"This looks familiar."
I couldn't help my smile at Julian's words.
I looked up at the Keep as it towered over us. It seemed to touch the sky it was so tall. "Hmm," I whispered. "It looks different when you're not plummeting to your death."
Damien snorted, knowing all too well what I meant. I told him how Julian and Kymra helped me escape the Keep without the Guards knowing. Kymra had pushed me off the balcony of my room, making me fall into the Ylee hundreds of feet below.
Julian had waited for me on a boat in the river, fished me out of the water and took me to his home in Skryen.
I wasn't even sure how much time had passed since then. It almost seemed a lifetime ago.
The night was eerily quiet. The only sound over our hushed voices was the quiet lapping of the water as the boat glided over it.
I swallowed my fear. No one would see us, I was reassured time and time again. There was no moon in the sky, so no one would see the tiny boat as it made its way to the Keep. The large ominous rocks on the shore of where the Keep rested meant that any boat that did happen to cross the magic barriers of the Keep, would immediately be crushed and it's inhabitants tossed to the frigid water.
"Luckily," Damien said before, "there's a small space we can beach on, near the West Tower. Lower fae could use it to escape if the Keep were ever under siege."
"Has it ever been used?" I had asked.
Damien shook his head and stayed quiet.
I followed his lead and quieted.
As I sat low on the boat, I looked at Julian's large, strong back.
He agreed with me on saving Mal. He saw what I saw just not as vividly. He didn't experience it as I did, for him, it was like watching a movie. He saw Tianna's story. He didn't live it like I did. He didn't have the lingering effects of feeling the soul in the stone take over as I did.
I wondered if it was because I was the one physically holding the stone while he only held my hand.
Light magic must have taken over when our hands touched, Kymra said to us.
We would save Mal. We agreed.
"But not if it means sacrificing your own safety," he told me sternly. It was as if he knew me.
Mal was innocent. She was a pawn. Just like I was with Robyn.
If I could help her...
I would do it, however, I could.
I let out a long shuddering breath as the large towers of the Keep swallowed my view.
My nerves were on edge, tingling with what would happen when we ventured to the other side of the walls of the Keep.
I looked behind me.
Damien was rowing the small boat silently, his eyes sweeping over the small shore of the Keep as we approached it. Julian crouched in the boat in front of me watchful of the Keep and the land around it. They both seemed at ease despite the fact that they were watching for guards to make sure we wouldn't get caught.
My leg bounced nervously. I had my fingers in my mouth biting at the little nail that was left on my stubby fingers. My hands were shaking, my stomach, turning.
Mehnit, all the while, sat calmly next to my feet in her cat form.
I wished I could emanate her peaceful presence.
I took a shuddering breath as we approached the large rocks.
I looked where Julian pointed as he let out a low whistle in Damien's direction.
The boat turned slowly towards where he pointed. There was an impossibly small space between the rocks but, miraculously, when Damien rowed one final time, the boat fit.
Julian moved fast.
He jumped from in front of me, and landed on the side of the boat, barely making a splash. Placing his hands on the boat, he pushed it forward just as Damien jumped out and did the same.
When the boat was safely on the sand, I jumped out too with Mehnit closely behind.
Damien and Julian moved quickly, lifting the boat over their head with little struggle and running up the sand towards the large ominous walls of the Keep. I grabbed some of the thick brush next to the rocks, getting as many large handfuls as I could. When satisfied, I ran to the boat as they set it down against the wall on the sand and lay the brush on the parts of the boat that wasn't already covered.
When we were done, we set our backs against the stones and waited. Mehnit stayed close to my feet as we did.
The quiet rolling of the small waves of the river seemed to calm me if I didn't think about what we were listening for.
Anything to indicate the Guard knew we were trying to break into the palace of the Underworld.
It felt like a lifetime of just listening to each other breathing.
Julian was the first to whisper. "Nothing seems amiss."
I watched Damien nod. "Let's go."
We followed Damien as he hugged the tower wall. His fingers dug into the bricks as if searching and I realized he was looking for the secret door that would lead us inside.
My heart hammered in my chest and my hands became clammy with cold sweat.
Julian grabbed my hand and when my eyes met his, he squeezed it gently with a reassuring smile.
The small gesture made me smile and I squeezed his hand back with a nod.
A sudden noise behind me made me turn abruptly with my heart in my throat. Damien was no longer standing in the sand next to me, he had tumbled forward into the door that wasn't previously there. I examined the bricks that fell away and revealed a secret door.
Damien emerged from the shadows inside the tower covered in dirt and cobwebs. His pale skin was streaked with wet dirt and his violet eyes seemed to be brighter. "Just watch your step," he whispered.
I nodded and followed where he stepped as I made my way inside.
The corridor was small with barely enough room to fit my shoulders. Julian entered with me and had to stand at an angle in order to fit, Damien too.
"I can barely breathe in here," Julian whispered quietly.
I watched Damien nod briefly before he shut the door making the darkness envelop us. "It only fits one at a time so, we'll have to go up the stairs in a single file line."
"Where are they?" I whispered. "I can't see anything."
A dim orange glow suddenly appeared illuminating Damien's features in the darkness. He held
Someone grabbed my hand in the dark and placed it against the wall. "Hold on to the wall beside you as we go up," Damien whispered. "The stairs are very steep."
I struggled as I went up the brick stairs. The darkness was impenetrable. It all blended together making it impossible to know if we were going in the right direction or not. I moved forward, comforted by the fact that Damien was still ahead of me and Julian would gently touch my hip behind me occasionally, assuring me that I wasn't alone in the darkness.
After what seemed forever Damien cursed under his breath ahead of me.
"What is it?" I whispered.
"I almost fell on my face," he groaned. "The stairs end there."
I hid my grin.
"Don't laugh."
"I'm not laughing."
"It's pitch black and I know you're laughing at me, Em."
I bit my bottom lip. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Julian's voice was low behind me. "Maybe we need to practice being quiet given as how we're in the walls of the Keep gods know where."
I felt his hands reach for me from behind. They were a reassuring weight on my shoulders. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves again and when I felt Damien move again, I followed silently but slowly. Staying close to the wall just like Damien, I grappled my fingers around the hard stones so I could make my way in the darkness.
My heart was singing. We could do this, we could actually pull this off. I would give Damien back his throne. I didn't have to live in the Keep anymore. I could do what I wanted with whoever I wanted...
I stopped. Julian stopped with me.
I felt the hair on my arms stand on end. "Something's wrong," I whispered.
I felt him move closer to me. His hand gripped my arm. "I feel it too."
I felt a burst of power next to me. A sudden breeze moved around my feet and I smelled the familiar cold air magic left behind. Mehnit transformed into her lion form next to me in the dark.
The stone wall I was leaning against fell away and Julian and I fell with it. Bright lights assaulted my vision and for too long --for ten heart-stopping seconds, I couldn't see.
I couldn't see.
I fell on the palms of my hands, the sensitive skin scraped the stone floor.
I lifted myself to my knees. Blindly, I drew power into my hands but before I could do anything with it, strong, rough hands grabbed mine and pulled them down towards the floor so hard, I fell forward again. I screamed in pain as my wrists shattered against the stone.
"Emylin!"
Julian's frantic cry made me turn blindly in his direction.
"Move again General," a man said. "And this blade will rip through your Adam's Apple."
My world came into focus slowly. A man in armor I didn't recognize held my hands together on the floor. A lone, dark figure in the middle of the room smiled.
I thought he was charming.
Once.
Asmo's smile gave no warmth. "Nice of you to finally join us, Alteaza."
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Gods, this needs sooooooo much woooooooork.