Page 100 of Bought to Break
‘Lana –’ Viktor began.
But she cut him off. ‘Later. Can you keep up?’ she asked, eyeing the slash across his chest, which was oozing blood.
He nodded.
‘Come.’
She ran down the corridor, intending to get to the tower to free the girl, but the wall a few paces in front of them exploded, sending shards of rock in all directions. Lana skidded to a halt. The corridor was blocked completely, so she turned on her heel with a prayer to the gods that the girl in the tower would be all right and ran the other way around the rotunda towards the courtyard where the passage to the town was. The Brothers followed, Kane and Sorin still under the thrall of the box. She stopped short as they rounded the corner, and the men behind bumped into her, almost sending her sprawling. She pushed them back out of sight. There were guards all over the yard and it was the only way to the tunnel. How were they going to get through all those men without being noticed?
They stood there for a moment, catching their breath and trying to think of something. They were so close!
There was an indiscernible shout that echoed across the cloister, followed by another. She heard someone yell, ‘Fire!’ and when she looked around the corner again, everything was in disarray. Servants and guards scurried hither and thither, grabbing water from troughs in buckets and running. People were screaming; others stood frozen, just watching the drama with smiles on their faces.
‘Follow me.’
Lana edged into the fray, keeping close to the wall, the others mimicking her movements. She was on her guard, ready to run as soon as they were noticed, but she needn’t have worried. When they got across the yard, she glanced up and gasped. The whole of the eastern part of the fortress was in flames. They couldn’t see the sky for smoke, and the fire was spreading fast.
She began to descend the ladder into the tunnel when Viktor stopped her.
‘Let me go first.’
She nodded, thankful he was taking charge, and let him pass her.
At the bottom, he deftly lit a torch with a flint and they went quickly down the passageway. Lana shivered. The last time she’d been down here, she’d been so afraid. But as she looked ahead at Viktor’s back as he led them to freedom and behind her at Kane and Viktor, plodding along as she’d ordered, she was suddenly filled with joy. It was almost over.
When they came up in the temple, Lana took the box out and turned it over and over. It was nondescript and there was nothing to show how it worked. She huffed. What had she expected, pictures?
‘What do I do with it? How do we get Kane and Sorin back?’ she asked Viktor.
He shrugged, threw the torch back down into the hole, and shut the hatch that led down with a bang. ‘Want the Brothers’ way?’
She nodded.
‘If you don’t know what it does, destroy it.’ He grinned.
She chuckled in spite of herself and put the box on the ground. With a look at Viktor and another at the other two vacant-eyed Brothers, she crushed it beneath her heel.
The cords around Kane’s and Sorin’s necks fell away a moment later and they looked around, blinking dazedly.
Kane recovered first. ‘What happened?’
Viktor gestured to his bleeding chest. ‘You tried to kill me. I had to play dead so you’d leave me alone.’
‘How did we escape?’ Kane rubbed his forehead. ‘My head aches like I spent all night at the tavern.’
‘I’m free.’ Sorin’s voice was low and incredulous.
Lana took his hand. ‘Vineri is dead.’
Sorin turned his head away, silent. ‘I thought I was going to die in there,’ he finally said. ‘There were times when I wished …’He whirled back and took her hands, tears in his eyes. ‘You saved me, Lana.’
She smiled at him. ‘Viktor and Kane were there as well.’
He looked around at the others and grinned. ‘It’s done.’
Viktor rolled his eyes. ‘I’m bleeding to death, and none of you look much better. Come on.’
He led the way. The other two went with him and Lana began to follow. She hadn’t gone more than five steps before her legs gave way. She fell to the ground without a sound, her eyes closing.
