A King's War

Chapter 16

RAVEN

I climbed up the ladder at the end of the tunnel after motioning quietly for Ver to stay put. I pushed on the tile that sealed the tunnel above my head, trying my best not to make any noise. It took a while to get the tile free-a sign that no one had bothered using this tunnel since the last time I was here-but I finally got it after a few hard pushes. It popped off and I froze for a moment, waiting to see if anyone had heard that. I heard nothing. There was no sign of anyone being around.

I pushed the tile out of the way and pulled myself out of the hole, motioning again for Ver to come up. I brushed myself off as I stood in the storage room, jars and boxes of things stacked against every wall. Ver pulled himself out of the hole in the floor and I slid the tile back into place over it, taking care to make sure it looked like it had not been disturbed.

“How did you know about this?” Ver asked me.

“I had a friend who worked in the castle,” I told him honestly.

“Had?” He questioned.

“She’s dead,” I replied as I opened the door to the storage room slowly and peered out into the hall. “It’s clear,” I told him before pulling open the door the rest of the way and slipping out. He followed suit.

I ran quickly through the hall, knowing all it took was a soldier wandering the halls, a servant exiting a room, or a King’s Blood coming through to put us in a world of trouble. Ver stayed close behind me and we slowed to a stop when we heard voices in the hallway connecting to ours. I held a finger to my lips to make sure he knew to be quiet and peered cautiously around the corner.

I could see two soldiers standing guard outside the door I knew led down into the dungeons. They were talking to each other but what they were saying was of no interest to me, until I heard them speak of the king.

“What’s the plan?” Ver whispered to me.

I held up a hand to keep him quiet as I listened to the two soldiers carefully. Both were speaking the language of Valveronia and I could only make out parts of their conversation, but everything I could make out, I didn’t like. I swore quietly under my breath before backing away and leaning my back against the wall.

“What?” Ver questioned.

I debated telling him what I’d overheard. I let out a sigh. “The king’s down in the dungeons right now,” I finally told him.

Ver immediately went to try and go around me, likely only thinking of his brother’s safety. I grabbed hold of him and pushed him back into the wall. He began to fight back against me, so I then shoved into the nearest room and slammed him back into the wall once more.

“Think for one moment before you get the both of us killed,” I hissed as I pressed my arm into his neck, keeping him pinned in place and more importantly, keeping him quiet.

“He’s going to kill him,” Ver said before trying once again to push me off him.

I shoved him back and pressed my arm harder into his throat. “Not yet he’s not,” I told him. “He wants information first. He wants to know where you are.”

“So, I’m supposed to wait here patiently whilst he tortures my brother?”

“Yes,” I snapped at him, my gaze burning into his, willing him to listen to me. “Because tortured is better than killed which is what you’ll get your brother, yourself, and me if you go barging in there. Think for a moment about what you’re risking. You have a duty to your people.”

He shoved me off of him and this time I let him. I could see in his eyes that he’d realized I was right; he just didn’t want to accept it. I took a moment to study the room I’d pushed us both into and thanked the Gods that it was in fact empty. It appeared to be a servant’s room, which was lucky since the servants never came back to their rooms until after dark.

“Wait here,” I told Ver as I stepped out of the room and walked back down the hall to peer around the corner at the soldiers. It was at that moment that the door to the dungeons opened and a cloaked figure with marks running up his arms stepped out.

The Ruthless King.

I had seen him and his marks enough times to know what he looked like with or without a cloak on. I was also aware of the fact that just because the only marks you could see on his arms, were not the only marks he had. No. There was a reason he was the most powerful, the most feared, and it was because his marks went up his arms, down his back and chest, and even up his neck and head. He was a force to reckoned with.

I was careful to stay quiet and to stay as far out of sight as I possibly could, my heart picking up its pace in my chest and my palms starting to sweat as I grasped my staff tighter. He spoke quietly to the soldiers outside the door before suddenly going quiet and straightening up. His head suddenly snapping around to where I was ducked around the corner.

As soon as his head had begun to turn, I ducked completely out of sight and wasted no time in moving quickly back to the room I’d left Ver in. I pulled open the door and slipped through before closing it as silently and quickly as I could.

“What’s going-”

I clapped my hand over Ver’s mouth and shoved him against the wall, my body flush into his, my eyes remaining on the door as I heard footsteps outside of it. I found myself holding my breath, my heart racing as a shadow passed over the gap at the bottom of the door. There was a long and excruciating silence before finally, the shadow moved and the footsteps went back the way they came. I could hear the Ruthless King shouting out orders to the soldiers as he moved further away.

I let out the breath I was holding and removed my hand from Ver’s mouth, taking a step back from him only to have him grab hold of my arms and stare down at me with concern.

“You’re shaking,” He said softly.

I tried to reply only to found that I couldn’t. I pushed back from him and ran a hand through my hair. I took one deep breath then another and another until I was finally able to reply.

“The king’s left the dungeons,” I told him. “Let’s go.”

He grabbed hold of my hand as I turned to leave. “You were scared,” He whispered.

I blew out a breath. “If you’d seen half as much of what he’s done as I have, you’d be scared too,” I told him before pulling my sword from its sheath and holding it under my cloak. “At first glance, the soldiers would believe that we’re one of them. We’ll only have a few moments before that changes. I’ll take the one on the right, you take the one on the left. We’ll drag their bodies in here so they won’t be discovered for a while. And then hopefully we can make it out of here alive.”

He nodded before pulling his own sword and hiding it under his cloak as I had mine. I pushed open the door and walked out. I peered around the corner once more, making sure the Ruthless King had in fact left before walking right up to the soldiers guarding the door.

They both looked up at me and Ver once they’d realized we stopped in front of them rather than continuing on. Their eyes widened when they realized that neither of us was supposed to be there, but before either one could do anything about it, Ver and I had already driven our swords through their chest. Both collapsed and we each hooked our hands under their arms and dragged them back to the servant’s room, closing the door after we’d covered them both with a blanket in an effort to make them less obvious.

We went back to the door and Ver was the one to pull it open, but I stopped him from going through. “Wait here,” I told him. “I’ll take care of this part.”

Ver immediately shook his head and protested as I knew he would. “He’s my brother, I’m going to get him,” He told me firmly.

I shook my head. “No, you’re going to stay here and keep watch while I go and get him. I know my way around the dungeons and I know where he’ll be kept.” He opened his mouth to protest some more but I held up my hand to silence. “Your Majesty,” I said. “should there be any other prisoners down there and one of them sees you and decides to tell the Ruthless King that an elf broke in to save the elven prince, your entire kingdom will be blamed and all your people will be slaughtered,” I told him bluntly. “if I go, then they only see a Valveronian soldier and it will take the king ages to realize that it was actually me rather than one of his own soldiers.”

I could see he didn’t like what I’d said, but he understood it. Finally, he let out a resigned sigh. “You need to stop calling me that,” He said, instead of addressing what I said. He nodded toward the staircase leading down into the dungeons. “Go then. I’ll wait here.”

I nodded to him before ducking through the door and making my way down the winding staircase quickly and quietly. I knew from experience that there hardly any soldiers in here, but just to be safe I moved as quietly as possible so I’d have the upper hand should I cross paths with a soldier. I moved down the line of cells and around a corner, passing by yet even more cells. I knew where the elven prince would be. I knew where the king kept prisoners he valued of great importance. Finally, I came upon the row of cells I knew the prince would be in.

I looked in cell after cell before finally finding him in the cell furthest away. He hadn’t heard me approach and was sitting with his back against the wall, his head back and his eyes closed. He had cuts and bruises on his face and arms and he looked like he was in pain. His hair was the same orange color as his brother’s, his skin slightly lighter. His clothes were torn and I had no doubt the king had been testing out some spells on him in an effort to get him to talk. I also knew that since he was still breathing as far as I could see, the king had been unsuccessful thus far.

He must have sensed me because after a moment he opened his eyes and glared up at me as I stood outside his cell. “Let me guess,” He spit out. “your precious king’s grown impatient already.”

I just stared at him for a moment, aware that my hood and the dim lighting of the dungeons obscured most of my face. I reached under my cloak and held out the keys I’d taken from one of the soldiers. “Do you want to get out, or not?” I asked him.