As we make our way down a second flight of stairs, a sudden breeze wafts over us, bringing with it the ungodly stench of rotting flesh. I cover my nose and mouth with my scarf to keep from gagging. Everly wrinkles her nose and uses her arm to shield her face.
We round another corner and come to a stop outside a locked door with a rusted iron keyhole. I reach for my bag and grab the keys I took from the last guard I killed.
“Hurry,” Tersah says.
I try ten different keys before one finally works. Relief washes over me as I push the door open and enter the dungeon. Only a few dull torches, scattered around, light the space, leaving many corners of the chamber in complete darkness. Rows of cells line the walls, and as we move closer to them, moans and whimpers pierce the air…and my heart.
How they pierce. How they wreck something inside me. Something that wishes that such cruelty didn’t exist.
The weight of the slave’s hopelessness presses down on me. Some cry so hard they can’t speak, while others have gone completely silent. It is that silence that breaks my heart the most. There’s death there—loss of purpose.
In the second to last cell, I find Quinn’s brother. I fumble for the keys again and try five before the door finally springs open.
Quinn’s brother stares at me, his face gaunt, his eyes vacant.
“You’re free,” I say, my voice hoarse with emotion.
He steps from his prison and rubs a hand across his face. Maybe he’s too numb to speak, to feel, or to even believe he’s free.
Everly, Tersah, and I move to every cell and unlock them, freeing these people from this life of misery.
Everyone has a right to live as they want. Not in chains. Not for the benefit of other people.
The men and women we freed follow us as we leave behind the lower levels and climb the stairs to light, to freedom, to a new beginning for them.
My heart soars with joy, with happiness, with contentment. The kind of peace I never thought would be mine. From the tender age of ten, I wanted to avenge Mother. I planned to die once I gained that vengeance. Then, there was Hector, and everything he has given to me. He’s goodness in a world that hasn’t always been kind to me.
But none of those things drive me forward. None of those things are helping and protecting.
This…right here…fulfills my purpose. No, it gives me a purpose beyond being a wife, a daughter, a friend.
This is me!
This is who I am.
It’s who I always wanted to be.
The sound of pounding footsteps and clinking armor screeches through my ears. Everly’s eyes shoot to me, and her mouth opens and closes.
No!
I throw my hands wide, and the people behind me come to a sudden halt. “Everyone stay behind me.”
I can do this for these people.
I can use my Bloodstone magic for good.
As the Kyanite guards race toward us, I call on my Bloodstone magic, drawing from those shadows that occupy a corner of my heart. They are always there. Always waiting.
“Curse all of you Kyanite guards,” I scream. “You’re all nothing more than dust.”
They slow, their movements turning sluggish and uncoordinated. One of them stumbles to the ground, his body crumbling into tiny particles of dust.
The others try to retreat, but they’re too slow. Within moments, they’re all gone—reduced to mounds of dirt and ash scattered across the stone floor.
The people cheer and clap their hands as I force myself to not stare at the body that has become nothing but bones. He was the sacrifice my spell needed.
Everly turns to me, a broad smile forming on her lips. “You did it, Sol.”
