47. The Escape Plan
47
THE ESCAPE PLAN
*Kieran*
I stare back into the blank expressions of my three best friends, my heart pounding in my chest so loud I’m sure they can hear it. This might have been a bad idea. A really bad idea. Even though these are the three men I would trust with my life, I’ve asked them to stomach a lot in the last hour.
Plus, I’ve told them I plan to kill my father. Their king. That’s treason of the highest order, even if I am the prince. If we were to fail, their lives would be on the line. It’s a big ask. What was I thinking? Part of me wants to tell them I’m kidding, that this whole thing has just been an elaborate joke. I open my mouth to speak, but I’m cut off.
“Of course we’ll help you,” Taner finally says, breaking me out of my spiraling thoughts and breaking the palpable tension in the room.
My head snaps up, and I look him in the eye, seeing nothing but sincerity looking back at me. He’s all in. I turn to look at Whyte and Lucias, who both nod solemnly.
“It’s messed up,” Lucias says. “I’ve heard rumors about your father, of course, but I never thought he could be capable of that.”
My eyes widen in surprise, and it occurs to me how sheltered I’ve been. My entire life has been shielded by this false belief in my father, the pride of his legacy and what it would mean for me as the future king. Naturally, my friends would never share with me what they’ve heard or what they truly think about him.
“We deserve a king who cares about everyone,” Whyte breathes, his body deflating as if he’s been waiting years to express the thought. “Things in Dun’s Crossing are far worse than he’d have people believe. We need a strong leader.”
He nods curtly, and I hear the words he didn’t say. They need me to be that leader. This is as good of a place to start as any. The four of us huddle closer together as I go over the plan King Cole and I discussed earlier that day, mentioning there are other soldiers who will help us. Lucias goes a little pale listening to the finer points, but I have faith in what we’ve come up with. It’s going to work. It has to work.
“So all of this relies on us breaking that old kook out of prison?” Whyte asks, earning a stern glare. He quickly realizes his mistake. “I mean, King Cole, erm, your father-in-law, that is.”
Taner whistles lowly. “It’s not going to be easy,” he grumbles. “Those guards are not friendly.”
“You wouldn’t be either if you had to be surrounded by that stench all day,” Lucias shoots back with a shudder.
“And poor Albatross,” Whyte whispers with some pain in his expression. “Could you imagine having your . . . you know . . . chewed off by–”
“All the more reason we have to be careful, and we cannot divert from the plan, okay?” I cut in firmly, trying to rein their attention back in. I love my friends, but they can be idiots when they get off-track.
They nod sheepishly, and we bide our time for the next few hours as we wait for nightfall. The time finally comes, and my stomach is in knots. This is the beginning of everything. If this doesn’t go right, the entire plan falls apart. Most importantly, though, it has to work so that I can keep my promise to Raven and Queen Delaney. It’s time for Cole to return to his family after all these years.
We leave my private sitting room, strolling slowly through the castle as if we’re just screwing around on a regular night. No one even notices us, or they pretend not to care because it’s easier that way. We’ve been known in the past to stir up a little trouble. I’m grateful for it now, as most of the servants just rush past us without a glance.
Once we reach the dungeon entrance, the three of them post up against the wall, pretending to be deep in conversation. I leave them there as lookout while I descend into the deep darkness.
“Come back for more?” a guard smirks at me. “The old fool has been silent since the moment you left. You must have done a number on him earlier.”
I put on my best wicked smirk and simply nod as I slip past them. As I walk by, I pretend to trip on a loose stone, and when one of the guards reaches out to steady me, I swipe his keys off him. He doesn’t even notice, too focused on the well-being of his future king. This is almost too easy, but I don’t delude myself. The hard part is coming.
I start walking down the long, dark corridor toward King Cole’s cell. A few of the other prisoners look at me in interest, some even throw out verbal insults, but I ignore them as I focus on my destination. He’s sitting on his bed when I arrive, waiting for me. I quickly look around to make sure no other guards are around before I slip the key into the lock and slowly turn until I feel the gears give way.
I pull the padlock off of the door, placing it on the bed as soon as I enter the cell. I kneel in front of King Cole, searching for the right key to undo his shackles. When I look up at him, there are tears in his eyes. The gravity of the moment sinks down onto both of us. This will be the first time in over 20 years that he will go outside. In a few days, he’ll see Raven again and be reunited with his wife after all this time.
He swipes at his eyes, and I swallow hard, trying to bury my own emotions. We stand together and he puts his hand on my shoulder, nodding to me that it’s okay. He’s okay. There’s a rustling noise, and I look over to see Albatross standing in the doorway, a murderous expression on his face.
“Well, well, well,” he spits out, “I knew that sister of yours was a freak, but I never expected to see you showing kindness to a prisoner, Prince Kieran.”
He says my name like it’s a curse, and my heart sinks. We can’t have failed that quickly. I try to say something, to come up with a convincing lie off the cuff, but I’m saved by the scurrying sound of rats. He hears it too, and his eyes widen in horror. No wonder; it did not end well for him last time.
He rushes past us, pushing himself against the wall, pleading with King Cole to call them off. I use his distraction to punch him squarely and knock him out. My hand stings from the collision, but as his head hits the floor, I know he won’t be a problem for us. I nod at King Cole, and he tilts his head to the side.
I watch in fascination as the rats, who were just about to enter the cell, turn around and scamper in different directions. Though I’ve borne witness to Raven’s powers, it’s not something I think I will ever fully get used to.
We leave the cell together, quickly making our way back to the entrance.
“Can you send your rats to distract the guards at the top of the stairs?” I whisper to him. “Maybe leave them with their balls intact, though?”
He chuckles at this.
“That was all my daughter’s doing, I’m afraid. She didn’t know how to control them well enough.” He sighs happily, not sounding remotely sorry for Raven’s actions.
My heart swells as laughter rips through my chest. Of course it was. I look down to see the rats are organized again, running up the stairs to hopefully clear a path for us. We hear the sound of disgusted screams as the rats reach the guards, and I smile to myself. We’re almost home free.
When we get to the landing, though, I realize that our luck has run dry. The two guards have indeed fled, but there is a battalion of soldiers waiting there for us. I realize that Albatross must have sent them a mind-link before I knocked him out.
The soldiers standing in front of us seem to have a stronger consistency than the usual prison guards. They don’t seem to notice the rats scampering over their heavy boots. Instead, their eyes are focused on us, weapons raised. I look at King Cole, who has his eyes trained steadily on the soldiers. His face is an unreadable mask, but there’s fire in his eyes. He looks at me and nods once, firmly. We haven’t gotten this far to just get this far. We’re going to have to fight our way out.