Know your enemy. Know the territory. Well, now that Polly had gotten a good look at Fred she had a good grasp of his character. He was crazy. Worse than that… he was a crazy sociopath. He could not be trusted to act logically or with any kind of morality, and to even try to convince him to do so would be a complete waste of time. It would be easier to teach a camel how to dance than to make Fred see the errors of his ways.
And Garlan? Well, at least he was predictable. He would act however best saved him. A person with only their own best interest in mind could be easily manipulated.
Once Polly and Junior had eaten, and they'd waited long enough to say that Fred would probably not be back before morning, Polly took the key from out of her pocket and deftly unlocked the cage.
That's where the know the territory came in use. Polly was definitely thankful that her father had shown her around in her dreams. The palace was riddled with secret passages and places to hide… ones that only the royalty knew about. Hopefully Fred had never found them either.
Polly led Junior to a wood paneled wall. She pressed the center of the third flower to the left and a small click opened a door concealed in the carving.
"Cool!"
Polly had decided that they were going to need provisions before they hid. Once they were discovered missing, their mobility would be severely limited. Hopefully Fred would assume that they'd just escaped the palace. Instead, Polly planned to hide nearly in plain sight.
A left, a right, down a very narrow staircase, and then another left brought them to the kitchens. Polly put her finger to her lips to remind Junior that silence was important.
This doorway led directly into a pantry. Polly carefully opened the door and found it was vacant of people but it was stocked to the brim with food. She smiled and grabbed a sack nearby and started to stuff it full of things for them to eat while in hiding. When the bag was nearly the size of Junior and full enough to withstand a sizeable siege, she tied the top of it and handed it to Junior as she stepped through the door. He was barely able to wrap his arms around it and lift it off the floor.
She took back the bag and slung it over her shoulder. Junior helped carry the back of it, and the two continued on their journey through the tunnel in the wall.
"Wazzat?" Junior said as they passed by another room near the kitchens.
"Shhh." Polly hushed him, but she stopped and listened. Someone nearby was crying. It was quiet, but she could tell it wasn't a child. On the other side of the wall, a man was crying. Polly handed the bag back to Junior, and motioned for him to stay there, out of sight.
She was worried that perhaps the man who was crying was her father. He might have been captured while trying to rescue her. Polly swung the door open and found a small, dark room. She blinked, but could barely make out five miserable little huddles on the ground.
There was no way to tell if the crying man was her father, unless she made herself known. It was a risk, but if Fred was making these people miserable, then they were bound to be her friends.
"Hello. Are you interested in leaving?"
Three of the five heads popped up. A fourth one twitched a bit, and the fifth didn't move at all. One of them men stood and approached Polly. She could see that he was wearing the purple robes of the Order, though his were tattered and filthy. His face was gaunt and there was a hollowness about his eyes.
"Where did you come from?" Before she could answer, another man spoke off.
"Don't. It's just another one of his tricks."
"We're prisoners of Fred as well, but we've escaped."
"And how exactly did you manage that?"
"Easy. I stole the key." Polly said as she showed him the key.
"Fred wouldn't be that careless."
"Actually, it wasn't Fred. It was Garlan."
"Traitorous bastard."
"Yes. He stole us."
"Who is us? How old are you anyway?"
"My father is Adeo."
Two more of the monks stood to get a closer look at her. They were covered in bruises and looked as if they'd shrunk and shriveled like an old balloon.
"Fred told us the king was dead. Said he'd killed him and strung his entrails across the gates of the city."
"He was just fine when I saw him a few hours ago." Polly began to see the light of hope flicker in their eyes.
"The Child of the Chosen One has returned!"
"Shhh!" Polly said, putting her finger to her lips again. "If you shout they'll hear you. Now, if you're coming, then follow me. If you want to stay locked up in a hole until Fred comes back to torture you some more, be my guest."
"I'd come with you, but I don't think my legs will work," said the monk who was conscious, but not standing. One of the other brothers turned and helped him up. The other two hoisted the one who remained unmoving.
They climbed through the hole in the wall, and Polly shut the door behind them. She grabbed the sack from Junior again and started down the tunnel.
"Who's that?" One of the monks asked.
"Oh, that's just Junior." She couldn't be bothered to explain why he was here, considering she had a lot more thinking to do, and fast. Hiding two people was a different issue than hiding seven. She was relieved that all five had decided to leave, considering that Fred would probably turn his rage on them when he discovered the two children gone.
"If I take you outside the palace walls, do you think you can manage it from there?"
"We still have a few friends without the walls. I think if we can find them quickly, we can disappear as we did before. The only reason we were caught by Fred last time was the traitorous bastard that gave us up."
Garlan wasn't going to have many friends when this was over.
"You can come with us, Princess. We'll hide you."
"No. My father will be coming for us. And we need to be here when he comes looking. If you really want to serve me and my father, survive, spread the word, and tell them the Child of the Chosen One has returned to Shudador."
Polly reached one of the hidden doors that led outside the palace. She opened it and nodded as the brothers bowed to her as each was able. She opened the sack and gave them half the food. They disappeared into the darkness of the city.
"Polly. I'm tired."
"I know. We're almost there."
She swung the sack over her shoulder. It was now much lighter and manageable, which was good considering the next part of their journey meant climbing a multitude of narrow ladderlike staircases.
Just as she was afraid she was going to have to push Junior up the stairs, they reached the small room with the single window. It was Adeo secret tower room, the one he'd brought Polly to in her dreams… the one he'd planned to bring Betsy to before life and prophesies had gotten in the way.
Polly pulled the blankets into a makeshift bed. Junior was asleep nearly before he lay down and crawled up into a ball, sucking his thumb.
Polly took a moment to stare out the window at the city below. Most of it had been destroyed by Fred, but there were still the glimmers of light here and there and a few of the chimneys still standing had smoke trickling out of them.
Shudador could be rebuilt if Fred were gone. Like a big weed that choked out the other plants, if he were plucked out, the other plants would grow back, slowly but surely.
What could a five year old do to take down a sociopathic tyrant? Polly lay next to Junior, but she didn't close her eyes for a long while. She was too busy planning to sleep.
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