Page 97 of The Royal Throne
She did as he said.
He placed his hand on her shoulder. “As the highest ranking official in the palace, I do hereby appoint Queen Sabine Manfred to the position of commander.” He handed her a set of keys. “These are the commander’s keys.”
She took them and stood. “Thank you.” Now she needed to get out of here before Rainer caught word of what she’d done. “Captain Lithane, you will maintain control of the palace guards. Your chief concern is protecting the king from an assassination attempt.” She didn’t care if the king was assassinated. However, she needed Lithane on her side right now so she could buy herself some time. “Captain Higman, you will take control of the surrounding town. We have an assassin nearby. Find him. Captain Drew, you’ll remain with me as my guard. Captain Cutler, given your loss today, you may have time to grieve. Dismissed.”
Lithane and Higman left.
Sabine withdrew her bag.
“Commander,” Cutler said, eyeing her bag. “I’d prefer to travel with you and assist in any way I can. I don’t want to remain here.”
The more soldiers she had on her side, the better. “Fine, but we’re leaving right now.”
“And the rest of your royal guard?” Drew asked. “Will they be coming with us?”
“No. I want them to stay here and keep up the ruse that I’m still in the palace. Have Harper act as my decoy. I need them to buy us as much time as possible. We must reach the army before Rainer does. If he catches wind of this, my plan fails.”
Once they’d gathered the necessary supplies, they headed through the tunnel to the military compound. Sabine led Cutler and Drew to the kennels. Inside, they went to the door at the end, the one leading into the lava tubes.
“Since the dogs and most of the boats are gone,” Sabine said, “I’m assuming this leads to the army. It’ll be the fastest way for us to get there.”
“Smart,” Cutler said. “The army will have used the lava tubes at the bottom of the mountain. That’ll be the way the king goes as well.”
She’d been hoping the king would have to travel by foot. “How much longer is that way?”
“It depends on how fast they get down the mountain. I’d say at least half a day? Maybe more?”
“The water is moving fast,” Drew observed. “Once the boat is lowered in, there won’t be much time for us to get situated.”
“I don’t want anyone to come after us this way,” Sabine said. “Since there are three boats left, we’ll release two, then we’ll use the last one.”
The two men inspected the boats, ensuring there weren’t any problems with them before releasing the extra ones into the water. Then they put the last one in, holding it in place. Sabine tossed their supplies in before stepping in and taking a seat in the middle. Drew then sat in the front, hanging on to the ledge as he did so.
“Here goes nothing,” Cutler said as he joined them, sitting in the back.
Drew and Cutler let go, and the boat immediately took off through the dark lava tube.
Having no idea how long they would travel like this in the dark or what they would find at the end, Sabine tried to remain calm and not think about the ginormous mountain above them. The likelihood of it collapsing on them had to be small. This tunnel had to have been here for years.
“Your Majesty—” Drew began.
“Let’s forgo the formalities,” Sabine said. “Just use names, no titles, while we are traveling and it is just the three of us.”
“Very well. Now that we’re far enough away our voices won’t carry,” Drew said from in front of Sabine, “we need to talk about the assassinations.”
It seemed strange to have a conversation when they couldn’t see each other’s faces. Given what she knew of Avoni assassins, she wouldn’t be surprised if an assassin dropped down from the ceiling of the tunnel and landed in the boat with them.
“I verified the prisoner is still in the dungeon,” Drew said.
“Any indication he’s been getting out at night?” she asked, not knowing if it was even possible with the locks and guards present.
“No. Which makes me wonder about Evander. What do you think, Cutler?”
Sabine was curious what Cutler had to say.
“Evander’s a kid. He can’t be more than what? Twenty? Twenty-three at most? And he’s a prince.”
“He has a reputation for being ruthless,” Drew said. “Though I didn’t see anything to indicate that during his time in the palace.”
