Chapter 19
Imade sure to pretend to sleep through the evening meal so I didn’t have to find another way to avoid whatever they were drugging the prisoners with.
Other than overhearing a few more snippets of conversation about the guards’ plans for when they were off duty, there was little else to listen to.
The other prisoners stayed painfully quiet, and as night fell, I became nervous that even something like opening the lock would make enough noise that the guards would come running.
At least there wasn’t much light, I thought ruefully.
Even if guards did come when I unlocked my cell, it was doubtful they would be able to find the noise’s origin.
Only a few lanterns were lit in our large room, and those gave off poor enough light that anyone running in would still struggle to see through the settling darkness.
Once I’d determined it was four hours into the night guards’ shift, I slowly eased the key out of my hidden pocket, and after they finished their routine patrol and left the room, I slipped the key in and unlocked my door.
The click sounded louder than I hoped for and I froze, ears straining for any sign that someone had heard.
No one came.
I silently withdrew the key and pushed on the door. The hinges gave a terrifyingly loud groan and I hastily closed the door when I heard one of the guards call out to check for any unusual activity.
Someone entered and did a quick sweep before leaving again.
“How did you do that?”
I nearly leapt out of my skin as the prisoner next to me spoke, low and urgent. I squinted through the darkness and saw that the same man who had snatched up my bread was looking at me, studying me with no trace of vacancy in his eyes.
“I thought you were drugged,” I whispered back. He’d been sleeping most of the day.
“I thought you were, too, until you started messing with your lock. Did they forget to give you the water or did you throw up what they gave you?
“I threw it up.”
“Smart boy. Is your door actually open?”
“Yes. I made a key,” I began, but then broke off. The routine patrol was coming back into the room. The other prisoner and I immediately reverted back to pretending to sleep until the guards passed.
“How many have stopped taking the drugs?” I asked the man breathlessly. “If I unlock the cells, can we fight our way out?”
“I doubt it. Everyone is too weak.”
“I’ll make a fight of it,” a woman from across the row breathed. “I’m done waiting to be sold.”
Hope soared within my chest. We might make it out of this after all.
“Okay, here is the plan,” I whispered. “I need to get over to the office. There are some records I need to find. And has anyone seen a shipment come in? Probably just one crate, but I don’t know how large.”
“There was one brought in a few days ago that all the guards were excited about,” the woman across from me said. “That’s in the office as well. I saw them take it in but I haven’t seen it come out. But they might have moved it while I was sleeping.”
This much good luck wasn’t normal. Something would go wrong; I could just feel it.
“After—” I broke off again as the guard entered the room again and patrolled in a bored lap around the cages, barely even looking at the sleeping prisoners.
I waited patiently until they left again, then used the closing of the door to mask the sound of the creaking hinges as I pushed my door open just enough to slip out. I handed the key to the prisoner next to me.
“Pass this around,” I told him. “Start unlocking everyone. We’re all getting out of here. But keep it quiet and wait. Nobody run yet.”
He nodded and took the key while I slunk over to the office.
It was pitch-black inside. There were no windows to even let the moonlight filter in, and after several tense minutes of searching blindly for a candle, I had to admit defeat. My memory wouldn’t help me if I couldn’t read any of the text.
So I strained my ears to listen for the guards to finish their next round of patrolling, then snuck back to take one of the dim lanterns off its hook to take with me into the office.
Blessedly warm light, which struggled to illuminate the vast chamber I’d left, had no problem lighting up the small, cluttered office. I set the lamp down and immediately set to riffling through the papers, searching for my mother’s name to appear anywhere.
Unfortunately, this office was nowhere near as organized as the Employer’s had been. My mother would have been sold many years before, so the parchment I was hunting for would likely be old, nothing like the documents that looked untarnished by age or mice…if it was here at all.
I ignored the crate in the corner and sifted through piles of papers, frantically searching for any clue that would help me. As I hunted, I found occasional names and dates, but nothing that made me think my mother would be there.
Where was it? Her information had to be here, it had to be. I couldn’t have come this far simply to fail.
There was a loud screech of hinges from the room I’d left behind, followed by a shout from the guards. “Check the cages! Someone is missing!”
Shoals, they knew.
My heart thudded madly in my chest as I snatched a thick folder of some of the oldest-looking papers and leapt across the office to where the crate sat on the desk. Footsteps approached from the hall.
I hastily blew out the lantern and crouched behind the desk, waiting.
The door opened and another lantern illuminated the patch of ceiling I could see above the desk. I stayed hidden while whoever was holding the lantern did a sweep of the room. It sounded like only one person. I drew in several breaths, waited for him to come around the desk, then pounced.
He let out a muffled cry and threw a punch as I emerged, but I ducked under his fist, whirled around him, and looped my arm around his neck from behind, squeezing the air from his throat.
His fingernails scrabbled at my elbow, but I continued to increase the pressure until his knees buckled and he collapsed…
straight onto the table, which promptly broke.
“Someone’s in the office!” a guard shouted.
I crouched, prepared to attack the next person who came into the office, but then more cries erupted.
“The Nightsworn! The Nightsworn are here!”
Sounds of shouts and the clash of swords against swords came as the slavers began battling with the king’s rangers.
My shoulders sagged in relief. I didn’t like the Nightsworn, but I couldn’t help but appreciate their timing.
I shoved the papers into my shirt and grabbed the small crate, which felt surprisingly heavy, then stuck my head out to look down the hall.
There was pandemonium everywhere. Uniformed members of the Nightsworn were swarming in, opening the cages of all the prisoners, and cutting down any slavers who tried to stop them.
Those who had been in the cages were fleeing or being helped out by their fellows.
Quickly, I stripped off my jacket and threw it over the crate. If anyone saw it…
One of the slavers ran past me into the office, muttering to himself, and didn’t so much as look at me while he dashed past.
“No escape that way,” I muttered as I lugged the crate out. The Nightsworn were ignoring me and the other prisoners as everyone who was able to ran out, though many were still in the cages. The early dawn breeze had never felt more welcome after the horrendous stink of the warehouse’s interior.
“Gil!” a voice hissed the moment I was outside.
I looked wildly around and spotted Peter and Lochlan, crouched behind a horse-drawn wagon and gesturing frantically for me to join them.
“I got it,” I panted, handing them the crate. Peter took it with a greedy gleam in his eye, then I heard several screams from the warehouse.
An orange flickering light was growing from inside, close to where the office was located, and a horrible realization set in.
The person running past me hadn’t been trying to hide.
They were destroying all the evidence. And soon, anyone left inside would be trapped.
If they weren’t released now, they’d be burned alive.
The prisoner who had been in the cell next to me ran past and I reached out to grab at his shirt. “The key! Where is it?”
“I don’t know. I left it. We have to get out. We have to get away,” he said in a rush, then tore himself away and bolted as the screams continued. I didn’t stop to think. I turned and ran back into the building.
“Gil!” Lochlan called after me. “Gil, stop!” But I didn’t look back.
The interior was mostly deserted. The Nightsworn were outside, still chasing down the slavers, and though many of the prisoners had escaped or been released, there were still several inside, cowering in their cages.
The key I’d made lay abandoned on the ground next to one of the cells.
I snatched it up, throwing a terrified glance over my shoulder at the burning office. How quickly would it spread?
I ran from cell to cell, unlocking each cage before dashing to the next, all the way to the very back of the warehouse. All the while, flames crept out of the office and began to consume the bits of fabric and straw littering the floor with a persistent, insatiable hunger.
“Go, go, go!” I screamed at the last prisoner.
In their haste to escape, they shoved past me so hard that I collided with a table. Stars popped in front of my eyes and a bottle crashed down over my head. A thick liquid seeped through my hair and down my face. I wiped my eyes clear and gave the room a final sweep.
Everyone was out. The windows were barred, but the path to the door was mostly free. I made to follow the prisoner I’d just released but found my body growing weaker and more sluggish by the moment. What was happening to me?
Each time I tried to move, my muscles refused to obey my commands. Smoke filled my lungs and stung my nose and my vision became foggy as the flames sent out plumes of blackened smoke.
I dropped to my knees and tried to stagger upright, but I could barely move.
It was as though I was trapped in a nightmare, unable to escape and simply waiting for danger to consume me.
Had I really hit my head that hard? My head rolled and I looked back at the table I’d struck.
The dark red liquid splattered everywhere couldn’t be my own blood… could it?
Realization dawned.
The bottle that had smashed over my head had been filled with siren blood.
The same drug I’d used on Silas only a few weeks before was affecting me just as it had him. I’d never escape now.
“No,” I whispered, trying to force my mind to stay alert and force my muscles to comply. Was there any chance that the Nightsworn would search the building for any stragglers?
No, they had already abandoned it. I was going to die here.
I managed to crawl forward a few inches before collapsing completely, watching as the fire licked closer and closer.
All strength drained from my limbs and darkness crept into the edges of my vision until there was a singular tunnel of sight left.
I stared at the door, barely fifty steps away, and yet it felt like miles.
I’d never find my family. They’d never know I died trying to find them.
At least I would lose consciousness before I felt the agonizing pain of being burned alive.
A figure pushed their way through the smoke, running in a hunched position until they reached me. Without a word, the man scooped me up and ran out, still holding his breath to avoid inhaling the smoke.
Lochlan had come for me.
He ducked out of the blazing hot warehouse and heaved me into one of the wagons. Peter sat ready at the box seat, hands on the reins, and the moment Lochlan and I were inside, he cracked the whip so the horses bolted away.
“You came for me,” I mumbled. The dawn’s early light should have been getting brighter, but instead, everything was dimming.
“I said I wouldn’t leave you there,” he said. He tried to get closer to look at my injuries, but I feebly pushed at his hands.
“Siren blood,” I choked out. “Don’t get…don’t get close.” I closed my eyes, too exhausted to do any more. I could only hope he understood.
Fortunately, he shuffled to put himself a little farther away but kept his hand on my lower leg.
“Stay with me,” he whispered.