Previous Part
Theo took a deep breath before he turned to his friend. "As far as I am concerned that man sitting on the throne is not my father." He shook his head looking down. "That man was never a father to me. He has hurt and tortured more people in his lifetime and has gotten away with it time and time again. He does not deserve to be where he is today. And to know the truth..." He broke off gritting his teeth thinking of the words Rayna spoke on the events of that night. "To know the truth that he killed the man I looked up to then as a father, and possibly killed and framed the woman I considered a second mother is unforgivable." When he looked into Cyrus' eyes again, they were dark with anger. "But to know that he was almost the murderer of my best friend, the murderer of a child." He gripped the window sill tightly, trying to control his anger. "He deserves what's coming for him." Theo looked out the window once more eyes trained on her. "In the last forty-eight hours I have thanked the Gods a million times over that he did not succeed in that respect."
Both men stood looking out the window, as the night sky grew darker, growing a slight orange.
Part 2
Once the sky was covered in darkness and stars that was when they set out to the castle.
All of them dressed in dark clothing, the men in the Bellator uniforms and Rayna wore her black dress along with her mothers cape. Kalevi and Cyrus stayed behind, of course they tried to argue their way into going, but everyone agreed that everything that was happening in town it was best to keep them hidden. Rayna tried to argue the same thing for Theo, my the Gods forbid if they were to get caught, who knows what will happen to him. But each argued that Theo knew the castle better than anyone. As a child he would search the castle high and low, he knew the castle like the back of his hand; they needed him.
The dryads met them at the opening of the jungle to escort them; they only had three horses, two people to a horse to limit noise and suspicion. All the men had their helmets on, hiding their identity. And Rayna had on her cloak, along with a scarf to cover her face so only her eyes were seen. She held on tight to Theo, growing more and more nervous as they neared their destination. She didn't doubt them to do the job right, to try their best. But she was having doubts in herself; in her powers. What if something goes wrong? What if she is not strong enough to cast the spell?
With one hand on the reins and the other over Rayna's hands Theo felt his nerves slip away as he followed the other two horses ahead. He knew in the end he would be safe; this was what he was trained for, to fight, to do what's right. And with Rayna there, he knew she would protect them.
Once they reached the end of their destination, Prince Coilleach was waiting for them. Rayna felt her lips tug into a smile, though no one could see it. Once they stopped, Rayna jumped down from the horse without any help and went to her friend. Coilleach bent down to hug her. "Thank you for being here." Rayna whispered.
Coilleach pulled away and took her hands in his, "Where else would I be?"
Rayna smiled under the cloth and squeezed his hands back. She took a deep breath, released his hands and turned to the men waiting for her. She pulled the cloth down from her mouth and spoke. "Alright, the way this will work is I will be cloaking all six of us under the spell. It's the only way. No one will be able to see, hear, or touch any one of us. The only ones that will be able to see us is each other." She waited to make sure each man understood. "If you pick something up, it will not make a sound under your touch. But do not drop anything or let anything go, because once it is released from your hands it will make a noise. Now I will be staying here, and when it nears time I will make the whistle noise I showed you all. Only we will be able to hear it. When you hear that whistle you will only have at most fifteen minutes before you are visible. I will walk forward with you to the edge of the jungle, and that is it. I will not be here when you get back so just run as fast as you can."
Theo was the first to speak. "Why won't you be here?"
She tried to keep an even face, not looking him directly in the eyes. "I will be back here with Prince Coilleach and the dryads making sure everything is ready to go." She looked to Prince Coilleach who just nodded, keeping his mouth shut, knowing the real reason why he was here.
Theo seemed to accept this answer, not saying another word, just nodding in understanding.
Rayna nodded back taking a deep breath then holding out her hands. "Let's all join hands." Theo and Jace took Rayna's hands and the others followed suit taking one another's hands. She waited till every one was joined. "Are you all ready?" They each nodded, unable to verbalize their words for they were nervous. None of them had ever been apart of a spell before, they weren't sure what to expect.
Rayna closed her eyes and began. "Invisibilia nudus oculus ad." She kept her eyes closed all eyes trained on her. "Inaudita per universam. Nulla sit relicta testans print in terra. Est nobis." She felt the dark magic coursing through her, feeling the high the magic brought her. She tried not to think too much on how good it felt. " An hora occultatum lacernis togatum consistere." At the last word, she opened her eyes revealing the glowing violets behind the lids. All of them gasped the sight of them, not anticipating it.
Rayn a breathed a sigh of relief knowing the spell had worked when they horses became startled at their disappearance. Coilleach and the dryads tried to calm them, soothe them into silence. Rayna motioned for the men to move. "Quickly now."
The men were shocked they didn't feel a thing when the spell was cast. They had expected to feeling something, some sort of physical pain, but there was nothing. They knew that they were invisble though once Coilleach was looking around to see nothing there.
They followed Rayna to the edge of the trees next to the castle. Rayna felt a lump in her throat being so close to a place she always called home, but she shook those thoughts from her head. This was not the time. She looked to Theo who was still mesmerized by her eyes, she tried not to smirk at the expression on his face. "Go quickly. You only have so much time." She leaned up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Go, be safe." She whispered in his ear.
Theo kissed her forehead then walked off with the others into the castle.
Rayna watched as they walked forward towards the castle, until they were completely out of sight. She remained hidden behind one of the trees watching them, just in case. She turned to walk to where Coilleach and the dryads were waiting trying to fight the urge to follow them to the castle. Just as she was walking forward, Coilleach appeared by the tree she was hiding behind. Rayna rolled her eyes and picked up a rock then dropped it to the ground so that he knew she was there. She was not surprised to see him there, no doubt he was checking that she had not run off.
Coilleach jumped, but sighed relieved knowing she was still there. "I know I'm not supposed to be near here, I just wanted to make sure you were still here. Didn't want you getting any big ideas and trying to follow them inside the castle." Rayna rolled her eyes, like she would be able to get away with something like that. They would have known she was following them in an instant. They were trained for that. Coilleach hesitated before he walked back to his post. "Ray, you do know he is going to be unbelievably angry with you when he comes back? All of them will be." With that he turned around and walked off.
Rayna sighed sadly for she knew. Theo was not going to be happy with her once he returned. But what he didn't know won't hurt him. Until the truth came to relieve itself.
♦ ♦ ♦
The men moved quickly as they went through the servant's quarters of the castle. There were never any guards located that area it was the safest bet. Going this way also meant it would be easier to get to the dungeons.
Theo was certain that was where his father was keeping her... if she was still alive. His father would want to watch her in misery. No doubt it was what he did to Rayna's mother as well. He felt his anger boil up at the thought, but he had to push it aside and stick to the plan of saving Catherina. He could not let them down.
It was quiet among the castle, not a soul was awake except for the guards that stayed post at certain entrances but they moved past them with ease. Theo felt powerful knowing they could not be seen at all. He marveled at how their footsteps did not echo on the cobblestones beneath their feet. He was shocked at how when they spoke it did not carry throughout the room. But also, he felt proud knowing Rayna was capable of such power. He did not want her originally doing this, what with Cyrus and Kalevi explaining that it makes her weak from casting such a spell, but he was grateful that they finally listened to her. This would make all the difference in their search. But they needed to make sure they moved fast. Time was fleeting.
Theo led the men up one of the staircases from the servant's quarters, down four halls, making two rights and a left, then down another staircase leading towards the dungeon. They were moving rather quickly, when something caught his eye that he had not noticed before when he wandered down here. He lifted his hand for the men to stop as he went to inspect what he saw down a narrow hall. He noticed as he went through the entry way that part of the wall had been pushed to the side in order for someone to enter. Either someone was already in there or they had forgotten to close the wall behind them. Either way, they were going to find out what was down there.
The hall grew thinner as he went through, only Jace was behind him now the others remaining behind, all of them too nervous to continue down the hall, feeling panicked at how narrow it was. As they both continued to walk forward the walls moved in closer and closer until they both had to walk single file and sideways until the walls were touching both their chests and backs. They scooted a few feet more between the cobble stone walls before they finally reached a flight of stairs leading down.
Theo looked around them confused beyond confused as they went down the stairs. He had never seen this passageway before never once as he and Rayna ran around hiding in all different places did they ever see this. Whenever he came down here, as he grew older it never came into view either. Jace looked surprised as well knowing the castle pretty well and bringing numerous prisoners down to the dungeons, he never noticed this way.
What surprised Theo most was how dry it all was as they went further down. He always noticed when he would go to the dungeon the floor and walls would be leaky and wet with water. King Gabriel had explained to him as a boy that since it was under ground, water leaked through the ceiling especially when it rained. But walking through here there was nothing. Not a drop.
Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, there were three different entryways to go. They chose to go down the one that already had the door opened. They both were cautious walking slowly. Keeping an eye out for anyone near. They may be invisible to those around, but they did not want to take any chances.
As they walked through the hall, there were no rooms or doors leading anywhere. At one point though the heard a noise that startled them. Almost like a roar or a growl from a distance.
Jace grabbed Theo's arm, motioning for them to turn around. Theo shook his head no and moved forward, Jace sighed, reluctantly following him along.
The way the hall seemed to be was going down an angle and the halls were not straightforward but they turned with each foot step, as they walked almost like they were going in a circle. Every so often there was a torch that lit up the hall as they continued to walk down. Finally, finally they came across a door.
Theo peered inside the bars that were set in a small square viewing. He sighed in relief when he saw Catherina inside the room. She was hanging up by chains in a standing position. She looked like she was asleep. He felt nothing but sadness seeing her like this; she didn't deserve to be treated like this.
Jace peered in and sighed as well, then tried to get the door open, but noticed no handle on the door. He felt around the door, with the little light that was in the hall and noticed a lock. Theo noticed the lock as well and began looking around for a key that may have been hung near by. Clearly no one came down here or knows about it so maybe they left them near.
Theo noticed the hall continuing and whispered to Jace, "I'm going to look and see if there might be keys further down."
Jace nodded, and tried to see if he could pick the lock.
Theo walked forward cautiously as he went further down the hall. There were a eleven other doors that he passed by but he did not look in them, not hearing anything coming from any of them anyway. He reached the end of the hall, and was about to give up, when he noticed a holder and what appeared to be keys.
Theo sighed with relief, hoping that truly the guards were that clueless to hand the keys out in the open for anyone to find. But he did not hold on to the hope too much, for it all seemed too easy. As he got closer to the wall, he chuckled noting the keys were marked to which door they belonged to.
He grabbed just the one labeled '1' that sat there hanging on the wall, he noticed on the back there was a 'C' carved on to the back, which no doubt stood for Catherina. "Jace I found what are hopefully the keys." He whispered out hoping that he can hear him.
Jace replied softly, sounding very frustrated. "I am not sure how much help they will be, your highness."
Theo was perplexed by what he could mean that the keys would not work. Theo walked back to where they had found Catherina, wanting to understand why they wouldn't work, but something caught his attention from one of the doors that had an small 'S' carved on it. He stopped in his tracks and peered into the small window like the other door had. He looked around the dark room trying to find what he had spotted before, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. Once his eyes fell on what was locked up in the room his heart stopped.
He did not move from the spot where he stood.
He did not hear Jace calling out to him.
He did not notice the key slip from his fingers, making a little clang on the cobblestone floor.
The only thing that crossed his mind was the words that he whispered out loud.
"You're alive."
A/N: I think that is a big enough cliffhanger to end the first book with, what do you guys think? ;) The summary makes sense now doesn't it :D?
And now: *sobbing*. I can't believe I am posting the last part of Imperium. It's the end! I can't thank all you enough for your support while I've been posting my story. It means the world to me that you guys have enjoyed this story.
But of course, as the last chapter title of this story says, it's just the beginning ;).
Stay tuned...
J
P.S. who do you guys think it is that Theo saw?? ;)
5/8/2020