The Prince, the Thief & the Artifact

Chapter 6: Sneaking Out

Her chance came when one of the guards accompanied her to the women's washroom. It was a large room equipped with modern plumbing, toilet stalls and a bath section. The inn maids as well as the female guests used it.

Summer had just finished her business that morning when a maid walked in with a change of clothes. The maid pulled a partition to isolate one of the tubs, hung her clothes over the wooden partition and began filling the tub with steaming water.

Summer waited until the woman was well busy washing herself before snatching her clothes.

She changed quickly into the maid's uniform, pulled the cap over her hair and low on her eyes. She opened the door a crack. The guard was pacing back and forth, an impatient scowl on his face.

"Do it," Summer whispered to herself, the familiar jitters in her stomach. "Just do it."

It was one of those times when Boyd's lessons came in quite handy. As soon as the guard had his back to her, she crept behind him, struck him on a specific spot on his throat with the side of her hand. He tumbled to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

He was heavy, but she managed to pull him into a small alcove in the hallway. It wouldn't take much for him to be found, but she'd be long gone by then.

The guards around the inn didn't pay much attention to a maid walking out. Summer kept her eyes firmly on the ground and hurried along quietly and imperceptibly, to the orphanage.

Minutes later, she tapped on Rose's window. She had passed Leon and his companions in town. They were busy arguing with the magistrate in front of the prison. Still, Summer was careful enough to give them a wide berth.

Rose's eyes were saucer wide when she opened the window.

"Are you insane?! You escaped again! You promised them you wouldn't!" Rose whisper-yelled. Berry was not in his cot.

"Where's Berry?" Summer asked instead.

"He's in another room with the doctor." Rose locked the door. "You're lucky you found me here. We moved to a room on the first floor."

"What? Why?" Summer asked. She knew rooms on the first floor were more spacious and comfortable. They contained the headmaster's and the mistresses' rooms.

Rose sighed dreamily. "Felix said being in a larger, sunnier room would be better for Berry."

Summer raised her brows as she sat down on the cot. "Felix? You're on a first name basis already?"

"He's a doctor," Rose went on. "You won't believe what happened."

Sitting next to her, Rose proceeded to tell her all about how the headmaster had been paying the physician to quietly get rid of Berry. The medication they'd been feeding the boy the entire time was an addictive poison slowly killing him.

Summer was murderous. If she laid eyes on the headmaster at that moment, she would have cut him enough wounds to bleed to death, slowly and painfully.

"Where's the headmaster?"

"In prison, with the physician," Rose said. "They'll stay there until the committee arrives. Then they'll be dealt with accordingly. Felix said not to worry about them anymore. He also told me about your promise to Leon. Felix assured me he will keep his word, Summer. He already arranged for us to be well taken care of."

Summer was beginning to dislike Felix. "Is that so?"

"Yes, which is why coming here was stupid," Rose said pointedly.

"I don't trust them." Summer frowned at Rose. "And neither should you. You know people like them don't really care about people like us."

"Not every rich and powerful person is bad," Rose said quietly, picking at her green dress.