New Rome

65. The Royal Favourite

Arly was in the Emperor's solar again. This time they were sat in amicable silence. She was doing her homework and he was reading through reports. Arly sighed as she worked, growing easily frustrated and bored. She would never be academic or studious and she'd come to accept that. Failing at her subjects had become so expected that she barely even felt anxious about it anymore.

"I need a break." She declared, pushing her work away from her. The emperor smirked.

"Another one?"

She gave him a look but Agost didn't notice it, his gaze was focused on the page he was reading. Sighing, Arly tilted back on her chair and stared boredly up at the ceiling. She frowned, confused by what she was seeing. Then she had half a second to react.

Arly lunged forward and knocked the Emperor out of the way. Arly had seen an opening in the roof – an opening that shouldn't have been there. She shielded Agost, as their attackers rained bullets down on them. Bullets and shards of wood and glass ricocheted across the room - slicing through the furnishings. 

They were under attack. Arly's heart thudded violently, realising that this was an assassination attempt.

"GUARDS!" Agost shouted, unnecessarily (the Royal guard had already heard the gunfire). Arly and the emperor wriggled into the tight cap beneath the table just as the Royal Guard burst into the room. The troops surged forward, gunfire rebounding off their shields, and fired up at the ceiling. The shooting from the attackers stopped and the emperor's guards rushed toward him.

"Your majesty, we must escort you to a place of safety." A guard rattled off, as they aided the emperor out from under the table. Riot shields were held up over the emperor's head to protect him as  they escorted him from the solar.

Through a gap in the guards, Agost saw Arly still huddled beneath the table. He saw her tuck her leg in close to her chest. Then the gap disappeared and she was swallowed from view. Security propelled him through a secret passage – as they were trained to do so - and Agost followed their directions. "Where's the captain?" He demanded.

"On the roof." A guard answered, listening to updates through his earpiece.

"Do we know who's behind this?"

"No yet, your majesty."

Agost said nothing after that. He was deep in thought. He had a lot of enemies, enough that he'd never run out. But which one had been able to gain access to the tower roof?

His enemies, whoever they were, were getting closer.

                News soon spread that the Emperor had survived an assassination attempt, and Arly was perceived as having saved the emperor's life. Arly found herself beset with gifts. The first gifts had come from the emperor, but after seeing the actions of their monarch, the court had swiftly followed suit. 

Arly was lost behind a pyramid of presents. Rube had a spreadsheet open and was meticulously recording who had sent what and was estimating the cost of each gift.

"Errr..." Arly surveyed the chaos, trying to work out a route that would let her reach the bathroom. She had to shimmy between a narrow gap before leaping over a wall of gifts that was waist high. But, this achieved, she found that the bathroom door was blocked with packages and she couldn't open it. Arly sighed dramatically and flopped against the door.