"Be careful," said Kara's father.
Kara turned to him. "Aren't you coming?"
"Don't worry about me. I've got a few things to do here, then I'll go. Got some priceless things I wouldn't want to lose." He shuffled off into another room. Kara looked pale as she watched him go, and Nadia could understand her fears.
Nadia thought suddenly of her own family, who could be in danger. She looked toward the door. "Let's get going."
Kara followed while Rik pulled his axe from his back. David and Jasin both took position behind Nadia. Flames danced before Nadia's eyes, and her breathing felt constricted. Her guards stepped out the door first. She, Kara, and Rik followed, peering toward the dancing flames.
Nadia coughed in the thick smoke but kept moving, panic rising in her chest. Scream after scream sounded. People shouted for family members. In the distance, someone was issuing commands amidst the growing flames.
Kara looked toward the fires. "How is this possible?"
Nadia edged closer to her. "I don't know. We need to check on my family."
Kara frowned, pointing south toward the castle. "The fire's biggest that way. Are you sure that's a good direction to go? Your father has guards. They'll protect him."
"I wish I could believe that," Nadia said, fear twisting her stomach into knots as she raced through the thick smoke, coughing. People ran along the streets and did not stop to speak.
Two Imperial Guards emerged from a nearby alley, looking remarkably calm. They had to be causing this chaos. The Imperial Guards saw them, and one shouted, "Get them!"
Nadia's heart leapt, and she readied an arrow. She let it fly as one of the Imperial Guards approached. He didn't raise his sword in time to deflect it, and it pierced his forehead. Nadia expected the other Imperial Guard to back off, but instead the man made a quick motion with his hand, and flames erupted in front of her.
She screamed and fell backwards as the flames danced closer. Through the fire, she watched Kara charge toward the Imperial Guard, but a wall of flame stopped her. At the same time, the fire in front of Nadia died. She scrambled to her feet and readied another arrow while the Imperial Guard was focused on Kara.
But Nadia didn't need to shoot him. When Rik and David both charged toward the man, he turned and fled, disappearing into a nearby alley.
Nadia rushed over to Kara. "Are you all right?"
"A little singed, but I'll be fine."
The group of five came together, glancing at the rising smoke. Nadia could make no sense of this attack. Why were the Imperial Guards trying to kill everyone in Crayden? Warrick didn't like to kill too many of his subjects.
Rik held his axe ready. "We need to get Markus out of prison."
"Of course," Nadia said. "He could die in there, and this is our best chance."
A heavy layer of smoke drifted over from the next street, and with it came muffled screams. Nadia wished she could help everyone, but she lacked the ability. Surely Imperial Guards couldn't destroy an entire city, even with Warrick's powers.
"We should get back to the castle," Jasin said.
Nadia glared at him. "I'm saving Markus. You're welcome to come, but you're not stopping me."
Jasin glanced back and forth, chewing on his lower lip, then took off toward the castle. Good riddance.
"I'll come with you," David said. "I swore to protect you."
"Thank you," Nadia said, but her stomach churned. The deaths of Varek and Len were a horrible weight upon her chest, a weight she could never lift.
They took off to the north, toward the prison, which sat close to the mountains overlooking the city. When they reached the next street, they came across a crowd of fleeing people, including some small children screaming and huddled close to their parents. Five Imperial Guards emerged from a nearby alley, and flames erupted around the parents and their children.
Nadia started to rush forward, but Kara pulled her back behind a building, just out of view of the Imperial Guards.
"You can't help everyone," Kara said.
Nadia strained against her grip. "They're killing children!"
"She's right," Rik said, restraining her as well. At last, she calmed down, though her heart still ached. How could Warrick do something so evil?
Nadia peered around the corner of the building, watching with wide-eyed horror as Imperial Guards marched along the street, setting fire to everything and everyone in sight.
Rik's voice was thick with emotion. "Let's get to Markus. Now's our chance."
Distantly, a small girl shrieked. Nadia's stomach lurched. Another child dead. Another murder in cold blood.
"Come on," Kara said. "We have to move fast."
"Right." Nadia took off running with the rest of the group. They couldn't move too fast, though, for they often had to check for Imperial Guards
The smoke thickened, and Nadia coughed more and more. The others tried to cover their mouths to no avail. How much longer could they deal with the suffocating air? How long until the city was destroyed, everyone in it dead?
A fiery glow surrounded them, though none of the buildings around them were on fire. Odd. When they passed a row of tall buildings, she discovered the source of the glow, and her heart dropped into her stomach.
"Oh my god!" she shouted. "What the hell is that?"
* * * * *
Tylen huddled beneath the musty blankets, his heart pounding in his ears. His breathing seemed so loud that the Imperial Guard could surely hear it.
Steel boots thudded against the stone floor, coming closer and closer. Tylen held his breath, praying that the Imperial Guard wouldn't check under the blankets. A moment later, the blankets shifted. Something long and sharp hit Tylen's arm.
The guardsman's sword.
Tylen flinched away, worried the man might have seen the movement—or that he might have noticed a change in consistency. Again and again, the Imperial Guard stabbed his sword into the blankets, seemingly at random. Tylen got hit again and felt a sharp sting on his back.
"Come on, let's get going," said a different Imperial Guard. "Nothing there."
"I thought I felt something."
"Just your imagination. We need to get out of here before the fire comes."
Their steel-booted steps faded into the distance, but Tylen waited a couple of minutes before moving. After he threw the blankets aside, he stepped into the room at the base of the tower.
Imperial Guards still stood in the foyer. Before they could see him, he raced up the spiraling staircase. At the top, he ducked into the first room, where an older woman with graying hair lay dead on the stone floor, blood forming a pool around her. He felt a little sick, so he went into the next room instead.
This one looked like Nadia's room. She had done her best to strip the room of anything lavish. Everything looked as though it served some functional purpose.
Tylen started to relax, but then he looked out the window.
* * * * *
Theo watched the chaos unfold from a second-floor balcony attached to the Imperial Guard garrison. Even during his time as an Imperial Guard, he had never been asked to do anything like this. Now Theo understood Markus's refusal to serve Warrick. The man truly was evil, though he'd never struck Theo that way on the occasions Theo had seen him.
From his high vantage point, Theo was the first to see the giant wall of flame encircling the entire city. The fire was the brightest Theo had ever seen, a creation of powerful magic.
Warrick himself had made an appearance.
The fire moved closer, menacing and beautiful as it cast its orange glow upon the mountains surrounding the city. Theo caught a hint of motion below. He peered over the railing to see Imperial Guards converging on the building. Of course. The Imperial Guards would use the teleportation chamber to leave the city before the flames converged on them.
Everyone else in Crayden would die.
But Theo had a plan of his own. He could save those still alive by using the Imperial Guard seal to acces
s the teleportation chamber.
* * * * *
Nadia stared at the towering wall of flame as it inched closer to the city. The other three gaped at it with open mouths.
"How the hell are we going to get around that?" Rik asked.
"I-I have no idea," Nadia said.
Kara kept her voice calm. "First things first. Let's free Markus."
"Right," Rik said.
Heart pounding, Nadia took off with the rest of the group. She glanced up at the wall of flames every few seconds, judging its progress. The smoke had grown thicker than ever.
"The prison's close to the edge of the city," David said. "We won't have much time."
They increased their pace, nearly sprinting. Clouds of smoke drifted across the city, thickening and thinning at random. Even when the smoke was thin, Nadia couldn't stop from coughing. Sheer determination kept her going.
The prison came into view, and Nadia felt a jolt of fear. Flames soared from the building's roof, which looked as if it were about to collapse.
They stopped a few feet from the burning building.
"This is not good," David said. "You sure about going in there?"
Nadia stared at the prison. "We have to. Once it burns down, it will collapse. It might take a very long time to dig down to where Markus is. It might not even be possible. We have to save him now."
"I'm going in with you," Kara said, her expression grim.
Rik tightened his grip on his axe. "Me, too."
A voice came from off to their right. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."
Nadia turned. Two Imperial Guards stood about fifteen feet away. One stepped closer, keeping a firm grip on his sword. His eyes had a murderous glint.
"I'll deal with them," David said. "Save your friend."
Kara turned to David. "I'll help you. Nadia, you and Rik can get him out of there."
Nadia hesitated, then took off, motioning for Rik to follow. He glanced back a few times as they approached the burning prison.
"How do we get in?" Nadia asked, panic seizing her.
Rik took her by the arm. "Follow me. I remember the way."
The heat of the flames hit her skin—not too hot yet, but it would grow deadly with time. They skirted the edge of the building, finding the main entrance at last. The fires burned close, too close, and the smoke felt more suffocating than ever.
They rushed through the door, and Nadia felt as though she'd entered Hell. Flames surged all around, and the roof made horrible creaking sounds.
She ducked beneath a wooden beam that had fallen diagonally across their path. Flames had engulfed a desk in front of them, but through those flames, she saw a rack containing a number of large keys. But how would they reach it?
"Dammit!" Rik shouted. "That's where we need to go."
Nadia peered toward the desk, looking for a gap in the flames. None appeared.
Cold panic gripped her like never before. How could she come so close only to be thwarted now? No. She had to think. There was another way.
"A sword!" she said. "A good long one!"
Rik glanced around, then rushed off to his right. Glass broke, and Rik returned a few moments later with a longsword.
Nadia took it, glancing around frantically. "How do we know which key?"
"I think it's the one on the lowest tier." He pointed. "Right there."
She coughed violently. "Let's hope this works."
She reached out with the sword and pushed it through the flames, toward the lowest key on the rack. She had to push up carefully with the tip of the sword, trying to get the key off the metallic loop on which it hung. The sword touched the key but couldn't pull it free.
The flames grew hotter, taller, closer. The smoke thickened. Again and again, she tried to knock the key free, but it wouldn't budge. The longer she went at this, the more panic tightened its talons on her.
"You almost got it that time," Rik said, but she wanted to yell at him to shut up. She didn't need his encouragement right now.
She pushed up with the sword and heard the dull clunk of the key against the floor. "Damn! Where did it go? Did you see, Rik?"
Rik stepped closer to the flames, shielding his eyes. The flames danced toward him as though caught in a sudden gust of wind, and he jumped back
"Wait, I see it!" she said. But she'd have to get close to the flames. Too close.
She took a moment to prepare herself, then dived to the ground, staying below the smoke and just outside the flames. She groped around, barely able to see. The key burned as her hand closed around it, but she held on to it anyway, pulling back.
She winced. "I've got it. Lead the way, Rik."
He took her by her other hand, and they raced through the disintegrating prison. The creaking of the roof had grown louder. Every few steps, another part of the ceiling supports came crashing down.
But somehow they reached the stairs at the back of the prison. Clutching Nadia's hand, Rik rushed down the stairs. He moved so fast that she almost stumbled. The farther down they went, the cleaner the air felt. By the time they reached the bottom level, there was little indication of the chaos above. They raced around to the front of the cell.
"Nadia?" Markus said, eyes wide. "Rik? What are you doing here?"
Nadia showed him the key. "Getting you out."
"What's going on up there?" asked the other man in the cell.
Rik shook his head. "Trust me, Berig, you don't want to know."
Nadia inserted the key into the lock and turned it. Nothing happened. Her body tensed.
Berig hopped up and down. "Try turning it the other way."
She did so, and the lock clicked. Relieved for the moment, she opened the barred door. Markus and Berig rushed out. Nadia had no idea who Berig was, or why he was in the cell with Markus, but that didn't matter now. She would save anyone she could, even a criminal. As Markus passed, she handed him the longsword.
They rushed back up the spiraling steps.
"We need to get other people outta here," Berig said.
Rik stopped. "We don't have time. This place is about to come down around us."
Nadia felt sick at that. How could they leave people behind? Even criminals deserved a chance to survive. "Isn't there something we can do?"
"Yeah, there has to be," Markus said.
Rik started moving again. "We'll have to hope they can pull through this somehow. There isn't enough time. You'll see when we get up there."
As they passed each level of the prison, Nadia stared toward the prison cells. She could hear the panic in the prisoners' voices. Would they burn to death? Starve? Suffocate?
When they reached the prison's main level, the heat blasted Nadia like she was standing too close to a blacksmith's forge. She recoiled and coughed again.
Markus squinted through the smoke. "What the hell happened up here?"
"I told you," Rik said. "We don't have much time." He led them across the prison's main level. The heat assaulted them, and they kept their heads beneath most of the smoke.
Still, they coughed and coughed. Nadia thought her lungs might explode. "I can't see anything."
The smoke had grown so thick, so dark, that this barely resembled the building they'd entered a few minutes ago. They couldn't move more than a foot or two from their path, or they'd run into the flames.
Above, the beams supporting the ceiling let out an ominous groan. Then it all came crashing down, and Nadia covered her head amidst the onslaught.
She prayed to God, but she had the feeling it wouldn't help anything now.
Chapter 26
Sweat poured down Kara's face as she hid from an Imperial Guard. With his magic, he had the advantage. The other Imperial Guard had already killed David, and then left. The burning building beside Kara barely remained intact. The flames were close enough she could feel their heat. Her lungs ached.
"Hiding won't do you any good." Her opponent was too close. "When that ring of fire comes closing in, you'll burn to
death with everyone else."
Kara didn't want to think about that, but whenever she looked up, she could see the flames growing closer.
Her opponent said nothing more. Maybe he'd left her alone.
Ducked low against the thick smoke, she peered around the corner of the building and spotted the Imperial Guard's back as he walked away from her, toward the center of town.
Toward the Imperial Guard garrison.
Maybe they could use the Imperial Guard teleportation system. Only someone with the Imperial Guard seal could access the chamber, but there had to be another way. She ran back toward the prison, where the flames from the roof soared into the sky. Much of the building had collapsed, probably with Nadia, Rik, and Markus inside
She came as close to the flames as she dared. "Nadia! Can you hear me?"
No response.
"Nadia!"
Still, no response. Kara fell to an unsteady squat, trying to keep her emotions in check.
Quick footsteps came from her right, and she looked up. A short man with a thick, unruly beard raced toward her, his face blackened by smoke.
"Did you come out of the prison?" she asked him.
"Yeah, the whole place collapsed. Got separated from the people I was with."
Kara's heart pounded. "Who were they?"
"Well, there was my cellmate Markus and his friend Rik. Some girl was with them."
Desperation swirled in her stomach. "Do you think they might still be alive?"
"You can try to find them, but there ain't exactly time." He pointed toward the circle of fire. "I've never seen anything like that. Gotta get outta here."
"Well, I'm staying here," she said. "I have to find them."
"Any idea how I can get around those flames?"
"Well, there's the Imperial Guard garrison," she said. "Maybe we could teleport."
"Not gonna work. You've gotta have their seal thing. Any other ideas?"
Kara felt like throwing up. "Well, there's the castle. It's made of stone."
"Where is it?"
She pointed. "Way at the south side of town."
Empire of Chains (World in Chains Book 1) Page 20
