Hi, I'm back again. I'm finally getting to the journey. Lydia's starting to act a little evil here, you know doing what she does, but hey! It gets the job done. Please read and review.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Rumours become Reality

"Rumour has it that the king plans to send an entire battalion to the village." Lydia's ears seemed to twitch as she heard one of the serving girls whisper this. She continued her scrubbing, pretending not to listen, while absorbing everything the girls said.

"Why's that?" The other girl said curiously. She was a young, freckled girl with a sense of innocence around her.

"Don't you know? The village is the portal the monsters use to get out here."

"Eh! B-but it's so far away! How could they get here so quickly?"

"Who knows. Maybe they spent this entire time travelling here expecting to fight the previous king." The other said with a sigh, plopping her rag into her bucket.

"That would make sense. Apparently he ordered for all of the villagers to be massacred and pretended that they simply vanished."

"That doesn't seem to be it, though. The king seems determined that this is the place, but there are so many other towns and villages that suffered the same fate as that village. Then again, there are more monsters there than anywhere else." They were going off topic and Lydia had concluded that they had finished talking about the king's plans when the younger of the two spoke again.

"When do they plan to leave?" She whispered, taking out her scrubbing brush and scrubbing the area just next to Lydia's.

"They're doing it in two days. The king is going with them apparently." What? Why would he need to join them? "He wants to witness the scene for himself or something of the sorts most likely."

That was not enough for Lydia to start a plan. She needed more information. How many people were they taking? How old did you have to be to join? When were they leaving? What would they require? She needed to know all this; otherwise she would get spotted when she infiltrated the party.

'I need to ask the others.' She thought, biting her lip slightly.

She had known from the very start that this 'duty' of hers would have many life or death situations involved, and the chances were that if she did not tread carefully then she could end up as one of those mummified corpses buried somewhere in the desert. But if she just stood around doing nothing then the fate would come and find her anyway, so she may as well fight back as long as possible. After all, that was what she came here for, right?

She met with the others and sat down with them next to the stairs while they happily talked about their duties and general rumours around the palace.

"I heard rumours the king was planning to take part of his army to a village in the desert. You wouldn't happen to know about it, would you?" Lydia asked, her voice low. These three were aware Lydia had a hidden purpose involving the king as she had said so. She had mentioned that someone gave her orders to protect the king because he was being hunted by someone, but she had not told them who. It took a while, but she gained their trust and after a while she would begin asking them about certain rumours that would help her with her job. They were really useful under such circumstances, and they were the best allies you could ever get.

"You're not the only one that's heard that, at least half of the palace knows about it." Said the most muscular of the three; a man in his thirties.

"Seen any evidence?" Lydia questioned, keeping her head down as a guard passed by.

"I've seen some of the men preparing the horses and equipment for the journey." Said the youngest of the three; a girl with straw-like hair and narrow eyes that stared at everything with a mix of concern and caution. No one knew her real name, so they nicknamed her Eyes. "It looks like they'll be ready to leave soon."

"How many are going?" The third of the group, a mute teenage boy with a bald head, raised both his hands with all of his fingers raised; there were ten going. Would they notice if another joined the group? "Any idea when they plan to leave?" The teenage boy shook his head.

"Well then I guess I better get prepared now." Lydia concluded, rising from the ground. "Enjoy your break, I'll certainly enjoy mine." She grinned and wandered off. The three glanced at each other.

"Hope she doesn't die." The girl said, biting into her bread and concluding the silent conversation between them.

No one saw her take one of the horses. She had asked around a bit more and found out who the ten men were. Ammon had not chosen them, and none of the men had seen each other and were unaware of what the other nine men looked like. It was a perfect opportunity. There was a certain little remedy one could use to knock another out without all the mess. It was a sleeping medicine of sorts really, but Lydia knew nothing of it. All she knew was that if she put enough of it into one of the men's drinks, they wouldn't wake up in time to join the others. That would give her time to take their place.

If you looked around the back of the kitchens, you would come across the storage rooms. Each storage room had a list of all the things that were in that room so that people knew where to find things when they needed it. Lydia found this list and began looking for the sleeping aids she required. Ammon used them when he could not sleep, and often he could not, so there was quite a bit of it. Only a small amount was required to get one days sleep, but if you went over the limit… Lydia would have to be very careful with the amount she put into the man's drink. One slip up and there would be a murder in the palace, and that was a dangerous situation to be in. She quickly snatched the tiny glass bottle off the shelve and hid in down her tunic. As she walked, she could feel it's cold surface against her stomach. She needed to find out where one of the men was and mix it into his drink. He would be out of it long before he had to leave; at least, that's what she was hoping for.

"Excuse me, mister. I thought you would like something to drink before you went on your journey." Lydia said humbly, entering the room while holding a tray with a goblet of wine. The medicine was already mixed into the wine. The man was sitting at his bed, deep in thought. He was quite tanned and rather muscular. It was good that none of the men knew each other, because there was no way she could pull off that look.

"Of course, thank you." Lydia set the goblet on the table, bowed, and exited the room. In a few hours he would be sleeping like a baby, and then she could put the rest of her plan into action.

After it was nightfall, Lydia sneaked back into the man's room. Just like she predicted, he was fast asleep. She took the leather armour out of its hiding place and put it on over her own clothes. She hacked away at her hair until it was a short bob and took the man's sword. After ruffing herself up a bit more, she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like a fresh army recruit ready for adventure and couldn't help smirking before she left the room. For once in her life, everything seemed to be going according to plan.