𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆'𝐒 𝐂𝐑𝐘

Chapter 20

Kaida nods and begins to walk off a limp as she makes her way to the staircase.

By now, Cleo should have unlocked all the cells and everyone should be on the Ground Floor.

Kaida races down the steps as fast as her body can allow her, passing by the empty cells.

She presses her earpiece.

"Hello, Hello! We have to speed up the evacuation! The Palace-"

Kaida does not get to complete her sentence.

A heart shattering BOOM! plays out from her earpiece, completely frying it.

Her ears pop and she removes them instantly as they unglue from her ear canal.

"Fuck!"

Kaida curses, she is already halfway down but now she begins to jump almost whole flights of stairs.

Eventually she bursts out onto the Ground Floor and it is a clearing of space, almost like a courtyard.

It is the only route of exit from the Cell Blocks.

All the Reds in their overalls stand behind the members of the Guard, and they face off against none other than Rhizo Elson and Ichiro Samos.

The incoming party has blown the exit to smithereens.

They lead a group of Palace Guards, all armed with gleaming sharp swords.

Kaida starts from the back, cutting through the Red civilians gently but with urgency, until she takes her place at the front of the pack, alongside the others.

She fits in between Cal and Elias.

Elias and her lock eyes, he is just about to ask where she was but when he sees her injuries, he doesn't question.

She had fought like hell, and she was the one standing here now, that's all he needed to know.

And yet, another fight was in front of them, about to begin.

"Where is Mare?"

Kaida looks amongst her peers and notices Mare's absence.

She talks low, so only Cal and Elias can hear.

"I don't know."

Cal answers, still keeping his eyes glued on Rhizo.

When he was in the Palace, he had trained with Rhizo and witnessed him rise through the ranks.

Cal knew all about his character, and would not take his golden eyes off of the mountain of a man.

There is a tense silence.

Rhizo and Ichiro are the last blockade, standing between the Reds and their freedom.

Rhizo's armour clinks and he narrows his eyes at Kaida, they are filled with such animosity and such venom.

He raises his sword, the gigantic ice weapon directed at Kaida as he uses it to point at her.

"You."

His voice is distorted by the helmet he wears over his big head, and the sound of it drags and shivers across the space separating the two sides.

Kaida stands up straighter, ignoring the ache in her muscles.

She tries to control her breathing, which is slightly laboured.

She cannot let the Silvers see her weak.

"I was right about you. I warned the King, but he would not listen, and now look."

Kaida knew Rhizo never liked her, he was an elitist, a supremacist.