Crown of the Queen (The Wardbreaker Book 3)

by Katerina Martinez

  “Fuck you!” the guard yelled as he moved closer to where Axel was standing. “Get back in your cell, inmate!”

  “I’m not an inmate, but he is.”

  Someone else came charging out of the cell. No, not someone—something. It was huge, covered in thick, bristly, grey fur; a cross between a man and a wolf, if the man had swallowed a tank for dinner. It had a long snout, gnarly teeth, glowing yellow eyes and fingers tipped with wickedly savage claws.

  I had never seen a werewolf before; just looking at it made my blood run cold. But it was… on our side, somehow. It launched itself at the guard, pinning it down on the stairs and hacking into him with its massive claws. I rushed down to meet Axel when it became clear the werewolf wasn’t going to tear me to shreds.

  He rushed out of cover to scoop me up into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re alright,” he said, “You have no idea what spending an afternoon with Garou over there was like.”

  “How did you get his collar off?” Hugo asked.

  Axel produced a large, metal collar covered in strange runes. “Unlocking powder,” he said, grinning, “Worked on this, too. I figure he’s gonna be a big enough problem the prison won’t send all of its units after us.”

  “That thing is a murderous beast, and you just unleashed it!” Hugo shrieked.

  I rolled my eyes. “Axel, Hugo West. Hugo West, Axel.”

  “Barlow?” Hugo asked, “What is Asmodius’ son doing here?”

  “Long story,” I said, “One I’d be happy to deal with once we’re out of here. After you,” I added, gesturing toward the main door into and out of the cellblock. I had considered leaving through the yard, considering there was only one corridor separating this place from the yard. But out there, we’d be exposed to all those rifle wielding guards, not to mention the ghosts.

  I shuddered at the thought of having to face myself against another one. Going through the prison was a much safer bet, even if we’d have to deal with a bunch of guards, inevitably. Another sprinkle of magic powder was all it took to unlock the main door. Axel pushed it open, allowing Hugo and me to walk through it and into the next hallway.

  It was brightly lit, but narrow. A wrought iron gate prevented our escape, so I got to work on that with my hairpins instead of wasting more of the unlock powder we had. My heart was pounding, and the sounds coming from the cellblock—not only a fight, now, but also inmates howling. That, and the alarms blaring all around… it was almost too much.

  But I managed.

  The gate clicked open, and we were through, rushing through the labyrinthine prison with our escapee in tow. Up ahead, the sounds of rushing boots stopped us in our tracks. I spotted a door to the left, so I ducked toward it and tried it. Locked. Damn. Ripping two more stunning spells free from my body, I handed one over to Axel, who waited for the guards to come running around the corner.

  I took the one on the left, he took the one on the right. Both guards went down hard, crashing to the floor as if they’d instantly fallen asleep, mid-run.

  “Nice shot!” I said.

  “Not so bad yourself,” Axel grinned.

  “This is all incredibly adorable, but is that seriously your plan?” Hugo asked. “Are you telling me you’re going to try and fight your way out of this prison?”

  “Considering we’re down to our last stunning spell,” I said, “… yes. That’s the plan.”

  “Your last stunning spell? What other magic do you have?”

  “Enough to get us to the medical ward.”

  “Do you really think we’re even going to get that far? There’s going to be an army of guards in our way, and we haven’t even gotten to the ones covered in tactical gear.”

  “By the time the tactical guards mobilize, we’ll be at the wall and on our way out of here.”

  “How sure are you about that?”

  I glanced at Axel, then back at Hugo. “Pretty sure. My source has told me what kind of response times to expect. We can make it.”

  “Why the med ward?”

  “The med ward is closest to the outer walls, and only one guard tower can draw line of sight to our point of exit. Once we’re outside, I can get us through the walls.”

  “There are probably a hundred guards between us and the medical ward. We won’t make it.”

  “A hundred?” Axel asked, “I don’t believe that.”

  Hugo shrugged. “Don’t believe me, then—believe your source. But I’ve been living in this prison. I think I’d have stronger intelligence than anyone on the outside.”

  Axel looked at me, his expression grave. “Options?”

  “Dammit. Maybe we can double back and go through the yard? I don’t like our chances.”

  “We’re taking too long!” Hugo yelled, “The only way out of here—from here—is the roof. This way!”

  He’d already started running. I didn’t really have a choice but to follow him down the hallway and hope he wasn’t planning on throwing us directly into the arms of waiting guards. I had no reason to believe Hugo wanted to stay in the prison, but I’d learned the hard way you could never really trust a person judging only by what they say.

  Another guard came screaming down a corridor, this one with a baton drawn and ready to crack some skulls. He saw me and charged, didn’t even ask us to stop. I broke ahead of Hugo and Axel and threw myself into a low slide that took me past the guard. By the time he turned around, I’d thrown a stunning spell into his back and sent him face first into the concrete.

  I picked up his baton. “We’re out of stunning spells,” I said, breathing hard.

  “We should get to the roof, then,” Hugo said, pointing at the door.

  I walked over to it, grabbed a little more of the unlocking powder, and blew it against the metal. It was incredible. I was going to have to ask Danvers to make more. Honestly, I had been thieving the hard way for years. But this spell? Game changer.

  “After you,” Axel said, gesturing for me to go ahead of him.

  The stairwell was brightly lit, the stairs themselves dull concrete risers. As I climbed, it was impossible to avoid the stench of the place. Not the chemical smell you’d expect in an institution that needed constant cleaning and disinfecting, but the animal aroma of human left unchecked. It was also hard to miss the bloodstains on some of the risers.

  Maybe prisoners were brought in here and beaten. Maybe the guards beat themselves, for fun or for other reasons. Still, I had a hard time getting away from some of the realities of this place. The worst part was not having a lifeline to a body or organization that could help you once you were thrown in here.

  The Magistrate couldn’t help us if we were foiled in our escape—we’d rot in here, like the rest of them. That was why we needed to get out. That was the single, driving force behind each and every one of my steps. Get out of the prison, and get out right now. We’d already spent far too long in here.

  Somewhere beneath us, a door opened and guards spilled out of it. One of them looked up, saw us, and yelled for us to stop. When we didn’t, the gunfire started. Bullets ricocheted off metal pipes and panels. Some of them struck the walls instead, taking bites out of the concrete.

  My lungs were burning by the time we reached the top, my hands trembling as I blew some more powder onto the door marked ROOF ACCESS. When I heard the click, I turned the handle and pushed with my shoulder, but the door didn’t open.

  “Crap!” I shrieked.

  “Not to hurry anyone up,” Hugo said, “But there’s a tactical squad rushing up the stairs, and I don’t think they’re going to be very friendly if they catch us here.”

  “Use some more,” Axel said.

  Nodding, I dumped what was left of the powder into my hand and blew it against the door. I tried the handle again, pushing against the door with all of my might, and then I realized what was wrong. The door was unlocked, but it wasn’t budging because it was old and probably hadn’t been opened in a long time.

  “It’s stuck,” I said to Axel, �
�We need to through it.”

  More gunshots barked throughout the stairwell, flashes of falling sparks erupting around us. Hugo took cover, shielding his face against debris. Axel and I started kicking the door, timing our strikes so they lined up perfectly. The guards would be up here in only a few seconds, but the door wasn’t opening, no matter how hard we went at it.

  My foot was throbbing, my heart was pounding, it sounded like the guards were on the floor below us, and we were stuck here with nowhere to go. Hugo screamed and charged at the door with his shoulder, slamming into it with all of his might, his strength joining ours.

  Despite the fact that he looked a little dried up, the door budged just enough that, one more hit, and it swung open letting the cold, putrid Devil Falls are come rushing into the prison.

  “Holy shit…” Axel said.

  “I think I broke my foot,” Hugo said.

  “We can cry about it later,” I said, grabbing him and pushing him out.

  The guards came rushing up the stairs just as Hugo and Axel were clear. One of them trailed a rifle on me before I could make it through, catching me flat footed at the top of the stairs. I stared at him, and he stared at me, the laser point of his scope shining against my chest.

  Thunder grumbled, not outside, but inside of me. My heartrate shot up as a wave of power came rushing at me from the Tempest. It was euphoric, an almost dizzying sensation that strangely made feel more focused, instead of less.

  Do it, I heard Ifrit’s voice in the back of my head.

  Glad to have you back, I thought.

  Narrowing my eyes, I grabbed the guard’s rifle with my mind, yanked it out of his hands, and smashed it against his head, sending him crashing to the floor, unconscious. Happy with my work, and before the other guards could climb over the first, I headed out onto the roof.

  It was raining hard, the sky dark and grey. It was hard to see where we were going, and there were alarms blaring all around us. The guard posts were on high alert, and they knew we were heading for the roof, because already searchlights were trying to find us. Harrowgate was a tall prison, though, and the guards in the towers didn’t quite have the angle to shoot at us up here.

  There was still the matter of the guards piling up the stairs… and all those ghosts looming over the walls. I could only hope Karim was able to keep them from us while we made our escape.

  “Stop where you are!” came a grunting voice from somewhere behind us.

  I slammed the brakes and turned to find five guards, each pointing the business ends of their rifle at us. They didn’t give us another warning. Instead, they opened fire, sending a hail of bullets whirring at us.

  My instincts flared, my body hummed with magic, and with a phantom wind swirling around me, I put up a shield that stopped the bullets from hitting us. I watched them slow to a grinding halt in midair, then fall inertly to the ground at my feet. The guards stared, wide-eyed. One of them roared and opened fire again, prompting the others to shoot at us too.

  None of their bullets were finding their targets—they were getting sucked into the invisible wall I’d built in front of me, but that didn’t stop them from trying.

  “Go,” I screamed.

  “Go?” Axel yelled, “Not without you!”

  “If I put my hands down, they’ll hit us. Get yourselves out of here before I throw you out. I’ll cover you.”

  “I’ll get help.”

  RJ had helped prepare a potion for each of us; a spell that would greatly enhance our physical abilities as well as rapidly heal wounds. Axel grabbed his, knocked it back, and tossed the phial aside. A moment later, he grabbed Hugo, tossed him over his shoulder, and made a running leap off the prison’s roof and over the wall.

  It was a superhuman feat, and impressive enough to watch.

  Ifrit popped to life on my shoulder, the little fire Godling willing himself back into existence now that my connection to the Tempest had returned. I glanced at him, grinning. “Glad to have you back,” I said.

  “Glad you actually listened to me,” he said. “Now, let’s deal with these guys.”

  Nodding, I turned my attention back to the guards… but they were all down except one. The one still standing was glassy eyed, rigid, and tightly holding his gun against his chest. I caught a flash of green light behind him, and he toppled forward like a plank of wood, falling flat on his face.

  Behind him… was Delia, her black hair soaked and matted to her face, bloodlust in her crazy eyes. “Well, well, well,” she growled, “Look what we have here.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “What the hell are you doing here, Delia?” I yelled.

  “Did you really think I wasn’t following you?” she asked, “Did you think you’d lost me all that time ago? You’re even more incompetent than I thought.”

  Incompetent? That stung. I hadn’t seen Delia since the night I returned from the Tempest—not since the night we killed Karkov. I’d always known she’d be back for revenge someday, but did it have to be tonight? It was pretty inconsiderate of her.

  “I’d love to stand here and chat with you, but I really need to be going.”

  I went to turn around, but Delia lurched forward and snapped a stunning spell at me. I twisted just in time to deflect it with my right hand, sending the bolt of green magic harmlessly away from me.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” she snarled. “You’re going to pay for what you and your little friends did to Karkov.”

  “He had it coming. Or didn’t Asmodius tell you if you’re gonna behave like a murderous asshole henchman, you’re probably gonna die young?”

  “I don’t work for him anymore.”

  “So, why are you here?”

  “Because I want revenge,” she hissed, and then she attacked, launching a tirade of consecutive magic blasts at me that I had no choice but to defend against. It was her style, that snap and advance, snap and advance.

  I could only defend myself against her, knowing at some point she would tire and I would get my chance. The only problem was, she was pushing me toward the edge of the roof, and the closer I got to it, the more I opened myself up to being shot by the guards—or being attacked by ghosts.

  I had to get out of here, but I couldn’t follow Axel and Hugo; that would put them in danger.

  Delia ceased her attacks to catch her breath, but she didn’t stay where she was. Roaring, she charged at me, venom burning in her eyes. A searchlight fixed on me from behind, setting my sixth sense alight. Instead of attacking Delia, who clearly was more interested in ripping my skin off my face with her bare hands, I turned around and leapt off the edge of the prison.

  The wind rushed past my ears, rain beat against my face, but I was soaring through the air. I heard gunshots go off, even heard some of the bullets whiz past my ears as I flew, but then I was clear of the prison and coming in for a controlled landing on the tarmac just beyond its outer walls.

  I hit the ground with a spinning roll, turning around to face the prison as I stood. Delia was on the roof, her long, black coat billowing in the wind. Lightning crackled in the sky behind her, and when it settled, she was no longer wearing human skin. She was a crow, and she was bearing down on me.

  Spinning around on my heel again, I started to run away from the prison

  I leapt into the air, using magic to propel myself up and over a low-rise. I stuck the landing without losing my stride, then continued sprinting across the rooftop guided entirely by my instincts. Ducking and weaving past protruding pipes, satellite dishes, and steam vents, I made it to the other side of the building and leapt again, sailing over the gap and landing on the next rooftop in a graceful roll.

  Delia was right behind me, the crow squawking as it soared toward me like a bullet, its silver eyes gleaming. I conjured a stunning spell into my hand and fired it off at her, but she effortlessly swirled out of its path and kept coming toward me, beak-first. I side-stepped her, but only just. By the time I turned around to look for her again,
she was there, ready to deliver a swift heel-kick with her boot into my gut.

  I staggered back, coughing. She’d knocked the wind out of me, but she wasn’t stopping. Delia pressed her attack, this time with a hand tipped with razor-sharp claws. I ducked to the left, avoiding one swipe, then I parried the next swipe with my forearm. The third strike, I wasn’t quick enough to block.

  Her claws bit into my shoulder, ripping through my clothes and finding the flesh underneath. The pain was exquisite, and white-hot. Delia’s wicked, lustful grin widened, having drawn fresh blood. She attacked again. This time, I pulled back far enough that she missed. With a cleverly placed foot swipe, I was able to knock her on her ass.

  “What are you waiting for?” Ifrit asked, “Stun her!”

  It took Delia a split second to get herself back up, but by that point I was ready. I snapped at her with my injured arm, sending a bolt of red magic directly into her chest. The force of the impact was enough to pick her up and send her flying a few feet away. Delia fell flat on her back with a hard thud.

  Panting, bleeding, I moved quickly toward her, summoning more magic from inside of the Tempest—preparing the killing blow.

  Delia’s eyes shot open. Shrieking, she launched three bolts of magic at me in quick succession. Switching from attack to defense, I pulled back, parrying her magic attacks and sending her magic scattering in all directions. I watched her jump up to a standing position in one quick move, her eyes mad with revenge.

  “Don’t you know better than to try and stun a Vivimancer, little witch?” she asked. “It always takes at least two hits.”

  She hissed, but this time, instead of attacking, she turned herself into a crow and took to the skies. Lightning flashed, and she came at me again. I was about to try to stun her, but she was too small and fast. Instead, I turned around and leapt off the edge of the building again, launching myself into the air.