“How can you be sure?” Brighten asked. “I mean, just look at that. Even with us in place, what can she possibly do?”
Erin backed away from the wall, refusing to be frightened anymore.
“I’m sure because I know Riley. I saw her fight my son in a battle she shouldn’t have won; she did it without hesitation. That group out there and the people in here aren’t scaring her any, and you all better remember it. She’s going to need us when the time comes. Get away from that wall. We all have to talk.”
The other three stepped away, turning to look at Erin.
“We’ve got to get a message to Riley, or if not Riley, then William. It’ll probably be easier to get to William, based on where they’re located. We don’t want to wait too long, because we might miss our chance if we try to give it to Worth or Alexandra.”
“What are you talking about?” Brighten asked. “Give them a message? How? You want me to get one of those horns the Prefect used and shout it as they walk in?”
Erin grinned. “Well, that idea might not work, but I like where your head is at. I was thinking we should use you.”
“No, no, no. That’s not what I meant. I was just sayin’ we can’t actually give them a message, Erin!”
She was smiling now. “Well, if anyone is going to do it, shouldn’t it be you?”
“Me? Why me? It’s always me!”
“Not true,” Kris chimed in. “I’m always involved, too. I just don’t bitch and moan as much as you.” She had that look of excitement on her face.
“It’s fine, Brighten. By the looks of it, we have an hour or so to get you prepared.”
“An hour?!” Brighten was nearly shouting. “That’s not enough time for anything!”
“Oh, it’s plenty. Don’t you think so, Lucie?” Erin was smirking now.
“Aye, that should be plenty of time.”
“Kris?” Erin asked.
“I’m ready. Just need No Nuts here to be.”
Brighten sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know why I even protest anymore. You guys don’t care.”
“Not one bit,” Erin agreed cheerfully. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m here to make you uncomfortable, and I know Kris feels the same.”
“Sure do. It’s the main purpose of my life so far as I can tell.”
They were both nearly laughing now. Erin believed they needed it, given what they’d just seen outside these walls.
“We love you, Brighten. You know that,” she said. “Now, come on. There’s not much time. Let’s get to work.”
“You people get these crazy fucking ideas, and then it’s up to me to figure out how to make them work.”
“Hush, No Nuts,” Kris whispered harshly. “No time for gloating now. That’ll come if we make it out of this alive.”
And that, Brighten knew, was a big if.
Getting a message to William was an absolutely, positively, dumb idea. Only the criminally insane would think up something so ridiculous; they couldn’t possibly care if they lived or died.
And yet, here I am, involved with it, Brighten thought.
They’d done some pretty daring stunts in Sidnie, but Brighten thought this one might take the cake.
“You ready?” Kris whispered.
“No,” Brighten answered.
“Doesn’t matter. We gotta go now if this is going to work.”
She took off, and Brighten followed. He knew she was right. Their timing had to be perfect for this. If they were two seconds on either side of the window, they’d miss their opportunity.
If anything could be considered good luck right now, it was that absolutely no one was looking for them. The entire kingdom cared only about the army that was just about to enter the kingdom. That meant there were openings.
The top of the wall had a walkway where archers could attack and generals could assess the situation outside the kingdom. Doors were located at the base of the walls to get up there, usually locked, except during shift changes.
There hadn’t been a shift change, though, and the doors were still locked.
Kris bashed the padlock with a damned hammer until the thing fell off.
“There we go,” she said with a smile. “Come on.”
She led the way, and Brighten followed her. They ran up a dark stairway, each knowing their role. In this tight of a space, it was all up to Brighten; he’d have to use his psychic magic to get them through. Once they got to the top, Kris’s speed could help them.
They reached the top of the stairs.
Kris turned around and looked at him. “You out of breath already? You’re turning soft on me, arncha?”
“Hush up,” Brighten responded. She was right, though. The past few days of waiting hadn’t been great for his lungs. “Go on.”
Kris opened the door and light flooded in. She stuck her head up and swiveled around.
“We’re good.”
She hopped onto the walkway, and Brighten followed suit.
“There.” She gestured to her left. The walkway bent in a slight curve, but it was clear where the kingdom’s gates resided. Brighten saw a few archers; he counted about ten, but they were spread out evenly across the walkway.
Thank the Mother and Father, he thought.
“Not much time,” she whispered, and ran.
Brighten followed, his feet pounding on the brick beneath him.
“Hey!” the first archer shouted as Kris reached him.
Brighten was a little late on the proverbial draw, but his eyes turned red quickly.
“Who are you yelling at, soldier?” he asked, slowing down. He knew what the archer saw: a tall man wearing the kingdom’s military garb.
“I…uhhh…that girl!” The archer turned around quickly, suddenly very confused but wanting to straighten everything out for the superior now walking up to him.
“There’s no girl, you idiot.” Brighten was disguising his voice and fear, making himself sound like an enraged general who could spit blood at any moment. “Get down to your barracks. You don’t even belong up here to watch the military return.”
“Suh-sir?”
“I said get down!” Brighten shouted.
The archer looked at his feet and hustled off, moving quickly to the stairwell Brighten had just exited.
His eyes went back to normal. Kris stood about twenty feet away, waiting for him.
“Took ya long enough, dummy. Come on, we’re not going to make it.”
The two raced forward again and Brighten chanced a look over the wall. She was right. This was going to be tight. There was a guard just ahead, although it was the last one. Brighten would have to deal with him before they could try to pass the message along.
His eyes turned red.
He wasn’t going to bother with disguises. He simply sent a message, a strong one, hoping that it would lodge in the unsuspecting man’s brain.
I have somewhere to be right now. I need to walk the opposite way and get to that place.
Brighten had stopped running to send the message, but Kris hadn’t. She was still sprinting forward.
If the message didn’t stick, she would be caught in about five seconds.
The guard turned, heeding Brighten’s message, but then Brighten realized his fault.
They still had to pass the man. Even if he turned that way, he’d see Kris blazing right by him.
Kris was upon him and wasted no time. She jumped into the air, her hands and feet nearly too fast to see. She brought her right fist—which held the message for William—down on the back of the man’s head. He collapsed in a heap, and she kept going.
Brighten started running again, his legs pumping furiously.
He reached Kris as she leaned over the wall.
Brighten watched the small rock fall, having no idea if any of this madness was going to work.
William knew he looked like some kind of savage, and he was wondering what the people of his kingdom would think when they laid eyes on him. Belarus’ blood w
as all over his shirt. His hands were crusted with it, and he thought some might be on his neck.
He’d never thought he’d be brought into New Perth like this, as a prisoner.
William wasn’t feeling down, though. He wasn’t doubting himself or Riley. Maybe he was a hero, and maybe he wasn’t, but he still had his duty to attend to—and that duty involved first freeing himself and then the rest of this kingdom.
They weren’t in great shape, no, but they couldn’t be counted out. Not with him and Riley still alive and kicking.
Trumpets were playing inside the walls, celebrating Harold’s triumphant arrival. The hero they welcomed wasn’t William, at least not officially. He knew his people, though. They expected him to release them from this bondage.
Riley was riding about ten camels in front of William. He’d been shoved back some as others tried to jostle their way to the front, probably hoping Rendal would see them. Laughable. Scum, the lot of them. They’d get what was coming to them, and hopefully sooner rather than later.
William busied himself worrying about how he would escape, how he would find Goland, and what he and Riley could do then. He wasn’t paying attention to much of the world around him. It wasn’t important at the moment. The people inside the massive gates. The trumpets. The welcoming party. All of that was pomp and circumstance. What mattered was what would come after.
William’s camel passed through the gate and he stared straight ahead, not looking at anyone. He heard people shouting his name, shouting “Right Hand!” but he paid them no mind. He couldn’t. He had to focus—
“Fuck!” He barely managed to keep his voice from getting loud as his eyes flashed to his left. Pain sliced his face, and he saw something falling.
The hell is that? he thought. He quickly glanced up and saw two small heads on the walkway above drop behind the wall. Damned it if that wasn’t Brighten and Kris.
William reached up and touched his face. The blood was fresh. The little bastards had dropped something. Coulda put my fuckin’ eye out, he thought grumpily. He knew what he had to do, though.
William dropped off the camel.
“The fuck are you doin’?!” the soldier behind him shouted.
“Why don’t you get down and find out, chump?”
William didn’t even look up. His eyes were on the rock they’d dropped. He scooped it up as his camel continued to walk without him, and grabbed a few other pebbles as well, hoping to disguise what he had actually been after.
He heard the soldier drop as well and William rose to his full height, staring at the man. “Aye, twerp, I wanted to hold a piece of my homeland that you fucks think you can steal. You want to try me, go ahead.”
“Just get back on the damn camel,” the soldier spat. William could tell he wanted no part of a fight.
William really didn’t either, not yet. The rock they’d dropped had been a small one, but it’d been made bulkier and heavier by the piece of parchment they’d wrapped around it.
A message.
William turned and found his camel, mounting the animal again.
He stuck the rocks in his pocket, waiting for a time when he’d be able to read the note.
William, Worth, Alexandra, and Eric shared the same room but not the same cell. Riley, of course, was nowhere to be seen.
They had been thrown in almost as soon as they’d arrived. William had caught a glimpse of Rendal, but he’d seen no one else. No Erin, no Lucie, only the two kids.
There were four cells in the room, each in a different corner, with only the three being currently occupied. The door to the room was in between Alexandra’s and Eric’s cells, a massive deadbolt keeping it locked. William never spent much time in the kingdom’s prisons, so this was new to him.
He said nothing when they shoved him in, only waited. The pebbles in his pockets felt like small flames, ready to burn him up if he didn’t pull them out and see what the parchment said. Still, he waited. The guards had thrown them in and then left, but William didn’t fully trust them.
An hour passed.
“Worth thirsty. You think they give wine?” The bald man grinned.
William couldn’t joke back at the moment. He couldn’t pull his mind away from the message.
“You got plan, William? Or you just sleeping over there?” Worth asked after a while.
William raised a finger to his lips. Shhhh.
He slipped his other hand into his pocket, identified the one with the parchment, and pulled it out.
Worth and Alexandra stared at him. Neither had mentioned the scratch on his face, but William took the small rock and drew a line with it down the side of his cheek to show them what happened.
Both nodded, saying nothing.
The parchment was wrapped tight around the rock and held on with a piece of string, and William took it off carefully. He unfolded the paper, glancing at the door first.
Help is ready. When Riley attacks, so will the city.
William didn’t read the message again but folded it back up. He reached into his pocket, pulled the rest of the pebbles out, and laid them on the floor of the cell. He stuck the paper back in alone.
“What’s it say?” Alexandra whispered.
“That at least some of our group is free, and they’ve been working hard.”
“I swear by all that’s holy, Brighten, I can’t trust you to do anything right.” Kris rolled her eyes.
“If it wasn’t for me, you’d be in jail right now!” Brighten shot back. “You ran so fast up on that first guard, he saw you before I could even say anything! You’re lucky I was there!”
Brighten felt himself growing hot, but Kris only grinned back at him. She looked at Lucie and Erin. “You two should have seen it. I mean, here I am running around the walkway, doing my best to get to the drop, and Brighten is lollygagging behind as usual. He tried to use some of that silly magic on one of the guards, but the damned idiot turned around and started walking the same way I was going. So, ya know what I did?”
Lucie and Erin were grinning.
“I clocked him and knocked him out.” Kris glanced at Brighten again. “I don’t even know why you came. I mean, I could have just kicked all their asses and done it by myself.”
Brighten’s face was red. He was really angry.
Erin stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. “You know she’s trying to get you to blow a gasket, right?”
“Damn right I do!” Brighten shouted. “But I did make a difference! That first guard had seen her, and the second one would have too!”
Kris laughed, standing up and crossing the bedroom. She punched him lightly on the shoulder. “I’m kiddin’ with ya, No Nuts. I know I couldn’t have done it without ya.”
Brighten leaned back in his chair, his anger dissipating at her acknowledgment.
Besides, fatigue was taking over.
They’d rushed back to Mac’s Lodge as quickly as they could, Brighten sure the entire time that they’d been spotted and would shortly be killed.
All the running and mental stress had taken a severe toll on him.
“Okay, enough with the bantering,” Lucie chimed in. “What happened?”
“I dropped the rock. It hit him. He looked up, and I think he saw us.”
“Did he get the rock?” Lucie asked.
Kris shook her head. “We don’t know. We hid as soon as he saw us.”
“You don’t know?” Lucie nearly shouted. “It’s kind of important that he got it.”
“He got it,” Erin responded, calming the older lady down. “If it hit him and he saw them, he got it. William’s big, but he ain’t dumb, despite how much you joke with him.”
Lucie nodded, knowing it was true.
“All right,” Erin continued. “So, now they know what we’re up to. It’s our job to be in position at the right time.”
“You know what that means, Brighten? In position?” Kris asked with a devilish grin on her face. “Means to be ready, unlike up there on that wa
lkway.”
Brighten’s eyes were closed, but his eyelids glowed red.
“AHH!” Kris screamed, brushing her shoulder frantically. “GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!”
Brighten opened his eyes as she danced back, still swiping at her shoulder.
His eyes faded to their normal color and a huge grin spread across his face. “You should watch how you talk to me, Kris, unless you want more spiders crawling over you.”
Erin and Lucie burst out laughing, and Brighten kept smiling.
Kris was still staring at her shoulder, understanding dawning on her.
She turned toward Brighten and flipped him off, although she couldn’t keep a small smirk from coming to her face.
“Better be careful with him, Kris. He’s a mage now,” Erin explained. “Come on, though. Let’s get to work.”
Chapter Seventeen
Riley spent long hours alone, although they had housed her in much better quarters than anyone she’d arrived with. She figured William and the rest had been thrown in a prison somewhere, and she wished she was with them.
She was starting to understand, though, that she couldn’t finish this if she was.
Riley was starting to understand a lot of things, the most important being that she had to end this. For her kingdom. For her people.
No matter what.
She’d been placed in one of the castle’s rooms that she hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t as large as Mason’s chambers had been, but it was triple the size of her former quarters. It was much more luxurious than anything she’d ever lived in, and she didn’t like it one bit.
She sat in one of the overstuffed chairs and stared out the massive window that overlooked much of the kingdom. She’d counted the floors as she was escorted to this room, so she knew she was fifteen stories up.
The kingdom looked much the same. There had been no war here. Goland and Mason clearly surrendered without a fight, and Riley had to trust that their decision had been the right one.
Actually, she knew it had been, because she finally understood her role in this.
Hand of Justice Boxed Set Page 68
