Wielder

Chapter 28 - Infiltration

Alie's heart hammered against her chest. Three days had passed since they'd entered the capitol city of Hilltop Spires. After hiding in abandoned warehouses and eating whatever scraps restaurants would offer the poor at the end of the day, it was finally time to execute Darrel's plan to infiltrate the castle.

She couldn't remember ever being so nervous. It was even worse than the time she'd slept through first period because she'd stayed up too late reading, gotten detention, and had to explain to her parents why she'd been at school late. Not only that, but she'd slept through a test. And the teacher didn't let her retake it, so she suffered a significant loss on her grade that semester. She'd had to spend the next four weeks working on extracurricular activities to make up for it.

She hadn't really thought about it before, but life had been so simple, then. The only adventures she'd had were between the pages of a book. When was the last time she'd even touched a book? Before coming to the realm? How long ago was that? She'd lost track of the days.

She opened her mouth to ask Michael – surely he knew how long they had been away from home – but just then, a figure turned into the darkness of the alleyway where they hid.

Michael stiffened beside her. "It's Darrel," she assured him, stepping out from their hiding place within a door frame. Magic kept them all hidden in shadow, so they wouldn't be noticed by anyone passing by.

Darrel wore a satisfied grin on his cocky, disguised face. "Told you I could get them," he remarked, holding up a trio of black cards engraved with golden letters.

She took one. Darrel was right: they were laced with magic. She was glad she hadn't tried to duplicate them, after all. Even as much as she didn't like the idea of Darrel resuming his pickpocketing, desperate times called for desperate measures.

They were never going to get through the palace gates unless they were expected guests. Disguising themselves as servants would be dangerous. Servants rarely left the palace. Those that were allowed to leave had chores to do when they returned, and there would be too many eyes on them to risk slipping away.

Guards were an entirely different story. They were permitted to leave the palace grounds after every shift. A lot of them even frequented local bars. And the night shift guards, Darrel claimed, were especially heavy drinkers. Going out after such a long, boring shift was the only joy they had in life. They tended to cause trouble and sometimes passed out on the streets just before lunch. When they did finally sober up and wander back to their barracks on the palace grounds, they used a little pass to enter a small gate on the far east side. Only one guard patrolled the gate, and he often barely paid attention to who came and who left.

As long as they could disguise themselves as the guards who owned the stolen passes, then they should be able to get into the palace fairly easily.

At least, that was the plan. Alie's breath quickened as her imagination changed her appearance. She turned around in a circle, showing off her new look. "Anything I should change?"

Darrel, already disguised as a guard himself, scratched at the sudden appearance of his beard. "You're stiff."

"I'm nervous," she admitted sheepishly.

"Yeah, well, you're supposed to be drunk." He tapped at the back of her knees and pushed on her shoulders, causing her to slump. "They'll suspect something's wrong if you don't loosen up."

Michael glanced over his own disguise, pulling at the sleeves of his black uniform. "She was fidgeting the whole time you were gone. She'll need help."

"Alright." He threw his arm around her shoulders and leaned on her.

She nearly toppled over as he threw his weight on her. Catching a whiff of his breath, she turned away in disgust, waving her hand in front of her face. "Have you actually been drinking?"