He shook his head, jaw tightening. “He hasn’t been to see me since they chained me up.”
Before I could respond, Siergen’s voice echoed in my mind.Step back.
I hesitated, but did as I was told, moving away from Zander even as his eyes narrowed in confusion.
“I’d prefer to keep my arms, if that’s all right with you,” he said to Siergen, half a smirk on his bruised lips.
Siergen tilted his head, exhaled a grunt that was more judgment than agreement. Then… the shadows began to move.
They crawled like smoke and silk from the corners of the cell, gathering beneath Zander’s bound arms and legs. At first, I thought it was magic from Zander, but then I felt it.
Old. Ancient. Coiled deep inside Siergen.
The darkness threaded through the chains like it knew them, knew where they were weakest, where they could be unmade.
The metal groaned, warped.
Then snapped.
Zander stumbled forward as the shackles broke, staring at the twisted links now lying on the ground like dead serpents. His eyes met mine, wide. “What the…”
“You haveshadowmagic?” he asked Siergen, breathless.
I stared back, just as stunned.
Not now. We must go,Siergen barked in our minds, already backing toward the hall.
Zander and I exchanged a look, half awe, half terror.
Then we ran.
Siergen moved fast through the dim castle halls, his massive body somehow as silent as smoke, his wings brushing the stone only when the corridors widened. Zander and I stayed close, our footsteps light, hearts pounding with the weight of what had just been done to him—what was still being done.
We reached an alcove just beneath the main wing, tucked behind a pair of decorative pillars. A stone statue loomed in the shadows—an ancient dragon, wings folded, fangs bared, tail curled like a serpent around its base.
I recognized the crest carved into the pedestal. “The Unifier,” I whispered.
Zander moved forward warily, glancing at Siergen.
Turn the tail,the crimson courier said in our minds, voice like molten stone.
Zander gripped the statue’s tail and twisted.
There was a heavy grinding of stone on stone. Then a portion of the floor behind the statue shifted, sinking inward with a hiss of stale air and ancient dust.
The floor opened like a jaw, revealing a spiral set of narrow stairs descending into darkness.
“What is that?” I asked, peering over the edge.
Zander’s voice was hushed, reverent. “The catacombs. They were rumored to have been filled with sand after the last war…”
They were sealed,Siergen corrected.Not destroyed.
He stepped to the side, his presence filling the space as his voice wrapped around us.
Follow them beyond the castle walls. I will make sure you are not followed. I will secure the door myself.
He motioned with a snap of his wing toward a small recess in the stone wall.
