DUALITY /#Wattys 2021

Chapter 29

Ridley spent the next two days in the field with Reb, running and shooting. Reb was having a façade of the Palace wall constructed, at the exact spot where the King would disable security scanners to allow her to enter unnoticed. 

Reb and Ridley had to figure out how to get over the wall. Every tree, every shrub had been recreated exactly as it was at Othala. The wall rose much higher than the one at the old converted church outside Holstonia. The King had shown her detailed drawings of the Palace courtyard for her to use once she got inside. He would keep security out of her way; she had to find his suite, climb up, and enter via his fourth floor balcony. There she would hide until it was time for the mission to take place.

On her third day back, the mock-up of the Palace wall was complete. Reb handed her a pair of heavy gloves and led her through the woods to the structure. Together they stared up at the top of the wall.

"And there will be no patrol coming by at the appointed time?" said Ridley.

"Take that up with Chi, but if he says no, I'm sure you won't have a problem."

Ridley craned her neck. The mock-up of the Palace wall was almost four stories high. "Oh, my gosh. I'm supposed to climb all the way up there?" Ridley's heart fell into her stomach.

"Yep." Reb's tone held a heaviness that told her he didn't envy her.

"And then come down the other side."

"Yep."

Ridley noticed the closest plant life. It wasn't very close. She suspected all the trees and shrubs had been cleared away from the wall for this very reason.

"This isn't going to be like going over the wall in Holstonia," she said. "It's twice as high, and it's so smooth. I can't rock-climb up. Unless you've got a climbing rope and a way to attach it to the top, we're going to have to find another way."

"Come to think of it," said Reb, and walked away from her, disappearing around the end of the pretend palace wall, "I might be able to help you out there." He appeared again carrying a bag with two shoulder straps, placed it on the ground, and reached inside.

A buzz like a giant bumblebee startled Ridley, and a blur of huge green wings shot up out of the bag. She jumped and caught her heel on a rock, nearly toppling backward.

"What is that?" she shouted, trying to right herself before Reb noticed her near-pratfall.

Reb turned and smiled as the thing rose into the air in a parabolic arc, then buzzed to a stop at her feet. Four green wings and two googly eyes animated a dull green body. A little smaller than the cats that ran wild in Holstonia, it reminded Ridley of a metallic hybrid between a dragonfly and a common house fly. Its eyes followed her movements, and it hummed a few liquid notes that rose steadily in pitch, as if it were asking a question. Two antennae-like fuzzy eyebrows waved at her like an old-style comedian's.

Reb reached down and opened a hatch on the bug's back. Inside lay a coiled rope. Reb closed the hatch and winked at Ridley.

"Bug, this is Ridley," he said. "I'm turning over voice control to her."

The two googly eyes rose up on stalks—long stalks—to inspect her. Ridley found herself staring into eyes that reflected light in colors, almost like the diamonds at her initiation in the Guildhall. They pivoted up and down, taking her in. Then the thing whistled, two sharp notes that traveled up and down the scale, as if it didn't think Ridley was awake.

"You have to talk to him. He wants a voice print," said Reb.

Ridley cut her eyes dubiously across at Reb. "What am I supposed to tell it?" she said. She looked at the eyes. "Um...hi?"