Shoving the tower’s doors open, our guide led us inside. Eleos glanced at me, face hidden beneath his helm.
We’d need to shake our escort soon.
A fire raged in a central mantle, drenching the sandstone room with red light. Several off-duty soldiers lounged in armchairs. Free from their helms and gaudy armor, they looked like perfectly normal young men. I glanced at one, who smiled brightly and laughed at another’s joke, joy glinting in his dark brown eyes.
How old was he, I wondered? One of the nobles, blessed with immortality, a member of a lesser family?
Or someone whose heart thumped with dread?
I wanted to reach out and see, but forced my head away. I couldn’t afford distractions—least of all the song of dread that hadoverwhelmed me twice, now.
Ignoring the halls leading to the bunk rooms, the Hades Knight led us up a set of stairs. The second floor was much dimmer, its lanterns doused.
Eleos spoke to the knight. “Does the commander think there’ll be more attacks like Apet square?”
“Almost certainly,” the Hades Knight replied. “They haven’t been so brazen in decades. Something must have them riled up.”
Not one note of fear quivered in his words. He strode with confidence and a tick of excitement.
In hundreds of years, not one uprising had succeeded—none had gone so far as to even muster an army to try.
No wonder he spoke as if it were a mere inconvenience. A break from the mundane. A chance to engage in real battle.
The Hades Knight spun on his heel, intending to shepherd us up the spiral stairwell to the third floor. I glanced around anxiously—the others needed to move, now.
Glass shattered somewhere above our heads, and the ceiling shook. Drawing his glaive, Eleos backed up, while the Hades Knight merely touched the pommel of his sword.
“What was that?” Eleos demanded.
I smiled beneath my mask. Eleos wasn’t a half-bad actor.
Staring up, the knight waited. A man shouted above our heads, but his words were cut off with a scream. The unmistakable sound of crackling fire roared to life.
Seraphim had arrived.
“Stay here,” the knight barked, drawing his blade. “You, with me,” he yelled at Eleos before charging up the stairs.
Perfect. I darted down the hall, grabbing a torch from one of the sconces. The fire guided my way as I retraced Seth’s directions in my head—turn at the pair of armored statues and find the black door.
Handing the torch to Percy, I tried the door before pulling out my hairpin and fitting it into the lock. Percy bounced nervously on his heels beside me.
“This feels familiar,” he whispered.
“Why?” I asked.
“You and me, inside a fort,” he shot back. “Moments before disaster.”
“You’re supposed to be the optimistic one,” I hissed, clicking the lock open.
It took both of us to push open the heavy door. Neat rows of crates and stands filled the chamber, storing spears, shields, and mail shirts.
“Wait for Cerys,” I whispered. “I’ll send the signal.”
Nodding, Percy ran deeper into the room while I slipped back outside. Grabbing a lantern from a sconce on the wall, I found the window Cerys had described—a thin pane of glass arched at the top. Holding up the lantern, I lowered and flared the light three times before ducking back into the shadows.
A portal would soon open in the armory. Percy could handle that.
Eleos and I needed to regroup for the next stage of the plan. Pressing myself against the wall, I hung my lantern back on its hook before I reached the stairs and sprinted up their length.
