Chapter 34
Chapter
Thirty-Four
-brIDA-
The shouting grew louder.
Marsh.
“I won’t let him catch me again,” I said shrilly.
“I’m not a Wind Walker, I can’t get us out of here.” His arms fell to his sides, exasperated. “We’re going to have to run,” Marius said, readying himself as if he were about to undergo a race.
“We can’t go.” I sighed. The pain of this decision loomed in the air around me.
“What do you mean? We have to leave. I’m not exactly sure how yet, there are a few places to hide throughout the pass down towards the base…”
I cut him off. “We can’t leave. My father is inside.” I pointed towards the area of the Court.
“Your what?” His tone was angered, “What do you mean your father is inside? You’ve seen him?”
“In a matter of speaking…”
“Brida, so help me, if you do not speak plainly.”
“He appeared to me, in a dream, and told me he was here.” I finally said, “I know he is here, please do not ask me how I know, I just do.”
After a moment of silence, he nodded. “Go, find him. I will meet you there.”
Quickly, Marius reached for his belt. Undoing it, he wrapped it around my waist and fastened it. “The dagger is on the left side. If you need to, use it. Do not hesitate for one moment.”
“I won’t hesitate,” I said, the words almost catching in my throat. “Marius, be safe.”
Smiling, he pulled the cloak over his head to partially conceal his face before moving towards the shouts.
I steadied myself, taking three breaths in quick succession. Marius would reach him in a matter of minutes, and I needed to be quick. There were several entrances to the court, but other than the cell and the pathway Marsh had taken me on, I knew very little of the court itself.
The sun was beginning to rise behind me, and my hope was, should I time it right, that I would be able to blend into the light from the snow. I knew how blinding it was to gaze upon the snow with the rise of the sun here each morning. I would be granted a few moments of grace.
I nearly lost my footing running down the slope, but managed to find my balance as I firmly planted my feet and ran. The crisp air bit at my skin as I ran across the newly fallen snow. Keep going, just keep pushing.
Two hundred feet or so stood between me and the building.I hadn’t seen it from this vantage point before.
It had sharp edges and lines, no rounded domes to be seen.
The glass shimmered, reflecting the new light of the sky, and the brightness of the snow.
It was an imposing structure, mean and cold in its appearance.
The pressure in my lungs mounted as I forced my legs faster. The snow glistened in front of me with each step I took, the sun rising into the sky.
My steps hurried, each movement deliberate. Nearly there. I sighed in relief when I crested the entryway, and it remained empty, placing my palm on my chest, attempting to catch my breath. I cannot wait to be rid of this place.
The glass beneath my feet was clean, allowing me to see the snow I now hovered above.
What would I have thought of this court had I been able to see it under normal circumstances?
It didn’t matter now, nor would it ever.
I had a mission, and it was to find my father, to free him, and for us to find a way out of here.
Marius can’t wind-walk, nor can I shadow-step… Could I? Can you shadow-step? My palms remained dim, and I had my answer.
The corridor that led to the great hall of the court was filled with gusts, each attempting to knock me over, each desperate to tell new visitors what awaited inside.
We are watching you.
You do not belong here.
Hello, Brida Larrow.
She comes.
Welcome to the Court of Whispers.
Echoes bounded from wall to floor, inundating me with sound. It was a tactic to distract those unused to it, however I’d been here for months. While my cell had been quieter, it too possessed a similar magic.
The smell of pastries, eggs, and bacon wafted on the breeze, the dining halls readying themselves for breakfast. I was in the pool for a day.
It had been light when I had pushed Marsh, and I had reemerged to the night sky.
I was jolted from my thoughts as a group of three Whisperers made their way down the hall.
I do not have long.
I picked up my skirt, the bottom of which had been made heavier from the wetness of the snow, and ventured through the labyrinthine halls. If my memory was correct, this was the general direction to the cells. What I wouldn’t give for Kadian to be guiding me right now.
With each creak, groan, shift, or sound, I turned my head, positive it would be the moment I would be discovered.
I approached a locked door at the end of the hall. The door was made of heavy wood, and I knew I was in the right place. The knob was cool in my grasp, and the door wouldn’t budge.
It’s locked—of course it’s locked.
The Court of Whispers… what do I know about the Court of Whispers… They like secrets.
I knew of another door in this world that appreciated admiration and praise. Grazing my palm along the door, I whispered, “Would you care for a secret?” The door groaned in response.
During the trials in Azmeer, the Court of Reflection had required a secret, and I would offer another now.
Except this was not truly a secret, but a promise.
“I will free my father. And I will kill the man who did this to him.” The breeze carried my voice through the keyhole where the inner workings of the lock began to undo themselves.
Clicking and groaning, moments later, the door opened.
“Thank you,” I whispered as I caressed the door once more.
Stairs broke into differing directions and I knew I had been on the top level. Downward. Reaching the lower level I arrived at another door, this one thankfully unlocked, and ventured inside.
The row was lined with cells, each locked but empty until the third one on the right-hand side.
“Dad.”
He looked worse than I’d ever seen him. However long it had felt for him inside, it was evident he had been questioned and tortured.
What do I do, what do I do?. I lowered myself to the floor and allowed my hands to slowly travel the glass, searching for any cuts, grooves, etchings.
It’s warded somehow, everything here is.
I moved my head to allow the little sliver of light from the window behind me to hit the glass at different angles, desperate to see what it is, if I knew how to read it, how I could get him out of here.
As my frustration mounted, I began to pound the glass. “Dad!” I found myself screaming in a voice that sounded far from my own. He lay on the floor, no blankets, nothing save for his clothes…
Were those the clothes he was wearing in Azmeer?
His eyelids fluttered open for the briefest moment, as if he’d seen me and deemed me a dream. I wonder if I had appeared to him the way in which he had appeared to me, if he knew our conversation had been real.
With each passing second, my frustration mounted. Rising to my feet, I thought of how we’d come to be here. Of Addie, of Alvar, of Dainan, Lil, how Rai no doubt ruled in Azmeer. Of Dad, of Mom, how I had been the one to see her when it should have been him.
Each thought, memory, fire boiled in my veins, and without thought, I reached for the dagger and screamed.
I stood back and looked at the dagger that was now embedded in the middle of the glass door. The dagger glowed as if it had been placed within the fires of a forge. I took a step closer and stared at the blade itself. That was when I heard the first crack.
Veins shone in the glass like the woven silk of a spider’s web. An intricate design, easily destroyed. Grabbing the hilt, I yanked the dagger backward and the glass shattered. Each piece falling to the ground in sizes no bigger than the flecks of snow that awaited us outside.
With the last shard on the floor, I stepped through the doorway, the magic of the cell was now gone.
“Dad,” I threw myself to the ground, wrapping my arms around him, pulling him to my chest, “Dad, come on, Dad, wake up, look at me.” As much as I didn’t want to hurt him, I tapped his cheeks, trying to let him know this was real, I was here.
Sense this, feel this, know I’m here. Please, please open your eyes.
His breathing was labored, each breath rattled and wet. “Gods, we need to get you out of here. Please, please, if you hear me, wake up.”
His face was gaunt, the lines around his mouth and eyes more evident than ever before. My hand caressed his cheek, in the hopes that gentle contact, and my voice, would be able to draw him out of whatever held him hostage.
“I’m here, Dad.”
His eyelids fluttered, and I continued speaking to him. “I need you to wake up. We’re going to leave.” I would get him out of here. I still didn’t know how, but if I needed to, I would kill my way out of here for what had been done to him.
I closed my eyes, forcing back the tears that wished to escape.
Stay calm.
“Brida,” his voice croaked.
“There you are.” I leaned my forehead to his.
“My beautiful girl,” he said shakily, raising his hand to my face as my tears fell onto his.
“I’m sorry to ask this of you right now, but I need you to come with me. We don’t have much time.”
“Ha,” my father said, “time is all we have in this cell.”
“No, Dad,” I whispered, helping him sit up, gesturing towards the door. “Our time here has run its course. Now it is time to go.”
Running my hands down my father’s arms, I could feel his fragility. He was in no state to walk on his own. Mustering all of my strength, I wrapped one of his arms around my shoulder and forced him upwards with me.
“Are you okay to walk like this?” I tilted my head to face him, he appeared on the verge of sleep once more.
With a slight nod from him, we began our journey towards the hall. Dad’s feet barely left the ground, dragging more than anything else. Every ounce of health that Alvar had seen restored to him, had somehow been leeched.