Return of the Double Agent: Part Six

"How dare you!" the older female screeched. The Court Dancer gasped in surprise when she cleared her mind and could take a good look at the ugly face that had just blown its ugliness out of proportion.

     The Aisha glared. "What did I do? You disturbed my beauty sleep!" She raised an eyebrow irritably. "And what in heck happened to you?"

     "I thought you should know," said Morguss haughtily. "You were peeking in my room awhile ago, were you?"

     "I did NOTHING of the sort!" said the Court Dancer, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists in fury.

     The Moehog sighed. "Listen, you're going to keep it quiet, are you? If the whole citadel sees me like this..."

     Her daughter smirked. "You're giving me a good idea there, you know. For barging on me like that, I'm going to get up right here, right now, to tell everyone how horribly unattractive you are! You know I'm a light sleeper and you know I don't like it when anyone barges in on my nap!"

     "You wouldn't dare!"

     "Yes, I would!"

     "If you breathe one word out of order, I'm going to... going to... make you showcase your own evil attempts at sewing!"

     The Court Dancer gasped. "You wouldn't," she whispered. "You wouldn't make me walk around Darigan in my homemade dress, are you, especially the one with the shredded ribbons?"

     "I can... and I will." Morguss curled her mouth into a smile with some slight difficulty. "But not if you promise to keep this between us."

     "I'll keep your secrets," said the Aisha slowly, "if you keep mine AND forget that you were accusing me of spying on you."

     The Morguss gave her daughter a last piercing glace before she shuffled her feet and left the room, slamming the door behind her.

     "The nerve!" the dainty Aisha complained, frowning thoughtfully. Then she lowered her voice to whisper, "It wasn't as if I was spying anyway..."

     As soon as the Court Dancer had settled on the bed, the real spy hoped that it was over. But not by a long shot, as she saw the Aisha restlessly get up and walk right over to the closet.

     Getting close to being caught, twice in one day? Cylene asked herself as she tried to move out of the way, hoping that the Dancer wouldn't pay too close attention to the exact content of her closet. The Zafara edged to the wall and made herself as small as possible.

     A brown paw went into the closet, reached for the most ridiculous, horrendous frilly dress that the Agent had ever seen in her life before it disappeared, with the dress vanishing too. A few seconds later the door was closed.

     Close one, the Zafara thought as she snuck towards the door, trying to open it just enough to peer at the Aisha. From her training, she knew it was not wise to draw attention, now more than ever since the victim had just used the hiding place. As pretty as she might be, the Court Dancer was smart enough to notice if the door was opened when she had just closed it.

     Leaning closer, trying not to quicken her breath, Cylene watched as the Aisha pulled on the freaky dress. She looked rather awful in Meridell's red and blue. The white fluffiness seemed to consume the Court Dancer as she took a few careful steps around, as if she was a very little Pteri.

     The Aisha stepped up to the full-length mirror beside her bed. "Humph," she muttered, "as if she couldn't make any better dresses than this! Even my own handmade stuff would be a thousand times more fashionable than this!"

     The Court Dancer scowled. Judging from the look on her face, Cylene could tell that she wasn't wearing that by her own free will. The bedroom door opened once again, and Morguss peeked in, her face restored to its normal yet somewhat still warty self again.

     "Are you happy now?" said the Aisha in a pained voice.

     "Quite," said the Moehog hag. "I'm glad you like the dresses I make for you. I do hope you understand that I wasn't meaning for it to match Meridellian colors so closely."

     With a sigh, the Court Dancer nodded.

     "You are such a good girl," the Moehog drawled before she took her head out of the doorway again.

     Upon hearing her mother withdraw, the Aisha muttered under her breath, "I just wish you wouldn't make any dresses at all."

     "I heard that!" Morguss roared as she slammed the connecting door. "Watch your language, young lady!

     Shaking her head, the Dancer went through a quick pattern of Lupetrot and then Ix-Ix. She swirled her arms, bent her soft limbs and stopped whenever she could to correct a mistake, but overall it was a beautiful dance. Now the Agent knew why the Court Dancer had captivated Skarl, if not because of her skills.

     The slender Aisha had exhausted herself through the process, and proceeded to sit down on her bed to rest. Soon she was sleeping lightly with a few snores there and there.

     Cylene took the chance to get out. She tiptoed lightly, trying to not stir any breezes that could awaken the Court Dancer. As expected, old Darigan doors creaked when she opened it, but the Aisha just fluttered her eyelashes and went to sleep.

     Very slowly and carefully the Zafara inched outside, and when she was done, she deliberately left the door a bit open, aware of the fact that it would make more disrupting noise if she closed it. Besides, the Dancer probably didn't even pay attention to just exactly how closed the door was.

     Heaving a sigh of relief, and stifling a giggle at the thought of what she had just witnessed, the Agent strolled off to her own room, trying to look natural in these surroundings.

     Except for a Darigan Cybunny sentry who asked if she was hiding any cookies underneath her cloak, nobody gave much attention to the blue Zafara who now returned to sauntering through the hallways of the Citadel.

     In fact, Cylene was about to return to her own room when she heard a muffled scuffling noise. Her ears led her to a door that was slightly ajar, leading down a series of stone steps. Darkness pressed from all angles, interrupted only by a few feeble lamps.

     This was something hard to resist, especially for a curious agent like her. Completely forgetting about going back to her room, Cylene stealthily slipped inside, her eyes surveying the area for anyone who may be spying on her.

     The Zafara's footsteps barely made any noise as she felt her way down the staircase. Her shallow breaths could easily be heard amidst the ringing silence with every step she took.

     A clattering sound punctuated the silence, drawing her attention towards a small network of short corridors. She could hear muttering and the sharp clank of a sword against a stone wall. Cylene pressed herself against another wall that was dotted with small lanterns that burned feverishly in the dim surroundings.

     "Hah, you lose!"

     "This is a stupid game."

     "C'mon, Vex, another round, if you please?"

     "I don't want to play this stupid game, Lester. Get back to your post and make sure the prisoner in the third dungeon from the west wing doesn't think of banging his dagger against the bars again."

     Cylene listened eagerly. Master Vex was down there, probably with a compatriot. This would be an excellent opportunity to see what secrets the Cellblock master and prison warden had to hide.

     "If you agree to another round," she heard the one called Lester say triumphantly.

     "It's not nice to gloat," the scarred Mynci grumbled. "Fine, if you can just get him to keep quiet. And make sure you give Barallus his daily dose of Calming-Down Potion so he won't break the chains. Otherwise it'll be the third incident this week, and Lord Darigan has told me he won't pay for another one."

     Upon hearing heavy footsteps closing in on her, Cylene breathed slow, inaudible breaths, not daring a peek. She drew herself back, hoping that she was out of sight from the approaching pet.

     A few smacks and a couple of ouches later, the pet that was presumably Lester sauntered back to Master Vex.

     "Now, I did my job," Lester declared. "Keep your end of the bargain, and let's play Shapeshifter again!"

     "I hate that game," muttered Vex. Soon afterwards a few clicking noises echoed throughout the dungeons, probably sounds of a playing board and Shapeshift pieces.

     It only took a few seconds before a proud "Hah!" was shouted by Lester, who skipped around rather joyfully.

     "You lose…again!"

     "If only we could play Cellblock..."

     "But we can't," the one named Lester said arrogantly. "Lordy himself said that this was the Non-Cellblock week. Besides, be nice to me. You wouldn't want the whole citadel to know that you are absolutely horrendous at Shapeshifter, would you?"

     The icy quiet that stemmed from the far end of the corridor lasted a few minutes before Master Vex coughed.

     "Let's go back to work," he said.

     Having gotten her interesting piece of information, the Zafara was satisfied. So Master Vex wasn't quite the master in Shapeshifter, eh? Quietly she snuck back, trying to find her way through the corridors while wondering what kind of stupid architect would make a floating citadel in the air have such stinky dungeons.

     Brimming with the secrets that started to overflow within her trusty notebook, Cylene began groping about to find the staircase she had emerged through.

     As she stalked past Vex, who was too steamed to care that someone could be discovering one of his darkest secrets, Cylene saw that this Lester character was another guard in the dungeons, a Darigan Techo who looked like someone who was not to be crossed. Shrugging, she moved on.

To be continued...