Meera watched the witch silently as they entered the room with the secret stairs. The room was like Arvena's, with a bed, a study table, and a bookcase, but there were no books. Kalrina went into what Meera thought was the washroom to wash the blood off her.
"Can she be trusted?" Lainor whispered.
"More than you," Meera shot back. "Unlike you, she hasn't tried to serve me up as dinner to dragons."
"Yet."
Meera squinted her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"That she isn't entirely stable. She despises Aksha to the point that it's entirely manic."
She looked to the washroom. "You don't know what she's been through."
"I don't," he said quickly. "Listen, there was a time when I didn't bat an eye to the pain I inflicted on other people, but I've had a new perspective after being put on the other side of torture. But even before that, I wouldn't have done what she did. Can she be trusted not to turn on us? Not to do that to us?"
"I would like to ask you the same thing, Cultist Aksha," Kalrina said, leaning against the doorframe of the washroom. "Between the three of us, you're the only one who's betrayed us. I wonder what sort of deal your cult has with the dragons. But all that is beside the point; what you should worry about the most is that you look like Aksha, who I'm sure is a priority target for the dragons." She walked up to Lainor until she was eye-to-eye with him. "What you should worry about even more is how readily we will sacrifice you to save ourselves. You know, get even. Think on that, my dear."
Meera crossed her arms. "She's right."
Lainor looked between them and swallowed. It was clear that the thought he looked like Aksha had not crossed his mind, and now it wormed its way into his heart. Sweat perspired on his forehead, and he looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
Kalrina flashed a bright smile as she placed a hand on Lainor's shoulder. "We can spend all day talking about who will turn on who, but first, we must get out of here. Like the poor dearie outside said, she'd had sent for reinforcements, which should be arriving any moment."
"She's right, once again," Meera said. "Looks like time in prison has smartened you up."
The witch raised an eyebrow. "I would've taken offense to that if I hadn't just released some pent-up anger."
There was the sound of footsteps rushing down the corridor. Meera turned her head upwards. Maybe it was coming from upstairs. She couldn't rightly tell, as sound echoed quite a lot in these empty intestines.
She dashed to the door and listened. The footsteps stopped, and she was sure she heard a gasp.
"What's the matter, dearie?" Kalrina asked.
"Shh." Meera shushed the witch, closed her eyes, and concentrated.
"L-Lady N-Nikai…" The dying daughter said in a trembling voice.
"Which way did they go?"
There was no response, but Meera figured she must've pointed to the room they were hiding in.
"P-Please tell mother I did everything I could," the jailor quivered.
"If your mother isn't proud of all you've endured for the sisterhood, then I sure am, Daughter of Aksha," Nikai replied. "Rest now."
There was a slicing sound, followed by some gurgling, then silence.
"They're coming." Meera moved away from the door. "And Nikai is with them. We need to move now."
Kalrina had a strange expression, which Meera couldn't read. It was either excitement or fear or a bit of both. "I'm ten years overdue on a book from the forbidden section of the library. Yes, we need to move now. Unless you want to stay and make the Council of Five into a Council of Four before we make our exit."
Meera snorted. "Now, who wants to fight everything that moves? Lainor, you better not have lied about that secret escape route."
"I'm not, but Aksha's memories tell me that Nikai knows about it as well," he replied.
"Isn't that just lovely?" Kalrina muttered. "So, dearie, what say you, we fight them here or in this secret staircase?"
"Neither place," Meera replied. "Let's leave them some distractions to deal with. Seal the doorway and put some traps in place to slow their descent. Hopefully, we can be out of here before they catch up to us because something tells me they won't venture out of the protection of the archdragon's corpse, not even to chase us."
"A Cultist, a traitor to the sisterhood, and the Champion's sister…" Kalrina rubbed her chin. "No, they will leave this safe haven for such a prize. But you're right; if our traps slow them or whittle down some of their forces, then we could pick them apart, as I figure it will be a narrow staircase."
The stone door began to open inwards, but the witch waved a hand and encased it in what looked to be a thick mirror. More bangs came from the door. While Meera and Kalrina were discussing whether to fight the sorceresses here or on the stairs, Lainor had jumped to the far wall and removed the light crystal from the hook it rested in.
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"Lay whatever traps you want, and let's go," he said.
"Don't think you're getting off that easy," Meera replied. "You're helping. Witch, create a bucket or container of thick mirrors along the top of the door. Something that will withstand his poison long enough."
She turned her head upwards. "I'll do it, dearie, but I should point out that no matter how thick I make it, this one's poison will eventually eat through it."
There was a loud banging on the door. Someone was trying to force their way in. The mirror encasing the door wouldn't hold for long. The next blow formed cracks in the mirror, and the next one would break it completely.
"No time to talk. Just do it," Meera snapped.
Kalrina snapped a finger, and the mirror repaired itself. The cracks disappeared in a flash, and a vat appeared along the top length of the door.
Meera looked to Lainor. "You're up. Fill it, poison. Make it strong enough to kill but not too strong that it eats through that tank immediately."
"Okay. I'll try," Lainor replied.
There was another loud bang, followed by more cracks. The witch fixed it again, but they couldn't stand around here all day. Eventually, they would hit it hard enough to break through it in one go. Lainor pointed to the tank, and Meera wasn't sure anything had happened. Then something banged against the door, hard enough that the cracks raced outwards at alarming speed on the mirror barrier. The tank shook, and drops of green poison spilled outwards to sizzle on the stone floor.
"Don't fix the mirror, witch," Meera called. "Let's go."
"My, my, looks like my little pupil has grown in more ways than one under the tutelage of the Sovereign," Kalrina cooed.
Meera rolled her eyes. "Let's move."
They moved for the open door, which led to the secret stairs out of this place. Lainor was the first one through, as he held the light crystal, which would light their way. Though Meera didn't voice it, she wanted him to be first, so if there were any traps in the stairs, she wanted him to set them off. This way, he would have no choice but to inform them of the traps. Kalrina was about to enter the darkness of the stairs when their mirror barricade crashed.
Two Daughters came tumbling through and got a bath of acid. They didn't scream, nor did they squirm; they simply laughed as they wiped themselves off. It was as if the poison was nothing more than water to them.
Kalrina groaned. "They really know how to take the fun out of things, don't they?" She extended a hand and shot dagger-long mirror shards at the daughters.
But a third woman, who had yet to enter the room, stepped forward. Her right arm turned black as ink, and she whipped her hand. A black whip cracked and shattered all the shards mid-flight.
This woman was Nikai, one of the Five.
[Sorceress of Ink – Level 656]
Meera raised an eyebrow. She was counting on her Identify to fail in showing her levels. But thanks to the levels she gained in Identify, she had risen quite a bit in levels herself since she last saw the woman's levels. She was a cold woman with oily black hair and pale skin. Her lips were curled downward in a snarl.
"You're throwing away everything the Sovereign has done for you, Champion's sister," Nikai growled. "I've been ordered to—"
Meera bumped the witch in and closed the door as the sorceress was still talking.
She was done talking to these crones. As far as she was concerned, they were all liars. Even Veridiana, who Meera was sure, had no intention of finding Neel for Meera. And even if she did, it would be to further her own goals. She was done trusting sorceresses only to be wronged by them.
"Aw, come on, love," Kalrina cried. "I wanted to hear her rattle off her warnings or threats or both."
"Will you just move? Oh, and before you do, let's set up some fun traps for them along the way."
The witch grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."
----------------------------------------
Meera took up the rear as they descended the steps. Lainor was in front, with crystal lighting their way, and Kalrina walked behind him. Meera worried the witch might stab the cultist in the back, but so far, no outburst had happened. They were on a spiral staircase that went round and round and was only wide enough for one person.
Needless to say, Meera's claustrophobia was on full blast. She almost punched a hole in the walls more often than once, hoping to create a shortcut to the world outside. But she stopped herself as that would give them away to any dragon flying outside. That would be just what she needed—a dragon on top of everyone else who was chasing her.
Every so often, they stopped to lay fresh traps for their pursuers. They had no doubt that the traps did little more than annoy the sorceresses, but it slowed them down a little. While struggling to breathe and fighting with her thumping heart, she stepped one foot in front of the other.
She was so engrossed with maintaining her gait that she didn't realize that Kalrina had stopped until she rammed into her back.
"Why have you stopped?" Meera asked, annoyed.
"The steps have ended," Lainor replied. He raised the light crystal high to show that he faced a stone wall.
"What the hell? What do we do now?" Meera asked, trying her best not to sound frantic while pushing away thoughts of being buried alive. "Should we just punch a hole through the walls?"
The sound of another mirror shattering came from above, which meant only one more trap was left before Nikai's group cornered them.
"No, that should not be necessary," Lainor replied. "There is a switch here that should open a doorway."
He handed the crystal to Kalrina and patted the walls. Several precious moments passed as the sound of racing footsteps came ever closer until finally, his hand passed over a section of the wall on his right that glowed a faint purple.
To the right of the handprint, there was a rectangular glow with the same purplish color. The stone hissed as it slowly fell away, forming a platform to stand on. No light filtered in, meaning it was night out. They all jumped on the platform just in time as it began to descend. It was a tight squeeze as they held each other firmly.
The gentle, cool night air was serene after the stale circulation of the stairs. But the gentleness of the night was disturbed when a mighty dragon roared high up in the sky and lit up the night as day with its flames.
A woman roared as she retaliated with what looked like lasers. The platform delivered them gently on the edge of the trees. Meera was so happy to be on grassy ground that she wanted to kiss it. Never in her life did she imagine that she would miss grass so much. But her happiness was short-lived.
Nikai and the two daughters jumped from the very same hole they had escaped from. But that was not all. A dragon slithered from around the leg and pounced. In one mighty gulp, it ate one of the daughters whole.
Her sister shot poisonous spears at it, only for them to crash against the dragon's hard scales and do absolutely nothing. The dragon roared and cooked her alive in dragon fire. While the daughters kept her busy, Nikai landed on the ground with a dull thud and raised dust about her. The dragon wasn't far behind.
[Scarlet Toothed Dragonling – Level 603]
"Well, looks like our escape won't be as quiet as we thought," Kalrina stated.
"Understatement of the century," Meera replied.