18. Chapter Eighteen #2
Drake led the horses toward the stables while I stood, rooted to the spot, utterly enchanted.
A stable boy emerged, and Drake handed him a small pouch of gold after a brief, hushed exchange.
The boy nodded and disappeared with the horses around the back.
When Drake returned, I barely noticed at first—I was still drinking in the details like the view could disappear at any moment.
He approached, his visage catching the faintest glint of amusement as he took in my wide-eyed wonder.
“This is going to be a long day,” he said with a quiet chuckle. “Come on,” he placed a warm, guiding hand on my lower back and gently steered me toward a narrow doorway set beside the gate.
The moment we stepped through it, the world exploded.
Inside the gates, the city exploded around us.
Shouts. Music. Bells ringing from some far tower.
Children darted through legs, laughing as they chased a wooden hoop.
Stall vendors barked prices in three different languages.
Everything glinted—metal, teeth, jewelry, glass.
It was chaos, but it had rhythm—a pulsing heartbeat. Castle City was alive.
And I’d never felt smaller.
I pressed my hands to the glass of a nearby shop window, unable to resist the display of gowns inside—gowns dyed in blues and violets so deep they looked conjured from the night sky. Across the road, the scent of freshly baked bread hit me like a spell, warm and golden and entirely too inviting.
Musicians strummed lutes and piped flutes at every corner, their melodies threading through the din like silk threads through armor. Children shrieked with laughter, dogs barked, and a merchant tossed a shimmering apple from one hand to the next, calling out prices as if he were reciting poetry.
I turned in a slow circle, overwhelmed. This wasn’t just a city—it was a living tapestry woven with life and sweat and dreams. I had imagined Castle City so many times, but nothing could have prepared me for the reality of it.
I wanted to take every detail and tuck it into a pocket, just to keep it with me forever.
A smile bloomed across my face before I even realized it.
“I love it,” I whispered, half to myself.
When I looked over at Drake, he was already watching me with an expression I couldn’t quite place.
There was pride there and something quieter beneath it—something reverent.
Like he’d waited years to see this exact look on my face.
“Enjoying yourself?” he asked, his voice low and warm.
“I love it,” I admitted breathlessly, spinning in place to take in as much as I could. The city was alive—chaotic and beautiful. For the first time in days, the weight in my chest lifted slightly.
But then, like a shadow slipping behind the light, a change crept in.
It started with Drake’s hand at my elbow. Not forceful, but firm. Anchoring. I glanced up and caught the flicker of tension in his eyes—how they scanned the crowd even as he smiled. Felix was doing the same; his head lowered, hat pulled low, shoulders tight with restraint.
My senses, once wide open with wonder, began to narrow. Beneath the laughter and music, I noticed things I hadn’t before: the hard glint of steel at a guard’s hip, the wary glances from cloaked strangers, the distant clang of a gate closing behind us.
“We should keep a low profile,” Drake murmured. The smile on his lips didn’t quite reach his eyes.
I nodded slowly, the magic of the moment still humming under my skin—but now tempered by something sharper. The city was beautiful. But it was not safe.
We turned abruptly into a side alley, and the charm of the city shifted into something entirely different.
The golden glow of shopfronts gave way to dim, uneven light spilling from narrow windows.
The cobblestones here were slick with grime, and the buildings leaned together as though conspiring to block out the sun.
I felt the energy shift immediately. This wasn’t the Castle City of fables and dreams. This was the underbelly, a labyrinth of shadows and whispered deals.
A man dressed all in white, his too-long fingernails tapping idly on the pommel of a dagger, leaned against a crumbling wall. His feathered hat bobbed as he tipped it toward me.
“Evening, lass,” he drawled, his eyes glinting with something I didn’t care to name. I shrank closer to Drake, who shot the man a cold, warning glance. Felix was at my other side in an instant, and we moved quicker, weaving through the maze of alleys.
Every corner of this place seemed to tell a story.
Scraps of colorful fabric hung limply from cracked windows, hints of a life that persisted despite the oppressive gloom.
The air was thick with the scent of damp stone, rusted metal, and something faintly medicinal—likely from the apothecary we passed with its chipped sign swinging precariously in the breeze.
I barely had time to take it all in before we stopped in front of a shop that looked more like it belonged to the alley than a respectable business.
The building stood alone, its weathered facade sagging against the walls of taller structures. The sign above the door read “Lea her Goods,” the missing “T,” giving it a vaguely ominous air. The boarded-up window to the left seemed deliberate as if the shop were trying to remain unnoticed.
“This… looks welcoming,” I muttered under my breath, earning a quiet snort from Felix.
Drake stepped forward, pushing open the creaky door.
A bell jingled overhead, and the sharp, unmistakable scent of tanned leather hit me like a wave.
The small, dimly lit shop was cluttered, with piles of hides and scraps spilling over workbenches.
The walls were lined with shelves holding boots, gloves, and satchels in varying states of completion.
“Ah, Captain! Doctor,” a round man waddled out from a backroom, his thick spectacles magnifying his watery eyes to comical proportions.
He wore a grease-stained undershirt beneath a leather apron that was patched in places as though it had seen decades of use.
He beamed, his face creasing into a smile. “Who’s the lass?”
“She’s none of your concern,” Drake said in a low, commanding tone. His shift into “Captain mode” was immediate and palpable. I felt a shiver run down my spine.
“Aye, aye! Don’t know a damn thing about ya, Cap, other than your pant size,” the old man laughed, revealing a missing tooth. He gestured to Drake’s boots and gloves. “Made those beauties myself. What can I do for you today?” he asked, still grinning.
“Candelabra,” Drake said, his voice firm but calm.
The man’s expression shifted immediately, his smile falling into a serious neutrality. “Aye, aye, Captain,” he shuffled back behind his desk and gestured for us to follow.
Drake and Felix motioned for me to come along, and we slipped past the counter into a narrow backroom. The space was barely large enough for the three of us. Shelves lined every wall, stacked with leather scraps, bolts of fabric, and tools. The air was close, and the faint smell permeated.
Without a word, Drake stepped to one of the shelves and ran his hand along the edge.
His fingers moved deftly, tracing a series of symbols that glowed faintly red before disappearing.
A soft click echoed through the room, and the shelf shifted inward with a low groan, revealing a hidden staircase spiraling downward into darkness.
I felt my eyes widen. “Woah.”
Felix smirked, and even Drake’s lips twitched into the faintest smile. “Stay close,” he said, leading the way into the depths below. He conjured a sizable flame in his palm to light the way.
“What is this place?” I breathed, the question tumbling out before I could stop it. The shelf sealed with a final click. The noise echoed like a coffin lid closing. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. We were now sealed off from the leather shop above and left in damp, dimly lit quiet.
“This is the entrance to Riftreach,” Drake said, his husky voice echoing softly off the moss-covered walls. His tone held pride, and the faint reverberation only added to its weight. “Our base.”
A shiver rippled down my spine, the sound of him alone threatening to undo me.
I forced my thoughts away from his closeness and focused instead on the surroundings, noting how each of our footsteps sent ripples of sound along the stone corridor.
The tunnel walls curved overhead in perfect, arched symmetry, damp and alive with the scent of earth and the faint tang of something else… sulfur.
I wrinkled my nose. “Oh Gods, is your base in the sewers?” I couldn’t help but jeer as I realized the dampness now seeping into my hole-ridden shoes.
Felix snorted from behind me. “What, did you think a rebellion would have a castle?”
“Don’t worry,” Drake added, glancing over his shoulder with a faint smile. “You’ll see.”
The path seemed endless, the descent carrying us deeper and deeper until my ears popped with the pressure.
It felt as though we were walking forever downward into the bones of the earth itself—so far that by the time we stopped, the weight of the world could have been pressing over our heads.
At last, we stopped at what seemed like a dead end.
My heart sank, only for Felix to lift his hand.
He made a slow motion from left to right, and the solid stone shimmered and dissolved into a wide doorway.
I expected another cramped tunnel.
Instead, it was the opposite.
On the other side was sheer magnificence. I lost my breath as I stepped forward, one trembling hand brushing the doorway for balance as the space swallowed me whole.