Chapter 19

- Jake -

As the sun set over the city, Jake stood in front of the house his men had gathered in with the door at his back. He needed a moment of peace for himself. Too many thoughts raced through his head. He wasn't as certain about his plans as he had wanted to be.

His mind blinked in an out of attention as he watched David approach. The young soldier was covered in an odd coat. He looked over his shoulder every other step, making it so painfully obvious that he was up to no good. Jake sighed and would have wanted to say something, but Nathaniel spoke first.

"Why don't you scream treason while at it," the demon snarked, stepping through the door, pushing Jake aside with his presence alone.

"W-What did you say?" David stuttered. He, again, glimpsed around himself, making sure the street was empty. It was.

"Any issues at the barracks?" Jake asked.

David sullenly shook his head. Guilt was written all over his face. That calmed Jake a bit. The young soldier had done his task of poisoning his comrades on rest.

On Nathaniel's signal the men left the house, they needed to be quick now. While not many people were out on the street, some would be. And some would maybe even wonder what a larger group of men and women were doing wandering about in line and order at this time of day.

"Go, boy," Nathaniel shooed David, knowing the urgency just as well.

David gulped. He was deadly pale, much like Elly had been when she had left for the castle a while earlier. The two siblings certainly were a mirror of each other at times. David very much looked like he had reconsidered – like he would not lead Jake and his group to the secret entrance to the castle after all. Then Annabelle would have gotten herself caught in the dungeons a day prior for no reason and open the door from the inside for no one. The Earl and his men would be overwhelmed when they stroke the second attack from the outside, and Elly would be trapped inside horrors.

They would fail.

Jake shook it off.

"Any moment now, boy," Nathaniel urged again.

"I am not your servant," David grumbled as he ripped his eyes from the group pouring out of the house. "And I am not a boy."

"You certainly whimper like one when –" Nathaniel trailed off with a look at David's shocked face. "Oh, well, never mind." The demon grinned to himself.

Jake couldn't quite follow that. Usually Nathaniel left no chance at unsettling someone untaken.

Maybe he was unsettled himself.

They all were.

Jake felt fear chilling his bones following David through the empty, less favoured streets. Hopefully really towards a secret entrance and not into a trap. So many things rode on this one move. Jake should have never let Nathaniel talk him into accepting this opening.

They arrived at an older house, brick built and roof cracked in at a side. David pulled a fittingly old key from his pocket and unlocked the front door. Probably unnecessarily so, Jake could have kicked it in with force alone, it had clearly seen better days.

"This is as far as I go," David declared. His voice trembled. Maybe with remorse, maybe with nerves, maybe both. "There are stairs at the back, follow the only corridor at its base and you will arrive at the castle entrance after about five minutes of walk."

Nathaniel stared David down, making him look very much like a boy as he took a step backwards, unsure what to make of it.

Jake waved the group inside, they followed command. Then Jake followed, but turned again at the entrance for Nathaniel, who still stared at David like he was about to swallow him whole.

Then the demon smiled. "This better be the real deal," he said. "If not, I will find you and make you cry my name for very different reasons."

David choked on his breath.

Jake groaned in realization. When had that even happened? There had been no hints, none whatsoever, Jake would have interfered otherwise. He grabbed Nathaniel, who grinned with pure amusement, and shoved him inside the house.

"Elly will meet with you as discussed for the evacuation," Jake said over his shoulder. "And, David?"

"Y-Yes?" The young soldier stared at Jake with a face full of tangled emotions.

"It is not really any of my business, but ... Very poor decision."

David's lips twisted to a bitter smile.

"I know."

***

- Elly -

Elly let her eyes wander through the castle kitchen. The room was twice as big ad three times as busy as the Baron's. And fancy beyond all reason with the marble floor, polished wood and dishes sparkling with golden ornaments from every shelf.

She watched more and more servants gather around the basket with her muffins. It wasn't often that things were for free in life. Some took one to eat on the go while rushing to their next duties, but some hung around long enough for some chatter Elly barely managed.

The forced smile threatened to cramp all the muscles in her face. Her eyes kept jumping to the clock all the while. She didn't know if she was begging for the time to go by faster or stop all together. She wasn't ready for what was about to start, and she wanted it over already.

Annabelle had told her it would take some time before her sedatives worked.

Annabelle.

They hadn't received her note as promised.

Elly clenched her fists. The woman was fine, she had to be. They all had to be. Elly didn't know what to do without them. She had gotten too used, too attached to that weird group.

And David – he had gotten dragged into doing to the soldiers in the barracks thesame as she did with the servants. Making sure they were out of the way. Elly would go mad if somethinghappened to him.

She tried to remember all the things she had been entrusted to do, but she had to admit she agreed with Jake a little. Maybe this was beyond her. She didn't trust herself to pull it off, she had only acted like she did in front of him.

When the first servant staggered and complained to be dizzy Elly used the confusion and scrammed.

One thing down.

Elly rushed down the hallways, tried not to run as Nathaniel had told her, it would have drawn to much attention. Every face Elly passed she feared she had been discovered already and she forced herself to stare at the floor in front of her instead.

Two eggs, a cup of sugar, two cups of milk, Elly tried to recall the ingredients of the muffins she had spent the last day or so baking, but it hardly worked to calm her down.

"You there!" A voice pulled Elly out of her thoughts. "A little help?"

Elly stopped and looked the corridor up and down. She found flickering candlelight from sparling chandeliers, paintings ofwild animals along the walls, but no people. There was no one besides herselfand the man up ahead that had called out to her.

"Forgive me, my Lord, I am awaited in the kitchen. I am not –"

"Do I look like I care?" the man snapped. He was tall with broad shoulders. Medals decorated his uniform.

Elly's heart raced. She had to go down to the dungeons to get outside the castle. She had to find Annabelle. And catch up with David. She had to – get herself down to the dungeons, right?

"I apologize. What would you like me to help with?" Elly said and forced herself to smile while she followed the man into the chamber he had gestured her to. It was a sitting room with mahogany furniture and wide windows. She found a big glass carafe broken on the floor and the content it had spilled across the floor. The big, dark red stain on the fine carpet did not smell like wine, however, the air in the room was filled with something metallic that had Elly shudder.

"Well?" the man said impatiently, seemingly expecting Elly to rub the stain off the floor with her bare hands.

She turned to muster the man. He stood tall, head high, arms crossed over his chest. His light brown hair was neatly combed back and looked down on her witheyes squeezed small in a manner Elly had seen before.

"You look oddly familiar," she realized.

The man frowned. "I better do, you impudent girl. Now get to it."

"As I said before, I am a cook of the castle, not a maid. Therefore, may I at least have your name, my Lord, to tell the head cook why I am late to my duties?"

The man sook the air in. "General Francis Huntsman. You don't mean to tell me you really don't know who I am?"

"I am new." Elly faked a smile. "Forgive me, my Lord."

Elly fetched a scrub and a mob then went about scrubbing the floor, purposely bad and thinking of things to say to upset the man, while the General remained to watch her do so with a tensed expression.

"You don't happen to have a wayward son, my Lord, do you?"

"What?!"

"My apologies, you just look so familiar, and chit chat calms my nerves while scrubbing a stranger's blood off the floor."

"What in the world ... ?"

"I've seen blood plenty in my life and spilled some myself," Elly said and stopped to give the General a grim look. "Did you really think me that stupid?"

"You wench!" he yelled and struck her over the face. "Know your place!"

Elly stumbled back and grabbed for the wall to steady herself. Pain shot through her head. She hadn't thought this one through entirely, now had she?

"You should know your place, My Lord, shouldn't you?" Elly tried. "How will the people talk if they hear what you made me do and how you mistreated me," she pressed out, playing at Nathaniel's unnerving attitude as best as she could.

The General moved to strike Elly again and she flinched to protect herself.

Suddenly a rumble sounded through the room. It shook the walls and ground enough to startle the man.

***

- Jake -

Jake was plenty angry. He could have strangled Annabelle for resorting to explode the whole freaking door instead of cracking the lock as she had been instructed to do.

She gave him a crooked grin to reveal some teeth missing. Her left cheek was blue and swollen and everything else about her was roughed up as well.

She waved him and the men into the dungeons, hushed and ducked as if sneaking around was still possible after the racket she had just caused. What a way to derail all their plans right from the start. Jake would have wanted to grab and shake her.

He stopped short. His eyes jumped the people gathered in between the grey stone walls. With only the dim lightfrom the torches flickering it was hard to properly recognize all the face. "Where is Elly?"

"Obviously not here," Annabelle said with a raised eyebrow.

"She was supposed to be with you."

"You don't say."

"Then why is she not here?!" Jake resorted to yelling his anger at the woman.

"I don't know!"

"Hush now," Nathaniel cut into the argument. "Don't we have other things to do? I am sure our favourite little maid is fine."

Jake grabbed the demon by his collar. "You did this, didn't you?" he snarled.

"I did not."

"You can't help but sabotage me at every possible chance you get!"

Nathaniel rolled his eyes. "Would you please focus on the task at hand? Plenty men will die in vain for you if you don't stop fretting over one little girl anytime soon."

"Admit it!"

"Enough now!" Nathaniel moved too swift for Jake to react to. The demon freed himself from the grip and elegantly stepped back.

Jake stared at his empty hands. How stupid of him. He should have known better. He should have never agreed to involving Elly in this, in anything.

"Focus," Nathaniel reminded Jake.

The demon was right. Jake could not worry about Elly right now. He did not have the time for it.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He meant to repeat his goals to reassure himself, like he had always done, but he found they had been turned up side down enough to upset him more than calm him.

Rutger was not going to be King.

Jake was not going to get out of his deal.

Elly was – should not have been listed among his goals at all.

The men turned restless. Uncertain whispers went through the ranks. They had come to fight for their future, not to watch Jake lose his edge in the most essential moment. He had no choice.

He pushed past Annabelle and Nathaniel to lead the group ahead.

***

- Elly -

Elly tried to keep calm, but she thought she did not quite manage. She could have screamed and cried. She would have wanted to beg. To run. To pray.

She had picked a fight with the wrong man. Most definitely, because his guards dragged her after him up the stairs instead of way down. Quite a different direction than the entrance to the dungeons was supposed to be.

They stopped in front of a fancy door to wait to be lead inside and Elly got a glimpse out a window. It must have been the second floor, west wing of the castle.

It had become dark already. She had been supposed to be down to the dungeons quite a while ago. She had been supposed to meet up with Annabelle, to signal the servants were out of the way. Thenwith David in front of the castle to take care of evacuating the civilians.

She had ruined it.

Suddenly the sky lit up.

A crack shot through the air and had the windows tremble. Elly startled and so did the soldiers with her. While they stormed to look outside what had happened Elly sunk down to the floor.

She didn't need to see it to know. That was the signal, just like scheduled.

Tears prickled in her eyes.

They had made it without her. Jake and his group were inside. The Earl would start the attack fromoutside. Relieve spread in Elly's body and released painful tension in her muscles. Even if she herself couldn't have been further from where she was supposed to be, everything else was in place.

"Get down there and find out what just happened!" the General ordered one of his guards who stormed away instantly. Then his look fell on Elly and she realized her mistake.

She should have run.

The General marched towards her and had grabbed her on the shoulder before she had even managed to stand again.

"What is going on here?" he growled in her face.

"H-How would I know." Elly tried a smile as innocent as possible. "I am just a maid."

"Didn't you say you were a cook?"

Elly froze.

"And one who has seen blood plenty?"

"Oh, it really wasn't that much."

The door to the room, the soldiers had meant to bring her before, opened with squeaking noises. The wings swung open by itself like moved with magic.

Elly sook the air in.

"What is this?" a woman asked. Her voice, too low and too high at the same time, ringing in Elly's ears gave her goosebumps.

The woman's appearance was beyond beautiful, slim figure but round at all the right places, long, pitch black hair and eyes a crystal clear forest green.

"I'll be damned," Elly exhaled. She had accidentally found the demon of the castle everyone had been supposed to stay away from as far as possible.

The woman's eyes snapped to Elly and slimmed while looking her up and down. A smirk as evil as Nathaniel's stole on her lips. Red dress flowing around her like waves of blood she walked to Elly and grabbed her chin to turn her head between her long fingers. The too pointy nails scraped at Elly's skin.

"Bring her in," the woman ordered the General.

The man grew more suspicious by the minute. Deep lines wrinkled his forehead. "You know her?" he said.

"Not yet," the woman sang.

"Get going." The General dragged Elly along into the room. It was beautiful chambers, fancy furniture and gilded carpets, Elly would have been awed by it, if it hadn't been for the threat to her life.

Before anything, the soldier, who the General had sent out to determine the situation, came back in a sprint.

"We are being attacked!" he shouted.

***