Evie
I open my eyes, seeing nothing but dust, broken stone, and I cough as I suck in some much-needed air and turn my head to the side a little. There are bits of light left from Azi’s fireballs flashing in the room, but I can’t see anyone else where I’ve fallen. The room spins as I push myself up off my chest, pushing broken stone off my legs and back, and quickly pulling my bag off my back. I feel little cuts all over me, but nothing that needs healing right now. I open the bag up, and Star jumps out, licking my neck as I check her over.
“You’re okay, you landed on me, lucky cat,” I say, and she purrs in response. I put her down, feeling around for a dagger on my belt, and standing up.
“Azi? Trex? Connor? Nix?” I shout each of their names, but nothing but silence answers me. Something is seriously wrong, or they are all dead. But that doesn’t make sense, Azi could have made a portal to escape, came back for us. I don’t like this. I look back down at Star and pat my thigh.
“You need to follow me or stay here, you choose,” I say, and she purrs, settling down next to my bag and sticking her head inside to look for food, I suspect. I turn around in a circle, looking for anything to follow when I hear a slight noise. Like a whimper. I climb over what is left of the staircase, ducking under different bits to get to the other side of the room where there is a door. I pull some of the loose stone in front of the door out of the way, before pulling the door open, and walking into the empty corridor. There are no doors, just a long stone corridor with smooth stone walls. It’s light in here from the little lights in the ceiling which oddly look modern. I’m tempted to shout “hello” like a bimbo in some horror movie always does, but I know that won’t help. This place is worse than a horror film, it’s fucking hell.
“Help me!” a weak-sounding female voice shouts from my left, and I look at the right of the empty corridor, knowing I should leave the voice alone and walk away, but I don’t, I walk left. The corridor is bare of anything until I get to a random door at the end. It’s locked when I try the handle, and I step back, lifting my leg and kicking it. It takes three kicks before the door falls through, smashing across the floor. I walk in, pausing at the sight of a woman tied up to a wall on the other side of the room. She looks up, her long black hair covering her face for second, and then her blue eyes lock on to me. She only has a simple black dress on, so I can see the runes she has, and I can also see the bruises all over her arms and face. Her legs are covered in dirt, she has blood on her face near the bruises, but she is alive.
“Erica? The princess?” I ask, and she nods her head, smiling widely. I don’t even know why I asked, it’s clear who she is. She looks just like Emily and Esther.
“You came for me? Who are you?” she asks, her voice nervous and scared. I poke my head back out the door, seeing no one in the corridor before walking back in, and kneeling down next to her.
“My name is Evie,” I say, and her eyes widen.
“The deadly assassin? They sent you after me?” she asks quickly, and I nod as I reach for the rope that is tied to a metal loop on the wall. I cut her free, and her arms drop down. I cut the rope off her wrists, aware of her staring at me the whole time.
“What are you staring at?” I finally ask.
“You seem so . . . so human; like you’re normal, but you look so much like a Protector,” she says, and I give her a confused look as she rubs her wrists, and tries to stand up.
“Being like a human isn’t that bad,” I say, catching her arm when she sways as she stands.
“I’m weak. The demon has been feeding me something that makes me pass out, and I haven’t eaten since I was taken,” she says, and I switch my dagger to my other arm, putting an arm under hers and holding her up as we walk over the door, and into the corridor.
“Do you know a way out of here?” I ask her as I put my dagger away to hold onto her.
“Yes, down here is a room I was brought through. It has a portal that I saw. I don’t know where it leads, but anywhere is better than here. Right?” she asks, and I nod, not knowing what to make of Trex’s fiancé. She seems sweet, he was right. Sweet is the only word I could describe her as. I hold her up as we walk down the corridor and get to the door she talked about. I let her go, resting her on the wall. I turn the door handle slowly as I slide a dagger out of my belt.
“Stay out here, let me check it out first. Alright?” I ask, and she nods, resting against the wall and looking exhausted. Let’s hope she survives getting out of here. I need to take one princess back, save Hali, and then find the Protectors and Azi. I can’t leave them down here without trying to find them. I’ve become attached to the fuckers. I open the door, stepping into the impressive room. I stop a few steps in, feeling something seriously wrong as I see Azi held unconscious between two men in the middle of the room. I see the unconscious, dirt-covered Protectors all tied up near one of the walls from the corner of my eye, and I’m not sure who to run for first. I gasp as pain shoots through my back, once and then twice. I turn, seeing Erica standing behind me as she pulls the dagger out of my back for the second time. My own dagger falls to the ground as my hands go to my stomach, feeling the blood dripping through my shaking fingers.
“Hello, little sister, thanks for walking straight into my trap,” she laughs, and I fall to the ground.