One moment Sienna felt the sun on her skin and the next it was cold and clammy, the roar of the beasts replaced by quiet water dripping on stone.
"We made it." Finn's voice was filled with wonder.
Sienna opened her eyes to find them in a storage area with a low ceiling and walls of thick stone. They matched the dungeon she and Mila had visited before, and it certainly felt like the same castle. How many of these could there be in the Borderlands?
The sound of voices came from beyond a doorway, and the group melted into the shadows. The voices came closer and then passed by.
"They were talking about taking food up to the women," Finn said, his face set with anger. "I'm going after them."
Mila put a hand on his arm. "Wait a minute. We need to decide what the plan is first."
Finn shook her hand off, spinning towards her, his finger jabbing the air in front of her face.
"I am here for my sister, and you promised to help me."
Mila crossed her arms. "I promised to get you to the castle. I never said we would help you find her and take her home."
Sienna watched the two of them face off. They couldn't find her father and Finn's sister at the same time, but the Borderlander had risked his life and his future to get here. They wouldn't have made it this far without him, and she couldn't leave him now.
"I'm going with Finn," she said. "We'll find his sister, then we'll come back and together, we'll find my father and the rest of the Extreme Cartographic Force. We won't be long. By the time we come back, you need to be ready to move."
Finn slipped through the corridor of the castle, Sienna close behind. He was surprised she'd chosen to come along, but he was glad of her help. They followed the servants at a distance through the twisting and turning corridors.
A scream came from up ahead, a primal sound of pain recognizable in any culture as a woman giving birth. Then the scream of a newborn, forced into a world they didn't choose. Finn could smell metallic blood soaked into straw, like an animal's den. He put his hand on the wall to steady himself as thoughts of his sister came to him.
The Shadow Cartographers had come to the citadel, taking those on the edge of womanhood. Isabel had only been fifteen, but already beautiful. She had an edge of magic, a mild gift she used to grow plants in the barren ground of the broken city. But with such a gift, other kinds of magic could be dormant, unlocked if she bred with another.
Finn had heard rumors of what came out of these halls over the years. The Elite Shadow Cartographers, wielding blood magic with precision, creating new worlds from their veins. But also the mutants, those whose magic coalesced into something twisted, tested and found wanting, fodder for sacrifice at the Tophet where the blood of children fueled the dark magic of the mages.
"Are you alright?" Sienna's whisper came from behind him.
Finn pushed away from the wall and nodded, leading her onwards. His heart pounded as he imagined what he might find ahead. Would Isabel even be here? She might be dead from childbirth, or he'd heard the girls who couldn't get pregnant were slaughtered, their blood used in ritual. Useless mouths weren't tolerated here.
He crept forward, peeking around a corner to check the way ahead.
A guard stood in front of a doorway, the edges decorated with horns of plenty, a bountiful harvest and phallic symbols. The fertility halls. A guard paced back and forth in front of the door, alert and ready.
"I'll distract him," Sienna whispered.
Before Finn could stop her, she walked out around the corner towards the guard, hands relaxed by her side. Finn remained in the shadows as the guard turned at her footsteps, his eyes widening at the sight of her. The man leered as Sienna exaggerated the swing of her hips, walking towards him with intent. He gripped the pommel of his sword tighter.
"What are you doing here?" the guard demanded.
Sienna rested against the wall next to him, angling her body so the guard turned, his back to Finn.
"I'm looking for someone." Sienna smiled. "I heard you might be able to help. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to find her." The guard stepped closer, his hand lifting from his sword to caress her cheek. Sienna leaned into him, pressing her body against his.
Finn slipped around the corner, and as the man reached to pull her body closer, Finn brought the pommel of his sword down hard on the back of the guard's head.
A dull thunk and the guard slumped to the ground. Finn would have finished him off, but Sienna stepped over him and bent to pull off the man's belt.
"We'll hogtie him and drag him into the tunnel," she whispered.
They worked quickly and soon had the unconscious guard back in the shadows. By the time he regained consciousness, they'd be long gone.
Sienna looked down at the guard and over at Finn. He felt her eyes appraising him, and he almost blushed under her gaze.
"There'll be more guards inside. It'll be tight, but you'll just fit this uniform."
"No." There was no way he was going to wear such an evil costume and drag Sienna like a captive around this unholy place. "There's too much that could go wrong."
She put her hand on his chest. "I'll be fine, Finn. I won't end up like your sister. We can't get rid of all the guards, so we need to walk unseen. This is the best way."
Finn took a deep breath. He had helped Sienna escape once, and now he felt responsible for her. There was no way he would put her back in danger again, especially here, where women only existed for one thing.
She bent to pull the guard's uniform off. "Help me." When he didn't move, she looked up at him. "Come on, we don't have much time. You want to find Isabel, don't you?"
His sister's name made Finn gasp. It had been so long since he had heard anyone else speak it, for once the girls were taken, they were dead to their families. It was ill-advised to speak of them again, except as the martyred dead. After all, it was an honor to be a vessel for a Halbrasse.
He might be so close to her now.
Finn bent to help Sienna pull off the guard's uniform and swapped his own clothes for the heavy armor of the guard. It shone, freshly polished, with the half-moon of the Shadow Cartographers. He wrapped a piece of rope around Sienna's wrists, tying them behind her back.
"Are you sure it's okay?" He whispered in her ear. "Not too tight?"
He was so close that he could smell the scent of her, a faint vanilla underneath sweat and the blood they had shed together. He had never thought a Mapwalker would look at him the way she did, but it seemed she saw past the external to his inner self.
"Push me ahead of you. Be a little rough. You won't hurt me."
Finn took a deep breath and then pushed Sienna forward a little. "Walk." His voice was stronger now, and he channeled his father as he assumed the swagger of authority.
They walked together into the tangle of winding passages beyond the archway, and as they passed, they peered through the barred windows of each of the cells. One woman lay crumpled on the floor, her body like a broken doll. Another banged on the door, yelling as she pulled at the bars. She screamed at them, pointing at Finn, calling him names Sienna recognized even though the woman spoke in a foreign language. It didn't matter what race you were here, only whether you could breed.
In another cell, a grunting sound and the rhythmic slap of flesh on flesh betrayed what occurred within, as the sound of weeping filled the corridors around them. It was a desolate, ugly place. Finn slowed his steps, wanting to help each one, but there were so many …
Sienna turned, her eyes bright with anger, a flush of red on her cheeks. "We must go on. Your sister might still be here." She looked around her. "We can't help these women one by one. We have to change things at a more fundamental level. And I promise you that we will, Finn. But if we're caught, it's all over. For both of us."
He nodded and as they walked on, the cells changed in nature. Women in different stages of pregnancy paced inside or lay chained on their backs, bellies looming large, closer to term the further they went in.
Then suddenly, there were empty cells. Finn stopped, looking inside of one, noting the crumpled blanket on the rickety bed, drops of blood on the floor. These women had gone to give birth and then they would be returned to the front cells ready to breed again.
Finn pounded his fist on the door of the last cell. "I'm too late."
A creak came from the end of the corridor.
Sienna slumped to the ground next to Finn's leg in a posture of submission, her head on one side, hair covering her face. A guard walked past, looking over with approval at what he presumed was another man's violent act.
After he passed by, his footsteps fading, Sienna looked towards the door. "There's something else behind there."
Finn took a step towards the door, sweat prickling his back, palms damp with fear of what he might find.
Sienna stood up and walked purposefully towards the door. Finn followed her. She pulled it open and immediately, a stench hit them from within. The smell of emptied bodies, disease and the rot of death. There were several bigger cells back here with up to ten women in each. They were thin and bedraggled, many of them lying on the floor or propped against the walls, some with bloody tunics. They were quiet, resigned to their fate.
"These are the ones they're finished with," Sienna whispered.
Finn frowned. "But some of the women return home. I know one in the Resistance, and she told me that when they've done their duty, they can leave. So why are these women here?"
"Perhaps they have to agree to something?" Sienna wondered aloud. "Maybe the ones who come back have promised to give up others, have promised to send other women. Maybe these are the ones who wouldn't agree."
Finn looked into the first cell, his eyes resting on each of the women in turn, each one a daughter, a mother, perhaps a sister or wife. Each one loved, and yet somehow, they ended up here. He wondered how many looked for them and his heart broke for those women who would never know they were loved. He wished he could help more, but even if they unlocked the doors to let these women out, they would perish on the journey home. They had no strength, and perhaps no will left to survive.
His anger at the Shadow Cartographers rose up inside. They needed to stop this. The only reason to breed Halbrasse was to invade and shift the border into Earth-side. But peace would mean that the Borderlands could develop into a better place. There must be a way. He looked over at Sienna. She wasn't like the other Mapwalkers, she could see both sides. Perhaps she could help.
Finn walked to the next prison door, gazing at each woman in turn. One woman had a shaved head, her face turned to the wall. But the shape of her nose, the set of her mouth were still recognizable.
"Isabel," he whispered.