In The Shadows of the Cavern of Death (Shadows of Death Book 1) (25 page)

Chapter 25

It’s time. Victor is not going to take what I’ve done lying down, but the funny thing is, it’s the daughter I’m more concerned about. I shouldn’t have done that, but I had to know the truth. Changing my clothing, my mind went to the journey I was about to make and I wondered again if it is not just a form of suicide. I had a way into the Loyalist city and the caverns that, if the commander who I tortured is correct, I will never be discovered, using and old system of drainage pipes. He had used them often, abducting women from the caverns, and to get out of the city so he could have privacy with them. Stepping over my unconscious guards, I grabbed my packs. Keely had been a great help gathering the things I needed. The girl had been my companion over the last two weeks and I hoped that she wouldn’t suffer from helping me.

Closing the door behind me, I went to the stairs, using them to get to the ground floor. Waiting until it was clear, I used the same route Johnathon once took us on and went out through the back of the building. Keeping my hood up, I blended with the crowd, making my way through the streets and into the woods. My guards wouldn’t be discovered for a few hours when their relief came. Victor would be too busy digging himself from the hole I just dug him to send an assassin for a while yet. Avoiding the scouts in the woods was rather easy. I already knew where they were. It was just the one at the bridge that would have to be dealt with. When I could see the bridge, I stopped. What stood in front of it I should have expected. Fingering my knife, I gazed at the two men blocking the bridge as my mind made a decision I hoped I didn’t regret. Leaving it sheathed, I approached them, going to the center of the path so they would see me.

“Did you even go to look for me at my housing unit or did you come straight here?” I asked, as I approached them holding my hands from my body so they could see I was unarmed.

“I wanted to go, but Michael said you wouldn’t be there and talked me into coming here,” Johnathon answered with a small smile.

Stopping about twenty feet from them, I asked, “So why are you here blocking my path instead of at your council meeting?”

“Beautiful day for a walk,” Michael replied, looking up at the sky before turning back to me. “Are your guards dead?”

“No, they’re a little tied up and weren’t able to join me on my walk.” I sighed.

“What you said about Victor––” he started.

“Was all true,” I finished.

Nodding his head, he said, “Victor quickly took control of the meeting after you left. Saying that the shocks that you’ve suffered in your life have caused you to unhinge. That you were lashing out because we were creating a treaty of peace between the Loyalist city and us. He stated that you just didn’t understand. That though we would eventually help those in the caverns, if they were even there and it wasn’t part of your delusion, it would be through a process of negotiation. Then he dismissed us all saying that he needed to rest.”

Yeah, I bet he did.

“So you decided to come see me and make sure that I wasn’t going on a murdering rampage in my unhinged state?” I smirked.

Instead of smiling, he looked me dead in the eye. “No, we came to make sure you weren’t murdered to keep you quiet.”

“Well that explains you two, but what about the rest of your people surrounding us? What are they here for?”

Signaling with his hand, I watched as what was left of the unit that I served next to just weeks before came out of the woods. “They are here because they feel like going for a walk, too.”

Looking at all of them, I said, “The safest walk for you to take is behind you, the way you came. I’m going to be hunted from both sides and anyone caught with me will not be treated kindly.” When they all just smiled at me, I couldn’t help the answering one that graced my lips as I tried again. “You’ll be deserters. Victor will have you branded as traitors.”

“I think that is an understatement and I think we’re wasting time. Johnathon will be heading back to be our eyes inside, doing what he can to run interference when needed. The rest of us are with you,” Michael said, before pointing to another man who hadn’t joined us, but stayed in his post up in the tree. “That is Daryl, one of the troops that you released from the barracks, as far as he is concerned, no one came this way. So I think that covers everything except this”––he pulled out a folded-up paper from his jacket that he held out to me––“your map of the caverns, I picked it up when Victor wasn’t looking, figuring that we needed it a little more.” I had given it to Victor thinking that I was going to die in the attack.

Stepping forward and closing the distance between us, I took the map from his hand. Looking down at it, I gave them one last chance to walk away. “Tristian is alive and being held in the city. They haven’t killed him yet, as far as I know, because he won’t give them the information on how we escaped. He still lives because they couldn’t catch me. The city commander that I questioned gave me information on how to enter the city and the caverns without being seen.” Looking up into Michael’s eyes, I said, “I’m going in to get him if he still lives. Than I’m going into the caverns.”

“Well, I guess we had better get going,” he said, the look in his eyes unreadable, but firm.

“Alright, than I guess we have our orders. Misty, darling, it’s been a pleasure,” Johnathon said, breaking the moment. Stepping up to me, he lifted me up in a hug and swung me around before sealing his lips to mine in a quick kiss. Stepping back, he slapped Michael’s back and headed down the path back to town.

Bemused, I watched him go before turning back, rolling my eyes at the scowl on Michael’s face. I moved past him and headed across the bridge. If the sound of footsteps didn’t tell me they were there, Justin’s staged whisper comment would have. “I think I’m back to not liking her. Here we are, my first real vacation and where does she take me. Some place new? Oh, no not her. With her it’s the same old thing, running for our lives and getting shot at. Well, she better not be expecting me to go flying through the air again. I’m telling you all right now, I will not be jumping from any roofs…”

I couldn’t help but smile at the good-natured ribbing going on between them. Here they were, going with me to an almost certain death and they were joking about it. As Michael moved next to me, I let out a breath that I hadn’t realized I had been holding. I wasn’t alone. No matter what was to come, I wasn’t alone and I didn’t know why that brought me comfort when it should have filled me with dread. Like Tristian and my sisters, they were now my responsibility to care for and like Tristian and my sisters, I wouldn’t be able to protect them. But as we left the bridge and the forest began to surround us, the only thing I could think of was that in the darkness I wouldn’t be alone…