The Palace guards are blocking the only access to the marketplace. There doesn’t seem to be any way past, short of sprouting wings and flying over their heads…
You were hoping to find Jake here, since he wasn’t in the market as arranged, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
The people outside the Palace are absorbed in their own conversations and have no time to talk to you. The best you can hope for is to eavesdrop a little.
You may not want to do that. Someone, either among the crowds or looking out from the Palace, is bound to notice your sudden disappearance… and connect it with the recent pilferage from the Begum’s dressing room.
Consider yourself warned.
Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you. At least the guards are merciful, or do I mean mercenary? Instead of killing you outright, they merely sell you into slavery.
Better find someplace a little more secluded.
Yes, wouldn’t that be great? Maybe with some help from the right quarter…
PASSERBY: “Oh, excuse me! I didn’t see you.”
Oh, great. In the crowded approach to the marketplace, the cloak of obscurity has been pulled off by accident and is now lying on the ground.
So you thought you could get away with it, did you?
Palace guards have drawn a tight cordon across the approach to the marketplace; you’ll never be able to slip past.
