She had been a stone’s throw from Fenrir, and there was no way she was going to desert him now, but that didn’t make what she was going to do any less terrifying.
Time slipped by painfully slowly, but finally the sun abandoned the city and Aelia stepped out into the cover of darkness. She was completely unable to appreciate the buzz of the city, awake and vibrant around her. She jumped out of her skin at any sudden noise, and it was with some relief that she left the busier higher streets and descended to the warehouses nearer the docks.
When she was several buildings away from where they were keeping Fenrir, Aelia found the rundown warehouse she’dscouted the night before, ducking into a backstreet behind it. Several of the windows were smashed, the wooden frames rotting in the strong sea air. She stepped back as far as the narrow street would allow, checking to make sure she was alone before hurling herself forwards. Using all the momentum she could muster, she launched herself towards the window, her fingers reaching to grip onto the filthy ledge. Curling her lips back to bare her teeth, she hauled herself up until she was perched on the windowsill, crouching low as she checked once more that no one had entered the street. Confident she was alone, she dropped into the warehouse.
Her boots hit the ground with a thud that made her wince, but one quick look around confirmed what the outside of the warehouse suggested; no one had stepped foot in here in an awfully long time. A canopy of cobwebs stretched overhead, and Aelia suppressed a shudder. Beams hung rotting and broken from the ceiling, and she heard the scurrying of rats as they fled the intrusion.
Her night vision had been ruined by the street lamps, but after a few minutes she felt confident enough to continue. She needed to get to the roof, but she pursed her lips as she saw the staircase on the other side of the abandoned space. It looked barely stable enough to support the rats, let alone her.
She cursed under her breath and made her way towards it, not having an alternative, and started to climb. She went up on all fours, so when two of the boards gave way beneath her, she was able to stop herself from falling to the stone floor with them. With a thundering heart, and enough cursing to make a demon blush, Aelia finally made her way up the precarious flights of stairs to the rooftop.
She had to shoulder the door open, flinging her whole bodyweight against it before it budged, but she was able to force it open just wide enough for her to slip into the cool night air.She breathed in a few delicious gulps, grateful to have not ended up buried under a pile of debris on the warehouse floor. Only then did she notice the view.
Llmera was beautiful, the lights of the city spread out over the steep mountain side, the stars winking down from above. The ocean was even more beautiful at night, a slice of the moon’s light spearing through the darkened water, the waves appearing to fight off the celestial attack as they lapped against the silver rays. It gave her a moment of peace, the vast expanse of water making her problems seem insignificant, negligible. She allowed herself one more deep breath, inhaling what could well be her last taste of freedom, should she be caught, before turning to face the edge of the warehouse roof.
She was six buildings away from the one she needed, each one pressed tightly up against its neighbour, so in theory, she’d be able to leap from roof to roof without too much trouble. At least, that’s how it had appeared from the ground. Standing at the roof edge lent a slightly different perspective to the situation, but she didn’t allow herself to hesitate. With a running jump, she cleared the first gap, sprinting over to clear the next, and the next. She found herself grinning, her smile so wide it made her cheeks ache, and she had to stop the bubble of exhilarated laughter from rising out of her as adrenaline met relief in an intoxicating rush.
Aelia landed on the roof next to the warehouse she needed and ducked into the shadows behind the low wall that rimmed it. She could make out the darkened silhouette of a guard patrolling the roof, although patrolling was a generous term. He stood on the far left and appeared to be watching something happening on the street below. Aelia crept closer, waiting until she was almost level with him, before leaping to her feet, launching herself across the gap separating the roofs and hurling herself towards the guard. Her dagger was in her hand before he’d evenregistered her presence, and she clamped her free hand over his mouth as she raked it across his throat. He thrashed in her grip, but she held on tight for the few moments it took for his legs to sag underneath him. She let him drop to the floor, patted his pockets until she found a bunch of keys, and used them to open the hatch that led into the warehouse.
The stench that hit her when she hauled it open was enough to make her retch. Sweat and excrement and disease; she’d never known anything like it. She buried her nose in her sleeve and climbed in.
She blinked past her watering eyes, desperately trying to make out her surroundings. She found herself on a set of basic metal stairs, at the bottom of which was a narrow corridor lined with barred cells.
As her eyes adjusted, she finally realised what she was seeing. She lowered her hand from her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. Each cell had so many humans crammed into it that they could barely all sit, let alone lay down. They were pressed up against one another, filthy and reeking, their sallow skin clinging to their visible skeletons. Some looked up as she walked down the corridor, trying to tread lightly as she passed, but others didn’t even seem to register her presence.
A man stood up in one of the cells ahead of her, his eyes alert but wary. He was the only one who’d come close to acknowledging her, and she stopped in front of him. His gaze landed on the keys in her hands, and she held them out to him.
“I can’t stay to help you, but if you get everyone out, there should be enough of you to overpower the guards outside.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper, her throat constricted by the overwhelming despair she felt at seeing what her country had allowed to happen.
The man reached up and took the keys from her.
“I’ll get them out,” he said, his voice rattling in his too-thin chest. The others were stirring around him, hauling each other to their feet as whispered hope spread between them.
“Where are they keeping the artemians?” Aelia asked, looking round at the cells once more. There wasn’t a single artemian amongst them.
“Downstairs.” The man pointed down the corridor before setting to work finding the key he needed to open the cell door.
“Good luck,” she whispered, meaning it with all her heart, before she turned and hurried away. She didn’t know how the humans would ever make it out of Llmera, but right now, her priority had to be getting Fenrir out, and the humans were about to create enough chaos that it would be that much easier to smuggle him to safety.
She could hear the clang of cell doors being opened behind her, and she broke into a run, tearing down the corridor until she reached the stairs. She flung herself down them, two at a time, until she reached the ground floor. The smell was less horrific here, the cells nowhere near as crowded, and she ran between them, frantically searching for that one face she was so desperate to see.
The artemians were in much better condition than the humans upstairs, and they quickly began shouting and pleading for her help.
“Fenrir?” Aelia cried. The noise from upstairs was quickly becoming thunderous as hundreds of humans stumbled to various exits. She sprinted from cell to cell, ducking and peering to try and find him. “Fenrir?”
She ran around the entire warehouse floor without catching sight of him, and her chest tightened at the horrifying possibility that he wasn’t here. The artemians were rattling the bars of the cells, pressing themselves against the cold metal as they tried to reach out to her, but Fenrir wasn’t amongst them.
A door burst open, slamming into the wall behind it, and a stream of Astraea flooded in, their black uniforms sending a pang of cold dread lacing through Aelia. She backed up a couple of steps, ready to run in the opposite direction, when a door at the other end of the warehouse swung on its hinges and more Astraea swarmed in. They filled the warehouse, most disappearing up the stairs to the humans, some remaining to surround her. All too quickly, screams erupted from overhead, and Aelia closed her eyes against the unmistakable thump of beaten flesh.
A slow clapping echoed around the room, and Aelia’s eyes snapped open again to see Beserkir walking through the open door. The artemians shrank away, their despondent cries fading to silence at the mere sight of him. He walked towards her with a humourless smile on his face, his hands still clapping a slow rhythm.
“Bravo,” Beserkir said, with the same eloquent familiarity that haunted her dreams. He stopped clapping to point a finger directly at her. “We have all been so impressed.”
Her blood ran cold, draining the colour from her face.
“To think, you followed us all the way from Callodosis, killed a unit of my men, lost me a cartload of humans, and planned on releasing countless more tonight.” Beserkir spread his arms wide. “I’d have to be made of stone to not recognise such a remarkable feat of bravery.”
“You give me too much credit,” Aelia said, trying not to panic at how he knew so much. “I don’t know anything about killing your men.”
