Page 46 of Dragon Sword

“To the archives,” Will told her. “We may find some answers there.”

“Where are the archives?” I inquired.

“In the center of the city near the base of the Vahti,” he revealed.

Sylvia’s mouth dropped open. “How are we to get that far without being seen?”

Will’s gaze fell on a suit of armor and he smiled. “We will not go unseen.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN

“I don’t knowif this is going to work!” I hissed as I shifted in the uncomfortable armor. My whole body clanked and clanged with such a tiny effort.

“It won’t if you keep opening your mouth!” Sylvia snapped as she, too, adjusted in her armor. “They’ll know you’re an outsider immediately just by the way you talk!”

I frowned at her. “The same to you.”

“I will do all the talking,” Will interrupted us as he, too, moved the pieces of his armor to fit his person.

I looked down at myself and sighed. Though I wore the smallest set of armor we could find, it was still much too big for me. The bottom ‘hem’ of the pants legs reached the floor several inches before my feet. Only the tall leggings kept me from waddling on the shin plates. Those, too, were ill-fitting and I found myself tripping over the toes because my own feet dragged behind the points.

I managed a few steps without humiliating myself and sighed. The Vahti was a long walk.

“Here,” Sylvia suggested as she parted my pants from my breastplate and tucked her sack into the large space. “This might help.”

Her exuberance nearly toppled me but Will caught me in his arms. The loud clatter made me wince.

I looked up at him and my visor dropped over my face. A growl escaped me as I wrenched it up to look into his bemused face. “Are you sure we won’t attract too much attention?”

“It may but no one would dare stop the king’s royal guards,” he pointed out as he righted me. “These suits are meant only for them and to obstruct the king’s men is considered an act of treason, as Terve well knows.”

I shifted my breastplate and winced when something hard in the bag poked me. “What’s in this bag, anyway?” I asked our other companion.

She glared at me. “It’s none of your business and you’d better hope I don’t have to use much of them.”

“If you’re both ready then follow me,” Will instructed us before he lowered his visor.

Sylvia and I did the same. He grabbed a spear and we followed suit, and with our costumes finished we clanged our way down the hall to the exit. The stairs were unguarded and Will led us to the exterior door. He peeked out and paused. My heart pounded in my metal suit as I heard the sounds of many voices reach our ears.

“What is it?” Sylvia hissed.

“A training exercise,” Will whispered in reply.

Sylvia gestured down at herself. “What’s the deal? You said these would hide us.”

“But not from the king’s guard themselves, of which there is some training,” he told her.

My heart fell. “So what do we do?”

“We need a diversion to get past them.” He kept the door ajar and removed one gauntlet-covered hand. A small fireball burst from his palm and danced above his skin. “When I give the command, we move.”

Sylvia and I nodded. The slightly open door gave me a peek at the dozens of elven soldiers who were training at that moment. Will knelt near the bottom of the door with his flame in hand and rolled it like a ball. The tiny fire scuttled across the ground and turned a sharp right, disappearing behind the door.

“What are you doing?” Sylvia questioned him.

Will stood and pressed his shoulder lightly against the door. “Wait a moment.”

We waited with bated breath and were justly rewarded when a whiff of smoke passed the door.

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