Page 68 of Dragons Of Shadow and Sea

"Yeah," I mutter. "We really have to go."

I pull Mariutza and Delaynie close and focus on air and water and safety, but the burning in my bracer isn't the good kind. The crackles of magic sputter, and my stomach drops.

"I can't." I shake my head even as I try again.

"Oh, there's the door!" Mariutza pulls away and wanders toward the literal door.

"No," Delaynie and I shout as one.

Whatever the hell is going on, Princess Aria is the Shadow King's fiancée. There must be a ton of guards stationed right outside. I glance back at Aria, and she's still...communing with the Shadow spirits or something.

Delaynie reaches for her grandmother, but Mariutza brushes her aside. "I can do it."

Mariutza tugs open the door.

The guard stationed there begins to bow, probably expecting Aria, but then he yelps in surprise as Mariutza shoves a palmful of deep violet shadows straight into his face. The yelp dissolves into a shriek of agony.

Another guard rushes over. "What--"

Mariutza makes short work of the other guard, and before I know it, both men are on the ground, clutching at their eyes and howling. "Come on." Mariutza beckons me and Delaynie forward. "What are you waiting for?"

"Uh..." My brain hiccups for a second like it's rebooting.

Sighing, Delaynie shrugs. "They did lock us up for a reason, you know."

She follows her grandmother out, and I follow her, stepping over the writhing bodies of the guards the old lady floored. "I thought you said it was 'the old magic'."

"Well, this certainly isn't new magic," Delaynie deadpans as her grandmother shoots more shadow bolts at another couple of guards as they come around the corner.

"Fair point."

"Where did you say we were going again, dearie?" Mariutza calls back to us.

"The tower at the far northwest corner. There's an exit that leads down to a dock. There's supposed to be a ship waiting for us." Or at least that's what Rook told me.

Mariutza frowns. "That's the sorceress's tower."

My skin crawls. "If you know a better way out..."

"The northwest tower it is," Mariutza concedes.

She seems to know where she's going. I have my reservations, considering she seemed a little touch and go with reality earlier, but I never was that good with directions, so I follow along. Delaynie seems confident, too, raising her hands in a defensive posture as she takes up the rear.

Whether by luck or by design, we don't see many guards as we travel the darkened corridors. The handful that we do encounter are dispatched before they can sound the alarm. I feel useless, letting Mariutza do all of the fighting, but with every step, I feel my energy recovering. Maybe--just maybe--I'll be able to manage another portal soon.

For now, I conserve my strength, trusting these two random women I broke out of jail to help me escape.

And yeah, that might not be the safest plan in the world, but for the moment, it's what I've got. I keep my guard up just in case, watching for any signs that Mariutza and Delaynie might have agendas of their own. Fortunately, they seem to want to find a way out just as badly as I do.

At the end of the corridor, we come to a spiraling set of stairs. For the first time, Mariutza falters. Her spine hunches, and her eyes go unfocused. Delaynie brushes past me to get to her grandmother's side.

"Where are we?" Mariutza asks, looking around, dazed.

"In the Citadel, Grandma, remember?" Delaynie speaks in a hushed voice. "Trying to escape."

"I'm too old for all these stairs." Mariutza's energy flickers wildly, and for a moment the air crackles with the scent of smoke and ash. Dark ripples of Shadow energy make the shape of enormous, battered wings.

I suck in a harsh breath. Mariutza's dragon is as old as she is, but it's trying to make its way to the surface.

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