Finally, we were standing outside the palace gates. I had returned back to the starting line. I didn’t want to go through the main gates, the guards there wouldn’t recognize me, but how could they? Their positions never got the chance to even step 30 feet near me. Or maybe it was that I just liked going the complicated route. And that route just happened to be climbing up a tree that happened to have a branch hanging over the side of the gate. We could then jump down from it. It didn’t sound that complicated in my mind. Samuel didn’t seem to think the same. I had learned his name the same night we left. He wasn’t a fan of trespassing, especially onto the palace.
”Trust me, it’ll be fine,” I reassured him. Apparently, I didn’t do a good job because the next words out his mouth were, “Right, a death sentence sounds fine to me. I mean when I die, I can finally tell everyone how I defeated death.” He was so dramatic. Since we were closer to the palace there were lamps surrounding us now, so I could see his face. His expression was different. It wasn’t exactly serious, but he wasn’t being funny either. I guess I would have to continue to learn what each face meant for future reference.
“They won’t kill you for trespassing,” I thought about it. Did we kill people for trespassing? I shook my head. It really didn’t matter in this case. “Hurry up and give me boost up this tree before the guards come.”
“This is your plan? Climb a tree and hop over into the palace yard? This is the most ridiculous plan I have ever heard. We’re going to get caught!” Even with that, he gripped the bottom of my shoes and lifted me up. When I still couldn’t reach we tried again and this time he put me on his shoulders. “If people knew they could break in this way they would be…,” he didn’t finish when he saw my raised eyebrow. He cleared his throat and asked, “Where do I put Obsidian?”
“Tie him to the tree and use him to climb up.”
“What if he gets caught?”
“So what? He’s a horse.”
”What if they do something bad to him?”
“Like I said he's a horse. What could they possibly do him? If anything, they would just put him in the stables for their own use.”
”I don’t like that either. I don’t want them riding my horse. He’s mine.”
”Oh, my goodness, I will get your horse back to you. Let’s just make it inside first.”
“Fine, because if you don’t we’re breaking into the stables next.” I chuckled. Now, he wanted to break into somewhere?Throughout this rant about his horse, we had already jumped down from the tree and were trying to walk in the shadows, but the lamps almost made it impossible. I should be grateful, they might serve a purpose in the future, but they weren’t serving it right now. I heard leaves being rustled from what sounded like footsteps. I grabbed Samuel’s arm and pulled him next me behind a bush covering his mouth with my other hand. We waited for a moment, but there was nothing. I sighed; it must have been a false alarm. I slowly emerged from behind the prickly bush, which I would most definitely be making sure got a trim from the way it was scratching me. I realized quickly I was wrong. I did hear something and that someone had the end of their blade poking into my back. I raised both my hands and Samuel did the same. The guard never took the sword away from us as he walked around us to see our faces. I really wish I could see Samuel’s face because I was sure it was filled with horror. I, on the other hand, had a smirk ready on my face. I already knew who it was.
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