Chapter 21 #2
Another man walks behind him, carrying a thurible with burning herbs. They lay the body on the ground and walk away through a small tunnel etched on the rock. Auranius advances toward the body, his back to me, lashing his long tail around the cave—and blocking my vision.
Something in my stomach recoils and contracts as I smell no fire,and keep hearing the wet sounds of biting, chewing, and swallowing.
Auranius might still be eating something, and he’ll burn my friend once he finishes, but I have a horrific feeling that it’s not the case.
A ray of light illuminates some of the “meat” around his tail, and I recoil, nausea taking me.
It can’t be. My addled mind, consumed with shock, must be conjuring horrific images that don’t exist. I look again where the light meets the cave, look carefully—and want to retch.
There’s no mistaking the depravity before my eyes.
A human foot lies beside some long, dark hair, and a piece of an arm, fingers still attached.
Bones cover the rock, some snapped, some gnawed to a dull shine.
Human-looking bones. A shiver runs from my neck to the base of my spine, and the cave whirls around me as a swallowed scream constricts my throat.
Auranius turns, and I lurch backward into the dark as a loud roar cracks the air. Disgusted and horrified, I run down the spiral staircase, my eyes blurry with tears. Angry, furious, tears.
So this is what Auranius does? This is the “honor” reserved to the recruits? The sentinels?
And Celine! Lovely, sweet, kind Celine. She didn’t deserve that. Nobody deserves that.
I grab the lumos jar, then get back to the tunnel that brought me here. When I reach the door, footsteps sound outside, and I freeze, my pulse throbbing in my throat. After many seconds of silence, I leave, lock the door behind me, and put the lumos jar back in its place.
Except that nothing is where it belongs. The world is a strange lie, a horrific nightmare, a dreadful illusion.
My feet can barely carry me, but somehow I manage to run down the stairs and find my room—empty. So much emptiness. Alone, safe, I finally collapse on my bed, my body convulsing with sobs.
If only I could wipe this morning’s event from my mind, if only I could go back and convince Celine to leave the academy. If only I could go back and not let her finish cleaning those windows!
Bang, bang, bang. Someone’s knocking on the door, as if anything could be urgent, as if anything mattered. It can’t be Nelly, who has the key. Can’t be anyone important.
“Go away!” I roar.
The knocking stops, and I take a deep breath, still unable to contain the torrent of tears coming to my eyes.
The door then opens, and I sit up, startled. Commander Mallor stands in the room and whispers, “Take a deep breath, compose yourself, and follow me.”
I’m too numb, too shocked to even react, but an echo of fear resonates within me. Did they figure out what I saw?
My body’s trembling as I face the stern commander. “Why?”
It’s not defiance; it’s just that I need to know what’s about to happen.
“Cardiana’s festival, Mayara. It’s time to reassess your position in the academy.”
The words don’t make sense. Academy? Reassess? Nothing about Auranius and his lair of horrors?
I can’t find a reply amidst the confusion in my mind, so I stare at Mallor, stunned into silence.
He whispers, “Deep breaths and follow me. Crying in the hallways will draw too much attention. In the dorm, too. You’re not in trouble, recruit.”
I manage to get up and nod. If I try to speak, I might break down crying, and his warning was very clear.
As I follow him down the stairs, I start to second-guess his orders, his words. How did he find me so soon? What was he doing near my dorm? The only reason I don’t turn around and run is because I hope that if I get in trouble, Alayel will save me.
Alayel. I don’t think he even saw what happened to Celine, if he was going up the hill when she fell.
Does he know what happens in Auranius’ lair? Is he complicit with that horror? My vision gets blurry and I realize tears are pooling in my eyes again and my breath is getting shaky.
“Compose yourself,” Mallor whispers in front of me.
I want to scream why, want to yell and tell everyone about the gruesomeness I saw, the vile truth about what’s on top of this academy.
Would any of that save me from this pit of pain? Or would it drown me deeper?
At Mallor’s office, I collapse on a chair, but he shakes his head, pushes a bookshelf, and a secret door appears behind it.
“Come with me.”
I follow him, and only when he locks the door behind me do I regret not having run. We’re in a windowless, stone-walled room with a round table and three chairs, lit only by a lumos jar he brought in. It’s more like a dungeon than an office.
“What’s this?” The question slips from my lips, my voice trembling.
“Soundproof.” He sits and crosses his arms, his wrinkled forehead forming deeper creases. “You want to cry, cry here.”
The horror, the shock, the pain still linger in my body, but now fear has replaced them, stilling me, even drying my tears. My heart speeds up as I try to look back at the door. Would Alayel find me in this hidden room? Would anyone find me?
I nod, afraid to speak and say the wrong thing.
“Was it the pretender prince?” he asks.
“What?”
“Did the prince hurt you?”
The question is weird. “No,” I mutter, still confused as to what’s happening.
He takes a deep breath. “Extreme outbursts of emotion are dangerous in the academy. I might not be able to protect you.”
This is so absurd. “My friend died. I can’t even cry?”
“Friend?” He rests his forehead on his hand. “The second-year recruit? The one who couldn’t fly?”
“Celine. She could fly. I saw her.”
Mallor huffs. “She shouldn’t be flying. Shouldn’t even be in the academy, in fact.”
My chest trembles with an angry sob. How could these people not see her value? “She wanted to become a scholar. She was smart, she could… do so much!” I remember the sparkle in her eyes, that yearning for knowledge, for more. Now gone.
“A great loss and I’m sorry. You still don’t want to cry in public.
Recruits die. Sentinels die. It’s how it is.
Our rules state that recruits with no emotional fortitude shall face consequences.
In your case, I could perhaps intervene in your favor, but it would put you on the spot even more.
You don’t want to call attention to yourself, especially now, with your betrothal. All eyes will be on you.”
I almost ask whose eyes, but stop myself in time. It doesn’t make sense for him to talk as if he had no say in what happens in this place. “Isn’t Your Highness responsible for this academy?” I attempt the most respectful tone possible.
“Not Your Highness. For the academy, yes, but not for the Sky Guard, not for the palace security, not for the king’s guard, not for the kingdom. My reach has limits, and if I try to push it, they’ll start asking questions.”
“Who’s they?” I finally ask.
“All the people who govern this kingdom. I’m part of it, yes, but I’m not the king.
It’s why I’ve tried to tell you that this place is dangerous.
Now that you’ve seen death from up close, would you consider leaving?
I can secure passages for you and Kaio to Cainara.
This would be my suggestion. Forget this place.
Forget even the prince. We don’t even know if he’s the real prince, and if he’s not, his head will roll.
When it does, it might bring yours with it.
Plus, he cannot be trusted. We have investigated his past, Mayara, and there is strong evidence that he was a petty thief and maybe even a murderer. ”
I know he was a thief, but I don’t mention it. Instead, I say, “It doesn’t change who he is.”
“Does it not? Do you want to marry a murderer? If you even get that far. Who’s to say the king will let this betrothal go through?
He could decide to assassinate you instead.
Foolish girl! I’m trying to save you. I did everything I could to keep you from this dreadful place, but no.
What’s with this insistence, Mayara? What do you think you’ll achieve here? ”
I’m trying to digest his words when the truth of them hits me. “You! You were the one who didn’t let me join the academy.”
“Obviously. And yet you still don’t understand why.” His voice drips poison.
Tears pool in my eyes again. “I do understand why.” The admission twists something inside me, breaks some part of me. “I know what happens to recruits and sentinels, but why isn’t anyone told about it? And who are you to even care? Why?”
He narrows his eyes, his voice quiet. “Mayara, what exactly do you know about what happens to recruits? Everyone knows they die. You would have known that.”
My insides freeze. I can’t believe I gave away my secret. At the same time, part of me wants to yell at him, wants to yell and yell and yell about the horror I saw. I remain quiet, my body stiff.
He repeats, “What. Did. You. Find out?”
“People die,” I mutter, looking down, and it seems to annoy him.
Mallor gets up, his countenance agitated. “You have a magic key, right?”
“Magic?”
“Master key, whatever. Did you happen to go anywhere on top of the castle?”