Adventuresome

Chapter 7

Lilliana walked more cautiously now. She tried to keep her footsteps silent and her breathing shallow. Dominick seemed to know exactly how to get to the torture room within the prison. She had to wonder how he knew, even if he refused to explain. She had to wonder if Father had ever come here. He was the advisor to the emperor after all, and this was a prison that held important prisoners like Maura Latcher. Even so, she could hardly imagine her father walking these halls, especially to some torture room.

The walls were damp and the air started to feel like soup the more stairs Lilliana climbed down. There were no cells for prisoners on these walls. It was so dark that Lilliana had trouble seeing the steps that she walked. The dim torches were unable to fully lift the blanket of darkness.

The thought of being forced down here to face torture, she had no idea what that must have been like for the prisoners.

No one deserves this.

Dominick had been quiet for some time now. She wondered if he had any thoughts on torture. She wondered what he thought about torture, about death. He had lived for centuries and centuries. Some, including Lilliana, even thought that he and the other three great spirits had lived since the dawn of the world. As far as she knew, Dominick had never given a proper answer to anyone who had asked about his beginning. Perhaps no one had ever dared to ask before.

The pipes that had criss-crossed the ceiling among the cells were absent in the twisting staircase. The fact that the pipes deliberately brought the screams of torment to the other prisoners seemed impossibly inhumane to Lilliana.

"Wait."

She hesitated, and at the same time Dominick's voice rang inside of her thoughts.

"What are you doing? Keep going!"

The voice that had told her to wait was not Dominick's.

Dominick, didn't you tell me to wait? The thought was a desperate plea. She already knew it was someone else. Some other spirit?

"I said nothing of the kind. Now go, someone else is coming down the stairs."

"He didn't say anything but I did."

It was the second voice again. It was definitely male, but it sounded much hoarser than Dominick's voice. Even though she was listening for the differences in the voices, and she felt unsure about it all, she started to continue down the steps again. If Dominick was right and someone was coming after her down the stairs, they had no time for her to stand still while she figured out what this other voice wanted.

Who are you?

"It's me, Dominick." His voice was becoming angry,

Not you, just be quiet for a moment unless it's something really important.

There was a harrumph from Dominick and slight laughter from the second voice. Lilliana frowned as she hurried down the steps.

"I can't give you a name if that is what you seek from me."

What do you mean?

"I have no name. None that I can remember if I ever had it."

Why are you talking to me?

"Because I want to help you?"

How can you help me?

"Drop that staff and wait for me if you want to find out."

Not a chance.

She gripped Father's staff of office tighter. Dominick's crystal flared a pale blue, sensing her uncertainty. She was glad he was being quiet though so she could focus on this other voice. Quickening her pace, Lilliana hurried down the last few stairs and hesitated just a moment.

"Wait, don't go there!"

"Take a left here Lilliana."

She took the left hand turn.

"I said wait!"

Dominick, there's another voice in my head, I think it's another spirit.

If it was indeed another spirit, she had no idea where he had come from or why he was inside of her head. Only when spirits were given to or controlled by a mage could the mage hear them like this. Dominick could speak to others, but only by speaking as any normal human would. Using a thought connection like he was with Lilliana was something only mages could do with spirits they had a connection with. Father had instructed Dominick to keep her alive and had given her the staff. This kind of connection allowed Dominick the ability to create a thought link like he had. But Lilliana had not come into contact with any other spirits or mages looking to give her a spirit. Dominick was the only spirit who should be able to create a thought link with her.

She was walking fast, as if she could outpace the rogue voice.

"Don't listen to the other voice, just listen to me."

I know, it's telling me to wait.

"Maura Latcher isn't here."

This time Lilliana almost stumbled.

Dominick, it's telling me Maura Latcher isn't even here.

"Ignore it!"

The other voice cackled with laughter.

She tried to ignore it, but she felt just a tiny bit of doubt. No one had yet explained almost anything about what was happening. Even her father had been vague. It was all supposed to be kept quiet so that they could avoid chaos from the city. She trusted Father and she trusted Dominick. Just as she had always trusted the spirits to guide her. But now this new spirit was saying completely different things.

She believed in Dominick, and yet...

"Hide!"

"Around the corner!"

Both voices spoke up at once. Looking around she saw only blank walls down the hall and the stairs behind her. From the stairs came the sound of footsteps and the dim light of a torch. With both voices in agreement, she hurried to the bend in the hall. There she found a door leading into some kind of armory.

Going in, she shut the door behind her and hid behind a closed chest. It was too heavy to move but there was just a sliver of space, just enough to squeeze in.

Her heart was pounding. Already she hated this hiding spot. Dominick in his staff was too large to hide properly, and she herself felt exposed. Not only that, but if someone did come in she had nowhere to run. Even if she could run somewhere, she was wedged between the wall and the chest, it was a bad place to run from.

There was no time to find a new hiding place. Hardly had she settled in before the door creaked open a sliver.

Had they seen her come in? Did they know she was here already?

The light of the torch stretched out in a long slice along the floor. In tiny increments, it started to grow wider and the door was ever so slowly pushed open.

A figure stepped through the doorway. Short and thin, the shadow crept inside the room and looked around. They seemed to see what they were looking for, and Lilliana took a shaky breath when the figure hurried to the other wall and picked up a truly gigantic sword. The figure pulled the harness of a scabbard on over her head and under her arm. Then in one swift motion the figure swept the sword up over their head and into the scabbard so that the giant sword rested attached to the figure's back. The figure was so short and the sword so large that Lilliana noticed the sword might actually have been taller than its wielder

Then, far closer than before, came the screaming. Instead of from pipes overhead, the sound came from just down the hall.