Equinox (Book One of the Firebird Chronicles) WATTY AWARD HIDDEN GEM WINNER 2015

Chapter Thirty Four, part 2: Into the Lair

SORRY IN ADVANCE.... (read on!)

Gif is Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time. Isn't he a cutie? He's also a bit of a bad guy...so he's my inspiration for the Commander you'll meet later in this chapter.

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'Are they here yet? Did we miss them?'

'Shhh, Valkyrie. If anyone hears us...'
'Who is going to hear us, Kirsten? The moon? Oh wait...it's a new moon tonight!'
'Don't forget that we might have been back here three times, but we can still get caught if we're not careful!'
'I can hear something,' I interrupted, and the two bickering girls fell silent. 

Valkyrie was difficult to handle ever since she'd gone through her transformation, and the person that seemed to aggravate her most was Kirsten, who was both bossy and righteous. For the past day, they had both been arguing non-stop regarding what they wanted to do.

We were crouched in the same circle as we had been for nearly an hour, waiting in the darkness for a signal.

Our signal to attack.
Fabian took my left side, Sakura took my right. Combined, they were the two I had most confidence in-- aside from Clae, of course, but she was who we were waiting for. 

The young woman had done an excellent job over the past few days. By day, she gleaned information by hiding in the shadows, and following our infiltrator, Iggy. They had managed to create a layout of the prison for us-- how there was an illusion of there being many more cells than were physically possible, by using mirrors. 

The map was in Kirsten's hands. She'd drawn it up, memorising every detail Clae relayed to us and conjuring it onto the parchment. In the darkness the map was obsolete, but the group of us-- including Valkyrie, Trina, Guthrie, Roan and Kaelan in addition to Sakura, Kirsten and I-- had all looked at that map so many times the prison felt like home. 

As long as it doesn't become home, I told myself grimly.

'I still think we should just attack from the front,' Trina said. 'Just go in there and wham. We're stronger than they are, altogether.' 

I could hear Fabian twitch in irritation at Trina's insistence. He was about to come up with a sarcastic retort when I spoke more diplomatic words instead.

'We've agreed that we cannot risk everything on one plan,' I replied, 'By splitting us into two groups, we have at least a chance of one group getting through, and releasing the prisoners. Then we will have plenty of numbers and strength.'

I couldn't see her, but I sensed Trina nodded grudgingly.
'Are we all clear what each group is doing?' I asked.
There was a pause of more nodding, quickly replaced by murmurs of assent. 

In the darkness, I felt a hand curl around mine, warm and comforting. Fabian's fingers were large and soft against my own rough and cut hands. He stroked my chapped knuckles, where I'd been training with Sakura every spare hour I had. 

I knew he was upset that we were in separate groups. I would be leading the group headed towards the Commander, in a small insurgent group consisting of Valkyrie, Sakura and Roan. Clae had told us to search the tunnels that led from the prison, all the way to the Diamond district. They were used to transport prisoners, awaiting execution, to the palace, for their sentence to be carried out. Although they didn't seem to be a secret, hardly anybody knew about them and few seemed to know where to access them. 

Sakura and I had investigated them, finding old abandoned waterways that surely stretched for miles across Angelica. The tunnels were so dark, we had to use an orb of light given to us by Kitty, our resident dancer and light-conjurer. For our escape, the girl was waiting for us, ready to guide us back towards our caravans; one of the tunnels lead to the well of the shanty towns.