The Chronicle of Young Dastan by Disney Book Group

Author:Disney Book Group
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction - Young Adult
Publisher: Disney Publishing Worldwide

Chapter Thirteen

“The footsteps!” Cyra hissed. “They’re coming closer!”

Acting on instinct, Dastan grabbed the small rug and tucked it under his arm. Then he ran after his friends as they dashed through the bathing room and veered off to the right.

They were a few yards ahead as they reached the next room, a small, informal dining room. By the time Dastan made it through the doorway, Cyra and Ardu were already disappearing through the arched exit on the far end. Just then Dastan heard footsteps immediately behind him.

“Is someone there?” a gruff voice called. “Stop and identify yourself!”

Dastan measured the distance to the next doorway. There was a lot of furniture in the room. It would take him a while to dart around it. He could jump up and run across the table, but that would make a lot of noise. . . .

Then he spotted a better solution—a smaller doorway directly to his left. He dashed through it a split second before a guard came stomping into the dining room.

“Hello?” the guard called out. He added greetings in several other languages—Bactrian, Greek, even Aramaic.

Dastan guessed that the guard must have assumed that one of the king’s guests from foreign lands might be wandering around lost. He looked around the room he was in. There was no lamp burning in there and no windows, making it hard to see much. But Dastan wasn’t worried about that; he was used to making his way through the dark streets outside.

However, he’d forgotten that unlike the streets outside, the floors here were usually covered with thick rugs. His toes caught on the edge of one, and he tripped.

He caught himself before falling. But he made enough noise that he could hear the guard stop short.

“Who’s in there?”

Dastan’s heart pounded as the footsteps came closer. He hoped his friends were far away by now, or at least hiding somewhere out of sight.

Glancing around again as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, his heart sank. There was no other way out. If the guard looked in, he would see Dastan immediately.

Dastan clutched the rug he was still holding as he peered out. The guard was too close to miss him if Dastan tried to dash out now. There appeared to be no way out of this one. . . .

Then his eyes widened. He’d just seen Ardu peeking in through one of the archways behind the guard!

For a second, Dastan was tempted to step out and give himself up. That way Ardu would see what was going on, and the guard would be distracted, allowing Ardu and Cyra to escape undetected.

Before he could move a muscle, however, he saw one of Ardu’s skinny arms shoot forward into the room. A second later there was a clatter from a small object landing in the next room, the one the guard had just come from.

“Hey!” The guard spun around, charging off in that direction with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Scuttling out of his hiding place,

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