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He needed to calm down and reassess. The guards were all over the place. If he didn't stay vigilant, he'd bump into one of them, too.

It just didn't make sense. Were they employing invisible guardsmen, too? For what purpose, exactly? Or had that been someone else entirely? A third party?

An impossible coincidence, surely.

Raul narrowly avoided bumping into a guard, getting so unintentionally close that he caught a whiff of the guy's cologne.

He finally stopped walking to steady his breath and get his bearings.

He was near the center. He knew that much, at least. The row of cells in front of him were just sitting there, waiting for someone to open them. Rainlord reapers could be in any or all of them. What was this row number? Two? Yeah.

Thinking. Thinking.

According to the intel they'd gathered, two of their reapers should be here. At least two, that was. Wen, Lonogren, and Jostomere had not been logged, but they must have been in here somewhere. If not in row two, then they were probably in row one, down below.

With so many attentive eyes around, though, opening even just one of these cells was going to be difficult. It would also help if he had the keys, but he could probably make do without them.

Hmm. Yeah. As he inspected the sealed doors more closely, he found what he was looking for. Weak points. Not by conventional standards, maybe. But by his? Sure.

Those massive hinges with bolts on them? He could deal with those just fine. A bit of friction manipulation would probably allow him to just slide them right out of their slots like pulling hot dogs out of their packaging. And once the hinges were gone, the door could be cracked opened from the opposite side it was meant to. The lock would likely still prevent it from opening fully, but a crack was all a reaper would need.

That would draw a lot of attention, though. He needed to create a diversion first. But he also couldn't make it too distracting, or else it would alert the whole prison.

Something like a spill might suffice. Maybe a leaky pipe. He'd have to find a good--

"Watch it, fool!"

The sudden voice in Valgan cut through the low murmur of the guards like a knife, drawing his attention back in the direction he'd just come from.

"I didn't touch you! I swear!"

"Well, someone did! Who was it?! Fess up!"