Fireflight

Chapter Twenty

The decayed steel door slammed to the ground and the band of seven outside entered the cramped tunnel dug through the solid mountain rock. The bigger members of the group were forced to stoop down to fit through the tunnel, the rough ceiling brushing against the tops of their heads. 

"Does anyone know where this leads?" Loona whispered. 

"Not a clue." Blitzo said back from the front of the line. 

"So we could be walking into a trap?" his daughter asked. 

"Possibly." he answered. 

"Awesome." Loona muttered sarcastically. 

The tunnel shaft took them far into the mountain and to a cutout in the mountain that was big enough for them all to stand in. A steep stone staircase carved from the natural stone led up to a heavy wood and iron trap door. 

"Looks like our way in." Moxxie said. 

"Get up there and take a look Moxxie." Blitzo ordered. 

Moxxie nodded and crept up the stairs to the door. With a grunt he heaved it open a few inches and peered through. 

"Clear." he informed them. 

"Get on up there. We'll follow." his boss said. 

The imp opened the trap door up all the way and stepped up into a bleak stone hallway, and he was joined by the rest of his friends soon after. The hallway led only one way, and they followed it. They came to a much larger hall that had been carved into the mountain. On either side of a wide walkway sturdy iron bars lined ten by ten foot rooms separated by cinderblocks reinforced with rebar and concrete. 

"Looks like we've found the dungeon. Let's get looking for Octavia." Millie said in a hushed tone. Her voice echoed quietly off the walls along with their footsteps. 

The group checked the cells. They were disappointed to find that Octavia was not being held in the dungeon. Instead the cells were inhabited by a handful of dirty vagrants, most of whom ignored the intruders. 

"She is an important prisoner. Maybe they'd have her in a tower or something?" Loona suggested. 

"You mean that girl and her mother?" a rough voice asked from one of the cells. 

Loona looked to see a dirty old man sitting on a steel sleeping slab. "What would you know?" she asked. 

"And what do you mean by her mother?" Stolas asked. 

"I heard the guards talking about two high class prisoners. Two Goetia princesses." the prisoner spat. 

"Octavia and Stella!" Stolas gasped. "What the blazes is she doing here?" 

"Where is the tower?" Lord Kirin asked. 

"Up at the surface, a few floors above the catacombs. You can't miss it." the old man told them. 

"We'd better get going then." Blitzo chimed in. 

"Then lead the way." Stolas told him. 

The imp nodded and pushed on, the other six following close behind. They went up two more floors without running into any resistance before reaching a large set of steel doors. Blitzo pushed one open carefully and peered out. 

A vast courtyard stretched out ahead. On all sides thick walls made of reinforced concrete covered with a layer of black mountain stone wrapped around, shielding the area from attacks. Artillery pieces were set into the walls at regular intervals, given a commanding view over the sprawling valley and city far below. To his left, a towering palatial keep stretched fifteen stories into the sky, covering almost half of the Plateau the fortress was built upon. It was an imposing gothic structure with high vaulted walls and archaic stained glass windows. Crenelated walkways and towers gave it depth and shape along with its high, cathedral like roofs.