Page 73 of Renegade Queen
It was a massive assumption, but if we found the cells empty, we could at least retreat back to the hidden passageway and regroup there. Maybe meet up with the others and figure out a way to get information from someone who had access to the rest of the palace.
Moving through the doorway, we slipped between the stacked boxes, and I let the guys take the lead. They had the experience here, and it was stupid not to utilise the skills we had available to us. I’d been trying to protect them, but just because they weren’t from Nymeria didn’t mean they were incapable of doing it for themselves. I should have been spending my time trying to teach them, not fighting to keep them behind me.
Dean and Maddox moved with a confidence that proved how many times they’d been in this scenario before. They fell into the familiar routine, letting me silently back them up. Maybe we could actually do this.
Maddox signalled across to Dean when we reached the doorway, and after a second of considering the layout he could see from his side of the room, Dean sent back a response.
Leaning as close to my side as possible, Maddox’s lips brushed against my ear as he whispered to me. “There are two armed men in the next room. The one I have eyes on isn’t an Endless. He has his back to us, and I can take him before he makes a sound, but the other is looking straight at the doorway.”
I nodded before tilting my head to whisper back. “I can take the one on the other side if you can give me a rough idea of where he is.”
He nodded and went back to silently communicating with Dean.
“Ten steps in, close to the exit,” Maddox relayed back.
I nodded, turning to the wall and pressing my hands flat against the surface as I sent a tendril of magic down into the floor. Deep in this part of the palace, it was hard to find any kind of life to latch onto, but without the background noise of other magic in the area, it actually helped. I found an old storeroom containing seeds and some food supplies closer to the kitchens. Even though most were old and lifeless, I touched on a few that still contained the spark I sought.
“I need two minutes,” I told Maddox as quietly as possible, who nodded in confirmation as I returned to what needed to be done.
Coating that spark of life with my magic, I twisted and moulded it into what I needed. It wouldn’t exactly help our cause for me to sprout to life a cornfield in the other room. Still, I could morph that potential into something completely new, and within moments, I felt the tendrils of vines creep across the stone floors. These weren’t the thick briar-type vines I’d been able to produce in the forest, but they’d be good enough to restrain one man.
When the vines had stretched to the doorway beyond this one, I folded them in on themselves, turning them into a mass of towering snaking tendrils perfect for the purpose I had in mind. They thickened and strengthened as they twisted and turned, piling up until I was pretty certain I had enough to restrain the man on the other side.
As soon as I was ready, I turned to Maddox and nodded. He held up one hand and counted us down, dropping a finger at a time as we prepared to make our move. As soon as he closed his fist, he slipped around the corner, and I unleashed the magic I had collected on the other side.
A soft muffled yelp reached my ears, followed by the sound of a boot scuffing along the stone floor, and then nothing.
I looked at Dean, who watched me with pride in his eyes before holding out his hand for me to take. I didn’t even question taking it as we moved through the doorway together.
Maddox was crouched next to the body of a man on the ground as he cleaned off a knife with a piece of cloth before slipping it back into his waistband. I turned away from the body as quickly as I could, not wanting to think about what we’d done here. About the life we’d taken without even questioning it.
Instead, I looked at the cocoon of vines that snaked around the man I had trapped inside. One hand had broken free, reaching out for help, but no one left alive stood on his side.
“We should try and get some information from him,” Dean told me, moving closer. “Are you able to let him see us without letting him make any noise?”
It was easy enough to do. I had the vines separate, unmasking his eyes but wrapping them firmly around his mouth, a warning squeeze to his neck to pass on the message of the consequences of lying to us.
Wide, panicked eyes met mine, surprisingly devoid of hate. They flicked to his dead companion, and I saw the fear spark to life as he realised his fate lay in our hands. Then Dean moved directly in front of him, and I was forgotten about.
“Is there a prisoner in the cells?” Dean asked, getting straight down to business.
The man nodded. His breaths were coming in panicking pants now.
“Is he alive?”
He nodded again as a single tear slipped free and disappeared into the plant life, cocooning his face.
“Are there guards between here and there?” Dean finally asked.
The man shook his head as much as he was able to, and then Dean turned back to Maddox, the look of relief on his face only appearing when he’d turned his back on our prisoner.
“This is too easy,” Dean told him. It wasn’t the first time I’d thought the same thing. He looked around our little group. “Are we still doing this?”
There was only one answer. It had to be yes. We hadn’t come this far just to back out when we were at the final hurdle.
“We can’t turn back,” Maddox mumbled.
“Glory and madness,” Dean muttered, reaching out one hand.