Page 25 of Fallen Angels

The second soldier apparently realizes what’s going on because he faces me with determination as he forms an energy ball between his hands and unloads the source into my chest. But my shadows are already at work and they protect me. His ball of energy simply bounces off me and reflects back at him, with a blast strong enough to throw him off his feet. He bashes the back of his head into the prison bars of the empty cell across from me.

“Dragan?” I hear Cambion’s voice.

I leave my cell and reach down to the second soldier’s waist where I see a leather strap bearing a ring of keys. I snatch the entire ring and then glance down at the twelve or so iron keys dangling there. I approach Cambion’s cell and notice there’s no obvious lock in which to enter the key. That’s when I remember I’ll need to unlock the wards of each prison cell, rather than the lock itself.

I remember the way the soldiers ran one of the keys along the bars to my cell and then the bars began to glow. Once glowing, the soldier placed the key in the lock and turned it, thus opening my cell. I try the same with each key on the ring until I find one that works.

“What the bloody hell were you thinking?” Cambion hisses at me. At the same time, he pushes the cell door outward. The ungrateful prick.

“Would you prefer I lock you up again?” I growl in response.

“A plan would have been a good course of action,” he responds.

“Are you complaining about your freedom,faerie?” I spit. The sprite zooms past my ear and starts doing some strange type of dance in the air of the hallway.

“We don’t have time for arguments,” Eilish calls from the far end of the hall. She’s right. I take the ring of keys and approach her, trying each one until I find the correct one. As soon as I unlock it and pull the barred door open, she crashes into me, wrapping her arms around me as she rests her head against my chest. I’m surprised but I embrace her.

“We must leave,” I whisper.

She nods and looks up at me. “Revenant,” she starts.

I feel my heartbeat drop and my jaw instantly tightens. I haven’t considered freeing the bastard and now faced with the choice, it’s not one I want to make.

“Where are the keys?” Cambion says from behind me. “We need to release Revenant.”

Not wanting to risk the time inherent in an argument, I throw the ring of keys to the elf and he immediately turns around, releasing the vampire. I notice Revenant shoots me an expression that says he’s aware of the struggle within my head. He’s lucky he has Cambion and Eilish because I would have left him here to rot.

The moment we’re all free, I open the door leading into this prison wing with care, cracking it only a few inches to make sure we’re alone. We are. Light invades the darkness of the prison and I have to blink a few times as my eyesight grows accustomed to the light.

I turn to the useless sprite. “You will be our scout,” I instruct him. “Fly ahead and when you come to corners, stick to the walls and check that the way is clear.”

Yes, I could use my own shadow magic and performThe Arcane Eye, which would allow me to create an invisible, magical eye that hovers in the air and receives information regarding our whereabouts. But I’m afraid this palace is warded with light magic that might detect my darkness. Not to mention that using too much of my magic will exhaust me and I need all the energy I can reserve. Who knows what still faces us?

“I aye, Cap’n!” the sprite says with a little salute and flies ahead of us as we start moving swiftly through the dungeon.

He keeps an eye out for more soldiers and signals for our group to advance when the corridors are clear.

“We have no idea where we’re even going,” Cambion whispers, his voice grating.

Eilish looks up at me. “Variant’s bedroom might be our best bet,” she says. She then describes Variant’s quarters and the doors to the terrace. A terrace which would allow us to exit into the gardens below.

“His private quarters might be guarded against intruders,” I argue.

Eilish shakes her head. “I know his bedroom isn’t protected by anything other than his soldiers. And sometimes it isn’t protected at all. Every time he’s invited me there, I’ve never felt the buzzing of warded magic that I feel here.”

Lacking an argument, I simply nod. It’s the only plan we have so we’ll take it.

We make our way toward Variant’s quarters under Eilish’s guidance. The sprite flies back around a corner from where he just came, explaining between gasps of air that three soldiers occupy the hall and are coming our way.

Revenant steps forward. “I’ll take care of it,” he says.

Before I have the chance to argue, he steps around the corner and holds up his hands, palms facing the soldiers who immediately go into fight mode. But, they’re too late. Shadows leach from Revenant’s hands as a sphere of negative energy,The Circle of Death, ripples out in a sixty-foot radius sphere, capturing the soldiers who immediately drop dead.

“And if these halls are guarded with light magic?” I growl at him. “What then?”

He simply shrugs as he faces the bodies. “Raise Dead,” he whispers the enchantment and the dead soldiers begin to stir. “Command,” he continues and then informs them that he’s their new master and they will only answer to him.

“You will lead us to Variant’s chambers and allow us passage, defending us from those who would interfere with our mission,” he finishes.

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