War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past (18 page)

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.