The Ill-mannered Door (humorous sci-fi)

22.1: The Wisdom Hedges

It was late afternoon when we finished up our plans and hurried out of the king's cabin. We had worked out a rough plan to get the king into the Ministry of Wisdom where he could then defuse the bomb. It wasn't a great plan, I must admit, but it was the best we could come up with in a relatively short time and lacking significant resources.

We had decided to leave Higgins on the ship, tasked with watching for the arrival of the Esmerelda. The truth was that the king thought he'd be more of a liability if we brought him with us. So, he stayed behind.

We disembarked from the ship and followed the king as he headed for the Ministry of Wisdom.

Derek, still carrying his two large duffle bags, assured us that he had something that would be a great help for our coming plan. Given the size of the bags, I was hoping he had a shotgun or something similar stuffed away in there. And, given the fact that he didn't have to pass through any scanners on his trip to this planet, it could be a possibility. He remained tight-lipped for the moment, however, so we'd have to wait and see.

Thankfully the building wasn't at the top of the hill, so the king wasn't too winded by the time we arrived, but the sun had set by then. There were no guards outside at least, which was a positive start.

Once the king had caught his breath, he said, "Wait here, I will go inside and have a look around first."

With that, he disappeared inside.

Then we heard the sound of several footsteps on the dark cobblestone street, so Derek and I promptly hid behind a hedgerow.

The footsteps were getting closer.

The king was still inside, and we could now see several lights coming towards the Ministry.

It wasn't long before we could make out the city guardsmen in the light of the lanterns they carried. I couldn't help but notice that they also carried nasty looking halberds.

Had the queen sent them to round us up? The king had told us we couldn't trust the sailors, so we hadn't included any in our plans, but what if they had overheard us? Could it have been Higgins? There was no way of knowing. Perhaps some of the sailors had followed us?

I realized as we crouched behind the hedge that I should have been more paranoid. I should have watched for someone following us. I also realized that kneeling in the somewhat rocky dirt behind a hedge on a cool evening was quite uncomfortable.

I shifted a bit and tried to clear out some of the small stones beneath me.

As the guardsmen drew closer, apparently I was rustling too much because Derek tapped me. I couldn't make out his face in the darkness, but I didn't think he looked happy.

The guardsmen were close, perhaps only a dozen meters or so from the doors of the Ministry of Wisdom when they suddenly opened and the king emerged.

"Halt!" the guardsmen shouted, clearly at the king, but I still jumped a little despite that.

The king nearly jumped out of his skin, but quickly recovered saying, "Oh, hello, guardsmen!"

"Sire?" one of the guardsmen said. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes, splendid! Just checking on some last-minute preparations with..." the king trailed off as he looked around for us but couldn't see where we had gone.

"Sire?"

"Oh, yes, with the hope of getting everything just right for the celebration. You're all coming, yes?"

There was a round of excited affirmations.

The king said, "Good, good. Well, I just realized that I forgot to check something inside, so goodnight."

"Night, sire," the guardsmen said as the king disappeared back inside.

The guardsmen started along the road again, drawing ever closer until they were on the road just in front of the hedge where Derek and I were hiding. Derek shifted next to me, and a twig snapped underneath him.

The guardsmen stopped.