by T. A. White
Tate touched his shoulder. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I’ll manage.” His lips flattened into a determined line as he picked up one of the fist-sized rocks Tate had reduced the other sentinel to.
As a weapon it left a lot to be desired.
Seeing her look, he gave her a strained grin. “Desperate times.”
Ryu and Tyne moved toward them, and they put their backs together so they could cover all directions.
“I don’t suppose the guards will come check on us any time soon,” Dewdrop asked.
“Judging from the fact our escort still hasn’t reacted to a prisoner leaving by the front door, I’m willing to guess something has gone horribly wrong on their end,” Tate said.
That or they couldn’t get in for some reason.
“This is a forgotten level. No one comes down here unless they have to,” Tyne told them.
“Lovely,” Tate quipped.
She and Ryu shared a look, the same fear for their survival that crouched in her was present in him too. Words weren’t needed in that moment. If this really was the end, they’d go out side by side.
Ryu reached back, squeezing her hand in silent support as the first of the sentinels moved out of the hallways and into the room.
“We’ll take down those between us and the door as quickly as possible. As soon as they’re down, we punch through,” Ryu advised.
“Getting out of here won’t be enough,” Tyne said. “They’ll pursue us into the rest of the prison.”
“We’ll worry about that when we come to it,” Ryu said.
Tyne frowned but didn’t argue.
“Sounds good enough for me.” Dewdrop leaned forward on his toes as he got ready.
Tyne looked Tate over. “Nice armor. I don’t suppose you’ve got any you can spare.”
“No.”
But maybe—
Tate concentrated. The palm of her hand warmed as silver liquid squeezed out of her skin, quickly lengthening until it formed a dagger.
Tate handed it to Dewdrop. “Try this.”
Pleasure chased across his face as he tossed the rock away before happily taking the silver dagger. He slashed his arm back and forth, looking even more happy. “Aw, hell yes.”
“I don’t know how effective it will be.”
This was the first time she’d attempted to create a dagger for someone else’s use. There was every chance it would crumple after the first good blow, unable to sustain its form without proximity to her and her relic.
“Anything is better than a rock.”
“Focus,” Tyne ordered. “I’ll leave you behind if you hold me back.”
Dewdrop grumbled but fell into a modified stance that would protect his injured side.
Tate’s palm heated up as she quickly formed another blade, this one closer to a sword. It was longer and thicker than the one she gave Dewdrop, created to slash and dismember rather than stab.
She had no idea whether she’d be able to repeat her trick from earlier. Better to create some insurance in the form of the sword, just in case.
“Here we go,” Ryu said as the first of the sentinels reached them.
Rath took flight, spitting out flames tinged with azure blue. The sentinels it touched started to melt, globs of rock dribbling down to hit the floor with a hiss.
Tyne was a graceful reaper as he waded into the sentinels, his bone sword cutting through the stone as if it met no resistance.
A sentinel rocketed toward Tate, leaving her no time to admire Tyne’s blade work. She spun away, the sentinel’s spear stabbing past her shoulder. She trapped it against her body with one arm. With the other she slashed the sentinel across the chest, leaving droplets of silver behind. They infiltrated the stone of the sentinel far faster than the last one.
The sentinel’s eyes glowed, and his lips opened. Light gathered in the back of his mouth.
A bad feeling filled Tate.
Not letting herself think, she stabbed her sword into the bottom of the sentinel’s jaw, driving up and forcing his head back. There was a burst of electricity and the laser that would have disintegrated Tate’s head took out part of the ceiling instead.
Rock and dust flew as the sentinel turned into pebbles right before her eyes.
Tyne dusted himself off where he stood on his own sentinel. “Not how I would have done it, but that works too.”
“Move to the door,” Ryu barked.
He yanked off a sentinel’s arm, using it to bash another in the head. Dewdrop and Tate didn’t hesitate as two new sentinels started forming in the walls beside the door.
There was an explosion behind them, and heat bathed their backs. Tate chanced a glance to see Rath emerge from the smoke and fire, a victorious screech leaving him as he flew toward Ryu.
With the fire behind him and scattered bits of sentinel littering the ground at his feet, Ryu looked like a conqueror from the warring states era, immediately following the disappearance of the Saviors. A merciless warrior accustomed to the trial of battle.
Tate stopped as Tyne and Dewdrop struggled to open the door.
“Ryu.”
“I’m fine.”
He wasn’t fine. Blood soaked his shirt and the waist of his pants. She held his gaze, soaking in the gentleness there. She could have lost him—or he her.
Dewdrop as well.
There was a tight feeling in Tate’s chest as if a large weight was sitting on it. Before, when she’d encountered situations like this, there was fear, yes, but not to this extent. She had so much more to lose now. Loneliness was an old companion that eroded you an inch at a time in the same way the elements did stone. She couldn’t go back to that life.
Neither could Ryu if the hell she saw in his eyes whenever she came close to death was anything to judge by. Dragons were possessive of those they claimed. Woe to anything that separated them. It seemed their human bonded were the same as well.
“I’m fine,” Ryu said again. He touched her face, his thumb caressing her jawline.
“How sure are we that it’s safe to leave?” Dewdrop asked as he put his ear to the door to listen.
Tyne stabbed his bone sword into the face of the sentinel that was beginning to form. “Would you prefer to stay here?”
The march of feet came from behind them, letting them know some sentinels had already respawned.
“Good point.” Dewdrop fiddled with the door.
“What do we do about him?” Tate nodded at Tyne.
He paused in the act of stabbing the second sentinel. “Yes, old friend, what do you do about me?”
“I vote we leave him and his bone weapon here,” Dewdrop said in a chipper voice. “I could live with that.”
“But the emperor can’t.” Tyne didn’t look away from Ryu. “After all, killing family would reflect poorly on his rule.”
Ryu heaved a long exhale. “We’ll take him with us for now. We can’t leave him here to die.”
“Pity,” Dewdrop murmured.
The door under his hands clicked and started to slide open inch by inch under Dewdrop’s steady pressure. Tate touched his shoulder when he would have stepped through.
“Let him first.” She sent a hard look in Tyne’s direction. “He’s perfect to set off any unexpected ambushes that might be waiting.”
“Why me?” he asked.
“You’re the only one who I don’t care lives or dies.”
Tyne’s gaze was steady. “The emperor will.”
“But I won’t and that’s all that matters,” Tate responded.
Tyne’s eyes flicked over her shoulder to Ryu. “You’ve changed.”
“We all do.”
“Whatever we do, we should hurry. The other sentinels are almost here,” Dewdrop said in an urgent tone.
Tyne took a deep breath and stepped forward. For several seconds nothing happened. He relaxed and looked from the left to right. “That’s odd.”
There was a whoosh as a blade in the shape of a scythe sw
ept from his left. Tyne lifted his bone blade as he threw himself forward. There was a screech as stone met bone.
Tate darted forward, impaling her sword in the sentinel’s chest. Silver snaked over his body, but not fast enough. His blade whipped up, biting into her side.
A voice in her head spoke. “Damage at fifteen percent.”
Tate poured more of her strength into her relic. It ate away at the sentinel until bits of stone flaked from his body.
Ryu roared as he intercepted a second sentinel, one hand plunging into its stone chest while the other ripped off the sentinel’s arm. Dewdrop stabbed the sentinel in the side, yanking futilely when it stuck. He backed away as the blade started to hum.
The sentinel burst apart in a shower of dust. The dagger clattered to the floor.
Dewdrop’s wide eyes came to Tate’s. “I love this blade of yours.”
“The door,” Tyne said softly.
They whirled to find the door gently sliding shut as if the battle from before had never taken place.
“I thought you said the sentinels would pursue us into the prison,” Dewdrop said, not taking his eyes from the door.
“That’s what’s supposed to happen.”
Dewdrop looked at Tyne. “Then why aren’t they chasing us?”
SIXTEEN
“It can’t be this easy, right?” Dewdrop asked.
It was a reasonable question where Christopher was concerned. He wasn’t the type to go easy on them. Every other time he’d escaped it had been a bloody, deadly affair.
Tate had no doubt there was likely another surprise waiting just around the corner.
“We should head up and inform the Lord Provost’s people of what happened,” Ryu said, keeping one eye on Tyne as the other man drifted toward a wall.
Tyne paused, surveying the surroundings with a puzzled expression.
“What are you doing?” Ryu finally asked.
“Something is not right.”
Tate frowned and drew close, studying the wall that had drawn Tyne’s attention.
Dewdrop frowned at Tyne, his expression saying he thought the other man was simply trying to stall or trick them. “It looks like an ordinary wall to me.”
Tyne sniffed at the air. “It’s the smell. I know this smell.” His lips curved. “Blood.”
Tate sent the wall a startled glance before inhaling deeply. Her eyes popped open. “I smell it too.”
Now that Tyne had pointed it out, she couldn’t believe she’d missed it before. The scent had a coppery base, almost metallic as it grew stronger the closer she got to the wall, until it became cloying and unmistakable.
The stench of death mixed with it. This wasn’t the result of a simple cut to the hand. No, it was too strong. Someone had died here.
“Interesting, isn’t it? I can feel someone was slaughtered close by. Fairly recently too. Yet my eyes tell me the scene is undisturbed. Why is that?” Tyne’s head tilted as he ran his gaze over the stone wall and floor. After a moment, satisfaction settled on his face. “Ah, very clever.”
“What is?” Dewdrop asked.
Tyne stabbed his bone blade at Tate, his actions too quick to avoid. Tate’s stomach quivered as his blade brushed past her face to embed in the wall inches from her head.
“Well, well, isn’t this a surprise,” Tyne remarked.
He was careful to remain still as Ryu gently squeezed the claws he had wrapped around Tyne’s throat. Ryu’s face was a murderous mask as the claws penetrated the barest bit into Tyne’s skin. Not enough to kill, only warn. Blood ran in small rivulets, staining the neck of Tyne’s shirt. The man showed little reaction beyond a faint taunting smile.
Moving only his eyes, he looked down and smirked at the blade Dewdrop held pressed to his waist.
“Do not do that again,” Ryu warned in a low rumble that reminded Tate of the beginning of a storm.
“So touchy. One would think you’re in love.” Tyne held perfectly still under the claws poised to rip out his throat. “Is Ardent’s Judgment finally capable of the same emotions as the rest of us poor slobs?”
Tyne made a tsking sound with his tongue when Ryu simply stared at him. “Come now, old friend, I expected better of you. Your mercilessness was always the biggest part of your charm.”
“I say we kill him now and blame it on Christopher.” Dewdrop’s blade pressed further into Tyne’s back, forcing the other man to finally react with a faint wince. There was a vicious ruthlessness Tate wasn’t accustomed to seeing on her young friend’s face. “No one ever has to know.”
As much as Tate would like that, she could see a better use for the reckless prisoner.
Tate set her hand on Dewdrop’s wrist, pushing the blade away from Tyne. She would have liked to do the same with Ryu, but something told her the dragon wasn’t ready to give up his prey.
“Instead of killing him ourselves, it’s better to use him to test for traps.” Tate’s smile was nasty as she met Tyne’s eyes.
“How diabolical. No wonder Ardent’s Judgment is so obsessed with you.” Tyne finally moved, yanking his bone sword out of the wall.
“And you seem to love the sound of your own voice.”
“He’s a bad guy, Tate. He can’t help it. They all love to hear themselves speak,” Dewdrop said in a snarky tone.
Sparks leapt from the place Tyne had stabbed and the wall in front of them flickered before disappearing to reveal a jagged hole with a tunnel sloping down beyond it.
“See, I thought something was off,” Tyne said in satisfaction. To Ryu, “Can you remove your claws now? If I was aiming for your lady love, she’d already be dead.”
Tate met Ryu’s stare and nodded. She was okay. Somehow.
Though it was clear Tyne was far more dangerous than she’d previously suspected. He’d moved with a speed almost undetectable even with Tate’s better than average reflexes. She wasn’t sure she would have been able to avoid his strike if he’d come for her seriously.
Also, she was pretty sure that blade wasn’t normal. Bone shouldn’t be able to pierce stone like that. She could only conclude he hadn’t used human bone for its construction, though where he’d found a sleepers’ bones was beyond her.
She had a feeling that the armor provided by her relic would have had trouble standing up to his sword.
Nonsense. We would have been fine. I would have ripped out his throat long before you died.
Tate ignored the over confident dragon as she sent Ryu a reassuring look. Reluctantly, he retracted his claws, though he still watched Tyne the way a predator would prey he’d dearly love to kill. Not that it bothered the other man.
Tyne didn’t even bother wiping his neck free of the blood before heading several feet into the tunnel. He stopped in front of a prone figure and nudged it with his toe. “I think I can guess what happened to your escort.”
The woman lay on her side, one arm cushioning her head. The other was pressed against her stomach in what must have been a vain attempt to keep herself from bleeding out. Blood covered her face and torso. So much of it that Tate couldn’t immediately see her features. It matted her hair to her head in a misshapen helmet and pooled under her body.
“Is she dead?” Dewdrop asked softly.
Tyne crouched and reached out to touch her wrist. After only a moment he stood and wiped his fingers on his clothes. “Very dead. I’m guessing as soon as the other two stepped out of the cell—if not before.”
Tate gave him a sharp look. “What makes you say that?”
He nodded at the tunnel. “This isn’t part of the old tunnel system. Look at the stone on the walls. There are tool marks. The tunnels the architects built are smooth, as if they came into being that way. A tunnel like this one would have taken weeks to carve out and the one you call Peter has been in there with us for a good chunk of that time.”
Tate didn’t ask how he knew so much about the tunnels and their architects. From the way he spoke, it sounded like he’d studied them extensively—or
at least spent considerable time in them. Most of what he said fit with what she knew.
For now, she focused on the more relevant part. “There’s no way Peter has been down here for weeks. I saw him last night when the Rift was breached.”
Tyne gave her an arrogant look. “I don’t know who you saw but it wasn’t him.”
“He could have walked out without the sentinels stopping him,” Dewdrop pointed out. “It’s not like they did anything to him this time.”
Tyne sneered. “Not without me noticing.”
Dewdrop frowned, looking like he was about to argue. Tate held up a hand to stop him. As much as she appreciated the sentiment, they didn’t have time to debate this any longer. They could discover the truth for themselves when they caught up to Peter and Christopher.
Tyne’s lips twisted as he glanced at Ryu. “What are your orders? Pursue or report the prison break.”
Ryu’s expression was contemplative as he glanced into the depths of the tunnel before considering Dewdrop.
Tate understood his concern. Like her, he was probably itching to hunt down the other two. The problem was Dewdrop’s injury. Taking him with them was a gamble. Same with sending him up the stairs alone since there was no telling if there were more sentinels or attackers waiting to ambush them on the levels above. With his arm injured, Dewdrop would have trouble defending himself.
Splitting up was also out. If they were to do that, they might as well give up right now. It’d be difficult to take the other two down with only one of them.
Then there was the issue of Tyne.
Tate suspected it’d be only a matter of time before he tried something. Better to consolidate their force so they’d have some chance of defending themselves if it came down to it.
“We’ll go after Christopher. Even if we were to report the escape now, the Lord Provost wouldn’t be able to rally his people in time,” Ryu said, sounding reluctant.
His somber gaze met Tate’s. She nodded to show she understood.
If not for her and how much she needed what was inside’s Christopher’s head, he would probably make a different decision.
“Alright, let’s not waste any more time here.” Dewdrop started for the tunnel.
