Luffy and Ludo's Arc

Chapter 3 of 11

Inside the walls, the fortress spread wide and strange. Elegant halls rose on stone foundations. Lanterns lit long walkways. Servants crossed the yard in gray robes. Luffy and Ludo carried their sacks past koi ponds and bamboo. But they knew nothing of the layout. The keep held the scroll somewhere ahead. Wander into the wrong room, and a guard would gut them. "We can't just walk," Ludo whispered. "We need someone who knows the halls." The blind monk found them first. He shuffled from a shadowed walkway, robe dragging, head tipped as if he heard their heartbeats. "You made it past the gate," he said. "Now you're lost. I feel it in how you stand." He turned his pale eyes toward the tall keep. "There is one who knows every hall. A prince. Chained near the empress. Follow the servant path to the lower deck." They found the prince at the compound's edge. A gray long-haired tabby crouched by a stone post, a chain running from his wrist to an iron ring. His purple coat was torn. His yellow eyes lifted, sharp and angry. This was Max, the empress's captive, once a rival prince, now her ornament. "Two servants who carry blades under grain dust," Max said. He kept his voice low. "You're not here to sweep floors." Luffy knelt and pretended to fix his sandal. "We need the keep. The scroll room. Which way?" Max laughed without sound. "You want the shadow scroll. Everyone does." He glanced at the upper hall. A small brown dog in a jeweled crown stood there, watching servants. The empress, Minnie. Her hard eyes swept the yard. Max lowered his head fast. "She sees everything. Free me, and I'll draw you the way." "We free you after," Ludo said. "You'll never find it without me." Max rattled the chain. "The keep is a maze. Twelve doors look the same. Only one holds the scroll. The others hold guards." Luffy studied the iron ring. He drew a thin pick from his sleeve and worked the lock. Above, Minnie turned. Her gaze crossed the lower deck. Luffy froze, head down. She stared a long breath, then moved on. The lock clicked. The chain fell. Max rubbed his wrist. He crouched and scratched a map in the dirt with one claw. "Down this hall. Second stair. Past the empress's chamber. The scroll sits behind the fourth red door." He smeared the map away. "But she keeps the key on her own neck." Luffy and Ludo looked at each other. They had the path now. They knew the doors. But the key hung around the throat of the one who had watched them from the balcony. "Then we take it from her," Ludo said. Max grinned. "Now you understand your real problem."