37. Hope
37
Hope
B efore Hope reached the spot underneath the tunnel, her mother overran her. One knee on the floor, Aurora facilitated the jump so Hope could grab the lower rail of the tunnel. A step towards salvation.
Hope knew better than to argue with her mother and trusted Nina would be right after her. Marcus would then aid Aurora, and the courtrades would follow suit.
So Hope jumped upwards, her leg muscles tensing at the straining of such a distance, and her fingertips touched the metal bar inside the caved tunnel, her palm curving around its cold shape. She pushed the rest of her body up and looked down to see her mother motioning to Nina that she was next.
Nina tried jumping twice until Hope grabbed her wrist and pulled her upwards. The noises of the cellholts were approaching once more, as if they had found them again within the net.
Her mother looked at Marcus as he lifted his arms towards her, and Hope’s heartbeat halted. But shadows only whirled around Aurora, lifting her, holding her body straight as they twisted around her legs and waist, until Hope and Nina were rushing up the tunnel, leaving space for Aurora below. And for every courtrade who would follow after.
Up they went, not looking down, not hesitating. Hope was climbing through the metal ladder on the never-ending wall of the tunnel as fast as she could. She knew that their speed was the only thing separating the courtrades from the roixers. From the cellholts, getting closer to the spot underneath.
Because even if she was climbing, far away from the opening to the vessel by each passing second, the sounds of the cellholts were not decreasing. They were getting closer. Louder.
Somewhere below within the tunnel, Jessica shouted, “Tell that fucking idiot to climb up now!”
“Marcus, climb!” Aridian echoed.
Up, up, up they went. No sign of the bird across the length of the tunnel. Yet down below, the cellholt noises were so loud. Too loud. Until they stopped. And then the screams of the physical fights started.
Hope didn’t dare waste a breath looking down. She knew she wouldn’t see anything other than dark shapes and a silver-haired head immediately underneath her feet.
“Fucking Llunal—climb the fuck up, Marcus!” Aridian roared, a tinge of fear in his voice.
If the roixers entered the tunnel, they would be damned. No matter how small the space was inside the tunnel, the risk was still too high. Too many things could go wrong.
“I’m in! I need all your thickest shadows to form an impenetrable shadow block. Let’s keep these bastards at bay. Shadows down, now!” he shouted, and Hope felt the walls of the tunnel shake, the rail she was holding shaking vigorously. If their shadows broke the rail…
But they didn’t. And shortly after, the fighting sounds from the vessels were muted. An impenetrable wall indeed. But there had still been fighting sounds—
“How many courtrades were sacrificed?” Jessica asked.
Marcus’ voice was quiet, either because he was the last one down the tunnel, or because he couldn’t find his strength as he said, “Six of us. Darren, Andela, Kyra, Oliver, Fiona and Poppy. May the stars not hinder their darkness. May Llunal shade them all.”
“May the stars not hinder their darkness. May Llunal shade them all,” the unified voices of the remaining courtrades echoed in the tunnel. Hope shook her head, but it was not the time to mourn.
For there was a growing point of light at the end of the tunnel above.
It was happening.
They were in Thyria. They had reached Corentre.
Hope stopped dead when she reached the floor level. Peeking through the opening of the tunnel, Hope examined her surroundings. Something was off. This was meant to be the courtrades’ quarters. There were meant to be Thyrian courtrades waiting for them here.
But there were only two beings in this room, and none of them bore the black clothes of the courtrades. So she grabbed her best blades by the hilts and jumped out of the tunnel, throwing each blade at the shoulder of each being.
Her feet touched the floor at the same time as a massive movement shook the land. She fell on the floor, face down, her arms protecting from any harm as chunks of rock fell from the ceiling of the surrounding room. The shouts coming from the tunnel meant they hadn’t been so lucky, and probably there was a tangle of limbs and bodies in it.
She didn’t care how strong this panomquake had been. She didn’t care that it probably had been the biggest panomquake she had ever lived. All she cared about were the two moving bodies on the floor, the smell of blood emanating from where her blades had hit exactly where she had aimed. Their shoulders, to incapacitate but not to kill. Not yet. She would need to extract some information from them before that the killing blow.
“We mean no harm,” one being said, the one at the back.
The other being was silent. His body stood up with the blade still stuck in his shoulder, as if he didn’t feel it or wasn’t bothered by it. He extended a hand in front of him, doing something with his fingers.
Hope didn’t hesitate. She threw another two blades at the being, aiming for the thighs, but he dodged them. To dodge blades at that speed… She could feel his stare penetrating hers, but he was still in the dark side of the room, even if he was walking towards her.
Her next two daggers were ready to throw. As the being stepped out of the shadows, Hope met dark blue eyes as deep as the night sky. She held her breath for half a second, as if her heart had stopped. Maybe it had stopped, because in front of her was the most handsome man she had ever seen.
And just in case, she threw both daggers at him with all her might.
The man dodged them again, his incredibly fast movements gracious despite his very muscular body. A corner of his lips curled upwards, and something Hope couldn’t identify passed through his eyes as he said, “I knew you would be worth the wait.”
A knot in Hope’s chest released, as if something that had been held tightly under many layers had unlocked.
Nina’s white hair appeared through the opening of the tunnel. The dark-haired man looked at her friend. Nina covered her mouth in shock, her ocean-blue eyes as wide as Hope had ever seen them.
Hope took advantage of the man’s distraction and a blade aimed at his other shoulder left her hand just as Nina shouted, “Hope, stop !”
But it was too late. The blade had hit home.