the vampires with is diamond-edged rod. A smile nearly crosses my lips until several more soldiers head toward Castrel from the hallway behind.
“From behind!” I warn.
His eyes shift backwards and then to me. Solemnly, he says, “Focus on you.”
I will myself not to panic as I recklessly shift my body through the window and land my feet on another support beam’s trim. The heavy wind rushes past me, begging me to let go and fall. I shut my eyes and count to myself in French as I gradually slide my hands and feet along the trim, moving away from the open window.
un, deux, trois…
A vibration shudders from my torso outward; a vampire thrown against the stained glass below. This reawakens me. I have to hurry. But as I finally get the hang of shuffling along the beams, a clawed hand shoots through a side window and latches onto my wrist. The searing pain causes me to scream and I nearly lose my footing. The claws of the vampire soldier shred my armor and rake across my skin, drawing blood.
“Let me go! Let me go!” I squeal. He eventually does, but my guess is that Castrel forced the favor.
“No,” I curse as I watch the fresh blood trail down my arm. The arument bandages that we had prepared are lodged snugly within my armor and there is no way to get to them while dangling off a twenty-story window.
“Get on top, get on top, get on top,” I repeat over and over to myself, trying to regain my sanity and control my adrenaline.
I focus on a channeled rung bolted over the glass; a vertical support that provides relief for the horizontal beams. In between the legs of the support is a landing that forms a sideways “I.” It’s there that I throw my hand out and latch on. Counting to three, and saying a little prayer, I jump to reach for the third horizontal support beam. If I’m successful, the hard part will be done. I’ll be on top.
But I miss.
The shock is so overwhelming that I also miss the safety ledge for my footing.
I fall.
I’m falling.
Waves of red fill my vision; my hair catching and streamlining upward from the force of air. My stomach fills my throat and gravity sends me into a thrall of sickness. The once rough, sandstone bricks of the castle walls are now unending planks of smooth wood. And it is this detail alone that harnesses all of my focus as I spiral to my death. Disbelief dissolves my thoughts, one falling meter at a time.
“Zein…,” I whisper softly, as if saying his name will change something. For some detestable reason I seek the help of my family’s killer while in my final moments. What the hell is wrong with me?
It is the abrupt impact against my back and legs that resuscitates my sanity.
I’m still alive?
I open my eyes, my sight still whirling when I see a familiar face. His right-hand clasps onto a pipe on the side of the left tower, while his left holds me securely to him.
“Th-Thelor…?” I question as my vocal cords disobey me.
He glances at me before leaping up and out—seemingly flying. In an instant, I’m on a cold and cemented edifice. Thelor relinquishes his grip tenderly, leaving me to sit upon my knees, gasping, and shaking. He says nothing. Instead, he softly and diligently wraps my wound with an arument bandage.
“Thank you,” I manage to say somewhat normally. “I don’t know what happened, I—”
“We don’t have time,” he interjects. “With your blood exposed for so long, all have been able to scent you, at least from the outside. We need to figure out how to get you out of here before Lord Zein discovers where you are.”
Fearfully, my eyes widen. I lean against him as I stand.
“What about Ceti and Glera? Are they at the docks with the chariot yet?”
“I did not see them,” he responds, but his eyes suddenly lock on to something behind me.
“Stay here,” he mutters as he flies past.
By the time I turn, Thelor is already mid-fight with a soldier that had scaled the wall. They are so fast and strong that I can barely see them strike. Had the soldier actually climbed up from the windows? Then I remember.
Castrel!
My eyes scour around my feet and out toward the passageways to the twin buttresses, on either side of me. I’m on a square island of silver-veined cement. A huge diamond-like crystal is fastened upright only yards