Chapter 150

"It's a veritable warren down here..." Tobias remarked as they passed yet another intersection.

"That's rabbits, not hares," Riley challenged.

"What the hell is a rabbit?" Cid asked as Tobias sighed.

"You know she wants you to ask," Tobias replied.

"We know, we know..." Came a chorus from Sabine, Eastmund and Caedmon.

Riley giggled and projected towards her sorcerer, "At least having a plan is helping you deal."

"And what a plan it is," Tobias projected back while his emotions were still boiling. All of the hate was being poured into a focus on the road ahead, acting like a welding torch, cutting a path through fear and reservation, leaving behind nothing but steely determination, fluxed through the desperation he felt to do something.

"So how much longer till we're above ground and get to this suicide mission?" Eastmund asked.

"Oh, we've been above ground for about ten minutes if my timing is right... It smells right." Justinian replied.

"Yeah, less humidity on the air. It's not as heavy," Riley replied, instantly getting it.

"A jogana fruit for our winner," Justinian grinned, sounding more and more himself though he still seemed pale and weak.

"You better pay up," Riley said with all seriousness.

"I'll bury you in them once we're on the other side of this," Justinian assured.

Riley's ears perked up, "Deal!"

Justinian chuckled as the stony silence washed back over them like a wave and with it a bone chilling grim resolve set in .

Riley could feel fate whispering.

It won't be long now.

And with that thought, reaching out like the icy hand of fate itself, came a choir within her mind.

Would they be too late?

Would they be able to do anything?

Would Darius and Harold be ok?

On and on, the questions swirled within the recesses of her mind until one thought stopped her in her tracks.

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One question was missing from the choir, one that she knew Tobias felt, even if she couldn't read his thoughts.

Was this to be my end?

"Huh..." Riley thought to herself, the ping of curiosity ringing out through her soul so loud and clear that even Tobias turned his head to look at her and, noticing the distance, uttered a familiar phrase.

"Come on Riley," his voice called like a messenger, bringing with it foggy half remembered recollections of her last moments, running from danger, only to run back towards it, of standing on the line against impossible odds, of watching the light go out in her own eyes, disembodied from the physicality that had always anchored her soul in place.

Slowly, she began moving again as her thoughts churned forward with each hop.

This was her fate. It was always going to be her fate because it was who she was...

"I've been here before," She said to herself with grim resolve, drawing up closer to Tobias finding strength not in the inevitability of events, but the inevitability in her soul.

Live or die she was going to stand, and what would be, would be. Maybe she would survive in this reality, or maybe she would escape into another one, but something deep down told her she would continue, and that ablated all fear.

For a brief moment, the words of the Abbot drifted there.

Riley... the one who got away.

And that was her truth... the truth of her kind, no matter how much they lost, one always got away, and thus life continued.

"Here we are," Justinian said, breaking her focus.

"Tobias, you go right, straight down this passage, and you'll emerge in the back corner of a ballroom. I've been there many times. Exit, and two rooms down, you'll see a grand staircase going up; follow that to the throne room," Justinian guided.

"Are we sure he'll be there?" Caedmon asked.

"Oh yeah, he'll be there," Tobias and Justinian said in unison.

"I know you often move with stealth, but you need to make some noise, get his eyes on you, and we'll be there to back you up. The miserable son of a kraus isn't expecting a flank. He's expecting you to come riding in half-cocked and high on nobility. Save your magic, hit brutally but efficiently, and stay alive long enough for us to get your family out. You got that, you two?" Sabine said with a deadly seriousness that shadowed all her previous words.

"Should we try to com you with intel? We're going into this blind," Tobias asked.

"If possible, if you can achieve your mission as a distraction, certainly, but we'll not be far behind you. He's expecting you to come alone, so we're going to give him that," Sabine replied.

"Be safe, you two," Cid slapped Tobias on the back as his black blade appeared in his left hand, called from their shared inventory.

Cid chuckled, looking down at the once chipped sword Tobias had taken from Iskaros, "Put it to good use."

Without further word, Cid turned, and Justinian gave a nod that communicated volumes when combined with the look of worried pride in his eyes.

It was all coming down to this.

In a moment, they were alone, the soft boot falls of their team receding down the stony corridors of the castle, and still, they had not encountered one servant, one person to be bound, gagged, or coerced into silence.

"Riley, is your armor tight enough? Shield bracelet fed? We're going to do this fast, loud, and expensive," Tobias asked. In his left hand, three explosive vials appeared.

"We go all out for family. I'm ready; do we veil on the way in? Give ourselves an advantage?" She asked.

"To get through the initial guard, yes. The quicker and cleaner they die, the closer we get to the throne. Afterwards, we bring down the thunder," With a rotating twist of his wrist, the vials disappeared, only to be replaced by his dagger.

"Gods, you're such a drama queen," Riley chided.

"I learned it from watching you," Tobias replied as he pushed the hidden entrance open, and their veil fell upon them.