Story of Kings

Chapter 15

Kane's wife wasn't here? Evelyn wanted to press Amelia, make sure she was right, but she could already feel the honesty of her words; in such close proximity it was hard not to. Was she executed, then? No, that wouldn't explain why Rahatiel never came back. Evelyn's brow furrowed, none of this made any sense, he wouldn't- Everything went still for Evelyn. How could Azmal not have known about this? He had such detailed, intimate information about this compound and the Archangels at its head, he'd had to have known Archangel Rahatiel had never returned. Unless that scheming bastard had sent her in here for another reason.

Evelyn glanced at Amelia. "Do you know of a man named Azmal?" She asked softly.

Amelia's brow furrowed. "No? Is that the person you must rescue?"

The girl spoke the truth. "Have you ever given information away about this base to anyone else?"

"What? No. What's this about?" Concern and worry were breaking out across Amelia's face, she had no idea what Evelyn was asking. Evelyn was confident she wasn't one of Azmal's dumb birds.

"We need to get out of here. Is there a way we can leave without being detected? I can handle a single angel if need be." Evelyn was going to tear Azmal open when she got back, what the hells did he send her in here for? Even if his dumb birds that had been tracking them had become compromised, he would have had a few posted to watch the entrances to the compound, he would have known if Rahatiel and Kane's wife was here, he knew that they weren't.

Amelia, seemingly oblivious to Evelyn's rising anger, nodded to her. "Yes, there is a side gate that's too small to warrant more than one post. I'll show you." The healer stood up, moving to the door but Evelyn snatched her hand and prevented her from reaching it.

Azul once again eclipsed her eyes as Evelyn stood, pinning Amelia with her gaze. "We are not out, yet; do not become so eager. If you give us away, if we get caught, I'm not helping you escape. I'm catching you, and I won't give them a chance to question you." Deadly rage burned in Evelyn's eyes and the scent of fear returned to Amelia, the young healer able to smell the truth in her words.

Together, the two girls departed from the small room, Amelia angling them further down the hall and to the right, into one of the rooms with multiple beds, all empty. "This squad is currently on patrol," Amelia explained. "They aren't due back for another few hours, we can crawl out of one of the windows so we don't have to cut through the pavilion."

Evelyn nodded. The less angels to question them the better. As they reached the window, Amelia opening the latch and pushing it open, Evelyn glanced about and made sure no one was lingering in the room, shirking duties or inspecting quarters. Evelyn bobbed her head to the window, "you first," she said, and offered her a hand. The girl was far too small to make it over the ledge on her own. Amelia accepted the help graciously as she placed her feet onto Evelyn's shoulders to hoist herself up and put her legs over the windowsill and hopped down onto the other side. Evelyn joined her quickly and closed the window behind her.

"This way," Amelia said, her voice so soft that even as close as she was Evelyn barely heard her. The small girl lead the way, trying as hard as she could to stick to the shadows but the open space between the sleeping quarters and wall of the compound offered no shelter from the light of the moon. Lucky for them, the angel was posted outside the gate, not within.

Once they reached the small angel gate Evelyn motioned Amelia to wait and approached the gate by herself. She sent her power forward like last time, hearing the click as the gate unlocked. As she opened the gate an angel standing to the side gave her a confused look.

"My watch isn't yet over," he said to her, his head then twitching to the side. "I don't recogni-"

Faster than the blink of an eye, Evelyn swung her arm at the angel, bashing in the helmet it wore and slamming it into the wall, denting the helmet in again and cracking the marble wall. The angel wasn't getting back up, not for a while. Evelyn popped her head back into the compound, motioning to Amelia. "Come on," she whispered to her. "Everything is clear."