“Vemar,” I whispered, turning to look back. He’d been charged with bringing the tools.
“Yes, Strange Lady, ah…” He looked hard at the bars. “Shit. My tools were in my pocket.”
I blinked at him, then looked over his nude body. “Were?”
He met my eyes, frustration burning in his gaze. “I wasn’t thinking. I should’ve given them to Hannon. My clothes went over the side and into the lava. It completely slipped my mind about the lockpicks. It’s… I…”
He sagged in misery.
My stomach dropped, and my ass tightened, and I felt like throwing up all at the same time. At the last door, the one where we desperately needed a real key, we didn’t have any tools to open it.
“Anyone?” I turned around desperately. “Does anyone have tools?”
Those who weren’t naked patted themselves, their faces falling.
“Shit.” I turned and grabbed a bar. “Fine. I’ll run back. I know the way. I can get across that bridge. Who has tools in their cells?”
A chorus of people gave me an affirmative, and I knew where one of them had been held without needing to ask for further details.
“No—” Hadriel gripped the bars, but he didn’t get much farther than that. There was no point in arguing; we needed to get through this door, and lock-picking tools were the only way to do it.
“I’ll go too.” Hannon pushed through the crowd, stepping out into the space next to me. “I can make sure you get across the bridge.”
“No, it’s—” I cut myself off for the same reason Hadriel had. It would be safer if Hannon went with me.
With a chuff, five wolves stepped forward.
“The wolves will be going too, if that wasn’t obvious,” Hadriel said. “And I guess I should come, just in case you forget the way. Vemar, I hold grudges, know that.”
“Normally, I’d make fun of you, but in this instance, I don’t blame you,” Vemar said. “The bridge made me forget anything other than…well, the bridge.”
“You might need me if a lock has been engaged.” Calia stepped forward with her sister.
“Fine. Let’s hurry.” I started jogging, my pace labored and my form horrible, but at least I was moving. The others, except the wolves, went about it the same way, all of us malnourished, ridden with anxiety, tired, and now desperate. Trapped.
With the markings and smells fresh in my mind, I led the others through the tunnels without a problem, passing through the skull door and closing in on the bridge.
“Someone is going to have to carry me again, Hannon,” Hadriel said as the large, glowing room appeared up ahead. “Vemar told me what almost happened. I would rather not be tossed overboard, Finley.”
Calia giggled, and I didn’t need to look to know Hadriel was scowling at her.
I rounded the corner and hurried into the room, smacking off a hard chest and bouncing backward. Growls reverberated behind me. Someone gasped.
I stood face to face with Govam. Behind him, filling half the room, were his guards.
TWENTY-FOUR
FINLEY
I built power to strike, but he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around my waist, spinning me and throwing me to the ground. Denski grabbed Calia, ripping her away from her sister.
“Weston, go!” I yelled. “Get the others! Hurry! Bring the dragons!”
The wolves turned quickly and sped away, not a moment to lose.
“Don’t do anything yet, Finley,” Govam said very quietly, his lips right next to my ear. “This isn’t going to go how you think.”
I almost struck out with a killing blow, but Hadriel said, “Finley, wait—”
Govam rolled off me and then yanked me up, now whipping me around. He held my elbows like usual, pointing my front toward the mess of guards in the room. What I saw left me speechless.
The guards were fighting each other! Not with whips or sticks or the usual weapons we were accustomed to, but with swords. Well, some of them had swords, at any rate, and they were rushing the other guards and running them through. Guards fell quickly, yelling and groaning, grabbing their middles.
“I had intended to do this at the boats,” Govam said urgently, watching the scene. “You see, the demons who patrol the boats don’t know how to work them. It ensures no one can overcome them and escape.”
Two quarreling guards stumbled over each other’s feet and tipped over the edge into the lava. Another guard was thrown after them. Sonassa, still glammed up in her red dress, slashed down with a dagger and opened the chest of her new enemy. When blood splattered across her face, she smiled.
“You would’ve been stranded there until another patrol came and found you. Your escape attempt would’ve ended in the same way as all of the others. Dolion is very good at trapping his prisoners. He’s just as good at trapping his subjects.”
The melee in the large room slowed, then mostly stopped, the surviving guards breathing hard, only those with swords or daggers left standing. After a beat, a few of them started picking up the fallen and throwing them into the lava.