"You all have the rest of the day off!" The contact informed them. "The Queen is very appreciative of your hard work and dedication and has decided to give you a day of rest."
The staff looked at the contact with confused looks on their faces. They had never had a change of routine since the Queen had taken her spot on the Throne.
"Who will make the Queen and her visitor lunch?" One of the cooks asked. "We have already started the meal for her."
The hand of the contact waved in the air. "Already covered. We have brought in a staff from one of the top restaurants on Hera to serve her for the rest of the day. You have nothing to worry about, this staff will have everything covered."
"When do we report back for work?" One of the female servers asked.
"Tomorrow morning. Now go take the day off," The contact ordered. "Don't make me tell her that you won't obey her orders."
The staff slowly lingered out of the kitchen, unsure of whether it was some kind of hoax, but when they saw a new staff standing outside of the kitchen they hurried off.
The contact walked out of the kitchen and looked at the temporary staff. "It is time. Send someone to go kill the staff before they go too far off. We don't need them telling races who gave them the day off that also happened to be the day she died."
The contact followed the new staff into the kitchen after one of the races left the group to track the staff. "The men who I told you about should arrive shortly," The contact pointed to one of the cooks. "Show them all of the food that will be served so they can pick which will be best for the poison."
The cook shook his head in acknowledgement.
"You," The contact pointed. "Pay close attention to which food they choose and make sure it goes to the Queen, and the Queen only. I must leave now and make other preparations. You will work here for the rest of the day, then you are to leave Hera with the money that you have been provided and never show your faces on Hera again."
The contact turned around and left the kitchen and walked down the hall only to see the Queen and Anlon talking quietly. They would need to be separated soon, but waiting until the poison was planted would be the best time to proceed.
Donnchadh landed his ship in a field close to one of the secret entrances to the Palace. It was a small abandoned cottage built around the same time as the Palace. He kept the engines running just in case they needed to make a quick escape and he kept the stealth field on to conceal the ship from the guards on the wall.
"We're here," Donnchadh told his men. "Don't forget the poison Ulisse. I don't want to make a trip back to the ship if we get in the Palace successfully, just to get caught the second time back in."
Ulisse nodded and double checked his satchel. "It's still in the satchel, don't worry. There's no way I'm losing track of it."
Donnchadh looked to Sanguinarius. "Do you have everything that you need?"
He nodded. "I'm prepared to leave when you are."
Donnchadh turned and pressed controls to lower the ramp, letting the crisp Hera air flow into the concealed ship. It had been some time since setting foot on this specific part of Hera and his heart was pounding with excitement.
He pointed to the cottage. "That's a secret escape for the Queen. It also serves as a secret entrance into the Palace for those who know about it."
Donnchadh walked up to the cabin and pushed open the rotted wooden door. There was furniture inside of the cottage to make it look like someone lived here, but by the dust, it was obvious that no one had been in it for years.
"Okay. There should be a hidden entrance here somewhere. I would assume it's somewhere on the ground, but I'm not entirely sure since I've never been in here," Donnchadh told his men.
They started searching the cabin for any type of hidden passage and Sanguinarius found it under a rug by the fireplace. "Here it is Donnchadh. The secret entrance is hidden under here."
Donnchadh hurried over and lifted the wooden door by the metal handle. "Time to go kill a Queen. Stick close to me." Donnchadh jump down into the hidden passage and waited for his men to come down.
"They made this passage pretty big," Sanguinarius observed.
Ulisse agreed. "Must be so she can get out in a hurry with the entire staff and more."
"I'm glad you're both so interested in the tunnel, now let's go," Donnchadh ordered. "We have to get to the kitchen."
"Where is that exactly?" Sanguinarius asked.
"Don't worry about where it is, just follow me. I have the maps of the Palace memorized inside and out," Donnchadh started walking forward. "You two are only here as backup, remember that."
Ulisse and Sanguinarius silently followed Donnchadh through the underground passage to the castle, noticing he was more tense than usual. They walked down the winding path for several minutes before they approached what seemed to be the end of the secret passage and Donnchadh climbed up a wooden ladder nailed on the wall, pushing open another wooden door when reaching the top. He peeked his head out to check for anyone roaming around the room they were about to go into and lifted himself out of the dirt tunnel once he was sure the room was empty. Once out, he motioned for his men to follow his lead.
"Took us to the library," Donnchadh informed them. "We go through there now to get to the kitchen," He pointed to a bookshelf.
"How are we supposed to go through a bookshelf?" Ulisse asked.
Donnchadh looked around the room. "We move the bookshelf and make our way to the kitchen through the secret passage hidden behind it."
"There's a passage behind the bookshelf?" Sanguinarius asked. "That's convenient."
"The Palace is filled with secret passages that lead to all types of rooms, some of them not on the layout. You're going to be surprised at what you see laying beyond this bookshelf, trust me, I was the first time I stumbled upon them."
Donnchadh walked over to a bookshelf and removed a plaque off of the end, revealing several buttons. He pressed the buttons in a specific pattern and the bookshelf immediately hissed towards them and then moved aside, revealing a series of winding tunnels. Donnchadh walked into the tunnel, not bothering to check if his men were following anymore.
"You weren't lying when you said there were tunnels all over the place," Ulisse said. "It looks like one giant maze. There's got to be ten different tunnels from this spot."
"How do we know which way to go to get to the kitchen?" Sanguinarius asked.
Donnchadh turned to look at both of them. "Just follow me. I told you I have everything memorized. That includes these tunnels."
Donnchadh moved forward and took the tunnel that curved to a right. He passed several entrances to different rooms of the Palace and went past them without much attention. Each of the exits led to a certain room in the Palace and he knew where each of the doors led, but only one was important at the moment. He continued straight down the tunnel and stopped next to a door on the right that was a bright silver. Donnchadh placed his hand on the cold metal and motioned his men to halt as pushed to door open. An entire kitchen staff stared at him blankly as he stepped out of the hidden entrance.
"I'm assuming you know why we are here?" Donnchadh asked a chubby cook.
"I have been told to show you what foods we will be serving," He replied monotonously, leading them to a table covered with food.
"Ulisse come over here and choose something for your poison," Donnchadh ordered.
"What is that?" He pointed to a red liquid.
"Ahh. That is our special red wine, made only here on Hera. I am told it is the Queen's favorite wine. I thought she may want it on her last day of life," The cook answered.
"I will use that," Ulisse nodded. "Her favorite wine will be the one that will end her life."
He pulled the vile out of his satchel and held it up in the air to examine it one last time. When he was satisfied, he pulled the cork and poured the grey liquid into the glass of wine. It swirled inside and turned the liquid black before turning back to the red color of the wine.
/> "Make sure that only the Queen drinks out of this glass," Ulisse warned. "Once she has finished it, she will die within hours. Try to get her out of the room before then, she can't die in the room or her visitor will know it was poison."
The cook nodded and handed the wine to one of the servers. "This is for the Queen. Got it?"
The server shook his head and grabbed the glass of wine from the cook.
"Then our work here is done," Donnchadh told everyone in the room. "Soon the Queen will be dead and someone else will take her spot on the Throne. Orion will be changed forever."
"Let lunch be served!" The cook shouted, clapping his hands.
Anlon strolled down the hallway, admiring the architecture and the paintings that were hanging on the walls. He hadn't gone anywhere this nice all his time one Gaea, in fact, he didn't think there was anyplace this nice on Gaea. He turned a corner and saw stairs that led to the second story of the Palace where the rooms were most likely kept and began towards them, stopping to look at was being served to Adira and her guest. One look inside caused his stomach to churl and his emotions to race wildly out of control.
Anlon tried to slow his breathing down so that he could think clearly before acting. He inched towards the door again, just to make sure that what he had seen was right, and slowly moved away from the door once he was sure he wasn't hallucinating. The three races that had killed his family were standing in the Queen's kitchen talking to the cooks. There was no doubt in his mind that these were the same races, and had no second thoughts about why they were here at the Palace. Looking around the corner he saw a few chefs walking down the hall with trays in their hands. Without a second thought, Anlon raced after them to prevent what they were about to do.
It took the servers awhile to make it to the room where the Queen was having lunch, but as soon as they went to open the door, Anlon burst forward. He pushed the servers out of his way and stumbled into the room. The Queen and Prime Minister both stood up from their chairs and looked to Anlon who laid sprawled on the floor.
"Anlon? What are you doing?"
"Don't eat or drink anything!" He shouted.
"What is going on here?" The Prime Minister demanded. "Who is this boy?"
Anlon pointed to the servers. "They've poisoned your food! They're trying to kill you!"
The servers all looked at each other with looks of confusion. "If your food was poisoned, we would surely know, your majesty. This boy is certainly not supposed to be here and is the one trying to cause you harm."
The Queen glared at them. "Where are my regular servers? I don't recognize any of you."
"They were given the day off," One of them answered. "We were brought in to take their spots for the day."
"They're trying to kill you Adira!" Anlon shouted again. "I saw Donnchadh, Ulisse, and Sanguinarius in the kitchen with the cooks!"
"Who?" The Prime Minister asked.
"Donnchadh," The Queen's face turned pale.
"The killed my family!" Anlon answered quickly. "Ulisse is a poison maker and he's in the kitchen right now!"
The Queen pulled out her comlink and pressed a red button. Anlon heard a gruff voice answer.
"Send a team of guards to the kitchen immediately and round up everyone in there!" she ordered. "Don't let anyone escape the Palace, kill them if necessary."
"You!" The Prime Minister pointed. "You are all to stay in this room. If any one of you are found guilty of this treason, you will be killed by me!"
The servers started looking back and forth at one another, unsure of what to do next. One of them dropped their tray and started to run, the others quickly followed his lead and left the room. The Prime Minister followed them out of the door, yelling to guards as he was passing.
"Don't let them escape! They tried to kill the Queen!"
Adira approached Anlon and looked him in the eyes. "How did you find out?"
"I was trying to find a room and peeked in the kitchen to see what you'd be eating," He told her. "The first thing I saw was Donnchadh and then others. At that point, I knew you were in danger."
Her eyes teared up and she gave him a tight hug. "Thank you Anlon," she whispered. "Thank you for saving my life."
Donnchadh sat on a counter celebrating with his men and the kitchen staff. He had decided they didn't need to leave right away, instead, they needed to celebrate the Queen's death. Sanguinarius' suggestion was a good one, though it had taken quite a bit of convincing. The chubby cook had grabbed some hard liquor for them from the cupboard and they all started celebrating. They would wait for the servers to come back and inform them of their success before they left Hera to report back to Kirill. It had been such an easy and simple mission, yet it was a very vital mission for Kirill and the future of Orion. The Queen deserved to die for attempting to kill Kirill and now that Donnchadh thought about it, Kirill deserved to be on the Throne.
It took Donnchadh until his third drink to sense that something had gone wrong. The servers were taking too long to come back. He got up from the spot he was sitting at and walked over to Ulisse and Sanguinarius, who were enjoying a little too much liquor.
"Something isn't right."
"All seems good to me," Sanguinarius slurred.
"No," Donnchadh hissed. "They should be back by now! They're taking way too long to deliver a poison."
Ulisse put his drink down. "Donnchadh is right. It has been a little bit too long."
"Ahhh. Give them some more time guys," He waved his hand. "Maybe they're just celebrating a little too before they come back. Hell, they might've even already left the Palace to go live a new life."
Just then, the kitchen doors crashed open and the Queen's guard came bursting into the room.
"Don't let anyone escape!" One of the guards shouted. "Everybody stay right where you are, we won't hesitate to kill you!"
Sanguinarius quickly crawled to the tunnel, with Ulisse close behind him. Donnchadh was right behind Ulisse, but wasn't able to make it to the tunnel before feeling a shock pulse throughout his entire body. The shocks continued until he collapsed to the floor in convulsions and a guard towered over him.
"You try to move and I'll shoot you with the shock convulser again," he warned.
Donnchadh couldn't move even if he wanted to, his body was curled up into a fetal position and it felt like he was being electrocuted. Two of the guards came over and cuffed his hands and feet. They stood him up and dragged him out into the hallway with the kitchen staff who had surrendered without a fight.
"Two races escaped through a tunnel," He heard one of the guards say into a comlink. "Yes," he turned. "Go out to the secret exit immediately, don't let them get off of Hera."
Donnchadh heard footsteps approaching him from down the hallway. They were moving quickly and by the time he looked up, they had stopped and two people were standing right in front of him.
"You sicken me Donnchadh," The Queen spat. "You betrayed Armino and I to join a brotherhood of thugs and criminals, then you kill his family, and attempt to kill me in my own home."
Donnchadh didn't respond because he was too busy staring at the boy standing by her side. "Anlon told me you were here with your friends," The Queen informed him. "Looks like you've failed your new boss twice, whoever he is. If it weren't for Anlon, I would most likely be dead. Looks like your mistakes have finally caught up to you Donnchadh," She turned to one of the guards. "Take him to the dungeons."
The guards picked up Donnchadh and dragged him down the hallway to the dungeons. Donnchadh glared at Anlon the whole way down with his fists clenched and his insides raging with fury.
Ulisse ran down the tunnels closely behind Sanguinarius. Neither one of them planned on getting caught and exerted all of their effort to getting out of the tunnels and off of Hera alive.
"Were you paying attention to how we got here?" He shouted to Sanguinarius.
"Yes!" He shouted back. "All we did was go straight after that first right!"
They continued d
own the tunnel and found the exit that led to the library. Luckily, there was still nobody in the library and they both quickly ran down the tunnel to the library, not bothering to seal off the tunnel behind them.
"Over there!" Ulisse pointed.
They both jumped down into the dirt passage, skipping the ladder, and covering the entrance they had come through. Both began racing down the tunnel and reached the end in less than half the time it had taken when they had arrived. They climbed out of the tunnel and looked out of the cottage windows to see if there were any guards waiting for them.
"Are we good to go?" Sanguinarius asked.
Ulisse nodded his head and opened the door. "I see them coming to us, but they won't reach us in time if we get out now."
Sanguinarius ran to the ship and up the ramp. He jumped into the pilot seat and waited for Ulisse to sit down next to him before lifting the ship off of the ground.
"They'll never see us leave," Sanguinarius grinned.
"What about Donnchadh?" Ulisse asked.
"He got caught," he replied, maneuvering the ship. "We can't wait for him or try to rescue him or we risk the chance of getting caught ourselves. I don't know about you, but I don't want to get caught by the Queen's guard."
"Do we tell Kirill about the failure now?" Ulisse asked.
"No," Sanguinarius shook his head. "I'd rather tell him when we get back. I don't want him waiting in the bay already angry at us."
Things hadn't gone as planned at all, but Kirill had been warned of this. Kirill had been warned of the boy, but still, he insisted everything would be fine. The contact had worked in the Palace long enough to know better, but following Kirill's orders was the only option. The contact picked up a comlink and called Kirill.
"Is it done?" he asked.
The contact's head shook. "No. They tried and failed quite miserably."
War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past Page 12