That cry was joined by two loud bellows that ended abruptly.
She sagged to her knees when the warriors’ grips on her loosened, hit the dirt and collapsed against it, breathing hard and fast as her entire body quaked from the drain of using her power when she was still under the influence of the drug. Her vision tunnelled and she shook her head, shifting her cheek against the dirt, refusing to succumb to the darkness.
Thanatos needed her.
She pressed her palms against the dirt and gritted her teeth as she pushed herself up, cried out again as her bones ached and muscles shook and her arms almost gave out. Every fibre of her being seemed to tremble as she crawled to the rough wall of the tunnel, as she dug her fingers into the bumpy surface and hauled herself up onto her bare feet.
Bile rose up her throat as she glanced to her left, at the two males now suspended a foot off the ground by the sharp, black needles that punctured their bodies in multiple places. Sightless eyes stared at the roof of the tunnel, their mouths gaping open. She pivoted and hurried away from them, glared at the cage as she passed it and grabbed one of the wooden torches stuck in the ground. The warmth of the fire heated her right side as she held it before her, as she moved as quickly as she could manage to the other side of the cavern.
Another tunnel came into view there.
She followed it, picking up pace as her body recovered from the drain of using her power, as she set her mind on reaching the other side of the mountain range and the town she had seen in the distance.
Every step she took that carried her further away from Thanatos tore at her. She didn’t want to leave him, ached with a need to go back the way she had come and find him instead of finding help. She battled that urge, trying to resist it. She would be no help to Thanatos by herself.
She needed backup.
She needed her brothers.
Fear gripped her as she hurried through the tunnels, as the seconds ticked into minutes and then into hours. She tried not to think about what Thanatos was doing, tried to shut it from her mind, focusing on her task.
Reach the town.
Get help.
Save Thanatos.
She broke out onto the enormous black plain and into a run that had her legs feeling unsteady beneath her, but had hope soaring in her heart. The edge of the realm was here somewhere. Thanatos had told her that. She just had to keep running and she would find it.
Her feet ached, every tiny stone biting into her sore soles sending pain shooting up her legs, but she kept on running, her gaze fixed on the cluster of lights in the distance. She tossed the torch away when it began to feel heavy, wanted to summon her power as she had before so she could ride a vine but didn’t dare risk it. She couldn’t afford to black out, not now she was so close to help.
She felt it when she breached the border of the realm, skidded to a halt and looked back at the dirt just a few feet from her that looked the same as that on her side of the invisible barrier that surrounded it.
Calindria closed her eyes and focused, tried to picture the palace to teleport there, but she couldn’t remember it. She turned wild eyes on the town instead and the world around her disappeared, and suddenly she was in the middle of a square. She tucked her hands beneath her arms as her pulse jacked up, the thought of the innocent people bustling around the busy street accidentally touching them sickening her.
Calindria backed away, careful to avoid touching any of the people who were coming and going, struggling to breathe as they all seemed to close in on her. Too many people. She fought for air, gasping for it, but couldn’t get enough into her lungs. There were too many people. Staring at her. Scowling at her. Eyes filled with disgust, or heat as they dropped to her bare legs.
She backed into something, tensed and turned, exhaled hard as she saw it was only the black wall of a building. She needed to get a grip. So many people though, all of them close to her, crowding her.
Calindria drew down a breath and held it, tried to calm her mind and ease her fear. She wouldn’t touch them. She would be careful. She had to move though. She needed to find help.
She looked around at the people, scanning their faces and their outfits. None of them looked like guards. There had to be guards here somewhere. She frowned as she recalled that whenever she had visited towns in the past, there had always been males who had kept order in them.
And sometimes she had even seen her father’s soldiers.
She tried to recall where she had seen them. What town?
It pinged into her head and darkness swallowed her before she could even will the teleport. She landed at the edge of a larger town, one she recognised. There was a barracks here. She remembered Calistos telling her as much when he had brought her here to buy her a present as a reward for keeping still while a pretty female had painted her portrait at the palace.
Calindria kept her hands tucked beneath her arms so no one could brush them and get hurt, and hurried into the town, her tired legs throbbing with each stride. Her eyes darted around and she ignored the way three males outside a tavern looked at her as she searched the streets for soldiers.
There had to be someone.
She was close to desperate when she reached the other end of the town and hadn’t seen a single soldier, turned to look for somewhere to rest and paused as five males walked out of a building, all of them dressed in fine black armour that hugged their lean figures.
Relief swept through her, so strong her knees almost buckled. She stumbled towards the males.
“Help. Please help me.”
Chapter 27
Calindria wanted to reach for the soldiers and grab them to make them notice her when they didn’t seem to hear her. She fought the urge. Killing one of them by mistake wasn’t going to help her cause, even though it would get her noticed.
And probably killed or tossed into Tartarus.
“Help me,” she growled, her tone hardening as panic and fear gripped her tighter, spurred by the thought of being locked away and unable to help Thanatos.
One of the soldiers looked at her, his eyes dark, and as he turned towards her, she noticed the others had females tucked close to them. They weren’t here to patrol. She glanced at the building they had exited. A tavern. They were off duty, but that didn’t mean they weren’t able to help her.
“I need you to take me to Hades’s palace.” She hurried up to the one male who had noticed her.
He curled his lip and scowled as he raked his gaze over her. “What business does a beggar have with my god-king?”
“A beggar?” Her mouth flapped open and then snapped shut. She looked down at herself and couldn’t blame him for thinking she was a pauper. She was filthy, wearing a torn tunic, and looked desperate. “I am no beggar. I am the daughter of Hades.”
He laughed in her face. “Good one. Hades does not have a daughter. Did you hear this?”
He leaned backwards towards the other soldiers, his near-black eyes remaining locked on her as he swept his hand in her direction.
“This here is the daughter of Hades everyone!”
The females took one look at her and laughed, and two of the males joined them. She scowled at them all, hurt welling inside her, filling her with a need to back away and leave so they would stop laughing at her, but darkness was swift to devour it and use it as fuel.
Calindria stared the male down, knew it the moment crimson ringed her pupils and that darkness crossed her face, because he was quick to close his big mouth. Another male exited the tavern, muttering about having to pay, and stopped when he found the group of males and females blocking his path.