The Silver Ring (PJO)

Chapter 40

"First one to take a step takes my arrow," Rosaline warned, pointing her loaded bow at the soldiers threateningly.

They kinda listened. Not one person charged, but the whole lot. Three at me, and three at Rosaline.

One of the soldiers collapsed, cradling his injured knee where Rosaline's arrow hit him. She threw her bow to the side and unsheathed her sword as the two remaining soldiers barreled towards her. With a move that looked efficient and graceful, she disarmed them both easily and held her sword at their throats, taking them out of the fight. They just looked at her with their mouths wide open, the fight too fast for them to comprehend.

Meanwhile, my opponents were struggling to defend themselves from my attacks, even though there were three of them, and one of me. 

"I won't be so lenient as her," I said, gesturing towards a watching Rosaline with my free hand while executing a complex maneuver that made one of the soldiers lose her grip on her weapon. 

By natural human instinct, the two still-fighting soldiers looked at where I was pointing as I knocked the unarmed soldier unconscious. I took my chance and quickly knocked them both unconscious, finishing all the fighting soldiers off.

"They're long gone," Rosaline told me before I could make a move towards the door. "Help me get these guys to the dungeon so Chaos can interrogate them." She pushed one of the still conscious soldiers towards me.

I stole a glance towards the open gate, a significant part of me wanting to run out and wildly search the city. But I forced it down as I grabbed the soldier's arms and roughly yanked him down the hall, following Rosaline.

The journey was a quiet one. I smirked internally as I saw the two soldiers look at each other with expectant looks on their faces, thinking we wouldn't put them in the dungeons, and that we were just trying to scare them into cooperating.

But the more stairs we descended, the more worried they looked. Until they cracked.

Both soldiers simultaneously pulled out a dagger from somewhere in the folds of their clothes and tried to stab us from behind. Unfortunately, they didn't learn their lesson from last time.

Rosaline simply turned around and decked her guy to near unconsciousness with one swing, then continued down the hallway, dragging the dazed soldier behind her as though nothing happened.

But the soldier in my responsibility had caught me in a bad mood; I was tired, and the anger of letting Void escape added onto it, making me so angry at myself—for no reason—that I could barely control myself. But when I saw the knife, the lid flew off, and all that rage was focused on him.

I turned around, blocking the swing, and then ramming into him. I knocked him into the wall, and he collapsed to his knees, the knife flying out of reach. I kicked him as hard as I could in the solar plexus, making him double over in his already vulnerable position before I reined in my anger again.

"Next time, you'll lose more than your breath," I snarled, yanking him up roughly.

We descended one more flight of stairs and found ourselves at the entrance of the dungeon. Or rather, the open entrance with two guards sprawled out on the floor, unmoving but breathing.

Rosaline slipped through the doorway. Apparently, she didn't think anybody was lying around to ambush us, since she didn't draw her swords. I followed her, entering . . .

An exact replica of Void's dungeon.

Rosaline burst out laughing at my expression. "Don't tell me you got jailed in Void's castle."

"Alina was in the dungeon," I said, neither confirming nor denying the true statement as Rosaline herded the soldiers into an empty cell and locked it. "But why is her dungeon exactly like this?"

"I actually don't know," Rosaline admitted. "Maybe because it's the most efficient use of space while also treating temporary prisoners with at least a bit of comfort?" She sighed. "And it was supposed to be so strongly enchanted that not even a primordial could escape. We're going to probably have to add a tighter security detail here, and a lot more magical defenses."

"Maybe not," I said. "Could you show me where Eon was residing? Maybe we can piece together what happened before Chaos comes."

"Sure thing." Rosaline led me five cells down before stopping, then frowned as she tried to open the jail door. "That's weird. It's locked."

"What does that mean?" I asked as Rosaline pulled out a set of keys and looked for the right one.

"She either escaped without going through the door—which should've been impossible, or she locked it behind her." She paused for a second thoughtfully. "Actually, I don't think she would do the latter. It would waste time, and it would mean she had a set of guard keys—but she was searched earlier. Nothing suspicious was found."

"How powerful is Eon?" I asked, stepping leading Rosaline in the cell after she unlocked it.

We both took a moment to look at the cramped space; everything was neat, showing no sign that Eon had done anything unusual. Still, we proceeded to canvass every nook.

"I only know of Eon from you," Rosaline admitted as she pulled the sheets of the bed. "But she's probably a minor primordial."

"Would that mean she has enough power to make something invisible?"

"Depends on her domains. You think she hid a set of keys?"

I shrugged, standing up from my spot next to the sink and following Rosaline out into the corridor; it took a mere minute to search the place, since there were literally two places where one could hide something, and they both involved the bed.

"It's a plausible explanation," Rosaline mused. "The cells are meant to contain magic, not to limit magic. Evidently, it's a flaw."

"I'll change the magic after the battle," Chaos promised as he barged into the dungeon, carrying two soldiers as though they were feathers, followed by Omega. 

Rosaline opened the door to a different cell, and Omega and Chaos dumped the warriors on the bed before we all walked towards the cell where the conscious soldiers resided.

The Void soldiers got up the moment we piled into the space and looked at us warily.

"Have you searched them yet?" Omega asked, quiet enough for only us to hear.

"Not yet," Rosaline said, then moved into the corridor to make sure we didn't have any unwanted visitors—and in the worst case, stop the soldiers from getting to the door.

One of the soldiers shifted slightly, allowing the light to bounce off the metal of the knife he was palming.

Omega picked up on this too. "Perfect," he said. "Remember: whatever happens, I'm not losing control."

He walked calmly towards the soldiers before I could ask him what he meant.

"Now then," Omega addressed them. "Are you gentlemen willing to talk?"

They didn't respond.

Omega turned towards Chaos and I. "What should we do—"

The armed soldier lunged at him, aiming at his exposed back, thinking that he was distracted.

Omega quickly turned around, ducking the strike at the same time, and disarmed him. Then, he grabbed the soldier by the shoulders and pinned him painfully on the wall.

"You're going to tell me all I know," he growled out. "Or I'll break every single bone in your body. Starting with both pinkies."

For the first time, Omega had lost his cool.