Chapter Eighteen #2
Beluna quietly told them, “They’re in the family wing of the castle.
We assume King Varex was lured down here in some fashion, but it seems as though Queen Fernila was in a sitting room at the time the shield was erected.
It’s mostly quiet since it’s the middle of the night, but it’s also clear that schedules have been thrown off.
Nostex isn’t following his normal routine, and it’s put people on edge.
We heard a few staff in the kitchens whispering about guards from Lotar that have been confined, so we believe Princess Adexa is there as well. ”
Pel pulled back from Tor, and while Tor wanted to continue to clutch him desperately, he made himself let the other man go.
“There are four guards at the door. They seemed a bit anxious but also bored, like they’re not expecting anything no matter what’s going on beyond the doorway.”
Beluna added, “We both passed by once, and they paid us absolutely no mind.”
Carefully, Pel said, “We can confirm that Cala is alive.”
It took Tor a minute to parse that. “She’s crying?”
Pel and Beluna nodded.
With a grimace, Pel said, “There’s been a lot of that over the last day or so.
We overheard some of the staff whispering about the King losing his temper.
We can’t be one hundred percent certain, but knowing how he wants the Fealty to fall, we think it likely that he’s with Queen Fernila, Princess Cala, and Princess Adexa, trying to get through those shields so he can, uh, dispose of them before King Varex dies. ”
Tor’s heart clenched in his chest, but he reminded himself this hopefully meant everyone was alive so far. Nostex was attacking because his plans hadn’t come to fruition yet.
Tor drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. He straightened his shoulders and looked at all of them in turn.
“I think we need to seize the moment. We don’t know how long Var’s shields will hold out, and the longer we delay, the better the chance that someone will get through them.”
It was basic magic theory. Hit a shield repeatedly in the same spot with too much magic—or even something non-magical—and you could pierce it.
The stronger the magic wielder was, the longer the shield would hold up, but they weren’t infallible.
Even someone with as much magic as Var had to be under tremendous strain when he had multiple shields up, especially if they were all under attack.
Tor was hopefully helping, but he had no idea what state Var was in at this point.
(Up the mountain, Tor had had the option to combine the shields when he’d realized he couldn’t keep both going, like he was juggling and about to lose his balance. He’d had another option. Var didn’t.)
“We need to go after both groups and rescue them at the same time,” Tor said definitively. “We can’t allow one group to be used against the other—and we’ll only have the element of surprise once.”
Suddenly, Stronex smiled, dark eyes burning with a fierce light. “Speaking of the element of surprise, do you know what would no doubt shock Nostex to his core? What if the man he thought he had trapped underwater suddenly showed up to attack him?”
It took Tor a second to understand, and then he felt a wolfish smile of his own overtake his face.
It had been far too long, after all, since Tor had last pretended to be his brother.
“Yes.”
Pel added, “To make the ruse more effective, you shouldn’t bring along people Tor might bring.
If he sees you with Rin or Nawila, he might figure out who you are.
And since you’re fighting an Extraordinary King with Fealty, King Stronex should also go with you.
His presence is easily explained by his desire to find Prince Thurnil and Princess Adexa.
Nostex might assume King Stronex helped free you. ”
Tor frowned. “But that would leave no Extraordinary to rescue Var.”
Pel raised an eyebrow. “And do you think only Extraordinary are capable of rescuing your brother?”
Grimacing, Tor apologized, “That came out wrong. You’re all extremely capable, and I’ve seen that for myself. But Beluna did report that four Extraordinary are trying to kill my brother. I really don’t want them to try to kill you, too.”
Pel’s expression was fierce. “They can try, but they’d have to see me coming. You heard those two earlier. They’re thinking just about magic, and that means they’re getting sloppy. Trust me to do this?”
Tor stared at the man he loved with all his heart, who was fierce and independent and probably really would break Tor’s nose if Tor tried to hold him back—and then he’d go do exactly what he wanted anyway.
“Yes, of course,” Tor answered.
And it was true. If Tor couldn’t go rescue his brother himself, there was no one he trusted more. He hated the idea of being separated from Pel, but he acknowledged this really was the smartest idea if they were going to rescue everyone.
Pel held up his quiver of arrows. “Know something we could do together?”
Tor grinned at him and reached out and pushed magic into the arrows, one by one, mantling each of them.
“They’re stronger than the ones from the archery competition,” Tor told him.
Pel’s eyes were bright and fierce, and Tor couldn’t help but lean in and kiss him again. He refused to think of it as a “just in case” kiss, but he could taste the desperation.
No, absolutely not. This was a kiss for luck, and nothing more.
They separated, and Tor realized that the couples with them were doing the same thing, taking a moment to offer a fond farewell if they were separating.
“Whichever of us wins first will come find the other, right?” Tor said.
“Absolutely,” Pel agreed. His lip curled up. “Bet I can save someone faster than you can.”
Tor let out a crack of laughter that he hurriedly muffled with his hand. It was impossible to love this man more than he already did, and yet he found himself falling harder for him every day.
“We have to get up all those stairs first,” Tor pointed out.
Pel winked at him. “Then you’d better hurry.”
Tor grinned, heart weirdly light as well as heavy in his chest.
More seriously, he said, “Give us ten minutes to get into place.”
Pel nodded. If this all went wrong, they wanted both groups to have the element of surprise and no chance for anyone to escape and warn the other group.
Quietly and decisively now that the time had come, they split up.
Pamuna and Terila were sneaking back to the secret entrance, ready to go for help if none of them returned.
Pel, Rin, Nawila, and two of Stronex’s guards were going to the torture chamber where Varex was being kept, and the rest of them headed up to the family wing of the castle.
They still had the advantage of it being night, but as Beluna had pointed out, the regular schedule of the castle had been thrown off by what was happening.
To make themselves look a little less suspicious, they broke into groups of one or two, Tor and Beluna walking together, Cavun and one of Stronex’s guards, and finally Stronex bringing up the rear.
Tor strode along at Beluna’s side, glad that she knew where she was going and trusting that the others were following.
He had the hood of his cloak up to reduce the chance of being recognized, which wasn’t exactly subtle, but this seemed to be a castle where people didn’t ask a lot of questions, and the late hour also helped.
After what felt like an eternity of being on tenterhooks lest someone denounce them as interlopers, Beluna slipped into a room on the right-hand side of the corridor, and they all followed her.
It proved to be a sitting room, decorated in a lovely style, and for a moment, the surreality hit Tor hard. They were about to burst into a family room and try to kill a king because he was trying to murder Tor’s family.
If they’d got this right, and Nostex was in there right now, was he attacking in the middle of the night to reduce the chances of people finding out what he was doing? Or was his assault on Var’s magic simply unrelenting, and he was attacking whenever or however he could?
Tor couldn’t quite believe these were questions he had to ask himself. Had Pel and the others already started fighting? Was anyone dead or injured? Were they victorious? It burned in the back of his mind, but he needed to concentrate on what they had to do.
Pel was fierce and awesome and could take care of himself.
“Four guards at the entrance,” Beluna said. “We can—”
“I’ll take care of them,” Stronex said firmly. “It won’t be quiet, but I assume that we’re bursting into the room?”
Tor nodded. “We need to subdue them as quickly as possible. The biggest danger is what’s in that room. I’ll go first.”
“That’s a terrible plan,” Beluna objected immediately.
Tor shook his head. “No, listen. I’m going to draw his attention. Even if he sees you, he’ll be focused on me. It will be your job to neutralize anyone else in the room. Understood?”
Beluna didn’t look happy, but after a long moment, she nodded, as did the others.
“I get the guards, you get the door,” Stronex told Tor.
Tor nodded. They all pulled out their swords. Tor mantled his body, assuming Stronex was doing the same. This gave them free range of motion, though it didn’t offer as much protection as a full shield.
He drew a deep breath, let it out. Then he nodded at everyone else.
“Up ahead, round the corner on the left,” Beluna said quietly. “Twenty steps. They’ll notice us before we get there.”
“Not a problem,” Stronex said grimly. “We’ll take it at a run.”
So that was what they did. They made sure the coast was clear, then walked to the corner.
Stronex counted them down from five on his fingers, and when he reached zero, they burst into the hallway at a sprint.
The guards startled badly, but before they could even reach for their swords, a shield of magic sent them crashing into the wall. They went down instantly.