liked this chapter. It's definitely longer than most of the others. I had fun writing this chapter. I would like a review to continue. I also hope this chapter built a little bit of suspense bcuz the book Mara, Daughter of the Nile is suspenseful and I think I'm not doing the best job of bringing that suspense into my story but I hope it's at least beginning to get suspenseful.