Chapter 23 #2
He slammed his fist against the stone, shoving his weight into it until the wall creaked inward and gave way to reveal a pitch-black tunnel choked with dust and stale air.
“Come on!” he bellowed, grabbing Ren by the collar of his shirt and shoving him down to his knees to crawl through.
“Uhh…” Riven hesitated as he peered into the claustrophobic tunnel that was barely tall enough to crouch in.
“Hurry!” Draevyn growled. “Move!”
One by one, they scrambled into the narrow space, boots and hands scraping against the ground as they shoved forward in a rush.
Jak went to go last but turned back and looked him up and down. “What about you?”
Shouts echoed as the guards rounded the corner. They skidded to a halt as their eyes locked on him, their jaws hanging open.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Draevyn answered, stepping away. He raised both hands, summoning his flames. Heat shimmered across the dungeon floor.
The guards’ eyes went wide. For a moment, there was nothing but stunned silence and the crackling blaze.
“…Captain Draevyn?” one of them said, disbelieving.
Draevyn didn’t flinch, his hands holding that glowing heat as his body crackled with power.
“You’re aiding the pirates?” another yelled. “These are prisoners of the king!”
The third guard stepped forward. “Seize them!”
The three of them advanced.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Draevyn admitted. “But I’m sure you saw that pile of ash at the gate. So, you should know here and now… that I will.”
“You’re a fucking traitor!” one boomed.
The guards surged forward, but then a violent wind shrieked in the small space, sending his hair flying in all directions.
Jak stepped out from behind Draevyn, both hands raised. The air exploded forward, knocking two of the men off their feet.
Draevyn set his fire loose then.
With a burst of energy, his flames shot out across the floor.
The inferno seared into the stone, curling upward as Jak’s wind carried it.
The two magics danced and collided, spinning faster, forming a blazing cyclone that surged up between them and the guards.
The vortex of fire twisted, encasing the guards in a spinning cage of blistering flames and screaming winds.
The men froze as they were trapped between Draevyn’s and Jak’s fusing magic, their faces giving away their horror.
“You’ll all hang for this!” one of them cried.
The heat scorched the ceiling, sending dust and ash falling like rain.
“We need to go!” he yelled to Jak, who answered with a stiff nod.
Draevyn turned from the screaming guards, giving them one last glance over his shoulder as they stared back at him, faces pale. Then he ducked into the tunnel after Jak and sealed it shut behind him with a small wall of crackling flame.
The orange-lit darkness swallowed them as they crawled after the others.
Silver moonlight pierced through the passage as they reached its end. They had been crawling for quite some time, and Draevyn never considered how tight the space might be for fully grown men compared to when he was just a boy.
One by one, they pulled themselves out into the open air, crawling up through a blanket of moss and tangled roots, coughing, dirty, and wide-eyed.
Dense, overgrown trees loomed above in the darkness, while insects hummed around their ears.
The castle was nearly a mile to their backs, swallowed behind the thick curtain of the forest. The sky was still dark, stars veiled behind heavy clouds, and ahead of them, a narrow river twisted through the underbrush, glittering faintly in the dim light.
They had made it out.
“We need to move,” Draevyn said, wiping blood from a scrape on his brow. “You’ll need to follow the river out. It flows to the south.”
Jak’s eyes narrowed. “And what’s at the end of this river?”
“The sea,” Draevyn answered. “And a pair of pinnaces prepped to bring you to Valor.”
Ren let out a low whistle. “You planned ahead.”
The others began to shuffle into motion, trusting him, for now.
Draevyn gave a stiff nod. “Stay off the path and within the trees. Lay low until you see the shore.”
The group trudged forward along the muddy banks, their boots half sinking into the earth. Leaves rustled overhead, and the river whispered.
The crew turned back, confused when they realized he hadn’t moved to follow. He didn’t say anything for a moment as he stared at the winding current, heart thudding.
“You’re not coming with us?” Riven asked, tilting his head.
Draevyn shook his head, jaw clenched. “No. I need to go back.”
“What?” Jak barked. “Are you mad? You heard those guards. The whole castle’s in lockdown. I don't think I need to remind you that we left those guards alive back there. You’ll be killed if they catch you.”
“I know,” he admitted. “But I need to help my own crew get the rest of yours out of Lephyrin and meet us at the ship. If there’s a lockdown in place, it may already be too late. I can’t just run.”
A heavy silence fell, and then he pointed downstream.
“Keep going,” he ordered. “The pinnaces will be docked beneath the stone cliffs. You’ll see the torches burning low. Wait there.”
“And what if you don’t make it back?” one of the others asked.
He gave them a faint, grim smile. “If I’m not back by dawn, then light the sails and don’t look back.”
With that, Draevyn turned and vanished into the woods, flame flickering low in his palm to light the way as he scanned the city’s skyline in the distance.