S
ticks remained huddled against a corner wall inside the crypt. She watched Lewis, Leodor, and Leah depart. She’d seen and heard the entire conversation. After the group was several minutes gone, she slid from her hiding spot into the darkness of the crypt, which was also used for storage.
“That was an earful, wasn’t it?” someone else said out in the darkness.
Sticks made out the faint outline of Shades. He’d hidden himself on the other side of the chambers. The two of them had been keeping tabs on Lewis and Leodor since they’d left the castle.
“It answers a lot of questions, doesn’t it?” she said.
“The sad thing is that I thought Prince Lewis might have turned a corner. I guess once a bad seed, always a bad seed.” Shades bumped into Sticks on his way out.
“Watch your hands,” she said.
“Pardon me. It is dark, you know.”
“And I know you know your way around the dark better than anybody but me,” she said.
“True.” He made his way toward the stairs. “At least we know that Ruger is alive and in the castle. That’s good to know even though it will be near impossible to get him out of there.”
They walked up the crypt stairs shoulder to shoulder. “I don’t think a mad king will heed our warnings either,” she said. “Talk about a rock and a hard spot. No one is going to believe us.”
A heavy stone door sealed the entrance to the crypt. Shades put his shoulder into it and started to push it open. “Cripes, this thing is heavy. I could use some assistance.”
Sticks leaned on the door. “We can get Abraham out of the House of Steel, can’t we?”
“I think it would be far easier to reach out to the king.”
“But he won’t listen. He doesn’t trust Abraham or the Henchmen anymore,” she said as she shoved the door.
“True, but if we can get that crown off of his head, he might begin to see clearer.”
“I thought the king was a good man. Now, he’s ruined.”
“He’s probably still a good man. The power is corrupting him. It happens to everyone these days.” Shades grunted as he pushed the door open. “Except for humble men like me.” With the door wide open, he stepped aside. “After you.”
They were in the back end of the great temple, in the rooms behind the altars.
Sticks moved out of the crypt stairwell. “Back to the Stronghold?”
Shades started to push the door shut. “Oh, crap on this door. Let someone else shut it.” He turned, and suddenly his eyes widened.
Sticks pulled a dagger free and spun around. Raschel ran a knife deep into her gut. Sticks sliced the woman across the cheek, but her strength quickly fled her.
Shades pulled out a short sword just in time to have his sword hand cut off by Prince Lewis, who was lurking behind the curtains. Shades gaped as his missing hand and sword dropped to the floor. Blood spurted from the wound. Prince Lewis sank his sword deep in the man’s chest.
Sticks sagged to her knees, clutching her belly. Her jaw hung open. She looked up at the woman in Leah’s body.
Raschel smirked as she wiped the blood on her blade on the shoulder of Sticks’s cloak. “The wound is fatal. You’ll be dead in a few minutes. Any last words that you would like to share? I like to keep a record. It provides for excellent reading with a bottle of wine.”
Sticks didn’t respond. She tried to stand but could not. With tremendous effort, she knee walked over to Shades. His eyes were wide, and his hands clutched the wound in his chest. He spat blood out of his mouth.
Leodor stepped out from behind the curtain. “Did you really think that interlopers like you could sneak into a house of the Sect and not be noticed? Tsk tsk. Our eyes are everywhere. Even the likes of you could not avoid them.”
“And to think you were once one of us,” Sticks struggled to say. “You’ll get yours.”
“I like that quote,” Raschel added. “I might even write it down in your own blood.”
“Leodor, what are we doing? Watching them bleed to death?” Lewis asked. He wiped his sword blade off on one of the curtains. “We have more pressing matters to attend to.”
“Of course. Put them in the crypt. It’s a fit place for them to die. The servants of the Sect can dispose of the bodies later, after the rats have nibbled down to the bones. They are excellent when it comes to cleaning up.”
Lewis sheathed his sword, grabbed Shades by the collar, dragged him to the top of the stairs, and rolled him down the steps. “A very light little fellow. He must have bones like a bird.”
Sticks tried to pull a knife out of her bandolier with her numb fingers. The burning fire in her gut kept her doubled over. The strength in her limbs failed completely. Helpless, she let Prince Lewis grab her by the braids and haul her to the top of the steps.
“Hmph, I think you are heavier than Shades was.” Lewis gave her a quaint smile. “It was a pleasure working with you for a time. I’ll always cherish the memories.”
Sticks offered the prince one last burning look and said, “We saved you.”
“And I’ll always be grateful. ’Tis a shame that I won’t be doing the same for you.” With a shove of his boot, he rolled Sticks down the steps, where she landed right on top of Shades’s body. Prince Lewis waved his gloved fingers. “Ta ta.”
Sticks watched in burning misery. The wicked trio stood at the top of the stairs, gloating. With a shove that made closing the stone door look easy, Lewis sealed them inside the crypt to die in darkness and their own blood.
