Page 24 of A Spell of Bones and Madness (Nostos #2)
“Well, that risk paid off. We would not have known if anyone guarded the entrance, or if the tunnels had been sealed off entirely. Now we can meet them at the intersection that leads directly to the dungeon entrance.” Katrin turned to look at the sweating princess.
“And how is it that none of the guards—the elite Spartanis soldiers—knew of these tunnels? Especially after you were kidnapped not once, but twice.” Farah’s brow kicked up .
“The Spartanis may be skilled, but other than the senators, they are not the most intelligent bunch. Plus, the tunnels are a Drakos secret. Kept well.”
Farah just rolled her eyes. Padding feet echoed off the tunnel walls, labored breaths twining with the stomping sound.
One finger flashed up to Katrin’s lips, her other hand began to faintly glow, a tiny ball of starlight swirling around her palm, flickering in and out.
Shadows began to creep along the walls, stretching toward the three of them.
Leighton drew his sword and Farah gripped her spear.
“Put that ball of fire away, Katrin,” a woman’s voice whispered. Chloe .
Light faded from Katrin’s skin as she rounded the corner to face the princess and the other soldiers.
“You made it,” a choppy rasp came from behind. Farah stood motionless, her amber eyes flaring.
“Of course we did. Seriously? You all underestimate my powers of persuasion.” Chloe bowed to them all, wiggling her eyebrows. “All I had to do was act pious and grateful and a little bit sultry. Two of which are the complete opposite of how I act. Care to guess which one it is, Princess?”
Farah glared at her, but her chest rose a little more with her next inhale.
“Can you two hush? We need to focus on what’s important right now,” the nauarch’s voice was silencing.
“Alright, alright, Leighton. What are we to do next?” Chole stuck her hand on her hip, smirking at him. “Who put you in charge anyway? ”
“No one put me in charge, but you all seem to be distracted by each other.”
He wasn’t wrong. But Katrin was grateful for the small bit of lightheartedness the two dueling princesses brought with them.
If not for the brief laughter, she might fully descend into a well of nerves and, even more, might vomit the entire contents of her stomach.
Ander had been down in these dungeons for weeks.
She wasn’t sure what state he would be in, or if he would even still be here.
King Athanas and King Edmund could have very well moved him and that would lead to a whole other set of problems.
“Leighton, we will need one of your soldiers to stand guard at the entrance to my chambers, one at the entrance to the tunnel in the woods, and one manning where the tunnel leads out by the dungeons,” Katrin ordered.
“You heard her, men. You three, return to The Nostos and inform Cal and Kristos the first phase was successful, but to stay on guard.” Leighton nodded to his crew and they took off with their respective orders, now dressed in their normal leathers, weapons to match.
“Chloe, I’m going to need you to stay shifted now. The guards know what you look like and if they realize you are still here it will set off all manners of alarm.” Katrin rested her palm on the princess’s shoulder. “We almost have him back.”
In a blink of an eye, the silver-coated wolf stood before her, those icy blue eyes ablaze with determination behind the streak of black fur.
“And, Farah.” Katrin turned to Kohl’s sister who still stood with her arms crossed and a snarl across her face. “Please just try not to do anything rash. ”
“Oh, because I have a habit of it?”
“Yes,” Leighton and Katrin both said at the same time, earning a slight twitch up of Farah’s lips.
They began to descend down the other side of the tunnels, ones Katrin could easily navigate in the dark.
They would exit into a small broom closet across the hall from the doors that led to the dungeon; a hidden lever behind one of the bricks would allow them back inside if they returned.
There would usually be two guards posted at the door, and one at the bottom.
Each time they passed a doorway out of the tunnels, Katrin held her breath. The castle was silent, more so than usual. Festivities had died down and now even the servants disappeared to their quarters. She could only hope the guards had done the same.
A crack ran along the hidden door in the back of the broom closet, just wide enough that you could see the shadows of movement outside or outlines of figures standing guard—at least, that was what Katrin usually saw.
Instead, the faint purr of snoring came sounding through the door.
Raising her finger to her lips once more, Katrin pointed at herself with her other hand then held her palm up to the others. She needed to go first.
Leighton shook his head before whispering, “You are not going out there alone.”
“If the guards wake and I am caught it could still work as a distraction. Kohl will want me taken to him—I am still his wife after all.” Katrin’s heart sank at the thought.
It was pointless—their marriage—she had only gone through with it to save her family, to regain some semblance of the throne that was supposed to be hers, and still they had to flee the castle .
“I am more of a distraction. My father will want me above all others.” Farah’s voice was firm, unwavering.
“We will go together then. Farah and I can handle the guards here, Katrin, you and Chloe slip down to the dungeons.” The naurach unsheathed a small blade from his ankle.
“Ok, but we must be quick. The feast tonight has worked to our advantage, but it also means people could be shuffling back to their chambers still,” Katrin whispered to them all.
Creaking filled the hall as Katrin opened the doorway, scanning for anyone in addition to the two sleeping guards across from them.
When no other sounds echoed along the castle walls, she let out the smallest of sighs, grateful for the soldiers of Spartanis and their indulgence in liquor.
Leighton and Farah nodded behind her, both with weapons in hand, and Chloe prowled behind her to the locked door.
Reaching down to the belt of one of the sleeping guards, Katrin lightly clutched the ring of keys, quickly picking a thick bronze one.
The guard began to mumble and Leighton mouthed, “ Go ,” before covering the male's mouth and nose, dragging his blade across the guard's throat. Farah made to do the same, but Katrin was already through the door. Only muffled screams let Katrin know Farah had succeeded.
Down and down Katrin spiraled, Chloe padding just by her feet, light and soundless as a feather.
The air began to turn sour, sweat and feces filling the air.
It was more difficult to breathe the deeper they went into the ground, trickles of water seeping in through cracks in the stones, making it harder to race down without the smacking of boots on the granite reverberating in the stairway.
There were one hundred steps down to the dungeon.
Katrin knew this because she used to hide down here to avoid her mother when they were in an argument.
One hundred creaking wooden steps. It was treacherous, but she knew the places on each to place her foot to avoid loose boards or those whose sound would alert a guard below.
They were almost there—so close to the end, so close to seeing Ander.
Shit , she thought as the shadow of a moving soldier cascaded across the archway at the bottom of the stairs.
Katrin took a misstep, her foot sliding on a wobbly stair peppered with small rocks that proceeded to roll down the remaining ten steps.
“Hey! What are you doing down here, miss? Members of court are not allowed in the dungeons,” the guard called to her. Katrin moved from the shadows.
“You dare ask me what I am doing in my own dungeons, traitor?” She inhaled deeply, taking in the man who stood before her, no longer in Alentus gold and turquoise, but Morentian red and black.
This was personal. Every guard, every former member of the Spartanis—the very men meant to protect her people, to protect her—she wanted to feel their deaths.
Starlight would be a mercy, a quick kill as they turned to fiery ash.
Katrin unsheathed the sword from her hip, the metal glimmering in the low light and flickering flames of the dungeon.
She imagined what his blood might look like dripping from the sword, the sweet sense of pride and justice she would feel swelling in her chest as she took his life for what he did to her—to Ember, to Iason.
“Oh I will be rewarded when I bring you to King Athanas.” A terrifying grin swept across the guard’s face, and he drew his sword in turn, inching closer to her.
Katrin lunged and metal clanged against metal.
She had trained alongside this soldier in the rings these past five years, he knew how she fought, knew she was a formidable opponent.
She was sorry she could not say the same for him.
All it took were four swings and the guard—who was obviously still drunk—lost his footing, and her sword sliced directly across his throat.
The guard sputtered, his hand flying up to cover the gash across his jugular. Crimson liquid seeped down his uniform and Katrin gripped the front of his shirt, kneeling so her eyes met his.
“You will rot in the dungeons of Aidesian, and I assure you, my father will put you in the worst of them. For what you did to me, what you did to my sister, and most importantly, what you all did to Alentus.” Her hands and forearms were now covered in the hot blood that pooled on the floor below them. She spit in it before standing back up.
Turning toward the end of the corridor, heavy breathing came from down the dungeon’s corridor. Chains dragged along dirt ridden stone floors, coughs came from behind bars at the end of the hall.
“What whispers come tonight in the shadows? Who joins the darkness that feeds this far below ground?” rasped a deep voice. It was choppy and hoarse, but so distinctively his.