It was supposed to be a quick job, in and out, no problems. Accidentally freeing a high profile prisoner on her way out and subsequently discovering an evil scheme, was not part of the plan.
Suddenly, it's her own face that Kaia finds on the front o...
I stepped away from Tyler and focused on his next moves.
This should definitely not be as easy as it looked.
With another pull, the second set of chains on his left wrist burst before falling to the ground with a loud clang. The rest quickly followed behind. He stood up shaking off the remains from his arms and shoulders.
"You owe me a new knife," I said after a quick inspection confirming what I'd feared. The blade looked dull and cracked.
Tyler stepped close, taking the knife from my hands. It looked much smaller when he was wielding it.
"That shouldn't be a problem. I can fix that for you. You will get it back good as new in he few days." He pocketed the knife and walked over to pick up the sword. My jaw nearly hit the floor when he lifted it as if it weighed absolutely nothing. Sword in hand he turned around and winked at me before he sauntered over to the door, immediately pressed the hidden run set, and walked through so naturally and confident as if he hadn't just been chained up a few minutes ago.
Again, the nerve.
I sighed to myself. Before I had a chance to collect myself and follow him, he turned back and lifted one eyebrow.
"You coming or are you waiting for a personal invitation?"
This guy...
I clicked my tongue in annoyance at him, acting as if he had just helped me escape, but decided not to comment as I made my way past him, stepping over the guy that was still out cold on the floor.
Going back, Tyler seemed to know his way around nearly as well as I did. We had made it around half-way when he stopped as I turned left at a certain intersection.
"Guess, this is where we part ways then." He said nonchalantly, glancing down the corridor to our right.
"I thought you wanted to escape this place?"
His dark eyes met mine and I could feel him hesitate before he smirked at me. "Did you think I came all the way here just to inspect the prison cells?"
"Well, if you put it like that, I suppose the answer is yes. How did you like your stay? You should think about posting a review, especially since you signed up for the high-class suite."
He shook his black hair trying to get rid of the grin that had spread across his face. It was kind of out of character for him, or at least what I had expected him to be like. He seemed more like the moody, dark, loner type.
"I'm kinda disappointed to be honest. The service was lacking, my meals were late, the–" A loud noise made him stop mid-sentence, and he switched from playful to serious in a second.
"I suppose they noticed that their favorite V.I.P guest went missing," I whispered, glancing down the hallway that led to the outside. It wasn't long before I could feel guards coming our way from two directions.
Tyler reached for my arm and started pulling me the opposite way. "Change of plans. You're coming with me."
I didn't object as the guards were so close now, I could actually hear them. We went down the corridor at a light jog, turning left and right with no apparent sense, Tyler leading the way his sword in hand. At some point, I noticed a group of guards ahead, but before I could warn him he had already pulled me into another hallway. My earlier suspicions were confirmed, he definitely had strong magic, coupled with high senses that might even be superior to my own.
Whenever we couldn't dodge a guard, Tyler would take care of them quickly. His movement was swift and precise, even somewhat graceful. There was no hesitation when he killed a guard who spotted us as we came toward him.
However, I noticed a certain weariness slowly creeping up on him. I hadn't seen it at first since it didn't show much, but I could sense that his breathing was no longer light and steady. Breaking out must have taken more out of him then he wanted to admit. Plus, I didn't actually know how long he'd been in there, although it couldn't have been more than a few days.
We made it to another intersection, when Tyler turned into a pitch-black hallway. The air was colder, and the walls were damp. I had seen these corridors during my earlier inspections, and figured that they would lead deeper into the mountain.
Keeping a close eye out for any movement in the darkness in front of me, I thought back to the pet I had nearly encountered on my last time in here. "You sure this is the right way, or are we just going around blind?"
"Pretty sure this is it, yeah."
He turned to look back at me, his black hair blending neatly into the darkness looming behind him. I didn't like going so deep underground. It was like going against my nature. High up, surrounded by the wind, that was my place of comfort, not trudging through cold, murky underground caves inhabited by most likely deadly creatures.
"You can hold my hand if you're scared, Kai."
"It's Kaia. Only my friends call me Kai."
"Well, you can hold my hand if you're scared, Kitty."
His eyes were twinkling with amusement as I bristled in annoyance at the new nickname.
Still, it was only a matter of time until we'd be found, and the castle halls were probably swarming with guards by now. Going deeper into the lion's den might actually be the smart thing to do.
Well, except that we might find more pets this way.
Ignoring his outstretched hand, I stepped around him, making my way down the corridor. I could hear his laugh behind me before he quickly caught up with me.
We were quiet as we made our way deeper into the mountain. I couldn't sense any movement from behind, which hopefully meant that the guards didn't expect us to go this way.
Or maybe they didn't want to go this way either...
I tried to shake off the negative thoughts, but the quiet reminded me too much of the time the creature had appeared.
I flinched slightly when Tyler's voice disrupted the silence.
"Wait a second."
He started feeling around the wall before he activated a set of runes, that were hidden in a similar way like the ones leading up to his cell earlier.
In the next second, we heard a loud rumble, and one of the walls gave way and revealed another tunnel. This time, however, every ten meters or so a small set of runes was set into the ceiling. Each one emitted a cold, bluish light.
The tunnel gave off an even more eerie feeling than the corridors I'd passed before. The air smelled different as well. Though very faint, a metallic, putrid stench seemed to waft through the passage.
Tyler didn't hesitate at all, and had already stepped through the door while I was standing still, trying to make up my mind. Something was off about this place and the deeper I walked into it, the more I felt it. Like a dark omen.
Tyler moved his body sideways, as he glanced back with a questioning expression on his face. "Are you coming?" He didn't crack a joke about my hesitation this time.
Now that my eyes were useful again, I could see that although he hid it well, exhaustion was starting to show on his face. The blueish light made his skin look even more pale, causing him to appear somewhat sickly. That was probably why, this time, I noticed it first.
The intake of breath. The wind created through movement. Something was slowly coming towards us.
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