Warrior of the Drowned Empire (Drowned Empire #6)

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

RHYAN

There was a long dark hall, with barely any light. The corridor was so narrow I had to run behind Tristan—uncomfortable, since he didn’t move fast enough. But I tried to focus on how this was exactly like the map we’d studied—Lyr was right. The hall opened up into a large windowless room, painted an unnervingly bright yellow. It reminded me of Shiviel. Of fucking Kane.

I felt Lyr behind me, moving faster, trying to get ahead, but I was determined to block her, to be the first one inside the room in case Tristan had been wrong. Or … had betrayed us. But now that we were inside, she couldn’t hold back.

I heard Jules’s cry of pain, and I was ready to kill.

But Lyr, Lyr’s heart was breaking. She screamed, the sound was gut-wrenching.

“JULES!”

Imperator Kormac wore the Emperor’s purple robes as he stood in the corner of the room, the torch lights flickering and casting shadows on his wolfish face. And there she was. Jules was in his arms, bruised and bleeding. I bleakly took in the sight of Galen, half-naked, beaten and chained to the wall. The chayatim huddled on the opposite side of the room, their blue mage robes hooded over their heads to conceal their faces.

But mostly, I saw Jules. My friend. My confidante. The one person I’d opened up to when I was alone that summer, and then again the year after that fateful solstice. She was the first person who’d been there when my heart had broken, the first person who knew the truth of how much I loved Lyr.

Jules looked just as Lyr had described after seeing the visions taken by my father’s nahashim. Too pale. Too thin, her hair disheveled. Her eyes haunted and pained. She wore the same robes as the chayatim, but her robe had opened, falling off her shoulders. Her dress underneath was black with a deep V that dipped to her belly—dirty and ragged, and far too big for her. Her face was blotchy, and her arms bruised, her chest red. My fingers tensed. I was going to kill Avery Kormac.

One of the chayatim’s heads jerked in my direction. Then more followed.

I did fucking hate him. That was no secret. But I couldn’t do anything about it now.

My hands were tied.

Jules was silent though, her eyes immediately fixed on Lyr. I knew she didn’t see me. Not yet. Nor anyone else. She wouldn’t understand that Meera was here, too. That we were all here. For her. To save her. She jerked from the Imperator’s hold, still putting up a fight, even if she knew she couldn’t win it. But he pulled her back suddenly, and slammed her against the wall.

“NO!” Lyr yelled as Jules’s head cracked. She paled, looking faint. But her eyes were open and she was still breathing. She wore a look of absolute pain. But there was defiance in her eyes. I couldn’t even comprehend what she’d been through these last few years. And a part of me didn’t want to. But one thing was certain. She wasn’t the same Jules I’d met before. She was stronger, a survivor, a fighter. And by the Gods, and every oath I’d ever sworn, she was about to be free.

“Lady Lyriana,” our new Emperor drawled. “I guess the secret’s out. Too late.”

Lyr practically growled, hardly holding onto her glamour—her bindings. She was moving too much, losing control. I could see it in her eyes. She wanted to run at him. Murder him. One of the chayatim looked up at her suddenly, their eyes narrowed. I had to do something.

“I see some congratulations are in order,” I yelled suddenly, trying to get the Emperor’s attention onto me. Let him attack me instead. I needed him to leave Jules and Lyr alone. I could only imagine the games he was ready to play, the way he wanted to torture them both. “ Tovayah maischa on your promotion. Your Highness. Or I suppose, it’s Your Majesty, now?”

But it didn’t work. Jules was still struggling, still fighting back. She looked woozy, and unsteady on her feet, and the Emperor gripped her arm, squeezing. She snarled, but he held her aside, his strength too much for her to fight back against. Suddenly, her eyes closed, her injuries overwhelming her.

Lyr made a distressed sound beside me, and I willed her to be strong, to be still. For just another minute.

“Lord Rhyan,” he said. “As obstinate as ever. You need to bow before me. All of you do. Or have you forgotten?”

I eyed Tristan carefully and he nodded, bending over. We all followed suit. I could have sworn the Emperor’s eyes moved behind me. To Mee—, I mean to that one soturion whatever the fuck his name was. He was an odd one. Probably didn’t even know how to fucking bow. He probably curtsied. Farther than Lethea.

I swallowed, and stood, and the Emperor, fortunately, had his eyes on me. Good.

Jules suddenly came to, looking more focused than before, like she had a sudden burst of strength. She lunged for the Emperor, with no weapons, only her own inner strength and will.

“LYR! LYR! Get out of here! GO!” Jules roared.

The Emperor whirled around and slapped her across the face. The cracking sound made me run forward. But Tristan stopped me.

I was two seconds away from ending this. From being fucking done. Except for one thing. I knew the Emperor had a vadati on him. And I knew he’d call in the Bastardmaker, and then my father. We couldn’t afford another visitor. Especially not them.

Three chayatim looked up at me.

“You little bitch,” the Emperor snarled, and slapped Jules again.

“Why don’t you punch me,” I shouted. “You know you want to, that you’ve been salivating at the idea. Punishing your rival’s son. Humiliating him. Letting Devon know that you won. Go ahead.”

The Emperor smirked. “Lord Rhyan, I will greatly enjoy seeing you suffer.”

“Why wait?” I asked. “Start now. You have every reason to. You know I was there. In Vrukshire. I was there when Brockton died. I saw him defeated, like he was nothing. Pathetic. He begged at the end. And he gave you up, told us about Jules, whining for life. And you know what else I did? I killed the others. Your nephews? I can’t even remember their fucking names. They were weak. Pathetic. None of them are worth remembering.”

The Emperor wrapped his hands around Jules’s throat.

“Trying to save this whore?” he asked.

I looked around the room. The chayatim may be onto us, but they were silent. And I was pretty fucking sure they didn’t have vadatis.

I wasn’t waiting for Tristan’s signal any longer. And from the look on Lyr’s face, neither was she.

I ran forward, punching the Emperor in the face.

“What the fuck!” he roared, and swung at me, but already he was going into his belt pocket, pulling out the vadati.

Fuck!

The chayatim started running at us, not to fight, I realized. But to get out, and sound the alarm. Soturi would fill this room in an instant.

“Stop them!” I screamed. Lyr and Dario immediately went for the chayatim. Meera and Aiden running, with their staves pointed.

The glamours fell at that moment as Aiden switched his focus onto binding each chayatim he could. But I could see he was getting tired. The bindings were no doubt weak. And the chayatim were determined to get out. Lyr and Dario had their hands full, fighting and pushing back.

“GO,” I roared at Tristan, my chin jerked at Galen.

Then I dug my heels into the ground, my teeth grinding together. I’d been itching for this fight for a long, long time. I withdrew my sword just in time to deflect the Emperor’s. He swung back, and again steel clashed as I shifted to the left.

I prepared to strike again, when suddenly, the vadati lit up, glowing bright blue.

“Waryn,” the Emperor roared. “Get in here. NOW!”

“Avery,” the Bastardmaker replied. “Coming.”

Fuck. Fuck!

We had to end this now. We had no time.

“DARIO!” I screamed. He was at my side within seconds. “Fuck the chayatim! Guards coming. We need to go!”

I swung at the Emperor again, and this time, I struck, slicing into his arm. I managed to hit the one place he wore no armor.

Dario was by my side a second later. There was something like an explosion beside me.

Tristan had freed Galen, and had hoisted him over his shoulder.

The Emperor’s face contorted into something I’d never seen before. He was going to kill us. All the masks of civility were gone. Then his eyes widened.

A dagger flew at his face, the hilt smacking him between the eyes.

“You know it’s the pointy side that kills,” I said, as the Emperor sank to his knees and fell, his body landing on an unconscious Jules.

“Yes, well, small chance we don’t get out of here—I think the criminal charge is less for knocking the Emperor unconscious,” Dario said, already pushing his body back.

“Go,” I ordered. “Help Tristan with Galen.”

I reached for Jules, lifting her into my arms. Her eyelids opened, her eyes moving slowly without focus.

“Jules? Jules!” I yelled.

Suddenly her gaze focused on me.

“Rhyan?” she asked, her voice cracking.

Tears began to fall. “Hi, friend,” I said. “It’s me.”

She started to cry, her lip trembling. “You can’t be here.”

“Well, I am, and I’m getting you out.”

She shook her head quickly. “No. No I can’t. It won’t work.” Then something seemed to break down in her aura and face. Like she was no longer seeing me. “I was right,” she cried, she sounded hysterical. “I was right. I was fucking right.” She was sobbing now. I was already making my way out of the room with her, down the dark corridor, all while quickly counting to make sure that everyone was there. Meera, Aiden. Dario with Tristan and Galen. And at the front, leading the charge out was Lyr. She knew the maps better than anyone. She knew the way out.

“Aiden,” I roared. “Do something.”

Lyr knew where to go. But we could only handle so many fights while carrying two injured. If Aiden could disguise us again, we had a much better chance.

“On it,” he yelled. And Lyr’s form, and then Meera’s shifted to men, wearing the Emperor’s pale golden armor.

“I was right,” Jules said again.

“I know, Jules, I know you were,” I said gently, trying to calm her. I didn’t want to scare or upset her. She seemed like she was barely hanging on after her beating, and I didn’t know in what other ways she might have changed. But I couldn’t have her screaming in the halls, alerting guards where we were. Or slowing Lyr down when she heard her cries.

We burst from the room, and turned, running away from the Throne Room.

I caught sight of a soturion down the hall when I rounded the corner.

“Faster,” I hissed.

We raced down what felt like an endless corridor, until we reached another, and then burst into a stairwell, hidden behind a door. It was one used by servants that led down to the kitchens. Lyr looked back up at me, her face anxious, and I nodded, urging her to keep running, to go faster, and to not look back.

She did, picking up her speed, running at a pace that made me so fucking proud. The issue though was quickly becoming Aiden, Tristan, and Meera. All mages. None trained to run.

We reached the bottom of the stairwell, and then another. Windows allowed moonlight and the glimmer of nearby moontrees to enter.

Windows meant outside. There was no door here. We still had too far to go to get out. Meera was tiring. Everyone was, but if we reached the bottom floor, we could escape out the window. I was sure they were warded, and there were guards outside—but right here according to all the schedules, they were on rotation, because there were no doors.

We’d never make the rendezvous point. But we didn’t need to. We were all here.

We just needed a way out. And we had one.

“Lyr!” I called out. “Bottom of the stairwell. All the way. To the window. Go!”

“You sure?” she asked.

“Yes!” Meera shouted. “Yes. I remember. There are stables nearby.”

Gryphons. Fucking gryphons. Of course. My heart leapt, and I swore, even though I was exhausted and all my muscles were burning, I felt light. I felt energized.

Because suddenly, I felt hope. A memory of escape once before, of fleeing on gryphon-back, of getting to safety in the middle of the night.

We were going to do this. We were going to get out of here.

I clutched Jules closer to me, trying not to rattle her. She was still crying, still mumbling “I was right, I was right,” and wincing in pain with every bump and jostle.

My legs were burning. My arms ached, but I kept going until we were all crowded at the bottom.

I gave Aiden one more look. He let the illusion of our armor fall again. But he was exhausted, and I didn’t know how much more magic he could muster.

Meera stepped forward instead and looked at the window. “I’ve got this,” she said, and pointed her stave at the glass. “ Lumir dorscha! ” she yelled. Blue light burst from her stave. And suddenly, the faint buzzing that we’d grown so accustomed to, stopped.

She’d undone the wards.

There was another noise starting. It was a few rooms away from us. It sounded like a bell. A warning bell. Someone knew, and they would be heading this way any minute.

Meera wiped sweat from her forehead, and then she pointed again, gripping her stave tightly, slowly turning her wrist as she muttered to herself.

The glass shattered, spilling like rain across the floor.

“Meera!” Lyr yelled, her voice full of emotion and pride. Everyone began climbing up to the sill and then out. I was last with Jules, hoisting her higher in my arms, and careful we didn’t touch any broken glass.

I barely dared to breathe as I touched down on the dirt outside.

But already I could hear the soturi running from within, yelling. Meera wasn’t moving fast enough. Taking down the wards had weakened her. And neither was Tristan while he supported Galen. Out in the open now, we’d be an easy target once the soturi came close enough.

“RUN!” I roared. They did, everyone picking up their speed. But they were still moving too slowly.

We weren’t going to make it all the way to the stables.

Unless …

“Dario,” I said, “Here, take her. Keep everyone heading for the stables!”

He’d barely scooped Jules from my arms when I vanished, my stomach tugging and my feet touching the ground before a set of opened stall doors. I slipped on some straw, slightly dizzy and looked quickly around me. I needed a gryphon that looked friendly and docile. The first one to make eye contact with me, a medium sized beast with bright silver eyes, won.

I ran to him, cooing and stroking his beak. “You’re a good boy, yes you are. You’re a good boy.”

The gryphon eyed me up and down, pushing his beak into my hand. Bending his leg, he brushed his talon back and forth across the dirt. Curiously at first. And then … shit.

He bit my hand. Bastard.

I backed away, eyeing the other gryphons. Shit. Shit! I needed to be fast and convince one to trust me. I was good at this, but that didn’t mean I was tame and sweet talk a gryphon in under-a-minute-good. Especially if they could sense my nerves.

I passed a silver winged one, who was too haughty to even look at me.

So I raced further down the row of stalls, my pulse pounding until an angry squawk caught my attention. One I’d heard before. I ran at once, skidding to a halt at the end of the row when I saw a flash of bronze wings.

“No. You’re here?” It was our gryphon from the Allurian Pass. “Okay, friend. You remember me, and you like me. Ready?”

He closed his eyes, pushing his beak into my hand, a satisfied sound rumbling low in his throat.

I slashed the rope tying him down. My stomach tugged, and I was on his back.

“ Vra ,” I screamed. “ Vrata mahar! ”

He was still for a few seconds, and I wondered if he didn’t understand the command. I’d told him to run, not fly. We needed to be low so everyone could get on.

“ Vrata mahar! ” I yelled again. And this time, he burst through his gates and took off.

I saw everyone running towards us and directed the gryphon straight at them.

Behind them, soturi were starting to swarm into the courtyard from the Palace.

“Stay!” I demanded, and then I was gone. Back on the ground.

I grabbed Lyr, my stomach tugged and we were on the gryphon. Another tug. I grabbed Meera. Tug. We thudded into a seat beside Lyr. She scrambled off my lap to her sister.

Tug. I took Galen from Tristan’s arms, lifting him high. Another tug. I was getting dizzy. But I laid Galen down beside Meera, and she pulled him against her. I jumped again, reaching for Tristan. He looked startled as I hugged him, but I only tightened my hold and winked, then the tug came. I released him on the gryphon. I looked down, trying to catch my breath and saw Aiden was climbing up.

Only Dario and Jules were left behind. And they weren’t alone. A dozen soturi were right behind them. And in a minute, I knew they’d catch up. There were shouts now coming from every direction. We were going to be surrounded. Dario had to run fucking faster.

Seeing this Lyr yelled, screaming at them to hurry. She was calling out Jules’s name, her voice panicked. Then a soturion caught up to them, he was right on Dario’s heels. Jules cried out, turning back to see them.

Lyr started to rise to her feet on the gryphon’s back. I jumped. My boots slamming into the ground, my knees wobbling and my vision going black for a second. Fuck. I’d jumped farther than this plenty of times, and all while holding Lyr. But I’d never completed so many jumps in such a short period of time.

“Give her to me,” I screamed, wrenching Jules from Dario’s arms. His jaw tightened, like he was reluctant to let her go. Boots running on the ground began to sound in every direction. Then he nodded.

“Can you fly?” I asked, already moving with him. I didn’t trust myself just then. I was getting dizzy.

“Of course,” Dario said, running ahead. His speed was remarkable now that he was unencumbered and he reached for the gryphon’s feathers climbing up.

Holding Jules close, I jumped again, the last time tonight. My eyes met a guard’s as my stomach tugged. I saw his eyes widen as we vanished. My vorakh was exposed.

A second later we were on the gryphon, just as Dario reached the gryphon’s back, took a commanding hold of his feathers, and settled near his head.

“Everyone’s on?” Dario asked tersely, his eyes moving frantically around. He’d lost his leather tie and now his curls were flying loose everywhere.

“We’re all here,” Lyr yelled. Our eyes met, her hazel eyes watery, and she nodded, turning back to Dario. “GO!”

“ Vra! Volara! ” he yelled, and this time the gryphon listened at once, turning and starting his run.

“Anyone who can use a stave,” shouted Aiden, “should get on that. Now! They’ll be throwing wards and protective domes at us with all they have.”

“I was right,” Jules said again.

There was a blast—someone taking down a ward. And then another.

I pushed Jules’s hair off her forehead, and adjusted her in my lap, supporting her head.

“What? What were you right about?’ I asked. I couldn’t tell if this was something to do with a vision, or if she was simply hysterical from what had happened. It reminded me almost of what my mother had said when she died.

It was right.

Then Jules looked up at me, her eyes suddenly clear. She was lucid. She knew where she was, and who I was.

“About this. I told you,” she said. “I told you.” She was nodding her head vigorously. “You said it was impossible. But I knew. I knew we’d see each other again.”

My heart pounded, remembering the last time I saw her. She said as much. I hadn’t believed her—I never planned to return to Bamaria. And then she’d said something to me, the same thing she used to write all the time in her letters.

Anything is possible.

My eyes watered and I nodded. “You were,” I said, my voice breaking. “You were right, Jules. You were so fucking right.”

She sniffled, and closed her eyes.

And then the gryphon’s wings expanded, a gust of wind blowing against us. There was one final burst of light—Lyr’s stave glowed. Blue light exploded, a burst of magic raining down. It was the kind of magic only an Arkmage could command. But it had been all Lyr. The final ward standing between us and freedom had been demolished. We passed through it with ease, and flew into the night.

Away from the Palace. Free.