Chapter 23
The night seemed particularly dark tonight. It was as if the moon knew what its casters had planned and decided to help. The breeze was cool and calm, leaving the night deadly silent.
We’d split into three groups. I was with Daegal, the twins, and the rest who would infiltrate the prison, waiting with bated breath for the signal.
The mooncasters were all with Jax, waiting around the outer walls to use their illusion magic once we’d broken in.
They’d also make sure that the prisoners didn’t get lost in the desert once they’d been freed.
Lili and Archie were with them, seeing as neither of them had any training that would prepare them for the fight inside.
The former Defenders, still in their distinct uniforms, had dragged the city rebels’ leader, Haze, with them, pretending to be dropping off a new prisoner. They’d wait for the guards to open the sealed door, then attack.
It was lucky for me, seeing as I would’ve been used as bait had they not showed up.
I’d told them about the guards I’d encountered when I arrived as a prisoner. Their relaxed and superior behavior. In their minds, they were untouchable.
“Daegal,” I whispered, and he turned to look at me from where he was crouched in the front. “Please take these off me,” I pleaded, holding my still-bound wrists out in front of him.
He looked at me suspiciously, dark eyes narrowing. He was about to speak when I cut him off. “I won’t be able to defend myself at all if I’m still cuffed. Besides, Lili isn’t with me, and you know I won’t leave without her.”
With a last, contemplating look at me, he sighed and reached into his pocket. “Fine,” he spat, and my heart leaped. I wasn’t planning on slipping away, but if the moment presented itself…
“But if you so much as think about escaping, I will hunt you down and shackle you so close to me, you’ll never leave my sight again. Understood?”
I gulped but nodded. He grabbed my wrist and twisted it, inserting the key into the lock of the cuffs. They opened with a little click.
My wrists felt lighter than air as I lifted my hands, swinging my arms around to enjoy the freedom. He rolled his eyes at me, then returned his attention to the mission, stuffing the cuffs into his pocket.
I heard voices drifting from the other side of the wall, just around the corner from where we were hiding, then laughs, loud and mocking.
The gleeful sounds were interrupted by a scream of pain. Yells. A body falling to the ground. Then another. And another.
The signal sounded—a low, slow whistle followed by three sharp ones.
The group moved as one towards the entrance. As we neared it, I spotted the three bodies sprawled on the ground. With a gasp, I realized one of them was Haze.
"They knew we were lying, or at least that something was wrong,” the pretend-Defender whose name I couldn’t remember said breathlessly. “They must get a warning or something before any new prisoners arrive.”
Without wasting another second, Felix charged in first, closely followed by his sister. Daegal pushed me in front of him, and we started to run, as silently as possible, through the long tunnel.
Ascending the long staircase, we were at the very heart of the prison. The tall, golden walls surrounded me once again, bringing me back to the time I’d spent here as a prisoner.
Chaos erupted around us. Screams filled the air, confused guards filing through the halls. In the hundred years Orken had existed, I’d never heard of anybody trying to break in.
The mooncasters on the other side of the wall had gotten their signal now, dark, thick shadows creeping in from every angle.
Though the night air had been cool, the prison was still stifling hot, and I suspected the metal encasing us kept the temperature high to torture the prisoners.
This entire place would soon be cast in darkness.
They were using their illusion magic as best as they could with my descriptions of the place, but it was clear that not everyone was equally successful.
Somebody had tried to conjure a monster, perhaps as a distraction, but the feeble creature vanished easily as a guard ran through it.
“Come on!” I yelled, snatching the keys from a guard who’d just fallen in front of us. “We need to unlock the prisoners’ cells one by one!”
Daegal followed me up another staircase that led to the first floor of cells. Most of the prisoners had their faces pressed to the bars, eager to see what was going on. The Solaures metal had to be burning their cheeks, but they seemingly refused to care.
I ran to the first cell, inserting the key in the lock. This would take too long. There were hundreds of cells on multiple floors lining the walls of the prison.
“Daegal, you have to help!” I screamed, watching him over my shoulder. He had his eyes closed, squinting hard in concentration. His hands were balled into fists at his sides.
When he opened his eyes, they were glowing brighter than I’d ever seen them. He radiated power, and I was forcefully reminded of another suncaster who’d shown equal power, though for more malicious reasons. Boaz.
At once, the cell doors sprung open on the entire first floor. Loud clicks echoed through the air. Then the hallway was instantly flooded with lapis-blue uniforms, the prisoners storming out to figure out what was going on. Who to fight.
“Prue!” I spun around, seeing Elvira running towards me. “I thought you were dead!”
She looked cautiously at Daegal, noticing his glowing eyes.
“He’s with us,” I assured her, gently touching her arm. “Go! Explain to whoever you meet that the Rebellion is breaking you out. Attack only the people in a guard’s uniform! We have some Defenders on our side. Start telling people to get out.”
She nodded determinedly, then sprinted down the stairs with the rest of the prisoners.
I looked at Daegal, meeting his self-satisfied expression with one of disbelief. “How did you do that?” I asked, gaping at him. “Actually, never mind. You have to do that again two more times,” I said, grabbing his arm to drag him up another level.
“Watch out!” he called, grabbing my arm and pulling my back flush against his front as he spun us around. An orb of light flew past us, missing his arm by inches.
With one arm still around me, he twisted his upper body, shooting his own light through the air. It hit the guard in the chest, and he crumbled to the ground.
“Thank you,” I breathed, untangling myself from his protective grip. “That was close.”
Daegal freed the rest of the prisoners with the same magic he’d used on the first floor, then dragged me back down the stairs along with a new wave of prisoners.
“Verena has an alternative mission for the two of us,” he said breathlessly, swerving around the fighting people.
Everywhere I looked, there was war. The air on the ground floor was thick with burnt skin and iron. Bodies of not only prisoners but rebels and guards, too, were sprawled on the floor.
I didn’t see anybody I recognized, but I thanked the Goddess that Lili and Archie had been assigned to the group waiting outside to make sure the prisoners filing through the tunnel went in the right direction and not back towards Erobred.
Though the prisoners had no magic and no weapons, they fought the guards with everything they had.
“Go through the tunnel!” I yelled, hoping Elvira was also spreading the word.
The guards seemed more hesitant to go through it. They didn’t know what to expect on the other side, whereas the prisoners had nothing to lose.
I saw a flash of a tall frame, blond hair, and a perfect face sprint forward with his thumbs pressed tightly into a guard’s eyes, screaming gleefully.
He’d been the guard who’d punished Ashton by whipping him and leaving him there for two days; I realized when I noticed the man was also missing an ear.
“Take me to Boaz’s office,” Daegal demanded suddenly. I stopped dead in my tracks, but he grabbed my arm to make me keep moving. “Now.”
“He’s dangerous, Daegal,” I warned, but started towards his office anyway. There was no use trying to deny him if I hoped to keep the shackles off me after the mission. “If he’s in there, he’ll kill us the moment we step foot—”
“If he was here, he would’ve joined the fight. Verena has instructed me to go to his office and search for plans or maps or anything that can help the Rebellion.”
He was right, of course. Had the most powerful suncaster been here, he’d surely have stepped in to help his guards by now. This prison was his pride and joy, after all.
We pushed through the crowd until we reached the hall that I knew led down the long passageway to his office because I’d walked here before.
The moment we stepped into the hall, the fight seemed to vanish around us. Nobody was hiding. Everyone was ready for war. Verena was right to add the prisoners to the Rebellion’s numbers.
We ran straight for the door at the end of the hall, where I knew his office would be.
I pushed against the door, but it didn’t budge. “It’s locked,” I said, watching Daegal with furrowed brows. “It wasn’t the last time.”
“He probably locks it every time he leaves,” he said, pushing me aside. “Give me some space.”
“This door isn’t made of Solaures metal. I don’t think that trick will work here,” I sighed, but he just rolled his eyes at me.
He stepped back, then kicked the door with such force that it barely hung onto the hinges as it flew open.
I flinched back, covering my face to avoid the splinters flying through the air. “Perhaps a warning next time,” I sneered, following him into the office.
“I got us in, didn’t I? Now look for anything helpful, then we’re out of here.”
I searched drawers, cabinets, and shelves for anything useful. But the room looked like it had recently been cleaned out, leaving only the bare necessities, such as his desk and a few other pieces of furniture.
I looked at Daegal to suggest this and saw him pocketing a small piece of parchment with a strange expression on his face.