Friends and Enemies // Chapter Thirty Two // Preparations

A darkly dress figure slunk up the stone steps of the turret, his tattered cloak hiding his ugly features. Knocking gingerly on the black wooden door, he slid it open.
   A petite figure stood at the window, silhouetted by the dusk. Her long dark hair was curled and twisted into a messy bun, and two small black arrows were stuck through it. She was wearing a tattered black tunic paired with worn black boots, but simply from her posture, it was apparent that she wasn't normally dressed like this.
   She turned around to face him, her black, empty Shadow eyes met his, and then the black faded to a cold brown. "I am Zaria. They told you to expect me, I hope. Do you have your report?"
   The raggedy messenger nodded meekly, and she motioned to a chair. He sat, and nervously fiddled with his hands. "The young sister of Betromith was left at Lady Adira of Corrinath's manor. She was brought there by Kadesh of Gossgath and Willow Elvish-grace."
   A cold smile played at the corners of Zaria's lips. "I thought that dear Willow might do something stupid like that," she mused softly.
   "And I believe that they have returned to their headquarters," he concluded.
   Zaria narrowed her heavily-mascaraed eyes at him. "The Shadow want the headquarters located. I want you to find them," she instructed. "Now you may leave," she dismissed with a flick of her hand.
   The messenger rose and gave a slight bow, then hurried out of the tower room. With an impatient sigh, Zaria glared at her reflection in the mirror atop of her vanity stand. Being a Shadow top operator was hard work, especially when, well, you were involved. The time has come for me, Zaria thought, her narrowed brown eyes searching her reflection. It had better.

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   Tajoreth was exhausted. The entire day was full of wedding planning with Kedemeth, and his brother was such a sociopath that Tajoreth had been forced to help him with everything, and be bossed around all day.

   But once he had shoved open his door and collapsed on his bed, he noticed a tiny bit of rolled up paper tied with a tiny royal blue ribbon sticking out of his hairbrush. Picking it up, he slid the ribbon off and unrolled it.

Tajoreth,

   Our plan is for you to convince your half-wit brother to hold a masquerade ball in honor of his upcoming marriage to Hyaline as soon as possible, preferably within the next week. During said ball, we intend to sneak in and examine some books in the king's library, and then escape with Emmeth, Asharlah, and Hyaline if possible. The subject of our study is none of your concern, and would have been very dangerous to write on paper. Please leave your reply on the garden wall near the gate, under the lantern.

~W. Elvish-grace

   Tajoreth lifted his eyebrows. That is the most ridiculous plan I have ever heard in my life! he thought. But I am committed, so why not? All that could is, well, they could be found out, I could be found out, etcetera, etcetera. But it could work.... if Zemerah does not get wind of this. Hmmm...

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  Willow leaned back in her chair back safe in Essgarothe. In her fingers she held the reply from Tajoreth.

  W. Elvish-grace,

   I have done as you have asked, though I do not pretend to understand. Please know that my cousin is not doing particularly well in the dungeons, and my sister, Asharlah, is also imprisoned. I hope that you are taking every precaution with these communications, for if they are intercepted, I am in much danger, though I am sure you have noted such. I am sure that you can procure for yourself an invitation to the ball, and please let me know the particulars of the plan as soon as you have formulated it.

Tajoreth

   Awesome. Now the ball is scheduled, and all we have to do is prepare! Willow mused cheerfully.

   "Willow!" Immer gave a swift knock, then pushed the door open. "We have invitations! Teclemith managed to get a message to a friend who works in that industry, and now he has sent us several!"

   "Perfect!" Willow grinned and leaped out of her seat. "When is it?"

   "This Saturday," Immer answered, reading the off of the invitation.

   Willow took a deep breath. "It's time to act. Let's get ready."

I know, super short chapter, but I did introduce Zaria {pronounced Z-ae-r-ee-uh} !

Yay me!

 D did a cool post with little Mason and Conner escaping.Why knew, right?
Also, D's trying to choose a name for Mista Lee Pace Character, so if you have any intimidating names, and you'd like to help name a character, pop on over there with a comment. You never know.
So I'm actually working on a costume based off of a TV show costume that Willow will wear in a later chapter. So I'm going to make it and use photos of it for the chapter covers! Yipee!
Nothin' much has been happening, 'sides that, but I did do a really cool edit on Picmonkey...

It's actually a Tolkien quote, but it works so perfectly!
So, Zaria is going to become a much bigger character then you might imagine.
Willow has met her before, so there's fun stuff there.

Any queries are welcome!

Be a friend, not an Enemy,

Willow