Cari’s startled brain struggled to reconcile these two death-dealing rescuers she now recognized as her parents, with the two people she’d grown up with all her life.
They couldn’t be the same people, could they?
She’d been so distracted, she didn’t realize the dagger no longer pressed against her back. Cari had forgotten all about Major Novachik during the daring rescue. The whole thing happened in just under a minute from start to finish, with a series of events most would call improbable at best.
Novachik must have been similarly distracted and amazed. He quickly regained his composure and pressed the dagger forward again. “I see you had a contingency plan, but it will do you no good. Whoever those two scoundrels were, we still have you in custody as well as your other friends. We will—”
The Major’s words cut off. The point of his blade fell away from her back.
Cari glanced over her shoulder to see the Major collapse to the cobblestones behind her. A smiling Stefan Claridge stood over him holding his pistol by the barrel and using the butt as a club.
“Hello, Captain. I bet you’re happy to see me again,” the young lieutenant said with a grin spreading from ear to ear.
“You have no idea, Stefan. Hurry we have to go rescue Helen and the others.”
Stefan shook his head and pointed a finger across the crowded Palace Square. People were now running in all directions, unsure if there were going to be more explosions or smoke. Cari could barely see anything through the smoke. “What? What am I supposed to see?”
“We have friends with us. The others should be safe as well. Come on, we must go while there is still a chance to get away. The Duke will have more soldiers here very soon.”
Cari looked down for a moment at the unconscious major lying on the cobblestones. Then was pulled away as Stefan grabbed her elbow and jerked her towards the square’s gates her parents had used moments before. Cari stumbled along sideways for a few steps before turning and regaining her balance. “Let go, I’m fine.”
Before Cari had gone ten yards through the panicked crowd, Helen joined her along with two men she’d never met before. They had a red ribbon tied to their lapels and each carried a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other.
A little farther along, as they reached the gate leaving the square, Rodrigo and Francesca caught up to them in the company of three other men. Each of the newcomers also wore a red ribbon pinned to their lapels. Cari realized it must’ve been used as a way to identify friend from foe in the midst of the rescue.
As Cari ran along, she tried to come up with answers to the questions spinning through her mind. She turned and directed one of those questions at Stefan. “Are you here with my parents?”
Stefan grinned at her again. “Of course. They are quite remarkable people.”
“My parents? How are they remarkable?” Cari realized how ridiculous that question was given what she had just seen her parents do. They’d pulled off perhaps the most spectacular rescue in history. The escape plan they enacted had come off without a hitch. Cari shook her head. It was the luckiest chain of events she’d ever seen.
Stefan pointed to a line of buildings across the street. “Come on, we need to head down that alley to the left. We want to get off the main thoroughfares as soon as possible.”
“You lead the way,” Cari said. “I’m right behind you.”
Helen, Rodrigo, and Francesca, along with the five other people in their group, followed behind her. They all darted through the thinning crowd towards the gap between the two buildings Stefan indicated.
They reached the shadows of the alleyway and ran along it until they came to the rear of the buildings facing the Square. Stefan stopped, breathing hard from their rapid escape. The others came to a halt next to him.
Cari looked around checking to make sure no one was injured. “Is everyone OK?”
They all nodded, even the five gentlemen she didn’t know. “Good, where to, Stefan?”
“There’s a catacomb entrance somewhere along the back alley that crosses this one. It runs behind these buildings. I was told there’s a basement entrance leading downward. That’s what we’re looking for.”
“You don’t know where it is?” Cari asked.
“No, I’ve never actually seen it. I only had it described to me by the man who sent these others to help us break you free. His name is Merrick.”
Cari laughed. Merrick said he’d find a way to help her if he could. She was sure he knew many of the underground passages around the city. It was a good plan to use them. They needed to get off the street and out of view.
Cari looked up and down the alley to the left and the right. “Everybody spread out.” She pointed to the five gentlemen with the red ribbons on their lapels. “You five go that way and try to find the entrance. We’ll go this way to the left and check in this direction. If you find something, call out.”
One of the men, who must be the leader, nodded and pointed the others down the narrow street to the right. Cari, Stefan, Helen, Francesca, and Rodrigo turned and went down the alley to the left. She wasn’t sure what they were looking for, only that it was some sort of basement entrance.
One-eyed Francesca was the one who found it. She called out and Cari and the others ran over to join her. There was a sloped doorway leaning up against the rear of a tall brick building. Lifting the wooden door and propping it to the side, Cari saw stone stairs leading down. “This must be it. Stefan do you have anything to use for a light?”
“Merrick told us there would be a lantern inside the passageway just beyond the entrance.”
“Go down and check. Make sure there is one. We don’t want to be stumbling around in the dark down there.”
Stefan ran down the stairs, disappearing into the darkness for a minute or so. Francesca and Helen watched the open end of the alleyway. Crowds of people were streaming past the main thoroughfare at the other end. No one came down the alley, however.
As Merrick’s men returned from the other end of the alley, Stefan reappeared holding a small oil lantern. “Come on,” he said. There’s another lantern down here so someone else can grab it and bring up the rear.”
Stefan disappeared back into the dark tunnel and Cari pointed downward for Francesca and Helen to follow him. Merrick’s men went next and then it was just her and Rodrigo standing there.
“After you, Cari.”
She could argue with him but decided now wasn’t the time. She let him have his gallant gesture and headed down into the tunnels. Rodrigo came right behind her, pulling the wooden door closed, sealing the entrance.
It was extremely dark in the tunnel, even with the two lanterns. One of the men in front of her handed Cari the second lantern and she passed it along to Rodrigo since he was bringing up the rear. Stefan had already started moving forward down the narrow passageway.
They could only proceed single file down the tunnel. The floor was smooth, which was lucky because the lamplight didn’t provide very much illumination for those in the middle of the group. They continued along for about five minutes before the passageway opened into a larger junction running to the left and right. Cari heard running water and knew they had entered part of the city’s sewer system. Somewhere down here, there were also some old catacombs. She knew of them from a previous escape she’d made here in the Crystal City. She wondered if her parents and the three Dragoons were now moving in a similar passage nearby. She wanted to see them. She wanted to ask them how they got here.
Stefan waited at the T-junction until everyone filed out of the smaller passageway and spread out on a ledge above the sewer waters flowing below. He pointed to the right and Cari joined him at the front of the group while they moved down the ledge of the larger sewer passageway. They were able to walk two abreast on the raised walkway that bordered the open sewer drain beside them to the left. As they walked, there were periodic branches off to the left and right, leading, she presumed, to similar tunnels to the one they’d used throughout other portions of the city.
They continued walking for about fifteen minutes, passing by several intersections, turning down others. Stefan led the way, following a set of directions he must have memorized.
After a few twisting turns, Cari realized she could try and orient where they might be using her Earth Sense skill and she called up the skill menu and activated the map overlay. With a little practice, she was able to look at the tunnels through which they passed with the city above for reference.
She couldn’t see tunnels she hadn’t yet walked through, but she was able to put the city map over top of the tunnel system to see which direction they traveled underground. They were heading west away from the Palace Square in the direction of the Caravan Gate and the Last Retreat Inn. That was good. They had to retrieve Jaycee and Percy from the tavern. If Novachik somehow figured out where they’d been staying. She might be in danger and already captured.
“Stefan, is there any way we can hurry up? I’m worried about Jaycee. She might not be safe anymore since Major Novachik and the others clearly knew we were in town and to watch for us.”
“I can try, Cari. It’s a little disorienting to be down here and I’m trying to remember the directions Merrick gave me. He wouldn’t let me write them down.”
“Do the best you can. I want to get back and check on her.”
“I believe she’s safe. Your mother and father sent some of the soldiers I came with from Tandon to watch over the tavern.
“How many did you bring with you?”
“The Duke decided a smaller force was better than a large one, at least right now. I came with a platoon of twenty men.”
“It was enough to do the job, I guess. The plan was masterful.”
“It was your father’s idea. I never would’ve tried anything so complicated, but he seemed to be sure it would all work out for the best. He kept saying to trust his luck. He said it never failed him before.”
“My father said that? That doesn’t sound like him at all.”
“You’ve talked about your parents some in our travels, Cari. I have to say they aren’t anything like what I expected based on how you described them.”
“They aren’t, are they? I still can’t believe they pulled that off back there. It’s like I don’t know them at all.”
“To be honest, Cari, they’re exactly like I expected Prince Hal and Princess Mona to be. If you’ll forgive me for saying it, they are total badasses.”
Cari heard a chuckle from behind her as the five men at the rear overheard that part of the conversation. Clearly, the five of them had a similar impression.
They continued to twist and turn through the tunnels stopping on several occasions while Stefan got his bearings and tried to remember the directions he’d been given. Cari was able to help a little using her Earth Sense.
Eventually, they arrived at another of the side passages and Stefan pointed up it. “If the directions are correct, this passageway leads to the basement of The Last Retreat. There’s a secret entrance that opens behind the wine racks in the cellar.”
“This is your show, Stefan. Lead on.”
Stefan turned and led them up the passageway.
They soon arrived at a stone wall. There was an iron latch and plate set into the stone in front of them. It took him a few seconds to figure out the mechanism. After a few tries, they heard a click and the wall pushed open before them letting them exit into the wine cellar of The Last Retreat Tavern.
A multitude of questions and worries filled her mind. Cari pushed past Stefan and ran up the stairs into the tavern kitchen. She startled the cook and the tavern keeper’s wife.
Muttering an apology, Cari turned and darted out into the common room. She ran into the three Dragoons. They were already seated around a table, mugs of ale in both Liam and Thad’s hands and a wine goblet in Chance’s.
“Ah, there she is,” Liam said. “It’s good to see you were able to get away and back here in one piece.”
“You sound as if you doubted I’d make it?”
“You’re as much a mystery to me at this point as your remarkable parents are.”
Cari cast her eyes around the nearly empty common room. “Where are they?”
Thad pointed up the stairs. “They went to check on Her Majesty. Percy kept her upstairs and out of sight.”
Cari ran up the stairs, skipping every other step. Her room was open, and she checked there first.
Percy sat on the floor with Jaycee. The two were playing with dolls together.
“Oh, hi, Cari. I just met your parents. They’re every bit as amazing as the legends say they are.”
“Where are they?” Cari asked.
“They are in the innkeeper’s private dining room at the end of the hallway.”
Cari muttered a thank you and headed to the end of the hall, stopping outside the closed door. She heard a pair of familiar voices on the other side and she paused. What should she say to them? Part of her wanted to apologize for getting into trouble and the other side of her was knotted up with renewed anger about how she got here and how they’d hidden this place from her.
She was still pondering the best approach when the door was pulled open and she found herself face to face with her mom. Her dad was just behind, as startled at seeing Cari as his wife.
Suddenly, all worry about what to say to them disappeared as she lurched forward into her parents’ arms.