Chereads / The Maiden of the Sun / Chapter 5 - Elexis

Chapter 5 - Elexis

"Remember your one goal tonight is gathering intel on where the King has Ana." Elexis said, though she knew that he had memorized every detail of the mission. She was saying it more for herself. She was normally so calm and collected but when it came to Ana- she couldn't lose another sister, they had to get her back, the plan had to go right. They were in the fitting room of an upper class tailor's shop in Nocturn, the tailor was a sympathizer but if he was in here too long, the other customer in the shop might suspect something. It was unlikely though, the only other people in the shop beside them and the tailor, an old man named Mr Artwik, was a bored looking noble woman and two nervous jittery lady's maids, but still it was best to be cautious.

"Lexi, stop worrying! I know the plan. Snoop around under the guise of charting the halls but don't get caught or do anything suspicious."

"And if you need help you remember where our people are placed?" They had a few sympathizers in the palace but not many.

"I won't need any help-" She interrupted mid sentence

"Remember Suzette will help you but she can't do anything while Sarnifease is around or she might get suspicious." Suzette was one of they're best informants, she was the maid of the king's blade. Despite or maybe because she was so close to the King's blade she was able to get them information about what the king knew and was able to tell them the things she gleaned about Sarnifease herself.

"Suzette said Sarnifease will be at the palace tonight. It's too risky to go to her." Axton was proud but he had to put aside his pride, this mission was ro important,

"If your just saying this because you don't want to admit you might need help-"

"It isn't that Lexi, Suzette has helped us so much, I don't want to put her at risk."

"It's what she signed up for when she joined the cause."

"Still, I'd prefer not to risk drawing the attention of the King's personal assassin." He had a point.

"I'd prefer if you didn't draw attention at all, get in, find out where she's being kept, and get out."

"Whatever, now get out of here, I have to actually get changed now." she rolled her eyes and opened the hidden door in the portrait on the wall,

"Remember, get in, get out-"

"I know I know, now go, Conner will be angry if you're late." she rolled her eyes again sticking out her tongue before closing the door behind her and creeping down the secret passageway. There were old passages like this all around the city, built to sneak in scandalous guests in secret. The rebels of the city made use of them quite a bit, especially after the king had learned they had been using the sewers to get around. It had been smelly and gross but it had worked, until the king sent Sarnifease to slaughter anyone she found lurking in the sewers. The attack had caught them off guard, and though on 10 or so rebels had been in the tunnels at the time it had cost them a lot. The one to get away had barely managed to warn a group of rebels about to head into the tunnels on a mission before they arrived. Ever since the rebels had kept extra care and secrecy when using the secret tunnels.

This one had two other branches and as she came upon the fork in the tunnel she thought it over.

The left one, the way she had come in, opened out into an alley a few buildings down from the tailor's shop via a secret door in a fake crate of ink surrounded by other supplies. The Bookstore it was next to was owned by a couple that were also sympathizers and made sure to always have a few crates and boxes around to hide the door, though it was hard to spot even without the extra camouflage.

The right branch opened into a room at a boarding house a few buildings in the other direction, with the excitement cleverly hidden in a full length mirror. The owner of the boarding house wasn't a sympathizer, but one of the workers was a member of the rebellion and made sure that whenever rebels stayed there they got the room(s) with the hidden passageways. But Elexis didn't know who occupied the room at the moment and she didn't some stupid lady's maid going on about the girl walking out of the mirror. Even if the boarding house was closer to the meet up point with Conner, who would indeed start to get worried, and angry, if she didn't hurry it up.