Page 77 of Witch Unbound
Heart pounding with confusion, I headed after him. Wren clung fast to my back with his face pressed to the crook of my neck. The stone floor did little to muffle our steps, but we were light on our feet to minimize the sound. A window came into view with an arch opposite it. Rune slowed his pace and carefully peered through the arch. The droop of his shoulders told me the coast was clear.
I glanced out the window and noted we were pretty high. Prisoners would probably be at basement level.
“Rune, I think we need to head down.”
He nodded in agreement. “This is a turret space.”
The room beyond the arch was sparsely furnished, with a threadbare rug, a couple of wooden chairs, and a single table between them. A door waited across from us.
“Once we get on a stairwell, there’s a high possibility we could meet someone coming up them,” Rune said.
I pulled my dagger from its sheath. “Then we deal with them.”
Rune crossed the room and listened at the door for a long beat. I stretched my senses too, but this time there was nothing but silence.
He opened the door, peeked through, then beckoned me to follow. We climbed down the gloomy stairwell, lit sporadically by candles clutched in iron holders bolted to the stone wall. Some candles had burned so low the flame licked at melted wax, flickering weakly as they drowned.
My night vision kicked in, sharpening the world, and for a few moments, as we descended, there was only our soft breath and the scuff of our boots on the stone steps. Rune’s broad shoulders bobbed in front of me as he took the lead. Beyond that, silence reigned.
How fucking long were these stairs?
A voice drifted up to greet me.
“Can’t see it. Can’t take it anymore. Pain, so much pain.”
Rune kept walking. What the heck? I grabbed hold of his shoulder and yanked him back. He threw a confused frown my way.
I tapped my ear and gave him a wide-eyed look that I hoped saidlisten.
“So bad. So, so bad. Can’t go. Why can’t I go?”
“Cora?” Rune kept his voice low, and his frown deepened. “What is it?”
Was he serious? “You don’t hear that?”
“Please…please please, please…”
“Wren not hear anything.”
What the heck? I pushed past Rune and continued down the stairs cautiously. The stairwell curved up ahead, so I slowed. A low moan filled the air. I looked at Rune to see if he’d heard.
He shrugged.
“Wren, you hear that?”
“No, Cora.”
Great, I was going insane or…Wait a second… I rounded the corner and sagged in relief at the sight of the specter hovering there.
Male, youngish, with a mop of hair and large, mournful eyes. He was dressed in modern clothes—jeans and a T-shirt that had bloody patches on it.
He swayed from side to side, looking at me apathetically.
I raised a hand in greeting. “Hey.”
He balked and glanced over his shoulder down the stairwell.
“Hello?” I waved to get his attention.
