Chapter 29
Bash
Xeni’s weight slumps against me as I guide him into the hallway, getting heavier with every passing second. His feet drag across the floor, and it takes less than a dozen steps before I can’t watch anymore. I scoop him into my arms without a word, cradling him close.
“I c’n walk,” he slurs, the words muddled with his fatigue.
He tries to push off my chest, but the attempt fizzles out immediately and he sags deeper into my hold. His head lolls against my shoulder as his body surrenders.
His breath evens out against my neck, and the tension bleeds from his frame now that he’s off his feet. I adjust my grip, one arm under his knees, the other supporting his back, and shake my head at his stubbornness.
“What’s the best route out of here?” I ask.
Sakane takes the lead with Ego while Cato stays behind me, watching our backs.
“Stairs,” Sakane says as we push through the same door we used on our way up.
I groan inwardly at the memory of the seven flights we climbed. They’ll be worse with the hundred and eighty pounds that’s currently deadweight in my arms, and my legs are already unsteady from the fight.
“I can carry him,” Cato offers, and it sounds sincere.
I shake my head and pull Xeni closer. “No. I need to do this.”
Cato nods and resumes his watch behind us as we rush down the stairs. When we reach the main floor, the guard’s body rests against the wall where we left it, but instead of heading out the way we came, we continue lower into the basement.
Ego has been collecting keycards from the guards as we took them down. She swipes a couple of them before the door buzzes and the deadbolt releases with a click.
“Do you know where we’re going?” I ask.
She nods as she gestures for us to continue, motioning ahead with a flick of her wrist. “Sakane and I have been studying the blueprints. There’s a sewer access at the far end of this corridor.”
“Can we get in?”
Ego nods again, glancing between the two hallways that diverge at the end of the room, already mapping escape routes in her head. She leads us to the right, digging something silver and shiny from her pocket and holding it up with a triumphant little wiggle.
“This is the key to the entrance. I’m really hoping they won’t even remember it’s there—y’know, classic military efficiency. Out of sight, out of mind.”
“And if they do?” Cato questions, voice flat with that perpetual skepticism.
Sakane shrugs, a half-smile emerging from the stress on his face. “According to my source, only utility workers have access. I guess we’ll see.”
Ego snorts. “If not, we improvise. Worst case, we charm our way out. My smile is hypnotic.”
Cato rolls his eyes. “Your smile melts brains.”
“Even better,” she fires back with a wink. “Brains control the hands that hold the guns, and our resident puppet master is out for the count.”
Everyone glances at Xeni, but he’s quiet in my arms.
Ego flashes him an affectionate smile, then steers us down the hallway. “Through here,” she instructs.
We pass through an ancient boiler room, then hurry towards a nondescript gray door tucked into a corner. It’s covered in a blanket of grime and cobwebs, and Ego is careful not to disturb the dust as she unlocks it.
Xeni groans in my arms as we step through into the dim tunnel. “Stinks,” he mutters.
I cough a quiet laugh despite the tension. “I think you can deal with it for a little while, princess.”
He nuzzles back into my chest with a grunt, and I glance over my shoulder as the others enter. Ego follows last, then turns to lock the door behind us.
Before it closes, sirens blare into the night.
They’re so loud they seem to come from every direction at once. Ego’s mouth moves in a curse as she slams the door. It muffles the alarms but doesn’t silence them, which means they aren’t coming from the building.
They’re being broadcast across the city.
Arched brick creates a tunnel overhead, and a few dim lights illuminate the narrow path. A ditch runs beneath us, full of shallow rushing water, and I try not to imagine its origin.
“Where do we go?” I shout over the alarms, but Ego shakes her head as she glances around. Sakane pats her side as he passes her and beckons for us to follow, and for several minutes, we run.
Eventually he slows beside a light and pulls a map from his pocket while Ego crouches next to him.
“This system doesn’t lead anywhere close to home,” Ego says, shouting over the noise before glancing at Xeni in my arms. “There’s no way we can travel the streets after his father saw us.”
“Maybe Zadeus will die,” I say with hope I don’t believe.
She shakes her head. “An injury like that might kill a human, but one of them? A High Commander?”
“So, what?” Panic makes my voice go higher as I picture the hundreds of possibilities for disaster. “We just stay down here? We’re sitting ducks!”
Cato leans closer to examine the map, then jabs his finger at one of the highlighted access points. Ego glances up at him, and they have a silent conversation before she nods.
“She’ll help us,” Ego agrees.
She takes the lead with Sakane on her heels, while I follow with Xeni. Cato assumes his position behind us, and we jog for what seems like an hour.
The sirens keep blaring, and whenever we pass a manhole or door, the noise gets louder. Every time, I stare as though the entire army will burst through and grab us, but no one ever comes.
We finally stop at an access hole, and Ego stares up the ten-foot ladder to the round hatch above.
“Let me,” Cato says as he squeezes past me. “She knows me best.”
Sweat drips down my forehead and along my spine as I crouch with Xeni, my muscles quivering under his weight. He hasn’t regained consciousness, but his breathing is steady.
Minutes pass with the screech of sirens becoming nothing more than a buzz against the thump of my pulse. A sliver of light forms overhead, and I tense as I rush to my feet, ready to run.
Cato climbs down, and he nods at Ego before turning to me. “We can crash here while we figure out our next moves.”
“It’s safe?” I demand.
Cato lifts one shoulder in a shrug, glancing up at the open hatch. “As safe as we can be right now. Is he awake?”
“No,” I say as I shift Xeni in my arms. “We’ll have to work him up the ladder.”
Cato grunts. “Put him on my back and climb up behind me. I’ll need your help to lift him.”
I position Xeni’s arms around Cato’s neck, and Cato’s muscles strain as he climbs with one hand. I follow, supporting as much of Xeni’s weight as I can.
By the time Cato hoists Xeni through the hole, we’re both coated in sweat. As I catch my breath, I glance around to find we’re in a clean basement with shelves of baking supplies lining the walls.
One rack is loaded with bags of flour and sugar while containers of honey, chocolate, and nuts fill another. A third holds delicacies I haven’t seen in years—butterscotch, caramel, and a bottle of rum that makes me glance towards Xeni with a huffing laugh.
Cato speaks to a petite woman with frizzy gray hair. She smiles as I approach, and I return it as best I can as I take Xeni’s limp body from Cato.
Ego and Sakane climb through the hatch, and Cato runs over to help them move the cover. Once everything is back in place, the woman waves for us to follow her up a set of stairs.
I hesitate but Cato is relaxed, and I trust his judgement. We file into what appears to be a commercial kitchen, and a stainless-steel rack is rolled aside to reveal a hidden doorway that opens to another stairwell.
The apartment is clean and well lived-in, though the alarms are louder up here without the sewer's insulation. We walk through a hallway, and the woman turns and nods at Xeni before she opens a door and waves us inside.
A large bed sits against the wall, covered in a rainbow of handmade quilts. Nightstands flank either side, and an overstuffed chair waits by the window, though the curtains are drawn. The room is neat in a way that makes it feel as though it hasn’t been touched in years.
I glance at her in question.
“There’s a bathroom,” she says, nearly shouting to be heard over the wailing. She nods toward a door opposite the bed. “Towels are in the closet, and if you leave your clothes outside, I’ll clean them. Don’t use the lamps. The neighbors will notice.”
I nod, unsure of what else to say as she retreats into the hallway with the others. She says something to Cato, who nods with a soft smile as the door closes behind them.
Exhaustion hits me full force as I glance at the bed, then down at Xeni’s bloodstained body. My muscles protest as I carry him into the bathroom, and I groan in relief at the large walk-in shower that waits inside.
I set Xeni on the shower floor and start the lengthy process of undoing his filthy armor. My rage reignites as I remove his chestpiece and uncover the watercolor of bruises on his torso.
His lashes flutter as he takes a deep breath. “Bash?”
“Hey, princess,” I say as I set his armor aside.
He groans when he sits up taller, and I hurry to steady him. “Where are we?” he asks, blinking in confusion as he glances around the bathroom.
“Somewhere safe for now,” I answer.
His pointed ears twitch as he recognizes the blaring of the alarms, and he swallows roughly as his head falls against the tiled wall.
He looks so young.
So innocent and vulnerable as he looks at me like he needs me to take his pain away.
My throat is tight as I nod toward his pants. “Let’s get you clean, okay?”
Dried blood flakes on his pale skin, and he lifts his hands in front of his face. His fingers tremble as he stares at them like he’s seeing them for the first time.
“I should’ve killed him,” he whispers. “Why couldn’t I kill him? I should’ve… if I were stronger…”
I sink onto the shower floor beside him and reach for his hands, gently prying them away from his face. “Hey… none of that, okay? You were incredible, and you’re the only reason we made it out of there alive.”