Veiled (Rapture's Edge 2)

“Yes, Merl is here.”

“Rachel, I need to tell you something. We’re in trouble, all of us, even if your force wins the battle. There are things about the prison you can’t know.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll get the keys and free you as well as the men.”

She shook her head, and because Rachel stood close enough to the cell, Katlynn caught her arm. “The chains the men use are charged. No one here is powerful enough to break apart the steel. And even if we could, none of us can fold from this prison, not you or Merl or any of the warriors he brought with him.”

Rachel put a hand to her chest. “Oh, God.” Had their rescue attempt become a trap?

Rachel noticed the damp spots on the woman’s gown. “You’ve been weeping.”

“From the time the team broke through. Yes.”

“Is there no hope, because I can’t believe it since we’ve been led here by vision after vision.”

At that, Katlynn cocked her head. “You’ve had visions?”

“Not me. But Duncan has, several of them, all having to do with you.”

“Duncan,” she whispered. “He spoke to me telepathically.” She turned away from the bars and put her hands on either side of her head. “This rescue was not of Merl’s devising then?”

“Your brother’s? No. The source, as I’ve said, came from Warrior Duncan. He’s gifted with visions from the future streams.”

Both the clanging of the chains in the cells and the shouts of the battle had begun to dim. Rachel glanced up the hall and saw that the black ops team had all but defeated Yolanthe’s forces. Both Duncan and Joshua still battled, but it wouldn’t be long now, and Owen and Merl were searching for the keys to the different cells.

Reverting her attention to Katlynn, Rachel took a step back. The woman had her hands outstretched and her head flung back. Her body glowed with a blue-green light and a similar smoke streamed from her body.

She had to be caught in some kind of vision herself.

When her light dimmed, Katlynn straightened her shoulders and lowered her arms. She then hurried in Rachel’s direction and said in a terrified voice. “We have only a couple of minutes. I must touch ‘the one’ if we’re going to escape.”

“The one? You mean one of the men?”

“Yes, he is called ‘The One’. I have spoken with my mistress. She says Yolanthe will come down here very soon and if she does, we’re lost. Please find ‘the one’. Hurry!”

Rachel blinked a couple of times, her heart pounding once more.

The One. Who the hell was ‘the one’?

Both Endelle and Luken now spoke with the chained up warriors. Rachel reached for Luken telepathically and explained what was going on.

Luken glanced in the direction of Joshua and Duncan who had just defeated the last of the Militia Warriors. There was a terrible pile up of bodies at the entrance to the stairs.

Rachel had to look away. She’d gotten used to a lot of carnage in the past month, but she still had her moments, especially given the sensitive nature of her stomach.

Luken delivered a series of orders so that he, Duncan and Joshua came running in Katlynn’s direction.

Rachel said, “I don’t know which of the warriors she wants, but she says he’s the only hope for getting all of us out alive.” Her heart pounded once more.

“‘The One’,” Katlynn shouted. “He’s called ‘The One’.”

Duncan said, “Owen. She means Owen.”

“Yes, The One.”

Duncan’s voice rang up the hall. “Owen, we need you. Now. And put some speed on. We’ve got trouble.”

Owen came running over, his hazel eyes intense. Sweat dripped from his forehead, and blood spatter coated his uniform, arms and legs, like all the warriors. “What do you need?”