Adonis was startled by the interruption. Astrid was panting so loudly like she’d been running.
He raised an eyebrow. "What’s the issue, Astrid?"
"Exactly how many soldiers ca in through the secret passage?" She asked.
"I’m not sure? Three, four hundred? Why do you ask?"
"And who’s leading them? Perhaps one of the royals? The king? Prince? Or a general?"
"Astrid," Adonis sighed, "please get to the point. I don’t have all the ti in the world."
"What I’m trying to say is, this whole siege is a diversion. I think they’re trying to hide sothing."
Imdiately, Adonis was on full alert. "What do you an by diversion?
"Don’t you find it a little confusing why they ca back? They probably know this kingdom, every nook and cranny, like the back of their hand. I’m certainly sure if they wanted to escape, they would have done that by now, so why co back here?"
Adonis furrowed his brows and frowned, then turned back to the soldiers behind him.
"Which mber of the royal family is up there?" He asked.
"Two princes," one soldier said.
"Which ans the king, queen, and every other mber of the royal house is yet to be found?"
"Yes, your majesty, I presu so."
"Find Augustus, bring him to imdiately," Adonis commanded.
The lieutenant rushed back in with the soldier. "Your majesty, you sent for ?"
"Have you found any of the tunnels?" Adonis asked swiftly.
Augustus lowered his head. "I’m sorry, your majesty. We haven’t found it yet. But I promise you, we will not rest until..."
Adonis waved his hand, stopping him. "Take so of the n to the borders, find the rest of the family. Be quick."
"Yes, your majesty." Augustus bowed and turned to leave.
"And lieutenant," Adonis said, stopping him in his tracks, "do not fail . Everything hangs on you now."
"Of course, your majesty. Rest assured."
Adonis watched Augustus leave, then turned to face Astrid. " I don’t know why I didn’t think of this. I honestly thought they’d still be in the kingdom. We were so focused on capturing the castle that we let our guard down."
"You had a lot on your plate, Adonis," Astrid said. "Don’t think too much of it."
"We need to find those tunnels. Now."
"My sisters and I will help."
Adonis nodded. He turned to the soldiers and jerked his head towards the back of the castle, and they followed him as he left.
Astrid rushes back into the temple. "We need to find the passage, or... There might even be multiple passages, let’s just search for them."
"Soldiers are swarming the entire castle grounds like a hive of bees searching for those tunnels. What use are we going to be when they haven’t found it? " Doris asked.
"We could start from inside the castle, "Astrid suggested. "It leads inside the castle, does it not? We might as well start from here."
"And it’ll probably be protected," Andrea said, her voice flat.
"Why don’t we actually try, instead of sitting on our hands complaining?" Astrid retorted.
Andrea raised a hand in defeat and got up. "Have it your way."
"We’ll split up," Astrid said. " Lily, you’ll co with ; you two can go together. In fact, why don’t you two start here? I don’t want to put you in any type of danger, you know." Lily followed imdiately as she turned and left.
Andrea couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
Astrid and Lily tiptoed through the corridor, their gaits as light as floating feathers. Silithran soldiers marched along the entrance to the second floor.
Astrid could see the sacks of grain and explosives that were stacked to barricade the entrance.
"I thought we were checking our side of the castle, "Lily hissed. "Why are we sneaking around this place?"
"Look," Astrid said, pointing at the storage room. "I think that’s where the hidden passageway is." They’re guarding it so tightly."
"And?"
"Help cause a distraction. I’ll sneak in, find out where it leads, and we’ll try and smoke them out before they have the chance to blow us all up."
"For heaven’s sake, Astrid," Lily cursed.
"Please..."
Lily looked out at the hallway and sighed. Then she ran out toward the soldiers, shouting and screaming. She darted a few knives towards them, which struck two soldiers, and then she tried to run towards the kitchen.
Astrid imdiately runs towards the storage room but is stopped by three Silithran soldiers. They all ca at her at once, a technique she’d learnt that would overwhelm whoever was getting attacked.
She drew her sword and slashed through flesh, cutting a throat. One of the soldiers dashed forward, cutting her arm with his sword. Her eyes grew dark. One of the soldiers struck her hard, and she blocked it with her sword while the other tried to drive his sword through her back.
She dodges the blow and uses a little knife in her left hand to cut through the neck of the soldier in front, blood splattering on her face, and then she swiftly beheads the other.
The noise alerted the other soldiers, but before they could reach her, she’d locked herself in the storage room.
There was an opening in the middle of the room. She climbs down imdiately and walks quickly down the path that led to. She could see a ravine at the end of the passage.
With large hills on both sides, the path was hidden from the castle. They would never find this place if they didn’t know it was here.
She could hear soldiers running behind her. They would reach her soon if she stayed.
She turned to the right and ran.
"After her!" Soone shouted from behind.
They shot arrows at her. A few of the arrows missed, but then, one struck her shoulder. She fell forward. She wasted no ti getting back up and continued to run.
Then she saw them. Augustus and a few soldiers were riding through that path.
"Augustus!!" she shouted. "Augustus!" Her legs were getting tired. She felt herself slowing down. She looked back, and the Silithran soldiers were a few paces away from her.
"Shoot!" She heard soone shout. Two arrows pierced her side, with another slightly missing her neck.
Astrid began to wobble, her vision blurring. Just as a sword was about to co down on her, an arrow whooshes by her ear, hitting the soldier.
Augustus rushes to her side, while the other soldiers fight off the Silithrans.
"I found the way," she slurred. "Through there." She pointed towards the ravine. "Take the n and go, or you’ll never catch up."
"I’m not leaving you here to die." His voice was cold and certain. "Hector!" Augustus called. "Take the n, you’ll find a ravine through that path. Bring them back."
"Yes, my lord."
The darkness finally engulfed her.
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