No one did.
Finally, after an eternity, Willow opened her eyes and sat back. Darius rushed to her and put his arm around her shoulders, supporting her and helping her to sit with her back against the wall.
“I’m all right,” the healer said. “And she will be, too.”
Jocasta was looking better. Her eyes were still closed, but her chest was moving up and down steadily. The blood was drying on her skin and no more seemed to be flowing from her stomach.
“Nicely done,” Darius said, sitting next to Willow. “How soon can she move?”
“Normally, I’d say not for a couple of days. The wound was deep. He did a lot of damage.”
“We don’t have a couple of days.”
“No. I know. Let me rest for a moment or two, then we’ll wake her.”
She put her head on his shoulder and as nice as that feeling was, he was fighting impatience. They couldn’t stay here in the middle of the hall, with Jocasta unconscious and Jamshir dead a few paces further on. They needed to move, to at least find a better place to hide.
“Let me look around,” he said.
Willow nodded and moved her head off his shoulder, leaning it back against the wall. She opened her eyes and looked at Jocasta.
“I don’t think she knows,” she said.
“Knows what?” Darius climbed to his feet. There was still no sign of anyone else in the whole place.
“Who she is,” Willow said.
“Mm? Who is she?”
He didn’t really care. They needed to move, but Willow needed a moment more, apparently.
She didn’t answer him. Instead, she pushed herself away from the wall and crawled to Jocasta. She held her hands over the woman’s head and chanted again, slightly louder this time, causing Darius to wince at the noise.
Jocasta’s eyes fluttered open. She stared up at the ceiling then over at Willow.
“Why are you looming over me?”
Willow laughed.
Jocasta groaned and gingerly turned over, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. She stopped there for a moment, then slowly rose upright.
“You’re worth your reputation, healer,” she said, her hands running over her stomach.
“Thank you. And you, yours.”
“Can we have this mutual admiration party some other time?” Darius said. “We need to move.”
“Of course,” Willow said, taking his hand. “You have to be careful, though,” she said to Jocasta. “I’ve healed the wound, but it’s still going to hurt for a while.”
They started toward the stairs, but when Darius glanced back, he saw that Jocasta hadn’t moved. She was standing where they left her, staring at Jamshir’s body.
“Are you coming?” he asked, trying to keep the exasperation from his voice.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m coming.”
Jocasta turned away from the body and walked toward them.
“Good. Finally.”
He was being unreasonable but didn’t care. He just wanted this over with.
“Malachi is two flights up,” he said. “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
They did. They saw no one as they climbed the stairs, moving slowly to accommodate Jocasta.
The top floor consisted of a long hallway, lined with windows on one side. In the past, Darius had loved coming up here when he was allowed. The view of the mountains was breathtaking.
Now, he hardly noticed it. At the end of the hallway was an ornate door, carved from one solid piece of wood. No one lived or worked on this floor other than Malachi.
There was no sign of Solomon and the others.
“What now?” Willow whispered.
Darius shrugged, unsure of what to do.
The door at the end of the hall opened.
“Come in,” Malachi said. “I insist.”
Chapter 81
“Why here?” Thaddeus asked.
The portal Melanie opened deposited them in a stone chamber, with open manacles hanging from the ceiling and blood stains on the floor.
“I didn’t want to come in too close to Malachi,” she said.
“Where are the others?” Solomon asked.
Thaddeus felt his cheeks redden. Melanie’s were doing the same.
Solomon laughed softly. “Best laid plans. You always forget some small detail. It’s going to work out. They’re smart enough to head for Malachi, we’ll do the same.”
It was still annoying that they hadn’t even thought to ask each other where they were going. Now, they needed to get through the whole of House Subtle Hemlock on their own.
“You could have put us somewhere further up,” Thaddeus muttered.
“And have someone see us? And then warn him?”
She was right, of course. Thaddeus just wasn’t looking forward to having to work their way all the way up.
They walked to the open door of the cell and peered out. No one was in the corridor outside. Walking quietly, they made their way past several other cell doors, glancing through the bars. All were unoccupied.
No one was on guard at the entrance to the dungeon, or in the hall outside of it.
“Stairs are down there,” Thaddeus said, indicating the far end.
“Charming place,” Solomon said.
“It’s nicer upstairs.”
“And is it always this quiet?”
“No,” Melanie replied. “And that’s strange. I don’t really know how often the dungeon is used, but these rooms along here are for training and practice. There should be someone…”
Silence reigned in the hallway when she trailed off.
“Come on,” Thaddeus said.
A horrific odor assaulted them as soon as they left the stairwell, coming to another long corridor with doors spaced along it. Unlike the dungeon below, these doors were solid, with no windows allowing a view to the inside.
“What is that?” Melanie put her nose into the crook of her arm.
“It’s death,” Solomon said quietly.
“Whose?” Thaddeus said.
He didn’t want to head down that hallway. But the stairs that continued upward, the way to Malachi,
