The Thief

Chapter 40

"Come on, we need to be quick."

Exactly as before, I snuck in through a servants door into the laundry room. I debated whether disguises would be needed like last time but I glanced back at Vorn and thought against it.

We quietly walked up the stairs and through the door. I knew exactly which way the kitchen was and opted to go the other direction. I would not make the same mistake twice.

"-n't you assigned to the Queen's quarters? There is talk that she collapsed today, is it true?" I heard whispering as a few servants approached.

Shit we couldn't afford to be seen, which way do we go? What do we do? There is no where to hide!

I started to panic. I turned to Vorn but he was no where in sight.

What?! He was just here seconds ago!

I nearly yelped out loud when a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards through a door that was not there before. As soon as I passed through, it was quietly closed after me.

It was a hidden passage, Vorn pulled me through it. I was about to question him when he motioned for me to be quiet and listen.

"Shhh... Don't say that so loud, someone might hear you." The other servant warned.

"So it's true then?" They spoke softer this time.

The other did not reply and slowly the foot steps faded.

Vorn turned down the dark passage without a word leaving me to follow after him.

"Don't believe palace gossip." He muttered before I could say a word on what we just heard.

"Mhmm."

We were quiet for a bit, he was leading the way for I had no idea where we were. Sure I had studied a map of the castle when I had to steal the Jewels but the map I had was only the main rooms a few of the many hidden passages and rooms.

"How did you know about this passage?" I stupidly asked not thinking.

Vorn peered over his shoulder looking slightly amused.

"I am royalty you know. Not part of the main family of course but I still just about grew up here with how often I visited.
So of course when I was little, I made it my mission to explore the whole castle and find every hidden room and passage. So far I have discovered most of them, like this one for instance. This leads to the ballroom but from there we can follow another one."

I wish I knew about this one before when I had to make a getaway after handing the jewels back. Life would have been a lot easier and a lot of stuff could have been avoided.

When we reached the ballroom, Vorn and I were very careful not to draw attention to any of the guards patrolling the area.

It was strange to see the ballroom like this, so quiet and dark. I finally realised what big is a room it actually was now that it was void of guests.

We shot across the floor. When we reached the other side, Vorn ran his fingers along the wall about 15 cm up from the floor until we heard a soft click.

It door was so well hidden that I was surprised to see it when it revealed itself. Vorn reached it on two big strides. It was quite a small one so we had to crawl to get through it.

I closed it behind me and we were on our way. It was very dark and I felt cob webs and dust everywhere. This was obviously a passage that has not been used for a number of years.

I held onto Vorns heels as we continued to crawl in completed darkness. It was times like these that I was graetful that I was not claustrophobic or else I would have freaked as the passage became started to become narrower the further we went.