Chapter 47 Koarthandris
KOARTHANDRIS
I was beside myself, itching to be gone from this place. I was too far from Izzy. I hadn’t been able to protect her last night, when Saldrea had nearly killed her, and I wasn’t there now. I needed to do my duty to the crown, to Izzy, but I couldn’t because of that damned titan’s stubbornness.
I could understand why he’d want his family freed, but didn’t he see the imminent danger Izzy faced? What a callous bastard.
And now Izzy was being moved to the arena, where it would be even harder to get to her. I certainly hoped that damned titan had a way in, otherwise this was all for naught. If we couldn’t reach Izzy in time, couldn’t break the binding on her collar, then Saldrea would kill her in the arena.
Everything balanced on a razor’s edge. We needed to do what we came here to do and get back as quickly as possible. Our plan was to tell the men guarding Wensuria that we were their replacements, but it seemed we were too late.
“We just started our shift here,” the one guard said. “You must be mistaken.”
The guards were dwarves, not elves, but I had a feeling they’d still be a challenge to fight.
You didn’t make it into the queen’s secret dungeons if you were a slouch.
We’d have to deal with them quickly since there were other guards not far away, just around a corner, down the next hall.
We’d seen them when we passed. Lhorine had a spell to engulf an area in silence, but she’d need a moment to cast it.
“Ah, sorry, my mistake,” Olinara said… and Lhorine began casting.
I charged in, followed by Rook.
“What the hell?” one of the guards managed to get out before we were plunged into silence.
The basic attack strategy we’d worked out during the night was for Rook to arouse them as a distraction. Then I’d keep the guards occupied while Olinara cast spells.
That all went as planned. The two dwarves cringed awkwardly as lust filled them. Even two on one, I’d taken one down by the time Olinara’s spell went off and ice cut through the other one.
The problem was the guards from the other hall, who must have heard the one guard’s startled words, before the silence, and came to investigate.
Lhorine couldn’t get another silence spell off fast enough, and one of the guards gave a loud shout, alerting all the other guards on this level.
We’d counted ten on our way to this cell, but from what we’d gleaned from the guards captured last night, any given floor could have as many as two dozen men guarding it.
I cursed, but no sound came out, we were still silenced. I pointed at the door to Wensuria’s cell, hoping the others got my point to get her out. I’d take care of the guards.
I marched toward the two dwarves and brought forth my destruction.
Dwarves were usually resistant to fire, many of them having spent time in Urval, so neither my burst of flame power, nor my fire breath would do much.
So, I used raw destruction. It was the same power I’d used to destroy Izzy’s room.
The wave of raw destructive power I unleashed flowed down the hall and ripped apart the two dwarven guards where they stood. It wasn’t quiet.
I quickly looked back to check on the others.
Rook was helping a large titan woman — Wensuria — out of her cell, she looked weak.
But what caught my attention was that Rook and Lhorine looked like themselves.
Olinara’s illusion had failed, probably when she’d cast the other spell.
Olinara herself still looked like a guard, since that was her nymph ability.
Booted footfalls came from seemingly all directions.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Olinara said as the others reached me.
We’d known going in that if things turned bad, our escape wouldn’t be easy.
In any normal underground complex, Lhorine could have moved earth and stone to create a diagonal tunnel for us to climb out, blocking anyone behind us.
But this place had special enchantments on all the surfaces, walls and floors, reinforcing them.
That meant earth magic was no help in here.
It hindered Lhorine, but it also meant the dwarven guards could only use their physical enhancement and mundane weapons against us.
We, however, had three non-earth-magic users, and Lhorine had smuggled in a few small stones, which she’ reworked into long thin spikes, throwing them with precision.
I used destruction liberally. Rook threw fire and Olinara summoned water, encompassing guards’ heads in swirling pools, drowning on dry land.
In that manner we managed to fight our way back up six floors, but we found ourselves trapped in the stairwell below the ground-level. The guards there were ready for us.
Olinara froze the stairwell below us in solid ice, stopping anyone from coming up behind us, but we were trapped. The dozens of guards on the main level didn’t rush in, which might have served us better, fighting them in a bottleneck at the door. Instead, they waited for us to come out.
They had all the time in the world.
We didn’t.
“Can you send a flood over them?” Rook asked Olinara.
She answered with strain in her voice. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed the twenty-foot-thick block of ice below us? That’s not easy to maintain. I’m a bit busy keeping us from being flanked.”
Rook swore. “My fire won’t do much against a bunch of enhanced dwarves and elves.”
“I could probably get most of them with my destruction,” I said. The trouble was, I’d been using that power a lot and was starting to feel the strain. And we still had to get back to campus and potentially fight again once we arrived.
I looked at Lhorine. This little lull in the fighting had given her time to break the binding on Wensuria’s collar.
“There, you’re free.”
The titan woman massaged her neck. “Can we not… oh…” She grimaced. I guessed she’d tried her earth magic on the walls. “I’m afraid I’ll be of little help. This stone resists my magic.”
“Any ideas?” I asked Lhorine.
The elf shrugged. “Like Wensuria, there is little I can do. But I’ll fight.” She hefted the sword which had come with her guard’s gear.
“Can you use a sword?” I asked Wensuria.
“Not well.”
“Good enough.” I tossed her mine. “I’ll lead, destroying what I can, you four clean up the rest.” I wouldn’t call it a plan, but it was all we had.
I burst from the stairwell and blasted my destruction even as weapons were hurled my way, arrows and axes flying. They were blown away, as were most of the men before me. But that large blast left me staggered.
Luckily, it seemed to have dealt with the majority of the guards. We bolted for the door as a few guards filed in from other locations. But it was too late. As soon as I was outside, I transformed, with no care for my clothes.
Yet… I’d forgotten something. All those earth-wielders inside couldn’t shape the structure they were in… but the stone outside…
Spikes of earth shot up from the ground. My hide was tough, but the sheer number of spears still hurt like hell, and that wasn’t the worst thing. Most of the others managed to avoid the shards of stone, but Lhorine was skewered on one just as she exited the building.
Fuck!
Wensuria dispelled the spike — catching Lhorine as she fell, lifeless — and put a massive block of stone up in front of the doorway to stop any others from getting through.
Then everyone quickly mounted on my back and I launched myself into the sky.
Lhorine’s earth-walk would have gotten us back to campus quicker than my flight, mostly because I had passengers to worry about and couldn’t go as fast for fear of losing one of them. Still, I went as fast as I could.
We’d traversed perhaps half the distance back to campus when Rook shouted from my back.
“Izzy contacted me!” I could barely hear him over the rushing wind. “Someone at the prison must have called Saldrea. She knows something happened, and she’s moved up Izzy’s trial. They’re going into the arena now!”
Fucking hell!
Of course our attack would get reported back to the princess. Why hadn’t anyone thought of that?
There was no way we’d get back in time to help.
Unless…
I used the telepathic communication I had in dragon form to reach out to Rook. Curiously… his mind was blocked to me. I tried Olinara and reached her.
Contact Bayn, let him know we have his sister. Now’s the time to act!
I had to hope that damned titan lived up to his word. Right now, he was our only chance to free Izzy.
And tell everyone back there to hold on!
I put on speed as my soul cried out in pain, a twisting anguish which had nothing to do with failing in my duty and everything to do with losing someone I cared for.
If Izzy survived this, I swore I wouldn’t hold myself back from her affections any longer.
I’d been a fool, a complete idiot, ignoring my feelings for that perfect woman.
I’d been so intent on protecting her that I hadn’t understood why I’d needed her to live.
It wasn’t to uphold my duty, not anymore.
No, I needed her to live, because I loved her.