Chapter 37
I rushed down the empty streets as people sheltered indoors. They pressed their faces against the paned windows as they tried to see what was happening.
The absence of Merrick and the king overseeing the city’s defense could be interpreted as arrogance or cowardice. Our fight was not with the people of Capita, but they did not know that.
Making my way to the stables, I used the passage Mae had shown us. I dropped into the kitchen grain storeroom to see pots left cooking on the stove and food set out on cutting blocks, the servants having clearly fled in a hurry once the fighting had entered the city.
Nobody emerged to stop me as I hurried down the stairs to the dungeon. The steps undulated before me as a wave of dizziness hit. I leaned against a damp, lichen-covered wall, waiting for it to pass. I felt the large lump on the back of my head, and when I drew my hand away, it was covered in blood.
A guard appeared before me on the stairs.
We both froze in surprise, but unfortunately for him, I gathered my wits first and plunged my sword into him before he could sound a warning and he collapsed on the steps at my feet.
My vision blurred briefly as I stepped over the dying man and continued down the narrow stone stairs.
To my disbelief, there were no other guards at the main door. My pulse quickened. Was I about to walk into a trap? I cautiously opened the unlocked door.
A lone, tall figure stood in the middle of the room, among empty chairs and an abandoned board game. He looked different, dressed in simple leathers and without a crown encircling his head.
‘Ah, you must be the Cursed One?’ King Hared asked calmly, wiping what looked like blood from his hands with a torn cloth. Armed with a sword at his hip and several knives strapped to his leather vest, the general king was prepared for battle.
‘If you say so.’ I shrugged, faking a calmness I didn’t feel. Why was he in the dungeon alone?
‘I saw what you did to my son, so yes, I say so.’ His tone was indifferent, apparently unfazed by Goodwin’s death. ‘You tricked me, Lady Caris. Or is it just Caris?’ He dropped the bloodstained cloth he had been using to clean his hands.
I eyed him warily as he took a step towards me.
‘I’ve been told the gate has been breached.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Who is helping you?’
I stayed silent. I wasn’t about to tell him about Atlas or General Toro.
‘Who?’ he demanded, taking a threatening step towards me.
The Darkness pressed firmly against the door in my mind, causing my fingers to tingle with warmth, and the shadows to gather close around us.
The sharp edge of a knife flew dangerously close to my face before plunging into the solid wooden door behind me.
‘Don’t use your Curse on me,’ King Hared snarled, dropping the hand that had thrown the knife with deadly speed. ‘The next one won’t miss.’
‘Why not kill me now?’
‘The Order will want to do it in a way that will ensure you won’t come back.’ He cocked his head. ‘And I don’t have an appetite for killing beautiful women. It always seems like a waste to me.’
Bile hit the back of my throat as his narrowed eyes raked slowly over my body.
‘Who are you here for? The captain or the blacksmith?’
‘If you’ve hurt them …’ I snarled, fear tearing at my insides.
‘It’s not me you should worry about.’ King Hared turned his head slightly towards the dark doorway behind him. ‘She’s here!’ he shouted.
With a menacing smirk, he swept an arm to the narrow passageway lined with cell doors.
‘One day, I will come for you,’ I hissed at him, thinking of Queen Yaris, Lord Warwick, Meg and Webber, who all died because of him. Now orphaned, Ania and Wolfe would live in fear, constantly worried that their uncle would try to eliminate them too.
‘I look forward to it.’ He smiled arrogantly.
The king strolled from the room with a smug smile. I waited for the sound of his boots on the stairs before stepping into the narrow passageway.
It was gloomy, but I could see that each cell door was open. I peered into the first cell and recoiled at the horror awaiting me.
The body of a young woman with long, dark hair hung from a rope in the middle of the cell. Her face was blue, and her tongue protruded out of her swollen and bruised mouth. My eyes squeezed shut in dread. The door was unlocked so I would see this, and there were a dozen more along the passageway.
I left the young woman’s cell, hoping it wouldn’t be Torgrin or Cillian in the next one.
Every cell I entered had someone in it: all women, all with ropes around their broken necks. One was only a child.
I leaned my forehead against the stone, squeezing my eyes tight, trying to fight the tears that threatened to choke me – ten dead.
There were two cells left, and I prayed to the gods – who had clearly left us long ago, if they ever existed at all – that I was not about to see something that would destroy me for good.
I gripped my sword and forced myself to move to the next doorway.
A man’s body was hanging in the middle of the room, and, unlike the others, he was slowly turning as if the hangman had only just left the room.
I held my breath, waiting to see his face as the man’s body rotated in a slow circle, the rope creaking under his dead weight.
My cry of anguish echoed on the stone walls as Finn’s eyes stared sightlessly back at me. The word ‘TRAITOR’ had been savagely carved into his brow with a small knife. I had interrupted King Hared at the entrance, cleaning blood from his hands. It was him. The king had done this to poor Finn.
How had Finn been captured? He was supposed to be showing Tomas where the dragon fire was stored. This was his punishment for helping us. His death was on my hands.
The dungeon was filled with the dead. A sick mind game designed to weaken me with fear and guilt. I knew of one man malicious enough to kill innocents just to toy with me.
‘It’s time to face what you have caused.’ A malevolent voice came from the last cell. The same cell that had held Queen Yaris.
I wiped harshly at my tears. ‘I’m sorry, Fox Boy,’ I whispered to Finn before leaving him to face Merrick.
My heart seized as I reached the last cell. They were alive.
Torgrin was standing precariously on a three-legged stool with a thick rope wrapped around his neck.
Cillian was next to him, on his knees, his head bowed.
Hiding behind the men I was here to save, was Merrick.
He held a knife to the side of Cillian’s throat, and had a foot poised to kick the stool out from under Torgrin.
The Darkness pushed for freedom once more while I wrestled to stay in control. I wanted to see Merrick’s face go up in ash, but I wasn’t willing to risk Cillian and Torgrin’s lives to do it.
‘You can leave your sword out there,’ Merrick ordered with an excited gleam in his eyes.
I dropped my sword and moved into the cell on shaky legs. Torgrin’s dark eyes were expressionless, but his body was rigid. The rope was pulled so tight around his neck that it looked hard for him to breathe.
I shifted my attention to Cillian, who had not raised his head. Matted with blood, his long unbound hair hid his face from me.
‘Cillian?’ I called out, wanting to see those honey-brown eyes to reassure me he was all right. His body shuddered at my voice, but he didn’t respond, so I tried again. ‘Cillian, please look at me,’ I begged desperately, watching him kneeling on the hard stone floor.
‘Yes, Cillian, look at your love,’ Merrick said mockingly. It was like my suffering was a game to him.
I saw Torgrin teeter on the stool in the corner of my eye before Cillian finally raised his head towards my voice.
As I stared into Cillian’s empty eye sockets, anguish consumed me. ‘No, no, no!’ I sobbed, thinking of the pain he must have endured as Merrick took his beautiful eyes.
‘Don’t cry, Caris – please don’t cry,’ came Cillian’s weak plea.
The walls quaked as my control slipped.
‘I wouldn’t do that,’ Merrick threatened, putting his foot on Torgrin’s stool.
The Darkness was pounding at the door in my mind.
‘Why?’ I screamed at Merrick, hot tears running down my cheeks. This man took my mother’s life, and now he butchered the man I loved. ‘Why did you do this to him? Why did you kill my mother?’ I screamed so savagely my throat burned.
Merrick’s ice-blue eyes fixed on me as he ignored my questions.
‘Who are you? You can’t be her.’ He shook his head.
‘I’ve dreamed of the Cursed One coming for ten years.
I dreamed of days turning to never-ending nights.
I saw her infect the minds of men as she took the throne for herself.
I had visions of her turning all of Eritz into ash.
I’ve been preparing for a worthy foe, yet here you cry and scream like a pathetic little girl. ’ He looked at me with disgust.
I shook my head in disbelief. ‘You kill and torture innocent women and anyone who loves them. You are the one who needs to be stopped,’ I spat out.
‘Innocent?’ he roared. ‘The Cursed aren’t innocent.
They corrupt the souls of men! They deceive men with beauty and manipulate us with their bodies and their Curses.
Women have had weak masters who allowed them to use the power given to them by the first Cursed One.
When she is reborn, she will try to enslave men again, but my Order will stop her!
’ His face contorted and turned a deep shade of purple as rage consumed him, causing his eyes to bulge.
‘And you are not her. You may have a powerful Curse, but that does not make you the Cursed One,’ he said with a sneer. ‘I had thought it was the queen, but she disappointed me too. It’s time to end this.’ He kicked the stool from under Torgrin’s feet and brought his knife against Cillian’s throat.