“Enid,” Marren said with as much happiness he could muster into a calm conversation.
“Marren,” Enid held out his hand. They gripped each other’s arms at the base of their elbows and pulled each other close, giving a couple good and sound pats on the back then releasing each other.
“Family reunions. Beautiful events, aren’t they?” Lernn said to no one in particular. “Let’s arrange one final one, shall we?”
He bent at the waist over the large parchment on the table. I drew closer for a better look. It was a map of the city and the castle. The inside workings of it and a schedule tacked to the side.
***
For the rest of the night, all three of us poured over the plans. Marren and I learned the king’s true identity was Jiren and had actually raised Serid on the belief that we were responsible for Okelo’s death. Serid had started out his journey set on revenge. But, he didn’t account for the possibility of falling in love. If what Marren said proved true, then it only made sense that what Lernn said was true as well. About Serid’s caring for Naloud while she lay imprisoned in the castle’s dungeon. And with Lernn’s bit of vital information, recounting a story of how to kill ethereal beings, we made a plan of our own—a shaky plan at best, but was better than nothing, and anything was worth freeing the immortal races for good. The cost, however, seemed far too great.
“I don’t like it,” I argued with Marren after we were led to a room.
“You don’t need to like it. You just need to go with it. It’s his choice.”
“That’s not a choice. That’s a sacrifice,” I said.
Marren cupped my face in his hands and pressed his lips against mine. “He has nothing holding him here. His entire life had been taken from him. This is something he wants. This is how he can be at peace. Who are we to deny him that?”
I rolled my eyes, forced to admit the logic in his words. But it still didn’t seem right and made me sad and empty. I crawled in to bed with Marren following close behind.
“Tomorrow evening seems so far away,” I said just before the exhaustion claimed me.
“It will come quicker than you think.” Marren’s words echoed through my head as sleep took over my consciousness.
***
When I woke, I was stiff. So exhausted I didn’t shift once, instead lying in one position. I spent most of the afternoon and evening working on stretching my muscles and making my body more flexible, allowing me to fight without much resistance. I sat on the floor as Marren, Lernn and Enid poured over the plans and map of the city one last time. The way this place was built underground fascinated me. It had to have taken years to do this, yet it had been done so quickly.
“Does the city above have an awareness of this place?” I asked.
“They think they do,” Lernn replied. “But no one has dared to find out. Humans are more afraid of us than we are of them, and we’re the ones with the bounty on our heads.”
I became so lost in thought about all the things I would say to Naloud when we found her and all the things I would say to Jiren as the light of life faded in his eyes. However, something Lernn said caught my attention.
“They call it, A Night of Celebration.”
“Why?” I asked.
Everyone turned to face me with confused expressions on their faces, almost as if they were shocked I didn’t already know.
“It’s celebrating the approximate anniversary of the disappearance of our kind. They will dress up and try to pass as us,” Lernn offered. I had a knowledge of this celebration for years but never quite understood it. Tarn never allowed me to participate and never talked about it.
“Quite hilarious, actually,” Lernn continued.
I thought of someone trying to dress up to be a half-deranged elf or werewolf and stifled a chuckle. “Oh, I bet.”
“Actually, people should be crowding the streets as we speak. The time for battle has arrived, my friends!”
We followed the crowd up the winding road to the portcullis of the castle. We slipped through to the part of the castle wall overgrown with ivy. We crossed the courtyard to the back entrance of the dungeon, a towering turret that supposedly went as far down as it did up. Stairs, on the inside of the door, spiraled downward to the deepest darkest depths.
The trek seemed like an eternity descending the stairs, but we finally came to the bottom floor, nicknamed The Abyss for those condemned to this level. Solid ground, not stone, formed the floor as walls of bars lined the halls that spread out in four different directions. Torchlight gave away the cell Naloud sat in, along with two guards on either side as was expected, per the plan. I was to be the distraction.
I stepped forward but was stopped by Marren’s hand gripping me under my arm. Be careful, uwoduhi.
I peered over my shoulder at him. His black eyes and his wolf face. I promise.
He nodded once and released me, allowing me to continue on my quest to save our daughter.