Through one final door, and he found himself out in chill night air.
He looked around, confused, and realized they were high up on one of the towers spaced along the wall of the Inner City. He remembered that he hadentered the lair through the Cathedral… the Seeker’s headquarters must be enormous. It might expand out underneath the entire city of Banelyn, and if this was a way out as well, then who was to say there weren’t multiple entrances and exits throughout the city? He looked over the wall and found he could see across Banelyn City proper, all the way to the Black Wall. Making his way to the side, he looked down over into the courtyard, and saw guards running back and forth, the entire city of the Most High in an uproar.
“Now what?” he asked.
“Along the wall,” Tomaz said, motioning behind him.
The Prince turned. The tower was connected to the top of the wall by a long battlement running toward the main gate and another door. There were guards stationed every few yards.
“How are we going to do that?” the Prince asked incredulously. Tomaz just smiled at him wickedly. He reached down and picked up a long piece of wood from a large pile that the Prince assumed was for making signal fires. Tomaz motioned to the girl.
“Ready?” he asked her.
“Catch me if you can,” she said with a grin, and shot off down the runway.
“What—what in the name of the Empress is she doing?”
Tomaz didn’t respond but instead took off after her. The Prince, not knowing what else to do, ran as fast as he could behind them, the metal chains of his manacles striking his sides. The first guard turned just in time to see the girl make her way past him, and he turned and ran after her, though how he thought he’d catch her wearing full armor, the Prince didn’t know. The second guard, altered to the presence of the Exile girl, turned and drew his sword, ready for her to attack, but once more she blew right past him, and he turned to follow as well, not even noticing the hulking shape of Tomaz and the smaller shape of the Prince making their way down the battlements after them.
There were a dozen guards in all, and the girl dodged each of them, as if she were in a foot race that only she knew about. She reached the door at the end of the battlement, turned back, and threw up her hands in surrender. The guards slowed, confused and wary, all watching her and standing in a clump.
Tomaz came up behind them, wielding the large piece of wood.
Two of the guards went down before they even knew what was happening, the hard wood smashing into the sides of their helmets and knocking them out. The others turned in alarm and drew their swords, only to be attacked by the girl behind them. In a matter of seconds, all twelve were down, unconscious.
The Prince was at a loss for words. It took him a moment to realize that the girl had turned to the door but couldn’t get it open. He stepped forward and shouldered her out of the way, recognizing the Mage’s Knot, one of the simple puzzle-combination locks popular with the Most High this year.
“A three-year-old could open this, you know that?” he said to the girl. He twisted the wooden pegs around in the socket so that they formed a triangle, and then pushed. The door swung open, showing another spiral stone staircase, this one leading down.
“Well, I’m so grateful we have you around to open the tricky doors,” the girl said, elbowing her way past him. She turned back before descending. “I’ll just take care of all the guards. And the rescuing. You know,” she smiled sweetly at him, “the manly things.”
She turned and disappeared down the staircase. Tomaz followed her quickly, chuckling to himself.
“Bloody Exiles,” the Prince muttered under his breath.
At the base of the tower, they emerged in the same gatehouse the Prince had made his way through on the Path of Light. This time it was free of guards, but contained instead two Searchers, and, in a ridiculous coincidence, the Lord Seeker himself.
The two trios stood staring at each other for a long moment, stunned by the others’ presence.
“Bar the doors,” the Seeker said.
“I think not,” Tomaz responded. He strode forward and grabbed the man, pulling him away from the other two. Time seemed to slow down, and the Prince felt himself swept forward. He didn’t know what he intended to do, but the rage that had festered in him in that dungeon had taken control, and he was simply acting. The girl had moved toward the other two, but he went straight for the Lord Seeker. He drew his hand back and punched the man full in the face. Tomaz released the Seeker in surprise, and the man went reeling backward, nose crushed flat, before he fell to the floor, bloody and unconscious.
There was a stunned silence from all parties, even the Exile girl, and then both Searchers simply turned and fled. Both of the Exiles turned to him with wary looks. He realized he was flushed and breathing heavily.
“He threw me in a dungeon,” he said by way of explanation.
The girl looked at Tomaz.
“Okay. We can keep him.”
An arrow shot past the Prince’s nose, and he jumped back with a very un-princely yelp. It thudded into the wooden wall behind him, and he felt a small trickle of blood well up on the bridge of his nose. The shot had been terrific—and fired through the open door to their right.
“Time to go,” the girl said. She disappeared through the door on the left, the one that led back into Banelyn City proper, and the Prince followed quickly behind, with Tomaz right behind him in turn.
They ran quickly through the shadows, sounds of alarm ringing out all around them. Members of the High Blood began emerging from their houses, some with looks of outrage on their faces, others scared and alarmed. The streetlamps, which had been dimmed for the night, were suddenly flaring intounnaturally bright light, and the Prince felt a familiar dread creep through him. His hands began to tingle, and his stride became slightly erratic.
“Bloodmages are here,” he told the Exiles as they moved through the shadows of a garden. “We need to leave. If I stay close, they’ll be able to feel me the way I can feel people, and they’ll follow me like bloodhounds.”
