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CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

Ryker

The massive, double doors of the castle were open as if they’d allowed the public to move freely in and out of the building. Once we entered the shadowy interior, the piles of colorful clothing and ashes spaced throughout the building confirmed this.

Perhaps the clothes belonged to servants, but I’d always seen servants in uniforms, and none of these clothes matched. I’d also never known any member of the aristocracy to leave their doors open for the public.

This place kept getting stranger and stranger.

I stopped to inspect a pair of boots with large silver buckles running from the toes to where the boot would end at mid-calf. I’d never seen anything like them before.

Upon entering the castle, two wings branched to our right and left, but a large arched doorway opened before us to what looked like a courtyard beyond.

The plants within had long since died, and all that remained were the statues of gargoyles perched in the corners.

An empty fountain, with two rearing horses, was in the center of the yard.

Stepping into the courtyard, I tipped my head back to take in the walls and the castle’s four towers. The tower situated to the east glowed with that pulsing light.

We didn’t speak as we crossed the courtyard and entered the castle again through a doorway on the other side. Colorful tapestries of landscapes, animals, and amsirah lined the walls. Gold and black stone statues of gargoyles were positioned on pedestals and hung in the corners of the halls.

When we passed a ballroom, we all stopped to absorb the vibrant artwork hanging from the walls, the glorious tapestries dangling from the ceiling, and the gargoyles perched on pillars throughout the room.

In the far-right corner was a dais with band equipment resting on it. More clothing piles were scattered throughout the room. It looked as if the castle had been preparing for a ball.

I took Ellery’s hand as we left the ballroom behind. We passed a kitchen and a library before finding a spiral stone staircase coiling to the second floor.

When we arrived, we didn’t stop to explore there but continued to the third floor, which turned out to be the castle’s outer walls.

Ellery released my hand and wandered over to examine the statue of a black stone gargoyle perched on a pedestal with its wings spread and one clawed hand gripping the edge of the stand.

I walked over to the stone parapets to gaze at the beautiful, empty town. From here, half of it was visible. This town was once a thriving home, full of color and life, but it all vanished in an instant.

The town must’ve been aboveground at one time. There was no way these amsirah could have survived down here for any length of time without water or sun. Maybe there was a river somewhere else in the town, but I doubted it; I would have smelled it by now.

So, how did this town end up under the earth?

It was just one more of the many questions this place aroused.

When the red light pulsed over us again, the hair on my arms rose as a sensation similar to static electricity washed over me, but this was far more powerful…

and something more… something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

Being this close to the light provoked different sensations than when we were farther away.

I felt like a tensed horse, ready to strike as I waited for something more to come, but the light faded again. My head swiveled to the stairwell leading to the tower, but I didn’t move toward it.

Instead, I turned away from the town to survey the castle parapets.

I strolled over to the five-foot-high wall across from me and peered at the courtyard.

The statues within remained unmoving, and there were no signs of life, but I could picture the amsirah who had, at one time, flowed so easily through here.

Their laughter and conversations would have floated against the black walls. Their steps would have rebounded in the halls as they went about their lives. The colorful clothes would have been a vibrant splash against the onyx castle.

With all the joyful colors of the buildings and clothes, these amsirah must have loved their lives. I could be wrong to picture a town full of more laughter and joy in a day than Tempest experienced in a year, but it felt right for this place.

Or at least did before it all obviously went to shit. The desolate courtyard and piles of clothes scattered throughout replaced the vivid image in my mind… or more accurately, the remnants of the dead did.

I turned away from the courtyard while the others walked over to look down on the town. An air of sadness enshrouded them; Ellery’s and Scarlet’s shoulders touched as they leaned against each other.

While they were occupied, I walked the rest of the wall. I absorbed the details of the town, but the homes and businesses in these areas weren’t much different than the section we’d already passed through.

When I finished my tour, I stopped near the tower and the stone steps winding into the shadows above. Only half of the stairs were visible inside the twenty-foot-high structure.

The others all came toward me as, from above, red flashed over the land. I didn’t say anything before I started up the steps to discover whatever lay above.