I pause, giving them time to say something. None do. But the man with long, silver hair next to me looks up and arches an eyebrow. I open my mouth to speak again, but he cuts me off.
“If I were you and wanted to keep that tongue of mine, I’d shut my mouth right about now,” the silver-haired man says, quietly enough that only I can hear. “The chatty ones tend to have their tongues go missing. In the middle of the night.”
I close my mouth shut. My tongue is my most useful asset. Well, one could argue it’s thesecondmost useful?—
A bowl of questionable-looking gruel lands on the table in front of me with athud. Some of it splashes on the wooden top when the spoon drops inside the bowl.
The good thing is, I don’t have to eat with my hands.
The bad news is, I’d rather chew on Mister Caterpillar’s big toe than eat another bowl of this atrocity.
At least it would be something…novel.
“It’s better to eat shit and have energy,” my silver-haired companion says, using a spoon to scoop his gruel with passion, as if it were the most delicious thing in the world, “than starve and be caught off guard at the worst moment.”
I pick up my spoon with a sigh.
“I can’t tell if you’re trying to help a brother out, or if you’re threatening me,” I say after the first taste.
It does look worse than it tastes. Or maybe I’m just hungry.
My companion flashes me a toothy smile. Sharp and feisty.
“It’s just a friendly warning,” he says and then looks straight ahead.
I follow his gaze to find two men glaring at me as if I drowned their kittens in the river. I don’t know them personally; it’s the first time I’ve seen them.
Yet I know exactly who they are.
The elaborate tattoos wrapping around their thick necks, wide shoulders, and muscly arms tell me all there is to know. Caligos.
From theirfriendlyglares, I can tell which family they obey. Even here, in the damp stone prison with iron bars, under a stone castle, Talbots rule.
And it appears that I’m in a lot of trouble.
CHAPTER FIVE
PHOENIX
Noire would not approve of what I’m about to do. But he doesn’t have to know.
I pull the hood of my cloak tighter over my head to hide my face and pull on the iron bars. The leather of my gloves creaks against the iron, but it doesn’t budge.
“For fuck’s sake,” I curse, my words bouncing off the curved metal walls, the ceiling, and the damp floors.
I’m at the very edge of an old tunnel. It’s tall enough for me to stand without the top of my head scraping the rusted ceiling, and wide enough that at least three of me can line up side by side comfortably.
In front of me is a wall of iron bars. A gate that’s supposed to open without much hassle as it’s one of the many secret entrances to the Ezkai Castle. I am yet to discover them all.
I try to pull on the bars again, to no avail. With a sigh, I lodge my shoulder against them and then push.
And push.
The metal creaks, and the iron gate moves. And then gets stuck. The gap is very small. I might squeeze myself through it on my way out, but coming back in might be an issue.
“Spirits of the gods be damned,” I mutter to myself, “I’ll walk back in through the main fucking entrance.”
Sideways, I shove myself against the narrow gap and squeeze through it. Just as I’m about to be free, the hinges creak again and the gate slides open. Gasping, I grab for the iron bars with one hand and fly through the air with the gate.
