Shadows and Steel | ✓

chapter forty-eight

-48-

The guard at the bottom of the pulley shouldn't sleep on the job. It made slitting his throat all too easy. Tristan wiped his sword clean of blood as Leo checked for any guards around. He didn't attempt to wipe the splatters of blood off his suit. They had made sure the one's following the Heir had moved far enough away.

Kath unlatched the contraption, giving no further thought to the stability of the thing before stepping inside.

Gargling on his blood, the old man managed to choke out, "who are you?"

"No one of importance." Tristan replied.

He joined Kath in the lift. The path was still set to wherever Elle went with the Imperial Heir. Leo yanked a pulley down as he had observed the lift-worker do then leapt inside before the thing gained too much height. Kath and Tristan hauled him over the lip and inside the cramped box. Slapping his back, Tristan offered a hand to help him up.

Kath was already leaning out and peering down the bottom of the chamber. "A massive system," she muttered. "No wonder they don't need guilds dotted across the realm."

Floors and floors spiralled up into fuzziness, with that strange beacon of light in the chamber's centre.

Tristan's ears twitched. As he glanced down, he saw a messy smear of blood where the man had dragged himself to his controls. With a final exhausted cry, the old guard slammed his remaining strength on a lever. The lift jarred. Then it stopped.

They swung in shocked silence for a moment before Kath spun to the pair. "He's stopped it."

"Shit." Leo whispered, leaning out the side.

"He's stopped it!" She hissed, pointing a finger down to the collapsed man.

"We can't be stuck here. Should we jump?" Tristan craned his neck searching for a nearby ledge.

"And risk snapping our necks?"

Shit. Leo swiftly clasped Kath's shaking hand tightly. 'We—just need to think.'

'Think fast, because we are dangling in mid-air and completely out in the open!' The pink-haired assassin groaned. "Elle is expecting us to get to her."

"Have you got anything, Tristan?"

"Yes," he muttered. Leo jumped upright, flashing the man a smile. "What do you propose—?"

"—we climb."

Leo blew out a long breath and Kath shook more than usual. "Climb? Over that horrible drop?" Her eyes wandered to the rope cables holding them, the same rope cables that would lead to the Imperial Heir's chambers, to where Elle was. Tristan didn't look down as he swung open the door. He tucked one tip of his shoe in the small gap between the woven branches but found no grip there. His feet slid right off.

The assassin lifted himself back inside and took his shiny shoes off, telling the others to do the same. Kath kicked off her tall red heels and hiked up her skirts.

Tristan lodged his foot into the small space and pulled himself up the outside wall of the contraption. His heart pounded obnoxiously in his chest. The next ledge was quite a way above them. "Follow behind. We can't waste another second."

Standing on the roof of the lift, he found the strands of branches and wood bent and protested under his weight. They wouldn't hold all three of them. Tristan tugged on the rope cables, not that he had much other choice. What else could he do but climb? Placing calloused feet on the wall, he leant back.

For a shuddering moment his subconscious plummeted into the deep pit below. Blinking furiously, the assassin rolled some tension out of his shoulders. First steps are the hardest. His mother's words. Once you get over the initial hurdle or fear, things become more manageable.

The cables held fast as he began to shuffle upwards. They groaned as Kath's weight joined underneath his. A grunt later with the sound of some pebbles becoming dislodged, Leo spoke. "I'm good."

Finding niches for their feet, the three agents began their painful ascent. Every time Tristan glanced upwards, the floor seemed no closer. It was like wading through mud. Were they even moving? But when he dared to look down, he saw the towering distance they'd climbed. Maybe Elle had found the vault by now.

Kath grunted as she hauled herself up another few steps. "Leo you better not be looking up my skirt," she joked breathlessly.

"A gentleman would do no such thing."

Her beautiful red dress had been tucked up and knotted and Kath had pulled off her little lace gloves earlier. But the time for jokes had passed.

The group of cables Tristan clutched to shook with the agents' efforts to scale the side of the Vault. All blood had faded from the tips of his fingers and they cramped around the thick cord. The white silk gloves might save him some nasty burns, but they certainly made the rope more slippery.

Every so often he would risk letting go with one hand to shake a hand out. While trying to do so, Tristan misjudged how his body weight was settled and swung uncontrollably, hitting his shoulder on the stone. Kath gasped from beneath him and Leo immediately craned his neck upwards.

Tristan released a muffled groan as zings of pain laced his arm. He prayed he hadn't broken his stitches.

"I know you're in pain," Kath's voice floated past him. "But we need to keep moving. We must be at least halfway there by now."

"Not even that." Leo quipped from below. Tristan didn't have to look down to imagine the look Kath shot the copper-haired man.

Sweat dripped down his brow but he couldn't wipe the droplets off without fearing that his one arm wouldn't hold him. "The longer we're here climbing this damned thing, the more likely it is someone will see us." The ropes trembled as their arms strained. If anyone saw the spectacle, they'd find three agents dressed in formal suits and gown scaling the vertical wall of the Vault, steel set in their eyes.

From then on they didn't talk. Every drop of energy went into hauling themselves up another few inches.

The rope groaned. A different, deeper sort of sound that made Tristan pan his gaze upwards. A little way above him, the rope had been caught on a sharp edge of the wall. The jagged nick had been sawing away. It was fraying, pieces loosening. Tristan swore loudly.

"What's wrong?" Leo called, twisting around on the cable to see.

"Stop!" Tristan cried, not letting his eyes move from the rope in case it would snap the moment he looked away. "The rope's going to break."

Kath sucked in a sharp breath.

"The rope is breaking?" Leo's voice, for once, sounded petrified.

"Above us." Tristan continued in a calm tone, finally tearing his eyes away. "It's been worn away. Much more sudden movement and the thing could break completely." He didn't need to mention what would happen to the three agents suspended over the cataclysmic drop.

Leo began to rattle off every swear word he knew and Tristan was certain Kath would have hushed him up in any other situation. She remained silent. When he spared a look down at her grim expression—he found nothing but fear in her eyes.