Page 97 of Veil of Shadows

“Do you still have the escape portal key?” Lander asked shrewdly.

Jax patted his pocket. “Right here.”

Phillen leaned down and wrapped his massive fist around the trap door’s handle. “Only two guards, correct, Elowen?”

I nodded. “There are two fusterills at the bottom of the stairs. Be prepared.”

Trivan grinned and withdrew two blades. “Fusterills. Excellent. They’re always worthy opponents.”

“Put your blades away, Triv. There’ll be no fighting if we can prevent it,” Jax said in a low tone. “I’ll be removing their eyesight and ability to speak the second that door opens. We knock them unconscious and move. This rescue is going to be fast and efficient. No one is to make a sound.”

Trivan sighed but sheathed his weapons. “You’re always ruining my fun.”

Bowan laughed lightly, and Lars slugged him in the arm.

“Behave,” the redhead hissed.

Phillen rolled his eyes, and it once again struck me how they all seemed to thrive off this type of danger.

“Elowen?” Jax said quietly. He gripped my arm gently and pulled me away from the door. “You’re not trained, my love. You need to stay behind me.”

My heart squeezed at how easily he called memy love. “I know. I’m not stupid. I’ll stay out of the way if any fighting occurs. I’ll stay safe.”

His hand traveled down my forearm to clasp my hand. Heat from his palm wrapped around me. After giving me a single squeeze, he let go.

“Ready?” he asked everyone.

Everyone’s heads bobbed, hands on their weapons just in case.

Jax nodded at Phillen. “Go.”

CHAPTER 27

Phillen grasped the door handle and with a mighty wrench, tore it open. Before I could inhale my next breath, Jax was down the hole, leaping from the forest floor to the bottom of the stairwell in blurred speed.

My heart lurched, but nobody hesitated. In seconds, the entire band of dark raiders were underground, and I hurried to race down the stairs after them.

The sounds of the Wood quickly fell behind me. Stone slid beneath my soles. Musky, damp scents assaulted me. Solid rock walls met my fingertips when I reached out. It was exactly as the semelees had shown me.

Torches lit the stairwell, and my eyes widened when I beheld two massive fusterills lying at the bottom, already unconscious. Jax hadn’t been kidding. He’d made quick work of them, and given the strength of Jax’s magic, I highly doubted the guards had even known what hit them.

“Elowen, which way?” Jax asked quietly.

It took me a second to realize I’d frozen and was staring at the guards. Snapping myself out of my shock, I got my bearings.

Three tunnels branched out from this stairwell, all carved from stone. Water dripped from the ceilings of all of them, a steadydrip, dripfilling the quiet.

“That way.” I pointed at the right tunnel.

Jax took off, leading the way, with me closely behind him, and the others silently padded at my back. The tunnel snaked downward, and heavy pulsing magic emanated from the walls, making a sickening throb grow inside my head.

Several times we reached intersections, and I kept a firm grip on the information the semelees had shared with me.Take the right tunnel from the stairwell, past three intersections. At the fourth go left. Look for a cell on the right, sixth door down.I’d already told Jax that, but he didn’t have the visuals the semelees had given me, and they’d warned me that magic cloaked entrances to caverns in this labyrinth. I not only had to remember the directions they’d shared, but I also had to assess thefeelof each tunnel.

A few steps past the second intersection, Jax raised his hand in a silent gesture. I stopped just in time to prevent myself from smacking into him.

Male voices came from down the tunnel.

“Move that group to the training cavern,” a deep voice said in the quiet, his tone reverberating on the walls ahead. “They’re starting training today. And those females there, take them to cavern eight. They’re to be bred tonight.”

---