“Thank you, friend.” He shook his head, slinging mud from his face and eyes. “I appreciate the assistance.”
Vore held our queen as high out of the mud as he could without risking damage to the support beams. She was muddy to the waist, but her bond remained steady and unharmed.
“Don’t kill him yet,” she said. “I want to see if we can get any information out of him.”
The thing in my tentacles snarled and clashed jagged, broken teeth together. The only part of his body he could move thanks to my grip on him.:What is he, my queen?:
“One of the Dauphine’s former Blood,” she said grimly. “Now a master thrall. Perhaps he simply laid in wait here, hoping I would come to free Leonie, rather than killing and turning humans. But I’m guessing he’s been busy creating more thralls in the area that will attack at night. I’ll do a morethorough scan once we’re all safe and see if I can locate them. Take him out to the rest of our Blood and return, Okeanos. I’ll probably need your help lifting Leonie out.”
:At once, my queen.:
Vore’s teeth clanged like an iron gate crashing shut but he made no move to follow as I dragged myself up out of the pit toward the exit. His hunger was great enough even I felt it through our queen’s bond.
“I know, my Blood.” Shara combed her hand through his long black hair. “Soon. I promise. Let’s see if we can free Leonie’s legs before he gets back.”
As I moved away, I picked up another taste that made me hesitate. Blood. Not my own.:I think he wounded the queen before he leaped out. I taste her blood.:
Shara’s eyes flared with concern. “Quickly, Vore, her head instead. We need to get her out as quickly as possible so Gwen can heal her.”
The man who’d called himself a wizard shifted into something I had never seen before. “If your Blood can meet me at the door, I’ll take the thrall and free your kraken to assist.”
His voice cut like sharp glass, and he moved strangely, as if he wasn’t used to walking upright on two legs. A black tarry substance coated his skin, giving him an oily sheen even in the dark crawlspace.
I waited for my queen’s answer, but it was Gwen who spoke first.
“No feasting, Merlinus. Our queen wants to interrogate him first.”
He opened his mouth in a wide, garish grin, revealing his teeth. They were just as jagged and sharp looking as the thrall’s, though his were more like broken obsidian glass shards. His faceted eyes glittered in the darkness. “Understood, Your Majesties. Though if he tries to flee, do I at least get to take a bite?”
“Absolutely,” Shara replied. “As long as he’s still alive and can talk.”
“Let the thrall go, mighty kraken.” His soft voice slithered with unspoken threats, yet still brittle like crunching glass. “I hope you run, thrall. It would give me such pleasure.”
I unfurled my tentacles, letting the creature tumble free into the mud. He tried to crawl away, glancing back over his shoulder, the whites of his eyes flashing against the mud on his face. The wizard let out a sibilant laugh and lunged at him, locking his jaws around the thrall’s lower nape. Then he casually straightened, carrying the screaming thrall in nothing but his jaws. It shouldn’t have been possible. The thrall was nearly as large as the wizard. Yet for all his thrashing about, the wizard dragged him along while whistling a cheery tune.
Turning back to my queen, I slipped into the pit. Though as I passed, the knight jumped out and grabbed on to one of my tentacles.
“I’m already filthy,” he said cheerfully. “I might as well help with the chains on her legs.”
Not much chilled me any longer but I wouldn’t soon forget the light-hearted notes of the wizard’s song mixing with raspy screams.
8
SHARA
With one of Leonie’s arms freed, we were able to shift her sideways enough to lift her head out of the mud. Vore used his legs to carefully scrape away caked mud to find the lock, while I cradled her head against my shoulder, wiping mud from her eyes.
Though something wasn’t right. Weird nubs closed her eyelids.
Her eyes. Sewn shut. The same as her mouth.
My fingers began to shake as I continued wiping away the muck from her face. “Leonie, can you hear me? We’re here to help you. The Dauphine is dead. She can never harm you again.”
Vore slipped the tip of one leg into the lock on the neck cuff and cracked it open entirely. More of her weight settled against me, pushing us both lower into the mud. I wrapped my arms around her, and Vore picked me up, hauling us both upward. One of her legs fell free. Then the next.
He carried us to the ledge and set us down beside Gwen, who dropped to her knees beside us. Blood pooled beneath Leonie, which I hoped was a good sign. She was bleeding. Shehad to still be alive. But the more mud we cleared away, the heavier and colder the pit of my stomach weighed.
Her poor right wrist ended in a jagged stump. Her body was wasted away to skin and bones. As we wiped blood away, she began to bleed from other spots all over her body. Likely places the leeches had been feeding on her.
