Alnwick Chronicles

One

Adalyn

From my vantage point at the top of the uncovered, unused staircase of the Court building, I can see the entire marketplace below me. Not that it's a pretty sight.

Small, clustered and smelling of dirty humans, The Scrum is in the poorest part of the Metropola. Shabby stalls are arranged in haphazard rows, where buyers and shopkeepers are arguing about the product prices. Such stalls line both sides of a narrow, straight path covered with potholes. Steering their carts around them are people carrying goods in and out of the bazaar. There are so many people that there is barely any space to walk. Buyers, sellers, servants, workers and if you look hard enough, a pickpocket or two.

Standing at each corner and between every few stalls are the Queen's Guard. Clad in burgundy uniforms bordered with gold, these officers are bitter at being positioned in this hellhole, and making them mad guarantees at least half a dozen smacks with the metal rods they carry as weapons.

I look towards the opposite side of the road, a little to the right, where Nathaniel is leaning against the wall of a fruit stall, casually smoking a cigarette. He probably feels my gaze as he turns and makes eye contact. He gives me a questioning look and taps his wrist twice, indicating at a non-existent watch. I nod and motion for him to wait. The delivery vehicles are late again.

I look away, towards an intersection further right of Nathaniel, where I spot my sister in a heated argument with a Guard. I have no intention of helping her out, as she is much stronger than me and can handle herself just fine. Even if the Guard looks as if he'll pull out his rod any second now.

Aerith and I are twins, as is apparent from our similar looks. We both have olive green eyes and dark brown hair, though the ends of hers are dyed an electric purple right now.

There is a loud noise from the direction of the marketplace entry. It doesn't stop any of the activities though, as it's a common occurrence. I turn to see four large heavy goods vehicles arriving one behind the other. Three of them carry actual goods, and the last one is here to collect slaves for Marlow.

The vehicles roll to a stop in the middle of the road, the fourth one directly in front of me. A group of people climb out of the first truck, just as approximately 30 men and women emerge from a building a few feet to my right. Escorted by Guards, they start climbing into the now-empty transport.

Once every month, the Marlow goods vehicles take a detour from their usual routes and pass through The Scrum, where they collect all those who have volunteered to work at the royal residence or at the construction site in Newark. People love the Queen for this, an opportunity to escape unemployment and earn enough to feed their families, even if for just a few months.

Suddenly, a fistfight starts between Aerith and the man she was arguing with, beside truck 2. Guards rush towards the scene and I don't see what happens next.

Instead, I catch Nathaniel's eye again and nod. We both sprint forward simultaneously and rendezvous at the back of the procession. Caelyn is already there and has managed to jack-open the latch at the back of the fourth truck. In the marketplace commotion, no-one notices as we quickly slip in and shut the opening. Even if someone did see us, they'll assume we're trying to steal something to eat, which is pretty common in this place. We won't be reported because the Guards are very deeply resented here, and people try to avoid them best they can.

Inside the truck we see cartons and boxes, stacked loosely enough for us to comfortably squeeze in between two. We sit in silence till the trucks start moving and the voices from outside die down, indicating that we have left The Scrum.

"Nice work so far," whispers Caelyn. "Everything's going as planned."

"Sit tight, C. The toughest part is yet to come," murmurs Nathaniel, and I nod.

We talk in hushed voices till we feel the front of the truck tilt upwards. We must be passing over the inclined bridge that joins Marlow to the Metropola. The atmosphere becomes tense as we exchange glaces of apprehension.

After ascending the slope for about two minutes, we stop. Ours is the last vehicle to cross the palace gates.

We get up and collect our things. Nathaniel and Caelyn are carrying small duffel bags and I have a Guard's rod concealed in a narrow pocket-like section at the side of my trousers. Caelyn hands out small napkins to us.

We hold our breaths as we hear muffled voices outside, probably of the truck driver speaking through his window with the Guards stationed at the entry. Then there is a clang as one officer opens the metal backside of the truck.

In the split second before she and her three partners see us, we leap onto them and firmly press a napkin against their noses and mouths. Inhaling the chloroform, they fall unconscious.

We haul them inside and swap clothes, disguising ourselves in their garb. We pull their hats low over our faces and walk over to the front of the truck.

"Seems A-okay, you may pass." I try to replicate the accent I've heard in the richer parts of Metropola.

The driver buys it. He turns onto a road leading away from the castle grounds, towards a goods godown. I know the ruckus the unconscious bodies in the back of the truck will cause, but what we're here to do definitely won't go unnoticed either, so I don't care.

We wait for a minute before dashing in through the gates and split up. Nathaniel runs along the boundary on our right, whereas Caelyn and I go left, behind a hedge that is big enough to hide us.

The marble facade is huge. A bright white, with real gold windowsills and ivy clinging to the walls. It sprawls before vast, lush green gardens dotted with exotic plants. Guards are stationed here and there, but thanks to the thick hedge we go unnoticed. After about a kilometer along the circumference, Caelyn grabs my arm and we stop.

"There," she points.

I see a rope hanging from a third-storey window, almost completely hidden in an ivy strand. If you didn't know to look for it, you wouldn't see it. We make sure no-one sees us and hurriedly cross the lawn over to it. With Caelyn right behind me, we begin climbing.

Within a minute, we're at the top. The window is open this time of day, and we hop in noiselessly.

We find ourselves in an opulent room with baby-pink walls and an entirely carpeted floor. Velvet curtains hang on the windows, decorative paintings line the walls, and there are vases of fragrant flowers in each corner, all complementing the pink aesthetic. There is a huge canopy bed, an open walk-in closet and a dresser overflowing with bottles of lotions and boxes of make-up. There is also a classy bookshelf, over a twin-pedestal study table.

And with her head on the desk surface, in a deep green body-fitting dress with a coronet over her head, is a woman crying.