Chapter Text
“Do you want to handle Ires or Cas?” Kieren asked.
The way his voice bounced off the walls of the tunnels that ran beneath the Blood Crown’s palace only increased the air of urgency currently pulsing through Poppy.
Other than Kieren’s voice, the only sound that could be heard were the footsteps of the rescue party, containing Poppy, Emil, and Delano.
But they could certainly feel the rumbling beneath their feet of the chaos just overhead. Shaking the very earth around them, knocking dirt loose from the ceiling.
Above them the draken were wreaking havoc upon the Ascended, Isbeth, and her Revenants - the Atlantian forces and wolven fighting alongside the fiery beasts and Vonetta leading the charge.
It wouldn’t take Isbeth long to catch on that this wasn’t the official assault from Atlantia. That while a hefty amount of their arsenal was here, it was not an attack meant to wear her down. This was no siege. This attack was meant to distract and disarray.
Most likely, guards and Revenants were being dispatched to these secret tunnels now. They had moments to find where Casteel and Ires were being held. Both of which were rumored to be hidden away in this labyrinth of tunnels. Casteel was supposedly in a dungeon, and Ires locked in his cage in a cell.
“Poppy?” Kieren said, his voice dire but gentle. “Tell us what to do.”
Poppy’s eyes flickered in the light of the torches that lined the walls. They had to be getting close. She needed to make the call. The “plan” had been to stick together and extract both prisoners. But too much time had been lost here in this maze for that strategy. They had to speed things along.
Ires was her father. Something in her blood called her to come to his aid. After all, Poppy’s touch had been the one that had briefly restored him from his Changeling form just a month ago.
But then her palm itched and her eyes briefly snagged on the golden swirl of her marriage mark. Only a month had passed, but who knew what it had done to Casteel… The Blood King had said the Queen had been enjoying toying with him. If he wasn’t “in control” Poppy was the only one who could reach him.
An earth-shaking rumble made the rescue party pause to gain their footing.
“Poppy!” Kieren hissed.
She clenched her fists. “Delano and I will take Casteel. We meet back at the mouth of the tunnel in twenty minutes.”
The “if we make it” went unspoken.
Kieren’s jaw was set and she could tell that he likely wanted to go with her to get Casteel, but he obeyed.
Up ahead, the light of one of the wall sconces stretched further to the right than the rest.
A hallway.
Poppy’s breath caught in her chest at the sight, eyes widening and heart pounding against her ribs.
That could be the bend in the tunnels from the schematics they’d apprehended. And if it was that bend, there would be cells lining the hall - one of which containing Ires and his cage.
Meaning further down this hall… was the dungeon where Casteel was being held.
When Poppy looked back to Kieren, he offered a single nod and wordlessly, the four of them began sprinting towards their respective prisoners. Nothing was said as Kieren and Emil hung a sharp right and Poppy and Delano continued further down the hall.
Poppy nearly laughed as the floor started to slant. Yes, they were on the right course to the dungeon. He was just within reach. He was so close. Casteel was so close. It was everything she could do not to scream out his name.
Then it came into view. A single, wooden door with a large black handle and thick lock.
“Can’t imagine that door and lock will present much of a problem, will it?” Delano said dryly, still jogging behind her.
But Poppy saw that lock as she did any other foe, no matter how easy or difficult it seemed to defeat. An obstacle between her and Casteel.
“Like hell, it won’t,” she growled.
Standing before the door now, Poppy glared at the heavy, rusted, lock till it melted in a silver-gold mess of liquid, dripping to the stone floor.
Truly?
That was it?
This was too easy…
Poppy paused before the door - staring at it suspiciously.
“I don’t like how simple this is,” Delano said, mirroring her thoughts.
Poppy nodded and even though what lay behind that door was likely the person she loved most in the world - the first thing she’d chosen for herself and had been taken away from her - she was rooted to the spot. Unable to proceed.
“Maybe,” Delano panted, “maybe our distraction is just that good. Maybe they all abandoned patrol.”
Poppy nodded, hand gripping the hilt of her wolven dagger, strapped to her thigh. “Maybe. But we can’t waste another second.”
Heart thundering, she took a deep breath, whipped open the door, and cautiously stepped inside - Delano directly on her heels.
The dungeon could’ve been enormous or it could’ve been the size of a child’s room. There was no way of knowing, as the only light provided came from a simmering pit of coals on a dais in the middle of the room. The air felt heavy here and smelled… it smelled like death.
Her throat itched to call his name - to see if Casteel was lurking in the shadows of this room. But if he was, was he hiding from them… or preying on them? It all depended on how “in control” he was.
There was no time to be cautious. They had barely more than fifteen minutes to get back to the mouth of the tunnel, and that was at least a ten-minute journey (if you were sprinting with two healthy people that hadn’t been imprisoned for a month).
She debated setting the dungeon alight with her very skin, glowing like the moon or setting those coals ablaze. But she couldn’t risk startling Casteel if he wasn’t in his right mind.
Poppy unsheathed her dagger, “Stay behind me, Delano,” she murmured. “And if he comes at me, don’t attack him.” She took a step deeper into the dungeon. “Cas…”
There was nothing. Not a sound. Panic rippled through her as she realized that they could’ve been wrong. Perhaps he was not being kept here. Perhaps Isbeth kept him on a leash at her side at all times…
Poppy shut her eyes tight at the image and willed herself to see this plan through. “Cas, it’s… it’s Poppy.”
Footsteps.
Her shoulders tensed, but a breath of relief spilled from her lips.
Two pairs of footsteps… Shuffling footsteps…
Poppy stepped back, holding her dagger out, feeling the steady thrum of her power in her chest. Ready to call on it at a moment’s notice.
Into the warm glow of light, he appeared before her.
Scraps of the trousers he had worn that fated day were all the clothing he wore. His bronze skin seemed leeched of color and Poppy could see his muscles were etched with angry red marks.
But perhaps most alarming, was that against Casteel’s newly bearded throat was a dagger. The wielder that stood behind him, was the devil himself.
“My sister-in-law has come to pay a visit, then?”