Unexpected joy at dawn

Chapter Six: The Prisoner

The doors of the royal security wing closed behind Eliora as the guards walked away. She stood quietly for a moment and looked around the small room. It was nothing like the elegant rooms above the palace. There was only a narrow bed, a small table, and a chair beside a barred window. For the first time since arriving at the palace, she had no work in front of her and no one to question. Yet her mind refused to rest.

Someone had planned this. The confidential documents had appeared on her desk at exactly the right time. The list had been placed among her belongings, and her signature had been forged on a report accusing her of stealing military information. Whoever had done it knew about her investigation and had enough access to the palace to make the evidence look genuine. Eliora sat on the edge of the bed and went over everything again. She thought about the coded message she had found and the names connected to the secret meeting. Most of all, she thought about Minister Adrian Vale. She had seen something in his eyes when the King accused her. It had only lasted a moment, but Eliora trusted what she had seen.

She stood and began examining the room. If she was going to be imprisoned, she could at least use the time to think. Her eyes moved over the walls and the table until she noticed several faint scratches on the surface. They looked insignificant at first, but the marks were too deliberate to be accidental. There were three short lines, followed by one and then two. Eliora stared at them for several seconds. The pattern reminded her of the coded information she had discovered in the government records. She touched the marks carefully and tried to understand what they meant. Before she could make sense of them, she heard footsteps outside.

The door opened, and a guard entered with a tray of food. He placed it on the table without saying anything. Eliora watched him closely. Something about him seemed wrong. She remembered the security records she had studied and knew that guards assigned to this section wore a different badge. The badge on his uniform belonged to another division. Eliora looked at him calmly.

"Who sent you?"

The guard paused.

"I was told to bring your food."

"By whom?"

He avoided her eyes.

"You should eat."

Eliora said nothing. She watched him leave and waited until the door closed before looking at the tray. She did not touch it. If someone had gone to the trouble of sending a guard from another division into her cell, then there was a reason. They might have wanted to silence her, or perhaps they were testing whether she knew more than she had told the King.

Her attention returned to the scratches on the table. Three lines, followed by one, then two, and three again. Eliora suddenly remembered the coded document from the government records,the numbers connected to dates and locations. She began counting the stones along the wall. Three from the door. One section below the window. Two more along the lower wall. Her fingers stopped against one particular stone. It moved slightly beneath her touch.

Eliora looked towards the door before pressing it again. The stone shifted and revealed a narrow space behind it. Hidden inside was a folded piece of paper. She pulled it out and unfolded it carefully. There were only a few words written across the page.

You were never supposed to find the first message.

Eliora's heart began to race. She read the words again. The first message. The King will fall from within. She suddenly understood that her discovery had not been as secret as she believed. Someone had known about the message before she was arrested. Someone had been watching her closely enough to know what she had found and what she might discover next.

Eliora folded the paper and slipped it into her clothing. Her fear was still there, but it was no longer controlling her. She finally understood that her arrest had not been a sudden decision made because of the evidence against her. It had been part of a plan that had started much earlier.

And whoever was behind it had made one mistake: they had left Eliora alive.