The howls and screams of the others filled his ears as the soldiers set about carrying out their orders.
This was utter bullshit! Max threw himself against the bars, over and over. When that wasn’t enough, he summoned every bit of magick he could and held his concentration. Then he sent it out into the air around them.
Like a thermal shock, it rolled out of him and sent a pulsating wave through the air. One that shattered the cage and sent the guards, prince, and princess tumbling.
Weak, but determined, Max grabbed Illarion. “Free the others. Be damned if those bitches are going to take their lives for this!”
It’s not our place!
“I don’t answer to the Greek gods. They can kiss my scaly ass.” Max grabbed the keys from the guard who was closest to him. Baring his fangs, he took the man’s sword, then moved to free the Arcadians and Katagaria. His brother still stood there. “Illarion! Move! Save everyone you can!”
Finally, Illarion began to cooperate.
As soon as they had the doors open and had started to leave, the guards moved to stop them.
“We have to talk to the king, first. No one can leave here.”
To his complete shock, Eumon stepped forward. “Let them pass.”
“Highness —”
“Do it!”
Reluctantly, the guard stepped aside and ordered his men to stand down.
Grateful to the prince who was allowing them to leave without war and bloodshed, Max inclined his head to him. “Can you show us the way out?”
The prince narrowed an evil glare at him. “I knew you could speak! I need you to show that to my father.”
“And we need a guide before your father learns of this and kills us… Please. My brother and I have always been overtaken whenever we’ve tried to escape. I know there’s a way to the forest, but we haven’t been able to locate it.”
Without hesitation, he nodded. “Follow me.”
“Eumon!” his wife breathed. “You can’t do this. If the gods have spoken —”
“They’re sentient, Helena. Look at them.” He gestured at Max and Illarion. “Half of them are Apollite. I can’t condemn them to die and especially not by execution in a cage after everything else we’ve done. It would be wrong. I’m their prince. It’s my place to protect them.”
“And what of your son I carry? Who will protect him when the gods kill you for this hubris?”
He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Relax, precious wife. No one’s going to kill me.” Pulling away, he led Illarion and the others through the dark cavern. “Follow me and I’ll see you to your freedom.”
She glared at Max as they started filing out of the dungeon. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Max ignored her and the indigestion he thought was a bad feeling, too, as he sought to get the others out as quickly as possible. He didn’t trust the guards not to attack them, in spite of what the prince had ordered.
As the last Apollite animal filed past them, he began to breathe a little easier. They were almost out of here.
True to his word, Eumon helped them relocate to a small campground in the forest, where Max and Illarion made sure everyone had a place to sleep and something to eat.
“Thank you,” Max said to the prince before he went to tend his brother.
Eumon stopped him. “All these weeks and you’ve said nothing. You’ve pretended to be mute. Why?”
“There was nothing to say. Your uncle ripped us from our homes and lives for you. Both Apollite and animal. No regard for what we thought or wanted. And then we were turned into this?” He gestured angrily at his human body. “You may have desired the dragon in you, Highness, but I promise neither Illarion nor I wanted this. Nor did any of the others. Now that you have some of my brother’s genetics in your heart, you should know exactly how we think.”
“You have a fierce code of honor and kinship. That’s where this comes from?”
Max inclined his head. “And now you tell me that your gods have decreed our death for your deeds. How do you think that makes me feel?”