Wicked Deal (Shadow Guild: The Rebel 2)

I lunged for the guard. Raising my hand, I flung my magic at him. “Do not attack us.”

His mouth snapped shut, and fire blazed in his eyes. He raised his hand, his palm glowing with red light.

“Do not.” I forced him to comply, shooting Carrow a look. “Get out of here. I can’t hold him for long.”

“They’re here to help, Mauritius,” Mariketta said.

Mauritius didn’t spare her a glance. He didn’t want to hear her. He was enraged by my presence in their tower. No one invaded the sorcerers’ space without consequences.

Carrow raced for the door. Mauritius struggled against my hold as Carrow slipped around him.

I looked at Mariketta. “Thank you. I will mend your crypt. When he’s calm, I’d appreciate it if you explained things to him.”

She shrugged. “I will try.”

I nodded and hurried after Carrow, not letting go of my hold on Mauritius. He growled as I went by, and I prayed that Mariketta could talk some sense into him. We might need help taking down Ivan.

The hall outside of Mariketta’s enchanted room was long and dark. The stone floor and walls blended, and the air glowed with a faint gray light that seemed to have no source.

I heard footsteps to our right.

“Which way?” Carrow looked frantically in either direction. “I can hear them coming, but I can’t tell where they are.”

“Go left.”

She sprinted down the hall, and I followed, covering her back. It seemed endless, impossibly long for a tower at the edge of Guild City.

Up ahead, another hallway intersected with ours. Footsteps pounded toward us.

“Look out ahead!” I said.

Carrow slowed. Two sorcerers sprinted out of the darkness, a man and a woman in cloaks, their eyes flashing with anger.

The woman raised her hand. Crimson light glowed from her palm, matching her red hair. She hurled it at us.

We dove out of the way, skidding on the stone ground.

The male sorcerer hurled another blast. It struck me in the leg, and pain flared. I forced it back, calling upon the strength and power I’d harnessed over the long centuries.

I surged upright and launched myself at them. Grabbing them by the lapels, I smashed their heads together. They dropped to the ground, unconscious.

“Are they dead?” Carrow asked.

“No.” I’d pulled my punches to avoid it, though I could have crushed their skulls if I’d wanted. Hopefully, they’d realize that when they woke and not create too much trouble. “Let’s go.”

We sprinted around them, heading farther down the hall.

“We need to find stairs to the roof,” I said. “We’ll never make it through the main part of their tower.”

Magic surged around us. The sorcerers were gearing up for battle, searching the halls for us, ready to strike. We couldn’t run into anymore.

“Stairs!” Carrow pointed ahead, and I spotted them.

A narrow stairwell diverged off the hall.

We raced toward it and stopped in front of the entrance, panting. The darkened stairwell stretched up and down. Carrow headed up.

I followed. She