Page 213 of Empire of Shadows

Ellie gingerly slid her way off the ledge to stand beside him. Together, they turned toward the black, looming hole of the passage.

“What other tests did they have in that book of yours?” he asked carefully.

“There’s a House of Bone Chilling Cold,” she offered uncomfortably. “Er… a House of Jaguars, and, um…”

“I get the idea,” Adam cut in grimly, and stalked—carefully—through the black-mouthed door.

?

Forty

There was aHouse of Bone Chilling Cold.

It lay at the bottom of a long, sloping passage, and it was full of running water. The air was frigid enough that Ellie could see the fog of her breath. Only the impact of a recent cave-in saved them from being forced to wade or swim through the freezing depths of the deep, quick-moving stream. Part of the ceiling had given way to collapse into the river. The breakdown formed a natural course of boulders around which the water churned.

The stones were submerged in places. She and Adam waded across them awkwardly. Ellie’s boots slid on the slick surface. The water didn’t rise higher than her ankles, but her feet still ached from the cold by the time they reached the far side.

Ellie thought of how much worse it might have been if they had been forced to swim.

“Ouch,” Adam said. He danced a bit in his boots as they reached the end. “Will you still like me if I’m short a few toes?

?

The House of Jaguars was less of a danger because all of the jaguars inside of it were dead.

They lay in dusty sprawls of bone on the floor of a vast, open cavern. A latched wooden gate on one side would have kept them contained.

The chamber itself had been deliberately emptied of all but a few columns that the engineers of Tulan had clearly deemed necessary for support. When the cats were alive, the design would have given them free rein to pin down any prey that entered.

Ellie counted the bones of eight animals visible in the flickering light of the torch. Some lay alone. Others had curled up to die together. Nothing had disturbed their remains since they had passed away. The skeletons were still perfectly arranged on the floor of the cave as though the elegant beasts might get up and walk away with a look of feline disdain.

The reason for the cats’ fate became clear when Ellie and Adam reached the far side of the vast, echoing space, where another gate blocked the way out.

“They were trapped.” Ellie’s voice shook with fury. “There are no natural sources of food or water down here. It must all have been brought from the surface. Nobody bothered to set them free.”

“Maybe they didn’t have time, Princess,” Adam said.

“They should havemadethe time.”

He set a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“We should keep moving,” he said and guided her on.

?

A smell rose to meet them in the passage beyond the gate. It was faint at first—just a noxious hint to the atmosphere—but it grew stronger and richer as they progressed.

At last, Ellie followed Adam through the mouth of the tunnel into a shadowy, high-ceilinged chamber.

Her feet promptly slid out from underneath her.

Adam had braced himself against one of the stones. He tugged Ellie upright before she could fall, and then grunted with discomfort. She realized that he had used his wounded hand.

Ellie looked down. Their torch was burning lower. She didn’t want to think about that too much yet. In the low, orange glow, the floor of the chamber appeared to be covered in thick slime.

The slime was very smelly.

Ellie took a careful step to better balance herself, and the ground crunched lightly under her boot. Glancing down, she saw small animal bones protruding from the sludge.

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