Unfortunately, Tate didn’t have the luxury of retreat. Sometimes you had to do the things you disliked. This was one of those times.
“Lady Fisher, Lord Ryuji, the Lord Provost has requested we escort you to your destination.” A woman wearing a guard uniform stepped forward from the small group that approached from the prison’s entrance.
“We’ll be in your care,” Ryu said politely.
“This way then.” The woman did an about face, marching toward the prison’s only entrance.
Their journey was smooth and unobstructed, the guards watching their passage with blank expressions. Most of them were large, burly men, the type Tate could easily see being used to subdue unruly prisoners.
They turned down several hallways before reaching a door at the end of one of those passages. Several men stood on either side of the door. Two facing it while the rest faced outward. Almost like they were guarding against both people trying to leave and people trying to enter.
Tate nodded once in approval. The Lord Provost’s people were well trained. Most would only think of guarding one direction. When she was with Jost’s crew, more than once she’d helped break a crewmember out of the local jail. Those who only guarded against a prisoner’s escape made the job all too easy.
The woman took out a ring weighed down with numerous keys. Rather than picking one among many, she simply touched the keyring against the door. It slid back, revealing a dark maw.
“I understand now why they call this place the Deeps,” Tate frowned at the stairs disappearing into that black hole. She really didn’t want to go down there.
The woman stepped through first, pausing a few steps down when none of them immediately followed.
“I guess we should get this over with.” Dewdrop was obviously reluctant as he stepped onto the stairs. “I was really hoping I’d never have to visit this place again.”
The woman sent him a sharp look. “You’ve been an inmate?”
Tate supposed she shouldn’t blame the woman for the judgment she could hear in her tone. If her job was to guard the criminals of society, she’d feel a little uneasy having one of those former criminals look behind the curtain.
“Not me.”
It made Tate curious. There were only a few scenarios Tate could think of that would account for Dewdrop’s prior experience with this place. She couldn’t see him visiting fellow pickpockets as that would mark him as a criminal. If you were up to no good, you’d hardly want to draw the attention of others.
Perhaps his brush with this place had to do with a prison break. Maybe that’s why the Lord Provost’s people guarded both directions. It was a fanciful notion but fit what she knew of Dewdrop and the Night Court. She could see her young friend being that bold and reckless.
“This place is creepy.” Dewdrop shivered, eyeing the walls around him with distaste.
By now they’d descended two levels and the air had become damp and chilly. If she’d thought the aura of this place was bad above ground, it was even worse below, as if the silent screams of the damned echoed off the walls.
“Guilty conscience?” Ryu asked.
“No. I simply hate being below ground with Tate.”
“What do I have to do with this?”
He sent her a look that asked if she was really going to pretend to be innocent. “You know as well as I do that something weird always happens when you enter anything even remotely resembling a tunnel.”
Tate’s mouth clicked shut. Much as she wanted to deny it, he was right. Someone always ended up bleeding whenever she ventured below. It was enough that she’d begun to develop a complex over it.
Tate stopped. “This place isn’t connected to the tunnels, is it?”
It was a stupid question. Even if it wasn’t part of the tunnels outright, there was every chance there was a link somewhere. This was Aurelia, home to the biggest known network of tunnels. Under the city was practically a beehive of passages that intersected and doubled back on themselves. Tate was a little surprised the ground below the city hadn’t collapsed, as riddled with holes as it was.
“No. The Deeps have been completely cut off from any connection with Aurelia’s tunnels and we do regular sweeps to make sure nothing has burrowed its way in,” the woman explained in a confident voice that did nothing to quell Tate’s anxiety.
In Tate’s experience, if something could go wrong it usually did. She didn’t know if Christopher had allies who would be willing to break him out of a place like the Deeps but if anyone did, it would be him.
Tate didn’t say anything about her doubts as they continued their descent, passing several levels guarded by more of the Lord Provost’s people. The guards took note of them, tensing before relaxing once they saw their escort.
It made Tate grateful for the other woman’s presence. This trip would have been a lot more tedious if they’d had to prove their right to be here on every level. Tate couldn’t help but feel glad George had enraged Ryu. She suspected from the brief confusion at their appearance that George and Ben were supposed to have acted as their escorts. Ben wouldn’t have been so bad, but George had proven she wasn’t trustworthy.
Further and further down they went until they finally reached the end.
