Chapter Text
Eda had broken into and out of the Conformatorium enough times – okay, it was a whole two times, but that was still two more than should have been possible if the place was really as impenetrable as advertised – that she had clung a little too earnestly the hope she and her family wouldn’t run into anything she couldn’t handle during their latest infiltration.
Foolishly, yeah. Breaking a high-profile political prisoner out of Belos’ dungeons was a heck of an omlet to make without also having to break a few griffin eggs, and they were working off a rumor Raine was still alive at all. But it was the kind that meant you had to try, because if it was true, and you didn’t , you’d never be able to live with yourself, and being a pessimist about it like her sister – who seemed to thing they had the same chances a snowball did out in the boiling rain, but had come along anyways – wasn’t going to rescue anybody. Trying to tread the line of hopeful-enough realism, somewhere between Luz and King’s stubborn optimism and Lilith’s anxious conviction this was a suicide mission (if still worth undertaking), had seemed like the most helpful hill Eda could (not) die on.
It’s already been worth it, she thought, You got those kids out didn’t you? Raine would be proud of you for that.
Not that the younger B.A.T.S. were, strictly speaking, kid kids – not like Luz, or her little pals. But they were young, and Eda still felt responsible for them getting caught, and Raine probably felt even more so. Probably. If they were in a position to be feeling much at all.
…She swatted that encroaching pessimism with a mental rolled-up newspaper.
It wasn’t even that things had gone properly wrong yet – half their plan had gone off almost without a hitch, and a 50% success rate when you were 50% through what you were trying to accomplish wasn’t itself half bad. In fact, she was no math wiz, but 50% plus 50% sort of made a whole, right?
Okay, so it didn’t work like that, and managing the easier of the two things they hoped to accomplish was nowhere close to a guarantee they’d be able to do the harder thing, too, but for a moment there, she’d really felt hopeful.
“We don’t know if they’re okay,” Katya had said after she, Luz, King, and Lily had freed the three young bards from their own cells. “But Kikimora keeps talking like they’ve got someone important down here, when she’s interrogated us. We think it’s them.”
That was consistent with what she knew, too. That had been good news. It had been even better news when they were able to free the three rebels. With a quick application of a few well-placed explosion glyphs, the lock was sprung (if “blown to bits” counted as “sprung,” but you know) and they had three out of the four people they’d come for heading out the door without so much as setting off an alarm. Fantastic. Encouraging. Invigorating. She might have done a – tastefully restrained – “I told you so” dance at Lilith, while Luz was busy doling out invisibility glyphs to Katya, Amber, and Derwin so they could make a clean getaway.
It might have been an eensy-teensy bit premature. ( Not immature though, whatever Lily said.)
Even so much as 15 more minutes trawling the rest of the Conformatorium looking for Raine made Eda antsy about their chances of getting caught – which were increasing exponentially – and they were pretty close to pushing 30. The longer they stayed, the worse their chances of getting locked away themselves – like refusing to fold when you had a bad hand in a game of Hexes Hold ‘Em. Eda knew they should probably cut and run. They’d gotten in with enough relative ease that they could even come back, if they got any better intel on where Raine was being imprisoned. Or if they were okay at all.
Eda had a problem with not giving up even when she’d been dealt a bad hand. Especially when she cared this much about the outcome.
“Lilith?” Luz said from where she was trailing carefully behind Eda, startling her from her anxious stewing. “Do you have any idea where the Emperor keeps all the really important prisoners? Like, is there a special place, or…? You know, since you used to work here and everything.”
Lilith pursed her lips, thinking.“There is a higher security section underground, in the dungeons proper,” she said. “It doesn’t see much use, but…”
“...but they’re the sort of person he’d cram down there?” Eda finished.
“It’s entirely possible,” Lilith agreed. “If Belos is keeping Raine there, though, we may have a problem. There’s a highly elaborate system of spellcodes you need to activate just to get inside, and they’ve undoubtedly changed up the patterns since I was last in the Emperor’s trusted circle – probably because of me, actually.”
“Way to go, Lily,” Eda said, punching her lightly in the shoulder. At least even when she was fretting up a storm, she always had the age-old stress-relief tactic of dunking on her big sister.
“Edalyn!” Lilith hissed – the exact reaction she’d been hoping for. Eda snorted.
“Soooo, is there, like, a way to break spellcodes?” Luz said. “Like maybe one that my trusty bag that’s still mostly-full of explosion glyphs could help with?”
The teen patted the bag in question, then stopped, an expression of immediate regret dawning on her face. Probably for the best – as far as they all knew, the touch-activation for glyphs still relied on actual skin contact to actually work, but it was better not taking any chances.
Seeming not to have noticed, Lilith shook her head. “Spellcodes aren’t a physical barrier. They’re patterns you have to trace, similar to spell circles – though not identical. Even with my magic gone, I could still use my staff to activate them, but…”
“...but you don’t know the new patterns,” Eda sighed. Just great. One of the occasions where treason against the crown really didn’t pay.
“I know!” Luz said, effusive as ever. “Maybe we can hack them! Or find some ancient secret that gives away the code – like in International Treasure, or Minnesota Bones!”
“We can be detectives!” King chimed in. “I call not being the bumbling sidekick!”
“Aww, but you’d be such a good little sidekick,” Luz said, scratching him on the head.
“Luz. You wound me.”
Lily sighed. “I’m afraid without knowing the right codes, we won’t be able to get in and find Raine. Maybe if we were to find a document where they were written down, but the guards are rarely so careless – which is saying something, given their usual level of competency.” She turned to look at Eda. “I’m sorry, Edalyn. I don’t think we can rescue them. Not right now.”
Any biting comment Eda could have made – which would have been unfair to her sister, but life was being pretty unfair right now, and the alternative was stamping her feet on the ground, or kicking something, or any number of other frustrated reactions that would have made more noise than they could afford – died on her lips at the sound of shouting from further down the corridor. She, King, Luz, and Lilith all looked at each other.
“Up against the wall!” Lilith hissed, pushing Luz, who was next to her – and King by proxy, since the teen was carrying him – into a slight dip in the wall a few feet ahead. Eda pressed herself up against a similar one on the other side of the hall, sucking in a deep breath and anxiously fishing around for an invisibility glyph of her own in case she was about to need it.
Should’ve known when to fold ‘em.
Before she could fully brace herself, a whole gaggle of Coven guards rounded the corner, the ruckus they were making even more apparent now that they were in the same hallway. Not only were their boots clacking along the stone floors at a breakneck pace, but they were shouting up a storm, too.
“Which way did he go?”
“To the right, sir!”
“No, no, I saw him head left!”
“Oh yeah, sure, we’ll listen to you, Pete, after you let him wriggle right out of your grip.”
“He bit me, okay?”
“You have gloves on!”
“Yeah, and? His teeth are sharp!”
“Listen, he’s been giving us the slip since the throne room. What else is new? I say it’s high time we split up.”
“Jenkins, you idiot, that’s exactly what people say before losing the guy!”
“Silence!” came the voice of whoever seemed to be in charge – if being in charge meant being the loudest. Eda winced a little, and saw the others doing the same across from her.
“He’s clearly trying to escape the castle,” the really loud guard continued. “And the exit is this way. Therefore we’re gonna go this way. Any questions?”
No questions, it seemed, were posed – though a general ripple of dissatisfied grumbling still followed the leader’s proclamation. Whoever they were looking for, Eda got the distinct impression they’d been after him for a good while. Poor bastard.
“Well, what are we waiting for?”
The running – and the grumbling – noises started up again, and Eda found herself silently thanking the Titan that she and the others had snuck in a different way, through a hole in the castle defenses Lily had known about that still hadn’t gotten fixed up in the time her sister had been ousted from the Emperor’s Coven. Apparently home improvement projects weren’t real high on Belos’ priority list. If these guys were searching for some poor sap near the exit, that meant they would be busy elsewhere, which might just buy them enough time to get out.
Without Raine.
The urge to kick something really, really hard welling up in her again, Eda ended up having less time to dwell on that awful though than she expected, startled suddenly from her frustration by the sound of a thump from up ahead – setting her nerves on high-alert once again.
“Ohhhh…” came a muffled groan, from a little closer to them than the guards had been. “No, no no, no, no… this is bad. This is really, really bad.”
It was highly inconvenient that Lilith didn’t know her apprentice as well as she did, because Eda could have predicted – and prevented – what happened next in a heartbeat. But she was on the wrong side of the corridor, and Luz was predictably, endearingly, and foolishly compassionate as ever.
“Hey, are you okay?” Luz said, peeking her head out into the hall. Eda smacked herself on the forehead. So much for stealth being on their side. She poked her own head out to get a better look at the mystery stranger they were probably about to have to run from – although, then again, if he was running from the castle guards, too…
Whoever it was, he was currently lying face-first on the ground. He stiffened a second after Luz called out to him, then shot up into a sitting position in a panic.
“Who– who was that?” he stuttered, and suddenly Eda knew exactly who they were up against. That voice was unmistakable.
Great, just great.
“Hunter?” Luz said, stepping out from her hiding spot. She set King down on the ground and started walking towards the other teen.
“Luz!” Eda hissed after her. “C’mon kiddo! We have to get out of here. And he’s not going to help.”
The human girl paid her no mind though, walking right over to where Hunter lay on the floor. He had slumped right back over after the attempt at questioning, which… did actually concern her a little, yeah.
“Woah, you don’t look so good,” Luz said, echoing Eda’s growing suspicion that the other teen might not be doing so hot. “You need a hand?”
Eda was surprised when he just grunted affirmatively, accepting Luz’s outstretched hand. Awkwardly, she pulled him up, draping his arm around her shoulder to help him stand.
“Is that the Golden Guard? ” Lilith hissed at her from across the way, drawing Eda’s attention away from the two teens.
“The one and only,” Eda sighed, pulling herself from her own hiding place and walking over to where Luz was assisting the other kid – who, she supposed, at least hadn’t called out to the guards and turned them in just yet.
“So, kid!” she said as she started walking over. “You come here often?”
He groaned – although in a way that didn’t sound entirely like it was in response to the joke. “I literally work here.”
A weird regretful expression crossed his face after that, but Eda brushed it aside. She’d figure out what was going on there later, if she had to. Right now, she was keeping a sharp eye on him as she approached -- even with him still slumped over Luz’s shoulder. That could turn into him hurting her real fast if he wanted to, and she wasn’t about to let that happen. But the closer she got, the less she suspected it was going to - instead taking in a whole myriad of hurts even with just a cursory glance that left him more worried about him than if he was going to try to hurt any of them.
The teen’s face was a mess, mostly thanks to a cut on his forehead that was bleeding profusely, dripping into his left eye and mingling with what appeared to be a nosebleed, too. A similar red stain bloomed across the no-longer pristine white of his cloak over his right shoulder. He was also favoring one of his legs heavily over the other – so much so that it was obvious even with Luz supporting him – and clutching his ribcage like his life depended on it, holding himself with an anxious guardedness, like an animal stuck in a trap, that gave her a sneaking suspicion his most obvious injuries weren't his only ones.
His battered state giving her significantly more pause, Eda had actually been about to ask if Luz needed a hand with him. But Lily was trailing behind her at this point and Hunter’s eyes narrowed so sharply when he saw her that it didn’t seem like the time.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said.
“I could say the same,” her sister replied coldly. “What are you of all people doing running around the Conformatorium looking like you got on the bad end of a Thunderbelly brawl?”
Hunter licked his lips, a futile attempt to catch some of the blood that was dripping everywhere.
“Restricted information,” he said with a smirk. “Only the leader of the Emperor’s Coven has clearance to know that. Oh wait!”
“Why you little–!”
“Hunter, are sure you’re okay?” Luz asked, shifting on her feet a little to hold him up better. He made a pained noise when the ankle he was favoring slipped and his other one brushed the ground.
“I’m up, aren’t I?” he said, gritting his teeth. “So yes.”
“‘Getting blood everywhere’ is a really weird definition of okay,” King chimed in.
Before the conversation could continue in any other circles – which was probably where it was headed, with everyone egging each other on like this, Eda could admit, even if she was about ready to offer a really good dunk or two herself – there were more sounds of shouting from the corridor behind them.
“ Hiding places, ” Lilith hissed – although no one seemed to need to be told to find them twice.
Eda could tell Luz was struggling some with carrying Hunter, and roped an arm around her apprentice to guide the two teens back against the wall – noting, as she did so, that he bristled anxiously at the contact, even though he hadn’t been her primary target in the first place. Pressing them both up against her anyways, she turned an ear in the direction of the guards.
“Any sign of him?”
“Nothing. You don’t think he’s slipped outside already, do you?”
“The Emperor assured me that he can’t get far right now. We should meet the others at the entrance – or in this case, exit.Come on - we’re losing him just standing around!”
It wasn’t long before this group moved on, too, feet tramping down a different corridor just like the last group of schmucks, but this time, Eda was paying less attention to them – just enough to make sure they stayed where they were, or got further away instead of closer – and a lot more to somebody else. Hunter, pressed up against her, was shaking like a leaf, his eyes as wide as saucers as he clung to Luz’s hoodie with a white-knuckled grip and struggled to stay on his feet. He barely even seemed to breath in relief when the Coven guards took off, leaving the five of them were alone again.
“They’re looking for you , kid, aren’t they?” Eda said after the commotion died down.
“Please!” Hunter said, all the bravado gone from his voice. “I don’t know why you’re here, but I know you must be planning on breaking out. Please, take me with you. I-I don’t have any other way of getting out of here.”
“What did you do to get on the Emperor’s bad side?” Lilith said. “And where’s that fancy staff of yours? I don’t see why you need our help if you can just teleport out.”
“The Emperor deactivated it,” Hunter said, eyes flicking around nervously. “And I can’t use my other one, because… because…”
Looking genuinely distraught, he pulled his arm away from his chest, revealing that he hadn’t just been clutching at his ribs – although Eda suspected they were still a part of the equation. Cradled in his arm was that little cardinal palisman that had been following him around at Eclipse Lake, in their palistrom wood form, a series of nasty-looking cracks radiating across their whole body. A lump lodged in her throat at the sight –- Eda had always had a real soft spot for palismen.
“He’s hurt!” Hunter said, desperately. “We need to get out of here, and I... I don’t have any other options. Please take me with you, I swear, I don’t… I’m not… this isn’t a trick.”
“Why should we trust you?” Eda said, quirking an eyebrow.
It was a pretty surface-level inquiry. She wasn’t the kind of person who’d leave an injured kid alone to face an all-out manhunt. Whatever Belos’ wanted him for, it was easy enough to deduce it wouldn’t be pretty if he got his hands on the teen -– or, for that matter, his palisman, which she got the distinct impression he was not supposed to have. But she was curious to hear what he’d say, and if it would alleviate the worst of her anxieties about the fact that, kid or not, Hunter did seem to have a bad habit of backstabbing people when he himself was in dire straits.
She had two other kids to look out for, after all. And if her hand was forced, they were the priority.
“Yeah!” King added – though probably obliviously to Eda’s exact line of thinking. “You screw us over, like, all the time!”
Hunter’s gaze darted between the four of them. “You’re here for something,” he eventually said, as smoothly as he could probably muster. “That much is obvious. I can work with that. I don’t have a lot at my fingertips right now, but I do still have information. If there’s something you’re trying to find out, I can probably tell you, and then we can all get out of here as soon as possible. ”
“We’re looking for Raine Whispers,” Luz said before Eda could tell her to be a little cagier. “Do you know where they are? Ooh – actually! We think we know that much, but do you know the spellcodes to get in? And could you do them if Eda or Lilith let you borrow their staff?”
“Now wait a minute–”
“I am not letting him use my–”
Eda and and her sister both spoke at once, then looked at each other. It seemed to sink in at the same time that as much as they both hated the idea, Luz… might be onto something.
Hunter licked some of the blood off his face again. “The Head of the Bard Coven? Are you insane?” he said. “You want to go deeper into this place instead of just getting out? While it’s crawling with guards on high alert?”
“Hey, the guards aren’t exactly looking for us, kid,” Eda pointed out. “In fact, that might work in our favor – they’re all expecting you at the front entrance. But we have another way out, so if you take us down there, where they’re not expecting a break-in, we get in and out while there’s a distraction and you have another ticket out of here.”
Seeing Hunter looked like he was about to protest again, Eda crossed her arms.
“Besides,” she added. “You just as good as confirmed they’re actually locked up here after all, and knowing that, I am not leaving without them.”
Clearly weighing his options, Hunter considered the proposal. “Fine,” he said. “I can get you in. But only on the condition that if things start turning south, we leave , whether or not you’ve gotten the witch you want. Deal?”
“I don’t think you’re the one in a position to be making demands,” Lilith said angrily. “Especially seeing as I don’t trust you not to turn us in just to try to regain your favor with Belos.”
“I considered that!” Hunter snapped. Eda had to admit – she at least respected his brutal honesty, even if it wasn’t making her like him any more. “But..” he trailed off, tightening his hold on his palisman. “I’m getting both of us out. Not just me. Belos would want me to turn him in, too. I can’t let that happen.”
He gave them each an ice-cold glare in turn, eyes flaring with mistrust. “But let me just say, I don’t exactly have the greatest faith in you all, either. Not while you’re attempting a suicide mission.”
Lily sniffed. “To be entirely fair, I called it that as well.”
“And you still went?” he said. “You really are crazy.”
“Some people would say hiding a palisman from the Emperor is crazy, too,” she said, narrowing her gaze.
“Fine, fine!” Eda said. Now that she knew for sure Raine was alive, she couldn’t get this rescue mission moving soon enough. Even if it had gotten way more complicated. “We all hate each other, we get it. But no one’s benefiting from just standing around talking. What do you say we get this big ol’ show of mistrust on the road and go back to squabbling when we’re either outta here or locked up? Or dead. I’m sure you two could find a way to bicker dead, too.”
“Ooh,” Luz said. “Ghost fights! I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that, though, Eda. This is lucky for all of us!”
Hunter and Lilith’s expressions said otherwise. Eda wasn’t so sure where hers landed, but “Dear Titan, I will do anything if it gets Raine out of here and the kid at least has a couple of points” was probably at least a little less withering. King just looked… weirdly disappointed.
“Let’s get this over with,” Hunter said, which was a bold way of putting it when he was basically getting dragged in the right direction. “I take it you at least know where the entrance to the high-security cells is? ”
“Of course,” Lilith snapped. “Do you think I remember nothing? I was in the Emperor’s employ longer than you’ve been alive .”
“Luz?”
“Yeah, and now you’re not, so sorry for wondering if you’re still okay in the head.”
“I could say the same, Mr. ‘I’ll do anything, just get me out of here.’ What did you do?”
“Luz…?”
“Of course, anyone would question your sanity after seeing your filing system…”
“What’s wrong with my filing system?”
“Well, for one thing–”
“--Luz?”
“Hey kid,” Eda said, scooping King up from where he was slinking behind the rest of the group, a disappointed expression still lingering on his face. “You got a caller on the line.”
“What’s wrong, buddy?” the human said.
“We were gonna be detectives, Luz!” he said, sounding sad.
“Aw,” she replied. “Don’t worry! This still counts as detecting. We just found an informant! Isn’t that right, Hunter? You’re just full of clues. Would you say you’re more of a noir anti-villain or a bad-but-sad renegade? Ooh, or maybe a dude fatale?”
Luz wiggled her eyebrows at the other teen, who was still slumped over her shoulders.
“What?”
"Nah," she added. "You're too scrawny for that. And, like, grumpy."
“Ahahaha, yes!” King said, perking up. “Mockery! Detective King and Luz the sidekick are still on the case!”
“No, really – What? What?”
Letting the kids’ laughter – and at least one undignified snort from Lily, which was always a treat – fill her ears, Eda took a deep breath, the full impact of Hunter’s own conveniently-timed crisis colliding with theirs hitting her all at once.
Hang in there, Raine. We’re coming.
I promise.