Stay close to the bushes

Slinking around and sticking to the brush may have been the more suspicious course of action, but it was more important to get to Lord Vale.

He was coming up on a small building, a shed perhaps? It was situated in the corner, just overlooking one of the sparkling pools of water.

“Good morning, Cherry. Tami.”

Kelly froze, tucking between a bush and the building.

Peering through the foliage, Kelly held his breath. One of the guards, her blonde hair carefully pulled into a low bun below her helmet. She had a spear at her side as she bowed to the two girls from before.

“Good day, lady Mary. I have a peculiar question for you.” Cherry said, pulling the guard woman’s arm, urging her to follow.

Kelly gasped, trying to curl up to avoid being seen.

“Cherry, don’t bother her…”

“No, no, I just wanted to see if you knew anything about this. I swear I saw a pineapple growing in the gardens. Have you seen-?”

SNAP.

Kelly froze. He’d stepped on a twig! They would definitely find him now…should he run? No, he’d definitely get caught or at the very least be treated as an intruder.

He’d need to either stay quiet and hope they lost interest or bluff and make them believe he belonged somehow, maybe claim to be a new guard.