Draygon Inferno | Book 2 | ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Three

          Elias watched the Vanguard walk over his grate and started counting the minutes until the next set of guards came by. One hand covered his nose from the stench of the aroma thickening the air of the sewer. Draygon's sewer system wasn't old, less than thirty years, but it had never properly functioned. Most of the water poured into the grates to flush the system did little more than make it a goopy mess of fowl smells. The royal family had decreed it no longer be used within the palace until they could find a way to automatically make water flow through the system, something Elias now knew Ardorn could easily help them with. Judging by the stench it was a rule Kaylis had since thrown out. Their refuge was dumped into the sewer and left to rot.

His eyes and gills burned from the heavy scent and he was sure his robes were basted in it. Forget mending the holes, he'd happily burn them after this.

It didn't take him long to reach the jails, he spent more time counting the patterns of the Vanguard inside then he did actually getting to it. Emilia, unfortunately, was nowhere to be found. So he hopped back into the sewer and made his way to the palace. Now he again found himself studying the patterns and trying to find out the best time to wiggle out of the sewer grate.

"Six minutes," he whispered. Their patterns within the palace weren't regular. Not like outside. Ayla had been spot on with her timing of the streets and it even matched up with the Vanguard in the jails. Though the only prisoners were more pods of enslaved Draygon sleeping away the night and a handful of shifters trapped in their animal form. Shifters lost their ability to shift when entrapped with the bracelet, but the Vanguard had managed to catch several in their animal form. Elias wondered if that was by design, so Garrith could have a variety in his army.

He continued to count, hoping the next batch of guards would be the two set of just Vanguard. Seven minutes passed and still nothing. Then eight. Elias sighed when he reached ten minutes and still no sign of the next set. Carefully he dislodged the grate and peered over the edge. There were no guards in the hallway, none at the smattering of doors standing silent in the dimly lit palace, it was a ghost town.

Elias pulled himself out of the sewer, cursing the stench that came with him from his damp robes. He wasn't sure if his old room would still lay untouched, but that would be his first stop. The aroma wafting off him would be a dead giveaway he was sneaking through the palace. He pulled off the robes and dropped them back into the sewer along with his sullied boots. Only his satchel remained untouched by the smells. Wandering the palace naked was far preferred over having a beacon calling out his presence.

His old room was at the end of the first floor southeast hallway. He stopped at every door and pressed his ear against it, listening for sounds of anyone inside. It was the first time he could remember wishing he had access to his Aquantian magic on land. If he did, he could've connected with any body of water within the palace and used it as a window. As it was, he had nothing. He was ultimately useless with only his wits about him. If he could find a safe space, at least those wits would serve him well.

Heartbeats raced in his chest as he moved from door to door. When he heard someone inside, he sped up his pace to the next door. Still no guards marched down the hallway. He had a clear shot all the way to his room. Elias pressed his ear to the door, gritting his teeth and hoping his room stayed empty.

It was.

He slipped inside and locked the door behind him. Everything in his room remained untouched from the day he'd left it in a hurry. There wasn't a lot of time for him to think of grabbing anything. When he'd heard of Marcus' death, and Siobhan's blame, he jammed some clothes into a bag and fled the room. It took a matter of minutes for him to get Siobhan free from the guards and smuggle her out of Draygon. That felt like an eternity ago, a dream he was only now waking up from.