Red nodded, smiling down at the little Mantano moles rolling around her feet. She stood, not bothering to brush the dirt from her knees as she stated, “I finally realized that I escaped from being a puppet for my family only to willingly become a pawn for Arthur.”
Robyn nodded grimly, his brows creasing together to make an expression of disgust. “I heard about the Ayrith woman.” He tipped his head toward the north side of the hall. “Eliseo told me what she sent you to do.”
“And you’re mad that I didn’t mention my dark magic?” Red questioned nervously. She cringed even as Robyn Thorn gave a hearty laugh.
“Mad? If I’m being completely honest with you, I wouldn’t have known what to do with you if I had known. You’re hard enough to handle without dark magic”—he threw his head back as his body shook with laughter—“and now I come to find that you aren’t even in complete control of it.”
“How are you finding this funny?”
Robyn Thorn fell to his knees, clutching his stomach as it cramped from the fit of giggles that took over him. Red had never seen him in such a state, and she had no idea what to do; so she dropped to the ground next to him, draping her cape over her crossed legs while she waited for him to calm down.
The ghost of a smile lingered across her face, but it slipped away as Robyn choked out, “You could have sent me into the Destroyer's lair ages ago, and I would have been none the wiser until I was at his doorstep.” He let out a sigh, lying back in the dirt as he rubbed at his still spasming stomach.
A few chuckles slipped out into the silence held between him and Red, but Robyn finally regained his composure. “Okay, in all seriousness, it really isn’t funny. I’ll admit that. But how can you not see the humor in this?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Red exclaimed, waving her hands about. “Maybe it’s because you haven’t had the burden of ripping people's limbs apart without even touching them because you lost control. Or maybe it’s because when I do lose control, it hurts like nothing else and drains everything out of me. Or maybe—”
“I get your point,” Robyn cut in, all laughter gone from his eyes as he propped himself on his elbows to look at Red. “If there is anything I can do to help, you know I’m always here.”
Red was touched by the genuine concern that filled Robyn Thorn’s voice, but she shrugged it away. She had no intention of dropping her issues on him while he had to worry about overthrowing kingdoms. She pulled her knees to her chest, combing her fingers through her knotted hair as she rested her elbows on her legs.
“I will not get swallowed up into another one of their games,” she vowed quietly, talking more to herself than to Robyn. “And until I know this box… this task isn't just another game, I am putting everything on hold.” Red snapped her fingers together. “Time stops now.”
“If only it were that simple,” Robyn Thorn added with a knowing nod, his blue eyes growing icy cold in the light of the faerie orb.
“If only it were that easy,” Red agreed, that ice making her blood run cold with dread.
~~~
Red followed Robyn through the winding dirt hallways. She marveled at the complexity of the underground tunnels that snaked in every direction. Some walls twisted and curved around in dizzying loops. Others ended in sharp corners with perfectly parallel lines running across the ceiling. Red noted every turn and stretch of straight walking, but even her trained mind was lost within the endless dirt walls.
“Sorry about the darkness,” Robyn Thorn commented, turning his head to the side when Red muttered the mix of directions under her breath for the third time. “You get used to it after a while.” He flipped the faerie orb in his hand, the light barely shifting as the sphere landed right in the palm of his hand. “Maybe I can snag you one of these if you plan on staying.”
“Thanks,” Red returned with a grimace as she looked past the orb’s shining light into the shadows before them.
Robyn’s long legs and extensive knowledge of the underground tunnels helped him pass through the darkness with ease. He continuously had to check his pace, though, shortening his strides to match Red’s when he saw her fading into the dim light behind the faerie orb.
“How long are you planning on staying?” Robyn added curiously, casting another glance back at Red.
Red had not really considered what her plans would be after leaving the Kingdom Rogues. Her ideas hit a dead end after she had found Robyn. She assumed that Estra would have wanted her to start on her mission as soon as possible. But that would have been easier to accomplish if Red were more willing to blindly follow the words of a dead woman.
She had survived seventeen untrained years with her magic, but who knew how much luck Red had gone through, and wasted, without the bad catching up to her.
“To be honest, I don’t even know why I came,” Red confided quietly, staring into the dirt filled void. For the past few weeks, Red had no idea why she did anything. “Well, besides the fact that a courtesan told me to seek you out, and Harry told me where to find you.”
Robyn Thorn stopped dead in his tracks, making Red pass him by before turning around to look at his worry-stricken face. “How are the others? I know they can take care of themselves, but I haven’t heard from anyone in weeks.”
“Eight women helped me get out of… a bind,” Red explained, Robyn nodding along. “They were very determined to get information on what Arthur was doing. And I tried to get Harry to leave with me, but he told me that he had some unfinished business to take care of.”
“I’m honestly not surprised that Harry wasn’t with you,” Robyn Thorn commented dryly. He caught up to Red in two easy strides, waving a hand for her to continue on their walk. “He said he planned to leave once he got you out, but I never believed him for a second.”
“I would have asked what he was getting into if I knew you would be worried about him.”
“No, I already know what that old devil is getting into. Nothing but trouble for sure.”
“Have you two worked closely before?” Red asked, glancing worriedly at her companion.
Robyn was five years older than Red, but the worry that blanketed his face had aged him in ways that a few months should not age a person. His crystal blue eyes glimmered in the light of the orb, but they were surrounded by dark circles. He was still fit, but Red could tell that he was tired—his thoughts weighing him down.
“Harry was actually the one who convinced me to finally leave the Kingdom Rogues. I always hated what Arthur made us do, and what he did to us.” Red blanched at the simplicity of his statement. “Harry saw the war raging in me, always being torn apart by the horrors and the fact that I had nowhere else to go. No money to live off of. No name to help me along the way.
“I was told it took the other rebel leaders three days to realize that I could be one of their best assets. They sent me on countless nonsense missions and errands, though, before they sent me here to join Eliseo.
“Somehow I ended up becoming Second in Command. I don’t know how many died for me to get that title, and I’d rather not know. But it’s an honor that I won’t waste.”
Robyn paused in his explanation, a meek smile tugging at his lips as he watched Red. When her face gave away nothing, he added, “Harry and the ladies are my spies. They keep me updated on what is going on past this underground labyrinth. Along with Hansel and Gretel Norton, but they haven’t gone on any missions since they returned from watching you with Dranac Gnorw in Airaldan.”
Red did finally react to that confession, her jaw dropping as she remembered the twin brutes. “Those two tried to drown me!” she exclaimed. “If you weren’t such an important rebel leader I would—”
“Kill me?” Robyn interrupted with a devilish grin. “You haven’t blown me to smithereens thus far, so I doubt you would now.”
“Clearly, I have terrible taste in friends if both of them attempted to murder me,” Red claimed, waving her hands between the two violently. “You might not have tried directl
y, but drowning? Really?”
“They weren’t actually going to drown you, just have you pass out so they could carry—”
Robyn stopped his feeble explanation, thinking back on Red’s words. “Wait, who tried to kill you?”
Red picked at a seam on the bottom of her cloak, examining every inch of the finely crafted thread intently. “What?” she asked, feigned innocence weaving into her words like the thread sewn into the swath of fabric held in her fidgeting hands. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Red brushed past a gaping Robyn Thorn, swiping the faerie orb from his lowered hand. She continued down their path, her saunter full of confidence that would get her nowhere but lost in the winding halls. But Red ignored her annoyance at being utterly ignorant of the layout of the tunnels, whistling a sweet song so that Robyn could still follow her once she slipped away into the thick, inky darkness.
“If he doesn’t want to follow,” Red stated indignantly to the bugs and rodents poking their heads out of the walls as she passed, “then he can find his way in the dark.”
Red continued on her slow path down the hall when she heard the crunch of dirt under rushed footsteps. Robyn squinted, readjusting to the brightness of the faerie orb when he caught up to Red. He grabbed onto Red’s wrist, stopping her in her aimless trek through the underground compound.
“Who tried to kill you?” he demanded again, snatching her other arm up in his rough fingers. He used a single hand to clasp her firm wrist like shackles, the other prying the faerie orb from her fingers. “I won’t ask again.”
“You’re a brute.”
“And you’re a pain in the ass.”
Red tried to wrench her arms out of his grasp, but Robyn held firm against her useless tugs. “Fine,” she conceded, giving up in her struggle. “Will you at least let me go first?”
Robyn Thorn weighed the options in his head, calculating the probability of her running through the dirt halls in the dark if he let her go. To Red’s amazement, Robyn reluctantly nodded, but he gripped her wrists tighter as he whispered, “Instead of keeping prisoners contained, we let them roam these halls. Some have yet to be found, so I wouldn’t try anything.”
Red rolled her eyes, but she could not tell if Robyn was lying. Red crossed her arms once Robyn let go, her eyes warily watching the tunnels for any signs of starved prisoners roaming about.
“Before I left the Kingdom Rogues, Arthur was planning on selling me off to some street lord,” Red began, her words quiet. Reluctant. “I’d been calling him out on inviting them and the courtesans into his house since I got back. Apparently, that didn’t sit well with him.”
Robyn gave Red a knowing look that made her words sound more stupid than she had thought.
“After I failed to bring your head to him on a silver platter, he was… frustrated, to say the least. So in an act of final rebellion, before I officially decided to leave, I snooped around his office. You know, as I do.” Robyn snorted in agreement. “He ordered Dranac to kill me. He failed, obviously.”
Robyn Thorn’s eyes narrowed into an icy calm that was only ever seen right before he landed a final blow in a fight. That frozen rage radiated off of every twitch in his jaw, every flex in his straining muscles that itched to be put to work.
“Then I confronted Arthur,” Red continued, Robyn’s attention snapping back to her, fear melting the ice. “Curses were said, torture was promised, blackmail was dealt. Again, the usual.”
“How can you be so calm about this? You signed your own death knell and you’re joking about it.”
“You have to admit that it is a little funny,” Red retorted, a giggle etched into her words. She gaped at the rebel leader when he did not join in with her. “You laughed at the fact that I have little to no control over my magic anymore. Why can’t I laugh about this?”
“It’s not the same!” Robyn exclaimed. “By saying that you don’t have control over it ‘anymore’ means that you had at least a little control over it before.” He ran his hands over his cropped hair, pulling at the tiny corkscrew curls that were starting to grow out. “I never purposely threatened you or tried to push you over the edge. You’re insane if you think that Arthur Welin is just going to let that go.”
Robyn Thorn looked around the hall, trying to remember which direction he had been traveling in. Deciding that it was his turn to storm away, Robyn stomped into the shadows, leaving Red behind to fend for herself.
~~~
Red raced after Robyn, her nails scraping against the packed walls, her soles skimming over the rough ground in a too slow pace that would not help her to catch up with her guide. She dodged around another corner, the light of the faerie orb receding around another bend.
Her lungs were sticky with the moisture that leaked from the soft dirt that scattered under her fingertips. Her patience ran thinner, and her annoyance grew stronger with every step she took through the inky shadows that followed her.
“Oh, so you’re going to abandon me? Let me starve with the rest of your prisoners down here?” Red shouted toward the ever-fading light. Her words were swallowed up by the walls, the soil thriving off of the secrets it heard and the terror it brought out in people.
Red watched the last glimmer of the faerie orb blink out of her sight. Her fingers dug into the wall to her left, the dirt crumbling in her fist. She slid her fingers across the wall, scattering the dirt to the floor, sliding past exposed mud.
Her senses strained to grasp at anything more than the smell of tilled land. She closed her eyes, the shadows behind her lids no darker than the ones beyond.
Red could feel that matching darkness teeming to reach out and play. Dark fire coiled around her veins, igniting every molecule within her body. The power begged to be let loose, set free from the boundaries, the cage, that she tried to push it into. The urge for release choked away the damp air, dry gasps of fire easily replacing the cool water-filled air that surrounded her.
“I was wondering when you would catch up,” Robyn grunted, pulling Red out of the darkness filling and surrounding her. Her lungs burned with the effort to hold the onyx fire in, smoke and soot coating her tongue—her lips. She swallowed that fire, leaving it to simmer in her stomach as she frowned up at Robyn.
“Thank you so much for leaving me back there,” she retorted, flicking a strand of hair over her shoulder. “I wasn’t lost at all.”
Robyn shrugged, the movement so casual for a powerful assassin and rebel leader. “I knew you’d eventually find me.”
“You are at the top of my kill list now, so I guess you’re right.”
Robyn Thorn let out a deep chuckle, the sound once again something foreign coming from him. Red would have called him out on it had she not noticed that they were stopped in front of hulking double doors. Warm golden light leaked out of the crack at their bases.
“How did these get down here?” Red asked in awe, tracing her fingers over the intricate words of a forgotten magical language carved into the wood. She could make out the few letters representing protection and peace, but the rest of the markings were lost to her.
“The Flori’s built their manor on top of this property centuries ago,” Robyn stated, a look of similar awe lining his own face. “They took care of these tunnels to protect their families from natural disasters.
“These doors are the only thing remaining from their original property. Queen Beauty took over their lands at the start of the war when Eliseo refused to send his nieces and nephews to fight in her army. Luckily, she had no knowledge that this place existed.
“The tunnels we’ve been traveling through spread out in every direction for miles, but there are only a few entrances that are still open. I thank the Maker every day that Eliseo offered this place as a sanctuary and base for the rebels. The shelter alone is irreplaceable.”
Robyn Thorn motioned for Red to follow him as he pushed in one of the large doors. It swung open on silent hinges, another sign that a preserving magic was spelle
d to protect the door from the moisture held in the soil all around it.
Buttery golden light washed over the two assassins; the large hall that they stepped into was filled with hundreds of candles balancing on any open surface.
Red squinted against the brightness of the cavernous hall before her. Long tables were placed from wall to wall, their wooden benches separated by no more than a few feet of space. Great wooden pillars lined the edges of the room, holding up the high ceiling. The ceiling curved slightly at the top, suggesting that they were underneath one of the rolling hills that made up Perancis’s countryside. Creatures of all shapes and sizes mingled around the tables or danced to the lively tune streaming from the makeshift drums and old fiddles.
Red’s stomach growled from the smell of savory meats and roasted vegetables wafting past her nose. But as she stepped no more than a few feet into the entrance, her hands automatically draped her hood to cover her face in shadow. Robyn shook his head as he pulled Red up to a nearby table of food and began loading up a plate with food.
“I used to do that every time I walked in here,” Robyn admitted, piling roasted potatoes on top of braised chicken. “The training never fades, but the urge to follow every step of it eventually subsides.”
“I am a wanted criminal in every kingdom,” Red shot back, filling a plate full of bread before grabbing a second plate for the rest of the glorious food. “Someone here is bound to know who I am.”
“Well, with a cloak like that, you’re hard to miss,” a gruff voice sounded at the right end of the table.
Red whipped her head around to take in the huge orc staring at her like a starved bear. Even seated, the orc had to be at least a foot and a half taller than Red. His black hair was cropped close to his head—safer in a fight. And his violet eyes twinkled with mischief.
His massive, jade green hands were covered in scars of every shape and size, matching the ones across his thick neck. Iron armor covered his broad shoulders and forearms, a simple gray tunic underneath. Two baldrics crossed over his broad chest, various hunting knives were strapped to the front, two axes within easy reach across his back.
Cloak of Darkness (The Destroyer-Blessed Saga Book 1) Page 25