I wasn"t sure what I thought. "What is it, then?" I asked.
"The king likes to act as though these things are a secret. It"s special invitation only, but I know a way in." She shared this with a hint of slyness to her tone. "Come on. Follow me. I"ll take you to the best seats in the house."
She linked her arm through mine, and together we quickly walked down vast corridors, our steps ringing off the stone.
"I don"t think we have officially been introduced. I"m Riana. My father is the amba.s.sador to your own country. . . . I suppose that makes us countrywomen, although I confess I was two years old the last time I set foot on Relhok soil."
"A pleasure to meet you," I returned.
"Likewise," she murmured. "You are quite the hero, unifying two kingdoms that have been on dubious footing for generations. You have managed to do what Papa never has. I suppose that makes my father quite ineffectual and you a marvel."
I inhaled uneasily. From that statement, it would not seem that she viewed me kindly. I especially did not think she would link arms with me and carry on as though we were the best of friends.
I heard myself asking, "And what is it that I have done?"
"Why, you have united both our countries-well, you will eventually. That will be the end result with your betrothal to Prince Chasan."
"Th-Thank you," I stammered, dubious of her sincerity despite her cheerfulness, and yet I wanted to know about that scream and what secret she spoke of.
"Perhaps Papa can work in the royal counting house. He was a.s.sistant to the treasurer in Relhok before he was appointed amba.s.sador. You would think that being good with numbers would be an a.s.set. Hmm, but the funny thing is that there is no money left to be had in Lagonia. Currency these days is anything deemed of value on any particular day. You, for instance, are currency."
"Me?" I stiffened and would have stopped if she had not kept pulling me along.
"Yes. King Tebald is suddenly a far richer man than he was before you arrived. You are currency, leverage, a commodity. It"s all semantics. With your marriage to Prince Chasan-nicely done, by the way. He is quite the handsome rogue. Every girl here, me included, has been after him for years. What was I saying? Oh, yes. Lagonia is facing a far brighter future now that you are here, but forgive me. Let"s not talk policy. Not when there is fun to be had."
My thoughts churned as she continued to lead me. At one point she stopped before a wall. I turned my head left and right. "What"s this?"
"I really shouldn"t be showing you this, but since we"re sharing so much, this palace is full of hidden pa.s.sageways. I hear all manner of things I shouldn"t." She paused and the back of my neck tickled.
"You eavesdrop?"
"It"s about the only thing that keeps me from dying of boredom."
I pressed a hand to the wall, skimming my palm over the ancient stone. "What about ways out of the palace?"
"Who would want to leave the castle? It"s dangerous out there."
It"s dangerous in here, too. "Come, now. I want to know all the ins and outs of my new home." I cringed at this last bit. This place did not feel like home. Nor would it ever.
"Well, this castle has been around forever. Back in the old days, it was important to have a means of escape in the event of an attack. Not that this castle had ever been successfully invaded, to my knowledge at least."
"So there is a secret way out?"
"Yes. Through the kitchens. A rug covers the floor of the larger storage room, but underneath it there"s a door."
My heart hammered with excitement. I tried to control my features lest too much emotion give me away. "An escape hatch . . . that does sound intriguing."
Riana sighed. "It"s just a smelly tunnel."
A tunnel out of here.
Her hand found some hidden spot and pushed. The wall opened up to a pa.s.sageway. "Come. Whisper only. Voices carry far in these hidden tunnels." The sound of her words vibrated against her fingertips. "We don"t want to be caught. Tebald doesn"t think this suitable for a lady"s sensibilities."
"What?" I demanded as we made our way through the winding, narrow s.p.a.ce. Another round of cheers sounded. This time much closer, louder. The origin was just beyond us. Riana stopped and pushed at the tunnel wall, opening yet another door.
She led the way out into a larger s.p.a.ce where the air flowed freely. "Keep your voice down. You must not alert them that we"re watching." I nodded, curious. "Get down on your knees," Riana instructed. "Torches line the pit. Not many, mind you. Just enough so that spectators can see clearly. Go on. Down with you. It"s just a ledge really, but it"s perfect for spying. You mustn"t stand or they could look up and spot us."
She pushed down on my shoulder, and I obliged, feeling her body lower beside me as well. The din grew, flooding us as we crawled out onto the balcony. I pulled at my skirts to keep them from getting caught beneath me. I smelled the oil-fed fire from torches stuck in sconces sporadically around the ledge. The flames snapped in the air.
We stretched out, lying flat on our stomachs. Overlapping voices congested the air. Bring on the next one! More, more!
"What"s happening?" I stretched my neck, angling my head to listen better, to try to process what was happening far below us.
"Look right there. Do you see the man?"
I feigned as though I could see, relying on my ears and that additional sense buried deep inside my gut. "What is he doing?" It seemed a safe question to glean the necessary information-any information at all, really.
Her voice squeaked with excitement. "Oh, they"re opening the gates now."
I did in fact hear the faint grind of metal as the gate lifted and locked into place.
"Now it"s about to get fun," she breathed beside me. Just as I was beginning to conclude that her definition of fun and mine did not align, I heard it.
I gasped as a shrill dweller"s cry warbled on the air, and I started to scurry backward on my stomach until she clamped a surprisingly firm grip on my arm, keeping me from fleeing the ledge.
"W-What-" Fear choked the words from me. Already this place had lulled me into false complacency.
I had almost committed myself to the belief that I was safe. That no dweller could penetrate these walls. Court life had made me weak even in so short a time. How could I have forgotten? This was the world. It has not changed simply because I"d ducked behind these thick walls.
A second dweller answered the call of the first and my skin jumped, rippling to gooseflesh. I felt them prowling below, their sensors vibrating on the air, acclimating to and learning this new environment just as I was. They moved with slow, dragging steps. Even slower than usual.
Over a dozen voices lifted in a cheer. I listened, trying to sift through their words. No one was scared or alarmed. They were jubilant, excited at the arrival of these two dwellers. I heard someone calling for bets, and a flurry of masculine voices responded with their wagers.
And there was the man. He was there in the pit with them, his feet scampering wildly over the circular s.p.a.ce, trying to stay out of their reach. His voice lifted over all the cheers and shouts, screaming, pleading. His fear saturated the air, as thick as the loamy odor of the dwellers.
"What"s going to happen?"
"I would think his fate would be obvious."
"They"re just going to let him die?" I inched closer to the edge, feeling the flow of air on my face as I peered over, tracking the poor man"s frantic movements.
"Yes, and enjoy watching every moment of it. This is what happens to criminals in Lagonia. Sometimes you don"t even have to be a criminal. Fall out of favor with the king and face the pits." She explained it so casually, as though she were discussing nothing significant.
"That"s barbaric."
Riana laughed softly. "And how is that different from anything else in this world? We live in brutal times. Surely you know that, having come from out there."
And yet somehow I thought things would be different inside here. I had started to think that. Started to hope.
The sound of what was happening engulfed me. Cries and panting breaths. The smack of skin on skin, bone on bone. And smells. Familiar smells and tastes. The acrid coat of fear on my tongue. The bitter metal of hot blood. The man cried out and the crowd went wild. First blood.
Riana"s breath fell faster. "Oh, my," she sighed, awe hugging her words. "Would you look at that?" The sound of flesh and sinew tearing from bone brought bile surging to my mouth. "He"s still alive."
This girl disgusted me. She spoke of a brutal world and yet she had experienced none of it herself. She merely sat back and observed it with sick delight. They all did. Every man in this room did. The air seethed with bloodl.u.s.t, and suddenly I didn"t know who the animals were-the dwellers or the men watching?
Was the king watching? The prince? My stomach knotted. I couldn"t stand it anymore. I started to back away.
Quick as a whip, Riana grabbed my wrist. Her grip was surprisingly strong for a pampered lady. She wasn"t like Maris, I realized. She was strong, as raw-boned as Digger and any other predator I"d met on the Outside. "What"s amiss, princess? No stomach for it?"
I shook my head. "Let me go."
"Oh, come now. Don"t be reticent. You certainly weren"t when it came to Prince Chasan. You laid claim to him quick enough."
"I"m not enjoying this," I panted from between clenched teeth. The sound of crunching bone drifted from the pit below. Dark dwellers were tearing him apart between them now.
"What"s not to enjoy? The king and prince are enjoying the spectacle."
Her biting fingers were cutting off the blood in my arm. "Stop," I hissed, thinking of the bishop"s words right then . . . of his insistence that other people might want to harm me for taking the prince off the market. Clearly, this unhinged girl was one such person.
"Don"t be squeamish. Have a closer look." She pulled me, using her greater weight to haul me right up to the edge.
"What are you doing-" The rest of my words died in a wash of panic as she shoved me with both hands.
I resisted, scrabbling for leverage, but it was too late. The force of her push sent me over the ledge. For one fleeting moment, I managed to grip the edge, my fingers curled tightly, clinging for life. Riana"s balled-up fists slammed down on my fingers, and I was falling in a rush of wind.
I slammed down hard, pain vibrating through my body.
I was in the pit.
EIGHTEEN.
Luna
THE IMPACT KNOCKED the breath out of me.
I forced my limbs to move. Pain buzzed along my nerves, making me agonizingly aware of the fact that I had just fallen from my perch like a felled bird with a broken wing. I was grounded, unable to fly away from this pit.
Scrambling to my feet, I braced my legs apart, readying myself in a fighting stance. And just like that it was me again, back in the Black Woods outside my tower. My hands opened and closed at my sides. That was the only difference, the fact that I did not hold a weapon. I had nowhere to run. My hands felt barren, empty. But I was not a novice at this. I wasn"t some broken bird helpless before them. I was me.
The first dweller came at me, his feet dragging over the floor of the pit. The other one still worked, slavering over its victim. The man had ceased to cry out. He was past making a sound.
Dimly, I registered the shrieks and shouts from above-my own name was screamed, but I didn"t respond to it. I focused all my attention on the dweller charging me.
I sidestepped the creature, whirling around and kicking it from behind, sending it face-first into the ground. I angled my head to the side, listening to the other one, marking it, verifying that it was still too preoccupied to come for me.
Satisfied, I jumped on top of the one I"d kicked to the ground as it was rising to all fours. Gripping it by the back of the head, I used the force of my body and slammed it into the ground. It wasn"t the biggest dweller I had ever encountered, and for that I muttered a prayer of thanks.
Again and again I cracked its face into the stone floor of the pit, my fingers aching and bloodless from the strain of my grip. My arms trembled and burned from exertion, but I kept going. The smell of toxin soaked the air as the dweller"s sensors burst against the ground.
I didn"t stop. Even when the thing ceased to move I didn"t stop. Maybe I was crazed or maybe I was just being careful. Sivo always said you could never be too careful. The careful, the cautious . . . they were the survivors.
"Look out!" This single scream stabbed my ears, rising over all other sounds. It was a male voice, deep and smooth as silk even at such decibels. I knew the voice . . . knew him. "Luna!"
Gasping, I spun around and fell onto my backside. I scrambled to get away, clawing the hard stone beneath me, my nails breaking and cracking under the pressure. The other dweller tore at the hem of my nightgown, grabbing my feet, my ankles, my calves as it worked its way up my body, sharp claws digging into me.
I resisted the urge to strike at it. One hit in the face could result in a bite. Even a drop of toxin could ruin me. Who was to say I would be as lucky or strong as Fowler and survive infection?
My legs writhed, working and kicking to get away. Suddenly there was a loud thump of feet landing in the pit with me.
"Luna!" Chasan"s boots thundered toward me just as the dweller inched its solid weight over me. They were always heavier than they looked. Thick and dense with their gummy flesh.
I turned my face sideways, whimpering as its head hovered so close. I smelled the sticky-sweet toxin. Sensors swam in front of my face, disturbing the air. I wedged my hands between us, my hands sinking into its fleshy body as I tried to shove it away. This one was bigger. I couldn"t budge it.
Suddenly I was free. The dweller was yanked off me. It released an inhuman grunt. There was a sucking wet sound as a blade penetrated doughy flesh.
The only sound was the gurgling flow of blood easing out of the dweller and onto the stone ground.
Footsteps rushed me. Hands s.n.a.t.c.hed hold of my shoulders and pulled me to my feet. "Luna! Are you harmed? Luna!" Chasan shook me slightly.
I moved my head in some semblance of denial, shaking off my trance.
I smoothed trembling hands down the front of my nightgown, trying to reclaim my composure in the face of so many eyes on me. I felt all their stares, their astonishment. They didn"t know what to make of me-a girl who fell into a pit and single-handedly, without a weapon, killed a dweller. I"d shown them the girl from the Black Woods. Now they knew her.
"What are you doing here? How did you-"
"I was pushed," I whispered past numb lips. "She pushed me." Disbelief tinged my voice. I still could not believe that anyone would do what she had done to me. Bad people existed on the Outside. I"d met them, confronted them . . . barely survived them. Bad people out there made more sense than in here, though. Desperate situations created those people, but in here all was well and right. No one should resort to such a thing.
"She pushed you? Who?" Outrage spiked his voice.
He was furious, and I realized that Riana"s life would not be worth anything if I revealed what she had done. As terrible as she was, I did not want her death on my head, and I knew the king would react with such a punishment.
I bit my lip and shook my head. "No, nothing," I stammered. "I just fell."
"Fell?" He doubted me.
"That"s right," I insisted.