10_Three encounters
Amethyst huffed. “I beg your pardon? Is that how you speak to a lady?”
“Yeah, she might be a titled lady,” the guard told his friend.
“But still, not a princess,” the other guard added scornfully. “Don’t try and pull one over us, no princess would be gallivanting through Turncrest this late at night.”
“She’s either a lady,” his friend said. “Or an expensive mistress to one of the men inside.”
“Aye, could be a secret strumpet indeed. Judging by the look of ‘er, they’d pay a pretty penny.”
Amie watched them tiredly. “Look, just let me in, I won’t be long in there.”
“No invite, no entrance,” repeated the one on her left, frowning resolutely at her.
With a sigh, she crossed her arms and walked slowly away from the entrance, glancing about as she bit her lip in thought. The two men had identical badges hanging on thin chains around their necks. Their security tags. If she could get her hands on one of those…
Amie spun on her heel and rushed toward the entrance.
“Hey!” the guards screamed. They jumped in the way, but she kept running, racing toward the web of arms that waited to catch her.
Both guards caught her, blocking her path into the castle as they strong-armed her away from the doors.
She was quickly tossed away and stumbled against a carriage to regain her balance.
“You better leave now!” scolded the first guard.
“You’re clearly here for trouble,” the second one said breathlessly. “Lady Hadgar isn’t as kind as they say, so leave before you find the problems you’re seeking.”
Catching her breath, Amie faked disappointment with a downturned mouth. Her hands snuck behind her back as she released a loud sigh. “Fine! I’ll be on my way.”
Turning away, she brought her hands to the front and walked quickly toward the side of the castle.
“Odd little mouse, isn’t she?” one of the guards was saying.
“Likely a thief, the way I see it.”
Amie’s feet moved rapidly as she stared down at her palm with a wide grin on her face. She’d gotten it! The corner of the building was only a few steps away when she heard one of the guards shout.
“Hey, my tag!” he rasped. “She stole my tag! Thief!”
Amethyst broke into a run. She shot around the corner, her heart pounding in her chest as she escaped.
“Stop that thief!”
Ducking behind a dirty coal chute, she hunkered down in the darkness and held her breath in the polluted air around the open chute door.
Pounding feet ran by, muttered vulgar words dirtying the air.
As soon as they’d run past, she crawled out and raced in the opposite direction. The front entrance was a big no, considering that she was now covered in coal from squeezing in by the coal chute.
“Find the thief,” someone spat from up ahead.
Amie came to a sharp halt, making a turn on her heel and scampering back in the direction she’d come from. Damn it. They were all after her, this was getting more dangerous than she'd predicted. And all of it because of one audaciously pompous man.
She made it back to the coal chute door and squeezed herself into the dark hole at the base of the building before anyone could see her.
Crawling over mountains of piled coal, she coughed and sneezed as she went deeper into the coal basement.
“Over here!” someone shouted outside. “I hear her in the coal basement!”
Crap. Her eyes popped wide open and panic kicked up her energy, making her flail her way through the coal like she was swimming in the sooty mess.
She didn’t stop until she made it to concrete ground, feeling her way to the short steps at the front of the room. There she found a door that opened into a dimly lit corridor.
There was no time to waste, they were after her right at that moment! Looking both ways of the empty hallway, she ran off to the right.
When she heard voices far behind her, she knew she’d chosen well. Stiff with both thrill and terror, she walked further into what appeared to be hallways used mostly by servants. Now she just had to find the Barbarian and drag him out of here.
How on earth had it gotten to this?! She just wanted to restore her pride, why did she have to crawl through coal to do so?
“Who’re you?”
Jolting, Amie looked behind her. An older woman stood there holding a basket as she looked her up and down. “Were you in the coal? What’s you doing in there?”
Startled, Amethyst fumbled for the tag in her hand and shoved it forward. “I-I’m… I’m one of the guards. They sent me into the coal to check for any hiding spies.”
Making a face as she nodded, the servant quickly lost interest. “Alright then. Shame on ‘em for that, they could’ve sent a boy in there. Stained your pretty skin good. You go on and change clothes.”
Muttering random words of gratitude, Amie watched the maid leave before she turned and sped away.
She hunkered and crept her way through various corridors, thanking the forefathers that she didn’t bump into any more servants. The possibility of evading them became slim, however, because Amethyst soon heard the soft lull of music and the low murmur of conversation with an added sprinkle of laughter.
The ballroom was nearby, which meant there were many more servants about. She had to avoid them all until she captured her prey.
Quickly, Amie got to learn that it was not the servants she was to viciously avoid. It was the guests.
Her feet crashed to a halt, hands gripping the wall when she suddenly spotted a lady and a man round the corner into her hallway. Her eyes widened at the familiar faces. It couldn’t be. Those people…
That was Prince Alfred and his wife! They knew her parents!
Spinning back, she walked rapidly in the opposite direction.
“Amethyst?” The voice was filled with distinct tones of doubt and shock.
Amie froze, her eyes going wide. Her back bunched up with tense muscles, shoulders touching her ears like she was trying to disappear.
“Princess Ame—”
Amie shot off into a run, sprinting away like the hounds of hades were on her tail.
“But dear, that’s King Kendrick’s youngest daughter!” The woman’s voice shook with her quickened steps. “Amethyst!”
Oh, God! They were following her!
Breathless, Amethyst screeched around a corner and fled down a different hallway.
“There’s the thief!”
A group of guards were running towards her at full speed, waving batons in the air. With a terrified squeak, she threw herself down a different hallway and then sped around two more corners, burying herself deeper into the maze that was Lady Hadgar’s castle before she yanked open a random door and delved into a dark room.
She pressed her back firmly against it, her breath rasping in and out of her lungs as her chest burned for air.
A disguise. She needed a disguise.
The only thing that could be worse than her getting caught by the guards would be her getting caught by that royal couple, especially looking the way she currently did.
Why, Prince Alfred and his wife would be thoroughly scandalized at the sight of her and wouldn’t waste time before sending word to her parents. The last thing Amethyst wanted was to be sent back to live with her parents.
The disguise would have to be any dress deemed, at least, acceptable for a princess to wear. That way, the guards wouldn’t recognize her and if she did get caught by the royals, they wouldn’t be too scandalized by her appearance. She could come up with a story for being present at a ball as Princess Amethyst of Gadon. What she couldn’t do, was come up with an excuse for why she was covered in coal from head to toe, as Princess Amethyst of Gadon!
Her title was a blessing and a curse. As things stood, she barely knew what she was doing.
From the little moonlight that shone through the heavy curtains, she could see that this was someone’s secret chamber. It was time to make the best of her situation.
Bitterness clenched her jaw. All this was because of that Barbarian. Wait till she got her hands on him!
Thoran knew exactly where to go. He walked casually through the fancy, well-lit hallways near the main ballroom, nodding curtly at a gaggle of ladies who smiled flirtatiously at him as they strolled by in their outrageously low-cut gowns.
There were no guards here at the centre of the castle, there couldn’t be. Lady Hadgar prided herself on keeping the happenings of her parties secret to protect all the rich, sick bastards she invited. All the guards were to keep the entrances, her jewel chambers and the coat room where guests stored their priceless belongings. Unfortunately for her, her No Guard rule allowed Thoran to walk by right under her long nose.