“Fritz.” Snow White licked her lips and kept her voice hushed. “Do you hear anything?”
Fritz tilted his head. “Besides the sounds of fighting behind us?”
“Yes.”
He narrowed his eyes as he listened, then shook his head.
They marched up another hallway—Angelique couldn’t tell if they’d been in the area before or not. The whole place looked the same to her, empty of people and glittering with jewels and gems that the people of Mullberg seemed to regard as mere rocks.
They were about to slink through an intersection when Fritz stopped Snow White with a hand to her shoulder.
The other warriors stopped as well, giving him curious looks as they warily adjusted their grasps on their weapons.
Marzell started to open his mouth but shut it with an audible snap when Fritz held a finger up to his lips in a sign of silence.
Alone, Fritz prowled up to the intersection, sticking to the wall and cautiously peering around the corner.
He didn’t appear alarmed, but he was careful to stay silent as he snuck back to the group. “Constructs,” he whispered. “Can we take a different hallway to the throne room?”
Snow White nodded. She took a few steps backwards as she stared at the intersection, then circled back down the hallway and led them to a small, plain staircase hidden in a corner by a plaster wall.
The stairs were made of stone worn smooth and shiny with use, and the stairway was much smaller than others they’d used—likely a servant’s stair, though Angelique hadn’t seen enough of the palace to be certain.
“There’s a grand staircase that leads up to the throne room. We can access it from a lower floor,” Snow White explained.
When they left the narrow stairway, they moved through a few plain hallways that were far tighter and lacked any kind of ornamentation.
They didn’t see so much as a housemaid as they moved through the palace, and it seemed the guards had left their posts to help with the constructs. Occasionally, Angelique heard a shout and felt the trickle of magic that marked a construct’s disappearance, but it seemed like the closer they drew to the throne room, the less often she heard a scuffle.
Eventually, Snow White opened a door that led them into a grand ballroom.
As they shuffled across the beautiful room, Angelique’s eye kept twitching. The room had gemstones imbedded in some kind of resin decorating the floor, giving it a glittering effect that glinted at the fringe of her vision like a sword blade.
I’ll be so glad when Evariste is freed, and together we can stop the Chosen and return to Wistful Thicket. I miss its simplicity.
Snow White halted at a set of massive double doors and set her hand on one of the glossy panes. “This opens up into the Grand Hall—which has the staircase that leads you to the foot of the throne room.”
Wendal flicked his wrist, and daggers appeared in his hands. “So, the likelihood of constructs out there is reasonably high.”
Snow White nodded.
Marzell unsheathed his sword. “Lord Vitkovci?”
The Mullberg lord that had accompanied them shut the visor of his helm. “My men are ready.”
Fritz gently maneuvered Snow White so she stood behind the Seven Warriors.
Gregori solemnly bowed his head to Snow White. “At your command, Your Highness.”
Snow White licked her lips. “Then let us begin.”
The doors opened with a creak that ruined any chance of surprise they had, and with it Angelique’s heart clenched.
Constructs filled the hall so thickly, it was chokingly dark.
One of the big, troll-like constructs appeared to be patrolling the length of the hallway, but the humanoid variety were so numerous, Angelique couldn’t distinguish one from another.
As the door creaked, every construct shuffled around and faced them with their eerie, white eye holes.
“Attack!” The Mullberg lord charged past the Seven Warriors, his men following him in precise formations as they raised their weapons and fell upon the constructs, slicing through them and cleaving into the thick of things.
The Seven Warriors kept to the edge of the room, acting as a guard for Snow White and using the wall to guard their backs as they sidled along.
Weapons whirled and constructs fell, but the room remained dark with the sheer number of foe within.
Angelique tapped her magic and thought she felt something through the massive door at the end of the chamber.
Evariste…
Marzell—wielding a spear—stabbed a construct in the chest, making it turn into smoke and evaporate. “What are your orders, Your Highness?”
Snow White leaned precariously on her tip toes as she tried to see over the horde of constructs. “We have to get up to the throne room!”
“Are you mad?” Oswald spun in a circle, his sword cutting through four constructs in the one move. “We can’t rush it now! What if there are more constructs in there?”
But if we don’t progress, the mirror will simply cast a spell for more constructs—as I suspect it is doing now.
Angelique shoved her hand in her satchel and grabbed a fistful of starfires. “The only way we’re going to stop the constructs from regenerating is to stop Faina. Shine!” Angelique waited until the crystals ignited before she chucked them into the inky black sea of constructs.
She cackled as the constructs snarled from the unusual onslaught. Every construct the crystals touched disappeared, while the constructs within visual line of the starfires stampeded over each other as they fled the glow.
“Fine, but how are we supposed to get to the stairs?” Oswald asked.
Fritz plunged into the writhing mass of constructs, his sword blade whirling as he dodged, spun, and thrust with the grace of a sword master. He never stopped moving as he cut a path through the swarm, slowly gaining ground.
“I guess we’re going.” Wendal adjusted his daggers and stalked down the path Fritz had opened. He used his daggers like a set of claws, carving into any construct that tried to refill the empty space.
Angelique fished another clutch of starfires out of her satchel. “This way, Snow White.” She tossed the crystals so they landed on the sides of the path, scaring off more constructs, then grabbed Snow White’s wrist and toted her along behind her.
The rest of the Seven Warriors fell into step behind them, closing ranks so the princess would be guarded.
This is extremely dangerous, but I think we can handle it since the Warriors are so competent.
Angelique peered over Aldelbert’s muscled shoulder and tossed another starfire, grinning in delight when Rupert kicked one of her previously-tossed starfires ahead of them—further clearing the path.
“Angel?” Snow White asked.
“Hmm?”
Snow White stared at the door to the throne room. “If we are overwhelmed, can you use your magic?”
Angelique cringed.
Now that is the question, isn’t it?
“I don’t know,” Angelique admitted. “I’m hoping with everything in me that what I’ve been looking for is in that throne room with Faina, and if it is…” Angelique’s magic pulsed inside her, reflecting her barely contained impatience. “I might need all the magic I have to grab it,” she said finally.
“I understand.”
Angelique paused, clutching several starfires as she studied Snow White for any sign of anger. “I’m sorry. But, it’s just—”