Chapter 34
Aden stepped around Robin, moving toward the door to help Lane and Sol place a heavy beam across it and bar it from the inside. Robin turned to survey her band.
No one appeared seriously injured.
She was elated that the plan had worked. The monastery was theirs.
“Liam?” she said, scanning the sweaty faces of the bandits around her.
“Ensure that Fletcher and Sarah secured the back gate.” The bandit stepped forward as he repeated the role they had previously discussed.
Robin nodded, and Liam took off down a monastery hallway.
“Lane?” she said next.
He, too, had already taken off back into the monastery. He raised a hand, spinning around as he ran to acknowledge Robin’s call. He would be protecting the windows in the kitchen that were large enough to enter if one scaled the back wall.
Before she could call their names, Aden and Rigelt stepped forward.
Robin nodded at them. The most important part of the mission was still ahead.
Rigelt led the way through to the monastery cellar. As one of the Majis who had spent time in the monastery, he was familiar with the building. Taking them down a maze of hallways, he stopped in front of a set of double doors.
The doors opened to reveal a broad set of stairs leading down into the sandstone. No torches were necessary as the left wall of the staircase was part of the actual cliff that overlooked the ocean. Tall, slit-like windows in the stone let in enough light to see by.
The stairs were wide enough for four people abreast to walk down. It felt overly generous until Robin remembered the monks used the cellar to brew their ale, and they likely needed as much space as possible to transfer the barrels up and down to the kitchens.
The bottom of the stairs opened up to a long, low-ceilinged room.
This room was too large to be a cellar. It was an entire undercroft that spanned the whole length of the monastery. Thick pillars supported the low ceiling, leading off into a long, dark space.
The length of it that ran along the cliffside, however, was plenty bright.
Small, high windows on that wall continued to light the space.
Water stains dripped below the windows, likely created by the oversized waves that had been crashing high enough up the cliffs to flood the room during storms. Large barrels, several of them broken, lined the back wall, and a yeasty aroma mixed with the ever-present salty tang in the air.
The room was particularly cold, as a cellar should be, and the air was damp.
Robin noted these details as she quickly looked through the large space, trying to locate the imprisoned Majis.
Deeper into the undercroft, some small rooms had been built against the windowed wall. Those were likely the actual cellars for food storage.
Robin ran forward.
The door of the first one was closed. She grabbed the iron handle and pressed against the door. It was locked.
Rigelt ran past her. “The others are empty,” he said.
“They are in here,” Robin said, throwing her shoulder against the door, though she knew it would do nothing. She looked around the room once more. The freestanding shelves that led deeper into the shadows were empty, save from some broken glass bottles and open crates.
To her left, Aden was crouched amongst the broken barrels along the far wall.
Rigelt reached into his pocket, pulling out a rounded piece of glowing glass. “I brought this in case we needed it,” he said. “I’ll take a look deeper in.” He moved toward the thick pillars that lined the undercroft, holding the glass in front of him.
“Let me try this,” Aden called, striding back toward them. He held out a large mallet, the kind that was used for hammering barrel lids into place.
Robin stepped away from the locked door to give him room.
Aden swung the hammer against the door handle.
A terrified shriek sounded from inside the room.
Robin felt her heart stutter, both from the surprise of the sound and the terror she heard within it.
She ran forward, lifting her palm against the door.
“We are trying to free you!” she called to the prisoner within.
At least they knew that their efforts would not be in vain. “Stay back.”
The Majis did not reply, so Robin hoped their silence meant that they had retreated in the small space. She stepped away from the door.
Aden lifted the mallet again and held it over his shoulder. He stepped back, lining up his shot. He sank into his knees and then propelled himself forward with a jump, swinging the mallet around his body.
The iron head of the mallet met the door with a loud crash, splintering the wood and shaking the door on its hinges.
The Majis locked inside did not make another sound.
Robin covered her ears as Aden stepped back to line up another shot.
This one made contact just above the door handle, and the entire door swung open under its weight.
Aden tumbled forward with the unexpected momentum.
Robin rushed toward the open door, waiting for Aden to catch himself and move out of the way.
A deep, low snarl filled the air. Aden jumped backward, hurling himself away from the door.
Intent on her mission, Robin rushed forward, not comprehending that the continued growl was coming from the room she was entering.
As she crossed the threshold, her eyes finally landed on the prisoner.
It was no Majis. She was face-to-face with a massive wolf.
In the same moment, the wolf’s growl turned into a full roar, and its massive open jaws moved toward her face.
For the entirety of a single moment, Robin realized she was about to die.
Then, something slammed into her side, and she tumbled to the floor just outside the room. Aden landed mostly on top of her, catching his fall with his free hand.
He rolled to the side, and both of them were back on their feet as the wolf peered around the corner of the door.
Robin held one hand in front of her, slowly inching backward as she reached for her sword with the other hand.
The wolf’s head rose along the doorframe, almost to the height of Aden’s head. It prowled forward, revealing more of its body.
This was no wolf.
It was human in shape, in the way it stood on two hind legs.
Robin held her short sword ready, not wanting to attack but having nowhere to run. She looked up at the predatory creature, trying to place the combination of bearlike fur, wolflike snout, and pantherlike eyes.
Aden stood just slightly in front of her, his own sword drawn. His eyes were also glued to the beast, watching its every move. But there was something else in his face. His skin had lost all sense of color, and his eyes were wide. His sword shook. Robin looked down to see his hand trembling.
Robin looked back at the animal as understanding dawned. This beast was a magical creation. This was what Aden must have looked like when he had been transformed by the chaos magic.
Aden was staring in horror. Staring at a reflection of himself.
Which also meant—this beast had once been human. Was perhaps still human?
It—or he?—licked its canine fangs with anticipation, drool dripping to the stone floor as it growled and looked between them.
Robin stared at its bloodshot eyes, trying to ascertain its next move. It dropped down to all fours, focusing its gaze on Aden.
Robin was not sure if the beast considered Aden the bigger threat, literally, or if the beast could sense Aden’s fear and was targeting him because he was currently the weaker of the two.
Not that the why mattered. Only her next move did.
The beast sank onto its back legs, shaking into its haunches as it prepared to launch itself at Aden.
“Aden . . .” Robin said quietly.
He was completely frozen, and Robin was beginning to doubt he had the ability to defend himself at the moment.
She gripped her sword. He would not have to fight this thing alone.
A deafening explosion sounded from above them, shaking both the ceiling and the floor.
Completely thrown by this surprise, Robin jumped backward, holding her short sword up to defend herself from the unknown threat.
The beast, too, cowered. It snarled up at the ceiling, its attention momentarily diverted by the sand and dust that shook down on them from above.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Robin dashed forward, grabbing Aden’s arm as she ran by him.
The beast was currently standing between them and the cellar door. She doubted they could survive a fight with it, and she needed an escape route.
Aden responded to her touch. He stumbled over his feet, waking up from his own personal shock.
They had only made it a few steps before the beast turned its attention back on them, but at least they had better access to the doorway.
“Is it human?” Robin asked as the beast stalked toward them once again. She did not want to harm whatever this was, whether human or animal, but she had to defend herself.
It crawled low to the floor as if scared of the ceiling now, for which Robin did not blame it.
She had no idea what the explosion had been, but she doubted it was anything that would work in her favor. It was time to get out of the cellar and out of the monastery.
“Not anymore,” Aden said, shaking his head. He had repositioned the hammer in his hand, and Robin breathed a sigh of relief. He was alert again.
Robin returned her attention to the threat at hand.
The beast stalked toward them. There was no comprehension or feeling in its eyes, just a rabid desire to kill.
Robin took the bow from her back and drew back an arrow.
As the beast leapt toward them, she released it. At such a close range, she had no chance to aim, only to fire.
At the same time, Aden swung the mallet, hitting the beast in the shoulder.
Robin’s arrow made contact with its skull, just above its eyes. But other than scraping across its fur, the arrow did not appear to have pierced through the beast’s thick hide.
The double attack was enough to throw it off its course, however, and when its jaws snapped shut, they closed on air only.