Riley nodded. “Let him know that we have some plans Rendal isn’t ready for, and that we’re coming to get him.”
Thomas nodded again, turning once more to the cage.
“Mason says to be careful, my Savior. He says to remember that his life is not as important as New Perth and that if he has to die here, so be it. It’s your job to get back to New Perth and prepare the kingdom for the coming of this madman.”
“We will do both,” Riley responded.
Thomas continued, “He says that you can’t simply come and get him right now. He thinks the cage is rigged, and if you try to get him out? He doesn’t know exactly what will happen, but Rendal will somehow be alerted. He’ll know.”
Riley sighed. “Okay. Tell him we’re going to wait, although it’s not what I want to do.”
William grinned. “Also tell him I’ve got a good decoy for when we save him. We’ll throw you in that cage instead, and no one will even know.”
Thomas only looked at the Right Hand, his face not showing a hint of amusement. “I’d put you in it, but I’m certain the metal would break and you’d be sprawled in the street like a drunk.”
Riley laughed, looking back toward the cage. She focused on the sentries beneath. “I sort of want to fuck with them.”
“Probably not wise,” William responded, “but when has that stopped you before?”
“Hmmm…” Riley didn’t want to kill them, at least not right now. That would be too great a risk. “Come on,” she said.
She darted to the ladder and started down. The men looked at each other for a second, united in their confusion, and followed her down.
Riley hit the ground and whisked around to the other side of the building.
She heard William and Thomas approach but put her index finger to her lips before they could say anything. They had to be absolutely silent here, or they would end up having to kill the sentries.
Riley’s eyes turned red, and she knelt. This wasn’t something the queen had taught her, or Worth, or anyone else. She was trying something completely new here, and she didn’t know if it would work.
Riley put her palm on a cobblestone and concentrated.
Moments passed with nothing happening, but that only made Riley concentrate harder. She could do this. She had it in her; she knew it.
A light drizzle began to fall.
“Is that—”
Riley lifted a single finger at William’s question, telling him to be quiet.
The drizzle grew stronger, rain falling in earnest.
Riley stared at the ground, focusing on what she wanted.
Freeze, she commanded.
Riley watched as the water around her hand turned to ice and then spread. The ice trailed toward the square, the falling rain freezing nearly as soon as it touched the ground.
“What the…” one of the sentries shouted, seeing the frozen water coming for them.
Riley didn’t stop, not until she knew for certain the ice had reached them.
“FUCK!” one of them shouted, then Riley heard the thud of him landing on the ground. “my arm!”
“HA!” Another laughed, but that quickly turned into a scream when he fell to the cobblestones as well.
Riley didn’t need to look at them to know they were all slipping and sliding. Perhaps one of them would break a fucking bone. That’d be nice.
She turned to the men with her, grinning wildly. “Okay, let’s go see what’s happening at the house.”
“The castle is a hexagon,” Verith told the group around him.
“You know what that is, Kris?” Brighten grinned. “It’s a bit tougher than reaching into someone’s pocket and stealing, so I’m not sure you understand.”
“I understand I’ll kick you in the balls until your face turns blue if you don’t shut your mouth,” Kris responded.
Brighten kept grinning, but he didn’t say another word. No one was quite sure Kris wouldn’t do it.
Worth and Erin stood at the table with Verith and the kids. They were all looking down at a map of the castle that Brighten and Kris had drawn.
“Six sides,” Verith kept going as if they’d said nothing. “Six corners. The explosives need to be on those six corners.” He quickly dotted the map with his fingers. “These spots.”
He looked at the four of them. “You four are going to pair up. Worth with Kris, Erin with Brighten. You’ll each put explosives at two corners. I’ll handle the other two.”
“Well, that seems simple enough.” Erin smiled, radiating her usual positivity.
“Yeah, super simple,” Brighten grumbled. “Just march in with a bunch of explosives in our hands and drop them at the castle. No one should notice.”
“All them brains and not a lick of imagination,” Kris told him. She looked at Verith. “We can do it. We just need an excuse for why we’re in there carrying bags.”
“Well, Brighten and Erin don’t need excuses, which is one of the reasons I’m putting them together. You and Worth...you’re going to need something. I just don’t know what,” Verith answered.
“Worth know.”
All eyes went to the man who’d been largely missing in action for the past few days. Brighten and Kris hardly knew him.
“Well, don’t hold out on us. What are we going to do?”
Worth smiled. “Same thing mage did. We lie.”
“It’s that simple, huh?” Brighten asked.
“Yeah.” Kris shook her head. “Maybe someone should give him some more booze and let him go back to sleep. Let the adults finish talking.”
Worth looked at Kris. “She Worth partner, aye?”
“Aye,” Verith agreed. He trusted the tent man and wasn’t going to discount anything he said.
“Good.” Worth nodded. “She help with lies.”
“What the hell is he talking about?” Kris asked Verith.
“When we start?” Worth asked, ignoring Kris’s question.
“Tonight,” Verith answered. “Erin and Brighten are dropping theirs off before they hit their jobs. I’m going to drop mine off tomorrow night. You two are supposed to go tonight as well, but I suppose that depends on your plan, Worth.”
“We go tomorrow morning. Leave girl with Worth. Plan work fine.”
Verith studied the bald man for a moment, as did everyone else around the table.
“Well,” Erin finally said, “you going to tell us any more about it?”
Worth shook his head. “No. Leave girl. We be okay. You take care your piece. By end of day tomorrow, our explosives in place.”
“I don’t like the sound of this one bit,” Kris commented. “This drunk is gonna end up getting me killed.”
“Worth,” Verith said. “She’ll be recognized. The guards know her. Rendal knows her. It might be best that you leave her here and go alone.”
Worth shook his head. “No. Trust Worth. She be fine. Need her to make it work.”
Verith shrugged. “All right, kid. You’re in Worth’s care now. Best of luck.”
Kris looked at Brighten, who was grinning. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” His grin grew wider.
“Don’t worry, numbnuts, I’m not scared. Whatever this drunk throws at me, I can handle.”
Worth slapped her on the back hard, and she jumped forward.
“That good spirit!” Worth shouted. “No fear. We be fine!”
Brighten was still grinning, and Kris suddenly felt a cold brick in her stomach.
The drunk might just be crazy.
“Gooooood luck!” Brighten sang.
Chapter Nine
Brighten and Erin decided to split up since both going to each point of the castle would take longer. Even if they would be combining forces, neither of them wanted to be around any longer than they had to.
For all intents and purposes, both were done with the school and military training after tonight.
For all intents and purposes, the school and military training would be over in a day or two any
way. Neither would exist anymore.
“Which corner do you want?” Erin had asked him.
Brighten had looked at the map. He knew which corner was closest for both of them, and everyone expected him to choose that one because he was scared. Because he didn’t have the heart everyone else in this endeavor did.
Yet, he was one of only two who had gone into the bowels of the castle and come out alive.
Everyone thought he was scared because he was always talking about being scared.
He didn’t have to be now.
He had pointed to the corner farthest away. “That one.”
Erin peered at him with her eyebrows slightly raised. “You sure?”
Brighten nodded. “Positive.”
Now, sitting in class and waiting for the damned thing to be over, he didn’t feel positive. He knew how far away it was.
“What’s wrong with you?” Lionel asked. Lionel was the boy Brighten had met on day one in this damned school, and he still knew Brighten as Jenkins.
All the same, Brighten liked Lionel. He was a good kid, good with magic, and didn’t fully trust Rendal even though he was willingly learning everything the man taught.
“Just not feeling well,” Brighten answered. That wasn’t a lie. Brighten felt like he might puke right here in his chair. The night’s session was ending, and Rendal was recapping what they’d learned.
“You don’t look it, man,” Lionel told him. “You look like you might fall over if you try to stand up. What’s in the bag? You’ve never brought one before.”
Brighten had been dreading that question since he walked into the building.
“I’m heading over to a friend’s when I get done here, so it’s just clothes and stuff.” A ludicrous statement for anyone who knew Brighten, but it seemed to work.
Lionel only nodded. “I’m ready to go home. My parents are pissed that he’s holding class this late every night, but... Well, nobody’s going to say shit about it, ya know?”
Brighten nodded. He was ready to be out of here too, but then again, he didn’t want to leave. He wished he could find some way to simply disappear so fast that a vacuum formed where he should have been sitting.
Alas, class ended.
“Until tomorrow, chap,” Lionel said, the same send-off he offered every night.
“Unless Rendal the Great decides to send us to war,” Brighten added sarcastically.
Brighten left the class. He saw that Erin’s training was ending as well, people flowing out of the grounds. He caught sight of her easily enough but made no motion to go to her. This was on him.
I’m an idiot, he thought. I should have taken the closer one.
Too late for that, though.
Brighten slunk away from the crowd, his bag on his back. It’d be different if these were clothes, or books, or anything else. Instead, he had explosives in it, explosives he didn’t understand at-fucking-all, and he had to sneak around the castle again despite the raised awareness, unload the explosives in a way that wouldn’t be discovered, hide them, and get out without being noticed.
No problem, he thought sarcastically. Just a walk in the park.
Enough thinking, he chastised himself.
He got moving. The grounds were dark, and he was getting better at Psychic Magic. He let his mind flow in front of him, searching for possible sentries. He immediately saw twenty of them.
More than normal.
Fuck, he complained inside his head.
The entire kingdom was growing more alert, but right now he couldn’t do shit about it.
He moved along the walkways, his mind always out in front of him. When guards came his way, he ducked into the darkness, shrouding himself with shadows and his mind the best he could.
Long minutes passed as he slowly made his way around the castle. He wondered if Erin was doing the same or if she was already finished.
Finally, he was within sight of the corner he needed.
And damn it if there wasn’t a group of sentries standing there.
“What the hell?” he whispered to himself from his place of concealment.
There was no reason for them to be standing there. He’d felt them earlier but had hoped they would dispatch.
Of course, they hadn’t. That was Brighten’s luck. If Kris had been here, those guards would have left long ago, but not before rolling out a red carpet for her to walk across and kindly leaving a little picnic for her to eat after she was finished depositing her explosives.
Not Brighten, though.
No, everything had to be fucking tough.
You’re tougher.
It was Erin’s voice. Not her actual voice, but his memory of it.
You’re tougher than those dumbass guards. Don’t forget it. We need you. Now be tough and do your job.
Brighten nodded to himself.
He couldn’t very well walk up there and ask them to kindly depart; he doubted that would go very well.
He sat, placing his bag in between his legs, and waited.
Minutes stretched into an hour.
The sonsofbitches didn’t move. From what Brighten could tell, these were the laziest bastards in the whole kingdom, just sitting around shooting the shit the entire night.
Brighten kept waiting.
Another hour at least.
If this kept on this way, the sun would be up before too long.
“I’ve gotta do somethin’,” he said aloud.
But what?
He only had one choice. Use magic.
Brighten stood, his hands shaking, but he focused.
You’re tougher than these asshats, he heard Erin telling him again. Always remember, you’re the toughest prick in this whole castle.
Brighten stepped out of the darkness. The guards still didn’t see him, but they would soon enough.
He went forward, the bag on his back.
“What the hell ya doin’, kid?” the tallest sentry asked as Brighten walked up to them.
There were four.
“I’m wonderin’ the same thing about you all. Rendal sent me down here to check and see who was doin’ what, and I’ve been watching you for hours. You ain’t doin’ shit but standing here holdin’ each other’s dicks.” Brighten’s eyes turned red as he spoke.
He ventured into their minds, trying to reinforce his words with an authority he didn’t feel.
“Rendal?” one of the guards asked, sounding unsure.
“Yeah, Rendal,” Brighten responded, his words filling the air and their heads. “And now I gotta go back and tell him you morons been hiding here doin’ nothin’ all night.”
“What’s that bag?” a guard asked. Brighten’s magic clearly wasn’t working as well on him.
“That bag’s none of your damn concern,” Brighten shot back. “Your only concern is how much trouble I’m about to get you in. You all need to get back to your posts right now.”
He saw doubt in all their eyes. He was clouding their vision of his eyes so that they couldn’t see the redness in them. They didn’t want to believe this pre-teen kid, but he seemed so convincing.
“Go on, now. Get!” he shouted at them.
They all looked at the ground, ashamed and embarrassed.
“Don’t... We was just taking a break, is all. Don’t get us in trouble, please,” one of the men pleaded.
“I’ll think about it,” Brighten answered.
He watched as they started walking away, heading down the cobblestone pathway.
That was easy as hell, he thought.
His eyes were still red; he wasn’t about to let the magic stop working.
One of the men stopped, and Brighten’s stomach rose all the way to his throat. He couldn’t say a damn word.
The man turned around, the one who had questioned the bag moments before.
He didn’t look up as he spoke, as if he wanted to avoid Brighten’s own eyes. “What’s in that bag, kid?”
His voice was arctic ice.
“I-I-I
just told you all to get!” Brighten tried to shout, but his voice cracked on the last word.
The spell was breaking, his hold over their minds slipping, and he felt it.
The rest turned around too.
“That damn mage ain’t send you nowhere, did he?” the tall one asked. “Who the hell are you, and what’s in that damned bag?”
“Oh, fuck,” Brighten whispered. The red in his eyes faded.
He only had one option: run!
Yet his feet didn’t move.
You’re tougher than them. It was Erin’s voice again, bright in his mind.
The four started walking toward him, one pulling out a black club.
“I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doin’ down here, but I know for a fact it ain’t no good. We’ll find out what’s what, though, real fast-like.” The tall guard took the lead.
Brighten didn’t move. “Go ahead and a lay a fu-fucking hand on me. Rendal will have all your asses in that cage next to the spy!”
He knew he sounded like a child, but he didn’t move.
Even when the four reached him, their clubs out and ready to break his bones, Brighten stood firm. “I’m telling you ruh-right now to get the hell outta here!”
One of the guards laughed. “If I knew I got to beat up snot-nosed brats by hiding out, I’d do it every damned night.”
He raised his club.
The shadow moved then. Brighten hadn’t seen it before despite his well-above-average senses.
It moved with a speed he had not thought possible. Not even Erin in the tunnel compared to this.
The man raising his club was suddenly knocked off his feet, his mouth open to scream but no words escaping.
The other three turned away from Brighten, focusing on the shadow they could hardly see. It moved almost through them as if it had no form—no substance.
One.
Two.
Three.
They all dropped to the ground, either dead or unconscious.
The shadow turned toward Brighten. His mouth was open in a silent scream, sure that his own death was seconds away.
The shadow stepped forward, the moonlight striking its face.
Riley smiled at him. “Heya. How ya doing?”
“What...the...fuck?” Brighten asked.
“In a minute. Let’s get these explosives in place.”
Hand of Justice Boxed Set Page 52
