Silver for Sale (part 7)

For the beginning of the story, click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 3.5, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Recap: While under orders to figure out the mystery of what happened in an abandoned mansion, Tyla, royal historian, met Zayn, opportunistic burglar, and the two began to figure out that the Royal Advisor, Vellenio, had been planning to create a transformation potion in order to steal someone’s else identity for nefarious purposes.

Zayn didn’t inform Vellenio that he had stopped working for him, and instead used the connection to gain some valuable information to use against him.

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Tyla paced back and forth across the entrance hallway of the Travellyn mansion, wondering if she should have trusted Zayn after all, and if she’d ever see the alternative silver chalice again, when he came jogging down the gravel pathway, and informed her, “I’ve gave Vellenio the chalice, which he genuinely thought had the correct juju based on the way that he preened himself for having gotten it, and subsequently caused him to quicken his plans with the chalice to conclude them in six hours, which was either really stupid, or potentially helpful – oh, and Vellenio has Edwin Travellyn locked in his dungeon.”

Tyla blinked rapidly as she processed all of the information, then responded, “If we can prove that Edwin is really trapped there, or even better, rescue him, then that would become a subject of controversy in the King’s court, and Vellenio would have to be interrogated and his nefarious plans uncovered, plus it would fulfill the task that the King actually gave me since Edwin could explain first hand what happened to him and his family.”

“So, you’re not upset with me?” Zayn asked, still looking ready to cower under her wrath, “oh hey, what I rashly did has actually created the perfect diversion away from the dungeon where we plan to rescue Edwin!”

Tyla nodded, and the two of them set out for Vellenio’s manor, discussing along the way the best plan for how to rescue Edwin, ranging from the most pragmatic to the utterly ridiculous, including one idea that had Tyla questioning Zayn on just where exactly he thought that they could rent a dragon, to which Zayn just shrugged and laughed loudly, grinning like a loveable idiot when she also laughed, and Tyla began to realize there was far more depth and nuance to his character than she had originally assumed.

She was just about to ask him why exactly he had gotten into burglary, feeling that he could have a surprisingly sympathetic reason, when Zayn announced that they had arrived at Vellenio’s manor, and unexpectedly felt shy when he very politely held open the side gate for her to enter first after lockpicking it, then boldly lead the way to the servants’ side entrance.

They snuck through the hallways, ducked into empty rooms to avoid passing servants and guards, and crept down to the dungeon, where Zayn lifted a set of keys off of the belt of a distracted guard, and Tyla began peering into cells to find Edwin; everything seemed to be going perfectly smoothly, until a deep voice startled both of them, stating, “Well, well, well, what have we here?”

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This story is continued here.

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While writing, I challenged myself to include these prompts:

GirlieOnTheEdge’s Six Sentence Story challenge – alternative

Pensitivity101’s Three Things Challenge – preen, cower, shy

Fandango’s One Word Challenge – subsequent

Word of the Day Challenge – controversy

Your Daily Word Prompt – juju

Ragtag Daily Prompt – pragmatic

Ragtag Daily Prompt – nuance