Chapter 14 #2
When I walk out, I see no sign of the fae princess in the hallway, but I keep walking.
I guess I’ll walk back and forth if I have to, but my fear is that she alerted someone despite all her promises.
This could be a big, convoluted trap, and here I am, stepping in it like a mouse who’s hungrier than wise.
Mirella comes out of a door, then puts something in my hand, but her touch is hot and cold at the same time and feels like being stung by a bee. I drop the metallic object on the floor, then crouch to retrieve it. A key. A guard comes from the other side, but doesn’t even look at us.
“Follow me,” she whispers.
We enter another narrow staircase, then she tells me to go first, and I advance through a dark corridor with no lightstone. This could be a trap.
The only reason I don’t worry too much is that I don’t think they’d have any use for me—unless they need a king’s blood. Does she even know I’m a king’s son? She knows a lot, but she sees Renel, and I don’t recall anyone telling him exactly who I am.
Still. For a second, my confidence deflates. I touch my opus stone still securely attached to my neck, and feel its power coursing through me. If anything goes wrong, I still have my water magic. The thought doesn’t quiet the frantic beating of my heart.
I take slow steps until faint light reaches us from a fissure up ahead.
“Ziven,” she whispers.
I almost want to turn to her and quip that I’m astounded that she knows my name, but the gloomy hallway and the danger up ahead don’t leave much room for lightness.
“Yes?”
“You’ll go on your own. When you get to the end, push the door like it’s a normal door, and leave it open.
You’ll come across a hallway with six doors.
Tarlia’s door is the sixth. There could be guards there.
Just enter normally. You can lie you’re under Zorwal’s orders or something.
Find Tarlia, then use the key to open the cell, come out with her, then go down the main stairs on the other side of the hallway.
On the bottom floor, you’ll find a passage just like this one.
I’ll wait for you there and guide you out of the castle. ”
“What if there’s any trouble?”
“Do your best and meet me downstairs.”
Not reassuring. “All right.”
My best. In the end, it will all fall on my shoulders, and I’m the one risking my skin.
Tarlia then comes to mind, planning to come to the Fae Lands just to see her friend, then later staring at me as if she could love me.
And yet she’s in a cell now. Perhaps waiting for Marlak could be a good idea, but sneaking her out might be better. Hopefully.
I push the door like Mirella told me, and come to a hallway.
Two guards stand at either side of the sixth door.
Should I just walk by them? Is there a way to address them that confirms I’m part of the guard?
I look back wondering if I should ask Mirella more questions or make a contingency plan.
If the fae princess can’t lie, Tarlia should be there, but at the same time, even if she believes every single word she told me, it doesn’t mean there couldn’t be issues she didn’t foresee.
With my chin up, I walk to the door—and the guards step in front of it, blocking my way.
“I need to see the prisoner,” I say. “Zorwal’s orders.”
“What’s the password?”
Great. The first hurdle already. A few thoughts cross my mind in quick succession. I could try to argue that Zorwal said the password was unnecessary, but fae are guided by vows. If they promised to only let through guards who know the password, there’s no talking my way out of it.
“Rose,” I say, just because it’s the first word that crosses my mind.
They step aside. “Go in.”
No. I was hoping they’d tell me this isn’t the password, then I was going to tell them Zorwal changed it.
I swallow, wondering if I can be bold enough to fight fae guards in their own castle, wondering if my opus stone magic can defeat them.
But I don’t think I have a choice. There’s enough humidity in the air for me to conjure some water.
It’s not as easy as in the island or when we were by the Jewel City, but the water’s here.
In a swift motion, I create layers of ice blocking their feet and around their mouths, so they won’t scream, then I block their hands.
I’ll have to be fast.
The door leads indeed to a prison with a row of cells on one side, the corridor lit by a single, weak lightstone, rendering the place gloomy and strange, not to mention the smell of mold, urine, and who even knows what else. In the last cell, I see Tarlia, lying asleep on a mattress.
“Tarlia,” I whisper.
She gets up and approaches the bars, giving me a faint smile. “Ziven.”
Dark circles line her eyes and she’s horribly pale.
I put the key in the lock—and it doesn’t work.
My stomach sinks and my heart races. Of course this was a trap. I knew it. And yet here I am. How am I going to get Tarlia out of here?
TARLIA
I’m not sure if I’m seeing things already or if this is real. Ziven here! I wish I could greet him with a bigger smile, but my lips are so cracked that they can’t stretch, and my mouth is so dry. So, so dry. After an entire night with no water and no food, I feel as if I’m about to faint.
He’s trying a key on the lock, and keeps looking at the entrance. I hope he’s not alone, and can’t imagine how we’ll get out of here and face Zorwal and his guards.
Finally, he stops using the key. I see some ice around the lock and wonder if he’s trying to break it with his water magic. The door gives, and he pulls me out of the cell and passes me a cape. Lidiane’s cape. I put it on quickly and we head to the exit.
I wish I could exhale in relief, but my chest is tight as I consider the odds that we’ll make out of this castle. And while Zorwal might think I could bring Renel to him, I don’t think Ziven has any value for the despicable council leader. Ziven could be killed.
Before we reach the door, three figures come out of it, their hair dark and tangled, their faces hollow with eyes that seem to look at nowhere, and their clothes barely rags.
In front of me, Ziven tenses. Weaponless, I don’t know what to do. And there’s nowhere to run.
MARLAK
I’ve been advancing alone for almost an hour, under the still scalding afternoon sun. Krat stayed behind, promising he’d wait for me. I just need to be fast enough so I’m back to safety before the night comes.
While killing the Witch King could change the Shadow Lands, I don’t want to be the first to test it. If I kill him.
A small hill at a distance catches my eye and I recall Lidiane’s memory from when they ended up in the Shadow Lands. That memory was blurry with so much fear and worry, and yet I still recall it. This is the place. I’m near the dwelling of the Witch King.
My stepfather wanted me to bring a retinue of guards, but he was likely counting on many of them dying. I don’t want anyone to die for me, and don’t want to worry about burning anyone by accident. Alone is better.
I slow down on my last steps while approaching the area where they transcended after Azur beheaded Zorwal.
My stepfather’s instructions mention a hidden copper trapdoor, and yet I think there must be a bigger passage from where ghouls are coming in and out.
Then again, the ghouls my brother faced might hide somewhere else during daylight.
Looking carefully at the dry ground, I try to find any signs of a hidden trapdoor, but I think time has buried it too deep under the dust and dry earth. I glance at the small hill. If there’s a bigger entrance, it must be there.
My steps are careful as I approach the only elevation in the earth in this area, my heart oddly steady even if a chill runs up my spine. The base of the hill is rocky and irregular. Then, between two rocks, I see it—a fissure through which a person can go through.
Perhaps I’m sensing the ominous magic coming out of this place as I push myself inward and see that I’m in a dark hallway. Not wanting to use my fire yet, I pull a lightstone from my bag to light the way. Just a tunnel for now, its edges rough, the ground uneven and dry.
The tunnel descends slowly until I hear a sound like someone moaning in pain. No, it’s an inhuman sound, followed by muffled sounds of steps. A line of ghouls comes towards me. With little effort, I push them using a blast of air.
At this point, whatever’s inside has been alerted to my presence here, and since the small tunnel really helps to channel the air, I use some of it to push me.
I come out in a large chamber, similar to a Tiurian sanctuary, but unfinished or destroyed.
Hundreds of ghouls stand in formation, like an army, surrounding a throne.
On it, I see not the Witch King, but a fae I’ve known for a long time; Crisine.
If it’s an illusion, it’s a very realistic one, and somewhat nonsensical.
Why would anyone pretend to be my former lover? Why would they think we were still a couple? And if it’s truly Crisine, why is she here?
ZIVEN
Stupid, worthless key. I’m glad my ice magic could break the lock, but it makes me wonder how much else Mirella is wrong about, and whether Zorwal is playing her, aware that she’d betray him.
Tarlia follows me as we head to the door, my heart beating faster and faster. At least this time I have no arrow wound, and hopefully won’t faint from magic fatigue.
Before we reach it, the door opens, and when I’m sure I’ll see the guards, I see something else. I never thought I’d see one of them: bloodpuppets, with their horrific, expressionless faces.
I consider how to fight them, when Mirella’s words come to me: they’re after Renel. After that worthless key, can I still trust her?
“Keep going and act normal,” I tell Tarlia. “They’re not here for us.”
The bloodpuppets walk by us and we continue. Outside, the guards are gone. Well, that’s one big problem.