From The Ashes [#NaNoWriMo16]

Chapter Thirty One - Kida Delwen

Kida made it quite easily into the palace. It was dark out, and she bet that most of the guards would be posted at the Queen's bedchamber and her children's to make sure they too weren't assassinated by the people who just saved the world. A load of bullshit, that's what Kida thought about the whole situation. Only a person as powerful and greedy as the Queen would double-cross them after what they'd done for her, so Kida was going to enjoy killing her.

Well, she was going to enjoy seriously injuring her. Helio had said he wished to avoid as much bloodshed as possible. Kida had, of course, argued that they couldn't get Issey into the position of Queen if the Elders were still alive. They were powerful; they'd brainwash everyone else. They eventually came up with an agreement; they would knock out the Elders and imprison them in the palace dungeons, where they'd live for the rest of their miserable lives. Not that it would be long, judging from their white hair and croaky voices.

He'd made a good point when saying this, though. If they killed the Elders or the Queen, everyone would doubt what kind of a Queen Issey would make if she was willing to kill like that. So Kida finally agreed, and that was settled. No killing if they could avoid it. Although whoever killed the King had some serious explaining to do.

Kida jogged silently down corridor after corridor, using the shadows to shield herself whenever she needed to. She figured they wouldn't have put anyone down in the dungeons; they'd want to interrogate first, ask questions. Depending on how many prisoner's they'd made; if Kieron, Quin and Issey were all captured, they'd throw one or two down in the dungeons. They'd most likely be asking Issey or Kieron questions; with Quin being a psychotic Keeri, they'd try and avoid him as much as they could. So where would they torture someone? It wouldn't be near the bedchambers, or the throne room. It wouldn't be downstairs near the dungeons, either. So it must be close; somewhere around these corridors, in one of these doors.

She peered through each one, keeping close to the far left wall so she could see if someone came around the corner, which hadn't happened at all yet. She wasn't sure if this was a trap or the guards were just plain stupid.

Finally, she found the door she was looking for. As she peered in, she found Issey tied to a chair, head down with her blonde hair forming a curtain around her head. She was clearly unconscious; they'd done a fair bit of damage. Kida guessed mostly punches, but the elf was still out of it.

Deciding that Issey would be no good to her unconscious, Kida decided to trace her steps back and remember where this door was as she headed back the other way, heading for the dungeons. If Quin was captured, that's where he'd be.

"Kida!" someone half-shouted, half-whispered and Kida's eyes widened, spotting her brother creeping down the corridor in front of her. She darted over, hugging him quickly before pulling back.

"They have Issey down that hall, tied up," she whispered. "She's unconscious, so we should come back to her."

"What happened?" he hissed back, glancing up and down the corridor. "Issey and Quin were talking to the Queen, and someone barged in in the middle of the conversation, went right up to the Queen. Whatever the bastard said had her fuming, and the guards were on Issey and Quin straight away."

"The King was already dead when I went in to kill him," Kida said quietly. "Throat slit. Someone set us up. Me, Hallee and Arlo got out, went back to Quin's place. Hallee's probably ripped her stitches, so I told them to stay while I came back. Where's Helio?"

"He went to Quin's place not half an hour ago," Kieron replied solemnly. "I guess he figured someone would get out and head back there. Speaking of, where is Quin? Did you find him too?"