Page 83 of Veradel
And then it bursts into flames.
I swear, I can hear the Seventh Guardian’s final shriek fade into silence as her once-human heart crumbles away into gritty embers, her ashes mixingwith the bloody water on the floor. The rest of her remains in a heap, utterly still and lifeless, as if she truly became nothing more than stone.
“Nowwe’re one down, eleven to go,” Merrick says with a grim twist of his lips.
In his werewolf form, Ashe whines toward the tunnel leading to the Blood Moon Palace, but Lucan already seems to know the thoughts spinning through my head. “We can’t.” He shakes his head. “Not yet. The vampire mentioned that she’s been with Diggory, which means…”
I’m already sprinting, no time to contemplate it, taking the tunnel that the Seventh Guardian came out of. If I remember correctly, this one leads to a locked door that I always thought of as a dead-end. In my human form, I was never able to open it, but now that I’m a vampire?
I smash through the wood as if it’s nothing more than paper, splinters exploding all around me as I burst into what looks like an underground chamber made of a single, narrow stone passageway bordered by iron cells. There aren’t any torches to light this place, but my vision uses what little light still bleeds from the cavern behind me to take in my surroundings.
Prisoners by the handful are crammed in every cell, their space containing nothing but a bloodstained stone floor and a pile of rags in the corner. The smell of piss and vomit permeates the air even thicker than the blood. Moans and coughs fill every inch of the space, and heads turn to look at me with reactions ranging from panicked to sluggish—some of them near death.
All of them covered in too many bruises and seeping wounds to count.
These are where the rioters were taken. These are all the people who tried to fight after Claudia revealed the truth… and failed. Now they’re suffering for taking a stand.
But when I rush toward the first cell to try to help, the man gripping the rusted bars backs away, his eyes flying open in fear.
“No,” he stutters with a hoarse voice. “Please don’t.”
My throat closes like a vise, and the only thing I can feel is the sadness wrapping around my heart.
He’s afraid of me—of my marble skin and crimson eyes and darting movements.
“I’m here to help,” I reassure him, but he cowers in the corner. So do all the others as I walk past each cell in a daze, until a groan rises from one of the last ones in the back.
The heap of fabric in the corner of the cell moves shakily as a bruised arm appears out of the folds to lift itself and then flop back down. I catch a glimpse of a swollen face covered in fresh, oozing cuts.
“Diggory!” I gasp, grabbing the bars and rattling them with all my strength. They creak, the sound straining through the stone dungeon, but they’re just as locked as the Wall once was. No veins of venom writhe within the iron bars, but I’m still not strong enough to get to him. And once again, I don’t have a damn key to open it.
Diggory peers up at me through the bars. His face is likely unrecognizable to anyone who knows him, but to me he looks the same as his one night in the Healing Center… only worse.
Both eyes are swollen slits, brownish purple skin hangs off his cheek in strips, and dried blood mixed with fresh blood has stained his lips in various shades of red. I wonder if he can see me, if he even remembers who I am. He’s been at the forefront of my mind with every step I’ve taken, but to him, I might just be the healer that took care of him for less than a day.
“I’m trying!” I promise him, my voice cracking. Panic shoots down my limbs, causing my entire body to tremble. He’s right there, within an inch of death, but I can’t get to him. I don’t know what to do, and after all of this he’s going to die on my watch. “I’m trying!”
“Saskia,” Lucan says from behind me, and I jump, not realizing he followed me in here.
But he just anchors his hands around my waist, lifts my shaking body off my feet, and sets me down two feet to the right.
Then he places his massive hands where mine just were, gripping the bars so tightly that his tan skin turns white. His forearms tense, lines running along the ridges of each muscle, and with a grating screech, the entire cell door pops off its hinges.
Lucan tosses it to the side like it weighs nothing, leaving a gaping hole for me to step through.
“Diggory!” I cry, rushing inside, all of my anxiety melting away as it brings back every ounce of the healer in me. Cradling the elderly man against my chest when I fall to my knees, I keep the tears at bay. “He needs to go to the Healing Center. Right now,” I tell Lucan, throwing a wild gaze over my shoulder to find that the rest of the pack has filtered in, looking more than confused about this change of events. “I’ll go whileyou—”
“No.” Lucan steps forward and fills the doorway completely with his enormous frame.
“You need to stay with your pack,” I start to argue.
Lucan shakes his head. “You were alone within these Walls for far too long, little nightmare. Now that we’re in here together, wedoit together. Every step.” And he gives me no time to counter. Wheeling around to face them, his commanding tone is like the swish of a knife. “Work on getting all of the prisoners free. Saskia and I will be right behind you as soon as we get back.”
At his words, all of the other prisoners begin to limp or crawl to their iron bars, jaws dropping as they take in their potential rescuers. I see blackened, swollen eyes widen when they land on those still in their werewolf forms, and some immediately retreat into their shadowy corners once again. Others begin whispering to each other with hopeful tones, and my heart twists as I clutch Diggory to my chest.
They all risked their lives to protest the Guardians. And now, maybe, just maybe, they’ll get to keep their lives despite it.
Vivian, Merrick, Soren, and the others nod and get to work.
