Just as before, Ivyari prepared the arrow and shoot. The first guard did see nothing, the second was surprised the same way. But in her hurry, she miscalculated and the third arrow hit the wall, next to the man's head. He shouted alarmed. As he is about to move, and continue, he notices a woman running into the room. "They were waiting for us! We were ambushed! We were-!" There was a loud scream coming from somewhere. "Niut, you fool! You lead them here!" Hapi-u exclaimed angrily.
Aulus moved forward a bit to let Maat behind him have a look. He whispered, 'You know them? Looks like there's some in-fighting going on.'
Maat nods before whispering. "I do. They're heads of noble houses, like mine. They were scheming to get rid of Anai before the war, so it's no surprise that they're continuing to do so now." She looks to Aulus. "You could possibly make a deal with them while you're here, to gain favour with your leader. It would be risky, but could have many benefits. Or, we can just head straight to the main objective, the general's daughter."
'Maybe if we have time after speaking to the general's daughter, we can't risk the main mission for this,' Aulus told Maat, 'We should go on. Is it much further?' Aulus continued through the tunnel, maybe they'd have time to talk to the conspiring nobles but the mission was more important.
Ivyari swear quiet, hoping the rest of Amazon are not far from here and shot next arrows, to kill last two guards. They already know that they are discover, so now she must make sure to not let them escape.
"Very well. Be safe." He hugs her back, unsure of what to think about the implication that his daughter is going to have sex with her mother. Shaking his head, Pesca considers his options. All of them will need his attention at some point, but he decides to go take a walk amongst the troops, examining their combat readiness personally, before heading to see the senator's wife. Pesca has a well earned reputation among the men for being a strict disciplinarian, and if he sees any issues amongst the men he punishes it harshly, but in cases of honest mistakes, he calmly explains what the offender did wrong, and how to fix it, without humiliating them. The men might grumble about his strictness, but they know that he wouldn't ask them to do anything he wouldn't do himself, due to his experience fighting the Carthaginians. Afterwards, he enters the senator's tent for the meeting, greeting the woman respectfully. "Apologies for my lateness, ma'am. I had matters of war to attend to. J hear you wanted to see me?"
Anai's guards stand in front of the door to her chambers, their spears crossed in an x shape across the entrance. As she nears, they lift their spears and let her through without her having to give any orders. Inside her elaborately decorated chambers, the legacy of her ancestors, Anai begins to get the work. As she does, however, she begins to smell something, a sweet scent on the air. At first the scent is too faint to openly notice, but soon it grows stronger, and more intoxicating. Smelling the air, Anai realises that there's some kind of incense burning somewhere in the room, sending the delightful scent towards her. The more she identifies the scent, however, the more Anai comes to realise something less delightful: She can't move. "Good evening." A gruff, female voice sounds from behind Anai. The governor, as she opens her mouth to speak, notes that her voice can't get louder than a whisper, no matter how hard she tries.
Maat nods, accepting his decision, and they head further into the tunnel. The Egyptian doesn't know how much longerer it is, since she's never used the tunnel before, but it isn't too long before they reach the end. Slowly opening a trap door, Aulus finds himself looking into an elegant bedchamber, much like the ones the nobles were in. Looking around, he sees no one inside.
Aulus looked back to Maat and Agorix, 'Looks clear, let's go.' He slowly crept out of the tunnel, looking around for any sign of someone. When he was sure they were alone, he looked to Maat, 'Any idea whose bedchamber this is?' He moved forwards to the exit of the bedchamber, carefully looking out to see if anyone was in the next room.
No one inside the palace comes outside, or moves to visibly block her way, meaning that she has a clear shot to get inside if she wishes.
Aulus' knees thank him as he finally stands, heading inside the chamber. Maat and Agorix follow behind him. Maat shakes her head. "No, I'll know where we are when we get into the wing itself, but I've never been in this specific room." Looking around, Aulus determines that he can't notice anything from the next room, as the walls are too thick. He could try the window, though. There's a balcony that looks out onto the city, and a small ledge that he could use to carefully walk to the balcony next door and check. Otherwise, the main door opens out into the wing.
Carefully, as Maat waits in the room and Agorix leans on the balcony to catch Aulus if he falls, the young Roman makes his way across the ledge. He finds it smaller than it looked, as he steps on it, and has a few close calls when the wind blows particularly hard, but luckily an intervention from Agorix isn't required, and he makes it to the other balcony. Inside, he sees three figures standing and talking in low voices. In the center sits a richly dressed Egyptian man. To his sides, stand two tall warriors clad in masks depicting an Egyptian god, whose name Aulus can't quite remember. Ana- Anu- Anubis, that's the one. The warriors say something in Egyptian, which Aulus completely fails to understand due to not knowing the language. Luckily, it seems that even in this city untouched by Alexander the Great, Greek is still the language of the elite, and the well dressed man switches the conversation into the Greek tongue, which Aulus does understand. "Is it done?" The man in the center asks. One of the warriors responds. "Yes, high priest. Our agent is in place with the drug, and our servants are ready to begin the distraction in this wing of the palace when you give the signal." The bald man, evidently the city's high priest, gives a smile of satisfaction. "Good. When the whore is felled, this city shall be ruled by servants of the gods once more. What of the Roman camp, however? What of our agent there?" The other masked warrior begins to speak. "They report little progress, my lord. The Roman defences are more formidable than expected, they report that they've found a way to the water supply. They just need a little more time." The man sneers. "Hmm, time is limited. Make sure they know that their family is in our care, and their safety depends on their success. The protection of the gods is not free, after all." The priest chuckles, while his guardians stand still and silent as automatons.
Aulus listened carefully, quite certain the information would be important. If he couldn't hear anything of interest anymore, he moved back across the ledge and told Maat what he'd heard from the priest and his guards.
The conversation turns to talk about temple donations and sacrifices, sadly nothing of use to Aulus. Heading back across the ledge, Agorix pulls the Roman back onto the balcony, and into the room. Maat acknowledges the new information quietly. "It sounds like the high priest is moving against someone here, possibly Governor Anai herself. If so, their distraction will be aimed towards getting the guards away from her chambers. That could help us, or hinder us. Taia's chambers aren't far from her mother's, so the distraction would lessen the amount of guards in the area, but the ones that are there will likely be on alert." The busty noble touches her chin as she assesses the situation. "We could wait for the distraction to start, or rush to Taia beforehand. I don't know anything about what the priest is planning in your camp, though. I've never had any agents infiltrate his temple. If you wanted, we could try to detain him and interrogate him to discover his plans, but that carries his own risks."
'I think we better hurry to Taia before things get chaotic,' Aulus told Maat. He went to the door and carefully opened it and peeked out to see if it was clear to leave.
As he makes rounds, the men greet him as he passes, with 'General' and a nod or a salute. That was good, it meant that he was respected. A loyalty of Legion meant much because it could be used to defend from his opponents in Rome. He paused as a thought about a future entered his mind. Would he return Rome and stay there? Have a grand triumph, and ask for governorship somewhere? Become a senator? Or retire... He entered the tent, to be greeted by the senator's wife and her brother. "Ah, general!" She greeted. "Take a seat! Wine?" She asked.
A smile graces Anai's lips. If that person wanted her dead, she already would have been dead. So she is needed for something. "My congratulations on entering here." She whipers. "You have to forgive me bad manners, but I am unable to offer a wine." She adds. She was curious, who her guest was, but she did not feel threatened.
As he looks outside, he noticed a servant disappearing into one of the rooms. As he motions his companions, Maat takes a lead. "Follow me." She says as she leads them. It takes a couple of minutes and a few dodging of guards, but finally, Maat stops. "These are Taia's chambers." She points at the door, unfortunately, a guard stood outside.
