Under the Roses

73 - To the House of Death

ROME

Rome missed his knives. It wasn't so much that he had an intense desire to stab something at the moment, he just missed their weight: heavy, but familiar.

He still had some of them, of course. Fritz said he wasn't allowed to stay in the palace unless he promised not to kill anyone, which he'd done and meant, but apparently, that wasn't enough for Fritz. Still, the guards had given up after a while. Rome admitted he hadn't made it easy for them to search him.

Rome didn't even really want to stay at the palace, but it was easier to inspect the stadium from there. He learned from one of the dungeon's guards that prisoners used to fight in the Duels for their freedom. There weren't any prisoners in the dungeons now—there was another prison farther in the city.

He was bored waiting for Quinn, leaning against the bars of one of the prison cells. He wished the guards had beaten him up so that he would have some misery to brew in, but all he had was a faint feeling of annoyance and impatience. Quinn sure was taking his sweet time.

Rome turned his compass in his hand. He fiddled with the silver chain. It was made of iron, but his father had gotten it plated in silver so that Rome wouldn't burn himself every time he touched it.

Finally, he heard the door to the dungeons open.

Quinn's footsteps were much lighter than Fritz's. Rome wished he would hurry up. He had a lot to say.

Quinn finally came into view, face warm and orange under the torchlight. "What—"

"Here," Rome said, tossing him the compass.

Quinn fumbled but caught it. He stared. "What is this?"

"It's a compass," said Rome. "I know Fritz has a door to the Otherworld, but it's only to one room. If you want to really get to the Otherworld, you have to go through a portal, and you're probably going to end up in Lyran."

"What?" Quinn said again. "How is this—"

Rome reminded himself that Quinn wasn't Austin. He'd missed out on half the education the other noble Cerieven children had received. "The Otherworld has multiple principalities," he explained. "There are three main ones. Well, four. Or five. Do you know what they are?"

Quinn frowned. "One of them is Aune."

Rome nodded. "That's the main one. But you're probably starting in Lyran because that's where the Otherworld connects most easily to the Midworld. You want to get to Aune. That's where the Lord of the Otherworld is."

"The what?"

"If you want to get out of the Otherworld, you have to ask them. It won't be too hard; they'll want you out because you're alive anyway."

"You need to slow down," said Quinn.

Rome rolled his eyes. "You want to get to the principality of Aune," he said again. "If you start in Lyran, you'll have to get over Lyran, then Meir, and Ynn before you can get to Aune. The principalities in the Otherworld are...stacked. Like how the Midworld is above the Otherworld, Aune is on top of all the other principalities. So just use the compass and go north."

"But Cerieve is to the south."

"That's not how things work in the Otherworld," said Rome. "You need to go north because you need to go up. Lyran is an all-right principality, but it can get quite hot. Meir shouldn't be too bad if you know how to swim. And none of you are allergic to iron, so Ynn should be fine. And if I'm out and Euryn is back by then, you can ask him to take you to the Lord, and he will."