171 Flight of the Intruder (1/2)
I wasn't sure what made me do it. Perhaps an overabundance of caution was all it was. Or maybe it was my spider-sense tingling and telling me something was up. After all, there were a lot of fresh faces in that crowd whom I'd never seen before.
\”Oh great fool, let me see the unseen that I might know the unknowable,\” I whispered.
Luca reacted instantly to my chant, but kept his place behind me while whispering in my ear, \”What's up?\”
\”I don't know yet… a feeling,\” I whispered back. \”Shut up and let me focus…\”
As I gazed out at the crowd with Fool's Insight giving me, well, insight, I saw things I could never unsee again, like Dain Hammerhand mining for buggers out of his extra-large nose while he hid behind Great General Grimthorn whose place was on the other side of the hall from Darah's spot.
I also saw some things that made my cheeks turn extra hot. Like Ashley, whose shieldmaiden outfit minus the armor bits revealed a little too much skin than I was used to. Her brown hair was done in a plaited style that fell of her left shoulders, revealing a long, fair neck that was nice to look at. Man, I hadn't realized how pretty she was before and I probably lingered on her longer than I should have.
Eventually, I looked away from Ashley and found myself gazing toward the far right, on the corner closest to the hall's entrance. That's where I saw him.
A painted face hid his racial features well enough that he could hide in a crowd of elves easily. But my sight wouldn't be fooled by even Leonardo Da Vinci himself, and so I knew that I wasn't staring at a regular elf, but a drow who'd hidden well with makeup.
He was unfamiliar to me, and I knew all the drow who lived within Trickster territory. I was the one who brought them here after all, and even if he was hard to deal with, Thom would have introduced me to any newcomers to his tribe.
So, you could imagine the alarm bells ringing in my ears as I could only think of one other reason why an unknown drow would be among the court tonight.
I stepped forward and tapped Darah on the arm.
\”Boss, I think we've got an uninvited guest,\” I whispered.
Darah glanced over her shoulder to stare at me. \”Confirm and detain… and do it quietly.\”
I nodded before stepping back. Then I turned gestured for Al and Luca to follow me.
The three of us quickly made our way out of our spots and skirted the back walls as swiftly as we could without arousing attention. As the hall a long one, it took us longer than I would have liked to reach the entrance.
Thoughts of the drow noticing me staring and escaping crossed my mind while I quickened my step.
\”Al, take his left side while Luca goes for his right,\” I whispered. \”I'll take the front. We'll push him toward the back wall and box him in.\”
\”Well, where is he?\” Al asked.
I shook my head. \”He's not here…\”
Worriedly, we pushed forward and apologized to the people we brushed past in our haste. When we'd reached his spot on the back wall, we found no sight of the drow almost like he vanished into thin air.
In a panic, I turned toward the hall's front doors, and just barely managed to see the tail of a midnight blue cloak as its wearer exited the hall.
\”Come on,\” I hissed.
The three of us bolted for the door, pushing past the people a little more roughly than before. I'll have to apologize to Aura and Darah later. Right now, catching that drow was more important.
We reached the doors and crossed through it into the antechamber beyond. On the other end of the wooden floor was a wide entryway that led to the courtyard and I knew from memory that there would be three paths one could take from the courtyard to get outside the palace.
\”There,\” Al called.
We all saw the shadow moving at the end of the antechamber escaping to the outside.
\”After it!\” Luca said, running forward first.
Luca made it out first but we caught up with him just outside the Palanquin palace's entryway. He was looking left and right, however, it was clear from the cluelessness plastered on his face that he didn't see where the shadow went.