The Acolytes of Crane (Theodore Crane, #1)(95)

Our plan to escape Karshiz and find Theodore was coming together nicely. Mariah heard that he was somewhere, still alive, and we always felt like he could be in danger any minute. We hated the thought of being even one second too late to save him. I thought it sounded like a perfect adventure to go save him. That was my MO. You know? Mission objective.”

“Why was it so necessary for you to escape? If you were under the comfort of Zane’s wing, why would escape be necessary?” the warden asks.

“We wanted to find Theodore. I know it seems brash, but we needed Ted to guide us home, or to finish the fight against Odion. Zane betrayed us once, and King Trazuline was just a puppet of Zane, trying to fool us into submission.”

Anyway, I remember the day I met Nilo. At that point it was just Mariah and I. She was annoying the hell out of me. I said, ‘Dude, relax, I am just gathering all my gear.’ I whipped together all my stuff, because everyone was waiting for me to head to the common area. There was only one guard assigned to two of us, at this point, but it was still a tight watch.

‘Dan! For the last time I am not a dude. I am a woman,’ she said.

‘Correction, you are a girl, duh. I have my stuff. Let’s go meet the others,’ I said.

It was fricken dirty in Karshiz. The wind was constantly in my face and to make matters worse, my socks were still wet. We had to wash our clothes in well water, and I didn’t take care of my stinky fungus-filled socks till the night before we arrived in Karshiz. I was lucky enough to wear soggy socks. Mariah told me that I smelled like a wet dog, and that wasn’t far from the truth.

The run down was simple: we had a plan. A righteous plan, that was equally radical. Well, basically, it went down as it should have.

“Linc was monitoring the Urilians since we arrived on their ship. He doubled his vigilance when Ted flipped his lid. Well, let’s just say it became an obsession for Linc.”

“Teenager versus the multiverse. It seems like a stretch. What made this possible?”

“Everyone knew that King Trazuline ran a tight ship. He had earned the respect of Zane for his brilliant strategy, which helped Zane achieve dominance. Zane entirely trusted Trazuline. So no one worried about us when we were under Trazuline’s watch. Plus, we found two major weaknesses in King Trazuline’s fortress. One, he held a strategy meeting once a day with his commanders. I know they were boring, because I eavesdropped on them. It was his executive council, and it purported to govern the entire planet of Karshiz. They discussed stuff like the commodity markets, the rebellions in some of the outskirts on the other side of the globe, and exports to planets like Saritia. These meetings also compelled the Bromels to attend. With the palace’s best security assigned to sit idly at these meetings, each session gave us an opportunity to make a clean getaway.”

Two, the other mistake was wicked huge. The captain of the ZF-Targine, the ship that took us to Karshiz, left his vessel for about thirty minutes every day—exactly the same time of day every day—to hang out with a lady friend. That moment was the best time for us to escape. We had the ‘when’ and the ‘how.’

Mariah and I were going to meet Lincoln and Liam at the commons of the castle, which was a giant conservatory, but nowhere near as well guarded. Our guards, bored, were tailing us loosely.

Anyway, as Mariah and I passed the foyer, we accidentally took a couple of wrong turns. We were walking down a corridor of the subterranean castle that was unfamiliar to us. Mariah let out exclamation of delight as she observed intricate oil paintings on the wall.

‘Mariah…’ I said, urging her to keep walking.

‘I have to see this!’ she cried out, delighted. ‘All my life I’ve seen human art. I’m really curious how galactic species express themselves.’

‘Mariah. Quiet for second,’ I said.

‘What is it?’ she asked, alarmed.

‘Don't you notice anything different?’

‘Yes,’ Mariah nodded, understanding. ‘The guards. We lost them somehow. Dan, this is huge. We have to tell Lincoln!’

Our excitement was short-lived. The guards shuffled around the corner, loud and disorderly. One of them said, ‘There they are.’

Mariah hid her disappointment. ‘We were just observing art. Can you lead us to the conservatory?’ The guards led us toward the conservatory, where we found Lincoln and Liam napping on one bench each. Some warriors! Just as we were about to wake them up, King Trazuline appeared from behind a column in the garden.

We were startled. The king’s time was very valuable, and this was our first chance meeting since our first day here—the time when he had ticked us off.

'Let them rest. I want to show you both something,' King Trazuline said, appearing a little nervous. ‘Come with me.’ We followed him. He was taking us to his lair. It was difficult to keep up with his long and hairy legs.

‘In here,’ he motioned to us, holding an index finger near his lips. We passed through a secret doorway in the conservatory.

The king pressed buttons on a computer situated in the center of this hidden room. Instantly, we heard a high pitch whine, and flashes of light swirled about us in the room, then stopped.

‘What is that sound?’ I asked.

The king sighed with relief. Finding his confidence in speaking out loud, he said, ‘My lair is a protected by a stalbrux. The stalbrux is generating a magnetic field as we speak. Anything we speak of within my chambers is secret. Mariah, shut the door please.’