The Heart of Alexander

Chapter Twenty Six- Equals

The twilight hour came and I awoke with dry tears staining my cheeks. Sibani stood over me, dressed in men's attire and a pair of identical villager clothing in her arms. She rose an eyebrow looking at me.

"Well? We have to go now if we don't want to get caught," Sibani grumbled impatiently. 

I sat up, narrowing my eyes. I yanked the clothing from her arms, changing into them. Adjusting the clothes, I looked up at Sibani who smiled. My heart was thudding with anger now. Without a second thought, I waltzed up to her, striking her hard across her cheek. The slap resonated in the air and I smirked with approval of the red hand print  now visible on the side of her face. 

"What is wrong with you?" she hissed. 

"I would ask you the same thing. That is for sleeping with my husband, you harlot!" I growled.

"You should congratulate me. I successfully sedated him in his wine. Now he will be out until morning and will not catch us. Your welcome, Your Majesty," she mocked. 

Mercy and grace, I thought in the back of my mind. This wasn't the time to fight. There were bigger things to worry about. I shredded a piece of cloth off my tunic, creating a makeshift ribbon to tie my hair up with. I suggested the same to Sibani. Finding some rope within a chest, I threw it out the window, securing the one end inside. I nodded to Sibani, but instead, she scoffed. 

"Why do I have to go first?" she complained. 

"Fine," I sighed, climbing out the window. 

I climbed down the rope, scaling down the side of the palace. I looked out over Ambhi's reigning territory. I saw the extravagance of the palace from the outside, then there was the small village homes scattered for as far as the I can see. It was gorgeous at night, how the calmness took control overt he entire city. I imagined all the villagers sleeping soundly in their beds.

"Get moving!" Sibani grumbled.

We reached the bottom quickly, sneaking down the gates. From a distance, there was Perdiccas. I smiled in relief of his showing. Running towards him, I hugged him tightly. 

"Thank you so much, Perdiccas," I whispered. 

"I obey you, Your Majesty," he replied firmly. 

"Let's get going if you don't want to get caught!" Sibani whispered harshly, "Alright, so our way over the gates is only through climbing over it,"

I watched with glinting humor as she attempted to climb the gate. Perdiccas shook his head in amusement as well, both of us making eye contact and giggling like little children. Perdiccas raised a pair of keys, jingling them. He cleared his throat, capturing Sibani's attention as she struggled to climb the gate. 

"You know these may or may not help too," Perdiccas chuckled. 

"Of course you thought to mention that when I am halfway up," Sibani said sarcastically. 

She jumped from the gate, landing beside us. With a quick play of the lock, Perdiccas opened the gate to the outside of the palace. Below laid hundreds of homes belonging to villagers and their families. Within those homes were Alexander's soldiers sound asleep. Hopefully in a deep enough sleep for us to sneak in. I turned to Sibani and Perdiccas. 

"Alright, we need to sneak into those houses and steal anything that can be used as a weapon. Anything extra that can be salvaged. Perdiccas, do you know where we cans tore these until morning?" I asked. 

"I found that beneath the city lays an inner-working of tunnels. Those tunnels are used in case of invasions from the neighboring kingdoms. There is one in every home.  We can hide them within the homes instead of trying to carry all the weapons," he explained.