The Escape from Serrok (The Kingdom of Dragons Book 4)

VI - Into the Castle

Rhenor couldn't help but constantly look over his shoulder as they made their way up the secret tunnel, expecting an enemy to attack them from behind. The tunnel itself was surprisingly well made, with the walls and floor made of evenly stacked cobblestone. There were even hooks for torches, though there weren't any there, let alone lit ones.

That was one of the many reasons Rhen couldn't help but feel unnerved. There was absolute silence, save for their footsteps, and everything only a few feet away was pitch black. The only reason they could see at least the little they could was due to the glowing algae, which Elaya had brought with her. In other words, there could be a dragon waiting for them up ahead, and they wouldn't know.

And he could tell Elaya was having similar thoughts based on how she kept her hand on the dagger hanging from her belt. Rhenor had no idea how long they'd been walking through this corridor, but it felt like far too long.

He was paying so much attention to what was happening—or not happening—behind them that he almost flinched when they climbed a set of stairs and found themselves in front of a fake wall. Or at least he hoped it was fake because the escape tunnel ended there, and there was nowhere else to go.

Elaya gave him an unsure look, touching the wall. Rhenor did the same. It felt the same as all the other walls they'd walked past before, but he knew it was different. It had to be.

He put his shoulder against the stones, pushing at it with all of his strength, but it didn't budge. But he supposed that made sense. If these were escape tunnels, then surely if this was a door, it would open towards them. If there was no way of opening it from this side, Rhenor would get very angry.

He ran his hands over the whole wall, hoping to find something using touch that he couldn't with his eyes in the darkness. The vial of algae Elaya was now wearing as a necklace helped light up parts of the wall, but the light blocked out some other parts, which made it both beneficial and a problem. But Rhenor would take it over the complete darkness there would be otherwise.

Suddenly his hand came in contact with something colder than the stones making up the wall, all the way at the left edge of the wall. A metal handle, it had to be. He gripped it, smiling to himself a little. Now he just hoped they would be able to open it and it wasn't locked somehow. Though Rhenor had no idea how that would be possible with an actual wall, he wouldn't put it past the dragons to lock their escape routes.

He pulled on it, trying to get the wall to move, which it did with surprising ease. There must have been some kind of mechanism to make it easier to use. He immediately stopped, though, grimacing at the grinding noise of stone rubbing against stone moving the wall produced. They needed to be smart about this and not just open the door without thinking. At least there had been no one close enough to notice the wall moving because they surely would have already tried opening it to see what was going on, otherwise.

"We need to see if we can somehow make sure there's no one on the other side," Rhenor whispered to Elaya. That was easier said than done, however. There was no opening this door inconspicuously.

"Let's open it just a little," Elaya suggested. Though Rhen was sure she only said that to get things moving. They might as well pull the wall open the whole way since it would bring the same amount of attention.

But since Rhenor had no better idea, he did as he was told, grasping the handle again and pulling at it, bringing with it the rumbling of stone again. He sincerely hoped it wasn't as loud as it seemed to him due to how quiet the escape tunnel was.

He blinked as light blinded him for a second as a small gap appeared between the fake wall and the castle's interior. He held his breath as he pushed himself against the wall, trying to see as much as he could through the tiny crack.