Chapter 28. The Banquet

I made my way to the eastern wall of the palace and searched for a few minutes until I found the doorway I was looking for. This small gate hadn’t been used for ages, so it was covered in vines, carrying flowers with an oddly satisfying fragrance, and extending from the gardens in front of the gate. I pulled the vines apart one by one until the gate was clean, then tried to push it open but failed.

I tried again and again to push it open, but all my efforts were to no avail. After a few minutes of struggling, I turned to the handle on the other side of the gate and found that it was locked from within with a large chain and a large iron padlock.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I breathed out, staring at the padlock with a look of frustration. I turned back to the metal bars of the gate and found that there were built-in steps I could use to climb, and so I did. Step by step, I struggled my way up the metal bars of the gate until I was at the very top. The fact that I was