The Emperor's Edge 3: Deadly Games

The Emperor's Edge 3: Chapter 9 Part 2

“Also the tunnels at the floor level are wider and easier to navigate. I believe that corridor leads to the Graveyard of the Fallen Enemies.” Books lifted a finger, perhaps wanting to explain the place more thoroughly, but he glanced at Maldynado and said no more.

“Doesn’t sound like a place we need to visit,” Amaranthe said.

“Is that a dog humping another dog?” Maldynado pointed to the hieroglyph she had noticed. Leave it to him to have a mind at least as crude as hers.

“Actually, yes,” Books said. “It’s a sign of dominance. These people were letting everyone know they had dominated and vanquished their fallen enemies.”

“Dominance, eh?” Maldynado said. “If you say so.”

“Left or right?” Amaranthe asked. “Any thoughts?”

“Not from me,” Books said.

“There’s an uncommon event,” Maldynado said.

Amaranthe lifted the lantern and examined both stairwells. The right held fewer cobwebs, and soft gouges and stirrings on the dusty steps might be footprints. “It looks like that way has seen traffic more recently.”

When no one disagreed, she led the way downward again. The stairs did not descend far before they reached a T-section with wide corridors.

A faint rustle came to Amaranthe’s ears. Her imagination? She dimmed the lantern in case it was not.

The blackness to the left seemed less absolute than the blackness to the right.

Nothing on the smooth granite floor would be an obstacle for their feet if they moved forward in darkness, so Amaranthe signaled to her men with a finger to her lips, pointed, and dimmed the lantern the rest of the way.

Darkness swallowed them. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the gloom. There was not enough light for her to see anything except that it was less dark in one direction than the other, but that would have to be enough.

A hand reached out and found her shoulder. Maldynado’s, she guessed, because he had a tendency to be less tentative than Books when touching people, especially female people. She hoped Books had a hand on Maldynado’s shoulder as well. She did not want to lose anyone down here.

With one hand on the wall, she felt her way down the corridor. She found an edge—a corner. The light increased when she turned down the new passage, though she could not see its source.

“...longer?” a male voice asked ahead.

Amaranthe halted. The grip on her shoulder tightened in warning.

She turned an ear toward the passage, but whatever response the question garnered was too quiet for her to hear. She tried to decide if that had been Mancrest’s voice. It had not sounded familiar, but it was hard to judge anything from one word.

“Want me to check it out?” Maldynado whispered in her ear.

“No,” she whispered back. Basilard would be the first to tell Maldynado he was not the stealthiest man on their team. She pressed the lantern into Maldynado’s hand. “I’ll go. Stay here. Fetch me if I get myself in trouble.”

His snort was soft, but audible. She patted him on the chest, then eased her short sword free and continued down the passage. Toe before heel, she walked, making sure there was nothing on the floor that might crunch or be kicked before committing to each step.

Cobwebs brushed at her face, and she stifled an urge to sneeze again. It was hard to sneak up on someone while discharging dust from one’s nostrils.