The Past Lies Ahead (A Throne Of Glass Fanfic)

Chapter 60

She hunched low on the roof, looking out towards her first objective. Through a window she could see lanterns illuminating the interior of the warehouse. Rows and piles of glinting metal, a stockpile of weapons.

Two days had passed since they arrived in Morath, and all that time had been spent preparing for this moment. She smiled under the darkness of her hood, all was ready on her end, now she just waited for the signal that the other one was ready to go too. She pulled out her flint, preparing herself. They would have to keep their magic usage to a minimum, lest Erawan would easier sense their approach.

Aelin turned her gaze to the horizon, towards where Old Aelin were finishing up on her part of the plan. A faint glow, looking more like slightly iridescent mist. Aelin quickly lit the cord in front of her with her piece of flint, then made a beeline across the roofs until she reached her next cord, and lit that one too. This pattern she repeated until all her cords were lit.

Keeping low atop the roofs, she hurried towards their rendezvous close to their planned entry into the keep. The cool night air nipped at her cheek while she ran quietly. In the corner of her eye she could see one of her cord had finally lit the building it was connected to. They would not lit in the same order as she had, because all the cords were different lengths causing the fire to light up randomly.

She grinned, this would cause quite the stir, keeping all eyes away from the keep. She glanced towards the other side of the city, random fires spreading there too. Aelin quickly and nimbly climbed down from the roof, and once she was in the streets she hurried through the back alleys. Then she waited.

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Rowan flapped his wings with powerful strokes, heading straight towards Morath. Well, towards the encampments around the city. His Fae soldiers kept close, an army of different kinds of birds covered the sky around him, and even more followed on foot. He quickly dipped beneath the cloud cover, to get a better sense of how close they were.

His hawk eyes widened, fifteen or sixteen fires dotted the city, in no seemingly logic pattern at all. But he didn't need to guess who was behind it all, clever foxes. He released a cry, and all the Fae around him quickly angled into a dive, heading straight for the soldiers who were already in disarray because of the ruckus inside the city walls.

When he neared the ground, he shifted and drew his sword a second before impaling his first victim, then the carnage began as his brethren descended upon their enemies.

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People hurried past them, almost every one of them carrying buckets of water to throw on the flames. Aelin inched open the door leading to the servant passages of the keep, and slipped inside, the other Aelin followed closely behind on silent feet.

Most of the servants had been sent out to help with the fires, giving the women almost unlimited access to their passages. Which also meant that getting from on end of the keep to the other won't be too hard. The hard part would be getting into the tomb, since it would surely be guarded by highly trained soldiers, or even demons.

Aelin fought the urge to scratch her skin, the wyrdmarks they had painstakingly drawn all over their bodies constantly itching her. They slowly advanced through the tunnels, hiding in alcoves or behind curtains whenever they encountered a passing servant. They reached what seemed like a dead end, but Old Aelin tapped around on the wall until one stone shifted. An old sounding mechanism clicked and a secret passage was revealed to them.

«Gotta love ancient buildings and all their secret, forgotten doors.» Old Aelin whispered, then slipped inside. Aelin carefully pushed the door closed behind them, and a stealth light appeared before them.«We need to hurry up, before Erawan learns we're here.»