Rise (The Order of the Krigers #1)(79)

“There’s a ward on it,” he explained. “Can you disable it?”

“I’ll try.” Taking a deep breath, I aimed at the door, releasing a sliver of power so it wouldn’t ricochet off the iron and harm someone. Nothing happened. I tried again, this time releasing more power. The door glowed soft blue for three seconds, and then turned black again.

Anders pushed on the door, but it didn’t budge. “Maybe there’s a handle hidden somewhere,” he mumbled, feeling around the edges of the door.

“Stand back.” Once again, I aimed for the door. I let my power freely flow to the bo staff. Light shot out of the end, hitting the door. It glowed bright blue, and then the entire door disappeared. The Krigers rushed inside.

My head became heavy, and my vision blurred. Fear crept through me—this could only mean one thing. “Morlet is trying to find me,” I croaked.

“Hurry,” he called to the Krigers. “The king knows she’s here.”

The eleven Krigers came out carrying their weapons. There was a longsword, crossbow, dagger, javelin, misericorde, pike, spear, ax, broadsword, seax, and a short bow. Each beautiful, gleaming, and polished—a stark contrast to the men holding them.

Anders led the way. I hoped we made it out of the dungeon before being attacked again. I wasn’t sure any of us had the strength to fight right now. We traveled through several hallways before we reached a stairwell. The soldats we had previously incapacitated were still on the ground, unmoving.

“I’ll go first,” Anders aid. “Kaia, bring up the rear. Make sure no one falls behind.”

Several of the men had difficulty climbing the steep stairs. One man stumbled, so I wrapped an arm around him, helping him up the steps. Anders stood at the top, waving everyone forward.

“Thank you,” the Kriger said when we reached Anders. “I can walk on my own from here.” He smiled kindly at me.

“Vidar is here,” Anders said. “Let’s go.” We hurried down the hall, passing the Krigers, to where Vidar stood.

“You did it!” He hugged me. “And all of my friends are here, safe and sound.” His smile lit up his face.

“Not yet,” I said. “We still need to get everyone out of the castle. Many of the Krigers are weak or injured.”

“We’ve cleared a tunnel,” Vidar said. “I have a dozen men ready to help us get everyone to safety.” He pointed to the open door Anders had said led to the mines and instructed the Krigers to enter. A staircase led downward into darkness.

“Is it secure?” I dreaded returning to the underground labyrinth and running into the King’s Army.

“For the time being.” Vidar instructed everyone to remain silent and at the bottom of the stairs, to enter the tunnel on the left. About half the Krigers had started to descend when pounding boots and voices neared from the adjacent hallway.

“Hurry!” Anders herded the remaining Krigers forward.

Men rushed in the hallway from behind us with their swords drawn. One sliced his sword down, nicking a Kriger who didn’t move out of the way fast enough.

Vidar unsheathed his sword and charged toward the soldats, Anders next to him. Three Krigers hesitated, one reaching for the injured Kriger.

“Leave him!” I ordered. “Get yourselves out of here. I’ll protect him.” When a soldat neared me, I jabbed my bo staff at his stomach. He lifted his sword in order to hit my side, but I spun around and brought my elbow up, smashing his face. Another man jumped on me from behind. I fell forward onto my stomach. A second later, Anders yanked him off me. We couldn’t let any of the soldats run for help, alert Morlet of the Krigers’ escape, or follow the Krigers. If these two dozen men weren’t neutralized soon, there was a high likelihood the three of us would die.

I raised my weapon and released a chunk of my power, hitting the remaining men at the same time. They were all blasted backward, crashing to the ground. I had no idea if they were alive or not. My arms started to shake.

“Why didn’t you do that in the first place?” Vidar asked, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

“Because she doesn’t want to kill anyone unless she has to,” Anders answered for me. Our eyes met for a moment.

“Well,” Vidar responded, “if we encounter anyone else, please just do that so we don’t have to fight. I’d rather not get a broken nose if I don’t need to.”

The Kriger who had been nicked slid to the ground, passing out. I gently pulled his shirt away from his side, revealing a deep wound and blood covering his torso.

“He’s not going to make it,” I said, glancing up at Anders and Vidar. Vidar grabbed his hair, about to scream. If the Kriger died, we’d have to wait eighteen years for another one to come into his power. I had no intention of waiting that long to kill Morlet. “I can heal him.”

“It’s too risky,” Anders said, shaking his head.

“Do you even know how to heal someone else?” Vidar asked, kneeling next to me.

Morlet had healed me, so I had a vague notion of what to do.

A rebel came in through the door leading to the mines. “We have ten Krigers,” he said, gasping for breath. “Where are the last two?”

Vidar went over to his man, speaking softly to him.

There wasn’t much time. I closed my eyes and pulled on my own inner power. It immediately responded, begging to be released. I sent it to my fingertips and willed the power to enter the injured Kriger. Something warm slithered out of my body, leaving me cold. I envisioned the Kriger’s skin closing and his wound healing. Darkness surrounded me, and I violently shook. How did I get my power to return to me? My head exploded with pain, and I lost consciousness.