Within the Walls [NEW VERSION]

Chapter 33

Tendrils of whispers and hisses scrape my eardrums. I pull out my dagger and whip the lantern back and forth, staring into the inky darkness, waiting for one of those foul monsters to crawl out from the depths of the tunnels.

I arrive at the first group of miners. The dozen men, paired in twos, in an underground cavern, hack into the stone with brass pickaxes, hauling handfuls of copper and iron from the depths into wooden pails. A musky, sooty smell clings to the idle air. Fear scratches at my throat when I recognise one of the men as Barrett, my father's old friend. They all glance up at my approach.

"You need to get out of here," I say, pointing to the exit. "There's flooding in the north, and you'll drown if you stay."

Sensing the urgency and fear in my tone, the miners do not question me. They dump their tools and usher one another to the tunnel that leads to the exit. Barrett, a tall, scrawny figure with sluggish movements, and pallid, sagging skin, staggers up to me, smudging dirt across his brow. "Are you 'ere to kill the king, young Elle?"

I square my shoulders. "I'm here to help you."

He flashes me a gummy grin as he claps me on the shoulder. "Your father wanted this. He would be proud. I am ready for the future."

Barrett stumbles away, down the onyx corridor.

The miners' voices dissipate, and a gravelly, distinct voice replaces them. stiffen. That voice. I'd know it anywhere. My knees buckle as a scream slice through the darkness. Barrett's scream. Followed by a dull, wet thump. A shadowed figure emerges from around the corner. The king's low laugh crackles through the cool, stagnant air as the glacial water bites at my ankles.

"Oh, Elle," the king says, chuckling as he approaches. Water splashes around him as he moves through the crisscrossing tunnel, his bloodied short sword glinting in the light of his lamp. Panic bubbles up my throat and it takes every morsel of strength to not yield. "Whatever are you doing down here?"

I scrunch my nose and march forward, shouldering past him. "What have you done?" My face and heart burn and I fight every urge to throw myself down the hallway to find Barrett.

"Did you think you were going to save the miners?" His haggard voice and cold words render me still. "Don't bother. I already bet you to it. They're heading out a safe passageway now."

I stare at the water as it rises and swallows my shoes. "Why should I believe you? And why would you do that for them? I can't imagine it came from the goodness of your heart."

He shrugs and prowls the other way. "I am not a heartless man. I don't see the point in killing those who mine the coal that powers many parts of the kingdom. They left with their lives upon swearing their undying loyalty to me – to the crown." His mocking, hateful gleam flickers in the lantern light. "Are you coming, Elle? If you don't follow me, I fear you may drown, and what a pity that would be."

I spin the hilt of the dagger in my hand, propping it over my shoulder, readying to throw it. "Not unless I knock you out and we both drown together."

He masks a flicker of fear by tugging the hem of his collar and baring his teeth. "I thought you had terrible aim."

My bitter laugh dances with the wispy chatter of the lizards. "I did. But your son has taught me better accuracy. Your head looks like the perfect target. I wonder what it would look like on a spike." The thumping footsteps of approaching lizards reverberate through the tunnels as I hurl the blade and it nicks the king's ear before hitting the water behind him.

He howls like the wind and stumbles backward, grabbing his bleeding air as his face becomes white as crow-picked bone. "You bitch." His hiss stabs my eardrums, but I roll my eyes.