Page 32 of The Emerald Dragon Prince
We continued on, but as we reached the other end of the hallway we’d been hurrying down I nearly stumbled. A sharp feeling, almost like pain but more emotional, struck me from the inside out. I paused again to double forward slightly, pressing my hands to my belly.
“Rumi?” Misha asked in a tremulous voice.
“It’s okay,” I said soothingly, but not to Misha. “We’ll be okay, baby. I’m going to rescue your daddy, and then we’ll bring you into this world.”
I continued on, but I could tell that my egg wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy either.
We reached the top of the stairs that led down to the dungeon and paused, listening for activity that we couldn’t see. A horrible thought hit me in the relative silence. If we failed to rescue Emmerich or if we couldn’t break whatever spell Nazeing had cast on him, there would be no way for my egg to be born. The idea of another alpha finishing the breeding process filled me with revulsion. But I now knew that eggs couldn’t stay inside an omega forever.
We had to succeed at our mission or my egg and I would die.
“Let me take charge,” Leo said, resting his hand on my back as the noise at the bottom of the stairs grew louder, asif someone was about to come up to our hallway. “You’re in no condition to lead this mission.”
I hated handing over the most important thing I’d ever done to someone else, but I wasn’t the only one who stood to lose their alpha if we didn’t succeed. Nazeing had done something to my brothers’ mates as well.
“Alright,” I panted, sagging against the wall and nodding to Leo.
It was a good thing Leo was quick on his feet and in his mind. Only seconds later, the four guards who had taken Osric down to the dungeon came trudging up the stairs, shoulders stooped and footsteps heavy. They jumped in surprise when they found the six of us waiting for them in the hallway.
“The princes?” one of them said. “What are you doing here?”
Leo acted at once, leaping forward to punch the guard in front square in the nose. The guard cried out in pain but was slow to defend himself. The other three guards were too stunned at their compatriot being attacked by an omega to react at first. It was the break we needed to get the upper edge on the guards.
“What do we do with them?” Tovey asked as the rest of us swarmed the guards and took their weapons. “It’s six against four, but they’re alphas.”
“Yes, we are!” one of the guards growled at us and lunged for Selle.
I leapt on the guard’s back, pulling him away from my brother. I’d be damned if I’d let any of these brutes so much as bruise one of my brothers.
“I know what we can do!” Obi shouted, leaping ahead of us as we did our best to grapple with the heavy guards. “Bring them this way.”
Obi rushed ahead and the rest of us couldn’t do much but push, wrestle, and stumble after him with the guards. We had only a tenuous hold on them, and since the guards didn’t seem particularly motivated to capture us or to have the energy for it after the long, long day we’d all had, they lumbered along with us.
No one had any idea what Obi had in mind when he flung open the door to what looked like a supply closet halfway down the hall that ran perpendicular to the one near the dungeons. “Yes!” he shouted. “It’s still here. Hurry!”
We manhandled the guards up to the supply closet. Once we got there, everyone gasped in surprise at the tall, oblong swirl of light and magic that took up the back part of the closet. My brothers and I knew a doorway into the magical world when we saw it, of course, but the guards were shocked and stunned at the sight.
Their shock was exactly what we needed. It was far too easy to push each one of them at the doorway in turn and to watch them disappear into the magical world.
“Queen Gaia isn’t going to be happy about us shoving four of Father’s soldiers into her world,” Selle said, adjusting his glasses.
“Maybe the magical world will lead them to a better life,” I said, taking a step back.
Leo slammed the door shut, then turned to the rest of us. “Let’s go free Osric,” he said.
We hurried back to the dungeon stairs the way we’d come. There was no telling who or what else was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs, but we didn’t have time to sit and listen. We rushed down, pausing at the bottom to peek around the corner into the long row of dungeon cells.
I was surprised to find most of the cellsoccupied. The men we passed as we searched for Osric were all dressed in rich clothing, but that clothing had grown soiled and ragged. The men were all thin and sallow, like they had been there for ages.
“It’s the princes!” one of them called out, rushing to stand and throw himself against the bars of his cell as we passed. “Hail the princes! Save us!”
“Save us! Save us!” more shouts echoed from the cells as we looked for Osric.
“I’m here!” Osric’s voice came from the end of the row of cells.
“Osric!” I shouted, stepping ahead of Leo as we found the cell that contained our cousin.
Osric looked as hale and hearty as he had when he’d walked away from his camp. I couldn’t believe that had only happened a few hours ago. He was weighed down by a thick chain around his neck.
