Page 60 of Within the Flames

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She grinned as she followed the gnome into yet another tunnel, this one narrow and a little smelly. It soon began to rise upwards and she had to concentrate on where she put her feet on the uneven ground. By the time they reached yet another hole that brought them out of the tunnel and into the lowest level of the castle, she was exhausted and covered in dirt.

Not ideal, should the Mahoun come to attack them again.

Sepp pointed towards the left. "Dungeons are that way. I'll go back and guard the exit."

Before she could say anything to him, he'd disappeared.

"What now?" Macey asked the daimon who'd been walking behind her. He didn't seem out of breath at all, something she was a little jealous of.

"Now we continue searching for our enemies," he said grimly. "This was a distraction aimed to buy him more time. But for what?"

It was a rhetorical question, that much was clear. Neither of them knew what the Mahoun was planning, except that it couldn't be good.

The walked silently along rows of empty cells. Either there had been no occupants, or they had been freed. There was a strange smell in the air, something sad, full of despair. Macey couldn't put her finger on what it was exactly, but she tried to breathe through her mouth to avoid it.

At the end of the large room, a door led up a narrow set of steps and into another level of the dungeon. More cells, and this time, not all of them were empty. She covered her mouth with her hands when they passed the first body, already starting to decompose.

"Don't look," Luc said softly. "There's nothing we can do."

It hurt, but she knew he was right. They were too late to help these poor buggers, but they would avenge them. Macey squared her shoulders and increased her pace. The Mahoun was going to pay, and the sooner she reached him, the better.