The Princess of Wrath

Echoes from the Past - The Gray Death, Part VI: Floor Thirty Two

"I have good news for you, Miss Wraith," was the first thing Krios said to Lucy upon returning to her side. Discreetly, they both walked away from the restless crowd in the direction of the stairs on the western side. Once at the rest before the ascent to the first floor, in a low voice, he continued. "No one knows yet what happened to the laboratory. All attention is focused on the fire at the warehouse."

"And what about Berkano?"

"My superior wanted to send him an urgent message using the pneumatic tubes, but I insisted that events of this magnitude should be communicated personally... And thanks to that, I've the approval to access the executive floor. His office is there..."

The young apprentice looked at the small silver key her ally showed her and nodded, sincerely satisfied with the great help he had offered her.

"But there is a problem: that floor is permanently guarded by six elite soldiers and the changing of the guard is not until dawn," he continued, sounding concerned enough that what little serenity Lucy had managed to gather faded away. "I saw the shift records and they are all warriors who have survived many battles. You know what it means, right?"

Lucy glanced away at a large painting hanging on the wall that showed the exquisite image of a double-masted Reykanite ship with golden sails sailing in, presumably, the Misty Ocean.

"Numerical disadvantage. If I couldn't even make you sweat in our brief duel, I can also suppose that I'll die instantly in front of those hostiles... It'll be difficult to assassinate Berkano and for both of us to get out of there alive." Nodding, Krios agreed with all the points that Lucy brought to light with dark frustration, and surely there were more that could classify the mission as impossible. "We cannot waste time with doubts and conjectures. Do you have any idea about how to pass by those guards?"

The two were silent before the passage of a hurried woman dressed in a white formal tunic and carrying a mountain of papers in her hands. Entering the upper floor, Krios's darkened gaze focused beyond the tide of archivists arguing with each other or going from one hall to another: the three metal and gear-encircled elevators waited for the two of them, inviting them both towards danger and the beginning of the end of an international conflict.

"Storm them," he proposed, his hands shaking a little until he closed them tightly. Amazed, Lucy wondered if Krios was nervous about considering killing his own countrymen, or eager to be able to fight worthy opponents; she snapped back when he turned his head slightly to look at her. "If we are quick and you help me with your knives... We may be able to reduce the number to two and have a chance of victory."

With the undisputed approval of the young Wraith apprentice, Krios guided her to one of the elevators, navigating the crowd in silence and at a swift but equally discreet pace.

The torchlight halfway up the walls seemed to fade as they advanced, or so it seemed to Lucy. Were the persistent fatigue and pain in her body and wounds both new and old causing hallucinations or mind games?

Regardless, she smirked cruelly, intuiting that her goal was getting closer and closer to being accomplished, as if the shadows that second by second loomed around her announced it: for the Princess and the Empire, a dark, eternal night was going to fall on Reykana.

After closing the metal doors of the elevator, Krios inserted the silver key into one of the small holes in the panel that regulated the ascent by means of dozens of small levers, and one of these was unlocked, falling down by gravity.

A small gold metallic sign indicated the floor unlocked for promotion: number thirty-two. The last one of the skyscraper.

"As soon as the elevator stops and I open the door, run forward and throw your knives at every living thing you see," the Reykanite told her, then raised the lever and simultaneously caused a jolt of the metal box and gears on the sides and inside the wall. "I will take care of anyone who remains standing and willing to fight to the death."