Episode-765
Chapter : 1529
Jasmin helped the children onto the ladder. Risa was surprisingly agile, her survival instincts kicking in. The other children were slower, terrified. Jasmin climbed behind them, whispering encouragement.
Ken climbed last. Every movement was agony. His shoulder burned like fire, and his vision was swimming. He focused on Jasmin's boots above him. One rung. Another rung. Don't die yet. Not yet.
They climbed for what felt like an hour. Finally, they reached a wooden trapdoor.
"Stop," Lloyd commanded. "That door opens into the back of a linen closet in the servants' quarters of the East Wing. It should be empty at this hour, but verify."
Jasmin pressed her ear against the wood. She heard nothing.
"It's quiet," she whispered.
"Open it. Slowly."
She pushed. The trapdoor was heavy, but it gave way with a soft creak. She poked her head up.
She was surrounded by shelves of towels and bedsheets. The room was dark.
"Clear," she whispered.
She climbed out and helped the children up. Ken hauled himself out last, collapsing onto a pile of laundry. He was pale, sweat dripping from his face.
"Ken!" Jasmin hissed, rushing to him.
"I'm fine," he grunted, struggling to sit up. "Just... need a minute."
"You don't have a minute," Lloyd said. "The servants shift change is in twenty minutes. You need to move. Go left out of the closet. Down the hall. Third door on the right. It's a service stairwell. Take it up two flights."
Jasmin pulled Ken to his feet. He leaned heavily on her. He was burning up.
"Come on, little mice," she told the children. "Follow me."
They crept into the hallway. The palace servants' quarters were modest compared to the rest of the building, but still cleaner than anywhere in the slums. They moved like shadows, avoiding the few sleepy maids who were starting their day.
They reached the stairwell and climbed.
"Okay," Lloyd said. "You are now on the King's floor. This is the tricky part. There are guards at the main entrance, but the service corridor connects to the King’s private pantry. The door is locked."
"Locked?" Jasmin panic. "We don't have a key!"
"You have Ken," Lloyd said. "Ken, the lock is a standard tumblers mechanism. Can you pick it?"
Ken looked at his trembling hands. "Maybe."
He pulled out a small pick from his belt. He knelt by the door. His hand shook. He took a deep breath, steadied himself, and inserted the pick.
Click. Scrape. Click.
It felt like an eternity. Footsteps echoed in the main hallway. Guards on patrol.
"Hurry," Jasmin whispered.
Click.
The door opened.
They tumbled inside, closing it just as the heavy tread of armored boots passed by the alcove.
They were in a pantry. It smelled of spices and dried fruit.
"Through the pantry," Lloyd directed. "There is a tapestry on the far wall. Behind it is a door to the King's unused chambers. The Queen's old room. No one has gone in there for three years. It is dust and memories."
Jasmin found the tapestry. She pushed it aside. The door was unlocked.
They stepped into a vast, silent bedroom. Everything was covered in white dust sheets. The furniture looked like ghosts in the moonlight filtering through the heavy curtains.
"We're here," Jasmin breathed.
"Excellent," Lloyd said. "Stay there. Don't touch anything. Don't make a sound. I am coming."
"You?" Jasmin asked. "How?"
"I am the Royal Physician," Lloyd said. "I have a standing appointment to check the King's blood pressure at dawn. I am walking down the hall right now."
Jasmin sank to the floor, pulling Risa into her lap. They were safe. For the moment. They were hiding in the belly of the beast, in the room of a dead queen, while the man who wanted to kill them hunted for them outside the city walls.
The irony was terrifying.
----
Ten minutes later, a soft knock came from a hidden panel in the wall—not the main door.
"It's me," Lloyd whispered.
Jasmin opened the panel. Lloyd slipped inside. He was still wearing his velvet suit, but he looked disheveled. His tie was loose, his hair messy. He carried his medical bag.
He looked at the scene. The huddled children. The dusty room. And Ken, slumped against a covered vanity table, looking like death warmed over.
Lloyd dropped to his knees beside Ken. He activated his [All-Seeing Eye].
"Shoulder dislocated. Ribs fractured. Internal bleeding," Lloyd diagnosed rapidly. "And magical residue from the Chimera. Poison?"
"Acid," Ken grunted. "Burns."
Lloyd opened his bag. He pulled out vials and bandages.
Chapter : 1530
"I can stabilize you," Lloyd said. "But you need real rest. And real magic healing. I can't do a full restoration here without alerting the palace sensors."
"Patch me up," Ken said. "I can still fight."
"You can sit still and try not to bleed on the Queen's carpet," Lloyd corrected. He injected Ken with a painkiller and began to bind the wounds.
While Lloyd worked, Jasmin tended to the children. She found some water in a pitcher—stale, but drinkable—and gave it to them.
Risa was staring around the room. Her eyes were clearer now. The shock was fading, replaced by confusion.
"Where are we?" Risa asked. Her voice was tiny.
"We are in a castle," Jasmin said gently. "A safe place."
Risa looked at Jasmin. She frowned. She reached out and touched Jasmin's face.
"I know you," Risa whispered.
Jasmin froze. "You do?"
"You... you were in the picture," Risa said. "Pia had a picture. A drawing. She said... 'This is Jasmin. She sings like a bird.'"
Jasmin’s heart stopped. Pia had talked about her. Pia had kept a drawing of her.
"Yes," Jasmin choked out. "I am Jasmin. I was Pia's friend."
Risa’s eyes lit up with hope. She looked around the room.
"Where is she?" Risa asked. "Where is Pia? She said she would come for me. She said she was working hard to get me out."
The silence in the room was heavy. Lloyd stopped working on Ken. Ken looked away. The other children watched with wide eyes.
Jasmin felt like she couldn't breathe. This was the moment she had dreaded. The moment the promise broke.
She took Risa’s hands. They were so small. So scarred from the cuffs.
"Risa," Jasmin said, her voice trembling. "Pia... Pia tried. She tried so hard."
"Is she late?" Risa asked innocently. "It's okay. I can wait."
"No, sweetie," Jasmin said. Tears spilled down her cheeks. "She isn't late. She... she can't come."
Risa went still. "Why?"
Jasmin looked at Lloyd for help, but Lloyd just looked sad. He couldn't fix this. No strategy could fix this.
"Because she's gone," Jasmin whispered. "The bad men... they hurt her. She died, Risa. She died trying to save you."
Risa stared at her. She didn't scream. She didn't cry immediately. She just stared, as if trying to understand a language she didn't speak.
"Dead?" Risa whispered.
"Yes," Jasmin sobbed. "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
Risa pulled her hands away. She curled into a ball. She buried her face in her knees.
And then the sound came. A low, keening wail that rose in pitch until it filled the room. It was the sound of a heart breaking. It was the sound of a child realizing she was alone in the world.
Jasmin wrapped her arms around the girl. She rocked her. She let Risa scream into her shoulder. She cried with her.
Lloyd watched them. He felt a lump in his throat. He felt the familiar, cold rage rising in his chest.
This was the cost of Cassius's ambition. This grief. This pain.
He finished bandaging Ken. He stood up.
"Let her cry," Lloyd said softly. "It's safe here. The walls are thick."
He walked to the window. He peered through the crack in the curtains. The sun was rising over Saber. The city was waking up, unaware of the tragedy unfolding in the King's spare room.
"We are inside," Lloyd whispered to himself. "We are right under his nose."
He looked back at the grieving girls and the broken bodyguard.
"Cassius thinks he is hunting us," Lloyd thought. "But he just let the Trojan Horse into his bedroom."
He clenched his fist.
"Cry now, Risa," Lloyd vowed silently. "But tomorrow... tomorrow we make them pay."
He checked his watch. It was almost time for the King's checkup. He had to go act like a doctor while his heart was burning with the fury of a general.
"Stay here," Lloyd ordered softly. "Do not open the door for anyone but me."
He slipped back through the panel, leaving the mourners in the dust of the past, stepping back into the dangerous light of the present. The cliffhanger of their survival hung by a thread, suspended in the heart of the enemy's lair.