I took a deep breath, nodded to Beleth and Talon, and we each left to initiate our part of the plan.
Beleth and Talon would take out the guards during the shift change while I went straight for the prison, to break Drake out.
I heard Beleth and Talon fighting as I snuck around the back of the prison. "Rose, am I clear?"
"Just give it another minute or two," she said.
A minute or two was a very long time, suspended in the sky, in an area forbidden to us, where we could be put to death just for being here.
"Now?"
"Almost," she said.
My wings thrummed behind me as I waited.
"Now!" she said.
I didn't hesitate.
I flew straight for the entrance of the prison and met Beleth there, who acquired keys from the prison guard he took down.
"Did you get the keys?" I asked quietly.
He pulled out a set of silver keys and tossed them to me. "We don't have long until they find the guards' bodies."
"You sure this will work?" I asked.
He shook his head once. "No, but we have few options."
I nodded and shoved a key into the door.
We got it unlocked. Talon was nowhere to be seen, but we couldn't wait for him. We entered and searched the dark, dank tunnels carved into the floating rock. Torches lined them, their meager light nearly absorbed by the darkness.
"Drake?" I called to him in the quietest voice I could. I tried using my mind to connect but it didn't work in here. I was cut off from all thought, all mental communications.
"Something is dulling our powers in here," I told Beleth.
"I know, I can feel it. We must hurry."
Beleth stopped suddenly in front of me and I nearly ran into him. He held up his finger to his lips and then pointed to turn in the tunnel.
Light flickered off the walls as two shadows approached.
I nodded and stepped back, my heart beating in my chest so hard it hurt.
Beleth spread his inky black wings as his hands turned from flesh into obsidian blades. As the shadows turned the corner, Beleth pounced on them, slicing their throats simultaneously before they could voice any protest over our presence.
"Couldn't you have just knocked them out?" I asked, my stomach roiling as their throats gushed life blood all over the rocky floor.
"I do not feel sympathy for these guards. They do not guard criminals, but innocent Nephilim who have displeased the Queen. They perpetuate her corrupt reign of terror on our people."
Given that my husband was one of those innocents, I didn't argue, but continued following Beleth into the belly of the beast.
As we approached the prison cells, I heard a man screaming and my heart lurched as I tried to identify him. Was it Drake? Had they already hurt him?
The man no longer sounded human and I couldn't let myself believe it was him.
We walked through the prison, avoiding the gazes of other prisoners begging for help. When I saw the back of Drake's blond head through bars, I ran to him. "Drake!"
He turned, his eyes sad, his face so very pale, and he frowned. "No, Sam, you can't be here!"
"We're here to rescue you," I told him.
Beleth searched through the keys and inserted one into the lock.
Just as he did, a loud noise blared through the air and the whole prison filled with smoke.
"Sam, you have to leave. The prison is going to shut down. You can't save me," Drake said.
Beleth reached for me. "The key isn't working. It must be the wrong one. Drake's right, we can't get him out. We have to leave and regroup, or we will be imprisoned along side him and there will be no one left to save any of us."
I didn't want to leave. Couldn't stand the thought of abandoning him here when we were so close, but we were choking on the smoke and the alarms were getting louder.
I let Beleth lead me out. Suddenly, five guards turned the corner, blocking our path.
Beleth once again spread his wings, turned his hands into weapons and flew at them, knocking them aside. As two of them tried to stand he impaled them each with his hands. The other three attacked and Beleth moved fast, positioning himself so that he wasn't surrounded. "Fly, Sam! Get the others and get out. I'll catch up!"
I flew past him and mentally connected with Rose. "We failed. We need to find Talon and meet back at the City."
I found Rose on the perch of the cliff and grabbed her, but I couldn't find Talon. We had to leave him behind. He'd make his own way out. As, I hoped, would Beleth.
When we arrived back at the Forbidden City, Talon was waiting for us. Beleth arrived shortly after and we regrouped back in Red's den. The crystal light cast dim shadows on the ground.
Beleth took stock of us. "What became of you, Talon?"
"I was disarming guards throughout the prison," he said, "but then the alarms went off and I had to fight my way out."
Beleth nodded and looked to me.
I choked back tears of frustration and fear. "What are we going to do? Rescuing him is impossible."
Talon stood and looked at us. "We must kill the Twilight Queen. It is the only way."
TWENTY EIGHT
The Trade Of War
DEREK
Though in the trade of war I have slain men,
— William Shakespeare, Othello