Page 80 of Sonnets and Serpents
Eliza and Silas exchanged a look. Nervous sweat beaded on her forehead. Had the bitten guard been discovered so quickly? If so, why had there been no commotion?
“You’ll have to speak to Captain Galip,” the guard said, his voice muffled compared to Kerem’s.
“I’ve spoken to Galip, and he clearly intends to turn me in circles. I’m investigating the cells myself. If you don’t want meto find anything that contradicts your story, you’d best tell your captain quickly.”
Kerem strode forward.
Eliza ducked out of view, pulling Silas with her. A set of hurried footsteps marked the guard’s retreat, while a slower, purposeful set approached them until Kerem turned the corner.
“You’re early,” Silas whispered, barely a breath.
Kerem shook his head, expression grim. “I’m glad I located you quickly. Something’s happened. Let’s go.”
A shiver of despair trembled Eliza’s legs. After everything they’d gone through, they couldn’t surrender without finding anything!
Silas hesitated along with her, glancing deeper into the prison.
“Silas,” said Kerem.
Shoulders drooping, Silas nodded.
Another rat scampered past Eliza’s feet, disappearing into the empty cell. In a split-second decision, she caught Silas’s arm and pulled him after her, ignoring Kerem’s sharp whisper. He could choose to follow or not.
In the empty cell, she pointed out the rat-favored spot in the wall, and Silas felt along the stones before discovering a hidden catch. A door swung open on silent, oiled hinges.
Eliza bounced in place, hands clutched to her chest as she enjoyed a silent victory scream. Silas grinned along with her, then glanced back at Kerem.
“Go quickly,” Kerem whispered.
For a moment, she thought that meant he wasn’t coming, but when she and Silas slipped through the opening, Kerem followed, pulling the door closed behind them.
Eliza’s eyes struggled in the nonexistent light. She reached out a hand, feeling blindly for the wall. She hit Silas instead. Without hesitation, he caught her hand in his, twining their fingers andguiding her forward. Her heart wiggled its way into her throat, putting an odd pressure on her breathing.
She stumbled a few times, but Silas walked with confidence, obviously possessing a better sense of direction in the dark. He led them to where the passageway opened up, and an almost-spent candle burned in a shallow alcove in the wall. Most of the curved ceiling and walls of the stone passageway remained shadowed.
“Did they find the guard?” Silas asked.
Kerem’s eyes flickered down, and Eliza quickly dropped Silas’s hand, though it left her fingers cold.
“Something else.” The professor’s voice was tight, and he swallowed before going on. “Iyal Mazhar. He missed our scheduled meeting yesterday. His neighbor saw him arrested by the kuveti—something about ‘a magical disturbance.’”
The cold spread as Eliza remembered the names in Silas’s journal, each arrested for the same thing.
The dead Stone Caster without bones.
Kerem gripped the strap of his bag, looking more frazzled by dim candlelight than he had in the prison. “I demanded answers of the guard captain, but there aren’t any to be had. They insist he was never arrested.”
Looking ill, Silas reached one hand down by his side, then halted, flexing his fingers. Reaching for his journal, Eliza realized. But they’d left everything at the university.
“Did you see him in the cells?” Kerem asked.
“No,” Silas whispered.
“Well ... that’s a relief.” Despite the words, Kerem’s brow furrowed.
Silas opened his mouth, then closed it, clearly uncertain how to broach the topic of dead magic users. In his silence, Kerem surveyed the tunnels, adjusting his spectacles and squinting in the dim light.
“Iyl Yvette never mentioned these,” he murmured, almost to himself. “She was the lead Stone Caster on the prison construction. Always bragged about the impenetrable spires on the roof, but she made no mention of underground tunnels.” He reached out and brushed one hand down the wall, rubbing his fingers together. “These were clearly made by a skilled Stone Caster. I wonder how far they reach.”
