“>”
Tyr laid a hand on his arm. “>”
“>” Kayluth nodded. “>” He straightened as Hazer approached.
“Follow and make no sound. I’m right behind you. We need to get to my ship quickly if I am to prove myself before your mates arrive.” Hazer put his hands on their backs and pushed them forward.
Brandt
“They’re moving again,” Sekvyn said quietly with one hand covering his ear, the tiny communication device tucked inside. After they’d taken it off the traitorous guard, Sekvyn took control of it and was listening in on their conversations.
Brandt might have laughed aloud at the idiocy of Tore’s men if they weren’t trying to keep as quiet as possible. Did they not know their man at the castle had been captured or think that the device would be found and confiscated? To think he probably trained right along with some of them. Fools, the lot of them.
Seraphina popped into their circle of light, startling a gasp out of Brandt. Her soft footfalls had made her the perfect candidate to scout ahead. Alongside her dark clothing, her silent steps made her nearly invisible until she was practically on top of you.
“Can you not do that?” he admonished her. Seraphina snorted and rolled her cat-like eyes. “Right. Sorry. So, did you find the ladder?”
“Ssu,” she hissed playfully, sliding her arm around Orm’s waist when he sidled up beside her. He hip-bumped her and she straightened to report. “It’s not much farther. Perhaps a quarter arn. I must warn you though, there is a gruesome sight just ahead, but the remains are not fresh. Stay to the left and you’ll avoid the mess.”
Though his heartbeat had begun to slow after Seraphina’s arrival, the warning kicked it right back up a notch. When the “gruesome sight” fell within the confines of his light source, bile rose in Brandt’s throat. Quickly, he covered his mouth and nose, appalled at the yellow-streaked walls, the smears and splatters of blood, the grotesque pile of limbs pushed against the sidewall.
“What is that?” Brandt asked, the question muffled by his palm.
“Spider, I think,” Sekvyn said, wrinkling his nose. “Makes sense.”
“That big?”
The lieutenant shrugged. “The strongest survive, hm?”
Brandt shivered. “I guess.”
“Fasster, Vidar,” Orm whisper-shouted from a distance in front of them. There was enough distance between them that Brandt couldn’t see him at all. “We musst not let them get too far ahead.”
They hustled to catch up. With the end of this wretched tunnel nearing, they moved faster. Plus, they were closing in, and if they didn’t get out soon, they might lose the traitors in the city.
“Wait!” Sekvyn spat, again covering the ear with the device. “We have the sky docks monitored?”
Orm hissed. “I think sso. Sseraphina, ssend the messsage.”
“I can’t get a signal here, remember. I’ll go ahead to the ladder, where I’ll be closer to the surface.” She was gone before Orm could officially order her. Brandt thought her mate’s growl and frustrated mumbling was cute.
Trailing off, Orm focused on Sekvyn. “They have a sship?”
Sekyn hummed, still concentrating on listening. “Hazer, remember, though I suppose it could easily be a different one.” He motioned for them to keep walking. Brandt stayed beside him, keeping him moving forward at a steady pace while his focus was elsewhere.
“I’m hoping they’ll say which dock or the name of the ship, but no luck so far,” Sekvyn said, looking up to follow the length of the ladder. “I’ll be happy to be out of this hole. That part of training almost convinced me to quit.”
Brandt grunted his agreement. “The Box” had been awful, but it had allowed him to sympathize with Manning. Manning had been lucky that he never had to experience it himself, but not so lucky that he’d had too in a roundabout way when Tore had kidnapped him less than a sun-cycle ago. Brandt closed his eyes as he sent a swift prayer to Odin for not only Kayluth’s and Tyr's safe return, but also for the kidnapping to stop.
They couldn’t continue to live in fear. Brandt swore he’d kill Tore with his own two hands if anything happened to his mate.
“Ussan, Ardess, you go firsst,” Orm ordered. “Clear whatever or whomever you find.”
Ardes, the bulkier of the two Drakken, gripped the ladder and swiftly ascended, Usan on his tail. There was a thump followed by shouting, noises like scuffling, and then Usan called down, “Clear.”
“Sseraphina, Onnar, you two, then Akron. I will bring up the rear.”
