The Battered Crown

Chapter 16: The Irresponsible Crew

"You have a list of insane ideas, don't you? You probably have a death wish," Nairiti muttered.

"Let me get this straight. You want to go to your brother's room to search for something," Vidyut asked Viaan.

Viaan nodded. He couldn't tell them what he wanted to do precisely. They would only say no. And his plan for the present was dangerous enough for them to refuse it. But still he hoped that would trust him.

"And you will come back alive and in one piece?" Nairiti asked quietly.

One piece was a probability. He would try to be back in a safe way. But so far, things were changing rapidly and he didn't want to jinx anything. Viaan told them that he would do his best and let the fate work later.

The next day was a working day which gave him enough opportunity to slip by unnoticed when they went to the royal palace. He went to the main balcony and surveyed the guard position. It changed every fifteen minutes. The balcony had a special blind spot which only few knew. He took advantage of the creepers and the mango tree and surveyed the guards. When the time came for the switch, Viaan made his move. He sprinkled some powder in the air which would make its say towards the newly standing guards in a few seconds.

Viaan quickly got down and hoped for it to work. As he neared the first guard, he saw them sneezing. Their momentary lapse of judgement was more than enough for him to go through. He knew how to disable the checking system which was quite easy. The system only needed to see if he belonged to Mihira. It did not check who that person was. That work was done by the guard at the position who was wheezing and sneezing badly. Viaan never realised that it was magic. He never thought about it but now that he knew about magic, it was clear to him. He also knew how to fool the magic. The doorway was enchanted to detect the person and so it did. It looked like a normal one. The big doors were inside where the palace started. The outposts were where checking and authentication was done. This was frequently changed when there were visitors or some drills were being done.

Viaan slipped in the corridor feeling quite proud of himself. He had to tell someone to strengthen the security protocols when all this mess was behind him. It didn't require a genius to make a way past them.

The palace was same, the light was blue that day. It changed every day without a specific pattern. Viaan loved to guess the color when he lived there. But now he started walking fast towards his brother's main office. His brother Vivaan would be in a meeting with he supervisors the whole day. Viaan didn't risk entering his room because he was quite sure it would be filled with a trap.

Vivaan's office was messy but not messy. He never saw it this way. Normally the office looked like a perfect museum. It was because his sister in law kept it that way. But the office no longer looked arranged. It looked like how it would be if Viaan was in charge of it. That made him conclude one other thing. His sister in law wasn't in Mihira. That meant Vivaan was really in trouble. What about the kid, Viaan thought frantically. His nephew whi was very sweet was also in some danger. Every moment brought him more bad news and Viaan wanted it to end. He could bear if anything happened to him but it was hard to imagine his family in grave danger.

Viaan did the one thing he wanted to do in the office. He dropped the velvet handkerchief in the top drawer of the desk table. Then he withdrew from the room and went towards the kitchens. He went into the storage and made a note of the food which was in supply. Then he looked for the paper waste in the trash rooms.

There wasn't anything much interesting  but one could never say what a paper was hiding. Viaan sorted out some of the torn papers and saw that they were sketches of some place. It looked like an underwater garden. Viaan never knew of the place so he thought it was an imaginated one.

He pocketed it and also some torn invitations. Ths other papers were of no use to him. He had made his way in but the bigger problem was getting out. Je couldn't use the sneeze inducing trick again or the royal palace would go on lockdown as an intruder alert protocol will be on work then.

He needed to get out. If he had to climb a tree, he would do it. But the trees were too high and it was hard to jump from one to another. If he had no other option available, he could do that. His clothes were dirty and he resembled a cleaning guy. That gave him an idea. He moved towards the physician section. The person manning the desk was not too keen on talking to him.

Viaan quietly explained that the guards had an allergic reaction and they wanted a prescription. The person who was bored out of his mind grumbled and got up. He moved behind the curtain and got a small container.

One leaf, he said and resumed his work of sleeping.

Viaan smiled and left the section. He then checked the guards and then went to the one who was newly appointed. The guard didn't ask any questions and it was a good coincidence. The main problem was going through the front door again. The guards had a longer shift than the previous one. It worked in his favor any way.

The main guard hadn't changed and Viaan gave him the medicine. The guard thanked him and Viaa  slowly moved across the door without any sudden movements.

He was out. He had done it. He smirked to himself and walked forward when the voice stopped him.

"How did you know we needed medication?"

Author's note:

What do you think?

Thank you for reading!

Theories people, theories?