Chapter 397: Kill the King

The fire spread faster than Kael expected. Dry timber, old bedding, broken furniture, and spilled oil caught in quick succession, feeding flames that climbed the wooden supports and spread along the ceiling. Within minutes, black smoke rolled above the cells, and the nearest prisoners began coughing.

"Those who can walk, help those who can’t," Kael called through the Tongue of Gods. "Get them into the passage. We need to leave now."

Several captives obeyed immediately. Others remained inside their open cells, staring at the doors as though they expected someone to punish them for approaching. Kael had no time to convince them gently. He entered the nearest enclosure, crouched beside a badly injured man, and lifted him over one shoulder.

The man weighed almost nothing. Kael could feel his ribs through the remains of his shirt.

He carried him into the hidden passage and lowered him between two prisoners who could still walk without assistance. Once they had the man’s arms secured across their shoulders, Kael pointed farther down the tunnel.

"Keep following this passage. It leads outside the city."

One of the women glanced toward the flames behind him. "Are you certain? We don’t know where any of these tunnels go."

"This tunnel leads to an exit near the forest." Kael caught her confused expression and remembered that she could not see the interface floating before him. "I checked the route. Just trust me and keep moving."

She looked from him to the burning prison, then adjusted her grip beneath the injured man’s arm and nodded.

Kael returned for the others. He carried a wounded elf into the passage, then an older human who could no longer support his own weight. A woman tried to follow them, only for her damaged ankle to buckle beneath her. Kael caught her before she struck the floor and lifted her as well.

At the tunnel entrance, he passed each captive to whoever could manage the burden. Their progress would be slow, but the map showed the passage continuing beneath the inner palace wall, crossing under sections of the city, and emerging near the forest beyond the main fortifications.

The royal family had prepared a proper escape route. If the palace fell, they would disappear beneath their subjects and emerge somewhere comfortably removed from the disaster.

For once, Kael appreciated goblin paranoia.

He checked the cells one last time before sending the final group into the tunnel. A little smoke curled after them, but most gathered overhead and rose through a ventilation shaft too narrow for a person to use. Whatever air it normally carried, it was now delivering smoke directly into the palace.

"That works too," Kael muttered.

The first shouts reached him from above. Footsteps followed, growing from a few hurried sets into a steady rush. Doors opened, orders echoed through the shaft, and someone began demanding water.

Kael extinguished the Fire effect around his gauntlet and listened.

They had discovered the fire, but nobody seemed to be looking for an intruder. As far as the household knew, something had caught alight beneath the palace. It was serious enough to bring guards and servants running, yet no notification appeared to confirm that his infiltration had been exposed.

He intended to keep it that way.

Kael returned along the passage leading to the royal portrait. The air had already warmed, and smoke dragged against the ceiling, though most continued rising through the shafts rather than following the prisoners. He hurried through the cramped section, reached the concealed entrance, and waited.

Footsteps thundered past on the other side. Five people, perhaps six, followed by another group moving in the opposite direction.

He brought Darkness fully around himself. The coat softened into shadow, swallowing the outline of his equipment before Presence settled over him. The familiar drain returned, stronger than it had been during his first trip through the palace.

Everyone was awake now. Guards watched the intersections, servants hurried between rooms, and open doors exposed corridors that had previously been empty. Even with their attention directed toward the fire, there were far more eyes for Presence to contend with.

Kael checked his reserves. He still had enough, provided he stopped admiring the architecture and finished what he had come to do.

He pressed the mechanism, slipped through the opening, and eased the painting shut behind him. Three goblin servants rushed past carrying buckets. One turned her face almost directly toward him, but her gaze passed over the darkness against the wall without lingering.

Kael waited until they had gone, then moved toward the stairs.

The palace had lost its earlier silence. Doors stood open, guards hurried between intersections, and servants struggled past one another with water. Someone below was shouting orders that another voice immediately contradicted.

The confusion gave Kael opportunities the orderly patrols had denied him. The Goblins were alert, but they were looking for smoke, flames, and someone who knew what to do. He moved while their attention was occupied and stopped whenever a face turned his way.

One patrol passed within arm’s reach. Kael pressed himself against the wall and remained there until their footsteps faded.

On the second floor, the red marker waited exactly where he had left it.

Either the target was remarkably calm or he had yet to understand what was happening beneath his bedroom.

The two guards outside the royal chamber remained at their posts. Their discipline had survived the fire, although both looked tense now. One watched the stairwell while the other kept glancing down the hall.

Kael stopped behind the corner and considered them.

He could cross the distance quickly enough to strike before either raised an alarm. Killing them would still carry a risk, however. Presence worked by giving the mind permission to overlook him. Darkness helped by removing most of the details that might draw attention.

A giant shadow charging directly at someone’s face was considerably harder to dismiss.

Kael looked toward a nearby window. He could climb outside, work his way along the palace wall, and find another entrance to the royal chamber. It would take longer, but it would avoid the guards entirely.

He had begun shifting toward the window when the chamber door opened.

A small goblin stepped into the corridor wearing pajamas.

Kael stopped moving.

The royal insignia embroidered across the goblin’s chest matched the portrait downstairs, and the red marker followed him through the doorway. Without the crown and ceremonial clothing, the king looked even smaller than Kael expected. A sleeping hat stood unevenly around his head, his eyes were narrowed with sleep, and his expression suggested that being awakened was the worst thing that had happened in the palace that night.

The way he seemed to look annoyed and shouting incomprehensible stuff seemed to tell that he wanted to know why there was smoke in his chamber.

One guard began frantically talking, maybe explaining the fire below. The king slapped him before he finished.

The blow snapped the guard’s head sideways. He straightened without raising a hand while the king pointed toward the stairs and ordered them both to deal with it.

The second guard attempted a reply, only to receive another furious gesture toward the stairwell.

Both exchanged a look, then hurried away.

The king watched them leave, muttered something under his breath that kale could only assume to be lack of incompetence, and returned to his bedroom. The door slammed behind him.

Kael looked from the empty corridor to the closed chamber.

"Well, that saves me a climb."

He moved before another patrol could arrive. His fingers closed around the handle, turning it slowly, and he opened the door just wide enough to slip inside.

The royal bedroom was spacious, although its furnishings remained inconveniently low. Silk curtains surrounded the bed, and carved furniture stood beneath paintings framed in gold. Decorative stone covered the floor around thick rugs that looked more expensive than everything the prisoners below had ever owned.

The king had already climbed back into bed. He pulled the blanket over himself and rolled onto one side, then the other, trying to recover whatever comfortable position the smoke had interrupted.

Kael eased the door closed.

The goblin stopped moving.

Kael waited with one hand still upon the handle. After several seconds, the king relaxed and shifted beneath the blanket again.

Kael crossed the room, placing his boots carefully upon the rug. Darkness moved around him while Presence encouraged the half-awake goblin to dismiss the little sound he made.

At the bedside, Kael looked down as the king rolled onto his back.

He looked small and ordinary. An unpleasant little creature disturbed in the middle of the night, surrounded by expensive things and expecting someone else to solve the problem.

Kael remembered the cells beneath him. He remembered the silver-haired elf, the bodies left beside living prisoners, and the people who had stared at open doors without believing they were allowed to leave.

He reached down and closed his hand around the king’s throat.