the purpose behind the king sealing it if the women could just reopen it? Shit, that might be a problem.
Breathing hard, but not dying like she usually would’ve been after such a hike, she stood at the wall where she thought the crease might be. With her palm, she beat on the rock and yelled for Valori, hoping the fae could hear her. To her surprise, she faintly heard the woman’s voice.
“Valori, we need the women to help fight. Can you get out?”
“Undo the magic sealing the rock together, Lilah. Only one with alpha power can do that.”
Damn, that did narrow down potential rescuers a bit. “How do I use magic?” She stared at her hands, wiggling her fingers. She wondered if what she’d done before with the rock turning to metal was just a fluke, some freak event that would never happen again for a million years.
She finally heard Valori reply. “We don’t know. It just works.”
Were they kidding? It just works. Oh god, they were screwed. She calmed herself and thought back to how she did the rock magic. In her mind, she imagined what she wanted to happen.
“All righty then, ladies. Here goes nothing.” She placed her hand on the rock as far up as she could reach and closed her eyes. In her head, she saw an oversized zipper attached to the wall. All she had to do was unzip it. Her fingers wrapped around the huge pull, and she tugged as hard as she could. The damn thing needed some WD-40.
When her arms couldn’t pull any longer, she was only halfway down. Dammit. There wasn’t time for this kind of shit. Still grasping the piece of metal, she lifted her feet, and the unruly zipper teeth began to separate again. Huh, this would be the only time in her life that she wished she weighed more.
When her ass touched the floor, that was as far as she could go. “Valori, try to open it.”
A hair-sized ray of sunlight shined through. The one torch way down by the dining room was rather useless, but her eyes had adjusted not having any problems. The beam grew wider ‘till the wall split into halves. One side pulled away from the other down to the point where her hand pressed against the rock. It was more of a tall window than a door, but it just worked.
Valori was the first out. Lilah explained what was happening as the women hurried down the tunnel.
“You can use your slings and rocks to pop these little shits’ heads like a watermelon hitting concrete from fifty feet up.”
They were back to torch light as the source of illumination not far from the side entrance to the throne room when she heard the king yelling. Out of the wall opening into their tunnel, a Kappie slid to a stop. Seeing them, it lifted its claws and hissed.
“Back up,” Lilah warned even though they were twenty feet away. “Valori, is the king safe?” she asked, worried the Kappy injured him somehow.
“His Royal Highness is an alpha. He can take care of himself.”
“Why isn’t he out fighting. Isn’t that what a good ruler should do?” Was the bastard a big chicken shit?
“The warrior leader is responsible for leading the males into battle. The king must stay locked in his rooms. He’s old, too, but don’t tell him I said that.”
The Kappie swiped his claws through the air as it stepped backward. If it meant to scare her, it worked. “There’s something bad with those sharp-ass nails,” Lilah whispered.
“It’s dark magic,” Valori replied. “I can see it pulsing around its body, especially his hand.”
Before Lilah could ask what they should do, the Kappie exploded. Yes, exploded. She was going to puke after the shock wore off.
“Good job, everyone,” Valori said, starting forward. “These Kappies won’t be too much of a problem.”
Lilah glanced over her shoulder to see half the women with slings in their hands. Together they had destroyed the creature. She saw hands reach out to the walls and snatch out fist-size chunks.
The Kappies had no fucking idea what was coming their way.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ferrus stared at the mass of the enemy hiking the mountainside. They were like insects on the forest floor scuttling over and around each other. It seemed their intent was to take down his warriors, lessen their numbers. Where was their cowardly leader? Not at the front where a true leader should be.
He went to the male closest to him on the ground