by Apryl Baker
A harsh grating from the opposite side of the door interrupted Stephen from his regret. The sound of steel being scraped over stone vibrated inward. Had to be the hinges, since the door was solid oak. A moment later, a square barely large enough to see through opened. Dark eyes looked in at Stephen.
“Are you going to say something, or did you just come to gawk at your captured captain?” Stephen bluffed without a second thought. If there was any way he could protect Val, he would. “What is it you want?”
“Don’t be an idiot. We don’t have much time.” Ileana’s quiet voice carried into the room on a whisper.
Rage at the woman who set them up to be captured took hold of Stephen as he gathered his feet underneath him and prepared to spring. If he was fast enough, he might be able to get a hand through the square opening and wrap it around her throat.
“I can help you, but you have to trust me.”
“And why would I do that?” Stephen demanded. “You’re the reason we were caught in the first place.”
“I did what I had to do to solidify Kronos’s trust in me. Now that I have it completely, I am in a better position to aid you and your captain.”
Although her logic frustrated Stephen, Ileana’s offer to help was the best option on the table. His body sagged, and the stiffness flowed from his muscles as the promise of physical conflict evaporated.
“How can I trust you?” Stephen uttered the question, but he was fairly sure what her answer would be.
“In your current situation, trust is the least of your problems.” Ileana’s eyes were the only part of her visible, but Stephen could guess at her expression by the lightness in her voice. She was pleased with her position of power. “I can help you, but I need to know that when I come for you, you won’t try to kill me or my operative.”
“When you come for me?” Stephen repeated the phrase as if it were the first time he’d heard words placed in that specific order. “Let me out now. I won’t hurt you if what you’re telling me is true.”
“Not now.” Ileana paused as voices echoed somewhere down the hall.
Stephen held his breath, trying to discern the distance of the voices. Without seeing the layout of the dungeon, it was impossible due to the way sounds echoed off the stone walls. A few second later, the voices faded.
“Preparations must be made.” Ileana’s voice became even softer than before. “When I come back for you, be ready.”
“Wait.” Stephen took a step toward the door. “What are you getting out of this?”
“Not all of us want to see a second war with DeCadia. I’ve read about the death toll during the last one. I won’t let history repeat itself.”
“War? With DeCadia?” Stephen whispered louder than he’d intended. “What are you talking about?”
“Then you don’t know? You’re not spies after all?”
“Spies? No. What’s going on?”
Ileana paused, her eyes deep in concentration. “I have to go. I’ll be back tomorrow, same time. Be ready.” The door slammed closed, the lock echoing in the sudden quiet.
“Wait. Are you breaking everyone out?” Stephen yelled through the door, but she was already gone, leaving an army of questions in her absence.
Chapter Two
Valeria paced the tiny cell. She knew its dimensions by heart. The space was not bigger than five feet on any side. A hole, more than a cell. The smooth metal of the walls smelled of steel, and the heavy door of the same substance was at least a foot thick. A dark, windowless box. There wasn’t an ounce of light visible anywhere.
Her magic became useless the moment she’d entered this prison. It must have been a special design for magic wielders. Not that she was an expert. Only a few weeks had passed since she’d discovered her own abilities.
Frustration welled up once again as she beat on the door. No one answered. She’d been captured before, but this? This was different. She felt helpless, and old fears from her childhood preyed on her mind. One of Madame’s favorite punishments had been to lock her in a closet. She had a deep, debilitating fear of closed, dark spaces.
Being in the dark this long was starting to mess with her head. She began to hear Madame’s voice, taunting her through the door, heard the vile, ugly things men had threatened to do to her as a child. The voices played over and over in her head like a record on a loop. She couldn’t shake them. Valeria wondered how long before she truly lost it and hurt the first person to come through the door, be it one of her crew or one of her captors.
The sudden light that flooded the room made her wince, but she kept her back to the wall, facing the door. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, but she saw a small opening in the steel door.
“Good morning, girl.”
The voice, although pleasant, came off a bit haughty. Kronos. She recognized him from yesterday. He’d come into the tavern with a small army and took them captive. All thanks to the help of the little backstabber, Ileana. As soon as Valeria was able, that woman would pay for betraying them.
“Up for a little chat?”
She refused to answer. Talking with the enemy at this point served no purpose. She’d rather listen and discern intent.
“Shame.” She heard him move away from the entrance. The light became brighter in her cell now that he wasn’t blocking the small slot in the door. She saw she was right. Shiny sheets of steel encased her. While she had no idea if it was the actual metal that hindered her magic, she would find out. Always know your limitations. It was her mantra. If you knew your limits, you could plan for it and find ways to counter your own disabilities.
“Do you know why you’re here, girl?” When she didn’t answer him, he continued. “You’re here because you entered Atlantis with a known criminal, a person exiled from our city. That makes you a criminal by association.”
Not the first time Valeria had been called a criminal by association, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.
“What were you hoping to accomplish by coming here? Did Tobias offer you a reward to gain him access to the city?”
Her silence only made him chuckle. She could do without his laughter. This situation wasn’t funny. Not to her.
“My patience with you will only last for so long, girl. Right now, you are intriguing, unique. You passed through the Crucible. You’ve wielded Atlantian magic. Once I tire of your attitude, I’ll instruct my Inquisitors to inspire your tongue to start telling truths. They are very…unpleasant.”
She’d been tortured a time or two before as well. Granted, none of them had used magic. It might hurt worse than your garden variety vanilla torture, but then again, maybe it wouldn’t. Either way, she’d maintain her silence. Kronos told her more with his tone than she could ever uncover by sparring with her words. She hadn’t gotten to be the most feared pirate of the air by sheer luck.
“We’ll see how loose your tongue becomes in a few days with no food or water.” Kronos moved back in front of the door, blocking the light again. “Welcome home, little Atlantian.”
Then he closed the opening, leaving Valeria in the dark once again.
Welcome home, indeed.
***
Lukas bit his tongue to keep quiet. They’d been “questioning” him for three days. A dark laugh left his bruised and split lip. They’d beat him, then ask a question. To which he only stared back at them. Valeria had taught them all, from the smallest man on her crew, to stay silent. If you talked, you became useless, and useless men died quickly. Pain meant you were still alive, and if you were alive, there was hope.
However, he was hard-pressed to find hope in this mess. These men used torture, yes, but he’d never been tortured with magic before. Pain was now his friend and only companion. He’d learned what it felt like to burn up from the inside out, to feel his gut twisted into knots and his heart squeezed until he thought it would burst in his chest. They did all this without touching him. He could only hope Valeria was safe and not suffering the same fate.
They�
�d all been separated as soon as they arrived. He’d been brought here to this interrogation chamber. Lukas had no clue where the others were. Maybe in the same situation as he found himself, or perhaps they were in jail cells awaiting their turn in this chair.
The two men who’d been assigned to interrogate him had left a few minutes ago. Something about a meal. His stomach grumbled at the thought. It had been days since he’d eaten. He tugged once again at the straps holding him to the chair. The metal braces were too strong. He glanced around the room through blurry eyes. A cut above his right eye had bled profusely. Some of the blood dried to his eyelashes, making it hard to blink.
The room was utilitarian. This chair was placed in the middle of the windowless room. A table with various knives and other sharp instruments stood a few feet away from him. They’d left it there, knowing he’d never free his arms or legs from the straps. The room itself was a pale gray, the smooth surfaces clean despite the stains around the chair. The room inspired despair. How many men and women had sat here, feeling hopeless? How many had broken? How many more had died?
Anger bubbled up for the millionth time. Lukas only allowed it to surface when his tormentors left. If he allowed them to see any emotion, they’d take it as a sign of weakness, and the gods only knew what they’d do to him then. Once he was free—and he had no doubt he’d get free—Ileana was going to suffer. Suffer horribly. Lukas had a temper, one he kept tightly leashed, but this woman had betrayed Valeria, betrayed them all. She’d put them here and walked away. Lukas was going to enjoy his revenge.
The door creaked open, and Lukas looked up, his body heaving a heavy sigh. Time for round forty. Only it wasn’t his tormenters who entered the room. It was a tall young man, dressed in dark clothes. He was perhaps eighteen or twenty, at most. He glanced behind him as he let the door fall closed. His blond hair was streaked and greasy, and the scar that ran from the corner of his eyes down into the crease of his mouth gave him a very intimidating demeanor. Lukas felt his hackles rise, not at the man’s shady looks, but because he recognized him. It was one of the thieves who had been with Ileana that day in the tavern.
The youth put a finger to his lips and kept his ear pressed against the door. Lukas frowned at him. Why was he here? When he seemed satisfied, he moved away from the door to stand in front of Lukas. “I am here to help you.”
He spat in the boy’s face. “Your mistress put me here.”
Wiping the spit from his face, he nodded. “She did, but had she not, she wouldn’t be able to retrieve you now. Kronos will suspect her, but since she is in a meeting with him, he cannot place this blame on her. She fulfilled her bargain. She handed Tobias and his kin over to him. Now she will fulfill her bargain with Tobias Blood.”
Lukas stared at him, unable to quite believe what he was hearing. The head of the Thieves Guild was a double agent? He shouldn’t be surprised. Thieves were thieves.
“I am Talen, here to free you and lead you out of the palace. We must hurry. The guards will only be gone a few more minutes.” Talen got to work on freeing his hands and feet.
“I’m not going anywhere without Emerald.” They’d all agreed no one was to know her true name here. To all the people of Atlantis, she was Emerald, the air pirate who captained the airship The Emerald Queen.
“There are others handling her release.” Talen snapped the last buckle and stood back. “My job is your release.”
Lukas stood and almost fell. He’d been in that chair for three days with no relief. His muscles protested at the smallest movement. Talen shoved a vial at him. “Drink this.”
“What is it?” He couldn’t keep the suspicion out of his voice, but he took the vial.
“It will give you strength. You must be able to walk if we are to get out.”
Lukas tossed it back, swallowing the vile substance. With a few seconds, he felt the pain leave his extremities, and the strength began to return. It wasn’t a permanent fix. He knew this. The one thing he’d learned was that magic, even potions, came at a price. He would bet his last dollar by tonight he’d be begging for some of Ya-You’s medicine that tasted like feet.
“Now we get Emerald.”
Talen shook his head, but Lukas stopped him before he said another word. “I don’t go anywhere without my captain. You can either help me find her, or I’ll do it myself.”
Irritation flashed across the young man’s face, but Lukas was older and commanded a crew of men just like him. His tone brooked no argument. The boy sighed and moved back to the door, listening. After a long moment, he pulled it open and glanced outside before motioning Lukas to follow him.
“Emerald,” he reminded the back of the boy’s head.
Frustration rolled off him in waves. Lukas could see it in the way his spine stiffened, but he nodded.
Talen led them through hallways and down two flights of stairs. It was darker here, the air more claustrophobic. The tile gave way to hard metal. Several overhead fixtures lit the place enough to see, but Lukas felt himself tense up when he noticed the space between the doors. These rooms were tiny. He could imagine how terrified Valeria must be. She hated closed-in places. They were her Achilles’ heel.
The soft murmur of voices reached them. Talen slowed, and Lukas felt his muscles tense, ready for a fight. He’d hoped there would be guards outside her door. The last three days left him spoiling for a good fight.
When they reached the end of the hallway, Lukas saw it branched off to the left and right, with the tunnel continuing in front of them. A crossroads. The voices came from the right. He closed his eyes and listened. Another trick Valeria had taught him. She’d told him to blind himself and let his other senses tell him what he couldn’t see. It had saved his life more than a few times.
He heard two voices, two sets of feet shuffling. He couldn’t discern what they were talking about, but they seemed to be quite animated. Both were in agreement, as neither raised their voice in anger or denial. They weren’t expecting anything out of the ordinary.
The only thing that made him pause was the possibility of magic. He had no real experience with it, so countering it wasn’t something in his wheelhouse. But he had to get her out of that box. She would go crazy in there. He reached into his pocket and grasped the small stones. On the way here, he’d purposefully fallen and scooped up a few stones. One never knew when they’d come in handy. He nudged Talen and motioned for the man to stand aside.
Lukas grasped the stones and skipped one of them down the hall, halting the voices. He skipped another one down the hall to the right. That brought heavy footfalls in their direction. He and Talen hugged the wall, hiding in the shadows as best they could. When the men reached the crossway in the passages, they paused. Lukas held his breath, hoping they’d continue straight and go past them. It would allow him to get a jump on them.
To his chagrin, they turned and started walking back down the hallway, deciding whatever they heard was nothing to worry about. Lukas shook his head, but stepped after them. He could take them by surprise just as easily walking toward Valeria as away from her.
The men were big, taller than even himself. He glanced over at Talen, who had followed him. Talen was still very much a boy, hardly old enough to call himself a man. Lukas worried if the lad would be able to help him, but there was no turning back. He nodded to the lad and launched himself at the first of the brutes.
A startled yelp left the man as Lukas’s arms wrapped around his neck, choking him. An elbow caught Lukas in the ribs, but he held on, tightening his hold. He heard Talen scuffling with the second brute, but it was all he could do to maintain his hold on this one. He’d have to hope the boy could survive long enough for this one to go down.
Having four older brothers, Lukas learned early on the best way to take out someone bigger and stronger was to choke them into unconsciousness. The man was struggling, and Lukas aimed a swift kick right in the back of the man’s knee. He went down, and Lukas followed him, keeping his hold as tight as he
could. Soft sounds of gurgling escaped the man. If he died, he died. Lukas refused to let up. When the man went limp, he kept his hold for a full minute to make sure and then let him fall.
He stood, prepared to rescue Talen, but he saw the lad leaning against the wall, watching him. He saw the big man sprawled on the floor in front of him, a pool of blood spreading out around his head. The dagger in Talen’s hand caught the light as he cleaned it.
“He’s too big for me to fight.” Talen slipped the knife back in its sheath. “I let him grab me, and when he leaned down, I just shoved the knife in his carotid. No muss, no fuss. Simple is always better.”
Huh. And here he’d been worried about the thief, a mistake Lukas wouldn’t make again. He turned his attention back to the doors lining either wall. “Where is she?”
Talen leaned down and cut the thumb off the dead guard. He then took off at a steady pace down the hallway, and Lukas all but ran to keep up with him. He stopped at the very end of the hall and motioned to the door. The thumb he’d removed from the guard was used to open the lock. Lukas had never seen anything like it. It lit up green, followed by a click. Talen opened the door, but neither was prepared when the room’s occupant sprang out and tackled Talen, her hands wrapped around his throat.
Lukas grasped both her hands and pulled. Fear gave her strength. “Easy, Val. It’s me. It’s Lukas.” He whispered the words in her ear. She went still, and he kept it up. “Easy, sweetheart. We’re here to rescue you.”
“Lukas?” The strangled word came out on a sob, and the rage he’d felt earlier surged back up. She sounded broken. Had they left her in there for three days?
“Let the lad go. He’s only trying to help.” It took him several tries, but he managed to loosen her hands enough for Talen to slip free. He backed up, his eyes wide as he massaged his throat.