Kate tried to get back inside the crypt, but the door was solidly locked. There was no choice but to wait outside for Atiya and the grey-eyed man from the chamber to arrive. As soon as they did, she was going to ask the young man if ‘Morgan’ was his first or last name and see what he said. Jorad said he had a brother named Morgan, and that Morgan was the one who had killed Jorad's wife and child. That couldn't be the same man; the grey-eyed man was kind and the chamber had proven he was honorable. But then why would his name be on the largest crypt in the entire graveyard and one with a secret entrance into the city?

  As she wearily climbed the polished marble steps of Morgan’s crypt, Kate realized she had not slept through a night, without a visit to the chamber, since first meeting Jorad at the upper door overlooking the city.

  Sitting on the top step of the portico in front of the crypt she looked around the courtyard. The large tomb she had stumbled out of was considerably out of proportion to the rest and occupied the position where the statue and round pool stood in the real city. To her left was a replica of the palace of Kadir and on the right, a model of a building with a pointed roof. Leaving Morgan’s crypt she walked the perimeter, looking over the courtyard walls as if she were a giant. The structure representing the palace turned out to be a set of crypt buildings that had been joined side by side.

  Leaning one of the fluted pillars that supported the roof of the front porch, Kate closed her eyes. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to rest while she waited for Atiya and Morgan, if that indeed was the name of the grey-eyed man, to arrive. But if she was going to sleep, she wasn’t going to take the chance of being called to the chamber.

  Removing the glowing medallion from around her neck, she wrapped the chain around its points, then shoved it into her back pocket. It didn’t resolve the need to relax; her mind just kept running in circles trying to piece together all the conflicting information from both inside and outside the chamber. She had concluded that Jorad had switched his original medallion for the one she had found among the bones. It only made sense, for Tyreth was now holding the one Jorad had first used to meet her in the chamber.

  Her thoughts immediately turned to figuring out who had the rest of the medallions. Morgan had given his medallion to Atiya for safekeeping and Corvan was holding the one he was told to take to Tyreth. Counting the glowing one in her pocket that made five altogether which left two doors in the chamber unaccounted for, the broken one and the door immediately to the right of it. Whoever scared the old woman to death most likely came from the broken door, which meant they either had a medallion of their own or they didn't need one since the door was already open. She sighed. What was the point in even trying to figure out the medallions when she could hardly recall what happened to her the last time she was here?

  Her body sagged down the pillar, and it seemed she had just drifted off when someone kicked her thigh. Through sleepy eyes she looked up a man in one of the rebel tunics but with short white hair.

  "You are supposed to be guarding the entry, not finding a comfy place to sleep." The man pointed into the plaza and Kate pushed herself up against the pillar. "Since when does a member of the Rozan guard," he pointed at a circular insignia embroidered on the hem of her sleeve, "sleep on duty?" He jerked his thumb towards the plaza. "If it wasn't for the fact that we will need everyone for the invasion, I would send you back to serve out some time in the punishment cells. Go join the troops before I change my mind."

  Kate stood stiffly to her feet but kept her back against the pillar. While she had slept a dense mist had filled the courtyard and off to the right, a line of ghostly figures was streaming out of a crypt set up tight against the outer wall. Soldiers were creeping through the fog in a long line and out through the exit from the courtyard. Atiya was right. The rebel army was attacking the city while it was dark out. Kate tried to go past the man, but he yanked on the shoulder of her cloak and forced her to halt.

  "Wait here until they are all in, then bring up the rear. I will follow after I lock the door. When we arrive at the clearing you will stand guard at the entry and if you fall asleep again, I will personally handle your execution. Do you understand me soldier?"

  Kate nodded and he left her to walk back along the line of men, issuing quiet commands until he reached the door of the crypt the soldiers were coming through. The last man straggled out and Kate recognized the same soldier who had had discovered her and Atiya hiding behind the pile of stones in the rebel caves. Kate shrank back and watched him go past. He had a bandage over the other side of his face and his good eye was focused on staying in line. The officer came up from closing the secret door and beckoned for Kate to take her place behind the injured man. There was no escaping now.

  Following the line of soldiers, Kate passed through the arched gate, then turned down a narrow street lined with more miniature buildings. At some point on her last visit to the Cor, these rebel soldiers with the long braids had carried her on their shoulders through these same streets to a clearing in the tombs. A priest was with them . . . Jorad! Kate stumbled with the realization. That was where she first met Jorad. He had been there to marry her off to the rebel leader but instead he had helped her escape. It was also Jorad who hid her inside one of these miniature buildings. She searched her memories but there was nothing more to help her understand whose side Jorad was really on.

  The line of men turned into a narrow entry set into a long wall of tall crypt faces. As they entered the gap, the officer behind moved past her and touched the back of the injured soldier in front of Kate. “You should stay here,” he said to the bandaged man. “You can keep guard and rest a while. If you are correct, you will be justly rewarded.” He turned back to Kate. “You on the other hand, already had your rest. You will go inside and personally check every one of the crypt doors around the perimeter. We don't need a repeat of the last time we gathered here."

  Kate lowered her head as she squeezed past the two men, then followed the tight alley into an open area filled with clusters of rebel soldiers. The memory of her last time in the space rushed to meet her, and she drew back. Back then, all the men had been watching her; now they were intent on talking with each other, the collective murmur filling the air like bees in the lilacs back home. Kate took a deep breath and entered the clearing. Keeping to one side she began checking the walls around the perimeter but all she could find were the rough stuccoed walls of what the man referred to as crypts. That would make sense as Atiya called this the City of the Dead. The small buildings must be graves, but none of them had doors that she could see.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Halfway along the back section a vertical crack caught her eye. Was this the door he was talking about? Would there be skeletons and skulls inside? She pushed lightly above a round hole and a narrow door slid off to one side, revealing a dark room with empty benches along the side walls. She had slept on one of those benches after a kind older man named Rayu had brought her here. He had given her something to eat and then told her to rest while he went to find Corvan. But Corvan had not come. Or had he? In the shadows near the back, a packsack was pushed under the bench. It did not look like it belonged in this world.

  Kate closed the door behind her until only a crack of light came through, then pulled the packsack out and set it on the bench. Under the top flap was a plaid shirt Corvan sometimes wore and beneath it was his slingshot, his name neatly carved into the handle. She smiled to herself. Corvan had let her use it until she started beating him, then he made some excuse about not overstretching the rubber. Lifting it up she pulled back on the leather pouch and aimed towards the crack of light at the door. She dropped her hand. Three men were approaching the crypt.

  Jamming the slingshot into the pocket of her tunic, Kate grabbed the pack and hurried to a wider bench on the far side of the crypt. Shoving the pack underneath, she rolled herself back against the wall. The door opened wider and the three men ducked inside. One of them shut the door until only a sliver of light entered the room.

  The tallest of the three addressed the one closest to the door. "Keep an eye out. We can't be caught in here when their leader arrives. He will accuse us of treason." The man at the door nodded and turned into the light. His nose was crooked and one eye was badly bruised.

  "Isn't that what we're here for?" A short man with a helmet under his arm spoke out.

  "Perhaps." The tall one replied. "Is that what you are suggesting?"

  "Quit playing games." The short man sat wearily on the bench. "We are all fully aware of what must be done. The only reason we defected from the palace guard of Kadir was because we wanted to assist in overthrowing the Chief Watcher. Now we know we should have never joined up with this undisciplined rabble from Rozan. What sort of fanatics wear their hair in a ridiculous split braid so they can look like their leader? It’s a cult, that’s what it is. That’s how he convinced them the death of their own city means it was their destiny to take over Kadir. Now the Kadir we wanted to protect from the Chief Watcher will come under the rule of their insane leader instead." He pointed at the tall man. "The time has come to act, not talk. Tell us what you know."

  The tall man answered calmly. "I have spoken with the captain of the guard. He tells me the new city council is willing to share control of Kadir with the guards and he is severing his ties with the priests. From what I understand, the new High Priest has turned to the rebels for protection but now he finds himself controlled by the false Cor-Van. Supposedly, he brought Tyreth to the rebel leader but I doubt the girl in our base was even her. None of us that knew her could get close enough to check. I believe the explosion and her death was just an excuse to incite his followers to attack the palace tonight."

  The short man spoke angrily. "An attack would be suicide. These people from Rozan are tough enough from all they have been through, and I know not all of them are part of the braid cult, some are proper soldiers, but they lack the skill to fight at street level. The palace guard will cut them down from the walls and towers."

  The tall man leaned forward and glanced toward the door. "Their Cor-Van tells them otherwise. He says his priest can take us from here and in through the temple compound; that a surprise attack on the palace will succeed without bloodshed. He wants to attack tonight but is still trying to find some way to join himself to a counterpart before we head out. He is fixated on his prophecy. That alone proves how unstable he is."

  The younger man with the bruised face turned from the door and spoke out. "What do you suggest we do?"

  The tall man pointed at the door. "We need to contact the captain of the guard and inform him that the entire rebel army is here in the crypts. If he can trap the rebels in this clearing, this invasion will end quickly with fewer lives needlessly lost."

  The helmet rattled in the hands of the short man. "It will not work. The palace guard will not come out into the city at night with all the Broken out looking for blood."

  "That is no longer the case. Recent reports say most of the Broken have drowned themselves in the river."

  "More lies from our Cor-Van," the man with the helmet scoffed.

  The tall man waved him off. "No. This is confirmed by our friends in the palace guard. It defies understanding, but it is true. The overwhelming desire for lumiens must have driven the Broken to follow the river down to Anamir to look for more."

  "But if the palace surrounds this place tonight, what about the others like us that used to be in the palace guard before the rise of the Chief Watcher?"

  "Where does their loyalty lie now?" The tall man asked him. "Do they have enough common sense to see through this false Cor-Van’s claims?"

  The helmet waved in the air, catching the light from the door. "Any thinking person should be able understand how crazy this all is. How can his men possibly believe Tyreth wanted to marry this fool or that soldiers from the palace would kill her to stop the marriage from happening?” His voice rose. “How can they even follow someone who wears a dead animal on his head? Everyone knows the rantels died out long ago."

  "Quiet down." The tall man barked. "There are Rozan soldiers all around us. I need to directly contact the captain of the palace guard and plan this out carefully. We must contain the rebels here and stop this madness. The citizens of Rozan who were forced to serve in this attack don't deserve to die here in Kadir just because they are starving and desperate."

  “While you are gone, I will talk with those we know are leaning towards leaving the rebel army and going back to Kadir,” the man with the helmet stated. “If we work together we can help from the inside when you and the captain return, but you had better be quick. If that fool finds a woman yet tonight and his priest arrives in time, the insanity will only get worse.”

  "If your plan fails and the guards won’t help us,” the younger one who had been watching the door spoke up, his bruised face etched with determination by the shaft of light. He pulled a crossbow from his back. "Then I will do what I have said all along. I will kill the false Cor-Van. I do not care what becomes of me after that."

  His words hung in the dim air a moment, then the man holding the helmet jammed it on his head. "I agree. It is better this one man die than the whole Cor be torn apart."

  A horn sounded outside and the younger man turned and checked. "They are assembling the troops. He must be on his way back and I need run to the palace." He opened the door a bit wider and slipped out. The others paused a moment before following in his wake.

  Kate waited until they were gone, then crawled out from under the bench and crept to the door. It had not shut it all the way; something was caught in the track at the bottom edge. Kneeling, she pulled a dented tin can out of the dirt. Sticky syrup was oozing out of three holes at the top.

  As she stood, a loud cheer erupted from the soldiers. Kate looked over the heads of the crowd as a tall man in a long cloak and a skintight, ascended a rise followed by torch bearers. That had to be the rebel leader Atiya talked about.

  The man waved two guards forward and they escorted a woman onto the mound beside him.

  The woman pulled back her hood and Tyreth glared defiantly at the crowd.