After a brief discussion, Arturo left Paladigo of the Forest Dwellers in charge, much to the irritation of the others in his army. Luckily, it hadn’t taken long for his men to remember he was in charge and that he would be back soon on a secret mission. He couldn’t tell them everything. Despite the people serving him, he couldn’t allow this mission to ever be known.

  With that over, Arturo gathered Achillion, Jen, Tarmon, and Eurisha, then headed over to where Qidan was. The mage was alone, and Corvin was nowhere in sight. Jen’s red hair flowed freely, with both her swords strapped to her back. Tarmon carried his single sword at his hip and was wearing light armor. Achillion was wearing his usual light-black armor, with a short sword and shield strapped to his back. Eurisha was holding a spear and had a bow with arrows hanging on her back.

  “Before you go, I must discuss what you will say to the prisoners,” Qidan said.

  “Say?” Arturo asked.

  “Are they not aware of this rescue?” Jen said at the same time.

  “Tell the prisoners you have an offer they can’t refuse,” Qidan said, ignoring the question. “That should be all you have to say.”

  “I don’t like the secrecy,” Jen said, glaring at Qidan.

  “I don’t care. You’ll do what you are paid for,” Qidan said.

  “It’s fine,” Arturo said before Jen could respond. “Let’s go.”

  Qidan nodded and raised his right hand. A portal appeared. “Come back to the spot you arrive at when you’re done,” Qidan said.

  Arturo said nothing and stepped through. The hairs on his arms rose as his entire body went cold. Mist blew out of his mouth, and snow was falling fast. He ignored the cold and looked around. They were in the mountains, though he didn’t know where exactly. The snow made it difficult to see. It took him a moment, but he could see the outlines of the prison.

  “I wasn’t expecting it to be this cold,” Tarmon said, his teeth chattering. He began rubbing his arms in an effort to warm up.

  Jen looked as if the cold didn’t exist. She looked at the camp ahead and then back as the portal winked away. Achillion had a similar reaction, only crossing his arms and waiting. Eurisha looked ready for battle as she held her spear at the ready.

  “Did you see how Qidan made the portal?” Arturo asked Tarmon.

  “No.”

  “Shame,” Arturo said. He would have liked to use Tarmon to portal around. It would make travel quicker, let alone be good to get to the invaders when they attacked.

  “I have a better idea of how to create one, but I don’t know what he did, not yet,” Tarmon said.

  Before Arturo could respond, Eurisha peeked around the cliff they were on and turned back. “There are four guards. I’m not sure if they are mages or not,” she said.

  Looking ahead, Arturo saw a wall, with no way around it. It took him a moment to see where the four guards were, which was above a gate. The lantern the guards carried made it easy to follow their movements. The guards were huddled over a fire, looking nonchalant from what he could tell. “Tarmon, can you sense any mages?” Arturo asked.

  Tarmon shook his head. “If I try, the mages might discover our location.”

  Darn, need to make sure I know where the mages are. “How well can you fire that bow?” Arturo asked Eurisha.

  “Can fish swim?” Eurisha said as if that was answer enough.

  “Wait a second!” Jen said, moving in front of Arturo. “We shouldn’t kill anyone.”

  Arturo glanced at his sister before staring ahead. There was no way to enter the prison without killing the guards. “We can’t risk an alarm going off. Eurisha, take out the guards when you’re ready.”

  “Artu-”

  “Remember what I told you,” Arturo said harshly. He saw a taken-aback face from Jen, who bit her lip and nodded. They had a mission to complete. One thing he learned in his time with the Crystal Syndicate was knowing you couldn’t do the right thing all the time. Despite his reservations about killing these guards, it had to be done.

  Eurisha crept forward and planted her spear in the snow. She grabbed her bow and pulled the string back with an arrow in place. She took a breath and loosed her first arrow. The arrow struck the first guard right in the heart. The three guards jumped, not expecting the attack when another arrow embedded itself into a skull.

  One of the guards ran for a horn, and an arrow pierced his back. The last guard was able to duck behind cover. “I have no shot,” Eurisha said.

  “Tarmon, can you lift one of us over the wall?” Arturo asked.

  “What about the mages?” Jen hissed.

  “The mages and guards will know we are here from the last guard,” Arturo said. “Get me over the wall.”

  “I can’t,” Tarmon said.

  Arturo was about to ask why but stopped. He would have to take off his Verian armor for Tarmon to lift him over. “Send Achillion.”

  “Yeah, okay. Achillion, you ready?” Tarmon nodded.

  “Born ready,” Achillion said with a wide grin. His sword was in hand, and he looked up at the gate. A moment later, he was floating and landed atop the gate, then disappeared from sight.

  They waited. Arturo felt impatient as he couldn’t hear anything happening. He hoped a mage hadn’t been nearby, or else they would be in trouble. He would have rather gone over the gate instead of Achillion. The one downside to his armor, one he hadn’t thought of before.

  A minute later, the gates opened. Arturo let out a sigh of relief and noticed blood on Achillion’s sword. “Good chance the prison is aware of us,” Achillion said.

  Of course, they are. Not even ten minutes into the mission, and we’re already caught. Arturo thought. He rushed inside with the others following. There were a few houses and outposts at all the corners. “Eurisha, watch our left. Achillion, watch our right. We need to find out where the power users are being held.”

  “Understood,” Eurisha moved to the left while Achillion moved to the right.

  Surprisingly, there weren’t any guards, at least not yet. Arturo and the others looked around and couldn’t find where the prisoners were being held. “What’s that?” Jen pointed towards a cave.

  “Looks like our prisoners are there,” Eurisha said.

  Upon closer inspection, Arturo noticed the cave had bars, yet no guards. “Let’s go,” he said.

  They almost made it when an arrow landed in the snow in front of them. “Halt!” someone yelled, and Arturo turned to see eight guards rushing them, each wearing shiny gold armor and wielding swords and shields. They stopped, and the leader pointed the tip of his blade at the intruders. “Drop your weapons and surrender.”

  “I’ll give you one chance to surrender, or we’ll kill you,” Arturo replied, holding his giant sword in front. He could take these guards by himself but would spare their lives if the guards listened. The only problem might be one of the guards describing them to the mages. Could he afford to spare any of the guards? A part of him thought not, yet he couldn’t kill a surrendering foe. There was only one person in the world whose surrender he would ignore.

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  “Don’t be a fool,” a woman said, walking in front of the guards. She had golden hair and was wearing a gray robe, with piercing blue eyes. She looked furious, and there was no doubt she was a mage. “Surrender, or I’ll kill you all before you can take another step.”

  “You sure about that?” Arturo said. Killing a mage wasn’t something he wanted to do, but he wouldn’t hesitate. There was no room to incapacitate, not when a mistake could mean life or death.

  The mage looked at Tarmon and snickered. “That one is weak with the power. If you think he can take me, you’ll be very disappointed. Are you sure you don’t want to surrender?”

  “This is a waste of time. Let’s kill them,” Eurisha said.

  “You fools,” the mage said and raised both her arms.

  Eurisha, Jen, Tarmon, and Achillion all froze in place. Arturo felt a cold chill as the power tried to embrace him. He couldn’t waste another second, or the mage might kill the others. He rushed forward, and the mage’s eyes widened before his sword cleaved through her chest. He yanked his blade to the right, splitting her in half.

  The guards cried out in shock as they watched the body split apart and blood began splashing over the snow. The others were released from their hold and rushed the guards. Achillion slit two throats with a single strike and Jen took the arm off of one before plunging her other sword into his chest. Tarmon remained where he was and utilized the power to send two of the guards flying into the mountain, their armor creating a loud clang as they crumbled to the ground, motionless.

  Within thirty seconds, the fighting was over and the ground was littered with nine bodies. Eight guards and a mage. “You killed a mage,” Jen said breathlessly.

  “I did,” Arturo said.

  “But… The mages will hunt us for what we did,” Jen said, unable to shift her gaze away from the dead.

  “Nobody knows we did this, and now we must get the prisoners before more help arrives,” Arturo said.

  Without another word, Arturo walked to the bars and noticed there wasn’t a door. He pressed his hand against the bars and felt an invisible field preventing him from going further. He took out his sword and swung. It was like hitting a steel wall. He took a step back to stop himself from falling. “There’s a field preventing me from opening these bars,” he said.

  “That’s going to be a problem,” Achillion said.

  “I don’t think so,” Arturo said and touched the bars with his armor. That appeared to work as the barrier stopped working, and he placed his hands on the same bars his armor was touching. To his surprise, the bars shattered like glass.

  “We need to hurry,” Arturo looked back to where they had killed the mage and their guards. Snow was beginning to cover their bodies. He didn’t like this. It should take a while for the bodies to be discovered, assuming these were the only guards aware of the intrusion. He didn’t want to kill anyone else if it could be helped.

  Arturo began running and almost fell after slipping on the ice. He slowed his pace, despite his desire to hurry. He gripped his sword tightly, waiting for a mage or guard to appear.

  As they got to the bottom, two guards rounded a corner and stopped when they saw the intruders. The guards saw the blood on Arturo and his companions and quickly dropped their swords. “Please, do what you will, but don’t kill us!” one of the guards said.

  Great. Arturo wished the guards had charged them. Killing the guards would make things easier, but he couldn’t kill someone who was surrendering unless it was Kyrad. “Tarmon, incapacitate them,” he whispered so the guards wouldn’t hear him. The guards wouldn’t know them, at least he hoped.

  With a simple nod, Tarmon raised his hands, and both guards collapsed. “They should be out for a day,” he said.

  Arturo saw relief flood Jen’s face. Did she think he would kill unarmed prisoners? Did she think of him that badly? Shaking his head, he walked forward with the others right behind him and found their targets. There were well over a hundred cells, but only about twenty had people in them.

  Jen went to both guards and took out a pair of keys, tossing a set to Arturo. “We’ll need these,” she said.

  “Good call,” Arturo said.

  The room was silent, except for the shifting of the prisoners who turned to see what was going on. Arturo put his sword back on his back and ordered the others to do the same. There were no other guards, and the last thing he wanted to do was alienate a bunch of power users, even if he had Verian armor on.

  “Speak to each of the prisoners and tell them they have a choice. Come with us or remain here. Tell them this is an offer they won’t want to refuse,” Arturo said.

  “As you command,” Eurisha said.

  The prison was huge. There were multiple layers, each with normal steel bars. Inside, something was radiating a light blue light at the top of each cell. Arturo assumed the strange device was what was keeping the prisoners from using the power. He walked up to one of the prisoners and noticed an older man sitting in a cross-legged position, staring at him with dark blue eyes.

  “Do you wish to leave this place?” Arturo asked.

  “As everyone else does,” the man replied.

  “Good answer,” Arturo said. “You have two options: Come with me or remain here. Someone wants you all rescued, and you will have to speak with him.”

  “Who?”

  “I can’t say,” Arturo said.

  The man got up and walked towards the bars. “Will I be treated worse than here?”

  “I’m sure it’ll be much better than here. Do you agree to come with us or not?”

  “Last question. Will my escaping help the mages?”

  “The mages will hate your escape,” Arturo said.

  “Then I will go with you.”

  Arturo opened the cell and watched the man leave his prison. A smile spread across the man’s lips, and Arturo would bet all he had that he gathered the power. “It’s been so long,” the man said, spreading out his arms.

  It took twenty minutes before all the prisoners were released from their cells and gathered around. “Heads up, all the prisoners are currently holding the power,” Tarmon whispered to Arturo, who nodded. There wasn’t much to be done about that.

  “Time to burn this prison to the ground!” a young man with red hair roared.

  “No,” Arturo said, gripping his sword tightly. The last thing he wanted was to get more people killed. “If you try, I will strike you down.”

  “You and what army? You’re helpless if I use the power on you.”

  “You sure about that?” Arturo would punch the man in the face if he tried to use the power. Something in his tone must have gotten to the prisoner as he quieted down. Once he was sure the threat was over, he released his hold on the handle.

  “Why should we stay?” a woman said. She had a grin on her face as she looked at her rescuers. “I can portal us all out of here.”

  “You can try,” Arturo said.

  Her cocky grin dropped, and she moved her hands forward, trying to create a portal, but nothing was happening. “It’s not working? How?” she said in disbelief.

  “The people who hired me to rescue you all made sure you couldn’t escape without following me,” Arturo said. “Anyone else want to cause a problem, or can we get out of here?”

  None of the power users said anything. “Good, then follow me,” Arturo said and began walking towards the exit. He wasn’t looking forward to seeing what was waiting for them.

  Once they got to the entrance of the cave, Arturo let out a groan. There were fifteen guards and three mages waiting for them. He didn’t want to kill any of them.

  “Please, don’t kill them,” Jen said.

  “What? How could-” one of the mages began, but was silenced when he, along with the other two mages, was lifted off the ground, unable to speak or fight back.

  “Don’t kill them,” Arturo commanded.

  “We won’t,” one of the power users said. The fifteen guards all slumped to the ground, and the three mages were pinned to the walls next to the entrance. “The guards should be out for a few hours, and the mages won't be able to break free of their bonds for at least an hour.”

  At least the prisoners didn’t kill them. I couldn’t have stopped them. Arturo thought. The only bright side was that there was no way these guards or mages would recognize him. The escaped prisoners had been in front of Arturo. “That’s more than enough time. We need to get out of here before more help arrives,” he said and started walking quickly. The snow was a bit too deep to run.

  Arturo was thankful there were no more mages or guards. If there were no more deaths today, he would be happy. This mission had enough bloodshed, an inevitable outcome, one he expected once he agreed to this mission. Would his father have approved?

  He led the way through the gates, where the initial guards lay motionless. Where there used to be blood was now covered by the fresh snowfall. Before long, Arturo and the others were at the spot they arrived, and a portal was waiting for them. The prisoners stopped when they saw the portal.

  “How is there a portal here, yet I can’t make one?” the woman from earlier asked.

  Tarmon shrugged. “You can ask once you step through.”

  “If this isn’t a trap,” another prisoner said.

  “Why would we rescue you, only to bring you to a trap?” Achillion said. “Stay here if you will; I wish you luck on your escape.”

  “Get going. I’ll enter last,” Arturo said.

  It took a moment, but Jen walked through first, with the prisoners going in after. A few of the prisoners hesitated or uttered some prayer before walking through. Achillion was second to last to leave, and then he stepped through and saw Corvin and Qidan.

  This was the same area as his camp, though it was a little further from camp. The prisoners looked at Qidan suspiciously. Arturo didn’t need the power to know every prisoner was holding it, yet Qidan looked at ease.

  “A mage wanted us rescued?” one of the prisoners asked.

  “Why?” another added.

  Corvin raised his hand. “Your questions will be answered in a moment,” the commander turned to Arturo. “You did well. The money is at your camp, and I will speak with you to make sure you are satisfied before leaving.”

  Darn, would have been interesting to hear why Corvin and Qidan wanted these power users. Arturo thought. “We’ll get moving,” he said and motioned for the others to follow.

  “What do you think Azzellia wants with power users?” Jen asked.

  “Not sure. I hope Corvin wasn’t bluffing when he said they would be useful against the invaders,” Arturo said. He guessed Talon was the one who wanted these power users. But that didn’t make sense either, for Qidan was a mage, and there was nothing Talon could do to force a mage to help him. Perhaps this was a secret plot, and Qidan was using these power users for some sort of personal gain. Either way, these power users weren’t his problem. Not anymore.