Chapter 32: Chapter 32

The leap from the rocks above the castle to the closest turret was quite a span. As Nya stood on the precipice, looking down over the dark, gaping hole between her current perch and the closest man-made stone structure jutting out of the ground, she knew it would take a precision step to clear the chasm and land safely on the top of the castle. While she was quite certain Slate could make a leap like this with next to no effort, probably with his eyes closed, her legs were much shorter, and she would need more space to take a running leap, but she didn’t have that luxury, so she’d have to try something else.

“Do you want me to shift and fly you over?” Slate offered, his large, warm hand on her shoulder.

Nya’s eyes fixated on his fingers and how she felt comforted by the lightest touch from him. She pulled her eyes away before he noticed her gawking and shook her head. “No, it’s too dangerous. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as if to say he wasn’t too sure about how well this magic of hers worked.

Nya narrowed her eyes. “Yes, I’m sure.” In fact, she hadn’t taken the time to watch it all play out just yet, not step by step. She did know she was going to reach the Heart of Magic, so she couldn’t possibly die here. Still, there had to be a right way--and a better way--to do this. She took a moment and concentrated, watching in her mind what would happen if she jumped first as opposed to Slate going first. In the end, she was able to clear the gap either way, but just barely. “It’s fine,” she said again. “Go ahead.”

He looked hesitant, like he thought maybe she should go first, but he nodded and then, with hardly any effort at all, leapt down from their perch, across the dark, vast nothing, and landed in a crouch on the top of the closest castle turret, his feet barely making a sound as he touched down on the stone.

Now, it was Nya’s turn. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and for a moment, she wished she’d asked him to go ahead and shift. “You can do this,” she told herself. Backing up a few steps, she sucked in air, and used her legs to propel herself up into the empty space in front of her, kicking her legs out and reaching with her arms.

Her jump was not nearly as powerful as his, and for a brief moment, she thought she might’ve messed up and missed the castle completely. But then, her hand came out, latching on to the top of the turret, and Slate grabbed hold of her, helping her pull herself up and over.

Nya’s heart continued to race as his steady hands helped her onto the solid rock. She wiped at sweat that threatened to drip into her eyes, sucking in air. “Thanks,” she said, glad she’d let him go first.

“Easy enough,” he said, smirking at her. She didn’t like the implication, that she might’ve been wrong, but it didn’t matter. They were both in enemy territory now, on top of a castle that was heavily guarded by troops who would like nothing more than to destroy both of them.

“What now?” Slate asked her.

Nya moved along the wall, hugging the shadows, listening. The dragon shifter did the same, though it was much more difficult for him to blend in since he was so large. In the distance, she saw dark figures moving in all directions, rows of them, stepping in order, some of them moving their direction. She had a feeling their patrols would bring them right to where she was hiding if she didn’t figure out how to hide herself and the menacing man behind her.

To her right, and just in front of them on the next landing down, she saw a door that looked like it probably led to an interior stairwell, one that would take them inside of the castle. Even if it was locked, she had the feeling Slate could power his way in. The only problem would be, once they were on the stairs, it would be quite easy for them to run into enemy troops with nowhere to hide. While she doubted this part of the castle was well guarded since it seemed impenetrable thanks to the nasty cliffs they’d had to climb, she had to reason that soldiers still walked through here and likely utilized that stairwell when switching shifts.

“Do you think we can use those stairs?” Slate asked.

Nya concentrated and a vision came to her. She saw herself and Slate running down a set of stairs in the dark, harassed. She nodded, but the sound of boots marching in unison was coming closer. “We’ll need to hurry.”

Sticking to the shadows, the two of them made their way to the far ledge of the structure where they’d landed and then climbed down the stone wall to the next section of the castle. The troops grew even closer as Nya skirted across the open space toward the rise in stone where the doorway to the staircase protruded from the flat walkway.

Reaching the barrier, she tried the knob and found it locked. Slate signaled for her to stand aside and then used his brute strength to force the door open. With a nod, she entered the dark stairwell, Slate right behind her.

In front of her, she saw nothing but darkness--save the glowing, round white spheres that could be nothing other than a set of eyeballs.

“Zans!” Nya cursed, wondering what had gone wrong. They weren’t alone after all.

***

It only took a split second for Slate to move past Nya and grab the man in front of them, making quick work of silently breaking his neck. The man made a small gurgling noise as his bones broke, and then Slate carefully lowered him down on the edge of the stairs where his body was mostly obscured by the shadows. Once the sun rose, there was a possibility he’d be spotted, but for now, it would be difficult to see where he lay.

Nya looked at the crumpled form for a moment, a bit sad that he had to be killed, but then she reminded herself they were in Beelzanborg, and everyone here was evil.

“I thought you said we wouldn’t have any trouble,” Slate said through gritted teeth as he took off down the stairs.

“I didn’t see him in my mind,” she admitted. “But I did see us going down the stairs. So I guess it wasn’t a problem.”

He mumbled something she didn’t catch as Nya hurried to stay caught up with him. He was fast, and his legs were long. In contrast, she had to move even faster to keep her short legs within a few paces of him.

As she wound her way down the stairs, Nya tried to keep a picture in her mind of what was to come. She saw them reaching the bottom of the stairs and walking out into the hallway. Beyond that, there seemed to be people in the hallway. She saw them going to the left and running into trouble. She saw them going to the right and finding a place to hide.

As Slate reached the bottom of the stairs, she grabbed his arm. He turned and looked at her, and she gestured to the right. He nodded and quietly opened the door.

It was so dark in the hallway, she couldn’t tell whether or not there were even any torches lit nearby as she tried her best to peer past the large form of the dragon slayer. He took a step out into the hall, holding the door for her. Nya slid between his side and the door, ducking beneath his arm, and hurried to the right as Slate closed the door behind them with a small thunk.

She rushed down the dimly lit hall, spying torches every twenty or thirty paces. Whatever floor they were on, it wasn’t one the king frequented, she assumed. It was dingy, the ground dank and damp, the walls undecorated and cold.

They hadn’t gone far when she heard footsteps behind them, coming from a hallway. In her mind, she remembered seeing the spot where they hid and glanced around. There was a small alcove to her right. Nya grabbed hold of Slate’s arm and pulled him into the small space. It was barely big enough for her, let alone his large form. They hunkered together in the darkness, barely breathing as the soldiers’ boots echoed off of the stone walkway.

The soldiers said nothing as they walked by. After a few seconds, the troops were far enough down the corridor that Nya could no longer hear them, but she wasn’t ready to move yet.

Slate’s face was only inches from her own, his warm breath heating the flesh on her cheek until she was sure it was flush. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she tried to still her heart. Every inhale was full of the spicy, smoky scent of the man standing next to her.

It was foolish to think about anything but their mission at the moment, yet standing this close to him, her hand actually resting on his muscular, tense bicep where he braced himself against the wall, all of her thoughts revolved around lifting herself on her tiptoes and pressing her lips to his. It was a foolish game, something a young girl might preoccupy her thoughts with, not the mature thoughts of a woman who was on her way to steal a precious gem from an evil king. A warrior would never let herself get distracted by the luscious lips of a dragon shifter when she needed to be concentrating on her task at hand. She knew for certain that Slate wasn’t thinking about kissing her.

Or so she thought. When his lips lowered and grazed hers, taking what was left of her breath away, she had to change her mind.

Maybe she hadn’t been acting completely out of character for her warrior persona after all….

His mouth was only on hers for a second, just long enough to give her a taste of what it would be like to be with him, just enough to make her reconsider what she was doing.

But then… the moment was gone, and he was hurrying back into the hallway, following at a far enough pace behind the enemy troops that they could not hear him, Nya directly behind him.

She’d been caught off guard, something she was beginning to think was more and more impossible with the advancement of her gift. However, if he could catch her off guard, so could the troops from Beelzanborg. She needed to concentrate more. If they were going to get through this, and the vision she’d seen in her head where she had a choice as to whether or not to free Slate and give him the Heart of Magic were to come true, she couldn’t be surprised by anyone again--not him, not the enemy soldiers--not herself.