Chapter Thirty-Nine Reyanwyn of the Mountain
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
REYANWYN OF THE MOUNTAIN
Shit,” Reya said.
Omira and Thance, wherever they were, had tripped an alarm.
Reya jerked the trousers off the still-warm body of one of the guards she’d dispatched and handed them to Caelan. “Put these on. Quickly.”
He did as instructed and she thanked Una for one less distraction. The pants barely made it over Caelan’s hips, but they would have to do.
Reya snagged every weapon and set of keys she could find on the corpses, tossing swords to Caelan as they moved but keeping the daggers for herself.
When they reached the hall where she’d found Thance and Omira, Reya told Caelan to burn everything inside.
They had to remove all record of the king’s experiments, save for what she’d already stolen, and leave nothing he could replicate.
Reya took one side while Caelan took the other, both of them careful only to destroy the materials.
The last thing they needed was to bring the entire prison down on top of them.
Black dust swirled in the wake of the God Power.
Meanwhile, the weight of the paper she carried became heavier and heavier by the second.
She was sweating by the time they’d combusted every register and glass vial and tool until nothing remained but the stain of misery and the scent of burning sulfur.
Caelan ushered her down the hall and up the stairs.
It was absolute chaos. Cell doors were swung open and the floors strewn with dead and dying—many of them magic-born.
Reya forced herself to look at their faces, to bear witness.
There would be time to grieve and dwell on her choices.
Later, when they were out. If she lost focus now, they would have died for nothing.
Rhiterran soldiers were piled near the doors of every block like they’d died trying and failing to hold them closed.
Caelan shook his head as he took in the carnage. “Your resourcefulness never ceases to amaze.”
It wasn’t long before Reya and Caelan were swept into the fray, blades swinging, taking on the scattered guards and shouting at the magic-born to head for the ground level.
Reya was beginning to think it would be a miracle if they got out of the prison alive, much less took anyone else with them.
Scattered and without clear leadership, they were weak.
And they were going to die here. Had she been so naive to think she could free them all?
Had Thance been right?
A cluster of Pix flew past in a blur of color, hissing like a storm cloud, forcing her to duck.
Something invisible skittered past her ankles, moving limp bodies to the side where it crawled.
Reya didn’t have time to be disturbed by the ill-famed Bone Eaters before another guard was upon her.
He was younger than the others and he went down easier.
When they rounded the corner, Reya skidded to a halt so fast she nearly brought herself and Caelan to the ground. A stone giant filled the hallway, blocking their way and taking on three guards at once. The creature roared so loud it shook the walls.
Reya gawked. “Is that—”
“Yeah,” Caelan said and urged her down yet another corridor, away from the Cogor. Around them, half the magic-born were fighting while the other half were fleeing at random. And in the center of them all was a Drelid—Blue—swinging a sword for all she was worth.
If they didn’t get coordinated, this fight was going to be over before it started. Magic-born were breaking off into small clusters and getting cornered, and time was not on their side. They needed a commander. Someone who could get them all to the exit and out alive.
They needed Caelan.
“Get these people to the armory,” she said.
Caelan whirled on her. “You’re coming with me.”
“They won’t make it without you.” She pointed at Blue, at the group she was protecting, then gripped his jaw and pressed a kiss to his mouth. “You’ve got this, General.”
He clasped the back of her neck hard, holding her there, and said against her lips, “Stay with me.”
Though it nearly killed her, she slid out of his grip with a shake of her head. “I have something I need to do. I’ll meet you there.”
“Reyanwyn!”
But she was already running back the way they’d come, lunging over the dead. He wouldn’t follow her, not when he had lives in his hands. Because he was a leader. A male of honor. And she’d asked him to.
When she found a familiar set of stairs, she took them two at a time, retracing her steps until she was back on the route to her cell. Most of the doors were already open. But it would have been all too easy to miss a prisoner in the chaos, especially a small one, and she wouldn’t take that chance.
A purple light emanated from the end of the hall, and she knew she’d been right.
Fionán.
He cried out when he saw her and stuck his little arm between the bars.
She was already sprinting, fumbling for the ring of keys. The female Sage who had told her about the high-security cells lay sprawled across the floor in front of Fionán’s cell, her golden Ire turned gray in death. “I’m coming!”
It took her several agonizing moments to find the right key. When she finally flung the door open, she caught Fionán as he leapt into her arms and buried his face in her hair.
“Come on, kid. I’m going to take you to the sea.”
Gripping Fionán to her with one hand and her sword with the other, she took off back down the hall. Reya was nearly at the corridor entrance when she lurched to a stop before five armed guards. It took them a moment to notice her, like she’d interrupted them.
“Get back into your cage, bloodling,” spat the man at the head of the group.
When she didn’t move, he drew his sword in warning.
“None of you are leaving this prison.” He spoke with such conviction, such pride, like there was something she’d missed.
Reya wanted to tell herself it was merely hubris, but she’d never lied to make herself feel better on a job before and wasn’t about to start.
He gestured to a cell, repeating the command.
“Get back into your cage, and we won’t hurt the boy. ”
Reya sheathed her sword and pressed Fionán’s head against her shoulder. “Close your eyes, Fionán.”
When it was clear she would not be walking back into her cage, two Kellstone bolts soared toward them. She dodged one and then the other, slamming into the stone wall. Fionán sobbed into her collarbone.
“Kill them both!” The guard commanded. “Now!”
“Don’t look,” she said tightly. “You have to promise.”
When the boy nodded into her skin, Reya lifted her palm—and let down the floodgate.
“Move ahead!” a voice boomed. Caelan.
Reya was still holding Fionán as she shoved through the crowd of magic-born streaming into the armory. She and Fionán were a speck in the chaos. When Caelan saw them, he moved like a storm cloud, and the crowd parted for him.
After she’d obliterated those five guards, there had been no more soldiers between her and the armory. It was like they were retreating, but she didn’t understand why when they thought the magic-born had nowhere to go.
Reya finally saw what all the magic-born were gathered around—a tunnel opening beneath a thick iron slab in the floor of the armory. The slab, moved aside by what would have had to be several large individuals, was engraved with a four-cornered knot in the shape of a shield.
A protection knot.
“Thank the All-Gods,” Thance said when he spotted Reya. He let go of the female Sage he was helping through the opening and ushered people out of his way to get to her.
“I’m going to let you go now,” Reya said softly. Realizing they were as safe as they could be for now, Fionán slowly slid down her torso. “Will you?” Reya asked Thance. He nodded and began whispering to Fionán in his mother tongue as he extricated him from Reya’s arms.
Caelan was instantly by her side, and she sighed into his heat.
“Is this everyone?” she asked. There had to be seventy people crammed in this room, not counting those who had already descended and those still streaming in from the hall.
“More or less,” Caelan said.
“What do you mean?”
The two Alethians shared a look before Thance said, “I saw no one I recognized. The king seems to have been focusing his experiments on the Sages.” His voice was tight with grief.
“And many magic-born died on the way down here. You saw the losses. We called out for survivors, but some might be unconscious. We don’t have time to check all the cells for wounded if we want to get these people out. ”
“He’s right,” Caelan said.
Afraid she might be sick, Reya rubbed her arms. Was this what Caelan had felt like a year ago?
The Alethians had to make the same call now as they did then—save what lives they could or fight until the last and risk saving none.
Not the Alethians, she realized. They were all looking at her, waiting.
The call was hers to make now, and every part of her rebelled at the idea. “Is the tunnel passable?”
Thance looked uneasy. “There’s no way to know for certain until we’re down there. But the air smells cleaner down in the passage.”
“Right,” Reya said. “I’ll go next. If the passage is blocked, I can probably clear it.
Regardless, it’s safer to try the tunnel than take the castle bailey and the bridge under open fire.
They don’t know this is here, but out there, they’ll be waiting for us.
” She glanced around the chamber. “Did you find him?”
Thance shouted over his shoulder, “Ice elemental!”
A head popped over the crowd. “Coming, charming!”
Thance pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Evening, Red,” Citrio said. “I presume you’re to thank for all this.”
The moment the pet name came out of his mouth, Caelan’s eyes narrowed on the silver-haired male.
The elemental in question whistled at the sight of the general, then flashed a smile. “You’re big. I like big.”