Mellary ducked her head and slid back into the crowd, hoping one of the intensely watchful guards hadn't seen her. She'd probably get thrown in the dungeon for a day.
She faded back into the crowd like she had practiced over the years. One of the guards called something and Mellary almost flinched and looked back. But no running feet followed up the call, no angry yells. She couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief once the palace vanished around a corner. She stopped and leaned against a wall. For some reason, her legs were weak.
Mellary walked quietly back to her room in the inn, keeping her head down and her hair covered the whole way. Once in the privacy of her room with curtains drawn over the window she tossed her cloak onto her bed and ran her fingers through her hair, unraveling it completely.
The palace! The palace of Dras-Leona, where the KING of the Empire was currently residing. She couldn't break into the place where the king was staying! It had to be the most heavily guarded building in the entire land. Not to mention the most dangerous. Anyone who even looked at it cross-eyed was probably dragged off to the side and tortured. The chances that she would come out of there alive and whole were… smaller than she liked to think about. On top of it all, the persuasive sensation in the back of her mind was nagging her consciousness, building to a low keening sound as she had gone farther and farther away from the palace.
Mellary growled in frustration and punched the wall in a fit of temper that would have been unheard of in the elven society. The rough wood walls scraped the skin off her knuckles. Mellary stared at the bright dots of blood as pain pricked her mind.
"That's it." She muttered. She pulled her brush out of her bag and began to braid her hair. "I'm done, I'm going. I won't do something that will put my life in such flagrant danger for something that I don't even know about. This could be a trap. I'm not walking into it like a blind mouse." She muttered to herself. The keening in her head started up again.
"Shut up!" Mellary hissed at it, putting all her frustration for the situation into the two venomous words. It quieted with a mournful sigh that wrenched her heart.
She threw her few belongings that had gotten scattered around the room into her bag. It was then she noticed she had depleted her supply of medical herbs. Mellary sighed. She weighed the nearly empty pouch in her hand, and decided that a few more minutes in this crowded, dirty city wasn't worth the risk of getting caught in the wild unprepared. She pulled her cloak back on and wandered off in search of an herb shop. And wound up in a map store.
What am I doing here? Mellary asked herself as she looked through a roll of maps of Dras-Leona. For a reason she wasn't quite sure of, she had turned into a tiny, one roomed shop right beside an alley. A faded sign with a map drawn on it had been hanging over the doorway. She had a penchant for maps, but this was ridiculous.
Mellary pulled a map from the roll and raised an eyebrow. The map was beautiful, tiny details drawn by a precise hand. The passages of the palace were missing, just a big blank spot, but the streets around the palace were done in fine detail, every door way clearly outlined. Mellary's eyes swept across the paper. There, around the palace were several doorways that led into the wall. Several looked like they led into the courtyard, or the kitchens.
"May I help you, miss?" Mellary looked up. Standing next to her was a man who looked to be the shop keeper.
"I'm a little lost." Mellary gave him a smile. "I haven't been here in years, and I'm afraid none of the streets look familiar."
"Well, you won't get any help from that map. It's an older one, drawn by my grandfather."
"It's a beautiful map."
"That it is. He always had an eye for the finest details. However, you may need one of our newer maps today." The shopkeeper led her past the rolls of maps and vanished into the back room. Mellary glanced over her shoulder. Shelves formed two rows facing inward, creating a corridor of sorts. The path to the door was clear if she needed to get outside in a hurry.
"Here you go, miss." The shopkeeper returned, carry a roll of paper that was much brighter than the yellowed sheet she had in her hand. He spread it across an empty table for her to look at. Mellary leaned over the map. The streets looked the same, but many of the little illustrations that had been on the older map were gone. The new version was plain and simple, free of clutter. Many of the shops on the older map were gone on the newer version.
Mellary looked over the whole map, knowing that the shopkeeper was watching her, but her eyes lingered on the fringes of the blank palace.
"It's a nice map." She said, knowing the shopkeeper was waiting for her to say something.
"Done by my son. He's much more talented than I am. Also farther away from the family business. He volunteered for the city guard in the Emperors name."
So the map had been done by a loyal citizen. Someone, a woman from the high pitch of the voice, called from the back of the shop. The shopkeeper excused himself and vanished behind a door. Mellary quickly spread the two maps out side by side and quickly scanned them, searching for discrete differences around the palace.
Finally she spotted one. On the old map there was a doorway, leading into blankness, but if she remembered correctly, was below the main body of the palace building. There was only a smooth wall on the newer version. It had probably been covered up by royal decree. The doorway was in a back alley, hidden from the main streets.
Mellary heard the shopkeeper's footsteps returning and she whipped the old map off the table, rolling it up in a flash. She put her finger on the inn she was staying at just as he came out the door. She traced a random path around the city.
Mellary checked the price tags on both of the maps. She really didn't have enough money to spare but… a map could come in handy.
She ended up buying the newer map, mostly because of the price. It bothered her that someone would bother to cover up a door and then not get rid of the maps that still had the doorway in them. The shopkeeper might have spotted the differences between the two. Perhaps the entire shop was a trap designed to lure in curious individuals. It was the only shop that featured maps of the city itself. Maybe she was just being paranoid. Mellary folded up the map and slid it into her belt as she walked down the street.
Mellary spent most of the day studying the map she had bought. She memorized the quickest paths from the nonexistent door, which she had marked on her copy, to the gates in the city wall.
There weren't many options. The palace sat in the middle of the city. She would have to duck through twisting and confusing streets. If there were soldiers on the roof tops she would be in serious trouble. As dusky light slid through the shutters Mellary looked up from the map and sighed. What was she doing? She had asked herself that question many times that day. She had though about it all the way back from outside the city. She had loaded up Tanyian with her bow and supplies that she had needed and left her outside the city. Tanyian would come when Mellary called.
Mellary paced her room, waiting for the sun to sink a few agonizing degrees. She went over all her things again, readjusting.
Mellary was wearing a shapeless servants dress taken from a washing woman who cleaned the dresses of the serving girls and cleaning maids who worked in the palace. Under the too big skirt both her short swords were belted to her waist. Slits in the top skirt allowed her to reach the weapons quickly. She pulled one out and tested the blade. A hair thin line of blood appeared on her finger as soon as she touched the metal. A set of lock picks was tucked into a pouch along with a set of throwing daggers, since she had left her bow with Tanyian. Her knife was tucked into the top of her right boot. She had taken a herb she had been saving for some time and died her hair. She hadn't been able to completely cover up the vivid red, and ended up with a muddy brown color.
Finally it was dark enough. Mellary slipped out of her room. The key she left on the dresser, magically scoured like the room of any trace. She set off toward the palace through the back streets.
Mellary found the narrow street easily enough. It ran along the high wall that surrounded the palace. Black marble turrets rose above her head behind the wall and obscured the sky. The moon was not yet visible, blanketing the street in darkness.
The top of the smooth stone wall was lined with spearheads. Luckily, there were no guards posted on top of the wall. Mellary pressed her head to the wall and heard something big move on the other side, its hide rasping against the stones. She drew back quickly.
The doorway was a little harder to find. Mellary had carefully estimated the distance from the entrance to the street to the doorway. She walked carefully, counting steps, and looked up to a blank wall. The nonexistent doorway was set on the opposite side of the street from the palace wall. The same stone pattern stretched the length of the wall with no breaks. Mellary scanned it quickly and didn't see any differences that might mark a passage. There had always been a possibility that the entrance had simply been bricked up because of a collapse, or the building had been vacated. She looked the wall up and down, rapping her already bruised knuckles against the stone. No hollow thud answered her knocks and blood began to congeal around her knuckles.
Mellary sighed and pulled a strip of cloth out of her pocket and began to wrap it around her knuckle. As she did she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She stared at an unusual squiggle carved into the wall where it met the cobblestone streets. She tilted her head to the side and moved to stand in front of the carving. Suddenly the cuts, all different lengths and depths, resolved themselves into a single tower carved into the stone. Mellary had to appreciate the art that had gone into the simple shape. It was only recognizable when looked at from directly in front. Carved where the wall touched the ground, the design was out of the main line of sight. A viewer had to be looking for it to see it.
Mellary knelt in front of the symbol. At the top of the tower was a small indentation in the stone. Mellary poked the tip of her finger in the indent and felt the smooth curve of metal. She dug her fingernail into a hairline crack and tugged out. A metal ring, the same color as the stone, lifted up. Mellary wrapped her hand around it and pulled. The door, the one that didn't exist, swung outward on silent hinges. The doorframe had been fitted so perfectly that it had been invisible in the light. A small room was hidden underneath the street. Mellary looked around. The street had been empty since she had arrived. She slipped in and pulled the door tightly shut behind her.
Darkness engulfed her. Mellary whispered for brilliance bloomed in her cupped hands, just enough to dimly light the room. It was the standard square room, not big at all. There were no decorations and no furniture. Instead, a steep staircase led down below the floor, heading back in the direction of the street. Back toward the palace. Mellary smiled. The presence, which had been relatively quite during the day, piped up again. It tugged her mind toward the dark maw of the stair case. Mellary let it lead her down into the darkness.