Leighton

36. The element of surprise

Leighton

As instructed we landed further away from Addabon castle than the King’s jet did. Still concealed by our stealth spell we watched at the King disembarked.

A number of guards then circled his plane, as he made his way along the gangway into the castle. He had shown us the series of secret tunnels that should lead us into the castle. While his map of them was crude it should get us close enough that I would be able to follow Estelle’s scent.

The King clearly was having second thoughts that they were going to let Estelle leave with him so we had a signal to give when we were ready to create a distraction and get everyone out of there. From the number of guards guarding his jet, it didn’t look less hopeful that we could escape using that.

“How long does a stealth spell last for?” I asked Loletta.

“Long enough.”

She answered confidently as I watched as she loaded potions into a bag, passing one each to myself and Jackson.

“The distraction.”

Waiting the allocated minutes was agony but soon we were of, sneaking down the tunnels as quietly as we could.

We reached a junction and Jackson looked at me, I concentrated on Estelle and soon enough I could smell the faint scent of the night sky. Taking the left hand tunnel we arrived at a door.

I could hear muffled voices so we stealthy headed that way until they became louder. We stood beside a door that sounded like it would lead us into the room they were in. Estelle’s scent was much stronger now, mixed with something else.

Something possessed me to keep moving though, and I found another door. Quietly pushing it open it opened into a hallway which looked like it lead to the room Estelle was in. We would wait here and burst in when given the signal.

Suddenly I liked this much better idea. Rushing back to get the others we could possibly hide our knowledge of the tunnels by entering here and then making a run for it, as the other end of this corridors lead out towards our jet.

We split into two teams and snuck down the corridor waiting outside ready to pounce as we listened to the conversation inside.

“Speaking of which, where is the Queen.” Adfundis asked the King Louis.

“She will return with Estelle for the party. She didn’t expect Estelle home so soon.”

“Estelle has no wish to return, everything is ready for the party, my mother has arranged it all.” Prince Alonso told the King.

“It’s okay father, I’m happy to wait here.” I had to hold my breath when I heard her voice. Despite her voice ringing out with a trace of hesitation I didn’t believe her.

“As you can see they appear to be getting along quite fine. Your worries were quite …unnecessary.”

The prince interrupted the King before he could reply.

“Why don’t you join us for some tea, before you return to your Kingdom.”

That was our cue. Simultaneously a series of flashes struck and smoke filled the room. There was a roar of rage from King Adalfundis but due to the thick smoke I could barely see.

I entered the room, relying on Titan to lead me to Estelle. I heard her scream and there was a blast of air that cleared the smoke around her as she sent the Prince flying away from her.

A saw a flash of flame heading her way and threw myself at her, knocking us both to the floor as the fire encircled us both, trapping us from the rest of the rescue party.

I couldn’t even relish the feel of her in my arms as I needed to get us out of here somehow. Estelle blew at the fire but instead of abating it raged on.

Before I could formulate a plan a wave of water flew over head and crashed down upon us, dousing the flames.

Grabbing her hand I pulled her in the direction of the exit, trying to ignore the flames flying past us.

As we passed King Louis, the sounds behind us seemed to quieten, quickly looking back I could see a wall of water sealing the entrance to the room we had been in. The witches were standing behind him chanting and as he turned to follow us , the wall remained intact.

We had made it halfway down the hallway before there was an almighty blast behind us but I didn’t stop to look this time, dragging Estelle as fast as I could I ran for her fathers plane.

“Your path is clear, we will try to distact them before we head for the jet, see you at the castle.”

After the distraction Jackson’s team had headed to remove the guards at the Kings jet, we only needed a few minutes head start and we would be out of here.

I was consciously aware that I didn’t know if the King was with us. The only flaw in this plan was that I didn’t know if I could commander his plane and leave him here.

I knew I would try, at this point my sole focus was getting Estelle out. Titan raged inside me as our mates new scent surrounded us. He wanted to go a back and rip the Princes head of but thankfully he knew there was a more important at task to attend to right now.

Although if I got her on that plane and the Prince happened to show his face I would happily let him have control.

“Wait,” Estelle panting beside me pulling heavily on my arm. “Father…”

I didn’t let go, choosing to ignore her as we couldn’t help. Her father wasn’t much of King if he couldn’t get himself out of a spot of bother.

There was a little voice inside me questioning whether he would sacrifice himself for her. As I pulled her towards the plane I decided that I didn’t like the odds that he would so we needed to be on that plane, like now.

Once I reached the plane steps I pushed Estelle up ahead of me. One of the witches from Estelle’s home was waiting for us. She immediately started chanting something at Estelle and felt her go rigid, almost falling back out the plane.

“What the f*** are you doing ?”

The witch chose to ignore me, I struggled to name her. Suddenly the ease of our escape fell into place. In my haste to get to Estelle I hadn’t paid much attention to who the King had trusted. Now when we were so close I wanted to scream.

Pushing Estelle into the plane to turned to face the witch. Throwing myself at her I hit a force field that threw me back against the steps.

Wincing, I saw the King heading our way, I hoped he had something up his sleeve to stop her. Deciding my best course of action was to at least try to stall her I threw myself at her once more, noting that she flinched as I hit her barrier this time.

Suddenly I fell to my knees.

“Stop you fool, she is spelled, we can’t leave until I break it unless you want to leave her behind.” A husky strange voice sounded in my head.

I was struggling to my feet when the King arrived at the steps.

“We need to go now,” Was all he said as he flew up the steps to the sound of the planes engines reving.

As we followed him in, I could see in the distance King Adalfundis and Prince Alonso. They had halted at the gangway I saw that a witch was with them. Bracing myself for something bad to happen I almost missed the other witch slump into a chair beside me.

“Done, go.” She croaked, closing her eyes in exhaustion.

Estelle was still rigid as I cradled her in my arms so I looked alarmingly at the King.

There was a crack in the air beside the plane as we took off into the sky.

“She should wake as we get further away.” He told me, looking intently at his daughter.

The plane shook as another crack sounded, this one closer. I looked out the window to see the sky was dark all around us.