Traitor, Traitor [NaNoWriMo 2013]

Chapter Three

An incessant rapping on the door yanked me out of my perfect slumber. "Ella, you can come in," I grumbled.

The door opened slightly. "Yes, but can I?" Lyon poked his head through.

I let out another groan, not bothering to budge from my place. "Yes."

The prince stepped inside. He was fully dressed in a leather outfit complete with a cape. His dark brown hair was uncombed and his deep blue eyes seemed black. He still retained his childish features: a button nose and slightly chubby cheeks. He was not the most physically adept prince I had seen, but he was fast. I had once seen him sic an arrow into a given target without knowing he had even moved the bow. He was sixteen years old, but was literally the only other smart person I knew in this palace. He was also my only friend beside Ella.

When I first came here, I was weary of befriending him, what with him being the king's son and all, but soon I realized he was more than his title revealed. He was wise as well as he was kind. He disagreed with almost all his father's doings, but didn't hate him, unfortunately. He did his best to help the people and was pure at heart. He was the best friend I had had in a long time.

None of that mattered at the moment. I was having the best sleep and he woke me up! I reached over to the curtains, still on the bed, and pulled them back. A dark void stared back at me.

"Lyon, it's not even dawn yet!" I complained.

"No," Lyon said, coming around to my side of the bed, "it is almost dawn. Now get up, there is something I want to show you."

I let my head sink into the soft, comfortably warm pillow and wrapped my blankets tighter around my body. "Can't you show it to me at a more godly hour?"

"I am not going to leave until you get up," he said.

"Then be prepared to wait," I huffed, scrunching my eyes shut. But after five seconds of him shaking my shoulder I gave up.

"Fine," I grumbled, sitting up. "If the palace is not on fire, then may the gods help you. Get out."

"Do not go back to sleep," warned Lyon as he shut the door behind him.

I stuck my tongue out at the door and got dressed. I wore a dress that ended right above my ankle and wore tights under the skirt. I found it best to dress up in something that would serve its purpose for running when I was around Lyon. This was not the first time he had woken me up at unmentionable hours of the night. After our friendship had thickened, he had taken me to see so many things it was a wonder that boy slept at all.

I strapped my dagger around my thigh and tied on my boots. I even tied my hair into a ponytail so it wouldn't get caught.

"I was hoping to make use of the darkness outside, but apparently that is not to be since you are taking so long to simply get dressed," Lyon said from outside.

"Ha-ha," I swung open the door. "You asked for me to come, so you will have to put up with whatever it is I do."

The pre-morning air was cold and biting. I shivered as we crouched behind some bushes in the courtyard. We could see the fountain from where we hid: four women made to represent water nymphs stood gracefully, facing a direction each. They held vases from which flowed water into the basin. From behind the fountain, we could not even see the front gates.

"What are we waiting for?" I hissed.

"The guards patrol the courtyard at an interval of twenty minutes," he said, more to himself than to me.

As if on cue, a pair of guards marched past and we both instinctively hunched closer to the bushes.

"So?" I whispered once they had passed. Lyon got up and walked in a straight line towards the fountain. I followed, aware of the fact that the fountain was so wide that even if Lyon and I stood shoulder-to-shoulder the guards at the gate couldn't see us.