The Forbidden Lands (Wattys 2015 Winner)

Chapter Twenty-Four

His eyes narrowed. "We cannot trust a royal."

"She is completely trustworthy," I said. "Now, are you going to do this with me, or not?"

He looked deeply into my eyes. His were such a nice color, being silvery blue and all. I wished mine weren't so muddy brown. He leaned back. "I'll go."

I smiled. "Good." I told him what I'd learned from Merek, and we formed our plan.

The next day, we left the tavern, wearing wigs and clothes of nobles. I laughed at Liam.

"You look ridiculous," I said. He was wearing a ginger-colored wig and fake beard, along with the bright, fancy styles of the men of court.

He rolled his eyes. "So do you."

I grinned. "I know, but at least I pull it off. You don't, Carrot."

He rolled his eyes again.

We walked to a secret entrance in the east side of the castle. Lucia had shown it to me when I had stayed at the castle those previous weeks. We got pass the guards outside the castle gates by saying we were some nobles Liam knew, who supported the bandit cause.

We arrived at the entrance. I saw a person open the door. It was not Lucia. "Are you Evelin?" the servant asked. "Lucia sent me to get you. Her brother had sent for her, so she could not come."

"Yes," I whispered, "and this is my friend, Liam."

The servant led us through the passage way under the castle.

Liam whispered something that only I could hear. "Oh, so now we are friends?"

I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see it.

"This is the way to the below-dungeons," the servant said, pointing to a door. There is usually one guard on watch, who has the keys. Take him out; free your friend. The door will be unlocked when you come back. I have to go."

Liam walked into the door first, with me behind him. I immediately spotted the guard, sitting in a chair against the stone walls. Only one torch gleamed in the darkness, but he could still see us.

"What are you two doing here?" the guard growled. "No one's supposed to come here."

"We have direct orders from King Davi," Liam said. "He wishes for us to bring him a certain prisoner. Please hand over the keys."

The guard stood up. "The king said something like this might happen."

"Exactly," Liam said, holding out his hand. "So--"

The guard interrupted him. "He said someone might come and try to trick me. But I'm smarter than that." He pulled out a giant broadsword.

"Run," Liam said between gritted teeth as he pulled out his own sword.

"No way," I said. I ran towards the guard, pulling out Jax's dagger.

"No, Evelin!" Liam said, coming after me. It was only the second time he'd called me by name. He jumped in front of me and blocked a hit from the guard.

"I would've deflected that," I grumbled.

"You've never had proper training," he grunted as he blocked more hits.

I stepped in front of him and blocked some of my own. "I've had some training."

The guard roared and used both hands to swipe his sword down. I slid under his legs and popped up behind him. He turned around and managed to nick the side of my arm.

"On second thought," I said. "You can handle him, Liam." I grabbed the guard's keys from his belt loop and darted away. Liam kept him busy, and I ran down the hall, looking for the troll.

I heard Liam let out a yell of pain behind me. I turned around in fear. He was still fighting.

I kept running down the hall and skirted to a stop as I saw a flash of blue. I peered into the cell. "Assana's father?" I said.

"You know my daughter?" the merrow said in a dry voice. He probably hadn't gotten enough water in a while.

"Yes," I said as I fumbled with the keys. I found the right one and unlocked the cell. "You are the Enchanter, correct?"

He nodded. His green eyes were so intense.

"Do you happen to know where the troll Enchanter is?" I asked.

He nodded. "Two cells over. He's freezing, unfortunately."

I passed some of the most frightening criminals as I found the troll. He was curled into a ball, trying to keep warm. I unlocked the door. "Come out," I said. "I am Coten's friend. He sent me to rescue you, Enchanter."

The troll looked up, shivering. "Let us get out of here, then."

We three ran past the cells. The guard stood in front of the entrance, blocking Liam's hits. I could not help but admire Liam's form as he defended and danced back, trying to tire the large man out. The guard also had exceptional form. He was the largest man I had ever seen, in height and pure muscle. Compared to me, he looked like a giant. The king had probably put his best man to defend the under-dungeons.

I rushed over to Liam to help. The guard spotted me. He started to slash at Liam with furious, strong strokes. I could see the impact as Liam deflected them. I used Jax's dagger to nick the guard on the arms and legs. I could not even reach his neck or face.

"Get--back--" Liam panted, as he slashed in an upper motion.

"No," I said. "Haven't you figured it out yet? I'm not going to stand by and let you," I ducked a blow, "get hurt."

I got a good gash in the guard's leg, and he roared in pain. In that moment, Liam was able to use the side of his sword to bang the guard on the head. A normal man would've fallen unconscious, but the guard ran over to a rope hanging from the ceiling. "I was going to knock you both unconscious, but I suppose there's no point in injuring myself." He pulled the rope, and a big ringing noise filled the space. A warning bell. The castle now knew we were there.

"Let's go," I said to the Enchanters. Liam held off the guard, and we escaped out the door. We left the secret entrance, where Lucia was standing, tears running down her face.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'm not going to work for the king anymore," Lucia sniffed.

"What?" I said.

"He has no more influence over me," she murmured. "I am coming with you."

"Lucia, what's going on?" I asked.

"Evelin," she said carefully. "Girec is dead."

It took me a while to comprehend her words. Girec . . . dead? No, he couldn't die. He was my big brother, the invincible Lieutenant Fendway. I had always looked up to him.

Then, it hit me. I saw Lucia's tears, and the world started spinning. I started gasping for breath. "Girec?" I said, trying to breath.

Then, the world became black.

But not nearly as black as my despair.

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I can't . . . write an A/N.