A Shade of Vampire 37: An Empire of Stones(56)

Perfect.

I withdrew it from the armory.

It was dull and old, but it was still sharp.

“I’m going to try Julian first,” I called to Ruby.

“Okay!”

I peered through the hole in Julian’s cell door.

“Stand back, Julian,” I instructed him, and he shuffled back toward the end of the cell. Putting all my strength behind it, I slammed the axe down on the lock. The impact shook the handle of the axe, and my arms trembled along with it. The lock clattered loudly, and part of it dropped to the floor. The door swung open.

I opened it, waiting for Julian to come out. He glanced between the open door and me, his eyes wary and watchful. I stood back, trying to give him some space—maybe he just needed to do it in his own time.

“I’m going to get Ruby out,” I told him, walking away from the cell door.

I repeated the action at Ruby’s cell door, but as soon as it swung open, she shot out, throwing herself into my arms.

I closed my eyes, inhaling the smell of her hair. I felt like I’d almost lost her—the night of the trial, when Tejus had told me that Ruby had been with Commander Varga, I’d thought the worst.

“You scared me,” I murmured into her hair.

“You should have listened to me,” she gently reprimanded me.

“I know, I know—and believe me, there’s nothing I’ve ever regretted more. I’m so sorry, Ruby. Forgive me? I was arrogant and stupid.”

She punched me. “Yeah, you were… But you saved my ass again, so you’re forgiven.”

I held her tightly for a few moments, and then she untangled herself.

“I need to see Julian.” She looked past my arm to where he stood—silently, at the opposite end of the dungeon. She approached him slowly, as if he was a wild animal. By the look of him, the assumption wasn’t that far off.

“Julian?” she asked softly.

“Ruby,” he replied. “I didn’t think you would ever find me.”

“It’s okay now, we’re here—we’re going to get back home. It’s going to be okay.” She spoke to him in a soothing, soft voice and I could see his body starting to tremble. I couldn’t imagine what the poor boy had been through—thinking he was all alone here, probably imagining that his friends had already gone home…and left him? I didn’t know so much about their relationships with one another, but they had always struck me as a tight-knit group—though all alone in a dark, dank cellar, I could imagine that it wouldn’t take long for people to doubt that they were ever going to be rescued.

“We need to get out of here,” I announced, starting to worry that I’d been gone too long already. If Queen Trina found me missing when she recovered, she would know something was up. I could only hope that her wounds were severe enough to keep her down for a while.

I looked around with True Sight, working out the best way to get out. I decided on the main entrance that I hadn’t used yet. It appeared to lead out onto another long hallway, and then gardens beyond that.

“This way,” I commanded, leading them toward the door.

“I don’t think Julian can go very fast,” Ruby warned.

“I’m fine,” he argued. “Let’s just get out of here. Please.”

I opened the door and we walked swiftly along the hallway. Julian was lagging, but Ruby helped him along while I kept my eyes and ears out for ministers or guards coming this way. I prayed that the usually deserted palace would stay that way.

Once we were in the gardens, I looked around for the stables. We were at the opposite end of the palace to where I’d been staying, and so to get to the road out of the kingdom would take longer here. On foot we also had a larger chance of being stopped and questioned by guards. If we didn’t have bull-horses, we wouldn’t make it out in time.

Looking around once more, I finally found them.

“We need to get to the stables.” I motioned in the direction we should head. “Stick to the trees and walls—try to avoid walking out in plain sight, okay?”

Ruby and Julian nodded.

As swiftly as we could, we navigated the small path that led away from the palace. Thankfully it was surrounded by yellow-fruit trees, and their leaves provided us some camouflage. I didn’t even know for certain that anyone was watching, but I knew better than to leave it to chance. I had a suspicion that nothing went unnoticed by Queen Trina in her kingdom.

We made it to the stables. I exhaled some of the tension that had been building up in me since finding Ruby, and went to fetch us some bull-horses.

I ran straight into a guard.

“Ashbik.” He nodded in greeting. “How is the queen?”