by R. K. Thorne
“I’ll need someone to go in with me,” King Aven said. “Not necessarily a mage, I guess.”
Wunik cut in, “Sire, you are now the king. Even as the crown prince, this is not something you should attempt. What if you don’t return?”
Aven gave him a firm look. “I have to know if Miara is there. If I don’t return, I have two excellent brothers I’ve heard many would prefer to become king anyway.” He smiled and gestured at Thel, the tall one.
Thel fidgeted under his gaze. “I don’t know, Aven.”
“I’m partly joking,” the king said. “But I do think the risks outweigh the rewards here. Allies inside Kavanar would be immensely valuable. Jaena’s smith may know much that could help us. Not to mention he played a critical role in… saving Jaena from the Devoted. And who knows, there may be a chance to throw off Daes, while we’re at it.”
“We can’t use those allies or fight Kavanar if you’re all dead,” Wunik said.
“We won’t be,” Jaena said. If all they needed to do was get some people from a room on the outside of the building… that seemed relatively simple.
The king grinned at her ready support. Wunik frowned at him. “Your mother is not going to like this.”
“And that’s why we’re not going to tell her. And why we’re going to go right now.”
“Right now?” Wunik was scowling now.
“Well, as soon as we feel we’re ready. By tomorrow night, they may have left Trenedum Palace. Plus, we can’t afford to keep watch via farsight on this building for an entire day. If we are able, we need to strike now.”
Derk yawned loudly and stretched, clearly trying to get their attention. “Fine, well, I guess I could go and help save your asses.”
Jaena raised her eyebrows, and King Aven glowered at him.
“Well, if he’s going, I’m going,” Thel said suddenly.
“Are you just that determined not to be king that you’d rather risk your life instead?” Aven asked. Thel eyed the mage who’d volunteered with suspicion.
“If we all go and we all get killed, Mother will hunt us down in our graves,” Thel muttered. “But I’m not going to be left back here like some horse put out to pasture.”
“Well, we best not get killed then, so she doesn’t have to kill us a second time.”
“Also, she’d probably kill Wunik too, and that’s not fair,” said Thel.
“Who says I’m not coming with you?” Wunik glared.
“Well—uh—” Thel stumbled.
“I’m just teasing you. Someone has to stay behind and tell your mother of this tomfoolery when it goes awry.” The doubting nature of his tone was gone now, replaced by a more playful one. Perhaps their plan seemed plausible enough.
“All right then. It’s decided,” said the king.
Jaena pointed at the view of the palace. “Let’s talk about what could go wrong in this plan of ours. We need backup plans.”
“There could be a wall made of something you can’t move,” Wunik offered. “Wood or something. Under that rubble you plan to blow away.”
Jaena nodded. “Okay, if there’s another wall, we may be able to dig under the door.”
“Or a wooden wall could be set on fire,” Derk added.
“Good, although let’s make sure noone’s chained to any walls we destroy,” she said. “Another potential problem. The distraction may not be enough, and someone could notice we’re in the dungeon.”
“And lock us in,” Thel added.
“Your optimism is duly noted.” King Aven laughed.
“Or people could flood toward the dungeon instead of paying attention to the distraction,” offered Thel. Nervous, was he?
“I could create additional distractions if that happens,” Siliana said. “Maybe bring some bees or wasps.”
“Hornets,” Derk offered. “Bet there are some sizable beetles around that pond to use too.”
Siliana nodded encouragingly. “Lots of birds usually in this kind of environment as well. We’ll be on the same side of the dungeon as you, so I should be able to watch for interlopers. And I can reach out and warn you.”
“Another thought—what if Tharomar and the others aren’t in the dungeon when we get there?” Jaena said.
Aven nodded gravely. “Then the choice is—do we search the palace, with the violence that comes with that? Or do we abort the mission and return?”
“If you have some reason to believe they’ve gone into the palace, that would be one thing,” Jaena said. “I think my distraction should be enough to bring people out and cause serious disruption inside. But if there’s no sign of them or where they went, it might be better to abort.”
“We won’t know for certain if they’re even still in the palace. We can’t watch while we fly,” Siliana pointed out. “We will only know what was true just before we took flight. Wunik could watch, then Derk could farsee to him, and then I could ask him. But that sounds like an awful lot of energy, and we could get caught just sitting by the tree doing all that.”
“Yeah, count me out for that. We might as well just blow the side of the building, whether we know they’re in there or not.” Derk jutted his chin at Jaena. “I like your style, by the way.”
She gave him a sidelong glance. “We’ll see if you like it after you see it in action.”
Aven held up another hand. “We’ll go in if we have some concrete clue that any of the four we’re looking for are still there. But if we see no signs, we’ll turn back. Understood?”
Nods all around.
“Good luck to all of you,” Wunik said softly. “And I hope you don’t really need it.”
Chapter 16
Distractions
The sound of Siliana’s black wings flapping had been constant and regular for what had seemed an eternity. Aven knew it could only have been an hour or two, and it was not much different than when Miara had flown him out of Kavanar the day of their escape. The only difference was that this was at night, and being a tiny creature in a box with several other tiny creatures in complete darkness was both better and worse in some ways.
He could have opted to be a bird himself, but he preferred to save all his energy for what was to come. Aven wondered what Thel was making of all this.
Finally the wing beats changed, and he felt them landing. Moments later, Siliana drew his little form out of the box and shifted him back. Had he been a chipmunk again? Seemed so. Only slight nausea accompanied the transformation. Either she was taking more time than Miara did, or he was getting used to the feeling.
Human again, he surveyed the land around them. An hour or two in the air had taken them across the border of Kavanar. Trenedum Palace glowed a ghostly white on the other side of a willow and a small, foggy pond. He squatted down with the others and looked them all over. They were prepared. They were as ready as they’d ever be.
“All right. Everyone ready?”
Nods all around. Jaena had sunk to the ground and crossed her legs to sit with her back against the tree trunk, preparing. Aven strode over and crouched in front of her, catching her eyes. “Will I know when this… distraction is happening?”
“Oh, you’ll know.” Was that excitement? A chance to torment her tormentors for once?
“Care to share what it’s going to be?” Since she hadn’t taken his hints, he might as well ask directly.
She smiled, her dark eyes glinting. “I’m going to… Hmm, no. You’ll see. I’ll give you a minute or two to get closer, then I’ll move the dungeon wall, then it will come not long after. Wait for… the next loud noise after the earth stops moving.” He nodded. She shut her eyes.
Aven straightened and strode to Derk and Thel. “Let’s go.”
The bright moon of the night might have made it easier to spot them, but none of them were particularly experienced at creeping silently through the underbrush in complete darkness, so it was probably for the best. They were relying on the distraction to hide them, not stealth.
Aven crept fir
st, keeping low as he moved from cover to cover. Derk followed, then Thel. Aven might have rather had Dom at his back—they all knew which one of them was burly from wrestling dogs and which one of them had… extremely dexterous fingers from repeated page turns? Aven snorted to himself. Thel would be blessed when he found the lady who cherished these unique facets of his personality. Aven wasn’t entirely sure how effectively his brother would be watching his back, but at least it gave them a chance of catching Derk if he tried to betray them.
Because how much could they really trust Derk? He had never given Aven a specific reason for worry, besides his attitude. And, well, his interest in Miara.
They reached the side of the white marble palace and ducked behind a hedgerow.
Aven listened. Nothing but the normal sounds of the night—the slapping of water against the bank, the wind rustling willow branches against each other, an animal lapping up water not so far away. Muffled voices emanated from inside, like a large, festive gathering. What in the hell was there to celebrate? But no loud cacophony met his ears.
Was something wrong? Was Jaena able to do what she’d planned?
He risked a peek around the corner of the building along the dungeon wall and—earth moved as if some giant mole beneath the ground was digging its way out.
Thel appeared beside him, peeking around as well. Aven almost elbowed him back for leaving their cover, but no one was in sight. Thel’s blue eyes were wide as saucers.
“So… I could do that?” he whispered in Aven’s ear.
Aven shrugged. “That’s what they tell me. If Jaena survives this mission so we have someone to show you how.”
Thel looked irritated at his practicality but gave him the slightest nod. He understood. “I forgot to tell you, we did find one book in the library on earth—”
“Not now, Thel.”
The moving earth stopped, and Aven was glad for it. He had been completely unable to quell the notion that the earth would never move that way unless some giant creature was about to rise up upon them.
A slight thud, now. Then another, then a decisive crack.
Rock flew from the wall and splashed into the pond. Gods, he hoped that wasn’t the distraction.
But he need not have feared. The sound of the cracking to follow was much, much louder and behind him. He didn’t wait to see what she was doing exactly, but it sounded like the building itself was coming apart.
He rushed around the corner, the two other men in tow, and through the blown-out wall. Two men had stumbled out into the clearing but were too busy looking at the other side of the building to slip inside. Six men in shackles leaned at various points along the wall. The little girl was not there, and none of the men seemed to be the one that had accompanied her. The prisoners were apparently all in one cell, the door of which hung open. The guards must have entered the cell to see what the commotion was about.
“Any of you named Tharomar?” Aven raised his voice as loudly as he dared.
Several eyebrows rose, but one man frowned. That had to be him. Aven rushed toward him.
“Who sent you?” the man demanded as Thel helped Aven get the man to his feet.
“Why does that matter if we’re getting you out of here?” Derk said.
That only deepened the man’s frown.
“A man and a young girl—have you seen them? Damn it, they’re not here,” Aven said instead.
“Was she youngish, maybe eleven?”
Aven nodded.
“He took them. The leader.”
Aven swore. “Wearing all black?”
“Yes.”
“Damn it. Do you know where they went?”
“No. Well—he said he was going up to the ball. Would he have taken them with him, or just moved them somewhere else? Who are they?”
Aven looked from Thel to Derk to the men outside. “Friends of friends. Thel—get Tharomar back to the others and see if you can get these shackles off. Derk, you and I will go in.”
“In?” Tharomar started. “You’re going up there? And I’m not going anywhere until you tell me who sent you.”
“Jaena sent us. Come on, this way.”
Tharomar’s jaw dropped, but that didn’t stop any of them from rushing back out. Aven had hoped to slip back along the side of the building, but one of the guards had unfortunately realized how thoroughly he’d abandoned his post. Spotting them, he cried a warning to the other guard, although Aven wasn’t certain the man heard anything.
The soft rumble of voices from inside was gone, replaced with more frantic voices, cries, and a strange, deep, grinding noise. But Aven had no time to discover the origin of that sound. The one attentive guard rushed at him.
“Get him over there,” Aven barked.
“Hurry up and get those shackles off. Shift just his hands,” Derk added.
The guard appeared to be unarmed. As the guard reached him, Aven crouched slightly and dove for his attacker’s midsection, using the momentum to hurl him up and over. The guard flew through the air and narrowly missed Derk, thanks to a small sidestep on the mage’s part. The guard landed with a thud on his back.
Derk surprised Aven by being quick with a dagger. He had it at the man’s throat before Aven had barely blinked.
“Don’t do it. I’ll cut you and roll your body into this pond, and no one will know the difference.”
The guard froze. Aven felt himself freeze too, realizing he had no idea if Derk was perfectly rational or a completely cold-blooded killer. Aven forced himself to take a breath.
“You had a woman, a girl, and her father in your cell,” Aven bluffed. “Where are they?”
The man’s eyes strained to turn his face toward Aven without pressing his neck against the knife’s edge. “The mage slaves?”
Aven gritted his teeth. Not for long if he had anything to say about it. “Yes,” he said instead.
“I saw no woman, but Daes Cavalion took the other two up to the main ballroom.”
“Are you sure?” Aven glanced at Derk as if giving him permission to press harder.
“I escorted him up there, I swear it.”
“How do we get up there?”
“Well, it looks like you can walk right in, with the front of the building torn off—”
Another large grinding screech finally drew Aven’s eye. He took two steps to the side, and he could see… what by the gods did he see?
Columns and stones from the palace had torn themselves apart and reassembled into a huge stone creature. The palace was lush but low, perhaps three stories. The giant towered at least five stories above the earth. The elegance of the columns and the white marble was not entirely lost, and there was something strangely beautiful about the being. Where eyes should have been, no stones rested, only dark hollows that seemed to come alive and see straight through him.
So. Distraction. Yes. That was very distracting. Even to him.
The creature reached down with an arm-like appendage to grab something. Aven forced his attention back to the man.
“Go back in there, shut the cell door, pretend like nothing is going on, and we won’t have to kill you.”
Both Derk and the guard looked at him like he was crazy.
“Like nothing’s going on?” the guard sputtered.
“Like he’ll do that?” Derk said at the same time.
Aven wanted to pummel them both. He just wanted to get on with the mission and not have to deal with this bastard.
“Get up and run, or I’ll make sure that you can’t.” Aven grabbed Derk’s shirt and pushed him away from the guard before quickly hauling the guard to his feet and shoving him in the opposite direction.
The guard hesitated. Aven raised a fist over his shoulder and took a warning step forward. The man turned and ran.
Derk snickered. “Nice, I think he wet himself. Let’s go.”
Aven was relieved that Derk seemed perfectly fine with that solution. He didn’t need a bloodthirsty bastard at a moment like this, as pl
eased as he was that Derk seemed capable with a dagger.
Aven drew his sword, and they ventured around the corner. Indeed, the front and side of the building were gone, as was most of the ceiling. The interior revealed a great dining hall where it seemed people had been eating. A multitude of pillows and cushions in the center of the palace suggested possibly more. Tiny shards of glass and beads of lead covered the ground around much of the outer edges. The windows must have shattered. Slabs of stone that made up the roof and ceiling edge looked unstable, and one teetered and crashed as Aven watched, smashing a table beneath it into splinters.
Seeing the interior and imagining King Demikin not so far away made his heart thud in his chest for a moment at the enormity of this act. They might not yet know Akarians were behind this, but Aven did. This was essentially an act of war, and not a subtle one. He hadn’t exactly thought of it like that when they’d been conceiving their scrappy little rescue mission. Freeing mages had been Aven’s goal, and this romp had just seemed like an extension of that.
It hadn’t occurred to him that they were perpetrating the equivalent of a direct attack on the Kavanarian king, inside his territory. He hadn’t known the magnitude of Jaena’s distraction. No point in worrying now; they were already across the threshold.
Even with his sword drawn, Aven crept unnoticed around the corner, Derk behind him. Many had fled the outer room, but some were salvaging valuables, though the marble creature seemed bent on further destruction.
Where could they be?
Wait—he could feel them, through their brands. He could look for their squirming, tormented knots of energy. He spread his senses while trying to keep moving but found he had to stop to concentrate.
He felt dozens of slaves hiding in the rooms to his left, before him, and in the levels below. He felt each of the hearth fires in each of the rooms. How could he pick them out of these masses?
“Damn it.”
“What is it?”
“Where do we start looking? I tried to feel for them, but there’s dozens of mage slaves here.”
