Page 20 of Cursed By Malignant Magic
I pushed the door open as quietly as I could, wincing when the hinges creaked. Varna's head shot up, her eyes widening when she saw me.
"Ready to get out of this place?" I asked.
A slow grin curved her lips, and she straightened up as best as she could in her chains. "It took you long enough."
Chapter
Eleven
It took far longer than I would have liked to free Varna from her chains, and she leaned heavily on me as I helped her down.
Her ribs poked me as I slipped one arm around her waist, the two of us shuffling toward the door as best as we could. The guards hadn’t come back yet, but I didn't want to be here when that happened.
"Do you know a way out of here?" I whispered to Varna, halting in the door of her cell as I looked in both directions.
As far as I could tell, each looked almost exactly the same, just long hallways full of cells. Now that my magic was receding beneath my skin where it belonged, I could no longer sense the exact location of the guards.
Varna nodded and then jerked her head to the right. I breathed a sigh of relief, and then we limped forward toward our freedom.
My entire body ached, something that wasn't improved by the fact that I held her up. She stood shorter than me, and every step forced me to bend forward with her weight on my shoulders like the yoke for oxen.
I gritted my teeth and kept going, moving even faster at the sight of the door at the end of the hall. None of the other prisoners said a word. The dark cells gave no signs of life.
"Can you stand?" I asked Varna.
I hated to let her go, but like I had done with the door of her cell, I would have to try each key individually, and there was no telling how long that would take. I would likely need both hands for that, and I couldn't hold her up in the process.
She nodded. "Yes. Do it."
She leaned against the wall as I once again started fumbling with the keys, trying any of them that looked like they might fit into the lock. No doubt there was a more methodical manner that would have helped me find it faster, but my hands shook so hard, and my head felt hazy with exhaustion and pain, that I was surprised I hadn't dropped the whole keyring already.
Somehow, I managed to find the right one to unlock the door.
Varna made a tiny noise, quickly strangled, and I nodded in agreement as I shoved the door open. Cool, fresh air flooded over our faces as I pushed it open just wide enough for the two of us to slip through. I squinted in the light, closing the door behind me as quickly as I could so the brightness wouldn't draw any attention, and dropped the ring of keys into my pocket.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to keep those?" Varna asked.
Her hair slithered against my shoulder as we walked, me supporting her once again.
I shrugged, immediately regretting it when the shift in weight made her stumble.
"I can't remember the last time I was sure I had a good idea," I said honestly. "At this point, I'm just making it up as I go. But I figure they're more use to us than to the guards, and I'm happy to inconvenience them if I can."
"Fair enough," she agreed.
In our cells, I hadn't been able to tell what time it was, and yet by some stroke of luck, it was nearing darkness. Dark enough that we managed to slip out of the camp without being seen, although my skin crawled and I felt like I was going to vomit at any moment.
I hadn't been in any state to notice the layout of this place, but Varna seemed to know enough to get us out of here safely. I followed her instructions, and twilight faded into night as we finally trudged out of the camp and into the forest, the darkness of the trees enfolding us like a blanket of safety.
I kept my head down as we walked, breathing through the pain of moving after so long being chained up. Once we had time to stop, I would fumble through the rest of the keys to get the chains off my wrists and ankles. Thankfully Varna's chains still hung in her cell since I had used an actual key to get her out of them rather than my far less precise magic.
I jerked my head up and squinted, straining my ears at the sound of familiar movement. I pulled even harder on Varna, slightly changing the direction we walked in so we could hopefully get there faster.
"Water," I rasped.
Varna limped faster next to me, the sound of the water rushing louder in my ears. Her weight bowed my shoulders forward, and I shivered with exhaustion and weakness from not eating. Varna was worse off, though, leaning her scant weight on me as if she couldn’t stand on her own.
When she sank to her knees in front of the stream, I went down with her. A shudder of relief swept through my body. The cold water bit at my hands as I plunged them into the stream. Goose bumps rippled up my arms, the fine hairs standing on end, as I gulped down as much water as I could. Every slurp numbed the back of my throat, my teeth aching from the cold, but I didn't stop.
