Page 58 of The Eye of the Fifth
He blasted the front doors open and grunted against the pain it brought him, but he did not stop.
Through twisting corridors of the Black Castle, he ran with the fledgling girl in his arms, leaving everything he knew behind. He was weak and drained; magically, physically, emotionally.
But he did not stop.
The darkness he had cast in the Throne Room would not hold much longer. The sentries were sure to find their way out soon enough.
The front gate loomed closer. If he could just get past it, he could reach out to Tanwen and she could get them out, or at least get Amala to safety-
He rounded the corner to the open courtyard behind the front gate but stopped dead as they arrived, chest heaving with adrenalin. Rain poured down from the compact clouds above, the deluge mixing with Mount Morkun’s ash and clinging to their bodies like gnats, and through the showers stood four sentries clad in their blood-red armour, their sharpened spears in hand and all staring at him with blank confusion.
‘Get behind me,’ he instructed Amala, setting her down. She did so without hesitation.
‘Prince Gedeon?’ one of the sentries said with uncertainty, gaze flicking from his rough and bloodied appearance to Amala hiding behind him.
‘Open the gate,’ Gedeon rasped. The sentries exchanged uneasy glances. ‘I am yourprince.That was an order. Open the gate.’
‘Y-your highness,’ another sentry desperately stammered. ‘We have orders to keep it closed. Orders from the Empress.’
Had his mother anticipated that this would be the outcome of the trial? Had her faith in him been so irreparably damaged she had expected a mutiny? And, if that was the case, how had he never sensed her doubt in him before?
He tried to let fire rise in his throat but was again met with that same stabbing agony. He roared against it, making the sentries wince. Willing his eyes to flare, he snarled, ‘I will not ask again.’
They looked at one another a second time, uncertainty swiftly bolting to fear. One of them tentatively stepped forward. ‘My lord, we cannot disobey an order from our Empress. Even for you-’
‘She’ll kill us!’ another blurted earnestly.
Gedeon knew that to be true, had even played executioner for disobeying sentries in the past. He would be an executioner again now, if that’s what it took. ‘Open the fucking gates now,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Or I shall burn you where you stand.’
He let smoke rise from his lungs and curl from his mouth, half snarling, half growling as his spine in turn felt like it was being cleaved in two. That tiny display of power was enough for all four sentries to back away, and they finally cranked the lever that opened the gates to Dracyg, risking the Empress’ wrath over being incinerated.
‘Now, run,’ Gedeon ordered them breathlessly, and they did without a look back. He grabbed Amala’s wrist. ‘Come.’
‘Wait,’ she said suddenly, tensing against him to stop him from pulling her away. ‘There’s someone coming.’
‘If we wait, we die, now come-’
‘But… Master-’
‘Gedeon.’ A familiar voice graced his ears and he turned to see Sunsi, her curved twin blades unsheathed from their usual home on her back, now clutched in her gloved hands.
She stared at him, her expression grim yet determined.
‘Captain,’ Gedeon said with a slight bow of his head. ‘I do not want to fight you.’
Sunsi stepped forward until she was a metre away, but made no move to raise her weapons. Gedeon instinctively pushed Amala behind him. Sunsi peered at the girl, and her gaze softened ever so slightly.
Then she said in a voice so quiet it was almost indiscernible, ‘The Flaming Falcon. Go. Now.’
Gedeon stared. ‘Is this some trick?’
Footsteps pounded the surrounding hallways. Sunsi fished a gold coin from her pocket, larger than the normal form of currency and held it out for Amala to take. The fledgling’s eyes widened as her hand closed around it. The shouting drew ever closer. ‘No trick, Gedeon, I swear it by the Four. Trust me.’
She turned and ran, shouting orders to throw her sentries from their scent.
By the Four.
‘Master…?’ Amala’s hand tugged on his own.
