Disclaimer – I do not own BMT world, it belongs to Trudi Canavan
Safe
By the time Sonea reached the place where the entrance to the passage should be, she was hardly able to move without biting her lips against a whimper. The pain in her knees seemed to get worse with every step and although she had stopped bleeding heavily, the grazes were still oozing blood at every step so she had to stop every so often to mop it up to keep her trousers looking reasonably respectable. Occasionally, she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, which required a quick scramble off the path until whoever it was had passed by. That also did nothing to ease her aches and pains.
It took about half an hour to reach the entrance, although it seemed much longer when every step was painful. Not being able to use any Healing or any other magic to ease her journey made it seem much worse than it was. Stop being such a baby! she admonished herself, remembering the scuffs and scrapes she picked up on a daily basis in her youth. Being a magician makes you soft! She remembered her early self-righteous opinions when she joined the Guild and saw magicians using magic for the most simple of tasks. She had vowed never to use magic for ordinary purposes, yet now, what she wouldn't give for enough power to ease her pains.
Although she hadn't used the particular passage she was looking for since her time as the High Lord's Novice, she was sure she knew where to find it, but when she arrived at the place, try as she might, she could not discover the entrance. At first, she simply thought she had mistaken the exact spot, but after several moments of searching around, she realised that this must be one of the passages Balkan had found and hidden. Without her own magic, she could not detect any other use of magic in the area, so it was impossible to discover how to get in.
Trying not to let her disappointment overwhelm her, she sank wearily down on a nearby hummock to think what to do next. She judged the time to be close to when the evening meal was being served. Her original plan had been to sneak into her rooms, clean herself up, change into her black robes and go to the Dining Hall, ensuring that as many people as possible caught sight of her. Now, she realised that she had a large part of the grounds to negotiate before she even got to the Magicians' Quarters, as well as avoiding people on the way to her room, once inside the building.
I can't use magic, so I will have to rely on what I would have done as a dwell. Dwells were resourceful and used anything and everything to hand to accomplish their purpose, whatever it was. She thought carefully about her current location. If she had it right, there were some outbuildings fairly close by, where the gardeners kept their tools and equipment. If her luck held, there would be something there she could use as some sort of disguise. If not, then she would just have to make do with whatever there was.
She set off down one of the narrow tracks through the bushes and quickly found one of the buildings, it was little more than a shed, and the fastening was easy to force as it was not the sort of place where anything valuable was stored. Inside, she found some rakes and hoes. She took one of each and looked around for something else. There wasn't much but she did find an old outer garment that the gardeners used during wet or cold weather. It was neither today, but she thought she might get away with wearing it and keeping her head down.
She pulled it on; it was torn in a number of places, rather dirty and much too big for her, but it would have to do. She found some twine and used a length of that as a makeshift belt. Now all I need is some sort of hat… She searched all the nooks and crannies but couldn't find anything remotely resembling a hat. In the end, she tore off a strip from the bottom of her disguise and wound it round and round her head, stuffing all her hair inside so that none of it showed. She wished there was a mirror or something so she could see what she looked like but there was nothing. She pulled the cloth down low over her forehead and hoped that with her head down, no one would recognise her. She certainly did not feel very much like a magician in this outfit.
She picked up the rake and hoe and lodged them on her shoulder, as she had seen gardeners do when moving around the grounds. She fastened the door as best she could and, stuffing her free hand into a pocket, she set off in the general direction of the Magicians' Quarters.
The grounds were not particularly busy and she guessed people were freshening up before attending the Dining Hall. She was over half way to her destination before she met with more than one or two magicians returning home at the end of their day's work. No one had even looked her way. Servants and gardeners were not 'noticed' by most magicians when they didn't need anything. Her main problem was getting into the building. Gardeners were expected to remain in gardens, not go roaming around the magicians' buildings. She needed to change from gardener to servant.
Seeing a group of magicians ahead, she paused by a group of bushes in a small bed and began to hoe, bending down to pick up non-existent weeds, ensuring that all they would see was a working person concentrating on a task. The magicians were too busy chatting to notice her and soon passed by. However, Sonea could see other groups further down the path and realised that there would be quite a few who were late returning to their quarters. She couldn't just hoe what looked like perfectly weeded flower beds for some time until the magicians had all passed her. She picked up the hoe and rake and moved along the path, looking closely at the flower beds which edged it, as if searching for something, all the while considering her options.
She knew there was a servants' store room in the basement of the Magicians' Quarters. She needed to get herself there and hopefully she would find a servant's apron and hat which she could use. Luckily, servants were always coming and going in the building, either on their way to clean something, or to run an errand so she would not seem out-of-place. She needed a reason for a gardener to be going to the servants store room, though. She stared at the flower bed, hardly noticing the pretty flowers on the bushes and the tall lilies planted around the edge. Then it came to her – a bunch of flowers. If challenged, she could say she had been asked to leave some flowers in the store room by someone or for someone – all she needed was a name – and that would provide a reasonable explanation for her presence.
It didn't take long to cut a large armful of flowers, making sure she had some long stems from the bushes to provide screening to hide her face behind, as well as the smaller, prettier blooms. Sonea had little skill at flower arranging, but she hoped that no one would expect a gardener to make a beautifully designed bouquet. Holding her stolen flowers close to her chest and keeping the lower part of her face buried in them as if enjoying their perfume, Sonea hurried towards her goal.
She was only challenged once, by one of the servants who did not take kindly to a gardener walking across a newly cleaned floor, but Sonea was able to mumble something about being asked to leave flowers for Lady Kelda's room and hurried on, without waiting for further confersation, until she reached the store room.
Her luck held as the room was empty. She put the flowers down on a nearby bench and looked around. There were several aprons and caps piled up ready for the laundry. She sorted through until she found one which was barely soiled and relatively uncreased. She took off the gardener's garments – they had served their purpose – and dressed herself in the apron and cap. The apron was long and covered her torn trousers. The cap, which was close fitting, covered her hair entirely. If she kept her head down, and avoided eye-contact with anyone she met, Sonea felt she would pass as a servant under all but the most searching scrutiny. Most magicians had no interest in the servants they saw around them and unless they wanted something, nearly all avoided conversation with the domestics. Now there was only the stairs to her room to negotiate.
At the last minute, she grabbed the bunch of flowers. They would help to hide her face, if she met anyone on the way. But the people she passed were more interested in getting their meal, than any servant's actions. They moved by without a second glance. Sonea breathed a sigh of relief as she reached her floor. Now there was only the corridor to cover. Again, she was discounted by the three magicians in the corridor. She kept close to the walls, as servants were required to do if they met magicians in narrow corridors and didn't merit even one glance, as they were too engrossed in their conversation to bother.
It was only as she shut the door behind her, though, that Sonea felt she was truly safe and could breathe more easily.