The night passed slowly, but two hours before dawn, carts started to appear outside of the servants’ entrance. It made sense; feeding that many guards on a daily basis would require a large amount of supplies. Time continued to trickle by as the carts continued to line up. Slowly, I slipped out of the hay I had been lying in and brushed myself clean. This could be my chance.
A guard opened the gate and walked outside. He moved up and down the line, doing a perfunctory search of the carts and wagons. He moved back to the front of the line, and I made a move. It was easy enough to slip in with the merchants. None of them said a word, and I might have only garnered a glance or two before we were inside the keep’s defenses.
The working people had no love for the nobles. As long as this didn’t end up affecting them, the merchants couldn’t care less. The goods must have already been paid for, because people started unloading the wagons almost as soon as they stopped. I picked up a box of fresh produce and followed the crowd inside the keep.
The kitchen was extremely busy given the early hour, but then again, it probably had to be. Everyone was so wrapped up in their own duties, it was easy enough to slip out of the kitchen unnoticed. The guard in the hallway opened his mouth to question where I was going. Before he could finish the question, my hand slipped inside my cloak. A little bit of the powder in the hidden pocket found its way into my fingers, and I blew the dust at him.
The guard inhaled sharply and then slumped against the wall. I slipped his livery over his head and put it on. I made sure to brush my cloak back after fastening it so everyone could see the house’s colors represented underneath. As long as no one found the guard right away, I’d be able to move around the keep without drawing too much suspicion.
Moving through the castle was easy until I tried to approach the treasure room. Every one of the entrances was guarded by two men at the bottom of the stairs. I could only assume each one of these stairways would also be guarded from the top. The first pale light of dawn was breaking the horizon. If I was going to do something, I had to do it now.
I went into a room as close to the stairs as I could find and prayed silently that it had a window. The curtains at the far end of the room implied that there was indeed a window, but you would be surprised at the amount of lords who hung curtains in rooms without windows just to give them the appearance of being luxurious. The door closed behind me, and I spun around as a grunt issued from inside the chamber. The sound was followed moments later by a moan of pleasure.
Ignoring the rutting couple, I moved toward the curtains. I slipped out of sight behind them just as the sounds from the room stopped. I hopped on the ledge and looked out at the grounds below. This was going to take a little bit more than luck for me not to end up as a splat on the courtyard below.
From inside, I heard a woman’s voice call out to her lover. “Be a darling and open the window. It’s so hot and stuffy in here.”
“As you command,” the male responded.
It wouldn’t do to get caught standing on the ledge when he flung the curtains open, so I hastily pulled on my gloves. These particular gloves came with two-inch spikes built into the knuckles. No, they weren’t made for what I was about to do, but the pit-fighting men of the kingdom had their uses. One of them was inventing new ways to gouge out huge hunks of an enemy’s skin.
Instead of skin, I’d be looking to sink the steel spikes into the thick gaps of mortar between the stones. With the spikes on my hands and the two blades set into the toes of my boots, I should be able to make it. The curtains rustled, and I swung myself out over the open space. A few pieces of mortar broke free and fell to the ground. I could see the top of curly blond hair as the man stuck his head out the window and took a breath of fresh air. If he had looked to the side, he would have been in for the shock of his life.
As soon as the head ducked back into the room, I started making my way up and to the side. I was in full view of the courtyard below and maybe even from the buildings nestled together outside of the ramparts. None of this made me feel very confident in the eventual outcome of this half-assed operation. With every passing minute, the light from the east grew stronger, and my chances at success started to crumble.
Finally, I made it to the ledge outside of the treasure room, or at least the room where the treasure used to be. My arms were shaking, and my legs weren’t doing much better. I pulled myself silently onto the ledge. I could see that there were two guards on the other side of the stone window. I would hit them with my powder, make a run for the box, grab whatever I could, and then leap back through the window and hope my hook found purchase above me when I jumped. It wasn’t a great plan, but they didn’t call me Lucky for nothing.
With the blades in my boots stored and my gloves tucked away, I reached inside of my cloak for the powder. I had just enough to hit the two guards. Inching forward, I blew the powder into the room and waited. It took a moment, but the two guards started to slump, and I made my move.
Diving off the ledge and into the hallway, I rolled once and was inside of the treasure room. I sprinted toward the box. I reached it and opened the lid, dumping as much of the contents into a satchel as I could. Turning around, I was surprised to see that the doorway remained open. My expectation had been that as soon as the two guards hit the ground, men would be running toward our location.
I tied the satchel to my belt and retrieved my hook and rope. Before I could lose my nerve, my feet were already moving towards the door. The hallway blurred by as I made my leap to the window’s ledge. My stomach hit the edge of the sill and I was pulling myself forward when I felt a hand clamp down on my ankle. Kicking out with my other leg I felt and heard the satisfying crunch that resulted from the blow. I tried to kick out gain but more hands had wrapped around my legs and they were pulling me back into the keep. Panic flared deep in my chest. Not like this my story couldn’t end like this. A final surge forward proved useless. Like a boat caught in the tide, I was relentlessly pulled back into the keep. From my knees I looked up into the bleeding face of the man I had kicked, and a club came down. I felt the sharp sting and heard the loud crack as it bounced off my skull. Then there was only sweet nothingness.
Chapter Five
Jackson, Present
The sound of whispering voices stirred me from my slumber. Well, if you could call passing out from blood loss and exhaustion slumber. They were not only close but had somehow entered the same room with me without waking me up. My heart started to jump in my chest. I felt a sheen of sweat coat my forehead. This wasn’t what I needed now, while I was still recovering from my battle with the Butcher. I heard them moving around the room, drawing closer with each step. Lying as still as possible, I opened my eyes. My vision swam for a second and then corrected itself. If this was the demons, I might be in some serious trouble.
A noise sounded behind me, and then I was jolted into action as someone kicked my foot. They had surrounded the desk I was under without me knowing. How was that even possible? A growl escaped my lips as I sprang into action. I was madder that my wolf hadn’t heard the other person circling me, but maybe he was just as exhausted as I was.
The desk toppled over as I rose up underneath it. If they had expected me to scurry out from under it, they were surprised as fuck now. Now I just had to capitalize on it. The two people in front of me darted back toward the far wall and cowered against it. I heard someone grunt as the desk smashed into them, and I felt two more people moving closer from behind me.
The cowering people in front of me let me know that I wasn’t dealing with demons. They didn’t cower unless it was an act. These people were scared shitless. I was slightly surprised to see so many people together out in the open. Just who were they, and what the fuck were they doing here?
I spun around, and the two who had been inching closer from behind me froze. The man the desk had hit groaned again, and a man moved forward to lift it off of him. A closer look at the people around me revealed their clothes had
seen better days, and the two who had frozen in place had scars on their arms from fighting. How could they not? If you wanted to live and were surrounded by demons, you had to fight. Demons didn’t care about humans at all.
At least the two who had frozen in place had weapons, but I doubted they had been trained how to use them, at least not on the same level that I had been. I caught the motion from behind me out of the corner of my eye. Instinct kicked in, and my hand found my blade, pulling it even as I turned. The slight golden glow lit the dark room. Sparks showered off our blades as they connected. I waited to see if the man would strike again, but he never did. These people moved almost silently. It was a neat trick.
A woman huddling with the group by the wall started to whisper. She turned toward me and asked, “Are you the redeemer?”
“I guess that depends on who you ask.” I felt a grin spreading across my lips. I was damn sure the demons didn’t think I was the redeemer. If it really came down to giving myself a title, I kind of liked the destroyer of demons and the redeemer of humanity. It had a ring to it that I considered timeless. Maybe not as cool as the Mother of Dragons, but hey, we all had to work with what we were given, and I wasn’t given any dragons.
“So you are here to save us?”
I motioned for the man with the blade to move over with the others. He hadn’t tried to attack me again, but leaving him there made me feel twitchy. “Actually, I’m not sure how or why I’m here.” I slid my sword back in its sheath. “But if there is a prince here, I need to find him. It’s my only chance of getting home.”
“No one wants to find Phenex.” She gave me a look as if I was the craziest man alive. “No one who wants to live, anyway.” The people around her murmured in agreement, all of them clearly wondering if I had lost it.
“I don’t really have another choice. I need to get home. There are people there who are counting on me to come back. People I miss.”
The group started to stand, realizing that I wasn’t going to attack them. The woman seemed to be their default spokesperson since she was the first one who had spoken. “You should come with us. We won’t go anywhere near Phenex, but we can spare a little food and water and get you pointed in the right direction.”
One of the men let out a grunt of disgust and turned and walked out of the room. When he noticed no one had followed him, he leaned against the doorframe and waited. The speaker might have overstated things a bit. I could tell from some of the looks she received that they didn’t have much. So the fact that they were offering me any of their supplies made me a burden to them. I didn’t want that, but I was hungry and thirsty. I must have looked awful as well, covered in blood, both demon and my own. What I could have really done with was some new clothes, but judging by the look of the clothes they had on, that probably wasn’t an option. I’d take what they offered and be damned thankful for it, and then I would head off to find Phenex. If anything got in my way, I’d strike it down. That was the least I could do for them.
The man who lashed out at me gave me one final look and then started out of the office. This time, everyone filed out of the room after him except for the woman I had been speaking to. She waited for me and fell in stride with me as we started to walk down the hallway.
“We’ve heard rumors that Adramelech was dead, and that the demons in his kingdom were mostly destroyed. The demon’s here speak in hushed tones about the humans in that realm singing songs about the redeemer. I thought maybe it was you.”
I had to pause for a moment and think about it. I knew that I had done what she said, but it had been out of pure unadulterated rage. I hadn’t been trying to save those people as much as I had been releasing my feelings of helplessness. Was I really a redeemer? Did I inspire change? How long would it be before another demon swooped in and those people were enslaved again? You weren’t much of a hero if you killed a few demons and then left the rest of the townsfolk to die.
I wasn’t sure of exactly what to say. “I was there.” It just came out, like verbal ebola.
“I knew it!” she exclaimed.
“Keep it down, Cass,” the burly man leading the group hissed.
“I just knew it,” she whispered again.
There was no way for me to tell her what she wanted to hear or to help them with their cause. That had been one night of rage. It had boiled over, and now it was gone. All I wanted to do was get home to find myself back in the arms of the woman I loved. I was tired of hell, tired of the fighting. Simply put, I had had enough.
“Was it you who killed the Butcher?”
Damn, word in hell seemed to spread like wildfire. Granted, I had no idea how long I had been unconscious, but I doubt it was more than a few hours. “If you mean the ugly guy with the giant cleaver, then yes, I killed him.” I started to rub my shoulder. The wound had closed, but the damn thing still hurt. It would take some food and a proper night’s sleep before it was good as new.
Still, killing the Butcher didn’t make me feel like a hero. It was what any one of my friends would have done. Once I saw that woman and heard her scream, there was no way I could just leave her to her fate. He would have cut her in half and fed her to those things. Fucking demons. I hated all of them. Every time I thought maybe, just maybe, they could be different, I saw just how deplorable they really were. Maybe I should stay and be the redeemer, but that would never get me back home. The last thing I wanted was to be trapped here forever.
The giant of a man in front led the group through a hole in the wall and down several six-foot drops until we were in a tunnel of some sort. He grabbed a torch from the wall and continued on. After the third time I smashed my toes into a piece of debris, I created a light. Everyone around me came to a stop when the light flared to life. They started to whisper amongst themselves until the man grunted and started walking again.
Cass put a hand on my shoulder and whispered into my ear. “Erik is probably jealous. Before you came, he was one of only a handful of people who had actually killed a demon.”
“Should I put the light out?” The last thing I wanted was to start making waves inside of their group. When I was gone, they were all going to have to work together again. They couldn’t do that if I divided them now.
“I wouldn’t. We are going to want as many people to see it as possible.”
I tossed the little ball of muted blue light into the air. It hovered just in front of me and over our heads. “Why is that?”
“It will be good for people to see what you do. You want them on your side for when the elder decides what to do. She will control your fate within our group.”
“My fate?” No one decided my fate for me. I had already done that. Walking through life as a pawn in other people’s games wasn’t for me. No one would take control of my life ever again. If these humans thought they could, they were just as bad as the demons, but not anywhere near as strong. It wouldn’t work out well for them if they tried to stop me.
Cass put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “It’s just our way. Everyone who joins us has to meet the elder and be deemed worthy to join our cause.”
Join their cause? I thought I’d been pretty clear so far, but maybe I hadn’t been. I grabbed Cass’s arm and turned her so she was facing me. She smiled up at me, and I could see the hope in her eyes. How could I crush that without at least listening to this elder talk? I wasn’t here for them, but maybe there was a way I could help them before I left.
“I’m not making any promises, but I’ll listen to what your elder has to say.” I paused, and my stomach rumbled. “As long as there is food.” I needed to eat. It would help to replenish my energy. Without being rested and full, there was no way I would stand a chance battling another prince of hell.
We continued to move through the tunnels under the city. I wondered what these were used for, maybe to divert water from the heavy summer rains. In Tucson, we had these huge dry river beds that ran through the city. We called them washes. They were bone dry ninety-eight perc
ent of the year, but every now and then, we got a huge storm, and the water would surge through them at ten or fifteen feet high and, in some cases, sixty feet across. It was amazing to see the power of nature unleashed in such a way. Thinking of it now made me happy that it hadn’t been raining when we started this trip.
The tunnel we were in started to get wider and then opened into a huge intersection of four tunnels. In the center of the room, crude housing had been built. It towered toward the ceiling nearly sixty feet above us. I looked over the haphazard structure, wondering how it hadn’t already toppled to the ground. Cass grabbed my arm again and dragged me toward the opening in the side.
Orange light was spilling out of the roughly cut tin doorway. When we made it inside, the light seemed brighter than it should have, after the walk through the tunnels. It took my eyes a moment to adjust. Blinking a few times, I looked around the room. There were children running and playing. Actual free children, here in hell. My gut clenched; I already knew I’d never be able to abandon these people. As much as I wanted to get home, I could never leave them to their fate.
All of the kids’ eyes were focused on my glowing orb of light. Realizing that I didn’t need it anymore, I sent it spinning around the room and up into the air where it flashed out of existence, and a rainbow of blue sparks fell slowly to the ground. All of the sparks winked out of existence before they could reach the outstretched hands of the kids below. They started to shout in their excitement, and then quieted immediately as an older woman spoke from across the room.
“That was a fair bit of magic, young one. Hopefully you can do more than create a shower of pretty lights.”
Redemption (Ascendancy Legacy 6) Page 4
