Chapter 31
Chapter thirty-one
Pyrehold
Darion and I stocked our packs with everything we’d need and headed topside just before sunset. The sky was aglow with a hundred hues of amber. Torchlight flickered across the city. A cool ocean breeze ruffled my hair, carrying the briny scent of the sea.
Typically, before a job, a sense of calm descended upon me. I felt in control, like my fate was in my hands. Not so today. Today felt unpredictable, like any outcome was possible. My stomach ached from worry.
“You okay?” Darion asked as we made our way across the rooftops.
“I’ll just be happy when this is over.”
He paused and turned toward me, his emerald eyes filled with care and understanding. That one brief moment was all it took to make failure feel less inevitable. I focused on the positive. We had a solid plan. Everything would be all right.
As we approached the North Gate, we climbed down to street level and found a dark alcove within sight of the guard booth.
“Do you feel anything?” Darion asked.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on my Veilsense. I felt nothing. None of the slow thrumming I’d picked up when Sentinels were actively projecting a null field.
“No, it’s all clear.”
“Good,” Darion said. “In case things go south.”
The plan was to catch a prison transport outside Analon.
We’d exit the city without using Darion’s Chronothene so he could save his energy for later.
And despite the stepped-up patrols, it turned out that a simple bribe was enough to get us through the gate.
I’d learned never to underestimate the power of a few coins on a greedy guard.
We made our way along the North Road until the dwellings dwindled to nothing and the road was less traveled, such that no wandering eyes were likely to see two dark figures waiting in the shadows.
Hidden behind a boulder and a copse of trees, we pulled out Royal-issue prison garb and covered our clothing.
Darion ate a brick of a honey concoction.
It would help extend the amount of time he had before his Ember hangover hit, but when it did, he’d still be useless for hours.
“Now we wait,” Darion said.
It wasn’t long before clopping hooves and crunching gravel broke the silence. Almost exactly on time, an imposing-looking carriage with bars for windows, led by six massive workhorses, came around the bend in the road.
“That looks like our ride,” Darion said.
“It does,” I said. “And I don’t feel any Sentinels.”
Of course, I had left nothing to chance. Kael had provided the intel concerning the prison transfer carriage, but I had verified it against what Garrick had given me the previous night. Everything checked out so far.
“Okay, we have to act fast,” Darion said. “Are you ready?”
“Just one thing,” I said, and I kissed him with all the passion I had. Since I had joined the Order, we had felt more like colleagues than lovers, and I needed this moment. If things went badly, I wanted my last memory of him to be a good one.
Darion sank into the kiss. For a moment, it was just the two of us, and the rest of the world disappeared.
I pulled away. “Okay, now I’m ready.”
Darion let out a gentle laugh and smiled. “You’re insufferable.”
“And you like it.”
Darion’s face got serious. “Okay, let’s go.”
Using all our stealth, we snuck up behind the carriage. Darion counted down with his fingers. Three. Two. One.
A shimmer, and the scent of ozone and citrus filled the air. I felt Darion extend his Ember around me.
Time broke.
The air thickened into a syrupy stillness.
This had happened enough times now that I was ready for it, but you could never really be ready for it. The world felt upside down, inside out, and backward all at the same time.
I had enough awareness in his Chronothene bubble to move around and do basic tasks, but I had no fine motor skills, so I let Darion do most of the work.
He took the keys from the prison guard and unlocked the back door of the carriage.
Then, while I was getting inside, he grabbed the prisoner manifest and hastily scribbled two additional names on the roster.
The carriage was not too full but also not too empty. Exactly what we had expected.
Once I was inside, Darion hopped in behind me and swung the door shut, the click of the lock signaling that our last chance to abort the mission had passed.
No going back now. We covered our heads with see-through hoods; Darion bound my hands and feet with the special breakaway shackles that Sprocket constructed.
Then I helped him with his as best I could. We took our seats.
Darion gave me a thumbs-up, and I returned it.
A moment later, time rushed back like a torrent, cascading over me like an ocean wave.
We’d completed it all in twenty seconds, just as we had practiced. Darion would be tired but not spent. He’d be able to function long enough for us to carry out our mission. Everything was going according to plan.
Almost too well.
Even with the see-through hood, the darkness was disorienting, and the trip seemed to carry on forever as the carriage bobbed and weaved through the streets of Analon. The ride was rough, every missing cobble jarring my spine.
A feeling of unease sank into my bones. Soon I realized it was the null field around Pyrehold tickling at my senses. The closer we got, the stronger it felt until it was a constant thrum, a reminder of what I was up against.
Guards yelling and the clang of the portcullis being lifted announced that we had entered the belly of the beast. The outer doors crashed shut. We were now captives of Pyrehold.
The carriage door opened, and guards swarmed in.
They brutally shoved and kicked us out, shouting that they would kill anyone who didn’t comply.
Once the prisoners were outside the carriage, they lined us all up with Darion directly to my right.
They pulled off our hoods and forced us to our knees.
I held back a shout as a stone dug into my skin.
The one prisoner who cried out was rewarded with a kick to the back.
“Shut your fucking mouth!” the guard yelled.
Another guard went down the line of prisoners, frisking each one, looking for contraband. We hadn’t been warned about this, and I held back a growing panic. I had vials and knives stashed all over my body. I had hidden them well, but I wasn’t sure they’d be overlooked during a rigorous body search.
There were ten prisoners in total, and I was near the end of the line, but it would only be moments before the guard was upon me. Darion and I might have to fight for our lives.
The guard was frisking the prisoner directly next to me, and I wound my body up like a spring, ready to jump into action.
I gave Darion the subtlest of nods, and he returned it.
I counted five guards around us. With the element of surprise, we might be able to handle them, but it would be close.
I hoped they couldn’t hear the drumming of my heartbeat.
As the guard was reaching for me, a man walked briskly into the room, a cape billowing behind him. His uniform was meticulous, and he walked with the air of a leader. All the guards stood at attention as he approached.
“Prisoners, stand,” he said, his tone leaving no question as to his authority. Darion and I quickly obeyed, along with most of the other prisoners. The few who didn’t move fast enough were brutally dragged up by their hair.
The caped man walked down the line of prisoners, looking at each one. When he got to me, he paused. “This one with me,” he said.
This had to be Verrin, our contact. He had sure cut it close.
Verrin turned. “Send the rest to the experimentation research holding cells.”
I fought back panic. Leaving Darion behind was also not part of the plan.
But the guards shoved me forward before I could do anything.
When I shot a quick glance at Darion, his face was expressionless.
It wasn’t like there was anything I could do anyway, so I sucked in my fear.
Based on the maps Garrick had provided, I knew the location of the experimentation research holding cells, so I’d just have to let this play out and try to reunite with Darion soon.
I followed Verrin down a hallway with a guard at my side. His pace was quick, just below a jog. We hadn’t gotten far before a gruff woman’s voice called out from behind us. “Verrin, wait.”
The woman walked up to Verrin.
My blood turned to ice.
It was Syra, Orlik’s bodyguard. She wasn’t facing me and hadn’t looked my way, but the moment she did, I was sure she would immediately recognize me. And if she was here, it might mean Orlik was nearby, too.
She whispered into Verrin’s ear, and he nodded occasionally. Then he whispered something back. Her eyes slid over me, unfocused, as if she was preoccupied.
This whole plan was a terrible idea. We’d been in this prison for only minutes, and already Darion and I were separated and had almost been caught twice.
But then, as quickly as she had arrived, Syra gave a final nod, then turned and walked down the hall away from us. I wasn’t sure my nerves could take many more close calls like that.
Verrin continued at his relentless pace until we finally entered a small room with a desk. There was barely enough room for the three of us.
Verrin turned to the guard. “You are dismissed,” he said with casual authority.
“Sir?” the guard questioned.
“Do you think I can’t handle one scrawny, restrained prisoner?” Verrin spat out. “Obey, or I’ll send you to the pit.”
“Sir,” the guard said, and marched out of the room.
The moment he was gone, something in Verrin’s eyes shifted. He quickly shut the door.
“Okay, we have to act fast,” he said, his demeanor changed from brutal officer to rebel spy in an instant.
“Why didn’t you bring both of us?” I shot out.
“Both?” Verrin said, his brows scrunched. “I thought it was just you.”
“The man to my right—he was with me.”