The entrance I’d come in through was completely congested with fighting, so I hurried over to the impromptu door Pagiel had made in the wall. Someone fell in step beside me, and I braced myself for a fight until I realized it was Jasmine.

“I’m coming with you,” she said before I could utter a word. “They’ve got that under control. What are you doing here anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be leading a revolution?”

“I got sidetracked,” I muttered.

Making our way back to the third floor was easier than I thought. A lot of guards ran right past us, only knowing there was a fight in the basement they had to get to. It never occurred to them that they were going right by their star prisoner. Those who did challenge us were easily knocked aside with our combined magic, falling over like dominos as we cleared them out of our way.

Back in the royal holding hall, I saw the number of guards had lessened, probably because they’d been dispatched downstairs. Most of the magic users were still there, giving Jasmine and I quite the fight. One of the first soldiers I took out was someone I recognized as the chief jailer.

“Get his keys and start freeing the others,” I told Jasmine. “I’ll handle this group.”

She didn’t hesitate, and I made sure to make such a spectacle that I drew all the attention. The magic users who’d been left on duty ran a wide gamut of powers. Some I was able to toss around with wind before they even struck. One sent a wave of fire at me, inadvertently singeing one of his colleagues. As the fire raced toward me, I called on the moisture around me. The air around us went bone dry, but a wall of water materialized to stop the fire. I followed it up with a gust of wind to ensure he didn’t repeat the act.

The hall’s space limited me in some ways. Normally, I would’ve kept hurricane-worthy winds churning nonstop, in an effort to stop my adversaries from even standing. I couldn’t do that easily without affecting Jasmine, however. Likewise, I was hesitant to use lightning in such a confined space. I was pretty good at controlling it—and it was an excellent weapon—but it had the potential to get out of control. Again, I had to consider Jasmine and the prisoners’ safety.