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| - If I had known that I would have wound up in the heaviest guarded place in all the planet, I probably would’ve turned this job offer down. Though that option seems useless now. All I needed was to stay calm and hope most of the guards were sleeping or too tired to notice shadows that weren’t supposed to be there. I must admit this place was pretty barren for the greatest place in all of Maynus. But you won’t hear me complain about it... I was surprised to see the walls when I passed the occasional lamp were green. The Gevorian colors still had that royal appearance while the green buildings back home reflected everyone’s hopes, faded and murky. I tried to avoid the lamps though, as they exposed me to any willing to look. I was also surprised by the lack of windows where I was. I mean I’m not saying I would be willing to jump out of one, but the option to would have been reassuring. My only hope for escape was hiding out in one of the rooms until daytime and then wait for visiting hours. It was the perfect plan, so I continued using the shadows as cover until I found a small wooden door, which was strange as most the others I had passed were metal. I didn’t think too much about it as I opened the door and sneaked inside. I turned to walk further into the room but was stopped dead when a felt a firm hand reach my face. Yes, I was slapped. “We’re servants not some sort of sex slaves, now scram!” Her yelling would surely alert the guards. The room I was in was bright, no shadows in sight. Even if there were, I’m pretty sure the women, who were for the most part asleep, would rat me out the second some fat guard walked in. “Please,” I said in a quiet, rushed tone. “I’m lost and not supposed to be here. I don’t want to do you any harm.” I was right about the guard too, as a second later the door swung open and two old men clad in fatigues ran in. “What’s wrong?” One of them asked. The men then saw me and drew their weapons. “On the ground now!” they yelled in unison. I put my hands up and was about to lay on the ground when the servant girl grabbed my arm. “Apul, that’s no way to talk to my brother.” She said to the younger of the two men, he looked to be at least thirty years her elder. And I’m guessing she wasn’t the youngest of women in the palace. “Sorry Eshirca. I heard you yell and feared the worst. I hope you remember our dinner arrangement for tomorrow.” “I told you Apul, I’m working for Grad Noover tomorrow. You’ll have to take out one of the other girls. Sue could really use a meal.” “It’s okay, I can just reschedule.” Apul said as he and the other guard walk out the door, before he closed the door, he took one more look at me, as if he was trying to gaze into my soul. “That man, Apul, is one huge creep.” She said almost the second the door closed. I’m pretty sure she hoped that Apul heard so he would leave her alone. From the looks of it, though, he probably would never take a hint. “Thank you, I hope I’m not too much trouble for you.” “Oh no, its fine, we’ll just both be executed if they find out,” she said. “So it’s not that bad.” I said, matching her sarcastic but painfully true tone. “I’m really tired, so if you could just point me in the direction of the beds,” I said staring over her shoulder and seeing a row of beds all taken by beautiful women. I was feeling lucky. “You get the nicest bed of all,” she said as she walked over to a metal footlocker that was pushed against another wall. “You get the floor,” she told me as she grabbed a sheet and laid it atop the floor. “But...there’s so many beds.” I tried arguing. “Well I can always call the guard.” she said and then cleared her throat in a very theatrical fashion, as if ready to call out Apul’s name. “Okay, floor it is,” I hurriedly fell to the floor and tried to look comfortable. “Well these past couple days I’ve been either sleeping on a less comfortable floor or...” I paused as I didn’t want to tell her I came from the secret tunnels. “It’s fine, you’re not the first stowaway we’ve taken in. I’ve heard of some of the dreadful places the poor are forced to sleep in,” she grabbed another, thicker sheet and laid it on me. If this is how it felt when a mother tucks their child in, I wish even more that I hadn’t been orphaned. “Now you get some sleep.” I closed my eyes and drifted off to my far away place. I can’t remember if I dreamt or not, but I awoke to an empty room. I guessed all the women were working. I never knew of Belaham palace’s dirty little secret. Servant’s are not something you read in the history books, that’s for sure. I knew staying inside would be trouble because if someone walked in, I’m sure they wouldn’t believe that I’m one of the servant girl’s brother. So I hastily left the room and the second I walked out I was met with tons of what appeared to be tourists. The tour guide in the front was talking about the civil war that occurred between the Gevorians and the previous rulers. “And the little lesson that needs to be learned there is, you don’t kidnap the enemy’s daughter,” the tour guide said with a chuckle. I decided to follow the tour as it seemed to be my only way out, and my only excuse to be here. I just tried not to be seen by the tour guide as I’m pretty sure he would not remember me paying him for such a thorough tour. The tour went on, the guide discussed things like renovations, expansions and the lack of attacks on the palace. He also spoke about the wealth of the sector, which I had to contain all the anger I felt as he began to discuss the everyday things they did that people in my home could not even dream of doing. I successfully kept my mouth shut until he led our group back out through the entrance. “Please tell your friends about the our Grad special, pay for the tour and get a free certificate for Grad & Madd’s Gevorian Take-out.” Well I’m sure the ‘Grad & Madd’s Gevorian Take-out’ is great, but I could really care less. I walked as fast as I could out of the area. I only slowed my pace when I noticed Belaham Police was staring at me. I immediately remembered Mr. Man’s warning of not being detained and drastically slowed my pace. I knew that they would still be cautious of me, a dirt-caked young man walking in the wealthiest of areas is enough to give the rich fat people a heart attack, and SecPol wouldn’t want that crisis on their hands. So I found my way out of the Gevorian sector, and ended up back where it all started. The rear sector. It’s funny in a sad sort of way how easy it is to enter the rear sector, but leaving is near impossible, unless you look like a monk, or palace worker. I tried keeping my head down, trying not to alert anyone from the plethora of gangs that I was back, though it had been awhile since I stole from the three of the four major gangs. It was only food, but food is gold here. I kept walking, fearing that I was sticking out like a sore thumb, until I found the first of three scummy bars in all of the rear sector. The Spitting Plik was a horrible bar name, especially since no one ever really wanted to go into a bar named after a small, poisonous insect. I had only ever been in here once before, and that was a bad idea. Last time there were three other men in the dimly lit disease trap and the four of us all got into a fight within minutes. Let me be the first to say that I am not a fighter, not by a long shot. So when I walked into the bar this time, I was surprised to see the same three men. The biggest of the three, who was sitting alone in a worn velvet booth took one look at me and grinned. “Look what we got ‘ere, ready for more?” he asked as he emerged from the booth, he spat something from his mouth, which I’m guessing was some wealoof. He looked ready to charge. “Come on, that was three years ago. I thought you guys would have forgotten.” I scanned the room, looking for anything to give me an edge over these muscular, tall men. What I saw was not promising, there was an empty whisky bottle and a metal candlestick holder in arms reach. The other two men in the bar stood up as I was looking around, the both reached into their pockets and grabbed a knife. “Shit,” I muttered as I grabbed the whiskey bottle and threw it at the man to my left. The bottle whizzed past his head and smashed against the back wall. I swore under my breath as I then picked up the candlestick holder and charged the man to my left. He stabbed at me with his small blade, but as he stretched his arm out, I hit the knife away with the candlestick. The knife flew from his reach and landed on the bar, almost sliding off of the table. I tried hitting him again, but he grabbed the candle stick from my hand that started swinging wildly at me. He hit me in my already bruised arm which sent me stumbling backwards, toward the bar. I knocked my ribs on the bar’s edge and reached for the knife. I touched it with my finger tips before the largest of the three men charged at me after unsheathing his much larger blade. In a frenzy, I reached for the knife, almost grasping it. Before I could fully grip it, however, I was slammed into the bar by the villain. I tried to regain my bearings but I was punched repeatedly, this was much worse than the last time. I was just about to give up on life when I felt a hot laser scream past my face. The man in front of me crumpled to the ground, leaving the other two men scared out of their wits. “You two, outta here.” He said pointing to the two thugs. They didn’t need to be told twice, they started running immediately. But just as they were about to reach the door, my savior turned around and fired two shots into their backs. “I love how they always believe I’m going to let them live.” “Thank you,” I choked out seconds after a I spat a mouthful of blood. “No problem, Mac. Well I hope you’re Mac cause if not I just saved your life for nothing.” He said, I immediately feared death if the answer I gave him didn’t sound honest. “Yes, I’m Mac Follin, and I was told you’d have orders for me.” I said slowly standing up. “Nice to meet you Mac, I’m Rilek, but you probably know that. What you probably don’t know is that you and I have a big mission ahead of us.” “What?” I asked sounding too direct for my liking. “We’re going to kill Noover Gevorian.”
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