Demos smiled, lowering his hand, green flashes of light snapping at his palm. He'd used his wind globe to cover our prints.
Esteril's dark gray castle on top of a rocky hill looked like something out of a horror movie. From a pole on the tallest tower, the black flag with a red flame in the middle waved violently in the wind.
Edgar squatted behind a gardener's building, and we dropped down around him. "See over there." He pointed in the distance. "Conemar must have the Tetrad in the basement or the barn."
"What are those?" I asked, pointing at the horizon across the field.
Edgar looked to where I indicated. "Animals. Conemar most likely had them removed from the barn to keep the Tetrad there."
Arik scooted up to Edgar's side. "So what's the plan? We go to the barn and Royston destroys the Tetrad?"
"You have it wrong," Uncle Philip's voice came from behind us, and I almost fell over.
I shot up, rushed over, and pulled him down to the ground. "What are you doing here?" I whispered.
"My mind is good today," he whispered back. "I still have my magic, and it's a high wizard's power. You'll need it going up against Conemar."
"What if-?" I couldn't say it, but he could.
"I lose my mind?" He touched my cheek. "It's a risk I'm willing to take."
"I'm not," I said.
"It isn't your choice." Uncle Philip smiled. "You have been the best surprise of my life. Let me do this for you. If I die, so be it. Soon, my quality of life will diminish."
I stared at him for a long moment. It was wrong of me to stop him from fighting for a cause he believed in. Or even fighting an unfathomable beast that could kill us all. History had shown that sometimes it took great sacrifices to ensure that good prevailed over evil. The memory of Bastien zapping my hand so that the Writhe didn't take me along with him punched my heart with a life-threatening blow. It was Uncle Philip's choice to make, not mine. I had to let go.
Tears stung the back of my eyes, and I nodded silently to Uncle Philip.
He gave me a knowing nod back, then crouch-walked over to Edgar and Arik. "He'd never leave the Tetrad in such an unsecured place. It would be in the basement. There's an old torture chamber just off the corridor to the prison cells. It's large enough to hold the beast."
Though we left at two in the morning from Barmhilde, the sun would be rising in Esteril soon.
I moved closer to Edgar. "We can't bring all these people in there. It'll be a parade. I have to go on my own with Royston. I've been to the basement before; I know my way. You have to get the others to a shelter or something. They'll freeze out here."
"She's right," Arik said and turned to me. "But I'm going with you."
Edgar surveyed the others. "All right. We go to the barn. Lei?"
"Sounds good to me," she said.
"A covered passageway leads from the barn to the castle." Edgar inclined his head in that direction. "You can access the castle from there. We won't be too far away if needed."
"Okay, let's move," I said.
The wind blew blankets of snow that threatened to bury us. Each step was a struggle, and my exposed skin burned as the frozen air smacked me. Finally, we reached the barn and relief from the torturous storm. There was a large hole there where some of the animals must have escaped. Uncle Philip had made the right call. Conemar would never keep the Tetrad in such an unsecured place.
Our group found warm corners and settled in for the wait. One of the Couve guards, a young guy with big ears, gave Arik a window rod to contact Edgar if we needed help.
Emily removed her scarf and wrapped it around Arik's neck.
"I shan't be outside," he said.
"It's for luck."
He glanced down at it and gave her a dimpled smile. "Thanks."
Royston took Deidre's hand in his. "You are like the sun in this dark world. Thank you for allowing me a small bit of life."
"I wish we had more time," she said softly. "There's so much I could show you."
"See it all for me." He released her hand.
Demos gave me a tight hug. "I thought you should have some sort of emotional parting like the others."
I laughed and pulled away from him. "I'll carry your hug with me."
"You do that." He winked.
Jaran came in for a hug and Lei joined him. "Keep your head on the goal," she said at the same time he whispered, "I love you like a sister."
When we parted, Uncle Philip kissed my cheek. "Don't worry about us out here. You keep your mind on what you have to do. Think of nothing else."
"I will."
I created a light globe and led Arik and Royston into the passageway. The wind whistled through the cracks and shook the walls violently. Arik ignited his fire globe and moved beside me with Royston following.
We came to a large fissure in the wall. Snow rushed through it and covered the stone floor of the passageway. A chittering sound came from the rafters above, and I glanced up. A bat or a miniature dragon was perched on one of the wooden beams, staring down at us.
I raised my globe to see it better and it took off squawking. It circled around and dove for us, and I ducked. It hit Royston square on the chest, knocking him to the ground. He was back on his feet fast.
"She's protecting her nest," Arik said, climbing over the crumbled rocks in front of the opening. "Keep moving, and she'll leave you alone. And, hopefully, her attack hasn't announced our arrival here."
Keeping my head down, I continued after Arik.
"Evil bird," Royston snapped under his breath.
The passageway ended at a metal double door with a large sliding latch secured by a thick lock. Arik inspected it. "This may be complicated. It's tungsten. Hard to break."
"The lock is ancient," Royston said. "When I was a boy, I would unlock the one securing the pantry by using a sharp object. It requires a few tools."
I gave him an incredulous look. "Let me just grab my toolbox for you."
Royston raised an eyebrow at me. "Are you being sarcastic again?"
A noise came from the other side of the door, and Arik waved us back. We shuffled fast the way we'd come, trying to prevent our boots from making too much noise, and we were around the corner and out of sight just as the doors opened and slammed against the walls.
Arik squeezed through the broken opening in the wall with me, then Royston behind him. Flattened against the outside wall, the blizzard-like snow smacked my face. The mumbling of voices grew nearer. The dragon-esque bird squawked.
"Damn thing," a man grumbled. "Why won't Conemar let us kill that nuisance?"
"He said it's the only one left of its kind," a woman answered.
"Let's just feed the animals quickly," another man added. "This weather is going to freeze my man parts off. Tonella will have hot stew for us when we return."
When they had passed and were a ways down from us, Arik pulled out the window rod and called one of the Couve's guards. "You have company coming," he said and closed the rods. "Let's move."
After single-filing back into the passageway, we sprinted to the entrance, my shield bouncing on my back. Thankfully, the door had been left open. Arik and Royston kept close behind me as I moved us swiftly through the bare, cold corridors, ducking into corners or other rooms whenever I heard someone approaching.
We came to a wide staircase with a corridor on each side of it. The one on the right led to the kitchen, and the left one to a stairway to the dungeon.
I went left with Arik and Royston on my heels.
The stairs were slick, and I took them carefully down to a narrow hall. The small sconces on the walls of the corridor didn't provide much light. We passed several iron doors with small barred windows lining the walls. The door I'd cut the hinges off with the Chiave sword when I rescued Carrig from his cell was still missing.
If I weren't rushing so fast, I would've realized making it this far into the castle had been too easy. Maybe Arik would have noticed, too. I crossed the guards' room to the door leading to what I believed to be the torture chamber.
Arik and I created fire globes and he slowly opened the door. Except for the shackles hanging from the ceiling and a number of bloody torturing tools, the room was empty. The Tetrad wasn't there.
"I'm thinking Edgar's source lied," I said, backing up. I didn't want to be in a room where people had most likely lost their lives.
"What's that noise?" Royston asked, weaving through the torture racks, surgical-like tables with bindings, and baskets of tools.
I followed close behind him. "This is so creepy."
The closer we got to where the sound originated, I realized it was a tiny voice. I peeked around Royston's arm. Sen hung from manacles fastened around his wrists and nailed to the wall. A book faery sat in a birdcage on a table nearby. She was much younger than Sen. Her hair was brown like his, but her wings were almost transparent.
"Help her," he said weakly.
"How did you end up here?" I searched a nearby table for keys.
Royston joined the search.
"Conemar took my sister," he said. "If I refused to spy for him, he threatened to kill her. He wanted to know the goings-on in the libraries. Specifically, your whereabouts."