Kingdom's Fall

Chapter 13, Part 2

The passageway led them out through the castle and down into a cramped, rough tunnel that - according to Aiden - ran beneath the outer wall. Kara didn’t share his confidence. The ceiling sagged ominously, and at its lowest points water seeped from thin cracks to collect into drops that hung fat and ready to fall as soon as head or hand touched them. They had only been underground a few minutes, but Kara was already soaked from them, and shivering because of it.

“Are you sure about this?” She hissed at Aiden, her voice pitched no higher than a whisper in case the sound dislodged something important.

“I’m sure,” he said. “This tunnel was built back when the palace was little more than a single keep. They put it in so the king could slip out unnoticed. I used to think it was for escaping sieges, but the truth of it is they built it so he could slip out and go whoring.”

Kara laughed, a bitter, cold sound. “Imagine trying to explain that to the next in line. Your father was crushed by his own castle walls while slipping out to dip his wick. We did warn him.”

Aiden laughed with her. Up ahead, there was a cough from Gray. “This isn’t the time,” he said.

“I can’t think of a better one,” Kara replied. She felt giddy, as though the laughter had broken something inside of her. “‘when we’re safe’ would be the best, I agree, but considering I’ve just narrowly escaped from a demon while aiding a double regicide I think the only time I’m going to be safe now is when they hang me.”

“A double regicide would be killing two kings, I think,” Aiden said.

Kara wanted to tell him to shut up, but she found herself laughing even harder. There was a sick, desperate edge to it, as though something worse would happen if she stopped. The others said nothing, and it took several minutes for the fit to pass.

Gray stopped ahead. “We’re out of tunnel,” he said. “Now what?”

“Up,” Aiden said. “Reach up, and on the far side there should be a rung. It’s a bit slippery so watch your feet.”

“Where do we come up?” The other man’s voice was loaded with suspicion.

“It used to be a tavern cellar.”

“Used to be?”

“Until I bought the place, yes.”

Kara blinked in the darkness. Bought the place. So offhand, as if the cost of a tavern - one in the middle of the largest, busiest city - was of no consequence whatsoever. She shook her head as she fumbled upwards, reaching for the rung. It was solid and well-set, but slick with moisture. For a moment she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to pull herself up, but once she set her feet on either side of the tunnel, it was no harder than climbing a ladder in the dark. Up above, Gray moved out of the way and a dim light shone in the top section of the tunnel. Kara blinked away the purple blotches that the brightness left in their wake and climbed on, trying not to notice how filthy her hands were or think about how much worse she would look by the end of it.

Out of the tunnel, Kara found herself in a dry, spacious cellar. What light there was filtered in through thick windows made of green-blue glass. The dust raised by the trapdoor danced in the air around them, making the light stand in long shafts that pierced the darkness and gave shape to the hump-back piles of goods that huddled tight against the far wall.

“What have you got stored in here?” Kara asked as Aiden eased himself out of the hole and into the cellar.

“This and that,” he said, non-committal. “Sometimes you just find yourself with a chest of clothes you don’t need anymore, or a vase that’s so out of fashion it needs hiding from the world. Some of it I keep here.”