As we ran, I realized I knew where we were—not far from the guest quarters—and a new plan came to life in my mind. If we could get back to my room, we might be able to disappear into one of the secret channels I’d discovered in the walls. We’d just have to elude the guards long enough to reach a doorway and get out of the Duergar realm.
Going from memory, I took Nicole up a flight of stairs and through the turns that would lead us to the courtyard below the rooms assigned to the New Gargoyle visiting party. We were running hard, and we outpaced the lumbering, armored men chasing us. Just as we took the final left turn leading to a short hallway that opened into the courtyard, a broad-shouldered figure with a short sword at his side stepped into our way ahead. I skidded to a halt, ready to backpedal, but then realized I knew who it was.
“Petra?” called the man with the ever-casual voice.
Knowing I couldn’t go back the way we’d come, I jogged up to him.
“Jasper, I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I need to get out of here,” I said, speaking rapidly. “Periclase was holding this woman against her will. She’s a New Gargoyle changeling.”
His gold eyes flicked to Nicole and then behind us as the sounds of our pursuers grew louder.
I knew it was fruitless—I was asking him to defy his own father and sovereign—but at that point I wasn’t above begging.
“Please, let us go, and I will owe you,” I said quietly and urgently. “This I swear.”
Something in the air seemed to crystalize as a potential oath hung between us.
He hesitated only a second. “Okay.” Then he turned. “Come with me.”
I barely noticed the faint tingle of magic in the air that formed a binding oath between us.
Jasper led us across the dim courtyard on a diagonal, but instead of taking us to another corridor, he stopped before a large willow tree. Reaching several inches above his head, he slammed the side of his fist on a knot in the wood where it looked like a branch had been cut off long ago. A section of bark popped away at the base of the tree. He reached down to lift it, revealing a hatch.
“Straight down and then straight ahead,” he said hurriedly. “It empties out on the road you came in on with your party.”
“Thank you,” I breathed, and with those two words, I further sealed the favor I owed him.
I ducked under the panel and dropped down into the dark hole, not knowing how far the fall was. I thumped down awkwardly and rolled out of the way just as Nicole landed with a grunt. Drawing Mort and using magic to light the way, I ran into the narrow tunnel carved into the dirt. It was barely wider than my shoulders, and small pale roots snaked into the space from the hard-packed walls and ceiling.
My sister pounded along right behind me, until it seemed as if the tunnel would go on forever. But eventually it began to slope upward. We reached the end, with barely enough room for me to stand without hitting my head. Directly above there was a two-foot diameter hole in the dirt with a flat, rocky surface covering it. I tipped Mort against the wall and then reached up, flattened my palms, and pushed. It didn’t budge. Bracing my feet more solidly, I tried again. Still no movement. Taking a different tack, I fitted my fingers into shallow grooves and slid it instead. The slab of rock moved aside, and the night breeze washed over my face as I looked up into a canopy of tree branches and the starry sky beyond.
Chapter 19
WE FOUND OURSELVES about a third of the way down the dirt road to the clearing where I’d come into the Duergar realm earlier that day, and about twenty feet off to the side in the brush.
“Wait here,” I said to Nicole, who stood panting next to me.
I went to a tree near the edge of the road and peered around it to see if anyone was pursuing us from the direction of the palace. Seeing that the road that way was empty and quiet, I let out a long breath.
I was just about to return to Nicole and suggest we make a break for it and go hard down the road, rather than keeping to the cover of the forest on either side, when I caught sight of a lone figure hurrying up the road toward us from the other direction.
I stood where I was, watching. By the light of the moon and the stars, I saw it was a woman. Something about her looked familiar. Right about the time I realized she was going to veer off the road to come my way, possibly to use the tunnel Nicole and I had just exited, I recognized her.
“Well, well, look what we have here,” I murmured to myself, feeling like a cat watching an unobservant mouse.
It was Bryna, King Periclase’s bastard daughter who’d sent the wraith after me, blocking me from capturing my mark.
I quietly drew Mort and then kept stone-still as I waited for Bryna to pick her way over the uneven ground. She was still in her cocktail gown and heels, so she had to go slowly. When she got within a few feet from where I stood, I stepped into her path and drew magic to light up Mort with violet flame.
“Whatcha doing out all alone, Bryna?” I growled.
I’d clearly surprised her, but she moved with unexpected quickness, and two knives appeared in her hands. She flipped one at me, and I barely dodged it, feeling the metal whir past my ear. I saw the second one coming and used Mort to deflect it. She threw two more knives, and then realizing she was out of weapons, she turned and tried to run away. I was on her in a blink, with my hand clamped around her slim upper arm.
“Not so fast,” I said.
“If you harm me, King Periclase will have you executed,” she spat out.
I snorted. “I doubt that. He doesn’t even claim you as an official member of the royal family.”
That really pissed her off. She swung out with her elbows, trying to jab me in the ribs and twist out of my grasp. With snake-quick movements, I got her in a one-armed chokehold and pulled her backward a few steps. The combo of pressure on the airway and being yanked off-balance sends most people into a mild panic.
But I’d slightly underestimated her. Keeping her cool, she turned and slipped down and out of my hold. She kneed me in the solar plexus, and I let out a grunt, bent at the middle, and sucked air. Her movements were strong and practiced. If she hadn’t been wearing a dress and heels, she might have been a decent opponent in hand-to-hand combat. She tried to dart away, but I was faster.
I stomped a foot on the back of her gown that trailed on the ground. Fabric tore but didn’t break free. It stopped her in her tracks for the split-second I needed to snake my arm around her neck again and pull her back against me.
“You’re not going anywhere,” I hissed in her ear.
I squeezed her throat and lifted Mort, bringing the blade close enough to the side of her neck that my magic licked at her skin, making tiny papercut-like slices.
She scoffed. “You’re not going to kill me,” she choked out.
“Not yet,” I said. “Not while I still need you.”
She tried to claw at my arm and twist away again. I nicked the side of her neck with my blade, and she inhaled sharply and went still.
Bryna swallowed with a dry click of her throat. “What do you want?” she asked.