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“Thank you,” I whispered, and he pulled me into him, giving me a long and tender kiss on the lips.
“Promise me you’ll use them, if you have too.” He murmured, resting his forehead against mine. I nodded against him.
“I promise,” I said. Finally, he stepped back and turned to the team.
“Good. Let’s go,” he called his shadows to us, and I followed suit. Together, we shadow walked to the outer perimeter of Ash Nevra’s castle.
77
This time, when we landed, our black armor stood out in the white snow. The whiteout was so stark I wasn’t even sure shrouding us in shadows would help. Conrad, however, reading my mind, cast a no-see-me spell. I had seen him do this before, in my home in Toronto.
It did not make us invisible or undetectable, per se, but incredibly uninteresting. Anyone who saw us would likely look right past us, their minds just registering us as a fixture in the landscape or something they expected to be there. I smiled at him gratefully. It wasn’t foolproof, but it made me feel slightly less exposed.
We came up to what appeared to be a very solid and impenetrable wall of black stone. I swallowed. I really hoped that the entrance we had seen in the drawing was here. Otherwise, we were totally fucked.
Conrad got to work with The Lens. Dossidian shielded him from the snow with his burning hot aura as much as he could, so the Obeah Man could see what he was doing. After a painfully long minute, Conrad nodded and stepped back, gesturing to Meredith to come forward. He pointed to a spot on the wall, and she inserted the key. The moment the key slid into the wall, a blazing seam of blue light appeared, revealing a large, thick iron door. Meredith turned the key with a click, and the door opened outwards toward us, revealing the dark, damp dungeon that lay beyond.
‘We’re in,’ Rycon said into my mind. He nodded to Conrad and Meredith on his way by, taking the lead.
We fell into formation. Meredith came to walk beside me, as the daemons and Conrad circled us. We followed Rycon into the darkness, and the door shut behind us, sealing out the raging storm. Somehow, the dank dungeon didn’t feel like much of an improvement. It was warm, but in the way that a city sewer grate was warm.
It smelled of waste and death. I steeled myself as we walked through the rows of cells, nearly each one was occupied, though not one prisoner looked up as we passed. I worried that many of them were already dead. Some had been dead for so long they had started to rot. I bit back the rising feeling of anger and disgust as it bubbled like bile in the back of my throat.
The first thing I would be doing, was freeing the daemons in this dungeon, and ensuring they received medical attention. Not a single part of me believed that any of them deserved to be locked down here and forgotten. Amon’s aura caressed mine softly as we passed cell after reeking cell.
‘We will save them,’ he assured me, and I nodded. Fucken right we would.
Finally, we came to the stairs that seemed to lead us up and out of the dungeon. Rycon held up a hand, signaling for us to stop and wait. He prowled up the steps and disappeared. I waited for him to send me a mental signal, but moments later he came back down the stairs, a frown on his face.
‘What is it?’ I asked into his mind, ‘What’s wrong?’
To my surprise, he spoke out loud. He kept his voice quiet, but he addressed the team. “It’s empty. Like, deserted. There is no one up there at all.” He exchanged a concerned glance with Amon.
“That cannot be possible,” Dossidian said. “There are hundreds of daemons that reside here. Where could they all have gone?”
Rycon shrugged. “I don’t know but they're not here. Come, see for yourself.”
We followed Rycon up the stairs to the main floor. We came out in the entrance way, where Kieran had greeted us in our earlier mission. We could see into the Great Hall from where we stood, and Rycon had been right. It was completely deserted. Not one daemon danced in a cage, Ash Nevra’s throne was empty. I frowned.
“This feels like…”
“A trap,” Amon finished for me. I nodded.
“What should we do?” Kasha whispered. I was torn. I didn’t want to abandon the mission. Not after seeing all those daemons wasting away in the dungeons below.
“Even if it is a trap, we have The Flute,” I said. “Just like we can use it to unfreeze The Origin, we can use it to immobilize Ash Nevra, or anyone she may send to intercept us. Though I don't understand how she could possibly even know we’re here. Maybe she’s just mobilizing everyone at some sort of outpost, preparing to declare war tomorrow?”
“That is possible,” Dossidian said thoughtfully. “This still does not feel right. There should at least be someone here.”
“I know, I don’t like it either,” I said. “Where is the throne room?” I asked, and Kasha pointed down the hall, in the opposite direction of the Great Hall.
“There,” she said. I looked to where she pointed, and my heart sped up. It was right there. We were so close.
I glanced at Amon, eyes pleading. “Come on Amon, we’re so close. Even if it is a trap, we have a plan. We can be extra careful.”
He pursed his lips and glanced down in the direction of the throne room, before finally nodding.
“Alright. Rycon, you go first. Make sure it’s clear.” He turned back to us, “Everyone stay alert. If we are attacked, aim to kill.”
