Qing's Quest book 2, Chapter 24: Palace chaos

Morgana ran her hands along the wall that blocked the stairs. Qing looked behind to where monstrous noisy filled the stairwell.

“Didn’t Taj say anything about how we got into the actual palace?” Morgana asked.

“No!” Both Knut and Qing shook their heads.

“Push on every brick,” Qing said, and they started. The wall was a whitewashed wall made from thick bricks.

Morgana and Knut leapt to it, pushing and pulling, while Qing looked at the walls. They were just the same. He touched every brick within reach.

The garrison downstairs had been large. Would they all have known how to open this? Maybe only the mage knew.

“Taj only mentioned knowing about this in case they needed to flee, which means he would have come from the other side,” Knut said. “Maybe—”

“Quiet,” Morgana said, holding up her hand.

“What is it?”

“I hear voices.” Before Qing or Knut could say anything, she shouted, “Help! We’re under attack! Reinforcements!” Then she banged on the wall with the hilt of her whip. With the sound of monsters closing behind them, Qing shared a glance with Knut before joining her, hammering away.

Suddenly, a loud click rang out, and the door swung in. They tumbled into a square room, five paces wide. A table with four chairs stood to one side, three soldiers sitting around it, playing cards.

“What’s going on?” a fourth soldier said, sword held tip towards the floor, hand on the door.

“Monster attack,” Knut said, brushing past. “Sound the alarm.”

“Where’s Salem?” the guard asked.

“Listen,” Knut said and pointed down the stairs. Morgana and Qing followed.

“Big monster,” Qing said, making sure his hood stayed pulled down over his face and the cloak pulled tight.

“Who are you?” a guard asked Qing, but Knut snapped at him.

“On your feet and raise the damn alarm already! There are hundreds of monsters attacking the palace.” Then he pointed at the three seated soldiers. “You, help hold the door. You, raise the alarm and get reinforcements. And you, fetch the commander and meet us at the infirmary.”

“Are you wounded?”

“You think none of this blood is mine?” Knut indicated his blood-splattered uniform. For a moment longer, the guards hesitated, but then a horrific scream flowed up from the sewer and they sprang into motion, two of them dashing through the door.

“I’ll get the commander and meet you at the infirmary,” one said, as the other screamed, “Alarm!” and dashed through the door.

The two remaining guards rushed to close the door to the sewer. On this side it was a massive bookcase.

“Be careful,” Morgana said to the two guards. “There are a lot.” One guard suddenly froze.

“Who are you?” he said. “There are no women in the palace guard.” Morgana sighed, stopping halfway through the room.

Qing and Knut shared a glance.

“You better close that door,” Qing said, nodding towards the sewer.

“Hold it right there,” the guard said, drawing his weapon. “You’re not going anywhere until reinforcements arrive.”

“A bit of chaos in the palace might be beneficial,” Knut said and nodded to the guards. Qing sighed.

“Fine.”

Knut drew and released in one smooth motion, the arrow striking the guard right above the knee, and he collapsed with a scream. The other turned from the door and looked at them in horror. Morgana’s whip cracked out, wrapping around his leg. He pushed on the sewer door, having nearly closed it.

Morgana held the whip towards Qing, who grabbed it and gave it a yank. The man slid across the floor. With a snap of her wrist, Morgana freed the whip, and the trio sprinted out of the room and into the palace hallway.

As Qing closed the door behind them, he saw the door to the cellar push open, a muddy hand reaching inside.

“We better hurry,” Qing said.

“Which way?” Morgana asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Knut said.

“Of course it does,” Morgana said, snapping. She held her whip in one hand and a guard’s two-handed axe in the other.

“We don’t know where Jenny and Cleo are.”

“What do you mean?” Morgana asked. Wearing the metal coif of a palace guard, only her eyes could be seen.

“When you don’t know which way to go, just pick one, and you’ll find out sooner or later whether it’s right.”

“I guess that makes some sense,” Morgana said. “Anywhere is better than here when the monsters come out.”

“This way then,” Qing said, and they headed left along the corridor at a jog, the guard screaming in pain from the room they just left.

As they rushed away, the sound of footsteps seemed to surround them and shouts of alarm rang through the palace.

Suddenly, five palace guards sprinted into the corridor from an adjacent door.

“Where are you going?” the leader said, “Haven’t you heard the alarm?”

“Quick,” Qing replied. “Reinforcements against the monsters from the sewer. We’re all that remains.”

“Why have you left your post?” a guardsman asked.

“We’re here to get reinforcements,” Knut said, while Morgana added, “and to secure the guest quarters.”

Qing placed a hand on both his friends’ shoulders, pushing between them. He’d try the same as in the guard room. “The three of you, go hold the stairwell. You, run to the commander and ask him to send all reinforcements. The palace is under attack. And you,” he pointed at the shortest guard, “escort us to the guest quarters.”

“The guest quarters?” the shortest guard asked. “Why would you need an escort.”

“And why are you running the opposite way?” another asked.

“What’s your name?” the leader asked, the tip of his spear lowering towards Qing. “Pull back your hood and show your face.”

“Isn’t that a woman?” a fourth asked, pointing with his spear.

Qing sighed. “God damn it.”

Two minutes later, they jogged the other way, having disposed of the guards swiftly. Four were left alive, but one had choked to death after being stunned.

“See? Now we’re going in the right direction this time,” Knut said, chipper.

“But if we’d picked this direction in the first place,” Morgana started saying.

“Oh, but we wouldn’t. We’d still be arguing about which direction to go,” he said, as they doubled back, taking a wide detour around where they had entered, staying far away from the monsters and the fighting.

Every time they heard guards coming, they limped and groaned, sending the guards off towards the monsters. A monster invasion was the perfect distraction, causing enough chaos for them to roam around the palace as they saw fit.

But then Knut grabbed hold of a servant, pulling him close. “From here, which is closest? Guest quarters or the prison?”

“How can you not know this?” the man asked, glancing between them.

Knut slapped him across the face. “Answer my question,” he said. “I’ve seen too much battle today.”

The man apologized and dropped to the floor. “The guest quarters are straight ahead, only three corridors over. You’ll be entering the prison quarter if you turn around and to the right, honored sir.”

“Good,” Knut said, releasing the man. “Now, run to the head of the palace guard. Tell him the monsters are targeting the harem and the guard there needs to be reinforced.”

The man’s face blanched, and he nodded. “Of course, at once,” and he took off sprinting as if the devil himself was on his heels. “That might buy us some extra time,” Knut said and turned back the way they came.

“Where are you going?” Qing said.

“The prison. Let’s free Jenny so we can go get Cleo.”

Qing shook his head. “We have to get Cleo first. With her safe we have all the time we need to go get Jenny, but not vice versa. After today…we’ve really kicked the ant hill. Who knows where they’ll take Cleo next if we don’t get her now.”

Knut’s face darkened.

“And think about it. Jenny would want us to free Cleo.”

Morgana kept quiet, looking between the two.

“We’ll get her too, Knut. I promise.”

How have your promises turned out recently?

Qing pushed away the thought.

“Fine,” Knut said. “Guest section first, but we are not leaving without Jenny.”

“Agreed.”

***

There was no doubt of when they arrived at the guest section of the palace. It went from an ostentatious corridor to a set of double doors outside of which stood six palace guards. Inside was a massive area the size of a football field, filled with robed nobles and retainers standing around in clusters. Everyone's body language looked anxious, which was understandable. The entire area sounded like a school cafeteria.

When confronted by the guards, Knut took the lead. “We’re escorting this noble back to the guest quarters.” He leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. “We barely rescued him from the monster invasion.”

At the mention of a monster invasion, the guards’ eyes went wide, and the leader whispered back. “Tell me, what news do you have?”

Knut straightened and said to Morgana, “Show him inside and wait for me.”

As Qing followed Morgana in, he couldn’t help a tiny smile as Knut started spinning a tall tale, and the palace guards gasped.

Where would they have hidden Rufus?

Qing stared around the wide room. The sky showed in the middle, the sun beating down on the floor. Groups of people had gathered around the sides, keeping to the shadows where it was cooler. Three stories rose towards the sky and the walls were lined with doors. The whole place reminded him of luxury hotels he’d seen on TV shows, except for the palace guards stationed throughout the room.

“I’ll go ask them where Rufus is staying,” Morgana said.

Qing grabbed her arm and shook his head. “You’ve been outed once already. We are too close now to attract attention. Let Knut ask them. For now, let’s try the nobles.”

Qing led the way to the nearest group, nodding at them, asking if they had news of what went on.

“A training exercise they told me, pulling me from my dinner,” an old man with a long grey beard said. Another man nodded in agreement. “Wouldn’t even let me finish my coffee.”

“I heard they’d caught an assassin in the palace,” a third said, voice low. “They had found several slaves murdered. That’s why they brought us all here, you see, to keep us safe.”

Qing glanced to the exit behind before leaning in. “Actually, there are monsters attacking the palace from the sewer.”

The three shared a glance before snorting with laughter. “Oh, that’s a good one. My friend needs to hear this one,” said the old man, and he called at a man, waving him over.

Not quite the response he’d looked for, and Qing shared an uncertain glance with Morgana.

“He’s not joking,” she said. “Look at my uniform. Think it came this way?”

When she spoke, it was as if they saw her for the first time, and they grew serious.

Please don’t be sexist…

“I need to find my friend,” Qing said. “Rufus? Maybe you know of him? I’m not sure where he is. Rufus Grimshaw. A bald and rotund man. A foreigner like me.” He pulled the hood back, showing his face.

As he asked, the men stiffened. “Oh,” they said. “I see. You’re his friend.”

They shared glances. ”His rooms are up in the corner. Third floor,” the bearded man said, pointing to the back end of the guest quarter.

“I haven’t seen him all day,” the second said. “So he should be in his rooms.”

“You should go look,” the third one said, before they excused themselves, hurrying away. The bearded one intercepted his friend, who was hurrying over, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him away, head leaned close and whispering in hushed tones.

“What was that all about?” Knut asked as he walked up behind them.

“I think they’ve met Rufus in person,” Qing said. “Seems he’s about as popular as we’d expect.”

Qing looked around. The nobles had all drifted away from them, some urgently, some not so. “Something’s wrong,” he said. “We need to hurry.”

“Let’s go grab Cleo and get back out before they lock down the whole quarter,” Knut said. “Doubtful they want to risk the lives of their guests to the monsters.”

Qing nodded and pulled his hood back up. The nobles shouldn’t be able to recognize him, as his cloak covered his armor and pants. Then again, how many Asians had he seen here?

I hope they’re just nervous because of Morgana’s bloodied uniform, or that Rufus has a certain reputation here. He’s living with a succubus and a vampire, so it wouldn’t be too strange.

“Time to go,” Morgana said and pulled on Qing’s arm, nodding towards an approaching group of nobles. There were five of them. Qing couldn’t recognize any, but they were walking straight for them.

“Agreed. They might have recognised me.”

They headed straight for the stairs, walking sedately, as if nothing was wrong, nodding to the two guards. But after ascending, as soon as they were out of view, they leaned into a run, sprinting up the stairs and pulling themselves along the railing.

The top floor was empty. Not a single person stood along the balconies, nor any of the door standing open.

They must all be down in the square.

They stayed close to the walls so they wouldn’t be seen from below as they sprinted.

But why no guards?

He slowed down as they approached the corner apartment. Its vibrant blue door stood in crisp contrast to the white wall, and it had a golden doorhandle that shone.

“I’ll kick the door in,” Qing said in a whisper, “and open with chain lightning, stunning everyone inside. Then I’ll cast smite on my claws before smashing him into a wall with Dash. Then I’ll pop a potion and follow up with Magic Missiles to his face. You two protect Cleo from anything and everything in the room, and remember your health potions. No hoarding, got it?”

“What if Cleo isn’t there?” Morgana asked.

Qing hesitated.

Should we interrogate Rufus? But…no.

“We’ll find her another way,” Qing said. “We kill Rufus. He is too dangerous to leave alive.”

Knut nocked an arrow, and nodded.

“Here we go.”

Qing rushed forward and kicked the door open.