Page 24 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

The guards hesitated. Voices called to each other down the hall. Crow’s heart pounded.

Then, reluctantly, the guards backed away. Crow walked her puppet forward, still holding the blade to his throat. She could feel her control over him beginning to waver.

“Open the door,” she told them.

One of them went to the door, plugged a heavy key into the lock, and swung it open.

“Thank you,” she said.

The guard shook his head. “You’re going to regret this.”

“We’ll see.”

She reached into her hostage’s mind again.Fight,she commanded him. Then, feeling guilty, added,Don’t kill them.

She handed him the sword and let go of him, and the man leaped at the other guards.

She grabbed Vaara’s hand and pulled him out the door and into the cold night as the guards fought. The two of them rushed into the field behind the door. A massive wall surrounded the building.

“Do the thing?” she said as they ran, and she felt his shadow spell falling over her again.

When they reached the wall, she leaned against it to catch her breath, then began running her hand along the cracks between the stone blocks, searching for a telltale chipping. She found it quickly—a loose block, directly behind the back door. Just like Patros had said. He’d sent someone out several days before to carve it out. The walls were warded against magic, but had no defense against a humble chisel.

She pushed at the stone, and it didn’t move. She dug her feet into the ground and pushed her shoulder against it. There was a tiny scrape as it shifted.

She looked up at Vaara, who was staring upward. Two moons and an ocean of stars shone behind drifting clouds.

“Hey. What do I have to do to get you to help me with this?”

He looked down at her, glanced at the block, then bent to push it with her.

The three guards burst out of the back door. Crow’s influence over the first one had faded, it looked like. She and Vaara stopped moving. With the shadow spell over them, the guards didn’t even look in their direction. Instead, they headed around the building toward the front entrance.

Vaara shoved against the stone. After a minute of awkward pushing, it fell out the other side with a heavy thud, leaving just enough space for a person to fit through. Vaara shimmied through without hesitation.

Crow heard a shout nearby as she crawled through and dropped down on the other side. She didn’t look back.

She’d feared Vaara would just run off as soon as he had the chance. But he was standing beside the wall, scanning the wide, empty landscape. He’d hesitated because he didn’t know where to go. Like all night elves, he knew nothing of Ardani. That was, perhaps, the main reason he had to stay with her for the moment.

They ran. He didn’t ask where they were going.

An arrow hit the ground just ahead of them. Crow peered over her shoulder as she ran. An archer stood on a watchtower along the wall. As she watched, another one joined the first, and they both drew their bows.

Vaara’s hand closed around hers, and he cloaked them both in shadow. He pulled her to the side, and two arrows landed where they’d just been.

“How long can you keep that up?” Crow asked between breaths.

“As long as I wish.”

“How convenient.”

More arrows hit the ground near them, each one farther off target than the last, until they stopped coming at all. Crow looked over her shoulder again. She was alarmed to see a tall, blonde figure looking out at them from the watchtower. She had the odd feeling that he was watching them, but that was impossible. With Vaara’s spell in the darkness, they were invisible.

She wasn’t naive enough to believe that no one would come after them. But for now, they’d made it out.

“Sorry, Toreg,” Crow said to the prison as it grew smaller in the distance. “Maybe next time.”

Chapter 8

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