Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

T he tunnel was dark, but my thoughts were darker.

"Is that … Is the entire mud quarter like that?" I asked as we gingerly traversed the uneven, rocky ground. It was darker than the queen's soul down here.

"What, you mean poor, dirty, and decrepit?" Shava shot back, her voice echoing in the stone chamber. She was ahead of me somewhere. Not because I was afraid, but because she was more sure of herself.

I hated that.

"Where'd you learn the word decrepit?" I said before I could help myself.

Even though it was pitch black, I could feel the derision emanating off her.

"Gods, you're such an ass sometimes," she said back, her voice breaking.

I wasn't sure what all the upset was about. It was a simple question; not an insult.

"Another girl you competed with, I bet," I said, more to myself than her. I remembered her saying before that the other girls reaped with her taught her a few things.

I wondered where they were now. Married to Nobles? Dead?

It was such a waste, wasn't it?

"Yes, say it. If you didn't need me, you'd punch me in the nose," I commented wryly, stumbling over a rock when I didn't pick my foot up high enough. "Enough of this. I'm lighting a torch."

I stopped and retrieved the little kit from my waist. We tried not to use it unless we had to. This was certainly an appropriate time.

"Took you long enough," Shava goaded me. "I wanted to see how long you'd stumble around in the dark before succumbing. Can't you just turn on your glowy skin?"

My eyes narrowed at her. Not that she could see them. Yet.

"Ha. So funny."

I fumbled with the pouch in the darkness and the flint clattered to the ground. Shava made a tsking sound and snatched the materials from me.

"Allow me, or we'll be here all day."

"You're in a pissy mood today," I commented.

"Probably has something to do with being surrounded by idiots no matter if I'm in the mud quarter or the Seat or a cave," she shot back.

I squashed the urge to squash her, because she was much better at lighting torches than I was, and my poor shins wouldn't take much more abuse.

After a bit of grumbling, sparks flew, and then the small torch ignited, illuminating her dirty, tired face.

Not that mine was likely to look any better.

Shava led the way down the tunnel, which (now that we could see) looked much rougher and haphazard than the one that had led from the mines into the mud quarter. Rough lines and hack marks were etched deep into the stone walls, and the path wasn't straight or even at all.

"Seemed like a rush job," Shava said, not necessarily to me.

Silently, I agreed.

Continuing to study the marks as we walked, a pattern emerged.

"They're all facing outwards, with the deeper cuts away from us," I remarked.

Shava paused, putting a hand up against the wall to feel the deep grooves with her fingers.

"They dug outward from the capital," she surmised.

I grinned. It was satisfying when someone could follow your train of thought.

"An escape tunnel then?" she asked.

"Or something else," I murmured.

We continued our journey in silence. Eventually, the tunnel narrowed until we were forced on our hands and knees. I tried in vain to quell the burgeoning panic as all the memories of nearly dying in a cave surrounded me.

"Hey. It's ok. We don't have to press forward. Or I can, and you stay here."

Shava's tone was surprisingly gentle. That only made it worse. I didn't need to be coddled. I didn't need to be pitied.

But the thought of the walls closing in around me anymore made it hard to breathe.

"Z. Z? Zephyr?"

I tried to focus on Shava's face, but the glow of the torch off her cheeks was distracting. She had nice cheekbones. And lips. I wished I could breathe. Why was it getting darker?

Her arms came around me, and though she constricted my chest further, something about the contact yanked my mind out of its panic. What was she doing?

I blushed as I came back to myself.

She was … hugging me.

"Don't … don't do that," I wheezed, prying her off me and putting distance between us.

Her head tilted to the side, confused. I didn't blame her. We'd fucked and kissed and done far more than simply put our arms around each other, but there was something intimate about the act and the circumstances that had me more anxious than my claustrophobia.

I didn't like it.

"The tunnel has to end soon. Let's push on," I suggested, clearing my throat and looking stubbornly ahead into the darkness, and not at her.

I thought I heard a scoff from her as she pushed her way ahead of me with the torch. But I could have been wrong.

"Right. Always forward," she remarked. We crawled forward.

Just breathe. You can always go back.

Immediately, the path forked ahead of us. One path narrowed and went off to the left, and another to the right. Though it narrowed, the ceiling went higher, so at least I wouldn't have to crawl. I didn't want to go down either, though. I longed for sun and the open air of the desert.

You didn't always get what you wanted.

"I can take one, and you take the other."

I knew Shava would suggest it the moment we saw both paths.

She handed me the torch (since we'd used my materials to make it) and made her own.

"What's the plan? Meet back here?"

Seemed reasonable. Too reasonable to object.

"Fine," I grit out. I turned down the path on the left and didn't look back. Her footsteps retreated as she took the one on the right.

* * *

It took hours. Sometimes I had to crawl on my hands and knees, other times I had to set the torch down and force my body between cracks and crevices. I didn't give myself time to think or panic, only to push forward.

Only forward.

The more I pushed, the better developed the tunnels were. After the third hour, I could comfortably walk again in a corridor-sized path, and noticed other tunnels branching off from the one I was in. I resisted the urge to take any, lest I became lost for good.

Not that someone hadn't already thought of that. Vertical white slashes were etched into the wall at each intersection. It was obvious they were labels, marking my path as one vertical slash, while all intersecting tunnels had more marks.

That would be a side quest for another day.

Eventually, a breeze slid by my face, carrying fresh air

And voices.

I paused, carefully setting my torch up against the wall so the flame could continue to burn. If it went out, I wasn't sure if I had enough supplies (or practiced skill) to get another one going.

Creeping up towards the fresh air, I found a large boulder across the path. But to the side of it was a large gap that I could slide through.

"More patrols. What good will it do?"

Fireguards.

"One of the girls went missing after they fed the other to the dragon. You know how the queen is about her girls," remarked a second voice, raspy and low.

"Dunno why they all try to run away. It's a better life than anything we had, eh? Free food, clothes, a soft bed. Why, I'd suck a Noble dick for all of that!"

The Fireguards laughed, and I tried to count. Three, maybe four in total.

I waited, and their voices and footsteps faded away into the distance.

Girl. Shava. They were looking for Shava.

Should I feel jilted? No one was worried about me? It was probably for the best. I was known for disappearing for days (even weeks) at a time as I got lost in my research.

Besides, people always knew when their pretty possessions went missing.

Pushing myself through the narrow wedge in the stone, I emerged under the large dome at night. Above me loomed a large cliff and the castle itself, imposing from this steep, impossible angle.

The tunnel led right from the mud quarter to underneath the palace. Interesting.

I should go back and meet Shava.

And yet … I still likely had hours yet before it was dawn. Plenty of time to sneak into the castle and gather my notes and a few more materials to perform the next ritual … or three.

And food.

And another robe. A pillow wouldn't be amiss either.

Hmm. Perhaps I'd have to find a few more satchels.

* * *

I was feeling pretty productive. I had several satchels of supplies—and my notes, and had run into no trouble at all.

Suspiciously so.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I didn't linger as I gathered everything and made my way back out of the palace, towards the boulder with its fissure that held the tunnel.

Or tried to.

"There you are."

I turned, satchels swinging haphazardly as I struggled to unsheathe my dagger while burdened down with my bags. My heart pounded wildly in my chest as the figure grabbed my wrist, flaring my blood magick in my panic. Golden light illuminated a familiar face, however more haggard and worn than I was used to seeing it.

"Vession," I managed weakly. "You startled me."

His dark shadow in the corridor gave credence to why the boys always referred to him as a great bat. I wasn't sure what his presence here meant for me. "Where have you been? The queen has been asking questions. What have you done ?"

The golden sigils on my arms, face, and neck had faded back into my body, but Vession continued to stare at my skin as though it would come back any moment. I really needed to learn how to control that.

I arched an eyebrow. So my absence had been noticed, and by the queen herself. "The queen herself?"

Vession shook my wrist, his worry and fear turning to anger. "You have always been too smart for your own good. Go back to whatever hole you have found where she cannot find you. There is little I can do for you now."

I wasn't sure if he was talking about my status with the queen or the dangerous magicks I experimented with, but with the way his eyes lingered on my skin I had a fair guess at which one scared him more.

"The queen won't find me," I said, deliberately misunderstanding.

His eyes studied me.

"You are much too intelligent for this," he cautioned, voice low.

I yanked free of his grasp. "Excuse me if I don't think being too smart is a bad thing. Good day."

I turned and fled, taking the side door that led to the rocky edge and where the tunnel began. Leaving him like that rankled me. I didn't like the feeling, almost as though I'd … disappointed him somehow.

No. I didn't like that at all.

I focused on the tunnel. That was the end goal. Get there, get my things in, meet Shava, and—

"Hey! You there!"

Son of a fucking cunt. I hadn't checked where the Fireguard rotation was. Or had Vession sent them after me? I'd kill him if he did. I'd—

"STOP!"

No chance. I crammed my body into the fissure, pulling the satchels and bags behind me. The Fireguard was quick, and caught my shoulder before I could slip into the darkness.

Fuck. Now he knew about the tunnel.

My things clattered to the ground. He whipped me around to face him, and I stared into a young face not much older than mine. Eyes widened in recognition. He knew me, but I didn't know him. That meant he was probably a mud boy who'd grown up in the dormitory with me, nearly minted as a Fireguard.

This could go one of two ways.

"T-the queen has offered a reward for you," he stammered, one shaking hand going to his belt.

My eyes narrowed. "Call your fellows. You can't take me alone."

His lips pursed like that, shoulders tightening with indignation. "Is that so? You don't think I can't whip your ass, you fucking book rat?"

What was it with everyone calling me a rat?

I slunk backwards back towards the hole in the wall, slumping my posture and trying to look fearful.

"Want to see a secret tunnel? Surely that information is worth something," I offered, backing into it slowly.

His head tilted and his sword fell down to his side, belying his interest.

"A secret passageway?" he parroted.

"Yes, in here. Look. It goes all the way to the mud quarter. There are many like it." It didn't matter what I told him now. He'd sealed his fate when he let his hubris get the best of him. It didn't matter how much I told him.

Dead men couldn't tell anyone else.

"It's dark," he said, cautious, but still following behind me into the tunnel.

Perfect.

"I have a torch just in here," I replied.

He stepped all the way into the tunnel, both of us swallowed up by the darkness. I stood in front of my bags and withdrew my dagger, nicking myself on my forearm. The glow of my bloodmagick illuminated his fearful yet intrigued face.

"What's this then?" he asked, a bit of wonder in his voice.

A small flicker of uncertainty hit me, the dagger wavering in my hand as he stared at the golden lines weaving their way through my skin, completely transfixed. He wouldn't see my attack coming. He wouldn't resist. Why would he? I was just another boy he grew up with, not a threat. He wasn't a Noble. He wasn't the queen.

Could I kill him to save the knowledge of this tunnel?

I struck before I could second guess myself.

He didn't fight back despite his training as a Fireguard. How could he? I was a bookish freak; I wasn't a threat to him. My knife went into his neck as easily as though it were warm butter, his blood flowing down onto my hands just as hotly.

His expression was never afraid; it only shifted from awe at the bloodmagick dancing over my skin to slight confusion as his life's blood spurted out between my fingers.

The Fireguard sagged to the ground and died. It was easy … all too easy. My blood magick flared brighter even though I was oddly calm. It pushed at me beneath my veins. It egged me on.

My left leg flared painfully as a reminder of past mistakes, and I nearly crumpled. Stubbornly, I shifted my weight to my other leg.

What? What is it? I asked the magick swirling around me.

We need more … it begged.

More. More.

Something lingered about the Fireguard's body; something old and yet tangible. It made my blood sing in tandem.

Reach out. Take it. Use it.

There was only so far I'd gone with blood magick, doing rituals on myself and using only my blood. I'd read everything that was available in the library, and none of them delved beyond magick that used the blood of others. However, I could make inferences.

Magick, and especially bloodmagick, was based on intent and emotion. Bloodmagick performed on me was calm and controlled. The power involved reflected that. What if a high amount of emotion was involved … such as agony?

What if someone else was involved, experiencing intense bouts of emotion?

This man was a problem. He could bring down Shava and I.

I wouldn't have it.

The Fireguard's blood mingled with the cut on my forearm, and I moved without thinking. Crouching over his body, I slammed the knife deep into his chest. He jerked and shuddered, a fractured moan splitting his lips.

Whoops, not so dead.

The sharp tang of whatever thing that coated my veins spiked deliciously. I dug the blade in, hearing it scrape against his rib cage. I went horizontal. Then vertical. Unseeing anything but my prize, I pushed back the gore and viscera and stared down at his weakly beating heart.

"D-don't."

Blood spurted from his lips, his fingers weakly grasping at himself.

Too little. Too late.

I reached down and touched it.

Thick, hot magick rushed through me, potent as poison and as titillating as Clover's breasts. It was slimy, and warm, and so, so full of purpose and magick and life—

"He went this way, didn't he? He's due back."

The spell broke, and before I could blink, the magick was gone, sucked out of existence and into the void like it'd never been there to begin with. I drew back, and the Fireguard's body hit the dirt hard, eyes unseeing and cold.

Dead.

The realization of the sticky situation I'd just put myself in hit me full force.

"Fuck," I whispered in to the darkness as footsteps approached. "Shit."

I closed my eyes, willing myself to calm down. No one knew the tunnel was here. They'd see nothing. Then I could just … leave the body here, then figure out a way to dispose of it later. Yes, that's what I would do.

No one had to know. No one would know.

* * *

"Where have you been ? I waited for hours … I was just about to head back without you!"

Shava was mildly hysterical, her dark hair in a fuzzy halo around her head from the head of her torch, which was almost burned down to a stub. Her eyes scanned the satchels and bags draped over me, then paused at seeing blood on my hands. I'd wiped it off the best I could, but it still stained my skin in obvious places, as well as gotten under my nails.

"There was trouble," I offered smoothly.

The truth was always the best lie.

"Tell me about it later. We have to go!"

She picked two of the bags off my back without a word and hurried down the corridor.

A few hours later, we emerged out into the mud quarter, dirty and sweating. We had to keep going, and get into the next tunnel to get out of the city. The little girl's (Mari?) unconscious form was gone from the tunnel. Hopefully that meant she'd woken up and gone on her way, telling no one what she'd seen.

All they'd have to do is offer a crust of bread, and she'd spill all she knew , I thought, remembering her rail-thin frame. It was frustrating relying on a child's silence, but we had no choice.

The sun was rising over the mud quarter, but unlike the Seat, no one was stirring. Then again … why would they? There was no market to hustle by, no stalls to bustle through. Just hunger and poverty.

"Come on," Shava urged me, as we crossed through the open area with its food cart and water well.

One lone Fireguard stepped out from behind the cart, stepping up to halt us in our tracks. My bags dropped to the ground and my knife was out in one fluid motion. Only Shava's hand on my wrist stopped me from immediately activating my blood magicks and running him through.

Finish what you tried to start with the other one, my inner voice urged. You felt the magick coursing through your veins. Don't waste this chance. Don't—

" I had hoped it wasn't you I saw earlier, but now I see it was true," L said. "What are you doing here?"

I reared back as L's face peered down at me from underneath his polished gold and red helmet.

Wrong place, wrong time. So sad for him , cajoled my inner voice.

What? No! This was L. He was a fri—Well, he was a helpful connection to have. I wasn't going to kill him !

He isn't even in the palace anymore. Idiot obviously got reassigned to the mud quarter for something stupid. Kill him.

"Z? Zephyr? Why do you look like that?" Shava's voice was tinged with worry, her eyes darting into every shadowy corner as though more Fireguards would pop up any moment. My anger must have been palpable.

"The queen found out about our … association," L said. "She banished me here when I couldn't tell her where you went. Did she banish you, too, finally?" L asked.

My fingers let go of my knife handle, and it slid back into its sheath. Shakily, I picked up my bags.

You almost killed L after he took the fall for you.

Shava's face was white as we left L behind. He didn't call for help or try to follow us. I should feel doubly awful for nearly killing him, but I didn't.

Why didn't I?

"Come on. In."

We made it to the tunnel, and headed back toward the desert.