The Jade City

Chapter 40: The Road East

Morro's POV

I propped up the pillows on my headboard and sank into them. It would be maybe another two hours until the guards were allowed to return to the prison hallways after my supposed "execution." I grinned, imagining the look on everyone's faces.

Ruby was going to be livid when she noticed the absence of her dear Aportus on its perch. I could barely contain my laughter just thinking about it, then reminded myself that I still needed to stay on her good side.

Then I remembered that I still had to explain to her what I did. But why should she be scared anyway? Knowing Zane, he'd be smart enough to not take the straightforward path to Jade City, which would take maybe two weeks at most on foot, and take some long detour instead, because once the Shadow Riders were onto them, they'd find them fast. In my experience, the cloaks allowed us to fly several times the speed of a car under normal circumstances. It was somewhat terrifying, but I didn't really have any headspace to worry about that.

Though there was still no way to guarantee that they wouldn't get there in under three weeks... After all, I did want Aportus to be charged enough to power a portal...

Yeah, my plan wasn't perfect.

But then again, Ruby never said what would happen if the Crystal Blade was close to charged so maybe it would be fine?

I quickly realized that that problem could actually easily be solved as long as Shadow Riders were stationed around the North Tower. Then all we could do was gradually lessen the patrols when three weeks were up, and they would just think the Shadow Knight was letting down his guard. I crossed my arms behind my head and grinned, realizing how similar this tactic was to my fake plan for the prison break. Not that it really mattered; the Ninja weren't aware, so they wouldn't get suspicious.

On the other hand, that would make Ruby look really dumb since the tower was such a crucial part of the plan. But in all honesty, they would be so desperate that I doubted they'd notice. And besides, I wasn't sure if the power source was even that easily destroyed, and it shouldn't be too hard to convince them that the Shadow Knight was coming soon and the source would take a while to destroy.

I patted myself on the back for being such a genius.

Harumi's POV

I burst out into the open, my heart pounding as if I'd just run a marathon. Panting, my eyes darted back and forth between the bushes on my left and right, suddenly at a loss for what to do next.

Then I saw that someone had hastily scrawled the words "prove yourself" in the grass at my feet.

"Um... uh... well... oh, I uh... wish for a weapon!" The sword appeared on the ground beside my feet, and I heard sighs of relief from my left. I wished it away.

"Okay, we're over here!" a voice I recognized as Nya's whisper-yelled.

I hurried over to the bushes and as soon as I saw that Nya, Jay, Lloyd, and Zane were all there, dumped everything onto the ground.

"Wait, is that―"

"Yes," I breathed, still unable to believe it, "The Shadow Rider gave me the Crystal Blade, and whatever is in the bag."

Jay grabbed it and prepared to empty its contents.

"Wait," I said, holding a hand out to stop him, "We should leave. The Shadow Knight could realize we're gone so we have to get as far away from here as possible. Fast."

"What about Morro and your sister?" Zane asked, frowning.

"The guy... said they're keeping them," I mumbled, feeling my heart rate pick up again.