“Service hall?”
“Imperial shortcut. There’s service halls that connect to it, but this will take us to the mages.”
A sigh as the wood crumbled.
A crack as the bolt hit the floor.
A bare foot on slate.
A slow creak as the door at the end of the hall began to open…
…opened faster.
The hollow melon slam of a head against a wall.
A grunt. A groan.
A body hitting the floor.
Being dragged…
Danika scrambled to her feet as the bolts of her door were eased open. Although the light from the guard’s lantern abandoned at the far end of the corridor didn’t spill as far as Danika’s cell, it was enough to turn the black to deepest gray, enough for her to see Stina’s unmistakable silhouette on her threshold. She pressed two fingers against the other woman’s mouth before Stina could speak, then leaned in close.
“The speaking tubes can be used for listening as well. We need to tie him and gag him if we’re going to leave him here.”
She felt Stina nod.
They had no time for sentiment, but she took a moment to hug the older mage and breathe, “Well done. You’re amazing.”
The guard was still conscious, but only just. There wasn’t light enough to tell which guard it was even as they stripped him and tied him with his own clothing, afraid the sound of tearing sheets would warn any listener something was up. Danika checked that he could breathe while Stina checked his weapons.
Then they shoved him under the bed and locked him in.
Out in the hall, Danika ran to Jesine’s door while Stina freed Annalyse.
“We can’t go through concrete blocks,” Danika whispered as they huddled together, needing the contact. Annalyse was shaking so hard Danika could feel the tremors through Jesine. “So we can’t get out the way we came in. The lower level goes by the dark cells, it goes to…well, it goes somewhere we don’t want to and there’s a greater risk of running into guards that way. But they move food and furniture in and out of the big room, so there has to be another door.”
“Probably a hidden part of the wall,” Stina pointed out. “Like the emperor’s rathole.”
“We find it and we get out through the palace. No one will be up at this hour.”
Jesine’s hand closed around her arm. “And the captive Pack?”
“They’re past reason. We have to get the nets off before we can release them.” Danika laced Jesine’s fingers with hers. “We will do everything we can to come back for them, but if we have to sacrifice them to save our children, we will.”
“I hate the thought of leaving them.”
“I know.” She’d promised she wouldn’t leave without them. It was a promise she couldn’t keep, and breaking it cut more painfully than Adeline’s dagger. “Come on.”
In the big room, the guard’s shielded lantern provided a pale circle of light, not strong enough to push the darkness back beyond its border.
“Find the door with your fingertips, with your nails,” Danika told them. “Find the seams. I don’t care how good the empire is with gears and motors, if you push two solids up against each other, there will be a crack!”
“Before we get going…” Stina handed Annalyse the guard’s baton. “I’ll keep the pistol, I expect I’m the best shot of the four of us, but you’ve got the longest reach and a good strong arm. Best this is with you if we need it to be used.”
“You took his stick?”
Stina’s teeth flashed white. “I would have, sweetheart, but Lady Hagen thought it would make too much noise.”
One hand clutching the baton, Annalyse covered her mouth with the other to stop the spill of giggles.
“How did you deal with him?” Jesine asked.
“While he was still thinking we were harmless, I flicked his hat off him and slammed his head into the wall. Once he hit the floor, I kicked him in the chest, and knocked the air out of his lungs. Wouldn’t have worked, though, if he hadn’t hesitated.”
“The door,” Danika said, pushing her gently toward the wall. “We can hear your tales of battle when we’re out.”
They’d find the door, they’d slip through a quiet castle, and they’d disappear into Karis before the capital woke. Aydori had withdrawn their ambassador when the Imperial army crossed the border into the Duchy of Traiton, but the embassy was still there. Empty as far as Danika knew. It would, of course, be the first place Leopald would look, but they’d have time to…
She froze, fingertips splayed against the plaster.
She could hear voices coming from above. From Leopald’s rathole.
“He watches the mages from here. It’s the only way I know to get to them.” With the emperor held by the duties of a public festival, the lamp in his little room hadn’t been attended to. Reiter lifted the glass chimney off and set it on the chair. Then he pulled a fire-starter from his pocket, rolled up the lamp’s wick, and lit it.
He turned and saw Mirian blinking in the spill of light. She rubbed her eyes, looked down, and jerked backward.
Tomas barely grabbed her in time to keep her from falling down the stairs. “What is it?” he demanded as he hauled her upright.
When she pointed, Tomas’ lips drew back off his teeth and he began to growl. This time, Mirian didn’t stop him. She kept swallowing as though she were about to be sick.
Reiter had no idea…
The rug!
Burn it, it wasn’t even anyone they knew! He dove for the chair as Tomas clawed at his clothing, impressed, in spite of the danger, by how fast the boy could undress. The glass chimney toppled, fall cushioned by the thick fur underfoot. His hand closed around the lever in the side of the chair and he yanked it back, turning to see if…
It was one thing to know they changed. It was another to see it happen. Or almost see it happen. There was a glimpse of limbs stretching, changing, pale skin suddenly covered in black fur, a flash of silver on one shoulder, teeth…
Which was when he realized that the wall was taking longer to open than Tomas was taking to change and he was stuck in a small room with an enraged wolf. “Mirian.”
Hand on Tomas’ shoulder, she shook her head. “You don’t understand. How would you feel if you saw Private Chard’s head on the wall?”
He tried a laugh. “Chard may not be the best example.”
“Captain!”
“We can’t save him.” Heart pounding, he waved a hand at the pelt and moved up and out and to the right of the chair as the wolf moved forward along the left. “And we don’t have the time to waste on…”
Tomas leaped forward, out through the still opening door in the wall.
It looked like a shadow leaping out of the spill of light. It cleared them easily, landed, spun around, took a step forward, head up…
“Tomas?” Danika knew that silhouette and if her heart said Ryder first, no one had to know. He turned toward her, made a sound half whine, half word and she threw herself at him, her arms around his neck, her face buried in his fur repeating his name over and over. Then Jesine and Stina and Annalyse were there, touching him, stroking his ears, his shoulder…
When he began to change, they backed away and only Danika held the young man whose strong, callused hands lifted her head off his shoulder so he could look into her face. “Are you hurt! You’re not hurt? You don’t smell hurt…Is the baby all right?”
“The baby is fine.” She dropped one hand to the curve of her belly, kept the other on his shoulder. “Tomas, what are you doing here?”
“We’re here to rescue you.”
“Ryder…” Twisting in his hold, she stared up at Leopald’s rathole. No, not Ryder. Captain Reiter and a girl she didn’t know. “No, of course not. The Pack Leader can’t leave Aydori.” When she turned back to Tomas, his cheeks were wet. “He sent you, though.”