Pieces of Jade (Pirates of Orea) (38 page)

Clayton shrugged. “We’re facing the ocean.”

I folded my arms. “I think it is a senseless risk.”

“As is this whole adventure.”

“Climbing the wall isn’t necessary.”

“Aww, don’t tell me you care for my safety.”

I glared at him. “That isn’t it. Believe me.”

He chuckled as he and Lafe left William and I standing alone. They became visible again as soon as they left the protection of the concealment shield.

“This is your master plan?” I asked.

William frowned at me. “You think you could do better?”

“I
know
I could do better. I was trained by some of the brightest minds in the kingdom. I should have been involved in the planning.” I shook my head in disapproval. “We could have avoided stupid risks.”

William gave me an indulgent smile. “Next time we break into the
Manacle, we’ll include you in our planning.”

“What are we going to
do with Dorian? We can’t just leave him here. He knows who I am and who I’m traveling with. He’ll come after us.”

“We’ll leave him here
and be glad to wash our hands of him. He was in the brig the whole time, so the only thing he could know is that Clay and I are enemies to the kingdom—if they hadn’t gotten the message with Clay’s attack on the prince and my outright refusal to help, then they’re daft. But if he wakes up before we get back, the oil in the cloth will keep his tongue numb for a full day. He won’t be telling anyone about us.” William bent and retrieved the medallion from Dorian’s pocket. “Is our concealment still in place?”

I nodded.

He seemed to have the castle grounds memorized. He took a path through the maze I was completely unfamiliar with and found a patch of the hedge thin enough for us to slip through. I stepped through the plant and found myself staring at a previously concealed door at the base of the tower.

William knocked three times.

“Who are we meeting?” I whispered.

William pressed his ear to the door listening. “We have friends inside the castle. One is waiting for us.”

William stepped back as the door swung open. Benjamin’s blonde head appeared. He waved us inside and closed the door behind us. “Excuse me but I must leave before I’m missed.” He disappeared around a corner before I could thank him.

William led me the opposite direction. He stopped when several different openings appeared in front of us.

“We’ll stay straight until the third branch-off,” William said under his breath.

I opened my mouth to speak but William shook his head and pressed a finger to his lips. “We need to be quiet,” he mouthed. He held up his fingers as we passed different openings.

On the third, he headed up a set of stairs and I followed. The first five levels were vacant of guards, but nearing the sixth we pressed ourselves against the uneven stones of the circular staircase until the beat of marching feet had passed, then sprinted up the last four flights, I was panting and my calves burned. William peered around the corner and motioned us to follow with a jerk of his chin.

The corridor was
well-lit and utterly silent. Most of the servants were in bed for the night, and my nerves strained against the quiet. I’d expected to see a sentry, a servant . . . someone. Where was everyone?

William frowned and kept glancing over his shoulder, his hand poised over the hilt of his sword. We paused beside a warped wooden door with a simple lock. William borrowed a pin from my hair and quickly picked it open.

He leaned near the worn wood, and sniffed. “I think your sister’s in here,” he whispered, “but she’s not alone.” He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly. “Two more, I think. Be ready.” He pushed open the door.

There sat Pearl.

A weight lifted off my shoulders to see her alive.

She glanced up from her embroidery. “Is it time for dinner—?” She let out a little scream when she saw William standing there with his sword drawn. Her sampler dropped to the ground and she pressed back into the chair.

She could see us? That meant I’d dropped the spell. I tried to cast it again but it was too late.

Two guards jumped out from the shadows of Pearl’s chamber. One blew the whistle around his neck, as the other lunged at William, his sword raised. The shrill whistle rang through the room, a warning that would be easy to hear from anywhere in the castle. We had to get out. Fast.

William swore as he parried the attacks of one guard and swung around just in time to stop the second from piercing his heart.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said,
stabbing at the other guard, catching his arm.

H
e fell back a step, but grabbed Pearl, twisting her long hair around his knuckles with one hand and gripping his sword with the other. “I’ll rob you of your prize.”

Pearl screamed.

He wasn’t bluffing. I could read it in his crazed eyes. He swung his sword and he left me no choice but to pierce his flesh with my sword again. I cut across the back of his sword hand. He dropped his weapon as he howled, and Pearl broke free, scrambling into a corner.

“I’ll take these two,” William said, cutting a slice in his opponent’s belly. “Watch our back. There’s more coming and they have pistols. I smell gunpowder.”

I wouldn’t make the mistake of offering leniency again.
Two more guards charged into the room, the first meeting my blade in the chest as he entered. The second raised a pistol at William, but I shoved the dying man into him, and his shot went wide, splintering the fireplace mantle. I pulled out my sword and swung at the shooter, but he ducked back into the hall.

I jumped over the one I’d stabbed and lunged at the other. His sword was out and he parried my blow, taking a step back. I pressed forward, but he was quicker than I expected and he sent me careening into the wall. I turned to catch his sword on mine but his strength outmatched me and he forced me back, pinning me to the wall. I struggled to push him off, but his blade inched closer to my throat.

A shot sounded and the man collapsed. William held a still smoking pistol and winked. “Told you I was better with the pistol.”

William cocked his head, sniffing, and groaned. “Incoming.”

Two more appeared, one from each side of us. William and I fought them in unison; he went low while I hit high. We moved together like we’d been choreographed and were performing a stylized, yet bloody, dance. When our two opponents were felled, he turned to me.

“You’re amazing at the swords.” William smiled.

I beamed at him. Pearl’s shriek hurried us back into the room. The captain’s head poked in through the window. “Did we miss all the fun?”

The captain climbed into the room with
Lafe close behind him.

I approached Pearl with my arms open, ready to embrace her but she arched back.

She grabbed a candelabra and raised it above her head. “Don’t come any closer.”

“What’s wrong with you Pearl? You look at me like you don’t know me.”

“I don’t.”

I’d forgotten about my disguise. I whispered, “You’ve forgotten the convict you helped escape from the dungeon?”

“I didn’t he—” Her body stiffened, her eyes locking with mine. She mouthed a question. “Jade?”

“Yes.” I brought my mouth to her ear. “These men don’t know who I am. They think I was your old nurse, Sheridan. I can’t explain now. We have to go.”

She looked at the others and put down her makeshift weapon. “Okay . . . Sheridan.”

The fast clomp of footsteps resonated from down the hall.

“Get the girl and let’s go,” the captain said gruffly.

“Sherry, this way!” William called, gesturing toward a second door in the room. I grabbed Pearl’s hand and we followed behind Clayton and William,
Lafe taking up the rear.

William led us through the castle to a different set of stairs. We went down more levels than we’d gone up and when the stairs would go down no further, William veered to the left. I could tell from the chill in the damp tunnels that we were underground.

We followed him through a series of twisting, turning passageways until we emerged from the hallway into a large, sparsely furnished room. It had three possible exits, not counting the way we had come. For the first time, William hesitated.

“Where is it, William?” the captain asked. “Which door?”

“I still think we shouldn’t do this. Besides, it’s a secret entrance. I can’t—”

A burning
rose from my toes, building, growing stronger until it bubbled out of my mouth in a rush of words I didn’t comprehend, the magic speaking through me.

The room shook. Wind whipped through my hair and plastered my skirts to my legs, yet all around me the rest of the room remained perfectly still, with not even a breeze.

The words continued to tumble from my mouth, and I grew more and more sure of them, chanting deliberately now. It was far more advanced than anything I’d ever been taught, but somehow I knew it. Knew the meaning the words conveyed. And now, in an ancient tongue, I announced myself as the Emmía, commanding the room to reveal the entrance to me.

A large portrait on the far wall shimmered and the room gave up its last secret. The canvas and the wall behind it vanished, leaving an opening to a darkened staircase.

Chapter 23

A pair of guards surprised us at the next corner. Clayton and Lafe pressed the attack while William turned to me. “Take Pearl and go back the way we came. The staircase on the left should be safe—it’ll lead us to an exit below the castle. They’ll have every other exit guarded, so it’s the only way.”

“What about you?”

William flashed a smile. “Don’t worry—we’ll catch up.”

I met his gaze, fear knotting in my stomach—I didn’t want to leave him, but one look at my sister told me she needed my protection more than William needed my help.

He winked at me before advancing into the scuffle.

I took hold of Pearl and wheeled around, practically dragging Pearl as I followed William’s direction down to a different hall that led to a steep
descending stairway.

When we were far enough we couldn’t hear the sounds of swords, I slowed. Pearl breathed heavily behind me, not used to the exertion. Finally she asked, “What’s going on, Jade?”

“We’re rescuing you.” I paused at the next corridor, sword ready, but the hall was empty.

“Yes, I know that,” she said. “But don’t you want to stay at the castle?”

“Here?” I asked, horrified. “No.”

“But what about
Orea? People will starve without you.”

“We have a plan,” I said. But if I stayed here—if anyone here knew
who I was—I’d be dead by morning.

“What about James?”

I missed a step and jarred my ankle. “What about him?”

“You don’t understand,” Pearl said, grabbing my arm and making me stop to look at her. “They’re willing to forgive you.
Even the king. James still loves you, Jade. That day he took you outside the barrier, he was planning on running away with you.”

I almost dropped my sword. “What?”

She gripped my elbow, steadying me. “He tried to run away with you, but the pirates attacked. After he sent you to the dungeons he realized he was wrong. He tried to stop your execution. He went to the dungeon to release you, but you’d already fled.”

I scoffed and grabbed her hand, pulling her again. “And he’s expecting me to simply forgive him?”

“Probably. When he explained, he said that you’d understand that he did it to save you from an awful future. He came to me a few hours after they’d found me, begging me to bring you home if I could. The thing is, I believe him.”

“Sherry!”

I turned to see William and the others running toward us, ending the conversation. Which was good, because this topic was something I couldn’t deal with. Not when we were fighting for our lives.

We followed the staircase down, stopping on a platform that held only an oil lamp and a plain wooden door.

“Here,” William said softly.

“This is it?” Clayton asked.

William nodded. “But the door is bewitched.”

“How do you open it?” I asked, staring at the door.

When no one answered I turned to look at William. Both he and Clayton stood silent, looking at me expectantly.

“Oh, right. With magic.” I studied the door, summoning the power inside me, though I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Finally, I said, “Um . . . reveal your secrets?”

The wood shimmered and words began sprouting up in its grain—strange words I’d never seen before, but my tongue somehow seemed to understand. I began whispering them softly. The door didn’t swing open, as I’d expected, but a large portion of the wood disappeared, revealing more steps descending into darkness.

A cold draft wafted from the passage, carrying with it . . . something I couldn’t name but that made the hairs on my arm stand on end. Clayton grabbed my wrist and dragged me through, like he thought I would change my mind at seeing what came next.