PreCursive

  They couldn’t have gone far.

  The pn was for the group to be traveling as stealthily as they possibly could through the prison. Along the way, they would be gradually gathering what ihey o free. In fact, there had been discussion on the way here that we should be freeing as many of the inmates as we possibly could, in order to assist during the escape.

  Grey had beeant on this possibility. He had argued that the prison had initially been structed for a very good reason and that many of the actual inmates deserved their sentences in these walls. He was a staunch believer that we should be careful in freeing those who had been captured by the Loyalist cause. Among those were the children of noble houses that had been bag the Uprising, and the leader of the Sculpted, Woodrick. Also, someone important to Grey and Sylvia named Lady Honoka.

  I’d had a rebuttal, to Grey’s surprise.

  I had argued that we had no idea how many other people that the Loyalists had unjustly imprisoned in Caer Drarrow. That, while there were likely plenty of people who deserved their fate in the prison, we couldn’t know just how many of them had been actually senteo this pd not just thrown in here because they were being inve. Grey had relutly aowledged my point, but had said he reserved final judgment while ihe prison as to who we freed.

  The pn had never been for those we freed to e back the way we came. Once we had stealthily freed everyone we o, we would marshal our strength and then make a break for the Thorny Reef, which was supposed to be waiting for us outside. Of course, the pn had been ged slightly to include a bit of naval sabotage. At that point, it would bee a bit of a running battle as we broke through the garrisoned forces on the isnd. I hoped it went that smoothly, at least.

  All that to say, if they had already started freeing prisoners, then they couldn’t be moving too quickly.

  Sylvia and I o move fast. Luckily, both of us had stealth csses.

  I told her this, to her aowledging nod. I activated Thorn Cloak, hopefully blending ier in the darkness of the prison. Meanwhile, Sylvia activated some kind of illusionary skill, almost pletely fading from view. However, I was high enough level now that I was able to see the very fai outline of her form o me before she snuffed her small haord allowed us to be covered in darkness once again.

  I wasn’t jealous at all of her superior stealth skill at all.

  The two of us crept up the wooden staircase that led out of this celr, being careful with our footsteps along the way. The stairs led to a with an apanying door. Sylvia and I took careful positions oher side of the doorway. Slowly, carefully, I peeked an eye around the edge to see if the coast was clear.

  Nothing. The other side of the exit led to a short, darkened hallway with no other doors. The only light that peed the small hall was a tiny slit ierior wall of it, that allowed sunlight to pierce the gloom. At the end of the hallway, I could see a thick wooden door blog it off.

  I gave the indistin of Sylvia across from me a nod. I think she nodded back. Either way, the two of us stepped out into the hallway and crept down it, still being mindful of our footsteps. Once we reached the door, this time it was Sylvia that elected to peak through. I saw a near-invisible feminine hand reach out and lightly depress the bar of the door handle. She pivoted and swept her gaze bad forth through the gap in the door, even briefly stig her head through it for a quice around. When she was done, she pulled her head bato the hallway to nod at me and slipped through the door. However, before she did, she made a puzzliure.

  She pointed up.

  I followed after her, figuring that I would uand what she meant by that in a sed. Once I was through the door, I saw that we had exited out into what must be a main walkway for the prison. It was a much rger and wider hall than the ohat we had just e from, with burning torches set in sces every few feet.

  This was also where I was able to see some of Caer Drarrow’s cells for the first time. In a word, I’d call them dreary. Iween the various torches were rge wooden doors with two slots on them, a square o head height, and a regur ohe floor. Ihe cells, there wasn’t much more than a pair of rusty s attached to the far wall, a wooden bucket, and a small ratty cot in the er. At the very least, though, there was a small barred window on the far wall, above the s.

  I felt a chill run down my spi the sight of these cells. They almost seemed familiar to me.

  They reminded me deeply of the cell I had broken Bleddyn out of ba Addersfield. I did my best to shake it off.

  However, how was I able to see into the cells, if they were blocked by rge wooden doors?

  Because all of the cells near us were opened, ay.

  I guess our party had already made a decision on the inmates in this area of the prison. Speaking of, I looked up like Sylvia told me to.

  Above me were a myriad of wooden rafters, seemingly built as a way tthen the upper walls. I was just barely able to see the cloaked form of Sylvia peering down at me, croug on one of those beams. I felt a smile creep ay face. I got it.

  I cast Thrapple at one of the rafters, direg it to around it. Then I retracted the vine-like whip and shot into the air to nd on the beam o Sylvia. Exging nods, we started carefully maneuvering our way across the rafters above the prison cells.

  As we moved further up the hallway, following the trail of empty cells, we started to see bodies lying on the floor. These bodies seemed to be of guards of some kind, dressed simirly to the Loyalist soldiers that I had entered in the past. I noticed that all of them were missing any possible form of onry.

  To my eye, it looked like they had been ambushed. Most of them looked shocked in some way, or as if they had been killed where they had been standing in an instant. I grimaced at the pool of blood that one was leaving on the bck stone floor of the prison. This was likely the handiwork of our party. It seemed like they weren’t making an attempt at being subtle. I guess I uood, but I was a little unfortable at the sughter.

  I accepted the fact that the fa I’d aligned myself with was at war with these people, and that these were enemy soldiers proteg a facility holding children hostage.

  But…

  I shook it off. Some of these kills looked fresher, implying to me that we were getting closer to Grey and the rest. Sylvia must have e to the same clusion, as we picked up the pace.

  A glint of light off of gold ahead caught my eye. I squirying to get a better look. After a moment, I let out an inaudible sigh of relief. Yeah, that was definitely Aurum up ahead. Now that I had moved closer, I could see a rge group of people that he was hanging back from, clutg his staff. Grey must have decided to go whole hog on freeing prisoners, as that had to be a group of at least twenty people ingruously trying to creep down the hallway. The group was rge enough that I couldn’t even see anyone else I knew in it. Oddly, it was w. For some reason, the entire group was moving in perfect silence.

  I stopped suddenly, seeing something else. The group had decided to go down a hallway that led farther into the prison plex, instead of tinuing on along the es of it like they had been. However, I spotted something along the path that they had moved off of.

  Another one of those guards, skulking along in the shadows. At first, I just thought he was trailing them. That would be bad enough, but no.

  He was creeping up on Aurum in particur, as the Sculpted was trailing the group.

  The guard had a dagger drawn.

  Damnit Aurum, how do you keep getting into these situations?

  My blood pressure spiked, and I started sprinting across the rafters as fast and as quietly as I dared. I was vaguely aware of Sylvia trailing me, but I was too focused on the guard to pay her much mind. I was going to have to take this guard out, but how to do it quietly? I didn’t know whatever method the main group was using to stay silent would work this far back. If I just dropped down on the guard and knifed him, he might still be able to let out a cry for help in time before he died. Not only that, but I was still feeling a little weak from my exertions astralizing the door earlier. I wasn’t sure if I could take this guard in a straight fight if I botched the kill. As I arrived directly above the guard in the rafters, I grimaced. I’d had an idea, but it was distasteful, to say the least. But I didn’t have time to agonize over it.

  Silently, I recast Thrapple. But this time, I didn’t send it out anywhere. See, when I’d experimented with the skill in the past, I’d discovered that I had more trol over this skill than I’d thought. But it made sense. How else could I direct it to around specific brahen if I could trol its movements pletely with my mind?

  The head of the grapple materialized in my open hand, clig together once like the jaws of a hungry beast. Slowly, the grapple extended downwards silently, sinuously snaking its way on a thorny vine above the guard.

  At my dire, the grapple exploded forward to around the throat of the guard. O did so, the head bit down on the length of vine behind itself. At the same time, I stepped backward off of the rafter I was standing on.

  The guard was suddenly jerked into the air from my impromptu noose. Meanwhile, I let out enough sck from the vihat I nded soundlessly on the floor beh me. I grabbed hold of the vine created from my skill and held onto it, as the guard spasmed and grasped at the thorny vine curled around his throat. But it was useless.

  I held the guard there, suspended in the air as if he was a criminal senteo hang at the gallows, as he slowly choked to death.

  The guard dropped the dagger he had been stalking Aurum with, causing a slight cttered sound in the hallway. I grimaced, but tinued my grisly work. However, that must have been enough to alert Aurum. He warily gnced over his shoulder. When he did so, his eyes veritably bulged in their sockets at the se that I resenting, causing him to let out a choking noise of horror. That alerted some stragglers from the main group, as several people that I didn’t know looked behind themselves. They stopped in shock as well, eventually alerting the entire group to my impromptu execution.

  The struggles of the hanging guard slowly weakened, uhe astonished gaze of the ihat my panions had freed. I was somewhat aware of Sylvia dropping dowo me, but I wasn’t paying attention to her.

  No, I was log eyes with Grey.

  My mentor had emerged from the crowd of people to see what was going on, only to stop in his tracks at the sight of me hanging a mailted his head slightly, giving me a look as if he had never noticed me before. It wasn’t a bad, or even ning look though.

  More…ptive.

  At Grey’s side was a massive, hirsute man with long, dirty brown hair and hazel eyes. When that man saw what I was doing, he started ughing. “Now,” He said in a rough, amused voice. “That’s more like it.”

  The guard captured by my skill stopped twitg.