A Shade of Vampire 37: An Empire of Stones(54)

So I had put her in harm’s way—and she was paying for my mistake.

Ruby had shown me a dungeon, a dark and damp place, which I could only assume was beneath the palace somewhere. The problem was, this place was like a labyrinth: I was constantly getting lost, even though I mostly stuck to the same area of the palace—back and forth to my room, the council chamber and Queen Trina’s private office.

The queen was still weak from the syphoning and the subsequent battle. She had been injured badly, and as soon as we had returned to the palace, she had locked herself in her room with two other ministers to revive her energy. I had never seen anything like last night’s trial. The ministers had gone too far this time. Surely someone would tell them to stop—that the contest was becoming too dangerous. Something had gone wrong. The Impartial Ministers hadn’t been prepared, just like at the disk trial. Something else had been controlling the show…I just didn’t know what.

Right now though, trying to understand what the hell was going on in Nevertide wasn’t my priority—Ruby was.

I started walking in the opposite direction from Queen Trina’s chambers. I didn’t know where I was heading, but I wanted to get as far into the depths of the castle as I could, as quickly as I could. The moment that Queen Trina regained her full strength, the barriers around Ruby’s cell would return. There had to be a trap door or entrance somewhere to the dungeons—and I would most likely find it near storerooms or servant areas.

The palace, as usual, was deserted.

I didn’t know if it was a hindrance or a help—on the one hand it meant I could explore undetected, but it also meant that I couldn’t ask anyone directions to the lower levels of the building, even under the guise of an urgent request from the queen.

Passing empty, lavish courtyards and long, polished tile corridors, I started to feel more and more lost. I quickened my pace, and started using True Sight to look in all the rooms that led off from the main hallway. They were all empty save for opulent furniture, and occasionally brightly colored birds held in cages who all called out as soon as I saw them, sensing something was there.

Eventually, the opulence and polish started to fade. The grand hallway shrank, and then broke off to smaller passageways—all white-washed stone, but without any decoration. There were three to choose from, and I chose the middle tunnel, figuring that it was more likely to head downwards, rather than circle around the castle.

I followed it, relieved when it started to descend in a steep trajectory. It was dimly lit, but there was more than enough light for me to find my way. Before long, I came to a door, its frame sunk back into the stone wall.

Expecting the door to be locked, I was surprised when it creaked open, cobwebs dropping from the ceiling as it did so. Clearly this door hadn’t been opened in a while…It wouldn’t be what I was looking for. Still, I decided to explore the room anyway and see if it led elsewhere.

It was mostly empty, apart from a few overturned barrels that someone had used as tables, old candles glued to their surfaces with overflowing wax. As I walked further in, my eyes were drawn to the floor. Marked on the stone surface was a huge rune—the exact same one Ruby and I had seen in the village. Thankfully, this version wasn’t created in blood, but a black charcoal or paint.

I don’t understand.

Why was the same rune here? I’d originally thought that it had something to do with an uprising against the Hellswans, but now I wasn’t so sure. If Queen Trina’s palace was the hotbed for an anti-Tejus revolution, I thought I would have noticed…or been invited along.

I looked around, trying to see if there were any further clues as to the meaning of the rune. At the far end of the room, behind the door, was a small iron square about two foot in length and height, with an iron ring at its center. Out of curiosity more than anything else, I pulled at it—and the iron square came away from the wall. It was unexpectedly heavy, and I dropped it, causing a clatter that reverberated around the room.

Crap.

A hole had been revealed in the wall, looking out onto pitch black.

“Hello!” A voice came from within…a female voice.

“Ruby?”

“Ash!” she cried back. I leaned against the wall for a second, the energy knocked out of me as relief seeped into my bones.

“Ash?” she called again. “Is that you?”

“It’s me—I’m coming,” I replied hastily.

This obviously wasn’t the main entrance, but it was better than nothing. I could just about squeeze through the hole—the only problem was not knowing if there was going to be a fifty-foot drop beneath me or just solid ground, and it was too dark at the point of this entrance to use True Sight. I shuffled forward on my stomach, feeling my way with my hands. Once my torso was fully through the hole, I grappled mid-air, trying to feel for a landing.