The Trouble with Time, Part 2.20 - Role

This is a really bad idea, Kevin thinks as he and Sam circle around the periphery or the castle wall, ot get to the servants' entrance at the back. What will he say if someone confronts them? What can he say? Should he let Sam do the talking? That seems too risky, they don't know enough about the court.

He was so confident about this when they were gathered around Alsebah's dining table, but now that they're here he's not quite so sure anymore.

They stop a few paces from a simple wooden door. There's no guards around it, but Kevin knows it's locked.

"Okay, remember," he says, placing a hand on Sam's shoulder. "The palace is exquisite on the inside, but we can't let our eyes wonder. It's gotta seem like we belong there, that we've been there and seen those things every day."

Sam nods. Kevin glances at the door. His pulse is thrumming in his ears.

"Also we don't want to talk to anybody," he says. "But if someone talks to us, I need you to... well I need you to be able to lie convincingly. I can answer most questions, but not all."

They squint, study his face for a moment. Then they nod. He nods back.

They start to make their way towards the door. It'll be fine, Kevin thinks as he starts to rummage through his pockets. He pulls out a ring of keys, a lot of keys. We'll be fine. He flips through the keys and prays that they've not changed the locks. They haven't. The door clicks open as he pushes the key in.

The door opens into a hallway, stone floor and stone walls, more doors leading into different parts of the castle. There's not a lot of people around, a few maids and other servants still finishing their duties for the night. None of them pay any attention to him or Sam. They walk briskly down the corridor, trying their best to keep to themselves.

After a few minutes they move from the outer halls into the main building. The roof get higher and the corridors wider, accommodating for more traffic. They're still in the servant's halls, so the decor is quite plain, but it's clearly a lot better maintained. Kevin navigates them purposefully down one hall after the next.

A group of three guards approach them from the other direction, and his heartrate triples, before he notices they're just chatting happily between themselves, clearly about to clock off. He gives them a cursory nod as they walk past and they barely pay him any mind. He can feel Sam behind him deflate.

"We should be nearly at the throne room," he says in a low voice.

The back entrance to the throne room is guarded. Only one guard, and he seems to be kinda lazy about it, but still. Kevin wasn't expecting it. There isn't anything of particular value inside, so it only warrants guarding during the time there's people inside. At least that's how it used to be.

He can feel a speck of hope rise up next to the panic. If there's someone guarding the throne room after hours, that means there's something worth guarding inside. Expecially if there's guards at the servants' entrance.

"We need to get past that guy, right?" Sam says. The two of them are hiding around the corner to weigh their options. Kevin nods. "Just this entrance?"

"This and the main one," he says. "But if there's a man here there'll be at least two over there."

"Should we take him down?" they ask, holding up a hypo shot. Kevin gives him a surprised look and grins. "It's just a tranquilizer," they say. "Although I don't know what the effect on a fae will be..."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," he says, waving a hand. "But let's try to not resort to drugging unless we have to. Preferrably no one should know we've been here until a few days and as soon as he wakes up he would raise the alarm."

"Fair enough," they say, but don't put the shot back into their bag. Instead they tuck it into the uniform jacket's pocket. Just in case. "So, what? We try to talk to him?"

He sighs. "I guess?" he says, though he doesn't like that one bit. "I'm not sure what else we can do..."

He takes a deep breath. Right. Talking. He's good at that. He takes another deep breath and dons the Role.

He steps from around the corner, Sam hot on his heel.

The guard jolts, like he was about to fall asleep. He looks around blearily and gives a salute as they approach.

"At ease, soldier," Kevin says, putting on his best authorative voice. He stops right in front of the guard and puffs out his chest. "We need to pass by here, so if you would be so kind as to move out of the way."

"Pass through?" the guard says. "Into the throne room, sir?"

"Yes, exactly."

"But that's... prohibited outside official hours."

"For you, maybe. Now, if you would please..."

He motions for the guard to move. He doesn't.

"I'm under specific instruction the King," he says instead. "No one is to go in after hours."

"Oh, got your instructions from the King himself, did you? Aren't you a special boy."

The guard gets flustered at that. Excellent.

"Oh, no sir, not directly from the King," he says. "But the captain got them from the King and he..."

"So what was the command, specifically?" Kevin asks and the guard snaps to attention.

"'No one is to be let in or out after the King leaves, without special clearance'," he recites. Kevin gives him a wicked grin.

"And there's the rub," he says. "You see, we are in fact on a quest from the King, directly from the King, mind, and we need to get inside the throne room. And if you're worried about 'clearance', you really don't need to be." He digs out an ID badge from his pocket.

The guard's eyes go wide and he stammers.

"That's alright, take your time," Kevin says.

"I... I didn't even know they went that high," the guard says. He rubs his face with his hand and blinking furiously.

"I'm sure you didn't," Kevin says, tucking the ID back in the pocket. "It's on a need to know basis. Which, I would like to point out, your captain doesn't need to know. So I would suggest you keep our little interaction a secret, or you might find yourself with some very unpleasant company next night."

"Sir!" the guard says, as he practically jumps away from the door and lets them pass. Sam gives him a glance, but his eyes are downcast.

The door slams behind them, enclosing them in the dark hall. The ceiling is high, very high, and there's a thick velvet drape dividing the room in half. Well, the servant's side is considerably less than half. There's tables and chairs and shelves chock full of books and scrolls and maps lining the wall. There's more papers on the tables, as well as jugs of water and empty plates. The space befor the curtain isn't large, but it is packed.

"Wow," says Sam. "I knew you were good at talking, but wow."

Kevin lets the Role drop from himself as they start to walk towards the other side of the room.

"Thanks, that was exhausting," he says. They find the cut in the curtain and pass through.

The other side of the room is very, very large. The side they're on is higher than the other, with a few steps leading up. In the middle of the raised platform stands the King's throne and on it's right the Queen's.

And on it's left, the Royal Advisor's.

_____________________________________________________________

I was gonna continue, but if I do, this'll never be done lmao

Only 4 parts left!!!!! Next topic will be "Race"! Cheers!

Pie out.