“So you’re saying that we’re probably going to have to break in.”
“Probably, yeah.”
“And you’re not just making this up to get me to do what you want, are you?”
“Go into the city and talk to the citizens. Ask anyone there—merchants, bakers, guardsmen, beggars, whores, wagon drivers, barkeeps, anyone. You’ll hear everything I’ve just said from their lips too.”
I stared at the distant towers, turrets, and spires of the Forbidden Palace. It would be one hell of a mission to break into that fortress, but I’d never been one to shy away from a challenge. Before going down the burglary route, though, there was another avenue of possibility still open to us.
“Who guards the gates of the Forbidden Palace?” I asked. “Who gets to say who’s allowed in and who isn’t? Are they elite, Fated warriors, or just regular guards?”
“Regular guards,” Yumo said. “The Emperor keeps his elite troops close by, inside the bowels of the palace.”
“Then there’s another thing we can try. Anna-Lucielle’s Charm magic and her Beauty Mirror can convince non-Fated people of all sorts of things. I’m pretty sure we can bullshit our way into the palace like that.”
“That sounds like it would work,” she said, but I could hear the disappointment in her voice. “But how would you disguise the panthers? Would Anna-Lucielle’s magic work on them, too?”
“No, it wouldn’t. And she could only cloak a few of us with her Charm. I don’t like going into a hostile place without backup either.”
“Is there any other way?”
“You know what? There might just be.” I grinned as an idea popped into my head. “You Yengish folks have circuses, right?”
“Many,” Yumo said with quizzical eyes.
“And Yeng is a gigantic city. There must be hundreds of clothing stores down there. Since you’re not in the mood to have a nap with the rest of them, why don’t you take me to one?”
Yumo laughed, and mirth sparkled in her dark eyes. “I don’t know what you’ve got in mind, but sure, let me show you some of the City of Jewels.”
At midday we were all ready to put my unorthodox plan into action. Me and the monks were dressed in the billowing, flamboyant, and brightly colored robes of traveling circus performers. Anna-Lucielle and Yumo were also dressed in outlandish gear, and Layna’s spider legs just seemed part of an elaborate costume. Padding along with us, hemmed in by me and the monks, were the undead panthers and Anna-Lucielle’s pet. The monks each carried whips and a quarterstaff, which I’d bought from a civilian weaponry shop. Using my new powers, I’d enchanted each quarterstaff with potent Death magic. Each hit from one of these black quarterstaffs would deliver a blow of immense power to the flesh it struck, along with a necrotic after effect. The purpose of the quarterstaffs was ostensibly to form an improvised fence of sorts around the panthers, but the monks could kick some serious ass with the weapons if we encountered armed resistance. Yumo, posing as the leader of this motley crew, strode along ahead, crying out in Yengish in her best hawker’s voice.
I wasn’t exactly sure what she said, but I’d run through a script with her earlier. It was something along the lines of, “Come one, come all! View the terrifying but mesmerizing spectacle of the panther tamers, who have trained these savage wild beasts to do all manner of tricks! We also have two beautiful foreign acrobats, who can perform all manner of death-defying stunts!”
By the time we’d reached the drawbridge of the Forbidden Palace, looming ahead of us like a vast mountain, we’d drawn a crowd of thousands. The masses were all eager and jostling for a look at the “tame” saber-toothed panthers and the jaw-droppingly beautiful foreign acrobats: Anna-Lucielle and Yumo. The latter had the Beauty Mirror hidden in one of her pockets, so her words were bolstered with Charm magic, and had convinced everyone who heard them and saw us that we were the real deal.
Now that our exotic-looking entourage had reached the drawbridge, I called Anna-Lucielle over to the front. The guards were dressed in the standard yellow and gold armor, with those grotesque and menacing full-face helms. They crossed their long halberds in front of us, preventing us from stepping onto the drawbridge.
The lead guard growled at Yumo and barked something in Yengish. My hand dropped to my waist, where I’d concealed Grave Oath. It looked like we might have to fight these guards. Unfortunately, we also had a horde of innocent civilians behind us, and they would likely attack us. Sure, I could probably kill a hundred civilians with a few cracks of my kusarigama, then resurrect them as undead, but I’d only do that if absolutely necessary.
It didn’t prove necessary. Yumo, using the magic of the Charm mirror and a rather intoxicating spell from Anna-Lucielle, convinced the guards to let us through. Anna-Lucielle’s hands were surrounded by a subtle pink aura that smelled of lilacs.
The guards uncrossed their halberds and allowed us onto the drawbridge, but once my party and the panthers had passed by them, they crossed their halberds again, preventing any of the gawking mob from following us.
Anna-Lucielle and Yumo pulled the same trick on the guards at the other end of the drawbridge, and then on the dozen guards who manned the main gates to the Forbidden Palace beyond that. After only a few more strides, we were inside the palace grounds.
Describing the Forbidden Palace as spectacular was the understatement of the century. Not even the Holy City inside Luminescent Spires back in Prand boasted this kind of lavish opulence. Once we were inside the twenty-foot-high walls, it was as if we’d stepped into
