The sound was familiar even though I had never seen Wolff's beast form. I shivered and felt Princess Lola jump and go into an unsettling reality hidden behind an uncomfortable darkness. There was no more choice to make. I would go down. And I was sure, as she clung close to me, that Amelia would go too.
We descended in silence, our breaths the only noise around us. I missed the comfort Princess Lola gave me, but I knew she would be fine. A tiny little spider covered by shadows would never be caught. The steps were uneven, damp and hard to see, so I had my hand on the wet wall, feeling all its imperfections and rough edges. My skin scratched against the stone that had not seen the sunlight in years.
On my side, Amelia walked with a peculiar easiness, carrying two daggers she had stolen from the sleeping guards. She secured them with a tight grip, close to her hips, her stance quiet and her form blended into the space. I wondered how a lady such as herself could be so comfortable with sharp knives. But then again, I was no one to comment when I had a musket hanging from my shoulder and a pistol in my hand.
We were on the lookout for noises, but we heard nothing but water drops falling onto the ground, making the floor slippery. For moments, I thought I had heard screams, cries or even steps. But then nothing came of it. It was just this space screwing with my mind.
We walked for what seemed like an eternity until a faint light came into view. We slowed our steps, or breaths, making sure we made as little noise as possible as we followed the light into a cavernous room. In my lifted hand, my pistol was set for a shot, while Amelia had her daggers ready to strike.
In the beginning, I thought it was empty, with an exception of a table with a lamp, the only light in the room, and two chairs of mouldy wood crashing against the wall. The smell was stuffy and sharp, and I could not place it. Until I looked to the left side, opposite the table and the chairs, and I found them.
A group of boys, of all ages from as old as 13 to as young as 8 years old. All very much the same, with dark hair, fair skin, sharp nose and features that would turn heads when they grew up. All very much like Cedric. Except for the eyes.
Instead of that vibrant red, almost like it was two rubies plucked from one of the wealthiest crowns, theirs were milky white. Dead inside. Like the rest of their bodies. They said nothing, did nothing, except sit side by side, arms hugging their knees. Waiting.
The shock passed, and I rushed to the bars that kept the boys from freedom. I tried to open it, but no matter what, it did not budge. And the boys never moved. My fingers filled with rust, my apron became grey and nothing changed.
"Here." Called Amelia, showing me some bulky iron keys. "They were on the ground."
I stopped my struggle and took a bigger notice of them dangling between her index finger and her thumb.
Could it be so easy?
It must be a trap. But I would not leave them here. I would not forget them or turn my back as I did before. This time, I was going to help them. I took the keys and tried them in the keyhole. The third clicked, and the door opened.
And it was then that the boys turned their heads. Still dead inside. Still lost in their minds.
"Who are you?" asked one of them, the youngest. He got up from his corner with effort, his hair not as black and his eyes not as milky.
"We have to leave this place." I said, scrambling to his side.
He took a step back, his eyes moving from me to Amelia. The spot between his eyebrows wrinkled. "We are not supposed to leave here."
I tried to take his arm, but he moved away. Impatience would not take me anywhere. I glanced back to the empty room outside those bars, wondering how long they would be that way.
"You won't leave this tower, just hide from the wolf." I said, and on cue, a wretched howl vibrated through the walls. The boys shivered, fear bringing some life to their bodies. I would take that.
"They won't move." the boy said.
So many questions passed through my head, but only one left my lips. "Can you make them?"
He waited, looking at boys around him, older and stronger, before he returned his attention to me. "I think so."
Relief filled my heart until the howl came again.
The noise was coming from a crack in the wall outside the cell, where all light was eaten into nothing. It was big enough to fit a person small as I was. I stared back at the boy coming to my side and pushing one of the older boys by the arm, whispering words I did not understand. But whatever he said to him was working and the boy and the others were rising and moving.
"What is your name?" I asked softly, as if my words may scare him and the others.
The boy looked at me, puzzled, before he pushed his threadbare shirt down with his finger. Strapped around his neck was the same wolf necklace I had seen on another boy like him, same hair, same lost stare, at the edge of the Empress palace. He turned it and showed me the back and the number on it.
57.
It was just a number. Yet, it was everything the boy had, together with that necklace. He and the other 56 children.
There were many words passing through my head. Of disgust and sadness. Anger and disbelief. But nothing would ever be enough. So I just shook it off and kneeled by his side, realizing, strangely, how big I had gotten since I first came into this world, and I looked deep into his eyes.
"Follow my friend over here and help the rest escape. Be brave..."
"And the goddess will reward you." he finished like he was finishing a story told over and over.
It filled me with rashes, afraid of where he had learned this and why. Instead of voicing my fears, however, I just nodded, turning back to Amelia, who did not seem pleased. Before she could voice it, I started. "I need to help, Wolff, but I need your help to help them."
"We can go together." She said, coming inside the enclosure, her knifes glinting under the tenuous light.
She grabbed my hands; her knives fell to the floor, carving their way into the ground. Amelia's eyes were shining green orbs, intense and demanding.
"You can find me after you have found a place to hide them." I relented.
Amelia stared at me for a long moment before she let go of my hand. I took a breath and rushed for the lantern on the table outside, turning my way to the crack and glancing one last time at Amelia and the children, praying for their safety. Wondering why there were only 10 boys there. Fearing, deep down, the answer.
I stepped into the darkness, feeling a chilling wind that seemed to come from a hungry beast. On my hand was the lantern, while the other had my pistol and comfort. It was mouldy, dirty, and full of webs and vermin crawling on the walls.
I heard nothing but my echo and the howls of a captive wolf. The walls narrowed and then broadened until I could see natural light coming from an open room. Reaching it, I found a large circular room, the size of our biggest ballroom, taller than our own palace, buried deep into the Empress's palace quarters. On the furthest side was a carved statue of the Sun goddess, just as tall as the room. But instead of the one in the temple that seemed serene, this was ready to fight whatever came from where I stepped out. A sword in one hand and a shield in another. I turned my head back to see that I was coming out of a hole in a headless carved statue. It was not the goddess, but a god, and I imagined it was Cedric's God. He too had a sword, though no shield.
The light that had guided me was coming from an opening above covered by coloured glass, darkened by time and misuse. Once, years ago, the glass would be clear enough to show the images engraved in them, to tell stories of old, like the ones from the throne room. Now, however, they were nothing but a provider of light in this strange place. And as I followed it, my eyes stopped at several stone coffins, the only things in this barren place. One of them, the one at the centre, was open.
I trembled. My limbs refused to move. The shaking was almost unbearable, however; I forced myself to continue the path. I could not hide it, pretend it did not happen. My pistol fell from my hand, and I walked to the open coffin. Something was being crushed under my feet, but I refused to look down to see what it was. My fingers reached the lid, touching its smooth surface, wondering how old and how long it was there before I took a deep breath and peered at what was inside.
My vision blackened for a moment, my brain unable to process it. There were several bones, of different phases of decay, clothes of different sizes and colours, pieces of hair and skin still waiting to be eaten by the vermin. But what struck me most was the necklace near the heads.
A wolf necklace.
And when I took it, the number I read behind it was...
Number 7.
My knees cave in, the lamp slipped from my grip, and I hunched over. Everything that I still had in my stomach now was on the ground, together with my tears.
Here it is... a sad chapter.
This one was hard to write... still, I hope you enjoy reading it.
Now we know a little more about what is behind the Empress palace, but more is to come and the next chapters will bring more action and other points of view. Can you guess which??
Sorry again for the delay. I am writing but slowly this time, I was on well deserved holiday in Oxford visiting a friend and lost track of my writing responsibilities.
In case you want to know and see some pictures you can follow me on Instagram, andreasouza_author :)
Anyway in the meantime we reached 200k. At the time of writing this 210k. It is surreal almost how fast it went since my last chapter, for the old and new readers thank you so much for reading and showing support for Lulu's story it means a lot. It makes me write even when I am tired, has literally zero time and when life is hard.
You make it worth it!!
Thank you :)