The Silent Shield (Kingfountain #5)(60)

She invoked the word of power to create a shield around her and the king, backing toward the privy doors as the warriors rushed forward. As soon as they reached the boundary of her shield, the magic flung them backward violently. She only had a moment or two, though—Rucrius could rip her shield apart. The king looked at her in confusion and then realized what she meant. A look of disgust twisted on his face as he turned and flung open the door to the garderobe.

She felt Rucrius’s power throb against hers, but she maintained her hold on the shield.

“Quickly, my lord!” Trynne panted.

King Drew flung the wooden seat up and gazed down the black shaft.

“Into the cistern!” Trynne said, invoking her father’s words.

King Drew’s face twisted with revulsion, but he jumped down the shaft, holding his sword in one hand and the hollow crown in the other.

“Stop her!” Rucrius roared in fury.

Her shield unraveled. One of the soldiers rushed her, trying to club her on the head with the pommel of his sword. She caught his wrist, kicked him in the knee and then the groin, and wrestled the blade from him by flipping him onto his back. Spinning the blade around her back, she struck one of the knights in the chest as he charged at her.

There was no time to spare. Still holding the sword, Trynne rushed to the garderobe and jumped in after the king.

The black stone walls of the shaft rushed past her, and it felt like traveling over the ley lines until she hit a curve in the stone. She had to scrape her front until she began free-falling again.

She landed in a heap of muck just as the king pulled himself free from it. His sword glowed a brilliant blue.

“This is awful,” Drew said through clenched teeth. The smell of the cesspit was unbearable, and he started retching uncontrollably.

Trynne knew a word of power to help fight the feeling, so she invoked it and quickly scanned the darkness. They were in a large stone box, and the opening they’d slid down was on the ceiling just behind them. On the other side of the room was a series of deep stone steps leading upward. She hurried over to them, and when she looked up, she saw an iron-barred hatch. Moonlight and fresh air were pouring in from above. The cesspit was hot, and the sound her shoes made in the filth sickened her. Another body landed in the muck pile behind them. Trynne, who had made her way up the steps, whirled around and watched King Drew kill the attacker with a single blow of his sword.

Trynne pushed on the iron hatch, but it was locked by an iron ring fastened to a bar. “Anoichto!” she said, and the lock slid open. The hatch groaned as she pushed on it.

“Up here!” she called to Drew, straining her shoulders to lift the hatch. The king rushed up the steps and helped her push it up. The hatch rattled and clanged as it fell away. Trynne’s heart was still in her throat at the narrowness of their escape. The others were coming, or would be.

The king set down his sword and hoisted Trynne around her middle to lift her up through the hole. He handed up the crown and both blades, which she set on the edge of the opening, and then he reached up to grab her hand. She planted her foot on the side of the wall and helped pull him up as he clambered out.

The sound of another body landing in the cesspit alerted them that their time was nearly done. There was cursing and grumbling followed by the sound of someone vomiting. Trynne and Drew slammed down the hatch lid together, and then she worked feverishly to secure the lock while he claimed his weapon and crown.

There were stone walls on three sides of the hatch, the kind of rough-hewn stone that was not meant to be decorative. The edges were blunted and the pieces held together by mortar.

“By the Fountain, Trynne, what’s going on?” the king whispered to her. “Where is the Espion? Where are my knights? How was I left so vulnerable?”

After locking the hatch, she gripped the sword she’d commandeered and led the way out of the inlet. She gazed both ways, searching for movement. They were in the gardener’s paddock, where the rakes and shovels and wheelbarrows were stored. When she craned her neck, she saw the castle rising up behind them, dark and skeletal.

“My lord, there is a plot afoot,” she answered, rubbing her hand along her arm to quell the shivering. Her clothes and skin reeked of the cesspit, but the stench was no longer so overpowering. “Morwenna and I went to Chandigarl. I brought back Lady Evie, as you saw.”

“Where is my half sister?” Drew demanded intently, his eyes narrowing.

“Back in Chandigarl, for all I know,” Trynne said. “Her disguise failed while we were going to rescue Lady Evie from the zenana. My disguise wasn’t caused by magic, so no one suspected me. But no, that’s not true. Gahalatine set a trap. He let me come into the tower, hoping to capture me. My lord, I’m sure there are more layers to the situation than what I understand.” She gazed at the abandoned yard and then motioned for the king to follow her to the arched doorway leading to the gardens.

A rattling at the hatch behind them startled her. She did not believe Rucrius would jump down the shaft after them. He was too proud, too powerful for such a scheme. Reaching the doorway, she listened and heard the tread of boots coming toward it.

“Someone is coming,” the king whispered, hearing the sound.

“There is a fountain that way,” Trynne said, pointing toward the door. “I know this part of the grounds well. If we can reach it, I can take us through the ley lines.” She motioned for him to stand on the other side of the door. She pressed her back against the stone, holding the sword up. Drew mimicked her and waited breathlessly on the other side.