Valin (Book 3 of the White Lily Trilogy)- first draft

Chapter 19- Sneaking about

    Every corridor they crept down, every corner they scurried around and every door they passed through further fuelled the uncontrolled beating in Dakelo's heart. Even though they had all kinds of personal sensing to know if one was nearby, he still feared bumping into anyone and jeopardizing their whole mission.

They had slowly made their way up from the underground levels, till a door lead them out into corridors of red carpet and white stone. Dozens of candles blazed on great towering stands every couple of paces, leaving nearly no shadows present in any corner. The only darkness around was casted by the occasional decorative suits of armour situated at random positions beside the windows, and the gaps behind the large tapestries.

If he was merely visiting, Dakelo would have stopped to admire the decorations, but he had to move like there was a knife constantly at his back and throat.

They had already avoided over twenty different men and women, guards and servants alike. It made his palms sweat horribly; all it would take is one slip up on their behalf and it will be over.

The whole time Dakelo followed the traces of blood. Only he could see the steady trail of bloodied footprints, so it was down for him to lead the others. They staggered around the corridors, going back and forth from different items, like it was just stopping to admire things.

The others followed without question, only speaking to warn of any humans approaching. Trying to manoeuvre undetected proved more hassle to their mission. Each time they heard or smelt someone approaching, they were forced to take the closest possible turn or duck into the nearest room Thiryqa said was empty. Sometimes the humans ended up taking the same route, which forced them off the trail all together for a short moment of time.

Every step made the needles in his chest stab against his lugs, the weight on his limbs increase and the pressure on his head tighten. He had to stop every fibre of his being making him scream and turn back around to help lessen the sensation. Just why was it getting worse? He'd almost think Isi didn't want to be found, trying to force him away with the sheer amount of pain. Every time one of the others tried to pass a comment on his health, he simply growled at them like a wounded animal. He won't call the whole thing off simply because he felt unwell.

When they knew a room was empty of any humans, they peeked inside, looking for any clues anything that could give them a lead. After an hour and he felt trapped. Like a mouse in a den of cats, and it was just a matter of time before he made a mistake and got caught. He wasn't sure if he was being lead around in circles, corridors all looked so similar, long and straight, branching out in all direction like a dark maze. He just had to keep following the trail only he could see.

Someone tapped on his shoulder, snapping his attention back. He knew what that meant. It meant there were humans up ahead, around the next corner. He quickly shuffled his back flat against the wall and peered around.

There were two guards, situated outside one of the doors in the corridor. Thiryqa joined him.

"Do you think she's in there?" he asked. He saw Thiryqa's eyes glazed over for a few seconds.

"No, not in there but there is...." His body stiffened as if someone jabbed him with something sharp.

"What? What's in there?"

Just as Thiryqa opened his mouth, someone else interrupted.

"Dakelo, we got humans coming up behind us." Froyza whispered. Dakelo looked around, there was nowhere else to go. They had to either take out the men in front, or the men approaching behind.