A Shade of Vampire 37: An Empire of Stones(55)

My hands touched cold stone, and I pulled my body forward.

“I’m in,” I called to Ruby.

As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could just make out a narrow path in front of me, and the outline of doors on the left-hand side—all chained shut.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” she whispered. I could sense the same relief in her that I’d experienced a few moments ago. It wouldn’t be long now.

“I don’t think I’m alone though…when I was shouting for you I think I heard another voice…” Ruby trailed off. I listened, alert and tense – hoping that it wasn’t one of Queen Trina’s guards.

“Help…please.” I jumped as the voice called softly out of the darkness, coming from the cell closest to me.

“Ruby…Ash…please, I’m here,” it continued, the voice so frail I could only just hear it.

“Julian!” Ruby responded. “Julian—is that you?”

“It’s me.”

I looked into the nearest cell. This one was different from the others—there were no bars on the door, just a thick black block with a small hole in it. I looked through, but could only see a hump of shadow in the far corner.

“Julian?” I spoke though the hole. “Are you all right?”

The hump moved, and shakily dragged itself to its feet. Painfully slowly, the shape moved toward the door. Now I could get a better look at his face, and what I saw chilled me to the bone. He was gaunt to the point of emaciation, and his eyes bulged with untold horrors.

“Hi, Ash,” he whispered. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too.” I gulped. Here just in time—it didn’t look like Julian would have been able to hold on for much longer. I felt sick. Sick at what Queen Trina had been doing to him while the entire time I’d been above, eating like a king and living in the lap of luxury.

“Can you get me out?” he asked quietly, and I didn’t hear a shred of hope in his voice.

“I will,” I replied. “I need to check on Ruby, and then I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Okay,” he agreed.

I turned away from him, hating myself for feeling relieved that I could do so—the despair and dejection in his eyes was tough to take. I wondered if Julian would ever make a full recovery from this.

I walked down to the rest of the cells, checking each one to see if Ruby was inside. I found her at the far end, near a door that looked like it was the main entrance to the dungeon.

“Hey,” I exhaled on seeing her. Her hands were wrapped around the bars, and I closed mine over them, noticing how cold they were.

“Thanks for showing up.” She smiled up at me.

“You trying to make a habit of getting locked up, shortie?” I asked, trying to pretend that I was fine—that I didn’t utterly despise myself for letting this happen.

She smiled bleakly, then replied in a quiet voice, “Is Julian okay? He didn’t sound so good.”

“He’ll be fine when he gets out of here,” I lied.

She nodded, her eyes downcast.

“He would have been down here for so long.”

I didn’t want her to dwell on it, so I smiled reassuringly and stood back from the door.

“I need to find something to get you out of here.” I eyed the narrow passage, hoping I would find something suitably sharp to cut through the chains. Using True Sight, I looked in the direction of Julian’s cell. Behind the furthest wall there was an old armory—full to the brim with axes and swords that didn’t look like they’d been used in the last hundred years.

“I’ll be back,” I promised her.

“Hurry,” she whispered. “I’m worried Queen Trina’s going to recover.”

I hastened back toward Julian’s cell, hoping I could find a door that would lead through to the armory. There was nothing but solid stone wall. I kicked it in frustration, sending dust and debris clattering down from the ceiling. Realizing that the wall was about as old as the equipment in the armory, I started to kick the different stones in the wall. If just one would give, then I could reach through and remove a weapon.

I tried a few, but they wouldn’t budge, but then with the fifth kick, one of the larger stones moved. I pushed it with my hands, gently easing it out of the crumbling cement. Finally, it gave way and, with a satisfying thump, landed backward in the armory. I heard the clatter of swords and other weapons that had been lined up against the wall—and hoped that we were far enough away from anyone for it not to have been heard.

“Ash, are you okay?” Ruby hissed.

“I’m fine,” I replied, then fell silent, waiting to hear if anyone was heading our way. When nothing happened I reached in and felt around with my hand until it lighted on a particularly fierce-looking axe.