Chapter 46 #3
A collective gasp sounded around the room, along with some titters quickly giving way to shouts and panicked movements the longer the darkness remained.
Lerek put his hands out as he went to the back of the dais, stumbling a few times as he moved past the Guard and the Watchmen to the spot he’d prearranged with Xoran to meet.
Terena had told them she’d use a blackout to cause the distraction they needed while allowing her friend Vassori to kill as many of the soldiers posted about the room.
Someone bumped into him and Lerek pushed back when Gabriol caught his arm, snarling in his ear.
“Xoran ran off. I saw him head for the dungeons. Isn’t he supposed to be with you?”
Nodding despite the pitch black surroundings, Lerek muttered to the mercenary to follow him as he led the way out of the back of the ballroom.
They left the darkness behind as they exited, striding down the hall to a hidden door in an alcove.
Servants used these hidden passageways to move about the palace unseen, but Lerek and his brother, Isher, had used them as well, playing when they were younger and using them to sneak out of the palace when they were older.
They hurried through the narrow walkway, coming to a fork. Torches lined the walls at long intervals, the wan light just enough to keep them from stumbling, although Lerek knew these passageways like the back of his hand.
Reaching the exit they needed minutes later, Lerek ushered them through the lower kitchens, moving purposefully as servants stopped to gape at them.
The stairs to the dungeons appeared as they rounded the corner past the pantry Ren had hidden in days ago and Lerek quickened his pace.
“He’s in the cell in the furthest part of the dungeons,” Lerek murmured.
Grabbing a torch as they made their way to the back, he halted at the sight before him, confused. Behind him, Gabriol swore and unsheathed his sword.
“Welcome!” Serephina said with delight. Xoran stood behind her, sword drawn as he stared back at them, expressionless. Serephina clapped her hands, keeping them together as she brought them to her lips. She made a tsk and pouted at Lerek. “Someone’s been naughty.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Lerek snapped, eyeing Xoran and the five men flanking them with their swords readied.
“I was expecting you, silly,” she said. Glancing at Xoran, she grinned. “You were right again, my love. I am sorry I doubted you.” Turning back to Lerek she twisted her lips. “Prince Lerek, I had no idea you consorted with traitors and criminals.”
Lerek’s face flooded with heat as he held up his hand. The men beside Xoran looked familiar, but they wore black clothing, the bottom of their faces masked. They shifted uneasily as they backed away a step.
“I don’t know what you’re about, Serephina,” Lerek said through gritted teeth, his anger rising the longer he eyed the woman. Her smile made him want to slap it off her face. “But I suggest you return to the ballroom and take your place beside the emperor.”
“Oh ho,” Serephina said, her hands dropping to her chest as she howled at him.
“Listen to the princeling trying to sound like his father! Although—” Serephina’s mouth compressed and her eyes lost all humor—“You will never be like your father. Because you’ll never be emperor.
I found out about your ill-advised plan, again,” she said with a glance at Xoran.
“And I sold the boy. You’ll never find him now.
She will never find him.” Serephina flicked her hand. “Kill them both.”
Gabriol rushed forward, catching one of the masked men unawares. The man brought up his sword at the last moment. Serephina jumped back and one of the men escorted her away.
Lerek yelled and swung his torch at Xoran when he came at him. In his panicked state, he stumbled backwards, nearly falling over. His left hand landed on the wall, catching himself as Xoran stared grimly at him.
“I knew it,” Lerek said, his voice quivering as he lifted the torch and backed away. “Gods, I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you.”
“It was inevitable,” Xoran said as he swung again. Lerek lifted the torched, crying out when Xoran’s strike easily disarmed him.
Lerek continued to step back, one hand on the wall as he extended the other before him. He wasn’t sure why he thought it might stop the captain.
“Why?”
Xoran prowled closer, his face impassive. “I made a vow to her. Long ago. And this is what she demanded of me.”
Lerek exhaled, his eyes darting over Xoran’s face as he fought to understand. “Who? Serephina? You and her—”
“You should’ve stayed dead.”
Lerek glanced behind Xoran, seeing Gabriol hack at another one of their assailants before snapping his gaze back to the advancing captain. He raised his arm, fear gripping his heart tightly and cried out as the man swung his sword in what was sure to be the last thing Lerek would ever see.
It never came.
Xoran stared blankly at him, the sword protruding from his belly confusing him when he glanced down. He looked back up at Lerek, and his expression eased into acceptance as he dropped to the flagstones.
In the sudden silence of the room, Lerek blinked away the sight of the dead captain and looked up to see the strange, redheaded mercenary who traveled with Terena glaring down at him. Gabriol came up behind him, clapping the warrior on his shoulder.
“Rydon?” Lerek asked, his voice shaking.
The man’s scowl deepened. He bent forward and thrust out his hand to help Lerek up. Rings bit into Lerek’s fingers and he grimaced against the pain of the man’s iron grip.
The mercenary stood eye to eye with Lerek, but his expression turned quizzical.
Before Lerek could ask again, the man spoke in a deep, gravelly voice.
“Where’s Croak?”