Page 85 of Fractured Shadows

“We have somewhere,” Grim tells them, and without another word, they follow me through the city.

We have to stop to avoid patrols and work our way around brightly lit areas. Grim’s hand remains on me the entire time, anchoring me as I focus on the magic. It pulls us closer and closer to the castle, until we feel the sun beginning to rise.

Until we are outrunning it.

“Cora,” Grim grits out.

“Almost there,” I assure him, panting as we run.

I can feel their panic, even as we draw closer to our destination.

“There!” I call, pointing my finger at a grate in the ground in a back alley. They don’t question me. Krug rips it up and drops inside, followed by Bracken. We wait, and then there is a soft confirmation from below, so Zee lifts me into his arms and drops into the hole.

Darkness swallows us just as the sun rises, flooding the Gilded Lands with light.

* * *

It must bea water tunnel system, I realize. It’s just like the king to hide something like this underground. After all, it’s not pleasing to the eye.

The tunnel is round and big enough that we can all stand without bending our heads or wings. Water runs in a shallow river down the middle, with two walkways on either side. The brick down here is dark, stained, and old.

It smells like earth, though, and we begin to follow the water with nothing else to do, hoping it might lead us to a room or an outcropping where we can rest for the day.

At least we are closer to the castle.

When we round the tunnel’s corner, we all slide to a stop in shock.

Before us, in a massive cavern with light streaming in from grates above, are people.

Not just people…monsters.

“What?” I whisper as they all turn to look at us.

Fear contorts their faces. Some hurry to hide in nearby tunnels, while others throw themselves into constructed tents.

They are hiding from us.

“We aren’t here to hurt you,” I murmur slowly, stepping into the light.

There must be hundreds of them in a cavern big enough to be a castle, but they are odd—not quite human, and not quite monster.

One to my left, a short female, has stubby wings and small horns, but the rest of her is human. A man before me has a clawed hand on one arm. Another has the face of an animal but the body of a man.

“What are you?” Grim asks as he stops next to me. They seem to settle when they see him.

They fear humans, I realize, not monsters.

“Halflings,” the man with one arm answers proudly, his head tilted back. “We are the king’s creations.”

* * *

Seatedin the middle of the cavern on some blankets, we accept food and water graciously as we are surrounded by the halflings. “So the king created you?” I ask, addressing no one in particular.

An older woman winds through the crowd, checking on others as she goes, before she sits gracefully before me. I cannot see what the king has done to her, but there is knowledge in her eyes derived from years of pain and experience.

“Experiments gone wrong,” she clarifies. Her voice is soft and musical, almost alluring. “He was trying to bring magic back. Apparently, some humans have monster blood in them.” She winks at my men behind me. “Breeding, I would guess. He tried to bring that forth, but…it changed us. Our bodies are not meant for that, and so here we are. We escaped from the castle and his reach.”

“You escaped?” I gasp, leaning back into Bracken, who wraps himself around me like a teddy. She watches with amusement.

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