Getting into Zleigh was going to prove to be quite difficult. We had all gathered in the kitchen, Cornelius included, and were only waiting for Ray and Alice to come down from above deck. I tapped the cool metal hilt of my sword anxiously, something about all this just didn't feel right to me. It was as if my morals were somehow being questioned, I couldn't explain it. Maybe it was just the fact that Ray and Alice still hadn't arrived yet.
"So," Jack's low rumbling voice caught everyone's attention, "Now that mostly everyone's here, I have a few questions."
"Understood," Cornelius replied, "I'm sure they will all be answered in just a few moments. It's critical that everyone is here before we begin. This way I won't have to repeat myself."
"Apologies for the wait," Ray's raspy voice burst into the room as he made his way below deck. He adjusted the blood red scarf around his neck as he slid over the railing of the stairs and landed next to me, "We had a little dispute above deck, Alice should be down soon."
"You didn't harm her did you?" Corra's unenthused voice showed just a hint of care.
Ray grumbled something under his breath, "I did what I had to do, someone had to get the message across."
"And..." I replied, "What sort of message would that be?"
"One that is necessary if we want to make it out of Zleigh alive."
I hadn't noticed, but Alice had made her way below deck now as well. She pulled out a chair and sat next to me slowly, reaching behind her and grabbing a cold orange juice from the fridge and giving it a tiny sip. She looked drained of her energy, her usual cheery smile and bounce in her step had disappeared as she hunched over at the table, trying her hardest to not make eye contact with anyone but the glass of juice in her hands.
"Alright, now that we're all here," Cornelius gave Alice a concerned glance before continuing, "Let us discuss our plan for Zleigh. I have quite a bit planned, so please pay attention."
"Proceed then," Alice grumbled.
Cornelius shot her another look before continuing, "The Lord's Banquet will mostly take place in the main hall, it's the first thing you'll come across when entering the tower. Now, there will be tables positioned all around the room, you're going to want to get to the ones stationed on the balcony that wraps around the room, this way you'll have a good view of where all the Lord's are at all times."
"Yes, but how do we get inside?" Corra chopped an apple with one of her knives aggressively, "We can't hit the target if we don't have the arrow first."
Cornelius grabbed a large piece of parchment from underneath us and rolled it out onto the table, the smell of old musty paper filling the room. He cleared his throat and grabbed the quil that I hadn't noticed lying next to him the whole time, drawing out a large rectangle that was separated into four smaller squares, each one around the same size.
Ray fiddled with his gloves, giving the parchment a quick glance before speaking, "I assume this a diagram of the Lord's Tower, correct?"
"Precisely." Cornelius replied, pointing to each square as he spoke. "Each of these sections represents the rooms that will be of use to us. The tower is composed of over six floors, but the festivities only take place on three."
"Then why are there four squares?" Rico replied, the tone in his voice had a hint of sarcasm in it.
Cornelius pointed to the room on the bottom right corner, "This room is off limits for guests, only the reigning Lord's are permitted to enter. Consider it somewhat of a break room if you will. We, of course, will use that to our advantage."
Ray popped the cap off a beer and downed it in a single gulp, after swallowing he eyed Alice's orange juice intensely. "Perfect, no witnesses. We can take him out with one fell swoop."
"If only it was that simple," I replied, still palming the hilt of my sword in my scaly hands. "Remember that we need to get inside undetected."
"Indeed, I do have a workaround for this predicament." Cornelius shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I must warn you it isn't on the legal side of things."
Ray gave out a brief chuckle before turning dead serious again, "Since when was anything we did legal?"
"Fair enough," Cornelius paused for a moment before continuing, "Each guest is given a card that will be scanned with detection magic before they enter. I have the location of a group of guests who are staying in Zleigh. Once we're inside Zleigh we can find them and…" He made a motion as if he was slitting his own throat.
I clasped my hands together, "I like this plan!"
"But be warned," Cornelius cautioned, "I've heard news about a group of soldiers patrolling the city grounds. They call themselves the Dawn Syndicate."
Corra instantly perked up as the words rolled off of Corenlius' tongue, "Dawn Syndicate?" It was the first time I had ever seen her panic. The usually solemn half breed was now frozen in fear as if the words just spoken had some sort of prowess to them.
"This is bad," She shot up from her chair, "I can't come to Zleigh, this was a mistake."
Ray tried to stop her from leaving but it was too late, in an instant she had vanished. I guess they don't call her an assassin for nothing.
"I'll talk to her." Ray set down his empty beer bottle and walked back up the stairs leading to above deck, not before grabbing another fresh one from the icebox. "Just give me a couple minutes."
We spent the next hour catching up and talking more about Zleigh and what the huge city would be like. Strangely enough, Alice was quiet the whole while. This time however it wasn't due to her usual silence, something was off. Contrary to popular belief, Ray did not take a minute to talk to Corra, because by the time the clock struck ten, one hour after he went above deck, we finally heard the slam of a hatch and footsteps coming from the stairs.
"Well? What happened? Where's Corra?"
Ray adjusted the scarf around his neck, the look in his eyes was just as cold and solemn as usual, but this time they shone with fear.
"Corra is... still above deck."
"What is she doing up there?" I proclaimed, sometimes Ray wasn't the best at giving straight answers.
"She's…" His head hung low as if the floorboards were intriguing, "She's talking to Greyson."