Having Ashcroft’s ex-partner on his side had completely changed things. Felix used to wait weeks before stumbling upon information about Ashcroft and his businesses. But Benjamin knew all the locations. Every building he owned, either publicly or under the table. Every lab he’d commandeered for his work with the crown.
Felix hadn’t trusted the man at first, but he couldn’t argue with the results. He’d only met the group a month ago, and together, Felix and Gideon had already destroyed three different shipments of the elixir.
He scanned for any signs of movement before following Gideon. The place was unguarded. With the building’sunassuming appearance, Ashcroft probably decided planting guards outside wasn’t worth the cost. Nobody in their right mind would break into a mausoleum.
The surrounding yard was flat and treeless, and the fog was thinner here, so Felix conjured a thick cloud that blended with the darkness, coalescing around them like a shroud.
“This place reminds me of Copperhill Cemetery,” he said as they walked. It had the same eerie feel, the same ornate iron fencing topped with trident finials.
He shuddered.
That was where his father was buried. It was also said to be the most haunted spot in Fallowmoor. He wondered, briefly if August had ever been, if he could confirm—then quickly shoved the thought away.
“Haven’t been there in years,” said Gideon. He used his bolt cutters to break the chains securing the entrance, then tucked them away and pulled his saber from the sheath at his side.
Felix drew his flintlock. “You’ve been to Fallowmoor?”
“Been all over. Short attention span, I guess.” With a chuckle, he spun his saber into a ready grip and shouldered open the heavy door. “Besides, Fallowmoor was the centre of the resistance.”
“What?” Felix blinked, sure he must have misheard. Fallowmoor, the centre of the resistance?
“Yeah,” Gideon said with a grin. “I even met Raesarinn once.”
“Who’s Raesarinn?”
“Brains and blade of the resistance. You woulda liked her.” Gideon paused to study Felix for a moment, a question flashing in his eyes. He looked like he might say something else, but instead, he turned and slipped through the door.
Felix followed. The inside of the building stretched further back than he’d expected. A faint glow emanated from the pendant gaslamp hanging from the ceiling. Another from a largemetal incinerator at the back. The edges of the room were cloaked in shadows.
The place was like a macabre blend of hospital ward and prison, with parallel rows of wooden operating tables and heavy chains bolted to the stone walls. The air was ripe with the tang of blood and unwashed bodies.
How many wielders had died here?
He let himself imagine for a brief, painful moment the tables filled with his people, scared and pleading. It was enough to send his magic burning beneath his skin. A reminder of why they were doing this.
They would leave this place in ruins. No more deaths here.
“I don’t see any crates,” Felix said. “It’s like the whole place’s been stripped.”
Gideon muttered a curse. “Must be catching on.”
Felix headed down the aisle between the tables, eyes on the incinerator. It was big enough to hold multiple corpses at once. His jaw clenched as he peered through the window. Only ashes and the low burn of embers remained.
No more.
But if Gideon was right, if Ashcroft had expected this place to be hit next, why simply leave the building empty? It seemed unlike the man to waste an opportunity.
“If they knew we’d be here,” he called back to Gideon, “why wouldn’t they—”
Something slammed into Felix before he could finish the question. He hit the ground hard, gasping for air.
A ghoul of a man fought to keep him down, but he was shriveled and weak and easy enough to keep at arm’s length. The skin was peeling beneath one eye, a grotesque, red wound that resembled raw meat stretching toward the man’s mouth, dragging down the eyelid in a disturbing droop. His matted hair was plastered to his forehead.
He smelled like death, rotting and sour.
Felix slammed the butt of his gun into the man’s temple—once, twice—until he stopped fighting, then shoved him aside. As he scrambled to his feet, the man lunged forward, latching onto his leg. Felix twisted and fired a round between his eyes. The grip slackened, and the creature fell flat.
Two more were swarming Gideon. He lobbed off both heads with one swing of his saber. “Make for the door, quick!”
