Page 43 of To Save a Kingdom

The jostling brought Zadé back to the present. Licking her lips, she swallowed, her voice raspy as if her throat had dried. “There were rumors he—Malkov—had figured out a way to steal magic.”

Aliya frowned. That was no secret. “Yeah. He could. It nearly killed me.”

Zadé waved her arms at Aliya as if brushing away a pesky insect. “No, not like that. I mean, with him not being here an’ all. They said he developed somethin’ that’d do it for him.” She pointed at the shiny slimy material coating the walls. “Is that what feels off ta yeh, Princess?”

Aliya squinted, studying the bulwark with new insight. “I don't know. Perhaps?” She didn’t want to get close enough to find out. Nor did she want to stand here any longer than they had to. “We should locate the other prisoners.”

Chapter 18

Aliya

Aliya’s magic writhed in her chest as she followed Zadé through the narrow halls carved into the rock cliff face at the back of the prison. The sound of their footsteps echoed off the basalt surrounding them, emphasizing the absence of other life. But the passage was free of the dust or cobwebs that would indicate the structure had been abandoned for any length of time.

This couldn’t be good. Her feet were even heavier than they’d been when she approached the castle to turn herself over to Malkov. Had that only been a little over a week ago now?

“Princess, keep up!” Zadé called, glaring over her shoulder.

Aliya hadn’t realized she’d been slowing down. “Sorry.” She dragged her offending legs in a shuffle until she was at the other woman’s back once again.

Peering around Zadé, Aliya caught a glimpse of yet more iridescent goo covering the wall.

“Careful,” Zadé said as they got closer. “I don’t think yeh should touch it.”

Aliya swallowed past her dry throat. She hadn’t been planning to. When her instincts were screaming this hard, the smart thing to do would be to wait for reinforcements.

Zade grabbed her arm, tugging her forward.

She’d come to a stop and was staring at the changing colors surrounding the tunnel on all sides.

“Come on, princess.” Zadé tugged her out into a cavernous room that rivaled the size of Aliya’s Great Hall. “We need ta rescue anyone who’s left.”

Zadé turned her focus to the room and froze.

Aliya slammed into her. “What the…” Standing on her tip toes, she peeked over the other woman’s shoulder as her voice faded.

In front of them lay several iridescent tables, each with a body lying on top of it.

Zadé reached behind her, as if to grab Aliya and shield her from the sight.

Forget that. She dodged her friend’s grasping hand and stepped to the side, giving herself an unobstructed view of the space.

The giant cavern was packed with row upon row of bodies. She counted at least twenty rows, ten slabs deep. Each platform was covered with more of the prismatic goop.

She moved closer to one. Pointed ears peeked from between the man’s tresses. It looked like someone had suctioned his tissue to his body. His eyes were sunken, the hollows beneath his cheek bones unnaturally pronounced. His fair countenance was a ghastly grey-white as though all his blood had leeched out of him. His hair hung in thin strings that reminded Aliya of the oldest humans, but his skin was unwrinkled.

She reached out to touch him, but Zadé grabbed her wrist, jerking her back. “No, Princess. Don’t. We don’t know what did this to them, and don’t want it to infect you.”

Infection? She furrowed her brows as she squinted at Zadé. Was that something they needed to worry about? “I don’t see any evidence of sickness here.”

Zadé’s lips thinned. “They’re all dead. Something happened. Until we know what, we can’t risk doin’ something that’ll kill you, too.”

Aliya sucked on her lower lip. Fair enough. Extricating herself from the other woman’s grip with a slight nod, she stepped up to examine another corpse. This one appeared to have melted. Copious amounts of loose skin sagged off the unfortunate elf’s bone-thin frame. As a sun elf, her complexion had been darker tan in life but was more of a greenish tone in death. Neither body showed evidence of a fatal wound, but they looked as though they’d literally had the life sucked out of them.

Aliya focused on the churning feel of her magic in her torso and frowned. Perhaps they had.

Wrenching her gaze from the corpse to the rest of the room, she met Zadé’s eyes. “What did this?”

Zadé shrugged, stepping down one row. “Dunno.” Her foot nudged something metallic that rolled further down the aisle. Ripping her attention from Aliya, the other woman spat an unfamiliar Elven word.