Chapter 25 #3
He hesitated, wondering what mischief Blair could do if he really was working against them. With a quick order, he sent one of his guards up, telling the man to apprehend Blair with the assistance of the guard holding the horses. That still left Xavier with four guards.
The anzu on his shoulder made a sudden gagging sound, then spat out a drool-covered mass of scales.
Four guards and Zuzu.
The tunnel led into a small cave, and Xavier hurried forward eagerly. But it was a dead end, no sign of a continuing path. He frowned, wishing he had more light to examine the area.
“Shame you can’t do fire, Zuzu,” he said. “But then again, sight isn’t everything.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to focus on his magical sense, such as it was. The process helped to sharpen his awareness of the linking enchantment. Once it had his full focus, there was no denying the direction of its pull. He walked forward confidently, his eyes still closed.
Zuzu’s squawk of protest was his first clue something was amiss, the sound almost drowning his guard’s voice.
“Your Highness, you’re walking into a—”
The warning cut off abruptly, and Xavier opened his eyes. He could see nothing at all around him, but he could still hear the shocked exclamations of his guards.
“I’m here,” he called out. “I’m unharmed. I just can’t see anything.”
“You walked through a solid rock wall,” one of his guards protested. A moment later, Xavier felt a hand collide with his side.
“That’s my ribs,” he said conversationally. “And judging by the fact that you can still reach out and touch them, I’m guessing I didn’t walk through a solid rock wall so much as an illusion that looks like a solid rock wall.”
He shifted out of the way, and one by one, the guards followed him in. By the time everyone was through, his eyes had started to adjust a little, but visibility was still very poor. The illusion looked like rock from their side of it as well as the other, which meant it let no light through.
“Quietly, now,” he told his men, sliding his sword from its scabbard as he inched forward.
Even Zuzu fell silent, pressing the feline part of her body against Xavier’s neck. Xavier knew exactly where to go, thanks to the tug from the enchantment. But even without it, there was only one course.
Moving so softly he could barely hear them, Xavier’s little team reached the end of the tunnel and emerged into a long room with a higher ceiling.
Tiny shafts of light came down from above at periodic intervals, lighting the space just enough to get a sense of its shape.
It stretched out in a long corridor, some kind of small feature appearing repeatedly at ground level.
“This looks like a burial vault,” breathed one of the guards. “We shouldn’t enter, Your Highness.”
“I’m not superstitious,” Xavier murmured. The intensity of the link in his chest gave him confidence he was on firm ground. “But I am strategic enough to recognize that somewhere people fear would be a good place to hide what you don’t want found.”
Zuzu launched from his shoulder, flying silently along the length of the space and coming to land on the floor partway down.
“Your Highness.” The second guard’s voice was choked. “There are bodies. It’s definitely a—”
“Xavier?”
The voice was so faint, Xavier would have missed it if not for one thing. Namely that it was the sweetest and most familiar sound in the world.
“Alina!” He threw himself forward, desperate to find her among the many openings. “Alina, where are you?”
His guards tried to caution him, but for the moment, he’d lost his head. Whether it was the linking enchantment or simply his own need, he didn’t know. But he had to find her, and immediately.
Moving painfully slowly, a hand snaked out between the grates part of the way down the row. Right next to Zuzu.
“Alina!”
He was on his knees in a second, enfolding her hand in his. He could see now that she was lying in what bore every resemblance to a tomb, silent and barely moving, and the sight terrified him.
“How do I get you out?” he asked desperately.
“They must have gotten her in somehow,” one of the guards volunteered.
The man was right. Xavier’s eyes strained in the dimness, trying to make sense of the mechanism over the opening.
The grate was solid and heavy, but he realized now that there was a latch above that was only secured with a simple lock.
He stood, raising his sword. Three swift strikes from its hilt, and the lock broke off.
One of the guards hurried forward to help slide the grate upward, allowing Xavier to gently pull Alina free.
He’d expected her to clamber to her feet once clear of the enclosure, so fear gripped him when she still didn’t move.
“Alina?” he said. “Talk to me.”
“I’m…all right,” she managed, her voice weak and labored. “Can’t move…or…I’ll die.”
“What?” They clearly had very different definitions of all right. Questions poured through Xavier’s mind, but it was clear that the effort of answering them would be too much for Alina.
He carefully lifted her, pulling her form against his and holding her weight as he squeezed her to him. The presence of the linking enchantment was stronger than ever, but there was no pressure, no tug. It was fully satisfied.
“Benji.” Alina’s murmur was soft in his ear. “The…others.”
One of the guards had just discovered Benji, freeing him the same way Xavier had freed Alina.
Well, minus the part where he was clutching her to him like he’d drown if he let her go.
“I’ve got the young lad,” the guard said gruffly, carefully assisting Benji to rise.
Benji gave no sign of relief at his rescue, his face pale and his eyes unfocused as he slumped against his liberator so that the guard had to bear his full weight. What was happening to them?
“Check every cell.” Xavier rapped out the order. “Move them carefully, there’s obviously some kind of risk of over-exertion.” He looked along the row, his forehead furrowing. “No, wait,” he said reluctantly. “There aren’t enough of us. We need to get these two safely out and bring more men down.”
Faint rustling reached his ears from several sides, and his heart twisted.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “I’m Prince Xavier, and I have all the authority of the crown. I swear to you, I will return and free every one of you immediately. I just have to first ensure that our path out is safe and no one will be attacked when leaving this place.”
“You can…trust him.” Alina’s faint whisper seemed to fill the space. “He won’t…fail.”
Something deep inside Xavier broke at her words.
But it wasn’t a weakening kind of break.
It was a kind of breaking that felt like he was being rebuilt even stronger than before.
He knew it wasn’t the moment, but he was unable to stop himself from burying his face in Alina’s hair, breathing her in with the sensation of taking his first truly deep breath in ten years.
Benji had a different reaction to her declaration. “Alina…stop…risking…”
Benji’s voice trailed off, but Xavier understood. It was dangerous for Alina even to speak.
“Just rest,” he murmured in her ear. “I’ll take care of everything. I promise.”
He scooped her into his arms with the words, his movements as gentle as possible. She didn’t have the strength to lift her head, but when it was resting against his shoulder, her eyes found his with an expression of such trust it stole his breath.
One of the other guards led the way out of the chamber, Xavier following slowly so as not to jostle Alina.
Zuzu flapped along beside him, clearly knowing he already had enough weight to carry.
The others followed, one of them carrying Benji draped carefully over his shoulder.
They’d just gone past a small side track Xavier hadn’t noticed on the way in, when a sound up ahead made the guard in front pause.
“In there,” he breathed, motioning into the fissure.
They all filed in, moving silently and holding their breath. A moment later, three figures ran past in the direction of the chamber, one of them holding a lantern. They were clearly not guards or other members of the investigation team.
Xavier exchanged a tense look with the guard closest to him.
“Stay here, Your Highness,” the man said grimly, nodding to his two unburdened fellows. The three of them shifted into stances of readiness as they moved back into the main tunnel.
“Those men went to where all the others are still trapped,” Xavier murmured to the guard remaining with him.
The man nodded.
“Do you think they know it’s been discovered?”
“They will once they see the two empty alcoves,” his guard reminded him.
Xavier’s jaw set. “The question is, what will they do about it? Will they kill them rather than let us free them? Will they try to kill us all since no one else knows what we found?”
The guard had no answers for him, but he hadn’t expected any. For a moment, Xavier wrestled with himself, wishing he didn’t have to make this choice. But there was no way around it.
“Alina,” he said, propping her up carefully so that she sat against the edge of the fissure, well back from the main tunnel.
“Stay hidden, and I’ll be back for you as soon as it’s safe.
” He locked eyes with the guard. “Stay with them. If there’s fighting, do everything you can to keep them out of it. ”
The man nodded, depositing Benji similarly to Alina and drawing his sword.
“You stay, too, Zuzu,” Xavier told the anzu firmly. “Protect her for me.”
With a last, anguished look at the immobile Alina, Xavier emerged into the tunnel and ran toward the chamber.