Chapter 62 Wave

Chapter 62 Wave


The woods were darker than I expected. Not the nice kind of dark either, the kind where every shadow looks like a person and every branch snapping sounds like a sword being drawn. I kept walking, my boots sinking into the soft ground, leaving prints I'd probably regret later.

Raven was somewhere behind me, moving slowly and carefully. Boar had gone left about ten minutes ago, circling wide. Black was... well, Black was wherever Black wanted to be. Probably already inside the manor, counting windows and mapping out which ones opened easily.

I stopped near a thick tree and crouched down. The manor sat maybe fifty yards ahead, lights flickering in a few windows. It looked peaceful from here.

My knee cracked when I shifted my weight. A twig snapped to my right but I didn't move.

Boar appeared a few seconds later, looking annoyed. "There's a ditch back there," he whispered, dropping down next to me. "Fell right into it."

"Are you wet?"

"Obviously I'm wet." He wrung out his sleeve. "Smells like someone's been dumping slop in it too."

I didn't say anything. Boar being uncomfortable was just part of any mission. He'd complain, then he'd fight, then he'd complain about fighting. Same every time.

"What'd you see?" I asked.

Boar jerked his chin toward the manor. "The back door's got one guard. Not paying attention. Smoking something, looks like. There's a small window above it. Maybe a storage room."

"Can you fit?"

He looked at me. "I can fit. Might get stuck halfway but I'll fit."

I believed him. Boar wasn't small but he'd squeezed through worse.

Raven appeared then, He crouched on my other side, already pulling a small knife from his belt and cleaning his nails with it like we weren't about to break into a guarded manor.

"The front gate has six," he said quietly. "But they're not watching the road. They're watching each other. Playing some kind of game, looks like dice or cards."

"Professional."

"Not even a little." He flicked something from under his nail. "The two walking the east wall make a full loop every four minutes. There's a gap of about thirty seconds where they're both on the far side."

I nodded. This was all standard stuff, nothing we hadn't dealt with before.

Black materialized out of the dark like he always did. One second nothing, the next he was there, crouched low, his mismatched eyes catching the distant firelight. He looked at me and gave a small hand signal.

He saw movement and he was suspecting it had something to do with Lily.

I felt something in my chest shift. Not sure what to call it but it wasn't worry. I don't really do worry. It wasn't excitement either. The feeling was too sharp and made me too focused.

"How many inside total?" I asked.

Black held up eight fingers. Then pointed to the ground floor_four there. Then the second floor_three there. Then the third_one.

She was the remaining one.

"She alone up there?" Boar asked.

Black nodded.

"Then why so many guards?" Raven muttered. "This doesn't make sense. You don't put this many men in a house just to watch one girl. Something else is here."

I'd been thinking the same thing. Kathy wasn't stupid. If she wanted Lily hidden, she'd pick a quiet place with a few trusted men. Not a small army.

"She's expecting someone," I said. "Or something's here she doesn't want found."

Boar shifted. "You think it's a trap?"

"Maybe. Doesn't change anything."

Raven sighed. "Knew you'd say that."

We sat there for a minute, just watching. The guard at the back door finished whatever he was smoking and flicked it into the dark. The two on the east wall made their loop. The front gate guards laughed at something, the sound carrying faintly through the trees.

This was like a normal night for them.

Boar broke the silence first. "So what's the plan?"

I thought about it. The standard approach would be quiet. Take out the patrols one by one, clear a path, get in and out before anyone notices. But with this many guards, quiet might not last long. Once the first body dropped, we'd have maybe ten minutes before someone checked on them.

"Raven, you're on distraction. Make some noise on the far side, draw as many as you can. Don't engage, just lead them away."

He nodded, already standing. "How long do you need?"

"Fifteen minutes at least."

"Cut it to ten and I won't have to kill anyone."

"Ten then." I agreed.

He slipped away into the trees, gone before I could say anything else.

I turned to Boar. "You're with me. We go through that back door, up the stairs, grab her, and leave. Don't stop for anything and don't fight unless you have to."

"What about Black?"

I looked at where Black had been but he was already gone.

"He'll be wherever he needs to be."

Boar snorted. "Hate when he does that."

We waited. The night got quieter. The guards kept playing their game, making their rounds, not knowing we were here. Not knowing their night was about to get very complicated.

A crash sounded loudly from the east side of the property.Metal on metal, like someone had knocked over a stack of pots.

The guards at the front gate froze. One of them pointed and the other started running toward the noise.

It's Showtime.

Boar and I moved fast and low, staying in the shadows along the tree line until we hit the back corner of the manor. The guard at the back door was still there, but he was looking toward the commotion, craning his neck to see what was happening.

Boar was on him before I could signal. One arm around the throat, a quick twist, and the guard slumped. Boar lowered him to the ground like he was putting a child to bed.

"The door's locked," he whispered, trying the handle.

I pulled out my knife and slid it between the door and the frame. I found the latch and pushed. The door opened with a soft click.

It was dark. Kitchen, maybe, or storage. Smelled like old bread and something rotting. We moved through it slowly, letting our eyes adjust.

Footsteps above. Heavy ones, like a man walking, not a woman. There were guards on the second floor.

We found the stairs. It was narrow, wooden, probably noisy as hell. I tested the first step and of course it creaked loudly.

Boar looked at me. "Now what?"

I looked up the stairs, then back at the door we'd come through. I had no other good option here.

"Fast," I said. "Don't stop."

The stairs screamed with every step taken. By the time we reached the top, I could hear voices, someone was asking what that noise was, and someone else was telling them to check it out.

A guard appeared at the end of the hall, where he saw us. His mouth opened to let out a scream or whatever their signal was but Boar hit him before the sound came out. He tackled him straight into the wall, making the guard's head bounce off the stone and he dropped.

We heard more footsteps and it sounded like they were running.

"Third floor," I said. "Go."

We ran through the floor and found another staircase, narrower than the first. Boar went up first, me behind him. There was a door at the top, however it was locked.

Boar kicked it once but it didn't budge. He kicked it two more times until it splintered open and I saw her.

The room was small and it smelled like dust and old hay. There was a bed in the corner with a thin mattress, and a table by the wall with a cold candle sitting on it, and a window with thick iron bars across it. That was it.

And Lily was there. She was sitting on the floor in the corner with her knees pulled up to her chest and her hair all over the place, tangled and loose. When the door burst open she flinched so hard she pressed herself back against the wall, like she was getting ready to be hit.

When she saw it was me, her face went through about three different things in two seconds. First confusion, like she didn't recognize me at first, and then this huge wave of relief that made her whole body relax for a second, and then confusion again, like she was trying to figure out if I was really standing there or if she was dreaming.

"Atlas?" Her voice came out all rough and cracked, like she hadn't used it in days. "How did you even—"

I didn't let her finish. There wasn't time.

I crossed the room in three steps and grabbed her arm and pulled her up. She was lighter than I remembered, like way lighter, and her wrist felt thin under my fingers. They hadn't been feeding her much.

"We're leaving," I said. "Right now."

She didn't argue or anything at first. She just nodded and let me pull her toward the door, even though her legs were shaky and she almost tripped over her own feet.

Boar was already out in the hallway going at it with two guards. He had one on the ground, like already down and not moving, and he was trading punches with the other one. The one on the ground was real still.

I pushed Lily behind me and stepped in. The second guard saw me coming and tried to turn toward me but he was too slow, and I caught him right in the throat with my fist. He went down grabbing at his neck and making these choking sounds.

"We need another way out," Boar said, and he was breathing hard. "The stairs are gonna be full of them in like thirty seconds, maybe less."

I looked around. Hallway going both ways, a couple of doors, and a window at the far end.

"Window," I said.

Boar looked at me like I'd lost my mind. "We're on the third floor, Atlas."

"You got a better idea?" I asked sarcastic

He didn't say anything to that.

So we ran for the window and I kicked it open, and glass went everywhere, spraying out into the night and tinkling on the roof below. There was a roof down there, slanted and covered in tiles, and beyond that were just trees.

"Go," I told Boar.

He obeyed as he climbed out and slid down the tiles and dropped onto the lower roof with a thud that I heard even from up there.

I turned to Lily. Her face was pale and her eyes were wide and she was looking at that window like it was a cliff.

"Your turn," I said. "Come on."

She looked at the window and then at the dark outside and then at the drop, and she shook her head.

"I can't," she said.

"You can. Just climb out and slide down like he did. I'll be right behind you."

She shook her head again and backed up a step.

"Lily. We don't have time for this." Her reluctance was getting on my patience that I never had.

"I can't leave her."

I stared at her. "What?"

"Anya." Her voice cracked when she said the name. "She was with me when they took us. They took her too. I don't know where she is. I can't just—I won't leave without her. I won't."

Behind us I could hear more footsteps and shouting. They'd found the guards.

"Lily, we have to go. Now."

"No." She said it quietly but she meant it. "I'm not moving without Anya. You can knock me out and carry me if you want, but I'll just run back the first chance I get. I'll find her myself. I'll...."

Boar's voice came from outside, all urgent. "Whatever you two are doing up there, do it faster!"

I grabbed her arm. "We'll come back for her. I promise we'll—"

"You don't understand." She was pulling against me now, not strong enough to get free but trying anyway. "She's the only one who ever, she stood in front of me when Elliott came at me, she shoved him and told him he'd have to go through her first. I can't just leave her here, I can't—"

There was a noise behind us and I spun around ready to fight but it was Raven.

He came up the stairs fast and he was breathing hard, and his usual calm look was just gone. In his arms he was carrying Anya, all slumped over and unconscious. Her face was bruised up and her dress was torn and dirty, but she was breathing. I could see her chest moving.

Raven looked at me. "Found her on the second floor. They had her locked in a closet like she was garbage."

Lily made this sound then, something I'd never heard from anyone before. It was like a sob and a gasp mixed together. She tried to lunge toward Anya but I held her back.

"Easy," I said. "She's alive. She's right here with us. But we need to move right now."

Lily was crying, tears just streaming down her face, but she nodded and let me pull her toward the window.

Boar was still on that lower roof looking up. "Pass her down. I'll catch her."

Raven handed Anya through the window real careful, and Boar took her and laid her on the tiles, and then he looked up again. "Next!"

Lily climbed out. Her hands were shaking so bad she could barely hold on, and her feet kept slipping on the glass that was still stuck in the frame.

"I can't," she whispered. "I can't do this, Atlas."

I was right behind her. "Yes you can."

"The drop is too far."

"Boar caught Anya and I'll catch you."

She looked down at the drop and then back at me, and her eyes were all wet and wide and scared.

"You promise?"

I don't make promises. I don't even believe in them really. They're just words that people say before they let you down.

But I looked at her standing there shaking on that windowsill three floors up, and the words came out anyway.

"I promise."

She let go.

She fell maybe five feet before I grabbed her, and it wasn't a clean catch at all, more like I just tackled her onto the roof. We slid together down those tiles, both of us grabbing at anything to stop ourselves.

Boar caught us at the edge. He grabbed my arm and hauled us both up.

"You two okay?" he asked.

I didn't answer. I just looked at Lily. She was crying and laughing at the same time, with her face pressed against the tiles and her shoulders shaking.

"We need to move," Raven said. He had Anya over his shoulder again and was already backing toward the edge of the roof. "They're coming out the front gate."

I pulled Lily up. "Can you walk?"

She nodded and wiped her face with her sleeve. "I can run."

So we ran.

The drop from the lower roof was softer than I expected, just mud and leaves and something that squished under my bad ankle. Lily landed okay, Raven landed light with Anya, Boar landed loud and cursed about it. We went immediately towards the trees running through the woods with branches hitting my face and roots trying to trip me up. Lily stayed close the whole time, sometimes holding onto my sleeve, sometimes just keeping pace. Behind us we could hear shouting and torches and dogs barking.

We ran until the shouts faded away until the torches were just little specks in the distance, until my lungs were burning and my ankle was screaming and I couldn't hear anything except our breathing and the leaves crunching under our feet.

That was when we stopped. Lily bent over with her hands on her knees, gasping for air. Boar leaned against a tree and checked his ribs where a guard had gotten him. Raven laid Anya down real gently on the ground and crouched beside her, feeling for a pulse.

"She's alive," he said. "She's in bad shape but she's alive."

Lily went to her right away. She dropped to her knees in the dirt and just looked at Anya's face for a long moment. Then she reached out and touched her hair, so soft it was barely anything.

"Anya," she whispered. "I'm here. We're getting out of this."

Anya didn't move or wake up or anything. But she was breathing and that counted as something to Lily.

I stood there watching them, Lily on the ground crying over her maid, Raven checking wounds, Boar catching his breath.

We made it. "We should keep moving," I said after a minute. "They'll send more men. Dogs too probably."

Lily looked up at me. Her face was all streaked with tears and dirt and a little bit of blood from a cut on her forehead I hadn't noticed before.

"Thank you," she said.

I didn't know what to say to that. So I didn't say anything, I just held out my hand. She took it and I pulled her up.

Behind us the manor sat quiet
in the dark. Ahead was just more trees and more night and more walking.

But she was with us, Anya was with us. That was what mattered, so we walked.