“Save it. I don’t care what you were about to do. The fact that you can do it, despite Loris’s magic, should be a surprise, but I’ve learned my lesson. Do you want to know what that lesson is?” Ben stepped from the shadows.
“No.”
“Too bad, ’cause I’m going to tell you anyway. I’ve learned to never, ever underestimate you. And to never assume anything.” He moved closer.
A strange weakness flushed through me.
“You’ve been consuming the Theobroma,” Ben said. “So why isn’t the magic working? Let’s see...”
The compulsion to sit in Bruns’s visitor’s chair pressed on me. My body obeyed before my mind gave the command. Panic pulsed and urged me to run, scream or fight back. All was ignored.
“Goody. My magic works on you.” He pulled a dagger from a sheath on his belt and stood in front of me. “I’ve imagined stabbing this knife into you a million times.” Ben crouched down to my eye level. He poked my stomach with the blade’s tip.
The pain failed to register over the sheer terror that gripped me.
“However, I think it’ll be so much more fun watching you slice yourself to ribbons before you cut your own throat.” Ben offered me the weapon. “Take it.”
Unable to resist, I reached for the hilt. My fingers brushed Ben’s as I wrapped my right hand around the hilt. In that instant, the compulsions disappeared. Without thinking, I grabbed his wrist with my left hand and hundreds of hours of knife-defense training kicked in.
I thrust forward, unbalancing Ben. He fell back on his butt as I sprang from the seat and followed him. Turning the knife around, I didn’t hesitate to plunge the blade into his stomach, aiming the tip up to his heart, killing him.
It was brutal and ruthless. It was necessary to save myself and the baby. It was just what Ben wished to do to me—erase a problem permanently.
Should I be upset by the warm blood gushing over my hands? By the final painful exhalation from my victim? By the stench of body fluids pooling under his dead body?
Yes—taking a life was never easy, no matter the circumstances.
But did I regret it?
No.
*
After I cleaned up, I filled a bucket with water and grabbed the basket full of soap, washcloths and clean uniforms I’d assembled and hidden in a supply closet. I carried them down to the jail. Now wasn’t the time to worry about what could go wrong. There were two sets of doors and four guards between me and my family. Now was the time for action.
“What’s this?” the soldier on the left asked when he spotted me lumbering toward him with my heavy load.
“Bruns wants the prisoners to wash up before the morning,” I said.
“Now? It’s the middle of the night.”
“I don’t question orders,” I said. My tone indicated that he shouldn’t, either.
“All right, give them here.”
I handed the bucket and basket to him as his partner unlocked the door.
“Make sure they all clean up,” I said.
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll take care of it.”
I left, but didn’t go far. The second set of guards also grumbled about the time. While they transferred the items to the inner guards, I drew a blowpipe from my tunic and a handful of darts with extra-long needles. Loading the first one, I aimed.
With a sharp puff of air, I shot the closest man. It hit his arm, piercing the fabric. By the time he jerked with surprise, I launched another. Then in quick succession I hit the other two. The Curare worked fast and, with only a minimal amount of yelling, they toppled to the ground, paralyzed. Sweet.
I tucked the blowpipe back in my tunic. It was a keeper. The rifling in its barrel had improved even my terrible aim. Take that, Janco!
Grabbing the keys, I unlocked the inner doors. I stepped into the lantern light and everyone turned guarded and worried expressions on me.
“You ready to get out of here?” I asked.
Smiles all around and a whoop from Janco. I moved from cell to cell, freeing them. Valek pulled me into a tight embrace. I closed my eyes and allowed myself a moment of comfort in his arms.
“How?” he whispered.
“Later,” I promised. “Are you strong enough?”
“Yes.” He released me.
“Good.”
“What’s the plan?” Janco asked.
I pointed to the bucket of water, which remained upright, and to the basket, which had spilled, scattering clothes onto the floor. “Clean up and change quick. Leif, can you and Hale weave null shields into the uniforms?”
“What about Mara?” Leif asked.
“Janco will fetch her. Do his uniform first.”
Janco stripped off his shirt. “Where is she?”
I told him. “Tell her you’re taking her to Leif. That we’re all working for Bruns now and are leaving for an important and secret mission.”
Leif found a uniform sized for Janco and concentrated on building a null shield on the shirt. Hale picked up another while Janco washed up. I turned my back when Janco yanked off his pants, giving them some privacy.