Arie lit one of the main lamps in the room before I caught her and the room burst into light. “Stop,” I hissed before she lit another. “We leave no trace. That includes everything down to the dust on the table and the oil in the lamp.” I twisted the key to extinguish the flame in the lamp, which caused the room to fall into a deeper darkness than before, almost sinister.
“You should’ve told me,” Arie mumbled.
“This is how you learn.” I grinned and bumped her elbow to show her no harm was done. “Now spread out, touch as little as possible, and look for things that won’t be missed right away. Things we can sell fast before the king starts looking for them.” Everyone nodded and steered away from the obvious gold bars lying on the table, which were stamped with the king’s face.
I moved along the wall, studying the delicate designs on the sword in the glass case nearest me, specifically the jewels lining the hilt. Carefully opening the case, I lifted the weapon, turning it over. There were just as many jewels on the other side—but not for long.
With one of my smaller tools from my bag, I managed to dislodge the jewels along the backside with ease, dropping them into my bag, before replacing the sword on its stand inside the glass case. No one would be the wiser unless they also took the sword out, which I highly doubted would happen anytime soon.
“Here, boss,” Bosh handed me a bag full of coins. “These were in a trunk.” Naveed stepped up behind him to give me a string of pearls, a jeweled bracelet and a small pin crusted with diamonds. I dropped all the items into the bag. They clinked together in the quiet room.
“Keep going,” I called softly. “There’s enough here to pay for the lamp plus a couple months in a new town.”
Bosh glanced over at me, pointing to a large gold statue with eyes of pure emerald and the belt covered in the same. I shook my head. “Too noticeable.”
We continued to make our way through the room, searching for valuables that could be overlooked until we’d filled my bag and the other two we’d brought along to the point of bursting. Just as I was about to call it quits, I opened a drawer and found a silver dagger with a wicked curve and a small jade jewel inlaid in the handle. It wouldn’t fetch a high price, but I took it on impulse. A little souvenir of our successful raid on yet another high and mighty king.
“That’s enough,” I said to the men as I placed the dagger in my boot. “Let’s go.”
Once everyone filed out, I held my candle up high, studying the room, making sure we’d left everything in sight the same as before we entered. With a nod, I closed the door, taking Bosh’s candle so he could lock it up again behind us.
“Illium, lead the way,” I said as I gave Bosh’s candle back. We set off, circling the guard’s bodies and the strategically placed rubble. Ryo dusted off his hands proudly and took up the rear. So far, so good.
Back up the tower’s circular staircase, we left the Keep behind and passed the chapel without any problems, reaching the tower landing where we’d originally met.
“Alright,” I handed my bag full of treasure to Bosh. Naveed and Illium carried the other two. “This is where we split up. You three,” I nodded to my men with the treasure, “Leave the way you came.” They obeyed, slipping out the door one by one at Naveed’s cue, unseen, just like we’d planned. “Ryo, go find Daichi. He needs to help you bar the door behind them. If you have any problems, come find me, understand?”
“You got it, boss.” Ryo slipped out of the room after the others, headed down a different hall back toward the kitchen where I sincerely hoped he would find Daichi lazily lounging with one of the women just like he suspected. I wished Naveed were still here so I could have someone to complain to. Of course, Naveed would only shrug. Though the cousins had been with us for a few years now, this wasn’t the first time one of them had gone on their own path. I shouldn’t be surprised.
I sighed. It was just me and Arie now. “You ready to go back to the party?” I asked her, putting on a smile. “We’ll ooh and ahh over those fireworks with the rest of them and then exit right out the front door.”
“But what about dinner? I’m starving,” she whispered as we stepped out into the hall. I tucked her hand in my elbow once more. “And what about a carriage? The Azadi family won’t be leaving for hours yet.”
“We’ll borrow one.” I winked, striding confidently back to the party. We slipped through the great hall and each took a drink, clapping politely at the back of the audience just as the last few fireworks sounded. Another benefit of Arie’s presence: no one would suspect anything of a young man and woman slipping away to be alone together. We cheered as loudly as anyone else, and began slowly making our way toward the exit as everyone found their seats for dinner.
“Halt,” King Gaspar shouted over the buzz of conversation. “No one leaves!”
One glance at his red face, which was quickly turning shades of purple from fury, and my instincts kicked in. Something had gone wrong.
“Hurry,” I whispered to Arie, ignoring the king’s command. I pushed through the crowd toward the door. “I think we’ve been made.”
Chapter 21
Arie
IT HAPPENED SO FAST. The guards stopped us at the door, merely holding up a hand for me to wait, but yanking Kadin to the side to search him.
They found a blade in his boot.
“What is this?” a guard’s voice rose. King Gaspar strode over to us, snatching the dagger.
Though the king’s gaze was glued to Kadin, he was only a few short strides away from me. One glance in my direction and everything would be ruined. I shrunk back, but the guards held me in place.
I kept my gaze on the king, and resisted the urge to react when I heard the first thought about me rise above the wordless hum of the crowd. Princess Arie... it’s the princess... Glancing out, I saw multiple fingers pointed my way.
I was furious with myself for agreeing to this plan. I should’ve told Kadin no. Soon enough, word would get back to Amir.
“Where did you find my father’s blade?” King Gaspar’s formidable glare didn’t seem to phase Kadin.
“I’m not certain where your father’s blade is,” he lied smoothly. “But that blade is mine.”
King Gaspar growled at Kadin, holding the dagger as if he might put it to Kadin’s throat. “Is that so? Then why does it have an inscription on the handle with my name on it?”
“Ah,” Kadin said, glancing at me as he shrugged. “I missed that.”
“Take him to the dungeon,” the king said. “I’ll interrogate him after the party.”
They began to drag Kadin away.
“Your Majesty,” one of my guards spoke up. “They were together.”
One glance over his shoulder had the king spinning around to face me. “Princess Arie? It can’t be...” his voice rose. “What were you doing with that criminal? Does your father know you’re here?” As he spoke, the voices in the room rose and the thoughts about me doubled in intensity, making me wince.
A light came into the king’s eyes. King Amir’s guards were here searching for someone just a few days prior. “Detain her,” he said aloud to his men, “I’ll deal with her shortly.” As soon as I find out why they were looking for her.
The guards tugged me after Kadin, down the same halls we’d just trespassed earlier, but this time we turned down the stairs toward the dungeons instead of the treasury.
As the guards unlocked the massive door to the dungeon, we caught up to Kadin and his captors, where they were shoving him inside a cell.
The dank stone and cold, wet air reeked of stale urine. It was pitch-black except for small crevices lit up by a torch here and there. I was thrust into the cell on the opposite side.
The door creaked as it closed and the keys jingled in the lock as the bolts clicked back into place.
The light of the torch faded as the guards left, until only the tiniest sliver of light slipped in from a far away torch. At the top of the stairs, the heavy door crashed shut, seali
ng my fate.
I shivered.
“Is that true?” Kadin’s soft voice spoke into the darkness. There was a pause. “Are you really a princess?”
He’d overheard after all.
I gripped the bars of the cage; did it even matter now? King Gaspar would undoubtedly send me home. I’d never see Kadin again. So why did the sound of betrayal in his voice hurt so much?
“Kadin?” another man’s voice sounded from a nearby cell. “Is that you?”
“Daichi, you’re in here too?” Kadin’s voice rose, almost cheerful, as if we weren’t reuniting with him in a cell. “We were worried about you.”
An oomph sounded as one of them ran into the cell bars between them, followed by hands clapping each other on the back. I moved carefully through my own dark cell, until my fingers brushed the opposite wall. I slid down to sit on the floor and lean against it.
“There was this pretty girl,” Daichi mumbled. “I’m sorry. I wanted to impress her, you know—and I didn’t say anything I swear! But then they threw me in here, and they were asking so many questions. Don’t worry, I told them I was alone!”
Kadin’s sigh reached me. “Did they ask?”
Daichi paused. “No... but, I thought that’s what they meant—wait, did they not know that already? I’m sorry, boss! This is all my fault, I didn’t mean to give you up—”
“It’s okay,” Kadin cut him off. “Everyone else got out. We’ll be out of here soon too, don’t worry.”
“Do you really believe that?” I snapped from the corner. Nobody broke out of prison. I’d been a fool to come here.
“Maybe the better question is, do I believe I’ve been in the presence of royalty all this time?” Kadin’s voice challenged me, and I regretted speaking up. “You never answered me, Princess Arie. Is it true that you’re the daughter of a king?”
“No,” I lied, sighing and shrugging before I remembered he couldn’t see it. “I think he was just trying to turn us against each other. To see if I’d give you up.” I wondered if that sounded as weak as Kadin’s ‘found it on a table’ excuse earlier.
“That’s brilliant,” Daichi’s voice floated over to me in awe. “You know, you could actually be a princess if you wanted to be. I saw you from the kitchens—you looked just like one.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, Daichi.”
He accepted my words immediately and his thoughts turned from me to something else, likely how we would escape this small room. But I could almost feel Kadin’s eyes on me in the dark.
“It’s funny really,” I added for good measure, ridiculing the idea with a small laugh. “I’m no princess.”
In the silence that followed, Kadin’s thoughts whispered, You are, though, aren’t you?
Even though he didn’t know of my Gift, it felt as if he was thinking directly at me.
My words hadn’t fooled him in the slightest.
Chapter 22
Kadin
ALL THIS TIME, I’D been mocking a princess. I couldn’t decide whether I should even worry about it, considering our present circumstances. Daichi was easily spooked and Arie might be acting tough, but I heard the tremble in her voice. They didn’t need to know I was terrified too. We’d never been caught before. We’d gotten lazy. How long would it take Naveed to realize something had gone wrong? Any amount of time was too long.
Staring aimlessly into the blackness of my small cell, I scratched at the dirt underneath me with my fingernails, thinking. My eyes slowly adjusted to the deep darkness; there must be a torch lit somewhere down the hall out of sight, but everything in my cell was in shadows.
One difficult situation at a time, I told myself, letting go of the dirt and dusting off my hands. Arie and I could have a very specific conversation once we escaped. Preferably before the king found my men waiting in the wagon just outside of the city walls with three bags full of treasure.
“If I’d packed some of Illium’s powder, I could’ve knocked those guards out when I was discovered,” Daichi was saying.
“Don’t worry about it,” I reassured him. “We’ll do better next time.”
Standing, I checked the cell door again, though I’d already checked it twice. Still locked.
“I wish I’d taken my tools,” I muttered. Of course, that was foolish. Even if I had, the guards would’ve removed them from my person as fast as they’d taken the dagger and my own small blade.
As I paced the room, I tried to get comfortable with the space. Two steps, turn, two steps, turn. They fell silent, listening. I paused by Daichi’s shadow in the cell next to mine. “Any chance you have anything in your pockets that might help?”
I could just barely make out his head as he shook it, posture slumping, even more dejected now. “They confiscated everything.”
I sighed, returning to pacing. Maybe we could adapt ‘Three Tickets to the Theater’ to somehow trick the guards into letting one of us out? Not likely. Even in the streets that one only worked half the time. Then again, we had nothing to lose...
“What if we did ‘Pigeon Down?’” Daichi said, he scrambled up onto his feet to come closer to me and whispered, “We might not be able to get the girl out, but it could work for you and me.”
“We’re not leaving her behind.” I hoped she hadn’t heard. “And ‘Pigeon Down’ would only help one of us anyway.”
“Oh... even if we each played dead one at a time?”
“I think they’d catch on.” I rubbed my temples, trying not to snap. Daichi dropped back to the floor.
We were quiet for a long time. I wracked my brain for another con—something that had a better outcome. But nothing. Daichi lay down to sleep, but I couldn’t.
At least a few hours later, Arie’s dress rustled in the quiet as she stood. “I have an idea!” An outline of her form appeared at the door of her cell, and I could just make out her arm as she stretched it through the bars, holding something out toward us.
In the palm of her hand was a small dot. As I squinted, the dot turned into a rock and triggered my memory even as she spoke, “Gideon’s talisman!”
Chapter 23
Kadin
ALL THREE OF US stared at the Jinni’s stone. That small gray pebble held our future in the balance. Would Gideon even come to a prison cell? And who was to say he would help us if he did?
“What have we got to lose?” Arie asked as we all just stood there, ogling the rock in silence. Before we could argue, she rubbed it. At first gently between two fingers, the way one would feel a coin to test its purity, barely visible in the gloom. Then more aggressively, holding it in her palm, while scrubbing at it with her other hand—first the thumb, then the butt of her palm.
“A little patience, please,” a voice said from the opposite corner of her small cell, “I got your message when you first began. Why in the name of Jinn is it so dark in here?”
A light appeared behind Arie and she turned to face the owner of the voice. Gideon stood tall and pale as ever, eyeing her cell warily with those sharp blue eyes. He held a ball of white light in the palm of his hand. It flickered and cast shadows on the now brightly lit walls. “This is quite unusual,” he commented with a frown.
“Greetings, Gideon.” Arie sank into a deep curtsy. “With respect, we’re in a bit of a situation and were hoping to ask for your help.” Her ability to shift into formal speech and the ridiculous curtseying made sense now, knowing where she came from.
“Name it,” he said, but not in a generous way, so much as just impatient.
“I would like to once more request the same bargain as Kadin offered you,” Arie began. “I would like to see you bear witness to a Gifted prince for a day. And then we will give you the lamp for half what we paid for it.”
Gideon eyed us. “You don’t appear to have the lamp in your possession,” he said finally.
“We were on our way to claim it,” I took over, a half-formed plan in my mind. “My men are waiting with the coin outside the city walls, but
we’ve been unfairly detained. The lamp is yours if you can get us out of here.”
“And to our horse and cart as well,” Arie said. When I shot her a look, she added. “What? I’m assuming Gideon is quite skilled.”
“The question isn’t whether I can accomplish your request,” Gideon replied. “Rather, are you truly being kept here outside of the law, or did you possibly do something to deserve this cell?” That blasted Jinni code was going to stop him from helping us!
I acted on a gut-feeling. Leaning toward Arie, I stage whispered through the bars, “I don’t think he can do it.”
Thank the stars, she was quick. She even turned away from him before she whispered to me, “You might be right. Well, I guess the lamp will just have to wait for us to pick it up.”
I nodded, then shook my head tsking, “It could take weeks for us to get out of here.”
Arie turned back to Gideon, as if he hadn’t heard our discussion, saying to him in a normal voice. “It’s such a shame we won’t be able to get the lamp to you sooner then. But of course, we understand if you’re unable. We will contact you again once we’re rightfully released.” And she bowed low in dismissal.
“I’m perfectly capable of getting a hundred men and horses outside the castle,” Gideon snapped. He cleared his throat, straightening his jacket. “Since you would eventually be released, I see no harm in making it sooner rather than later.”
With one snap of his fingers, the cell shifted, turning into the forest outside of the castle—outside of the city entirely. The lights twinkled in the distance. Even though I knew rationally that I had moved, it felt as if everything around me had materialized around me, and it threw me off balance, making my head spin and my stomach react.
“Your wagon and men are waiting alongside the road, just a few short paces from here,” Gideon told us in a bored tone. The light of the moon was strong and I could make out his face clearly.
An Aladdin Retelling: The Stolen Kingdom Series, #1 Page 12
