Exitium

Chapter One

With all of her effort, she finally tumbled onto the ground on the inside of the building. Next time she would have to find an easier way in—if there was a next time.

She pushed herself onto her feet and signalled to Savvas. She only hoped that he would be more elegant at sneaking into lords' houses during the middle of the night.

Savvas made it through the window with plenty more ease than Avra. They made their way down the hallways, passing the tens of rooms. What room held the lord? Avra wished not to find out the answer to that. But, with that question, what room held what she was looking for?

"What room?" Savvas whispered, as if reading Avra's mind.

"I don't know. I guess we have to try each of them," she replied, cringing at the thought. If there were this many rooms in a single hallway on the top floor, how many were there in total? It could take all night to search, and they still could leave empty-handed. They'd have to come back the next time, hopefully more elegantly. If it went on like that, how long could they continue until they were caught?

With her luck, they'd be caught as soon as they open the first door.

"We should split up," she decided. "It'll take a whole moon to search this palace otherwise."

"Agreed," Savvas replied. "I'll search up here, you go check the bottom floors."

Avra nodded and split from Savvas. He had purposely given her the least dangerous area to search. It was more possible for the lord to be hidden somewhere in the above floors than in the ground ones. Even when she was the one to drag him into the mess, he was still watching out for her.

Because she was a 'lady', he had always claimed. What did that have to do with anything? Men and women were equal! The ladies of the lords had just as much power as the lords themselves.

She shook her head, mumbling insults under her breath. If that was his philosophy, so be it. Besides, she'd rather not be caught in this house. Savvas was far more stealthy than she, so she shouldn't argue. This time.

She made her way down the spiral staircase, unsure of why anyone would ever want to get dizzy every time they made their way up or down the stairs. What was the point of this? Well, if there were ever intruders, it would made it easier to fight them off from the top of the stairs. It was very unlikely that it would ever have to come to that, though.

Even though she was intruding, but she meant no physical harm.

She paused at the bottom of the steps, glancing around the hall. Already, multiple rooms stood before her. She groaned, dreading the task that she had gotten herself into.

All of this, just for a few, simple supplies.

Pushing her misery into the back of her mind, Avra began the wretched job of searching the rooms. She began with the first door to her left. Quietly opening the door to make sure no one was inside, she looked around the room. She quickly decided that this room wouldn't hold anything she was looking for, unless, of course, she needed anything from an oversized coat closet.

Honestly, why did people need so much room just for a simple coat? What type of fool would have enough coats to fill an entire room the size of a kitchen in any other house? If there was this much room in the house, why not invite some of the homeless people inside for shelter?

Because the lords didn't want dirt in their house. Avra huffed in annoyance. The lords were the most looked up to people in the entire city, yet they did little to help with the depression outside of their own castles!

She closed the door, almost slamming it until she remembered where exactly she was. She spun around, heading towards the next room in the hallway. Maybe if all of these rooms were empty closets, it wouldn't take as long as she had previously thought.