Alaran glanced back and nodded, a smile flitting across his face. “Good, in the western wing, as expected. If she hadn’t been, that would’ve been an unpleasant surprise.”
“Right,” Ruethwyn agreed, smiling.
He started down the hall again, almost creeping along at times, and they started passing doorways. Ruethwyn wondered what so many rooms would be used for, but it really didn’t matter.
Soon enough, they were approaching one of the two entrances to the west wing they knew of, and Ruethwyn paused as Alaran approached the two doors, feeling something was off. She murmured a soft spell to detect magic and flinched as she sensed numerous powerful spells woven not just into the doors, but also into the walls around them. They were much stronger than the ones over the escape passage, and Ruethwyn swallowed hard. They felt like they were something her spell breacher could break, but she wasn’t quite sure.
“Tadrick, come on over. This is something we need a breacher for,” Alaran instructed, relieving Ruethwyn slightly. She’d been afraid he hadn’t noticed the wards, but obviously he was a bit ahead of her.
Tadrick nodded, stepping forward as he pulled out the breacher. The two of them fiddled with it, then pressed it against one of the doors as Tadrick said the word. Briefly, Ruethwyn wondered if it’d stick to a person as well as an object, but it didn’t really matter.
Once they’d activated the ring, the two quickly backed off, which was fortunate. Ruethwyn had made the breachers to kill any spells in their area, so if they’d been too close, it might have caused problems for their enchantments, at least for a bit. Seconds later, the breacher flashed with crackling blue energy, and she flinched as the wards beneath it simply vanished, then the ring crumbled to copper dust that fell to the floor with a soft hissing sound.
Alaran gestured them forward, and Ruethwyn took a deep breath, and followed his directions.
Essryl stirred, then her eyes opened a crack. Something felt… wrong. She wasn’t sure what it was, but her instincts were definitely acting up. She suppressed the urge to yawn as she mentally reached out to her room wards.
Her room’s wards were at full strength, and she knew that Minerva wasn’t able to move yet. The healing she was undergoing was going to take a couple more weeks even as it was, so Essryl wasn’t about to be attacked by her. The wards over the wing weren’t reporting any issues either, and there hadn’t been word of Ruethwyn in the city yet. Even if the girl was, she wasn’t the subtlest mage Essryl had encountered, so she had her doubts that she’d get inside without raising the alarm.
“Hmph.” Essryl yawned and rolled over, deciding to go back to sleep.
This was why she had secondary wards near the girls that were hard to spot. If they went off, she’d worry about things. For now, she was going to get every second of sleep she could manage.
The corridors past the doors weren’t much different than the ones they’d just left, Ruethwyn realized. It was a surprise, since she’d expected it to be quite different for some reason. It did feel a little warmer, though.
There was a broad staircase nearby, with one set of stairs leading up and down, and at the sight of it, Alaran nodded.
“Looks like it’s time to split up and cover the building more quickly,” Alaran said, looking at them seriously. “I’ll go downstairs and search for the captives, while Sella and Tadrick go up. We don’t know whether they’re all in the same place or not, so this is the only way to cover the wing quickly. Ruethwyn, if you find all of them, send a message to us. I remember you could do that before, right?”
“Of course,” Ruethwyn agreed.
“Good. Now, we can’t spend too much time here. Give it an hour at most, then head for the exit, we’ll meet just inside it,” Alaran ordered. “Lead any captives you find there as well, we want to get as many of them out of here as possible.”
“Got it,” Tadrick said. He looked between the others for a moment, then smiled and added, “Good luck, everyone.”
“You too,” Ruethwyn replied, and smiled at Alaran. “Thank you, Alaran.”
“Not a problem, Ruethwyn. I made a promise, and I’d rather die than break it,” Alaran said, and then he headed for the staircase going down.
Sella smiled at Ruethwyn and spoke softly. “See you soon, Rue.”
“Agreed,” Ruethwyn said, smiling as she watched Sella and Tadrick go, then looked at Korima. “Shall we?”
“You’re the one with the tracker, so lead us to your missing girlfriend,” Korima replied, and her comment caused Ruethwyn to blush.
“She isn’t my girlfriend,” Ruethwyn said reprovingly. “But first… Zaria?”
Zaria flowed into Ruethwyn’s mind smoothly, the response almost instantaneous. It was a bit of a surprise how quickly the cool, calming presence appeared, but Ruethwyn smiled as Zaria spoke, her voice oddly eager. “Ah, called forth at last! And before that irritating fire elemental, good. Hello, Ruethwyn, it feels like we’re in the dragon’s palace, are we not? This should be interesting.”
“That’s right. Hopefully we can get through this without running into anything too dangerous, but I’m not putting any faith in that,” Ruethwyn replied, her smile widening. “I thought it was a good idea to prepare before running into harm’s way.”
“Excellent. Then go on, I’m sure we don’t need to be standing here,” Zaria urged.
“You’re ready, then?” Korima asked, sounding a touch impatient.
“Yes, I am. Now then…” Ruethwyn sent a thread of mana into the tracker, causing the wires to light up again. She adjusted the angle to ensure it wasn’t pointing at another floor, then nodded. “Looks like we’re going to have to go down the halls to pinpoint her location. At least it looks like the halls are mostly straight in this place.”
“Agreed, though they jog back and forth. I wonder why?” Korima muttered, and Ruethwyn shrugged.
Heading down the hall, Ruethwyn tried to walk quietly, listening for anything out of the ordinary. At least the guards weren’t supposed to come into the wing.
They didn’t run into anyone as they walked through the cavernous halls, and as they moved, Ruethwyn saw a few more signs of the dragon’s wealth, from a few paintings, to huge tapestries that she couldn’t imagine how large the loom to create them had been, to statues and vases. The angle of the glowing wires slowly changed as they walked, and Ruethwyn frowned, seeing them drift to the left. They had to be getting close, and she slowly eased her way around a corner. Korima was much quieter than Ruethwyn was, she’d noticed.
At last they came to a hallway crossing the width of the wing, and Ruethwyn nodded to Korima as they carefully walked down the hall, then saw another hall splitting off from this one, going down the center of the wing. Ruethwyn approached, then paused, inhaling and frowning.
“Is something wrong?” Korima murmured, tilting her head.
“I’m not sure. It feels like there’s a little more mana in this area than normal,” Ruethwyn replied softly, then carefully cast a spell to detect magic. The spell quickly reported that there were higher levels of ambient mana in the area, but that there weren’t any spells she could detect. The result made Ruethwyn frown, but she shook her head and explained. “No spells, just heightened mana levels.”
“Ah. It looks like the hall is a dead end, but it has a lot of doors,” Korima said, peering down the hallway.
Ruethwyn looked down the hall and nodded in agreement. There had to be at least forty doors down the length of the hall, and they were close enough together that the rooms they attached to had to be fairly small. Taking a breath, and looking at the tracker, she nodded. “I’m guessing these are their rooms, then. Come on.”
So they carefully headed down the hallway as Ruethwyn’s hopes rose. This was going well so far.
Essryl’s eyes snapped open and she sat up as the alarm rang out in her mind. She’d only been dozing for the last while, but the signal that someone who wasn’t one of the girls had entered their wing banished any temptatio
n to keep sleeping.
“How… ah,” Essryl grunted in annoyance as she reached out for the wards over the wing and found an entire section missing over one of the entrances into the main halls, and she muttered. “That would explain it. Well, it isn’t certainly Ruethwyn, but odds are that it is.”
Throwing off her blanket, Essryl murmured the spells to freshen up, preparing to use other spells to put on her armor as well. It was faster than suiting up normally, after all.
She was going to intercept them as they tried to leave, and with a mental command Essryl used the wards to lock down every other exit from the wing. Now that she was awake, she’d notice if they destroyed any other wards, too.
Despite herself, Essryl found herself humming happily as she prepared, though she was also a bit sad at what she was going to do.
She’d told Ruethwyn that she’d best do everything possible to avoid encountering her.
Ruethwyn stood in front of the door, looking at the handle hesitantly. The tracker had led her to this door, and it didn’t seem ambiguous at all. She was nervous, more nervous than she could express, and Ruethwyn swallowed hard. Then she reached up and knocked.
For a long minute, there was no response. The sound of footsteps came a few moments later, and Ruethwyn braced herself. The door opened suddenly, and a voice spoke, soft and annoyed. “Yes, what couldn’t wait until—”
Ruethwyn froze, standing face-to-face with Anara, and Anara froze as well. A moment later, she breathed out, her voice soft, “Ruethwyn?”
Chapter 39
Ruethwyn froze for a moment, her breath catching in her throat. Anara was even more beautiful than she remembered her being, even if Anara’s glittering blonde hair was mussed from sleep. Anara’s blue eyes sparkled like sapphires as she looked at Ruethwyn in shock. Her voice was beautiful, and she still had the athletic, fit figure that Ruethwyn had admired so much, currently concealed by a thin nightgown. The only real difference was that Anara’s skin had grown paler over the winter, and wasn’t as tanned as Ruethwyn remembered, and the gold collar she wore stood out as well.
A moment later, Ruethwyn’s mind started working again, and she blinked as she asked, “You… you recognize me?”
“Of course. Mistress Essryl specifically talked about how you changed after going to Valisair, but her descriptions… they pale in comparison to seeing,” Anara said, taking a deep breath and looking over at Korima before adding, “And this must be Korima. I’ve heard a little about you, too.”
“She talked about me? Well, that’s… interesting. I see why Rue liked you, though,” Korima said, carefully looking Anara up and down, but her words caused Ruethwyn to flush.
“Korima!” Ruethwyn said, then paused and shook her head. “No, we need to focus on getting you out of here, Anara. You and all the others. I’m going to contact the others who came with me, but do you know if all the other captives are here?”
“Yes, but wait, Ruethwyn,” Anara said, taking a step out of her room, her tone quiet but urgent. “They’ve been expecting you to come here! Not just Essryl, but the dragon, and, well… he resurrected Sinera.”
“He what?” Ruethwyn asked, suddenly short of breath, almost like she’d been punched in the stomach. It was dizzying, and she swallowed hard, then asked, “She’s… she’s here? With all of you?”
“No, they did something to her. She’s… she’s different, now. When I saw her, she had a horribly cold look in her eyes, and she’s been staying with him this entire time,” Anara said, her comment striking another harsh blow to Ruethwyn.
Ruethwyn just stood there for a long moment, feeling dizzy, like the world couldn’t stop spinning. The thought of her teacher being alive… for a mere instant she’d felt elation like nothing in her life, and then it was like being plunged into an ice bath. Why would her teacher ever cooperate with the dragon?
“This… is disturbing. Not completely unexpected, though, as Resvarygrath is an archmage necromancer. Manipulating the souls of the fallen is within the realm of possibility,” Zaria noted, and Ruethwyn flinched, suddenly thinking back to the explanation Headmaster Spellmason had given.
“Gods above… so that’s why he attacked Mellesyn and took her body,” Ruethwyn said, bile rising in her throat. “I… I heard that he’d once been in love with her, and she rejected him, but to do something like this, to… to kill her and twist her mind? What kind of monster would do that?”
“He what? You… ugh,” Anara said, shuddering. “I knew something about her was different, but you think he did that?”
“I’ve heard of dragons doing horrible things to impress those they like, from destroying kingdoms to challenging gods themselves. Some dragons are benevolent, but most are selfish,” Korima said, chewing on her lip nervously. “Doesn’t this mean we should get going, though?”
“Yes, of course. Um, give me a moment,” Ruethwyn said, and took a breath before casting a spell, feeling terribly unsteady, though Zaria’s calm was helping soothe her nerves. She cast the spell to send a message to the others and spoke softly but clearly. “We found all the captives, and are going to gather them together. However, they knew we were coming, be ready for an ambush.”
The spell sent the message effortlessly, and Ruethwyn looked up at Anara, asking, “Can you help get the others up and ready to go? If you’re right, this could go badly, and I want to get out as quick as we can.”
“I can do that,” Anara said, then tapped the collar she was wearing. “The problem is these collars. Lissa figured out that they can strangle us if we leave the palace, and we think we have a way to remove them, but it’ll take her some time to do so. It’s powerful magic, unfortunately.”
“Wait, Lissa is here?” Korima demanded, as Ruethwyn felt even more shock.
“Yes, Mistress Essryl brought her for one of the dragon’s projects, and was going to let her go after you came,” Anara said, looking sheepish.
“Gods… well, do you know if the collar latches, or could you get it off if the magic is dispelled for a few minutes?” Ruethwyn asked, shaking her head at the repeated surprises.
About that moment, one of the other doors opened and a young woman opened her mouth, looking like she was about to scold them, then froze. Ruethwyn blinked at the sight of Vella, then waved nervously.
“Lissa said they should just fall off,” Anara ventured, then looked over at Vella. “It’s time, get ready, would you? And help get the others up?”
“Okay…” Vella said, swallowing and vanishing back into her room, but not before waving back at Ruethwyn.
“I have a way to remove them, then,” Ruethwyn said, nodding firmly. “It shouldn’t take long, but will require all of you to be in one place.”
“Very well, one moment,” Anara said, sounding oddly formal to Ruethwyn, and surprisingly calm at that. She tapped on the next door over, then opened it and said. “Lissa, they’re here! Get up and ready, quick.”
A sleepy murmur was her reply, but Anara quickly closed the door and went back through her own, adding. “I’ll be right out. We’ve been preparing and hoping.”
Ruethwyn watched her go, her mouth slightly agape, but her jaw snapped shut when Korima giggled. At least it was distracting her from the news about Sinera, but that… the thought made Ruethwyn shiver.
“At least they’re prepared, right? The look on her face when she saw you was priceless,” the kitsune said mischievously. “I think you surprised her.”
“We’re probably going to run into an ambush, and that’s what you’re worrying about?” Ruethwyn asked, looking over at her incredulously.
Korima shrugged shamelessly and replied in a serious tone. “If we are, we are. I can’t stop that, so I may as well try to make note of as many details about everything as I can.”
“Minx,” Ruethwyn muttered, shaking her head.
Anara’s door opened moments later, and Ruethwyn moved out of the way, her eyes widening slightly. Anara was in a tight-fitting outfit that looked a bit like t
he clothing she’d seen Tadrick practice in during the morning, if it wasn’t even closer fitting, and she moved quickly and easily, her hair pulled back by a hair tie for the moment, and she was holding a sack. A tiny part of Ruethwyn wanted to offer one of Anara’s old outfits, but she held back as Anara began to dash between rooms, waking the others.
Lissa’s door opened and the young brunette looked at Ruethwyn tiredly, then blushed as she held her bag, clothed in a simple brown robe. She waved nervously, her voice quiet as she spoke. “Um, hi, Ruethwyn… Korima… it’s been a while.”
“That it has. At least this explains where you went off to. We worried after you left that note, but no one ever figured out where you went,” Ruethwyn said, examining her thoughtfully. Lissa didn’t look nearly as shy as she once had.
“Yes, well it was that or risk Essryl hurting a lot of people. She said she wasn’t leaving without me, so…” Lissa replied, shrugging helplessly, then added, “At least I learned a lot of magic from her. She’s scary.”
“That she is,” Ruethwyn said, looking around the hall as more and more women began coming out, and she swallowed at the sight of them. “This is going to be messy.”
She recognized about half of the women who’d come out so far, and most had vanished back into their rooms to prepare to leave. Of those who she didn’t recognize, several were human, and they all seemed a little more hesitant to get ready. The only one who hadn’t was a beautiful, poised redhead who stood in her doorway, watching all of them with a cool, if worried, gaze while wearing a simple shift. Anara was talking to the elf, and Ruethwyn could barely hear what they were saying.
“Why not?” Anara asked.
“I’ve been here for longer than I lived outside the palace, Anara. Perhaps you have a life outside these walls, but for me, I don’t. I won’t try to stop you, but I’m staying,” the woman said firmly. “I’m not certain if you’re going to succeed or fail, but I will not leave Mistress Essryl’s side.”
The Obsidian Palace (Through the Fire Book 3) Page 34