Chapter 9: Under the Three Moons

Leaving for Kryus. We would be getting on a boat in the morning and sailing for several days across the ocean to the land of the enemy.

I lay on the comfortable bed that night, peering up at the dark ceiling above me. My exhausted and drained body ached and begged for sleep, but slumber eluded me.

Once gone, I wouldn’t see Carys. Not Kendra, Earon, or Reyan. But Carys was key in my thoughts. Could I leave without seeing her again? Ever?

At the same time, Galen played some hand of Tablets with me. He had been playing these games thousands of years before I was born, and there was no doubt in my mind he operated at some level far above mine. Even still, a dog could smell a trap, and I was smarter than a dog. Maybe.

A Bladeguard was meant to be completely loyal to the Emperor, yet Galen chose a human, who the elves treated as little better than animals, and one who had just attacked a couple Cityguard. And then he got me to admit I didn’t think Tanicus was a very compassionate ruler, admittedly not a stretch considering my violence against the Empire the day before.

Did I really need to go down this pit and risk my whole life to be trained to kill elves? There had to be another way, one where I didn’t have to sail across the world to Kryus. And never see my sister again.

Galen had threatened my death as the only other option. But how sure was that? Galen’s ignorance of my connection to one of the most wanted men in the Empire, the Prophet, proved a vulnerable point in the Bladeguard armor.

Or he did know. Which really scared the crit out of me.

I had to get out of there.

I rose from the bed, tired but suddenly focused, and dressed in tunic, breeches, and boots. I went to the window. I was on the third floor, and bars covered the glass outside. I opened the window and tested the iron bars. They didn’t move a milimitre when I shook them, bolted to the wood and stone on the outside of the building. If I had hours or days, I might be able to wiggle one loose over time and squeeze out, but I didn’t have that time.

I went to the door to the room. Galen had locked it from the outside the night before. I had picked a couple older locks in my childhood, mostly to get into a storehouse and steal some food, all while Carys stood behind me and begged me to stop. I would have to get creative to try and get to the lock out in the hall.

When I turned the knob and pushed against the door, however, it opened and swayed out into the hallway.

I gasped. I peeked out into the hallway with bulging eyes. A dark and empty hallway. He left the door open? An accident or on purpose? If it was an accident, then El was real after all. If on purpose ... Galen was leaving me another trap.

Trap or not, I had to make a choice. No way I would stay in that room when the door was open. I would take my chances with freedom, out and on the run.

I snuck into the hallway, careful with my boots on the hardwood floors. Making my way to the stairs, I went down to the bottom floor. Probably shouldn’t go out the front. Too obvious. I went through the dining hall, one lamp burning low and giving minimal light, and crept through the kitchen. My eyes had adjusted well enough that I didn’t knock over any pots or pans. I took a risk through a side passage, and a miracle, it led to another hallway with a door. Moonlight lay beyond.

Scanning around me and frozen, my ears strained for any hint of sound. No movement. No noise but my own heartbeat. I walked on the balls of my feet to the door. It was locked but from the inside, so I very slowly turned the latch with immense care.