Honor-Bound [ Lore of Penrua: Book... - Chapter 56: Chapter 56

Things moved quickly. Aun showed the two guards who had remained with her where they could hide their weapons underneath the shelves in the pantry, although it was no comfort to see them put their blades out of easy reach. Then, holding Kaolo by the hand, she followed the guards to the servants' quarters.
There, the guards softly knocked on doors and consulted with the cooks, the laundresses, the errand-boys. No one was asleep. With the arrival of the soldiers and fragments of news, all were aware of what had happened. Everyone was tense and frightened, and the suggestion that they go about their business as usual come morning was not well-received.
"They have the empress, as well as Prince Kaori and the lorekeeper," one of the guards explained time and time again. "Let them preserve the illusion of secrecy—it may well keep Empress Mhera and the others safe until we can determine what to do next."
The last room they visited belonged to an old woman. She alone did not challenge the plan; instead, she bustled out of her room, already tying on an apron.
"Well?" she demanded, returning Aun's look. "There's bread needs baking, isn't there? You can put the little one to bed in my cot. Poor thing looks like he hasn't slept a wink. Roya, hurry up! Or did you plan to sleep in today? Shiftless lazybones!"
So it was that when Aun returned from tucking Kaolo into the old woman's bed, leaving him with strict orders to keep the door locked, she found the kitchen already creaking into action for the day. There was a teenage boy building up the heat in the ovens as the old woman leaned over her bread-making counter. One of the guards had joined her there. He seemed to be regretting it, judging by the expression he wore as she lectured him.
Oanara met Aun just as she was entering the kitchen. She had come from another hall, the one that led to the outer courtyard usually used for deliveries of goods.
"Has Danya returned?" Oanara asked.
Aun shook her head. "What did you find?"
"No disturbance. From without, the palace looks as peaceful as ever. I gave warning to the guards stationed there, but we must wait until the shift changes for word to be carried farther. We don't know if we are watched."
"Will Danya attack Koren's men?" Aun asked.
"Not yet. As long as he remains in the royal wing, we will watch and wait. If he moves, we'll strike, but we will be better-prepared once we can raise the alarm and bring men from the outer barracks."
Aun nodded, trying to take comfort in the knowledge that help would come. "They cannot think to remain hidden for long. The empress rises early. Servants will be expected, won't they?"
Oanara narrowed her eyes, glancing back the way she'd come. "I don't know her patterns, but—"
"I know that Kaori rises with the sun, and Mhera earlier still. They both take tea in the morning in their rooms. And breakfast, of course, downstairs. They cannot expect to hold them long without being discovered by the early servants."
"Well, we need not worry about that, at least. There won't be any servants going to the royal wing this morning," Oanara said, a dismissal in her tone. She broke away from Aun, murmuring, "I should join Danya."
Aun stayed where she was, her thoughts drifting toward her sleepy mornings with Kaori. It was always a pleasure to enjoy a cup of tea as they sat in bed, the sun spilling in through the window. There would usually be fruit or light pastries, too, something small to start the day until they could join Mhera at breakfast.
Imagine if some unsuspecting servant were to take a tray to Mhera or Kaori at sun-up only to encounter royal chambers bristling with enemy soldiers. It would be enough to give a maid a heart attack. It was unlikely that the prisoners would have anything to eat until...
An idea struck Aun, as simple as it was outrageous.
She hurried after Oanara, dodging past the flour-dusted soldier who'd decided to try his hand at making bread. "Wait! Wait. Won't it be suspicious if we do not observe our usual routines?"
Oanara stopped, turning back to Aun with raised eyebrows. "I suppose, if these strangers know them, but—"
"Koren lived here, Oanara. Things may have changed, but I should think he expects breakfast to be served. And if we were to take it, no doubt the tea would make it no farther than the soldiers who meet us."
The soldier shook her head, her expression registering her confusion.
"Let me go to the infirmary. I've a potion that can put a man to sleep. We can drug them." Already convinced of the merits of her plan, Aun skirted Oanara, rushing toward the stairs that would take her up into the palace.
"For Zanara's sake, woman, slow down." Oanara jogged a couple of steps and caught Aun by the elbow, arresting her progress. "You might brew a tea to put them down, but they may not drink it. What then?"
"Let me think. Just let me think, but let me go to the infirmary to fetch the potion while I do. We haven't any time to waste." Aun tugged her arm out of Oanara's grasp.
The soldier looked displeased. "All right, but you won't go alone." She looked around the kitchen, catching sight of the second soldier who'd been assigned to stay with the servants. He was milling about near the ovens, trying to look busy. Oanara raised a hand and jerked her head, summoning him. "Samni! Go with Aun to the infirmary."
The man nodded, willing enough. "What for?"
Aun gave him a grim smile. "We may have a plan."
The infirmary was distant from the royal wing. Assuming Koren and his men were still sequestered there, there would be no danger of encountering them on the way, but there was no way to know for certain what Koren's plans were or whether he had men elsewhere in the palace. Aun and Samni balanced speed and silence as they hurried to the infirmary, alert for any sight or sound of danger.
Once they had arrived, Samni gestured Aun inside and stayed to keep watch at the door. Aun hurried through the familiar ward, which was empty, dark, and silent. She knew what she needed: a clear, nearly tasteless sleeping potion brewed from a plant known as lady's cloak. It was her most potent tool when a man was grievously wounded, for it offered deep and dreamless sleep as a refuge from pain. She had relied upon it heavily in the aftermath of the Battle of Hanpe, and she always liked to have some on hand.
This was no longer Aun's domain, though, and she did not know how things were organized. She searched the cupboards first, then the workbench along the wall, and then the shelves above the bench. Although the contents of the infirmary's stores were tidy and neatly-labeled, she could not find the potion.
Cursing under her breath, she rattled through the cupboards again. Perhaps she had missed it.
"Have you found it?" asked Samni in a rough whisper.
A chill sensation of panic swept down Aun's spine. "Just a moment." Although she had felt steady and certain on the way here, her hands had begun to shake.
Samni fell silent, but before he turned away, Aun caught his anxious look. In moments like this, clinging to vain hopes was folly. She made a split-second decision: if she did not have a potion of lady's cloak, she would take the herb itself. There were some leaves just there, having been hung to dry. The brew she could make of them would be less potent than the tincture she was used to creating, which required many moons' soaking, but there was nothing for it but to try.
After she took down the leaves, Aun turned back to the cupboard for one last look. There, she saw another option: powdered heartsbane.
Heartsbane was used for rest, too, and for pain relief. But heartsbane was a more dangerous medicine. Lady's cloak could make a man sleep for many dreamless hours, and the worst of its effects was an ache in the head upon waking.
Given at the wrong dose, heartsbane could kill.
"Aun?" Samni asked. "I don't like this. I'll remind you that my sword is keeping company belowstairs with the potatoes."
On impulse, Aun snatched the phial of heartsbane. She tucked it into her bosom beneath her dress.
"All right," she said. "Let's go."