“No, but at least we can sneak into the castle. I say we split into two teams. Team one will free the fae horses in the barn, causing a distraction. Then they light the barn on fire and try to lead the horses out of the gate in the chaos. If we are able to steal any of them, great. If we aren’t, then at least they will have provided a distraction while team two, with me, sneaks into the castle through the tunnels. There’s a way in from there. Once we are inside, we’ll need to find the hall that leads to the dungeons, get down there, free the seamstress, check for any other rebels and get out as fast as possible.”
“I know where the dungeons are from inside the castle,” a male sitting across from me said.
“Great. Rook, do you want to form the teams?”
“I’ll come with you and Ven,” he said, indicating the male who had spoken up. “Everyone else can work on the barn. We won’t want too many in the castle trying to sneak through it.”
“When can we leave?” I asked.
“Right now.” Rook stood and turned to the team. “This will be our first move against the king without provocation. Reports say he’s already discovered we killed his soldiers in Volos. You’ll need to use extreme caution. If you’re caught, you might consider taking your own life. It may be an easier death than what he will offer.”
I searched the determined eyes of the rebels in the meeting room. I realized what I asked of them and why Rook hesitated to do this. If we made it out, we’d won a small battle, but if we didn’t, we had sacrificed the lives of so many for a single female.
We rode at a steady pace. I hadn’t taken the time to check on Nadra. I had penned a message and left it to be delivered after we left. Hard as I tried to push her from my mind, I could feel the moment she held that letter in her hand. The connection she felt to it, even though she didn’t want to. She didn’t want me, and when I returned, I would have to deal with that. For now, I focused on the mission I had created on her behalf.
Heavily armed, we split paths and left our horses in the trees beyond the tunnels. When we left, we’d need to be able to mount them and get back to the compound swiftly. Rook, Ven and I moved easily through the tunnels without speaking. We found the collapsed passageway that I had used before and dug our way up into the tree nursery. No one had been here. The trees were not yet dying, but they would soon. The fruit had already begun to rot. Years and years of hard work and memories beside Oleonis had turned to mush.
“What a waste,” Rook said from beside me as he reached up to touch a rotten rhogula pear.
“Do you know where we are in the castle?” I asked Ven, turning away from the deserted trees.
I had a vague idea of where the dungeons were, but nothing precise enough to get us there efficiently. The king kept them tight lipped and under lock and key. We stood at the door and waited for chaos to begin outside. Within minutes, the screaming began, and we let the commotion build.
“I do. Time to go,” Ven said, taking the lead.
We followed him through the castle, keeping space between the three of us so we would not draw attention to ourselves. Twice he rounded a corner and I thought I’d lost him, but eventually we made it to a part of the castle I had never been in. Perhaps I’d subconsciously avoided it, knowing the violence that took place here.
“How did you know this was here?” I asked as we watched the dark twins standing at the door at the end of the hall.
“I make it my business to know.” He winked at me before turning the corner and running straight at the guards.
I expected a struggle. Something. But before they had time to call out, Ven had knocked them both out and waved to us. We followed as he lifted the keys from one of the winged fae’s belts. He tried several until one finally clicked and the door opened to a dark and narrow set of stairs. We moved silently, pulling the fallen guards onto the landing and shutting the door behind us. Lit sconces showed us the path as we went down and down until the air was heavy and humid. The stone walls seeped with stale water, and the floor was slick with new blood, barely concealing the old. Two more guards stood rigid at the bottom of the stairs.
Ven took one as I took the other. I searched for more keys on their fallen bodies, but there were none.
“Over here,” Rook called, his voice strained as he stood in front of a cell.
We ran to him and found a female, curled up and lying naked on the dirty floor.
“Megere?” I asked. She barely lifted her head. Rook immediately took his coat off and threw it to her between the bars. “How do they open the doors?” I asked, looking at the untouched tray of bread and water in the corner.
I heard a moan from the next cell down. Ven moved to check the rest of the room.
“I don’t know,” Megere answered. “They’ve taken my clothes to prevent me from freeing myself.” She sat upright and wrapped Rook’s jacket around her, holding the fabric close and taking a deep breath.
“Rook?” she asked, moving to her feet. “Is that you?”
“It is.” His voice cracked.
“Guys, you might want to see this,” Ven called through the dark prison.
I stepped away and walked down the hall. I looked into the only other cell occupied and nearly dropped my sword. “Rhogan?” The male didn’t move. His wings had been shredded, his skin scarred. Chunks of his blond hair pulled from his scalp. “But I watched the king ... your heart.”
I realized then that the king had been testing me. He had wanted me to react, and I had not. Instead of the death he’d promised, he locked Rhogan in his gods-forsaken dungeon, and Eadas or one of his sentries, had been torturing him for information. From the looks of him, they hadn’t gotten what they had wanted.
“How do we get them out?” I asked.
“I’m open to suggestions,” Ven answered.
