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We hurried along a pebble-strewn tunnel with rough walls for several minutes before Qita squirmed in my hold. “I hear marching men.”
Ben stopped and we all listened. A soft sound like thunder reached our ears. “There seems to be a way out ahead of us,” Ben spoke in our minds.
We moved forward another twenty yards and found ourselves at a wide crack. The ‘door’ led into an abandoned basement. Ben used his strength to widen it and soon I stumbled out into dusty air.
A window high up on the wall revealed a wide street. Ben stepped back and peered out through the dirty glass. A dozen shadows passed by us, all of them holding spears.
“I can’t smell my family among them,” Qita spoke up.
Ben narrowed his red eyes at the street. “They’ll need to pass through here to reach the northern gate.”
“What if they already passed by?” I pointed out.
Ben pursed his lips. “Then we’ll follow them, but I’ll take lookout outside. You stay here.”
“I can knock heads as well as anyone,” I insisted.
“Not heads trained in combat,” he countered.
I pursed my lips but couldn’t argue. Ben scurried up the dusty stairs and slipped into the empty house. We could hear his footsteps on the wooden floorboards as he made his way out of what I assumed was the back door. My heart pounded in my chest as I stretched my neck to view the window.
“One moment,” Qita whispered as he climbed atop my shoulders. “Move me closer to the window.”
I did as bidden and pressed myself against the wall. Qita leapt onto the wide sill and used a paw to wipe away some of the dirt to better peer out. His glowing eyes darted over the landscape hidden from me.
“Nothing is moving out there,” he whispered as he crouched down into a more comfortable position. “I have never heard the city so quiet as it is now.”
I took a seat on the bottom step and sighed. The minutes ticked by and boredom intruded into my thoughts. How wrong I was to look on that with disgust as a sudden chill slipped into me. It wasn’t like the one I’d felt in previous times. This was less combative but no less unsettling.
“What’s wrong?” Qita called from his high perch. “You look like you saw a spirit.”
I pressed my balled hands against my chest and shook my head. “I-I don’t know. I just felt like something bad happened-”
“Hurry!” a voice shouted as a dozen soldiers rushed past our position. “The prisoners are trying to escape!”
I leapt to my feet and Qita stood at attention. He whipped his head left and right to follow their trail. They’re headed toward the palace!”
I didn’t think but spun around and clambered up the stairs.
“Hey!” the cat shouted as he leapt off the sill. “Wait for me!”
I kept the door open for him as I followed Ben’s footsteps. They led through a main room and down a hall to the rear of the back of the house. I crashed out of the door and whipped my head left and right.
Qita followed behind me and turned left. “This way!”
We sprinted down the streets and I was nearly spent by the time we neared the steps that led up to the palace. A nervous crowd had congregated around the mouths of the streets and I mingled with them. All eyes lay on the stairs where the king sat in an open litter manned by two men on each post. He was surrounded by a dozen guards in elegant armor and carrying spears with wicked barbed tips.
A half dozen hard-scrambled soldiers pushed their way through the crowd. They pulled along another person with them whom they dragged to the bottom of the steps. My heart nearly stopped as they threw their captive to the ground. It was Ben.
“This is the man who tried to help the Sharif family escape, Your Highness.”
Ramaal scowled down at the masked prisoner. “Remove his mask so I might see his face.”
One of the guards stepped forward and grabbed the bottom of Ben’s mask. He pulled it down and revealed a jaw that wasn’t human. Scales completely covered the flesh and a pair of sharp teeth filled the mouth.
The guard stumbled back with a gasp as the king recoiled. “By the gods! What sorcery would make a monster out of a man?”
“Less evil than the fear that makes a king forget his duty to his people,” Ben shot back.
