Page 92 of Ruby & Onyx

“Alright, now that we’re all here, there are over ten thousand steps between us and freedom. We stick together. We hold nothing back.” The sound of the footsteps grows louder, making it clear that there’s a small army descending the steps. “No matter how tired you get, do not stop.”

Amin takes a step closer to me - his knuckles growing white over the hilt of his sword.

The three blue-eyed invisibles turn to the stairs first with Vito in the lead. Their glowing skin illuminates the path before us. Each one has a dagger in their hand.

Bas looks at me like he’s rapidly studying the details of my face before turning to follow the invisibles.

“Guylita and Radya, follow Bas and I’ll protect you from behind,” Amin growls. For the first time since I’ve met him, he seems deadly serious.

For the first several steps, we move in sync, keeping a quick pace and remaining together. The sound of our breathing acts like a drum to guide our steps. The narrow staircase twists around and around, surrounded by cold, damp stones. Bulky wooden doors are spaced out about every twenty steps. They seem to lead to more cells, judging by the sound of groaning and shouting prisoners as we pass.

“Preston?” Amin yells into the slats of every door that we pass without waiting for a response. One after the other, he tests each cell, but the hope fades from his voice a little more each time his calls go unanswered.

The pace gets harder and harder to keep as the burning of fiery lungs and achy muscles intensifies. We slow down but keep moving, even though I could pass out. The training seems to be helping, though. I never would have been able to accomplish this without it.

The light of a torch comes into view, and I fear that the worst is yet to come.

A guard appears with a torch in one hand and a sword in the other. Bas lets out a feral growl and races past the invisibles up to the guard with his sword held high. The guard slashes his sword in a downward sweep, but Bas swiftly evades the strike, and the sword lodges into a crack in the wall. Before he can pull it back, Bas counter-slices across the guard’s throat, sending him crumbling to the ground. I have to dodge his falling body to keep from tumbling down with him.

The torch extinguishes when it hits the ground, leaving only the light of the invisibles.

A second knight appears and then a third and a fourth and… oh, no. We are outnumbered. They’re readying to strike, coming right for us.

Despite whatever stories Guylita told, I am sure that death is ready to claim me now.

I press my body flat against the wall next to Guylita and pray to the gods for rescue. We huddle together, holding on tightly to each other. There are too many for us to take on, especially with Guylita and I huddled and useless. We are deadweight in this battle.

The invisibles’ daggers rip into flesh while they escape the blows aimed at them. The deafening roar of clanking swords and screams swells into an inescapable terror. For a second, I get a clear glimpse of Bas as a sword meets his shoulder, but the wound doesn’t slow him down.

“Radya, can you use your powers?” Guylita asks with pleading in her eyes.

“No, you heard them. Nobody can access their powers here!” I remember the magic that surrounded Carcera. It was strong enough to keep me from accessing my powers at all. Though, now that I think about it, I never actually tried. I was told that I couldn’t use magic, and I placed myself into the ‘non-magic’ box along with the rest of Carcera.

“Help me test a theory. Try to tap into your powers and immobilize the knights,” she directs with urgency lacing her words.

“I don’t know…”

“You have nothing to lose!” She grabs onto my wrists with impressive strength for such a frail woman.

“Okay, I’ll try it!” I emphasize the word “try” while still harboring doubt.

Clearing out my mind space might be impossible amidst the chaos, but I will try. For Guylita and Amin and Bas, I will try. Another guard tumbles past us, rolling like a barrel down a hill.

I take a deep breath, squeeze my eyes shut, and picture myself crawling into the mind space. Everything goes quiet, until only the sound of my breath and my heartbeat remain. It is still, despite the battle surrounding me.

Part of me wishes that I could stay here, hiding away from the madness. And what if I did? What if I abandoned them here?

Would I be able to live with the consequences?

Amin, Guylita, and the invisibles would be killed instantly. Bas, unable to be killed, would be imprisoned and sentenced to eternity in one of these dark, desolate cells. And I… well, it doesn’t matter what happens to me. I would lose my mind to the gods before I allowed anyone else to suffer because of me.

I fight back the thought until I’m ready to begin.

I need to harness the darkest depths of my power. It’s buried beneath two decades of pain. I summon it by name, calling upon every scar and wound in my heart.

The endless and unwavering grief of losing my father and then my mother. The loneliness that filled every crevice of my cottage. The solitude of being alone in this world, of never fully feeling like I belong. The rage that seethed when I learned of Olly’s manipulation…

My mind space turns a violent shade of red as the glowing orb of power swells in the center. I grab onto the light and attempt to force it out of my fingertips, making the knights ahead of us the first targets of my power’s wrath.

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