Page 97 of The War of Wings
Vic. Vic? Who was Vic?
Malosym’s laugh was humorless. “What are you really doing here, Vic?” He said his name like it was a private joke.
Boots shuffled against stone for a split second before I heard the distinct sound of someone choking. My first instinctwas to surge forward, to stop whoever it was from ending the life that was mine to take, but I paused. This stranger couldn’t kill Malosym. I imagined a hand around Malosym’s throat, strong enough to crush his windpipe. Maybe he couldn’t kill Malosym, but he could make him hurt. Malosym bled the same as the rest of us.
The wooden chair legs screeched and Malosym took a wet, heaving breath. Footsteps sounded and I flattened as much as I could against the wall, praying whoever it was wouldn’t see me.
And then the stranger swept out of the room, slamming the door behind him and leaving me completely exposed. I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath, sure I’d been found. But he mercifully turned the other way, heading deeper into the dungeon.
Where was he going? There was nothing beyond Malosym’s cell. My eyes bulged as the stranger turned a corner I couldn’t see from this angle, disappearing behind the wall.
I made it one step in his direction when something sounded behind the closed door of Malosym’s cell. My stomach flipped as wood screeched over stone and chains clattered. Then there was nothing. Silence.
Ice spread through my gut as I stretched on to my tiptoes to the barred window near the top of the door. I was just tall enough to peer inside, and see…
Nothing.
I heaved the door open with a grunt, left unlocked by whoever the fuck had just left. The wooden chair was empty. The chains were coiled on the floor as if he’d simply stood and shirked them off. I spun in place, searching the ceiling for a grate, for a vent, for a way out other than the door Iknewhe hadn’t gone through.
Malosym was gone.
“Fuck!” I bellowed, tearing out of the room and sprinting in the direction of the stranger, careening around the hidden corner to find nothing but an empty, narrow corridor. Thesmell grew mustier the further I ran, the only light coming from the sparsely placed torches. I turned another corner andthere he was. “You!” I roared, my pace quickening impossibly faster.
His feet pounded to a stop as his hands slammed into the stone wall, his head wildly turning backward. It was a dead end. I’d cornered him. None of his features were distinguishable in the low light, but it didn’t matter, because I was seconds away from ripping that hood from his head.
With one hand, I cast a burst of fire. It sailed down the hallway and slammed into the stone beside him.Fuck.I pushed my legs harder as his hands began to move frantically over the stone wall, as if he was looking for some secret way out of here. Not fucking happening.
I called upon my flames again, another ball of fire flying in his direction. I blinked in disbelief as the wall gave way beneath his hands and he slipped through a door that had materialized from between the stones. With abangthat tore through the stone corridor, he slammed it shut behind him just as my fireball collided with the place he’d just been standing.
No fucking way.
I hit the wall at full force, the bite of the stone cutting into the blisters on my palm nothing more than a far-off ache. I winced as my hands ran over the wall, following the movements I’d seen him do, feeling for, what? A lock? A latch?
“Please, please, please,” I begged, and I wasn’t sure if I was pleading with the wall or the Saints or what. Who was he? Malosym had said he’d taken the man’s rightful crown. Someone of royal standing. Someone here for the ball. Probably someone who fell into Malosym’s trap back when he was Castemont.
But then why the fuck would the stranger release Malosym from his cell?
“Comeon!” I barked, steam rising up the back of my throat. Tiny pieces of sediment crumbled to the ground, knockedloose by my palms. I kicked at the stone, grunting when it didn’t give way in the slightest. My movements slowed, defeat rushing up swiftly to meet me, until my finger caught on a large pebble and I heard a softclick.
Yes.
The mortar between stones separated and the door swung away from my hands. Without a second thought, I was through and the door latched shut behind me.
And as my eyes adjusted to the low light, my mind adjusted to what I’d just done. I’d followed a cloaked stranger into a hidden passageway. I was a fucking fool. But this stranger had to pay for releasing Malosym. I was sure he’d done it. I just didn’t know how.
The passageway was dim, but it wasn’t pitch black. Tiny openings at the top of the wall to my right allowed a small amount of white light to filter in. The stone walls seemed to press inward, the hall disconcertingly narrow, so much so I wasn’t able to extend my arms completely.
Footsteps sounded and panic burst to life in my stomach.Wait, I thought,why the fuck am I panicked? I’d done nothing wrong. But I flattened myself against the wall nonetheless, focusing on the female voices that echoed off the stones. They were…coming from the gaps in the ceiling? The light dimmed for one moment, the voices growing louder and louder until they began to subside, sounding farther and farther away.
This hallway — atunnelreally — was below a corridor in the castle, I realized. Or…beside it, maybe, I couldn’t quite tell. Was it common knowledge this hidden tunnel was here? No, because why else would the entrance be so secret unless to keep it hidden?
With one final glance at the door behind me, I took off into the darkness.
The bends and curves of the passageway felt nonsensical to me. There were stretches of complete darkness where there were no gaps between the top of the wall and the ceiling. Isprinted as quickly as I could through those areas, my eyes locked on the lights ahead. Rats skittered over the stones, unbothered by my presence.
Where had the stranger gone?
More than once, the thought of sending fire ripping through the tunnel crossed my mind — smoke him out of here, force his hand. But the proximity to the castle gave me pause.
