Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

My mouth dropped open. “Why?”

“This man allowed a thief to escape proper punishment,” Folcred pointed out as he continued to glare at Will. “That cannot stand.”

Will smiled. “There’s no need for that. I released him so you might catch him. You are rather visible even in these crowds.”

The officer frowned. “Can you prove your statement?”

“Can you prove I’m lying?” Will countered.

Folcred’s jaw stiffened. “I witnessed the release with my own eyes.”

“And as a guest to your city I object to your version of the events,” Will insisted as he swept his eyes around us. A small crowd had begun to form. “But shall we take this disagreement somewhere more private or shall you release me?”

Folcred looked ready to book Will, but instead, the officer nodded at the trinkets in Will’s hand. “Give me those.”

Will handed over the string of stolen goods. Folcred stuffed them into his breast coat and tightened his grip on his captive. His hard eyes met Will’s. “Mind your step, dragon. This isn’t your land.” And with that, he marched past us dragging the young man along with him.

“Friendly fellow,” I mused as the crowd, disappointed with the outcome, dispersed.

Will pursed his lips and watched the man disappear into the flow of people. “So friendly he desired my company longer than I desired his.”

I looked him up and down. “And he knew you were a dragon.”

Will nodded at the nearby carriage with its markings. “Not an impossible guess, but I can see your worry.”

He guided me over to the vehicle and helped me inside before he looked up at Raines. “A view of the ancestors, if you would.”

Raines nodded and Will climbed in after me. He had hardly shut the door when we took off down the street. I fell into my seat and sighed. “I really thought he was going to take you.”

“As did I,” Will admitted as he took up his spot beside me.

“And are you dragons always so popular with the police?” I wondered as I studied my serpent lover.

“He did act as though I had given him some reason for a personal offense,” Will mused as he folded his arms over his chest. “His face didn’t appear familiar to me, but I have been out of the city for many years.”

“Do other people not like dragons?” I asked him.

A bittersweet smile slipped onto his lips. “We’re ever popular with the poachers. The last time I checked, our scales sold for a very high price on the underground markets.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Do those grow back?”

“Fortunately, they do.”

“So in theory a dragon could sell their scales and crash the market?” I guessed.

He chuckled. “It has been done before.”

I detected a hint of something mischievous in his words. “By you?”

He lifted his chin slightly and his eyes twinkled. “Perhaps.”

“Is that how you’re so rich?”

“It did contribute greatly to my treasury and deterred some hunters who were being quite persistent.”

I leaned my head back and stared up at the ceiling of the carriage. “You must have had a lot of adventures in your long life.”

Will studied me with a soft expression on his face. “I have and I expect to have quite a few more with my new bride.”

My face drooped as I recalled our purpose for the drive through the city. “And now you’re going to try to give me away to a wrinkled old guy.”

Will shook his head. “That may not be entirely true.”

I cocked my head to one side and lifted an eyebrow at him. “How so?”

“I could be marrying you off to a skeleton.”

I snorted. “Yes, that’s a great comfort.”

Will leaned close to the window and drew aside the curtain. “We should arrive there soon.”

True to his word, the carriage rolled to a stop a few minutes later. Will opened the door and climbed out where he turned and offered me his hand. I accepted and he helped me onto the worn cobblestone street. We stood in an obviously older part of the city where the old fashion of using stone had been in vogue centuries before. The buildings were short and squat, almost like huts of some forgotten tribe, and open sewers revealed the squalor of the local tenants.

In the middle of such filth stood a temple of sorts. Huge roughly-carved boulders rose to create walls some fifty feet high that formed a rectangular. A bell tower sat atop the center of the steeped tin-lined roof and plain glass etched by time and fogged by mold stared at us from either side of the heavy metal door that stood on rusted hinges. The construction made me think of a cavern heaved out of the depths and made to sit enthroned among the ruins of its extraction.

“What do you think of the church?” Will asked me.

I shook myself out of my thoughts and blinked at him. “What church?”

He nodded at the structure. “That is the Church of the Enshrined Stone. It sits atop the epicenter of the catacombs.”

My face drooped. “The epicenter? So you’re saying we could be on top of dead people right now?”

“Undoubtedly.”

I dropped my gaze to the ground. My mind oscillated between tiptoeing back into the carriage or hopping into Will’s arms. He decided for me by sweeping me off my feet. I yelped and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“What’s that for?!” I scolded him.

He chuckled. “You looked like you were about to run away.”

“I was thinking about hopping back into the carriage.”

“Let me propose a different route,” he suggested as he strode toward the metal door.

A huge slab of gray granite sat in front of the entrance and he set me down on that before he pounded his fist against the metal. The hard clang reverberated throughout the building and I winced when it slowly opened on rusty hinges. The sharp scratching noise made an even louder sound that must have woken up the dead.

Shut up, Rose!

Will opened the door all the way and revealed the interior of a plain church. There was a central aisle with wooden pews on either side. They looked to be as comfortable as an iron maiden. An altar stood at the end of the aisle and a gray cloth was draped over the ceremonial table.

Very little light shone through the grimy windows, casting much of the room in deep shadows. I could make out a door to the left of the altar that led into the interior of the church and the usual candlesticks that cast a very small glow around them. What wasn’t usual, however, was a strange hole in the wall to our left.

It appeared to be a gaping maw in the stone wall where one could be swallowed by complete darkness. The oddity stuck out of the wall by a full two feet and had a domed roof that was hardly taller than me and only about three feet wide. Its curved sides were covered in rough gray plaster slapped on layer after layer over many, many years.

The door adjacent to the altar opened and an elderly man in priestly garb stepped out. His cassock matched the drab gray of his short, dwindling hairs and the soles of his soft sandals scuffed the floor as he moved over to us. One of his hands was bandaged and he held it limply over the other arm.

The priestly man opened his unwounded arm and offered us a bright smile. “Welcome, my friends! Welcome to our church! You bring us great honor by visiting us, My Lord!”

“Then you know who I am?” Will asked the man.

The priestly man stopped in front of us and bowed his head. “The spirits tell us a great deal, Lord Thorn. I am Father Silas, the leader of we monks who care for the Grimton.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “The Grimton?”

“The name of our beloved catacombs,” Father Silas explained as he studied me with a curious eye.

“Did your spirits tell you we wished to see the catacombs?” Will inquired.

The priest stepped aside and gestured to the dank hole. “The way has been prepared. Our charges are very much looking forward to your visit.” His eyes flickered to me and his smile seemed to widen. “Very much.” His final words sent a shiver down my spine, and not in a good way.

Will edged closer to me and the priest thankfully returned his gaze to him. “Did they also tell you we desire some information?”

Father Silas blinked at him. “Information, My Lord?”

“About a certain agency in the city,” Will coaxed.

The good father shook his head. “I’m afraid I don’t follow, My Lord, unless you mean to give alms to the poor.”

Will pursed his lips. I felt his disappointment. The man wasn’t going to talk. That is, if he knew anything.

Will nodded at the entrance. “Are there others in the Grimton?”

Father Silas shook his head. “No, My Lord. You are the only visitors.”