Page 80 of Broken Fate
The strict ponytail with which she wore her hair flopped side to side as my former cellmate shook her head. “I’ve never heard of someone so stupid as to breakintojail before. No way you missed me that much.”
“Not quite,” I said, then stepped back quickly as the grate dropped into the sewers with a mighty crash. Shards of mortar and stone peppered the gathered group.
Kiel was the first one up through the hole where the grate had been. I followed him up, receiving a boost from Praksis. Andi came next. We fanned out, wary, but there was no need. Nobody there would attack us, as I’d surmised.
“If you want out,” I said to my former cellmate and the other gathered prisoners, “the sewers are currently unguarded. But we can’t promise for how much longer that will last.”
The blue-eyed prisoner stared at the hole we’d created in less than two minutes. It was the same grate through which I’d escaped with the Kiel the first time. Only, since then, the guards had mortared it shut. Now, it yawned open, the hole easily wide enough to accommodate two shifters at a time.
“Fuck it, better to die trying to escape than in here,” the woman said and lunged for the hole.
A stream of wary prisoners soon followed.
“That should add to the confusion,” Andi muttered as we headed for the far side of the prison complex within the palace. “I would love to see Andracis’ face when he realizes his precious prisoners are all free.”
“Me too,” I said. “But we have bigger fish to fry, don’t we?”
“Yep.”
We reached the doorway that, according to Kiel’s knowledge of the palace, would bring us out closest to where the Fate Stone was kept. I hadn’t asked how he knew that, and he hadn’t volunteered the information.
The pins made quick work of the stone around the door as well. Kiel stepped up and gave the door a powerful kick. Weakened mortar and stone cracked, and the heavy metal panel fell outward.
We were rushing out on its tail, not waiting for the echoinggongof its impact to fade. There was no time. Our entry into the prison might have gone unheard, given the size of the complex and the lack of guards inside. But it was likely that the failed trap would soon be noticed, and if not, the noise of our exit from the prison would attract attention.
All in all, time wasnoton our side. We rushed through the hallway, down to our core team of Kiel, Praksis, Andi, and myself, along with six of the remaining elites. The seventh had stayed behind in the prison as a lookout to try to keep the door open behind us if possible.
“Take them,” Kiel ordered from under his hood as we rounded the corner, a pair of guards on patrol up ahead.
As we charged, the sudden thundering of booted feet alerted the guards, but they were too late. One had just enough time to cry out before a blade severed his vocal cords. A moment later, a second sword pierced his heart, and the shifter died.
“Move, move, move!” Kiel ordered, pushing us onward. We had one mission and one mission alone. That close to completing it, nothing else mattered. The element of surprise was over. Now, it was all about speed.
We rounded the next corner, only to run into a wall of spikes. The first two of our team died instantly, impaled on the blades. Praksis ducked low under the long blades, sliding across the stone before flinging himself up into the knot of guards blocking our path.
Chaos reigned, and in it, Kiel and Andi slipped through the cracks. They dealt death as they went, and the guards’ formation collapsed on itself, the long spears now a hindrance instead of a help as their lines were breached.
I lunged at one, both blades thrusting up, seeking the crack between his pelvic guard and chest piece. The tips of my daggers found it, the force of my attack lifting the unfortunate guard from the floor. He shrieked in pain before mercifully passing out as I ripped my blades sideways, nearly severing him in half.
In seconds, it was over. For some on both sides.
“Damn Arcadus,” I hissed, seeing Kiel standing solemnly over Praksis’ body. Two other elites were killed as well, one of them missing a head.
“He sacrificed himself so we could move quickly,” Kiel grunted, fingers curled into fists. “Let’s keep going.”
We ran on. Our numbers were dwindling. Only seven of us now remained. Andi was keeping up, but I could see her limping, her right leg covered in blood. How much of it was hers?
Up ahead, the corridor came to a sudden end, a solid-looking door blocking the way.
“There. The door. It should be on the other side,” Kiel said as we rushed up to it, reaching for the lock. Although it resisted a simple turn, the pin and hammer came out again. That time, Andi and I guarded the hallway while Kiel swung the hammer, his strength slowly warping the door inward at the hinges.
The sound was immense, echoing out down the hallway.
“It won’t take long for them to come,” Andi said softly from my side, her head not leaving the hallway. “Not with that noise.”
I grunted in agreement.
She was right. It didn’t take long at all.
