The Bounty Hunter

Chapter Twenty Eight

Chapter Twenty Eight

Every group was separated in the rush for the door and Safita felt a hand grab hers and pull her through a small side door into a dark corridor; moments later the door opened again and Favia fell through with a startled cry. The door opened once again and Safita saw Finred and Arthan illuminated against the light for an instant before they dived back into the shelter of the darkness.

“What in fortune’s name is happening?” Safita exclaimed as the small group began to move through the narrow hall.

“I don’t know!” came a hissed reply which Safita recognised as Arthan’s voice.

“Neither,” added Finred, “but we can assume various things. Firstly that this is an attack on the palace, most likely on Arthan since this is for him and therefore that they will be looking for us, and secondly that there will be far more than that one person.”

“They must be confident that it will succeed though,” Favia added, her voice bouncing around the walls of the small passage. “Lassirus would have never have done that if he thought he would have to stay here.”

“Either that or he’s stupidly impulsive,” Finred added quickly.

“Who’s Lassirus?” Safita heard an unfamiliar voice ask, expressing exactly the same thing that she had been wondering.

“He’s one of our father’s advisors,” Arthan replied sourly, “one of the most trusted people in the palace – well it always is, isn’t it. He comes from an old family of lords, one of the most powerful families in the country.”

“I always knew he looked suspicious,” Favia muttered angrily as they raced through the passage and turned the corner, spilling out into a wider one.

“We’ll need to defend ourselves.”

“Can we even get to the armoury without them seeing us Finred?” Arthan asked. “You said yourself that there’s bound to be other people here.”

“Which is why we have to have weapons to fight with,” he replied. “We won’t be able to get to the armoury but one of Father’s stockpiles is somewhere near here isn’t it?”

Arthan’s smile was visible in the flickering light of the sconces lining the walls as he nodded. “Yes,” he said, “yes it’s somewhere on the left.” Suddenly he fell silent and when he resumed speaking his voice was quieter and layered with worry. “Do you think Mother and Father will be alright?”

Finred paused but the reply which he gave was as cold as anything he had ever said while he was travelling with Safita. “I’m sure they will be. Right now we have to worry about ourselves though.” Suddenly he stopped and began fiddling around with various bricks before crying out triumphantly and retrieving a tiny key from behind one of them, which he then used to unlock the door.

Inside the tiny cupboard were a number of weapons, not many but enough to equip a group of about ten, so more than enough for their purposes. In the dank shadows which clung to the room they saw some swords, knives and even a bow. Finred handed them out wordlessly, giving each person a heavy sword. As he rifled through them Safita heard the unfamiliar voice say, “I can’t carry this, it’s too heavy,” and a clatter as the sword was thrown back onto the ground.

“Take knives instead then,” Finred replied as he handed two to Safita, along with her sword.

“Finred I can’t carry these,” she muttered.

“Don’t you have… pockets?” he asked.

“It’s a dress.”

“Boots?”