Page 81 of Shadow Throne King

“Krustau kills the men, but Maki requests the bodies for his experiments.” I blew out a long breath. “And at that point, he has proven his loyalty several times over, so the king shows him the secret tunnel under the lake and gives him a stack of corpses: his own men returned to him to experiment on.”

“That means that the Krustavian military has the ability to do what we saw at the outpost.” Tallu’s voice was implacable, and under the iron, I could hear the pulse of fear that beat in my own chest. If they could do that to an army, what could they do to the two of us?

“We go back to the Lakeshore Palace. We wait until we have more men to take with us, or we take the servants. They’re trained as fighters—Quuri said as much.” I waited, trying to catch his eyes, but Tallu shook his head.

“We do not have time,” he said. At my sharp look, he nodded. “I am not sure how much longer I can hold on. I would not see my brother left in the Shadow King’s hands. Jafopo had some medicines that helped, perhaps if he is able to treat my brother, they might help him.”

I blew out an uncertain breath, nodding. “Then we go forward.”

Tallu wouldn’t rest until he had his brother, removing him from the playing board. And then, when I had the two of them, I would drag them away from here. We had doctors in the Northern Kingdom, too. We had medicine.

“You need to keep moving,” Naî said. She was sitting on her haunches in the tunnel, her head turned away from the massacre inside the room.

I nodded and took Tallu’s hand, pulling him up from his crouch. His palm was warm in mine, his grip firm. Despite the evidence of his health, panic built in my chest. Tallu was dying.

Lerolian stared down at Naî, his expression curious.

“Do you think she remembers the One Dragon?” He knelt down next to her, running his fingers over the soft ruffle of fur between her scales. “She said she has the memory of ones who came before her, didn’t she?”

“Why do you want to know?” I asked.

“I should like to know if it is true, about our souls being taken to the river.” He let his lips pull into a slight smile before shaking his head. “I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

Tallu’s hand was still tight in mine. We walked further up the tunnel, the cool air not easing the strain of the climb. Every so often, we hit a vent of warm steam that wafted with hints of sulfur. Somewhere in the mountain, the lava that had birthed the black rocks still flowed.

“Tallu, do not come in here,” Lerolian said intensely from up ahead. His tone was so stern that I automatically took a few steps inside, tugging Tallu behind me. Tallu froze just inside the doorway.

Lerolian reached for him, but his hand passed through Tallu’s shoulder. He and the other blood monks took a few steps back, as though distancing themselves from what was inside.

Electric lamps hung from the walls, illuminating a room similar to the one we had just passed. Only, instead of corpses, this one contained living men.

I jerked away from Tallu, taking a few steps inside before I froze.

No. These men were notalive.

Half of a man crawled in a circle, his neck attached to a chain that hung from the ceiling. Wires punctured his ears. His entire bottom half was severed, the wound so old that no blood or viscera dripped from it. As his arms pulled him around and around, his eyes moved side to side helplessly.

On the wall, another man gaped, blinking slowly, his mouth working. “Help me.”

The words dragged over his dry throat, practically voiceless. A spark of electricity danced from the electric light to the wires in his ears. Every time he started to slump, the light flashed again, his body jerking and coming back to this parody of life.

Another man stood in a cage, staring blankly out at us. I took a step closer, and he jerked into motion, grabbing hold of the bars of the cage and screaming at me, the sound rough as blood poured from his mouth. Electricity danced from the bars of the cage to the wires on his neck.

“Maki did this,” I said. “We have to end him.”

But what did I know of electricity other than how to kill an electro mage?

I turned back to Tallu. The coolness melted from his face, his expression becoming all teeth and wide eyes.

“Help me,” the man on the wall begged.

In the electrified cage, the other man screamed, his hands beginning to smoke.

Tallu didn’t say anything, stepping forward and extending both hands as he pulled the electricity out of Maki’s machinery. All at once, the electricity from the lights in the cage and thewires surged toward him, a ball of it as thick as a sea serpent’s tail.

I could hear the voice inside it screaming in my ears. The electricity spoke with Tallu’s pain.

Let this end.The ball of electricity snapped, sparks brushing against Tallu’s fingers, the rings on his hands.