Read Online bedeviled & beyond 07 - beset & bewildered by Sam Cheever - Free Book Online Page B

watched him frantically rub his only two brain cells together in an effort to form a coherent thought. I only hoped he didn’t blow the overworked things out before he responded. Finally he nodded. “You’d be safe in the dragon’s nest.”
    I smiled. “Good.” Infusing my swing with power, I flipped the sword and slammed the hilt against his head. He crumpled to the floor with a meaty thud.
    I didn’t stop to check if he was unconscious, I couldn’t spare the time. Running to the door, I peered both ways down the hall and eyed the distant stairwell. I shifted to the landing and glanced upward, momentarily tempted to jump on a dragoyle and hightail it back toward the mountain pass. But in the end I decided not to deviate from plan. Instead, I headed for the stairwell leading down. Toward the bowels of the huge castle.
    Into the dungeon.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    Garbage in, Garbage out
    All aboard! Step to the back,
    And mind you don’t sit on that petrified gargoyle colon.
    The sounds of a busy castle followed me down the first several flights of stairs. Raucous laughter, shouts and banging doors spurred me to run faster and faster until I was breathless and stumbling. Every sound made me jerk around in fear, thinking someone was coming after me. But as the light dimmed and the stone walls and steps became greasy with moisture, I slowed and willed my pulse to decelerate.
    Torre and his men wouldn’t be looking for me in the dungeon. When they reached the dragon’s nest it would take them some time to figure out if I’d managed to escape. By the time they figured out I hadn’t gone to the roof, I would be well on my way out of the horrible place.
    Theoretically.
    I’d been kept prisoner for a time in a similar castle in Hell. I remembered the prison wasn’t the only thing in the dungeon. The refuse facilities had also been in the subterranean level of the enormous structure. If I was very lucky, Dialle’s castle was designed the same way.
    I hit the bottom of the steps and stopped, melting into the shadows as footsteps hurried toward me from an unseen passageway. I leaned against the slimy stone and lifted the blade before me, closing my eyes and pulling air pungent with smoke and mildew deeply into my lungs. If I was going to have to fight my way to the refuse room, I would need to be calm and centered. There would no doubt be more than one guard lingering in the dark passageways.
    The footsteps came quickly toward me. I judged them to belong to at least two people, maybe more. I couldn’t help wondering if they were coming after me. To drag me to a prison cell as punishment for escaping Torre’s elegant prison above.
    My hands tightened around the handle of the sword and, with a final, calming breath, I lifted the blade and prepared to attack.
    The shadows swayed as soft footfalls continued in my direction. Still tucked safely against the wall, I didn’t think I’d been spotted. There was no outraged shout, no drawing of swords.
    My nostrils twitched as smoky air wafted over me and I stuck my finger under my nose to keep from sneezing.
    The footsteps stopped suddenly and the runners went very still. A flame flared from the cloaked edges of the passageway and I knew I’d been spotted. I stepped from my cloistered space. “I won’t let you take me without a fight.”
    A second flare flashed in the dimness and suddenly I could see who I was facing. I gasped in surprise.
    A man and a woman stared at me with obvious surprise. Behind them stood two enormous black hounds.
    Caninra grinned, her perfect white teeth glowing through the glooms. “I have to say I’m impressed, halfling. I didn’t think you’d be able to free yourself so quickly. If at all.”
    The man moved closer to Caninra, placing an arm around her shoulders. “Who is this woman, Ninra?”
    The keeper slid him a glance, her smile dimming. “The woman I told you about, my mate. The queen’s sister.”
    His handsome face darkened and fire flared in