But Roque had even more to fight for now.He had Dimri to come home to, and he would.He wouldn’t accept any other outcome.Ramiel might be convinced that he would win this fight, but he was wrong.Love didn’t make people weaker.Caring about people made everyone stronger, and they would show Ramiel that.
Chapter Twelve
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THE TUNNELS SMELLEDlike mold and decay, and it wasn’t Dimri’s idea of a good time.
He pressed his back against the slimy stone wall as he allowed his eyes to adjust to the near-complete darkness and listened for movement ahead.Behind him was the team he’d put together—eight skilled demons who understood that their lives and the lives of the people they cared about depended on the outcome of this fight.
“Anything?”one of them whispered.
Dimri held up a hand for silence, not bothering to turn and see who’d spoken.He breathed in and out slowly, listening to the deep darkness ahead.The soft splash of footsteps in shallow water came from the tunnel to their left.It was too heavy to be an animal.It had to be Ramiel’s people.
Dimri turned to his team.“On the left, five, maybe six of them,” he whispered, sure the attackers wouldn’t hear him.They didn’t expect anyone to be here, and the closer they got, the noisier they were.They weren’t even trying to conceal their presence in the tunnels.“Vex and Thorne, circle around through the right tunnel.The rest of us will face them head-on.”
Vex nodded and slipped away with Thorne, disappearing into the darkness that Dimri had mapped in his head years ago.The side tunnel would take them behind the enemies they were about to face, as long as they could make it there without making noise.
Dimri waited.Every sound coming from the palace made his chest tighten with worry.Was Roque safe?Was Berith?
He gave Vex and Thorne enough time, then gestured ahead.He and the rest of the team moved silently, weapons drawn but held low.Dimri led them around a curve in the tunnel in the direction from which the enemy sounds were growing stronger.
The first attacker never saw them coming.
He was a bulky demon with ram’s horns standing guard while the others worked to break through a sealed tunnel that would lead them deeper into the palace.Dimri’s knife landed in the back of his neck, puncturing it so deeply that the tip appeared in the middle of the demon’s throat.Keth caught the body before it could fall and get the attention of the others.They dragged him back into the tunnel, where Dimri retrieved his knife.He hoped they’d be able to take down a few more demons before they noticed what was happening.
The attackers each had a light of some kind.They were focused on their work, using tools they’d brought along to hack away at the mortar that sealed the bricks used to seal the tunnel.
Dimri crept closer, hoping the racket they were making would cover his approach.
One of the demons held a piece of paper he kept glancing down at.When Dimri got closer, he realized it was a hand-drawn map, possibly by the spy he’d had thrown into a cell.They’d probably planned for her to guide these demons through the tunnels, but without her, they had to rely on a map that Dimri could see had several mistakes.
A chunk of mortar fell into the tunnel, raising a cloud of dust and making one of the demons sneeze.Dimri threw his knife again, nailing a second demon in the back of the neck.They were making this too easy for him.
Before the other demons could react, Dimri’s team struck from two directions at once.Keth’s claws dug into one attacker’s throat while Jorik drove his short sword between another’s ribs.A third attacker shouted, the sound echoing down the tunnels, but Senna quickly put a knife through his eye, dropping him.
She’d been just a few seconds too late.Somewhere in the darkness of the tunnel, something moved, alerted by the dead demon’s yell.
“How many more?”Thale asked.
“Too many,” Dimri told him.They’d only taken down a handful of enemies.There were plenty more to kill.
They’d have their work cut out for them.
The sound of running feet came from the tunnel.They’d heard the dying demon, and they were coming.
“They’re coming from several tunnels at once,” Vex said.
Dimri thought about their options.They could retreat and try to continue taking the enemy down one by one, but it would take a long time, and it would be dangerous.He also didn’t want to allow these demons too close to the heart of the palace.
The alternative was meeting the enemy here, in the tunnels.Luckily, Dimri knew them well enough that he was sure he could hide himself and his team while they worked.
A loud explosion rocked the ground under their feet and made dust rain down.
“What the fuck was that?”someone on his team asked.
Dimri wished he knew, but he needed to focus on the problem at hand, not what might be happening upstairs.He couldn’t allow himself to be distracted.He’d promised Roque he wouldn’t be.
“Not our problem right now,” he said.“We have work to do.”
