The castle was a surprise, to say the least.
Of course, Liv had seen plenty of castles in her time. They were all in movies, sure, but at least she thought she knew what to expect. Stone walls, check. Turrets, check. Moat, check. But what she hadn’t been prepared for, at all, was the sheer size of the building before her. It turned out those movies and television shows couldn’t really capture the scope of such a thing.
Which was why she’d been staring at the castle for the better part of the afternoon, even though she was supposed to be helping Rafe and Cedric keep track of wrath scouts. The castle was made of a dark gray stone, much of its lower half covered with dense green ivy and moss. It was so large that it cast a shadow covering nearly half the city. Silhouetted against the bright white sky, it was impossible to take in all at once. And Liv couldn’t keep her eyes off it.
“There are two more,” Cedric whispered from her right.
The three of them were hiding behind a rock outcropping just outside the city walls, and for the last few hours had been keeping track of when wrath guards passed in front of a small side entrance.
“It still does not make sense,” Rafe said, shaking his head. Liv bristled at the sound of his voice, just as she had every time he’d spoken on the rest of their journey here. “Why would there be only two at a time, every half an hour or so? In every previous attempt our forces made this close to the city walls, we encountered wraths in groups of no fewer than ten, sometimes even fifteen. Why would they thin their numbers?”
“Maybe they suspect something,” Cedric said.
“Maybe it is a trap.”
“Or maybe we just got lucky for once?” Liv chimed in.
Neither boy responded. They kept their eyes on the monstrous creatures that passed underneath the city wall a quarter mile away. Looking at Cedric and Rafe, Liv couldn’t help but notice their similarities. Both fighters, both strategists. Both possessing the kind of jawlines so strong that some might describe them as “unfair.”
But that’s where the similarities ended. After the encounter with the professor, Liv could see more clearly now the differences between them. And she could never unsee those differences, just like she could never unsee the specks of blood that had dried on the professor’s white beard, just above his slit throat.
“I say we go after these ones now,” Cedric said in a low voice. “Use Liv’s strategy to get through the gate before any other wraths join their number.”
After a beat, Liv nodded, trying to ignore the knot growing in her stomach. She looked up at the immense, imposing castle again. Her brother was in there somewhere. Waiting.
“Just to be clear,” Rafe said, “we are all agreed this strategy is a bit . . . insane?”
Rafe’s tone was light, but Liv still bristled. “I’ve seen it work,” she said, defensive. “Many times.”
She neglected to mention that those “many times” had always taken place in movies, but there was no need to explain that to Rafe. He looked to Cedric. “You are sure about this?”
Cedric didn’t hesitate as he met Liv’s eyes. “Definitely.”
Rafe shrugged, outvoted. They made their way toward the castle as quickly and as quietly as possible, staying low to the ground and hiding behind trees and rocks. If they were spotted now—either by other passing guards or by any wrath who happened to be watching from the battlements—it was all over.
Cedric and Rafe sneaked up behind the pair of wrath guards who were stationed in front of the wall. The creatures were speaking to each other in low voices and didn’t seem to hear Cedric and Rafe as they moved low through the tall grass. They had to be quick in this attack—if the guards had time to signal for any kind of help, they’d be outnumbered in an instant.
Cedric suddenly jumped up from the grass, sword high. He brought it crashing it down over one wrath’s head, while Rafe simultaneously plunged his sword into the other’s back. The second wrath let out a snarling yell before falling, and both boys tensed up. They looked around the small clearing in front of the side gate, but no one approached.
Liv hid underneath the gray city wall, which cast an enormous shadow over the surrounding grass. Cedric dragged the body of one of the wraths toward a small, wooden door that was set into the bottom of the wall. His muscles strained under the bulk of the creature until Rafe came up alongside to help.
The boys thrust the wrath forward between them, and Rafe pounded a series of four knocks into the wooden door—the same knock they’d seen wrath guards use to gain entrance a few hours earlier.
A small wooden plank lifted away from the center of the door, its edges held by a set of thick, black claws. One black eye filled the hole. Rafe and Cedric both propped the dead wrath up so its chest was at the eye level of the wrath on the other side of the door.
“What is it?” The creature’s voice was somehow both guttural and screeching, like someone randomly plucking the strings of an out-of-tune bass guitar.
Rafe and Cedric looked at each other briefly. From her hiding place next to the door, Liv could see beads of sweat coursing down their faces as they held the dead wrath up. Carefully, Rafe removed one of his hands from the body and knocked on the door again, four times.
The black eye blinked, and then backed away from the hole. Liv heard the sound of something heavy sliding around on the other side of the door. Then it opened a crack.
Just as the wrath guard on the other side of the door stepped back to let the new wrath through, Cedric and Rafe pushed forward, shoving the body roughly through the door. It landed on top of the wrath guard, knocking him to the ground.
Rafe used his sword to quickly dispatch the wrath guard struggling on the ground before he could call for help, then pulled both bodies behind a nearby trough. Cedric closed the door in the wall so as not to alert any passing guards that something was wrong.
“I can’t believe we actually pulled off a Weekend at Bernie’s move,” Liv said, peeling herself away from the stone wall and going through the door before Cedric closed it. He gave her a questioning look. “And by that I mean I had total confidence it would work the whole time.”
The city inside was entirely different from the wild lands just outside the stone walls. Wooden houses, shops, stands, and stalls surrounded streets of densely packed dirt. Some of the buildings had colorful signs attached to their doors, advertising candles or linen or pastries. But every door was shut. Not a single person walked down the streets or into or out of any building. It was like a ghost town.
They took cover in a small alley between the city wall and what seemed to be a butcher shop. A crude wooden cutout of a pig hung over the door. Cedric took the walkie out of his belt and held it up, pushing the button.
“Kat?”
After a few moments, the walkie buzzed in response. “Cedric? Are you inside?”
“Just.”
“We are in position, just out of sight of the northern gates. My father’s men are here, almost all of them able to fight. But . . . the Duoin villagers warned us there would be several wraths, and we have only seen a few.”
“Us too. But we have no time to worry about that now. Liv and I are headed to the castle. Rafe is on his way to the southern gate to open it from the inside for the Duoin fighters.”
“Then we will strike in a half hour to lure the wraths north.”
“Be careful, Kat.”
“You as well.”
Cedric lowered the walkie, and Rafe put one hand on his shoulder. “You will have little time to retrieve our families before the wraths realize we are surrounding them on all sides.”
Cedric nodded.
Rafe started to turn away, but then faced Cedric again. “I know you think I wanted to undermine you for my own glory, but truthfully, I simply did not believe you were capable of doing what needed to be done.”
Cedric raised an eyebrow. “Is that . . . your version of an apology?”
“It is the truth,” Rafe responded. “But nothing that came before matters at this moment. That is my family in there, Prince. Get them out.”
Without waiting for a response, Rafe turned and took off, running quickly through the back alleys. Cedric watched him for a moment, then started heading in the opposite direction, indicating that Liv should follow. They stuck close to the alleys behind buildings, always checking before crossing the dirt roads. Every now and again Liv thought she would see someone—a shadow crossing the street just out of the corner of her eye, or a figure ducking behind a window just as she turned toward it.
“Where are all the people?” she whispered as they drew nearer to the hulking castle.
“I wish I knew,” Cedric responded, his voice strained.
Eventually, the castle walls grew closer. Cedric led her to a small opening in the stone where the turret met the wall.
“Excellent,” Cedric said. “I was hoping the wraths would overlook this.”
“What is it?”
Cedric ducked inside the opening, and Liv followed. Immediately, she felt like retching. The smell of spoiled food—and something worse—was overwhelming in the small space.
Cedric put his hands up over his nose, his eyes watering.
“It is a refuse passage out of the kitchens. Our staff always kept it clean, but it appears the wraths did not have the same scruples.”
Cedric sucked in a breath and began picking his way around foul-smelling piles. Liv tried not to look too closely at them, but when she spotted a suspiciously human-sized bone lying on top of one of the mounds, she started to gag.
They moved quickly until they came out of the passageway and reached a large, circular room with walls of stone. It was surrounded by wooden tables, cabinets, and four fireplaces. A handful of women and men moved among the tables in the room. They were thin and pale, from the old woman who stood hunched over a giant pot to the young girl—she looked to be no older than twelve—sweeping in the corner. Their clothes were ragged, falling to pieces, and their hands were bound with chains.
A thin man standing closest to the passageway noticed Liv and Cedric come through first. His mouth fell open in surprise, and Liv saw he was missing several teeth.
“Aldis? It is Aldis, yes?”
At the sound of Cedric’s voice, the others in the room turned around, some of them gasping in surprise.
The man continued to stare. Finally, he nodded. “Pr-prince?”
“Yes. An army has come to turn the wraths from the castle. They will begin at any moment. I need to know—is my father still alive?”
“I—I do not know, Highness,” Aldis responded, then lifted his chained arms by means of an explanation. “The wraths keep us locked in here to cook.”
Liv looked around the kitchen-like space and the small piles of rags that lined the walls. At first glance they might be mistaken for garbage, but now Liv saw an older woman lying on one and realized what they were. Beds.
“You have been here all this time?” Cedric asked.
“Since the castle fell,” Aldis said, his voice shaking. “We are not permitted to leave the kitchens.”
Cedric’s jaw tightened, his eyes turned dark. Liv knew that look.
“This ends today.” He stared hard at the chains on Aldis’s wrists. “I do not have the keys to free you yet, but I will return. I swear it.”
Without waiting for a response, Cedric strode quickly toward the door at the far end of the kitchen.
“Sir!” Aldis called out after him, his voice barely louder than a hiss. “There are wrath guards on the other side!”
Cedric paused just long enough to pull out his sword, then quickened his step toward the door. He yanked it open so hard the wooden door went flying back into the stone walls. Liv jumped at the noise, but the two hulking guards on the other side of the door looked even more surprised. Cedric stabbed one of them in the side before he could fully turn around. The other wrath reached for what looked like a giant club with metal spikes coming out of its end. It swung the club at Cedric’s head, but he ducked just in time. While the wrath was still following through on its swing, Cedric pushed his sword up into its belly. He pulled it out again quickly as the creature fell forward onto the floor.
Black blood dripped from the tip of Cedric’s sword as he turned toward Liv, his face as still and hard as stone. “Coming?”
Liv scurried after him as he made his way through another hall outside the kitchen. The hall itself was dark, with very few windows cut high into the gray walls, leaving little light. Liv could see what looked like torches stuck into the walls, but they were unlit.
“So that was a little scary,” she finally said, jogging to keep up with Cedric’s pace.
“You have seen more wraths than that in one place.”
“Not them. You. I’ve seen you fight before, but I haven’t seen that . . . You took them out so . . . brutally.”
Cedric kept his eyes forward, his hand tightened on his sword. “Aldis and the others have worked in the kitchens for years. I’ve known most of them since . . . always. And they were in chains. Did you not see? The wraths had them in chains.”
“I saw,” Liv whispered.
They turned a corner, and then Cedric stopped abruptly. Liv didn’t stop in time and crashed straight into his back. He quickly turned and pulled Liv with him, pushing her up against the wall in the first hallway and flattening his body against hers.
“Uh . . . ,” Liv started.
“Wraths. Four of them.” Cedric whispered low, his breath tickling her ear. “Coming this way.”
Liv could feel Cedric’s heart pounding in his chest. Her own pulse sped up long before she heard the clattering, heavy footsteps moving down the hall adjacent to them.
“Stay very still,” Cedric whispered. “And very quiet.”
Liv gave a small nod in response, her ear brushing against his cheek. His breath was hot against the hollow of her neck. This close to him, it was hard not to think of how tightly he’d held her by the stream after saving her from the wrath in the woods. Here she was again, skin humming and buzzing, pulse racing, her body reacting even when she didn’t want it to, even when she hated it.
How would the wraths not hear her when her heart was pounding this loud?
The footsteps moved closer to where they hid in the shadows of the darkened hall. Liv held her breath and willed herself to freeze, like an actor having to play dead. She saw a light approaching the hall opening and realized one of the wraths must be carrying a torch. If it happened to look right, no amount of shadows or stillness would hide them . . .
“Hey!” a gruff voice yelled out, and Liv twitched. Cedric pushed against her more firmly. But the voice wasn’t from the wrath with the torch. It seemed to come from farther away. Another wrath approaching the group.
“Something’s happening. At the north gates.”
“What?” one of the closer wraths responded.
“I don’t know, do I? We’re supposed to go see.”
The wrath with the torch sighed in response. “What the hell is it now?” His voice was already moving away, and the light was retreating, too. Soon, all the wrath footsteps faded away down the hall.
For just a moment, Liv and Cedric remained frozen together against the wall. Liv lifted her eyes and saw he was looking down at her, his face only a couple inches away, his eyes shadowed in the darkness. His lips parted—
“We have to hurry,” he said.
He pulled away quickly, and a rush of cold air filled the space where he’d been. He turned and started to run, and Liv followed, willing her nerves to get a grip. Through every bend and twist in the hallways, down every flight of stairs, past every heavy door they passed, she ran. If the wraths already knew the city was under attack, she had to get to Peter now.
Eventually, the air grew colder and seemed to press down more on Liv’s body. She shivered even as she ran, her California skin not used to this level of damp and cold. Cedric reached back and grabbed her hand, guiding her forward so she wouldn’t trip in the darkness. Up ahead of them, Liv could see a faint light. As she grew closer, she realized it was a flame from a single torch in the wall. It lit up a long, narrow space with bars on either side. It smelled dank and awful, and every one of Liv’s instincts told her not to go in that room. But Cedric’s hand pulled her even faster than before, and his eagerness was contagious.
They were practically sprinting by the time they entered the narrow space, which Liv realized was the dungeon. Cedric stopped abruptly and dropped her hand.
“This cannot be right,” he said, turning around in one full circle at the cells on either side of them. “It cannot be.”
Liv stepped past him, looking left and right. The small torch sent just enough light for her to make absolutely sure—the barred doors on the cells stood open, and every single one was empty.