Tell her thanks for me, allowed me to get a decent sleep. Still… it looks like I’m in for another round of roughing up before… nope… huh…
What?
They’re letting me out of the cell… I’m… they’re taking me to the arena.
Fuck! It’ll be harder to get to you there.
Yeah, sounds like they suspect someone got in and healed me and are taking me to a more secure location.
Once you’re there, reach out, let me know where you are, we’re coming for you.
I will,she said, but behind her strong facade there was fear in her voice.I’m working on freeing myself from this collar, but I don’t know if I’ll get it off in time.
Huh… she could do that? I didn’t think it was possible to break a binding collar while wearing it. But if anyone could…
We’re coming,I repeated. I didn’t know what else to say. Then I relayed what Izzy had said to those with me.
Koar swore.
Olinara let out a long, frustrated huff.
“Our plan doesn’t change,” Lhorine said. “Let’s get Bayn’s sister and get out. Then we can help Izzy… somehow.”
She was right. Though the uncertainty behind that “somehow” bothered us all as we crept farther into this secure facility.
So much of our plan had already gone wrong. We were well past “the other shoe” dropping. It was raining shoes, and I just hoped we could make it out of this storm before we were trampled.
KOARTHANDRIS
I was beside myself,itching to be gone from this place. I was too far from Izzy. I hadn’t been able to protect her last night, when Saldrea had nearly killed her, and I wasn’t there now. I needed to do my duty to the crown, to Izzy, but I couldn’t because of that damned titan’s stubbornness.
I could understand why he’d want his family freed, but didn’t he see the imminent danger Izzy faced? What a callous bastard.
And now Izzy was being moved to the arena, where it would be even harder to get to her. I certainly hoped that damned titan had a way in, otherwise this was all for naught. If we couldn’t reach Izzy in time, couldn’t break the binding on her collar, then Saldrea would kill her in the arena.
Everything balanced on a razor’s edge. We needed to do what we came here to do and get back as quickly as possible. Our plan was to tell the men guarding Wensuria that we were their replacements, but it seemed we were too late.
“We just started our shift here,” the one guard said. “You must be mistaken.”
The guards were dwarves, not elves, but I had a feeling they’d still be a challenge to fight. You didn’t make it into the queen’s secret dungeons if you were a slouch. We’d have to deal with them quickly since there were other guards not far away, just around a corner, down the next hall. We’d seen them when we passed. Lhorine had a spell to engulf an area in silence, but she’d need a moment to cast it.
“Ah, sorry, my mistake,” Olinara said… and Lhorine began casting.
I charged in, followed by Rook.
“What the hell?” one of the guards managed to get out before we were plunged into silence.
The basic attack strategy we’d worked out during the night was for Rook to arouse them as a distraction. Then I’d keep the guards occupied while Olinara cast spells.
That all went as planned. The two dwarves cringed awkwardly as lust filled them. Even two on one, I’d taken one down by the time Olinara’s spell went off and ice cut through the other one.
The problem was the guards from the other hall, who must have heard the one guard’s startled words, before the silence, and came to investigate.
Lhorine couldn’t get another silence spell off fast enough, and one of the guards gave a loud shout, alerting all the other guards on this level. We’d counted ten on our way to this cell, but from what we’d gleaned from the guards captured last night, any given floor could have as many as two dozen men guarding it.
I cursed, but no sound came out, we were still silenced. I pointed at the door to Wensuria’s cell, hoping the others got my point to get her out. I’d take care of the guards.
I marched toward the two dwarves and brought forth my destruction. Dwarves were usually resistant to fire, many ofthem having spent time in Urval, so neither my burst of flame power, nor my fire breath would do much. So, I used raw destruction. It was the same power I’d used to destroy Izzy’s room.
