Page 137 of Bruised MC Bear

Kiera checked the hall again, and finding no one watching, motioned for Reena to lead the way. She followed her friend down the corridor to the back of the fortress. They stopped at one of the doors that led down to the dungeon. Torches lit the stairs, but provided no heat for the cold, damp space.

“I have already been down here today,” Reena said, explaining the lights.

Kiera followed her to the bottom of the slate steps and around the corner to the end of a long, arched corridor. There were two unlit rooms side by side, and beyond that, a pitch-black, musty space. Reena found candles on the counter beside the doorway and lit up a few, revealing a sleeping room with a small single bed, and a second room that seemed to be Reena’s study, complete with a table filled with books, scrolls, test tubes, and more.

“Remember when we had electricity?” Reena murmured. “It was such a convenience back then, to have lighting that you didn’t have to worry about causing a fire when left unattended.”

“Hmmm,” Kiera answered absently, flipping through the piles of paper. She recognized Reena’s neat handwriting on dozens upon dozens of pages of notes. “Are you the only one who works down here?”

“More or less. I am truly sorry I was not able to tell you—and the truth is I should not be telling you now.” Reena took Kiera’s hands in hers. “You have to promise me that no matter what you see, you will control yourself,” she said with an expression so solemn, Kiera got the feeling her friend feared for her life.

“What are you talking about?”

“Just know that nothing down here can hurt you. They are very well restrained.”

“Oh, no. What have you done?” Kiera’s hands shook. She was suddenly sorry she had ever pressed the issue. She did not want to know any longer, but it was too late now. She already knew. “Take me to them,” she ordered in her terrified state.

They left the room they had just entered, turning a corner until they were in a massive room with no light anywhere. Kiera let her eyes adjust, slowly noticing the ceiling here was over thirty feet high.

Lighting a torch on the wall, Reena pointed past four rows of wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling vertical metal bars. “There they are. The three keys to developing our newest weapons against the ravagers.”

Beyond the bars, chained to the wall by metal full-body harnesses, resting languidly on the rough, cold rock floor were three ravagers.

Ravagers.

Inside the fortress.

Just feet away from her.

Kiera could have backed away just from the sheer size of these giant beasts, or worse, screamed until she had no voice left. Never, ever had she been so close to any of them. They were the stuff of nightmares, with their immense, elongated, hairless dark gray bodies, eyeless and almost faceless heads, massive mouths with countless razor-sharp teeth, and four thick limbs that all ended with claws the length of Kiera’s arm.

“The chains are virtually unbreakable,” Reena mentioned. “Our ironsmiths forged them from the best metals, and with dozens of enchantments placed on them. They cannot hurt you.”

“I know. They are asleep…or unconscious.”

“More like sedated.”

“You have figured out a way to make them drowsy?” Kiera asked in a whisper, eyes wandering back and forth over the three of them.

“Yes, and thank God for that, otherwise the entire fortress would hear their annoying sounds.”

“True,” Kiera agreed, remembering the high-pitch, keening sort of scream that reminded her of a steaming kettle in each of her dreams. “What did you use? But back up a bit first. How did you capture them?”

“The shifters caught them as babies during the first summer hunt several years ago. Ashborn was still the alpha, so Commander Oslo probably has no idea about them. Minassus had his personal guards chain them down here, knowing they would be of value to us someday. They have finally become useful.”

“These things have been down here for years?”

“Yes. Minassus had a rotation of guards that would feed them and keep watch. I didn’t know about them until a few months ago. It’s a long story, but the short version is… I had learned about a species of plant native to the Sector. It is a member of the wild indigo family, and was used years and years ago as a sedative for feral pigs that got into farmers’ fields. I figured, maybe we can try it as a way to slow down ravagers. I approached the Regent with the idea, and he shocked the hell out of me by bringing me down here to meet these three guys.”

Kiera shook her head. “Unbelievable.”

“I know, huh? Three convenient test subjects at my disposal.”

“No, I mean, we’ve been living with these creatures right under our noses and no one knew a thing. What if someone wondered down here? Or unknowingly cast a spell that ended up freeing them? I just can’t imagine how years could pass with such deception. Oh wait, nix that. I can imagine…because it’s a way of life in the fortress.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “It’s a thing.”

Kiera returned her attention to the monsters. “So the plant worked?”