“Give me a minute,” Mavlyn called to him. She made her way to the vent, skirting a few crumbling sections of the mountainside. Twice she almost slipped and fell, but she saved herself by leaping and grabbing onto another plant. She thanked each one profusely as it strained beneath her weight, giving it a tiny boost of magic in gratitude as she let go to grab the next one, until she was close enough to the grate.
Closing her eyes, she pushed her magic into the dead roots buried deep in the earth around the grate, willing them to respond. Slowly, they came back to life, unfurling their thick tendrils as they pushed up through the earth to taste fresh air for the first time in decades. They greedily latched onto the grate, and with several hard tugs, the piece of metal came free with a rusty groan.
“That’s handy,” Leap said as the roots tossed the grate off the mountainside. “But while I think I can shimmy in there, I don’t see how you’re going to fit under this rock.”
“I didn’t say I was done.” Mavlyn smirked. She directed the roots once more, and they swiftly began to dig, widening the gap beneath the rock until it was big enough for Mavlyn to squeeze through. She thanked them with an extra shot of magic, then crawled under the opening so she could peer into the hole.
She couldn't see anything, but her senses told her it was a straight shot down.
“Uhhh… do you wanna go first?” she called back to Leap.
He snorted. “If you wanted me to go ahead of you, you should have let me crawl inside first.”
Mavlyn rolled her eyes, then hauled herself over the opening so she could position herself feet first. Holding her breath, she lowered herself into the tunnel, bracing her hands against the earthen walls so she wouldn’t free fall through the shaft.
She made it maybe ten feet down before she felt a brush of wind at her back. “You can let go,” Leap advised her. “The wind will catch you.”
Mavlyn glanced up to see Leap hovering above her. She scowled at the smug expression on his face, but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so she let go. A cushion of wind caught her, and she floated the rest of the way down the shaft, landing in a storeroom that appeared to be filled with old, discarded weapons.
“Well, isn’t this handy,” Leap said as he followed in after her. He picked up an old scimitar and held it up to the dim candlelight cast by the room’s single wall sconce, eyeing the blade’s rusty edge. “Could definitely give someone blood poisoning with this.”
Mavlyn hefted a boomerang the size of her entire body. “This looks pretty nifty,” she said. “If I was an air fae, I would totally use this.”
Leap’s eyes softened as he eyed the weapon. “My mother had one of those,” he said softly. “I used to watch her throw it all the time when she and my father were at practice.”
Mavlyn ruffled his hair in sympathy, then put the boomerang back in its place against the wall and pressed her ear against the door. Hearing no movement, she crept into a narrow, dark hall. She and Leap spent the next thirty minutes exploring the area, quickly realizing they were on one of the lower levels, where most of the fortress’s storage rooms were. There were quite a few treasures and curiosities down here, but aside from a quick stop in the dried goods storage room to grab some jerky for the road, they kept moving until they found the staircase that led them to the upper level.
Mavlyn could tell there was more activity here—she could feel the earth vibrating with the footsteps of the fortress inhabitants. Even so, between her earth senses and Leap’s ability to listen to the air currents, they were able to avoid the few people on this level. Most of the castle’s resources seemed to be spent guarding the exposed section of the fortress and its gates. She doubted anyone expected an enemy to sneak in through the hidden air vents.
Something—Mavlyn wasn’t sure if it was instinct or a hidden voice in her subconscious—tugged her persistently to the right. She followed that intuition through the maze of hallways until she reached a door guarded by a single soldier. The male’s eyes widened in surprise, but Leap used his wind magic to cut off his cry for help, then struck with a targeted blow to the back of his neck. The man collapsed, and Mavlyn caught him before he hit the floor.
“Ruthless,” she said, shaking her head as she dragged the unconscious guard away from the door.
Leap shrugged, fishing a sharp implement from his pocket. He jimmied the door open, and Mavlyn scrambled forward, leaving the guard in the hallway so she could hurry inside after Leap.
Her eyes went straight to the white couch in the center of the room, expecting to find Quye waiting for them there. But the couch was empty, and as Mavlyn spun around, taking in the bed, the tub, the chairs and rugs and couches, her heart sank.
“This has to be her room,” Mavlyn said, trying not to let her voice quaver. “It’s the same one I saw in my dream.”
“Oh it is,” Leap said dryly. “Look up.”
Mavlyn glanced up at the ceiling just in time to see a white shape plummeting toward her. She shrieked as Quye pounced on her, enveloping her in a cloud of ivory fabric and incense.
“Got you!” the oracle shouted with unrestrained glee as she squeezed the life out of Mavlyn. Mavlyn was tempted to croak out something about not wanting her ribs broken, but her face was buried in the halo of Quye’s riotous curls.
And if she was being truthful, she didn’t want the oracle to let her go just yet.
Instead, she squeezed Quye back and closed her eyes, breathing in her incense and mountain pine scent and letting the momentary fear that had gripped her so tightly drain away.
"I'm so glad we found you," Mavlyn whispered, and Quye softened, her squeeze turning into an affectionate hug, her body melting against Mavlyn’s own willowy curves.
“I had every confidence you would,” she whispered back.
“You should probably let go of Mavlyn before you crack her in two,” Leap said, sounding less than impressed by Quye’s antics. He seemed unaware of what had passed between the two females as they reluctantly broke apart, which Mavlyn was grateful for. “We went through a lot of trouble for you to prank us like that.”
Quye rolled her eyes. “Since when have you become such a party pooper?” she pouted, crossing her arms. Mavlyn frowned at the flowing silk robes Quye wore—they were hardly appropriate for a jailbreak.
Something dark flashed across Leap’s face, and Mavlyn knew he was remembering their confrontation with Ryker in her tower room. She suppressed a shudder at the reminder of how, only a few hours ago, she’d been a few breaths away from losing her life.
