When Ianto sucked in a breath, I glanced up at the giant who gazed apprehensively back at me. I didn’t have to read minds to know he was thinking I’d made a big mistake by freeing them.
And maybe he was right, but it was too late to change it. I couldn’t put this genie back in the bottle; I could only hope it was a benevolent wish-granter. I believed the gargoyles did possess a kind soul and sought to help us.
They were just terrifying.
I squeezed Ianto’s arm before hurrying over to Indon, who stood hunched over in the shadows. The soft, leather soles of my boots didn’t make a sound against the rocky floor, but the gargoyles’ claws were an entirely different matter.
I stopped beside Indon and beckoned him closer. “We should go ahead,” I whispered. “The passage is too narrow for you to fly through, and your claws will give our approach away. If we get into trouble, you’ll hear it.”
“There will be more guards,” he said.
“I have my lightning, and everyone is armed. If you come with us, they’ll know we’re here and prepare better for us.”
No one could prepare for the gargoyles. However, the soldiers could use children and Ryker as a barrier against us if they knew we were coming.
“Guard the entrance to the tunnel,” I told him. “Hopefully, we’ll be back soon.”
Indon studied the shadows ahead, and I was sure he spoke with the other gargoyles before bowing his head in acquiescence. “Be careful, child.”
“You as well.”
I gestured for Ianto and those closest to follow me, but much of our group remained outside the cave.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Ellery
With Ianto and Luna beside me, I crept down the tunnel and past the torches spaced far apart throughout the cave. The slightly warmer air felt good against my icy skin, but I didn’t smell fires ahead, and smoke didn’t clog the tunnel.
The mineral scent of the rocks hung heavily in the air; it mingled with the acrid stench of terror, feces, and urine. Even if the earl’s son hadn’t told us where the children were, those odors would tell me someone was suffering in this place.
I didn’t smell Ryker in the mix. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I couldn’t stop. The further into the cave I slunk, the more my nose wrinkled at the assault it was taking.
Lightning danced between my fingertips as I prepared to unleash it on anyone who stood in my way. I’d kill as many fighters as it took to save the children and Ryker.
As I crept further through the shadows, my inexplicable draw to him increased and my heart raced faster. Is he really ahead of us? Or is it death that awaits?
The torches illuminated a bend in the tunnel that cut off my view of whatever lay ahead. When I glanced back, more of our fighters had entered the cave. They stole past the gargoyles as they followed us.
Scarlet and Mr. Fletcher were a few feet behind, separated by a row of other amsirah. When I crept around the bend, I rested my hand against the boulder blocking my view and leaned to the side to peer around it.
The flames of more torches, spaced every five feet, danced over the rock walls, giving them an orange glow. A row of soldiers stood with their backs against the walls and their hands on the swords at their sides.
They’d spaced themselves out so that one or two guards stood between the dozens of closed doors made entirely of bars. The doors were arched and so small I’d have to duck to enter the cells beyond them.
When they built this dungeon, they didn’t design it to house children. Those small doors, and perhaps the space beyond too, were meant to be as uncomfortable as possible for prisoners. My heart ached for the innocents trapped behind those bars and the misery they must be enduring.
Housing them here was one of the ways the duke hoped to break them. Keeping the children caged like this, away from their loved ones, and denying them any sense of hope would shatter their spirits. It might take him a while, as the spirits of children were incredibly resilient, but without love and sunlight, their resistance would wither and die.
I wouldn’t let that happen.
Beyond the cells was a larger cluster of guards at the end of the tunnel. In total, there were at least fifty of them, and while I had my lightning, the fighters at the far back troubled me most.
If there was a way to escape down there, they could flee before we stopped them. Once they raised the alarm, our advantage was over, but it could be over by now anyway.
We couldn’t stay hidden forever, but I’d hoped to do so until we got the children far from here. Those guards couldn’t get away, but I didn’t know how to stop them.
If we went back for the gargoyles, they still couldn’t fly through here, but they were faster than us and might make it to the end of the tunnel before the soldiers escaped. However, their clicking claws would alert the enemy to their approach. They could flee before the gargoyles had a chance to reach them.
