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“None?” Sten’s brows went up.
“What do they cover?” Jori asked.
“All living and public spaces from the lowest elevator floor upwards. There aren’t any below that, because those levels were magicked with Kargassa’s security spells. That kind of magic interferes with the tech.” Sten said.
“So Merwin and Clive are still in the lower levels somewhere?”
“We’ve searched every area we can access.”
“Can access?” Jori’s brow went up.
“Some tunnels were always off limits to everyone but Kargassa himself. We can’t get into those without keys.”
“And none were forced open or broken?”
The deputy shook his head. “The ones with simple locks are spelled to act like normal doors, but can’t be broken or forced open, even with dragon strength.”
Eamerson paced the length of the windows, one hand in his pocket while the other pinched his lip. “If there are secret exits, they’d be behind Kargassa’s spelled doors. So either someone has a key, or whoever let them out is hiding them somewhere in the mountain, and also knows how to bypass the security cameras.”
“Who would have a key?” Marli asked.
“Only Kargassa.” Eamerson said.
“Who was the last to see Clive and Merwin?” Sten asked the deputies.
“You were.” Craig said.
Sten blinked and jerked his head. “What? I haven’t been down there in a few days.” He looked from the deputies to Jori. “Not since I was there with you and Odson.”
Jori studied Sten, as did Kymri and Elora. The deputies had already told them that.
The muscles in Sten’s chest and gut shriveled inward. His gaze dropped to Marli’s stony face.
He straightened his shoulder and spine, looking across the room to Eamerson, who also studied him as though he was working out a riddle. He nodded to Sten.
“You think I let them out?” Sten swiveled his gaze back to Jori.
His king.
Jori didn’t answer him for a long moment as he weighed Sten’s reaction, staring back, unapologetic, but the flicker of disappointment in his eyes couldn’t be masked.
Sten had worked alongside his new king tirelessly to prove his trustworthiness, doing his duty to hold the mountain together. He’d envisioned the glimmer of what could be for this tribe in Jori during that time.
Stenlen had finally begun to hope that there actually could be peace between the tribes.
But at the first sign of trouble, the king and council turned to him with suspicion. The budding hope popped like a fragile soap bubble.
The deputy spoke up. “No one else went into the antechamber after you did last night. Not until Randal brought down their breakfast when they came in to relieve us from our shift.”
“Last night?” Marli asked, confusion tightened her brow.
“Yes, last night.” Craig frowned.
“That can’t be right. You’re sure?” she said.
The deputy sucked in a breath at her questioning, darted a glance at Jori, then Kymri, and carefully answered Marli. “Stenlen came by the antechamber, suggested we take a short break while he went into ask a few more questions. We unlocked the door for him, he went in and we took off for a few minutes as he suggested. When we came back, the door was locked and he wasn’t waiting around for us.”
“We didn’t think there was any reason to check in afterward.” Randal shrugged.
