Later that same day, Skye stood in the rain until Timosy acknowledged his presence before crossing the small alley. As soon as Skye slipped inside the burned building, the harsh sound of the downpour quieted. Dane was already dressed in the Malirran clothing. Despite the morning hour, the heavy clouds and rain kept the sunlight to a minimum. In the dark shadows blanketing the room, another set of clothes waited for him, laid out on a broken chair.
“So, you were selected to go with me,” Skye said, though the words he used were playful, his tone lacked humor. He knocked the water off his cloak and stomped his feet. Out of the three battlemates, Skye hoped Dane elected to go as he seemed the most open-minded to the circumstances.
Dane whipped around, then his shoulders dropped. “My choice,” he said with a grim expression. Thanel dropped his eyes back to sharpening his axe. Skye thought there was more to their decision than that.
“I saw Timosy, but what of the woman?”
“Keeping watch,” Dane murmured. Waving a hand toward the clothes, he said, “Put those on so we can leave.”
Before changing, Skye dropped another bag of food onto a soot-covered table. No one made a comment on his offering.
Skye was tying the laces on his boots when Dane asked, “You have a way into the castle?”
“I do,” he said before standing up, “but I doubt you’ll like the route. As cold as the rain is, it does provide us an advantage while out on the street. Wearing our hoods won’t raise suspicion. Pray that the storm continues, though we won’t be outside for long.”
Dane’s tone held an edge of misgiving, “I asked the others. There is no way into the castle without going through a gate or over the wall. How did you find a route that bypasses the guards? How are we getting through?”
Grunting, Skye stalked toward the door and peered out. “Like I said, you won’t like the route, but you’ll see soon enough. Let’s go.” It was against his nature to act cagey, and it frustrated him. If he told Dane, the man would balk, and Skye really did need him to pull off the rescue. The pakas were too conspicuous. Dane was a far better warrior than Neal, and he wouldn’t hesitate to kill their common enemy.
Out in the open, the wind drove the freezing rain into every inch of skin bared to the elements. If the rain kept up, no one would think twice about their hoods. Their black clothing also sold their disguise to the Malirran patrols. Keeping his magic front and center, Skye skirted the areas where patrols were thickest. Thankfully, Dane never caught on that he used magic.
Instead of returning to the trapdoor he’d used earlier, Skye traveled to the other tunnel entrance. Before opening the trapdoor, he quickly waded through the information streaming toward him from all directions.
No one was around.
This time, the key to opening the trapdoor was the stones along the side of a building. Pushing the protruding stone flat with the palm of his hand, Skye heard a soft squeak beside him that indicated the door’s location. Under some wooden debris, the darkness of the tunnel beckoned. Moving just enough debris to slip inside, he scrambled down the steps before waving Dane down.
Dane cursed under his breath, making Skye’s lips curl into a knowing smile. Now his friend knew why he didn’t explain earlier. After Dane dropped down onto the step beside him, Skye rearranged the debris back over the trapdoor opening. Skye said, “Go. There are six steps down. I am right behind you.”
When the door shut above them, it took time for both their eyes to adjust to the change in light. A torch blazed around the next corner, and Skye silently thanked Neal for his thoughtfulness.
After finalizing their plan, Neal and Cai had walked him through the tunnels to the hidden door inside the castle. Everyone had agreed that Skye’s old battlemate shouldn’t meet the Kurites until after liberating Lara from her cell. The plan entailed Cai and Neal trailing behind Dane and Skye to the castle, where they’d wait with Eiren and Chion a corridor away, hidden from view.
With his magic, he sensed the two Kurites behind them, outside the reach of the torchlight.
They’d walked through two corridors before Dane said, “I thought we were joining the others?”
Skye turned around, surprised by the calm Dane exuded. The man had stashed his bow across his chest, leaving his hands free. Looking back in the direction they headed, Skye answered, “We will after Lara is safe. They’re all at the entrance below the castle. Chion refused to settle anywhere else.”
“Chion is a Kurite?”
Skye grunted, not ready to explain quite yet. The man would suffer from shock later, yet it couldn’t be helped.
A short silence descended between them, and the only sound was the crunch of dirt and pebbles beneath their feet. The hallway widened to allow them to walk side by side.
“What happened, Skye? You vanished that night without a word.”
He glanced over at Dane. “Kurites took me captive after I found the hidden doorway into the tunnels. There was a trapdoor the Kurite woman used when we lost her that night. I found it and managed to open it. On my way back to the trapdoor after searching the tunnel, they discovered me. They could have killed me. Should have. Instead, they dragged me to Luthis thinking I could provide information regarding troop movements. They knew Pyran was readying to attack Kureto but couldn’t determine where or when. Unfortunately for them, I was just as in the dark as the Kurites.”
Dane shook his head in disbelief. “Taken prisoner without leaving a single clue. Even before your exile, your sudden disappearance raised questions about your loyalty. We tried to tell them you’d never betray King Ragnar.”
A snort escaped before Skye could stop it. His next words were tainted with bitterness that hadn’t lessened since the day of his banishment. “When I was exiled, I was still a prisoner. One of the warriors cut the cords from my wrists himself. They knew I was taken against my will, and yet they still banished me for something out of my control.”
Dane gripped his shoulder until Skye slowed to a stop. “God’s teeth! They lied to us? But why?”
Skye stared at his friend. The expression on his friend’s face gave away the agony Dane felt at the deceit. Skye could only imagine the guilt the warrior now held.
“I knew, Skye. Believe me, somehow, I knew. Their explanation made no sense, but I had no proof to give. Then—” He swallowed, his fingers digging into Skye’s shoulder muscles. “Then others cast doubt on our loyalty as your battlemates. Until the Malirrans began their march for Gharra, every grueling day required us to prove our honor.”
Skye grimaced. He had known they’d be questioned, but never once had he thought the impact of his banishment would affect his old battlemates to such an extent. He’d spent so much time trying to survive and find answers that the bitterness he felt toward Pyran had extended to include his battlemates.
He needed to lessen Dane’s guilt; Timosy’s and Thanel’s original suspicion was not altogether wrong. Skye pointed toward the castle with the torch and said, “I was once held prisoner, but I now consider Kureto my home. Much has occurred since the revocation of my Pyranni status—so much that I’ve no idea where to begin.” His long, drawn-out sigh filled the tunnel. “We are almost to the hidden door. From the directions given to me, the doorway isn’t far from the dungeon. It all depends on Lara, though.”
“If she’s hurt, you can carry her out,” Dane said with undisguised confidence and dismissal of the woman. “One small woman should not be a problem for us.”
Skye’s chuckle turned into a bark of laughter. “Say that again after you’ve met the woman. For all their cruelty, I’m less concerned about facing the Malirrans than Lara.” Dane’s sidelong glance made Skye’s chuckle sharper. “You will see.”
They both stopped in front of a set of crude steps cut out of the wall. After rolling the torch in the dirt, Skye stamped out the last of the embers. He explained, “From what I’ve learned, this was once an escape route for the people within the castle. I doubt anyone remembers its existence, let alone the Malirrans.” He waved his hand toward the sconces spaced evenly along both sides of the tunnel. “By the look of their age, this escape tunnel hasn’t been used by our people in generations. The ones who brought me here do not know how long Kurite spies have known of this entrance into the castle.”
Seeing Dane’s darkening expression, Skye shrugged. “Honestly, I really don’t care. It is merely fortuitous that this place is close to where Lara is probably being held. There are torches lining the walls on the other side so we don’t need to take our own light. I don’t want to disclose our presence or our exit plan before we find the woman.”
“You leave me with more questions than answers, Skye,” Dane complained under his breath. “How will we know if there is someone on the other side of the wall?”
“Let me deal with that.” Already, his Tal’Ai magic flared to life and information flowed to him. Climbing up the crude steps, Skye stopped on the next to last step, forced into a crounch for lack of head space. Above him, two guards walked by, heading toward the steps to the main floor of the castle, their weapons sheathed at their side. “The guards just changed shifts,” he murmured to Dane.
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Perfect timing. With the new guards beginning their watch, it would be awhile before anyone knew anything was amiss. The only disadvantage was that the Malirrans were fresh and clear eyed.
My Lady?
I am here. If you have need of me, I will come.
He grunted aloud. He wanted his bondmate as far from the Malirrans as possible.
He pulled the rope down, and the door slid open on silent hinges, revealing a hole barely large enough for a grown man to squeeze through. Dim light poured into the opening. The oppressive smell of filthy bodies, feces, and moisture hit him, and he flinched.
Pushing up with his legs, Skye heaved himself out of the hole and onto the stone floor. In one smooth move, he came to his feet with his sword already in hand. Dane crawled out after him.
When the man ran his fingers around the rocks in search of the trigger to close the door, Skye stopped him with a tap on his shoulder. He signaled Dane to follow him deeper into the dungeon. His magic told him when Neal shut the door from the other side. On silent feet, they descended another flight of stairs that curved around.
Ahead, the guards sat on opposite sides of a small, rickety table with a battered cup and a handful of carved tiles. One of the men grabbed the small tiles and dumped them back into the cup. Rattling them a couple of times, the Malirran then tossed them across the table. A moment later, he chuckled with glee while the other man sat back with a groan. The only other people present were locked in their cells with the guards between them and Skye.
The noisy game presented an easy distraction. Before they reached the landing, Skye held up his hand, holding two fingers up and pointed out their exact location for the archer. Dane nodded and nocked an arrow. They switched positions so that Dane entered first.
The first man died with an arrow in his throat. The cup fell from the guard’s hand, and the tiles scattered across the floor. The other Malirran had only a second to push his chair back from the table before he too died.
Skye left Dane to retrieve his arrows while he searched the room for keys. They dangled from a rusty nail above another table pushed against a different wall.
I have the keys. It shouldn’t take too long to find Lara, Eiren. Pray that the woman is here and not somewhere else.
Dane joined him at the first door, but before Skye looked in, the individual’s physique was too muscular. Skye jerked his head and motioned him on. Dane looked as if he wanted to argue, not sure how Skye could be so certain.
At the edge of his magic, he found her. Skye rushed forward, disregarding the other doors where the prisoners started to show interest. One of them called out—a Pyranni warrior by the intensity of his demand. A skeletal hand darted out of the cell next to Lara’s, but Skye ignored that one as well. Later, he’d remember hearing Dane try to hush them. It took him several tries to find the correct key, and all the while Lara rocked back and forth, her head bowed.
She’s here. I found her. Tell Chion.
Thank the Goddess! I’m using the scroll now. Is she… well?
Not sure. Standing outside the cell, Skye hesitated before twisting the key to the left. For a single breath, he froze, afraid of what he’d find in the room, terrified she was beyond saving.
No one knew what had happened to her during her captivity. Chion couldn’t reach her through their Tal’Ai bond. Now, the white paka was a mass of seething rage and worry. All three of them knew there was a possibility that the intense level of despair, pain, and fear in the city would push her into madness.
By the Goddess’s own teeth, even he could feel the tendrils of evil, despair, and pain pervading the city. And he did not carry her brand of magic. Knowing this, Skye feared for her sanity. A quick death may be the only mercy he could give her. Even so, he sent a fervent prayer to both the God and Goddess.
With his magic, he knew she sat curled in on herself in the far corner of the tiny cell. He could hear her erratic breathing, the air frantically sawing in and out of her chest. Surely, she heard the key turn in the door, and yet, there was no twitch at the sound. She never stopped rocking.
Dane shifted his feet behind him, bringing the firelight closer, casting light onto the door before him. It reminded Skye the danger of standing too long in this place.
He pulled the door open, aware that Dane noticed how his hands shook. The rusty hinges gave way with effort, the grating noise echoing up and down the hallway.
He hesitated once again, checking with his power whether anyone came toward them in the halls beyond this one. For several long moments, neither Dane nor he moved. Skye realized his heart thundered with trepidation at what he might have to do.
When Dane took an impatient step forward, Skye swung his arm across his old battlemate’s chest, halting his forward momentum. He turned his head and stared at his friend with implacable resolve. “Do not move. Not a word until I say otherwise and keep your emotions calm. Think of happier times.”
Dane gazed past him in disbelief, taking in the tiny wastrel of the female shivering in the far corner of the dark room. It was obvious the man thought her no threat to either of them. Dane growled, “You cannot be serious. She is but a female.”
Skye shook his head once, his expression reiterating the command. His friend truly didn’t understand the danger they both faced from Lara. He had never seen her in action.
Turning his attention back to Lara, he called to Eiren, knowing both pakas waited for news. It is as we feared. Lara shows no recognition of me. There’s no way to know how long she’s been this way.
A short while later, she breathed back a reply, Chion says to jar her out of the depth of her power. It might remind Lara who she is. Eiren’s own fear for Lara traveled through their bond. Without being told, the paka knew that Lara’s chances of regaining her sanity were almost nil.
Looking at the woman now, Skye realized that what Chion proposed was daunting. Yet, to have survived what she had intact, Lara held a strength most men and women did not. Skye was counting on that very strength to see her through. But he couldn’t lie to Eiren, even to ease her.
After a moment of silence, she said with a wealth of understanding, “My Lord, trust in the Goddess’s plan, but please be careful.”
With one last look at Dane to ensure his compliance, Skye took a cautious step into the dank cell, his entire body tense and ready for anything Lara sent his way.
When she didn’t acknowledge his entrance, he called out to her in a low, soothing voice, “Lara? Can you hear me?”
At the sound of his voice, she lifted her head like a wild predator, looking straight at him, though her tangled mass of hair hid her face. The look in her eyes scoured him, deepening the strange ache that had settled in his heart upon learning of her capture.
Her eyes held no recognition of him. Instead of reason, pure animalistic instincts reigned within her. She epitomized everything wild in nature.
He continued speaking to her even as he prepared for her attack. Methodically loosening his limbs, he whispered, “Lara. Listen to my voice. You know me. Chion is waiting for you. We came for you. Take control.”
With lethal grace, she rose into a crouch, more reminiscent of a paka than a human. It was obvious she hadn’t bathed since her capture. Streaks of dirt and filth covered her entire body. Crusted blood on her arms and the clothes she wore added to the dangerous aura surrounding her. Her hair hung in greasy strings down her face and shoulders, framing the insanity smoldering within her eyes.
“Solara Meghan Conners, do you remember me?”
A flicker of some indefinable emotion came and went in her eyes, yet hope rose when she cocked her head as if recognizing her name. He dared not move, maintaining his benign appearance by not moving a muscle.
He crooned to the creature before him, drawing her out of the deep abyss her magic had forced her into. “Solara Meghan Conners. Lara. Come back to me, Lara.”
Skye felt a moment of triumph when the woman’s wild eyes studied him with dawning confusion. When her posture straightened ever so slightly, he almost thought it a product of his own mind.
When those same eyes suddenly locked onto something behind him, he said in the same, even tone, “Lara, look at me. Dane, don’t move.”
Dane’s disdainful snort transformed the scene in a blink of an eye. Skye sent another short prayer up, already moving forward.
Lara moved so quickly she was almost a blur. With her fingers curved like claws, she easily slipped past Skye to attack the unsuspecting man behind him. Only his battlemate’s honed reflexes saved him from being slammed into the opposite wall in the corridor.
Skye almost laughed at the surprise and hint of fear that crossed the Pyranni’s face. It would have been comical if not for the seriousness of the situation. Dane grunted, the noise a direct contradiction to the unnerving silence of Lara’s own attack.
Even knowing the strength and speed the Tal’Ai magic provided Lara, Skye was taken aback. She overpowered Dane, a warrior easily twice the weight Lara’s small stature claimed.
Jumping forward, Skye yanked her off the man. With no other recourse, he twisted her around, ignoring the pain her kicks, punches, and nails caused. He stared into her eyes, filling her vision with only his eyes and face. He encircled her entirely by wrapping himself around her, encasing her with his strength.
Despite their need for stealth, he screamed into her face, desperate to gain her attention. “Lara. Control your magic. Lara, put up your shield!”
She continued to struggle, a mad woman in his arms, though her strength waned. He shook her, hating the helplessness that corded through him at her plight. “Lara, please. Your shield.”
As if struck by lightning, she jerked in his arms, a spasm running through her entire body. He watched as the haze in her eyes melted like the icecaps in the far mountain ranges.
Slowly, ever so slowly, her personality and strength surfaced through the filth. Their ragged breaths mixed together, and her hot breath tickled his chin and jaw, ruffling his beard.
It was then that he fully acknowledged her physical condition. Where he held her, he could feel the grime. Blood flowed from newly opened wounds on her arms, neck, and chest. Without proper care, infection was a certainty.
Perhaps that was the Malirrans’ intent. Then again, perhaps she was nothing to them, merely another body to torture. Scabs and bruises encircled her neck.
In a croak, as if her voice was shredded beyond repair, she asked, “Skye? Is it really you?”
When he nodded, afraid his own voice might crack under the pressure he felt rising within him, she slowly lifted her hands to place them on both sides of his face. It was as if she doubted her own senses.
That was when he noticed more scabs and bruises marred her wrists. The marks of chains in the recent past. Her fingernails were cracked and ragged, as if she’d fought and clawed against something or someone.
Skye let the anger build, and it burned in the pit of his stomach. A distant warning clamored in his mind, the same emotion that had chased him since losing Lara at the school welled up within him. He assured himself it was a reaction any warrior would have when learning the treatment of a woman, yet he knew the truth.
His lips twisted into a snarl despite trying to control the rage. His show of teeth didn’t bring a flicker of reaction from the woman he held.
As Dane watched with growing curiosity from a few feet away, Lara slowly drifted her fingertips down Skye’s face as if still uncertain he was real. Skye shuffled his feet, instinct telling him they needed to leave. However, he was aware both Dane and he needed Lara’s cooperation to escape the dungeon with their skins still intact. Too much too soon might send her back under.
Dane had no qualms about her fragility because he said gruffly, “We must go, now. After the commotion you both caused, guards are on their way down.”
Skye rifled through the information pouring in from his magic. “We have time,” he assured him. Dane shot him a sharp look.
A growl crawled up Lara’s throat, making it clear she didn’t trust Dane. In a rush, he said, “Lara, meet Dane Ironside, my old battlemate.” Keeping Lara in his arms, he strode back toward the trapdoor with Dane one step behind him.
Lara swiveled her head to take in the Pyranni warrior. After studying him for a long moment, she whispered, “You trust him? Suspicion rides him. Fear and hate too.”
Skye cut off Dane’s denial when he nodded. “I do.”