The thought of hiding places made the magistrate stir. The royal palace, like any noble mansion, had secret passages. His former position did not imply access to such knowledge, but his instincts could help him find secret doors without prior knowledge. All one had to do was look.
And it was impossible to do it quietly, there were enough Royal Guardsmen to cover all the main routes of travel. This was not a labyrinth, but a comfortable dwelling of a monarch, and everything was built clearly and rationally. Peeking out from his hiding place, Rudolph again found the service corridor completely empty.
"We should check what rooms the doors from it lead to."
The fourth and top floor of the palace was inhabited by servants and laborers, the kind that lived in the palace all the time. But in addition to their rooms, there were rooms for the king's non-noble guests and forced temporary guests, such as messengers whose status did not allow them to expect a room on the same floor as the ruler and his family. The servants' living quarters were empty. What would they be doing here in the middle of the day? From the looks of it, they were men's quarters.
"Shall I try to change into a laborer?"
The thought was irritating in its obviousness and lack of other alternatives. Naturally his pursuers would expect him to change from the ornate and eye-catching clothes of a magistrate, to something simpler and discreet. It was too formulaic, and Rudolph didn't like that kind of thing. But he had no other options.
The magician's eye-catching attire needed to be changed. A woman's dress would be ideal, since he wouldn't be expected to be like that, but he had already discarded that thought some time ago. A nobleman's costume attracts attention as much as a mage's robes. So one would need the camisole of a servant, a palace laborer, or a guard.
And of all these outfits, only the laborer's garb was discreet. The rest would be eye-catching if they managed to get out into the city. After a couple of rooms, the magister found what he was looking for and quickly changed his clothes. The only problem was the concealed placement of the dagger, as palace servants were not supposed to carry weapons.
An hour or so passed. Judging by the shouts that sometimes reached the ghoul's ears, the search of the first floor was almost complete, and in some places the second floor was being searched. The thoroughness with which the rooms were being searched was encouraging. At this rate, the fourth floor would be reached only by darkness, and then it would be possible to leave the palace by simply jumping out of the window and relying on speed.
That's high for a human, but a vampire wouldn't even notice. But apparently similar thoughts occurred to his opponents. First, the group of guardsmen, sweating with terror, made a cursory inspection of all the rooms. This inspection, organized more as a way to smoke him out of his hiding place, Rudolph endured without much difficulty, simply by covering himself with bales of linen. Soon the inspection was repeated, and this time the bolder soldiers even went into the rooms and looked into possible hiding places.
A bale of laundry was poked with a spade. After enduring a couple of unpleasant seconds and expecting immediate exposure, the magister exhaled with relief when the soldiers left. The third inspection promised to be even more thorough. And the ghoul decided not to wait for it. He was already given extra time. And the former head of Valeria's intelligence spent it usefully, thinking over plans for the future.
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