Sparrow veered into sparrow form and flew out of the barn. The rain was light and the winds calm, so it was easy enough to fly to the capital. She was the first part of the plan.
Sparrow landed in a dark alley and shifted back to herself, pulling up the hood of her cloak and stepping out into the street. It was quiet. A tense stillness hung over the city. By now, they’d know a large army waited to the north. Streets that should have been busy and bustling were empty. Those who were out, moved with haste, glancing about.
Sparrow turned a corner and headed for the Eel. The first thing she noted were the two large men standing outside in the rain. So, the Royals were being very careful. She approached and tried to simply walk up to the door, but a meaty arm reached out to block her way.
“Sorry, little miss,” The one man said. “The Eel’s closed to everyone but a private party.”
Sparrow summoned up all her courage and put on her best angry-petulant voice. “And what makes you think I’m not part of that party, peasant!” she growled. It was a gamble that these two weren’t actually Nobles. She assumed all of the Royal House would be hunkered down at their residence. These two were most likely hired brutes. And if that was the case, they probably wouldn’t know each and every Royal?
She’d find out.
“If you were, you’d know the password,” the other man said with a sniff.
Sparrow’s mind quickly spun through several possibilities before she took another big risk. “There is no password!”
The big man sniffed, then laughed. “Yup, she’s one of ’em. Let her in.”
The other man raised his arm and let Sparrow pass. She was drenched, as if she’d been unprotected from the rain, but instead it was nervous sweat, as she stalked into the tavern with an inner sigh. She’d made two big gambles and they’d paid off. She’d always had good intuition around things and as much as she suspected the Royals could remember a password, it would be a lot easier if they didn’t have to, but if their guards asked for one and someone guessed one, they’d know as soon as one was given, that this person was an imposter. It had made sense, but still had been a big risk.
She tried to still her thundering heart as she approached the bar. There were other brutes inside the tavern as well, a full dozen tough-looking men. The bartender also appeared as though he could take care of himself, a stout man with thick arms.
“Who’re you now?” the barman said, suspicion thick in his voice. Several of the men in the room shifted, paying attention. Sparrow’s attempts to calm herself weren’t working. She was terrified, heart pounding.
The trouble was, she might have fooled the men outside, who were probably new, but if she really was a Royal, and they were all holed up in the estate, then… why would she be coming from outside and not the secret passages beneath the tavern. The barman was more likely to know the Royals, having worked here for some time. Fooling him would be a lot harder. Luckily, she’d done her research and was prepared for this too.
It didn’t take much to make her voice soft and meek, a bit scared. “I’m sorry, good man. I… I was requested by Lord Jird. Told to wait for him in a room upstairs?”
The barman scoffed a laugh. “How old are you girl?”
“Seventeen,” she lied. The one perk to being smaller and less developed than some other women was passing as younger.
“He does like ’em young. Even in a lockdown he’s still sending for whores.” The man shook his head. “Top of the stairs, third door on the left. Wait there and I’ll let the good Lord know where you are when he comes through.”
She nodded and left, slinking up the stairs. Lord Jird was a known lech, who lusted for particularly young women.
She got to the room and closed the door behind her. That was the first part done. Now she had to wait for a while.
She opened the shutters of her window and lit a single candle, placing it on the sill. Luckily the rain was falling straight down and wouldn’t put out the flame.
It was sometime later when a little brown mouse scurried in through the window. A moment later Silence was standing before her. She rose to embrace him, glad to see a friendly face.
“How’d it go?” he asked.
“Icky and nerve wracking, but no one suspected a thing.”
He nodded. “My turn then.” And he veered back into a mouse.
Sparrow’s part was done for now. Others would arrive via this window shortly, but the next bit was all Silence.
Chapter 24
Silence
Silence scurrieddown through the cracks and crannies of the tavern into the tunnels below. He’d been here before and knew the way well enough. Long ago, what seemed like a lifetime, when they’d been searching for Lord Hale after his attack on Legs, he and Foggy had scouted these tunnels extensively. It had taken several days of exploring in mouse form, but he’d eventually found the entrance into the Royal Estates. Yet, during that exploration, he’d never gone into the estate. His mission now was twofold. First to scout the tunnels and find out who or what might be guarding them. Second, to scout into the estate itself and see if he could find Alvere.
The back room of the tavern had a trap door in the floor: the entrance to the tunnels, which was guarded by two large men. Neither were paying much attention, probably expecting people to actually open doors, which they’d notice. Silence easily slipped under the door to the room, and through one of the wider cracks in the floorboards down into the tunnel. He was just a bit surprised to find several more guards not far from the bottom of the ladder. They were down the tunnel a short distance, behind a barricade, facing the ladder. The make-shift fortification was mostly made of wood, with a bit of earth to help keep the planks in place. The men behind it would be mostly protected from anyone attacking from the ladder. And they had small slits through which they could fire their crossbows. Once on the other side of the barrier — no one paying much heed to the small mouse — he took a long moment to study the layout of the men and equipment. Of particular note was an area just behind the fortification where several thick, wooden poles propped up a wooden door in the ceiling. This hadn’t been here before. Curious, he climbed one of the poles and slipped between the wooden boards above to see what he could. It was dim here, but sensing through his whiskers, he felt stones all around him. A chill swept through him. This was to block the tunnel. If people were coming down the ladder and it seemed like the forces down here wouldn’t be able to kill them all, they’d retreat and pull down the wooden supports to drop these rocks down into the tunnel and block it. Which meant… Silence himself would have to deal with this, before people started coming down into the tunnels. But he’d wait for now. He’d do it on his way back from scouting.
He quickly navigated the maze of tunnels to the estate entrance. Here, two men guarded the ladder up. They were not on high alert, they would most likely be warned by hearing combat from the other end or from fleeing comrades. So, Silence snuck past them and up into the estate. He peaked up through the wooden floorboards just a bit to see the room beyond.
