White Fire

Chapter Twenty Seven: Draggo

I found myself in the same predicament as the night before: meeting with a trainee when I should've been in bed. Tomorrow morning, I had to compete for the title of captain, and I needed as much rest as I could get.

I could almost hear Titus and Luca telling me to focus on tomorrow's competition and not on finding answers that may not even be there. I was being irrational, but my gut told me to find out as much as I could about the fire clan.

I stood next to a shadowed corner near the stairs that lead to the forbidden grounds. I focused on even breaths as my eyes darted from left to right, hoping the guards wouldn't make their way to this side of the castle.

Cora somehow found out that at the twelve-o-clock hour, the guards would take a half an hour break and leave their post. It meant we had little time to get as much information out of the Firelander as we could.

Cora's footsteps sounded to my right, and I turned to greet her hooded figure. She wore a dark cloak that covered her gown and hid her face within its darkness. There was a second cloak hanging in one of her arms.

"Put this on," she told me. "If we get caught, we can escape with our identities hidden."

I grabbed the cloak and quickly pulled the heavy hood over my head, disguising myself in it's fabric. Cora took a few steps away from me and glanced down the passageway, making sure that everything was clear before we took to the stairwell.

She silently signaled for me to follow her and we made our way down the darkly lit stairs. It seemed as if the stairs were never ending, and we both were out of breath by the time we hit the last step.

The dungeon walls were made of the same stone as the ones from the Witch's closet, meaning this dungeon had been here before the castle had been rebuilt with ice instead of stone. There was something disturbing about the darkness of the passageway we took to. A cool drift circled around my legs, urging me to turn around and go to my room.

As I glanced around at the torches illuminating the passageway, I wondered how many people had walked along these halls just as afraid as I.

Cora stopped at a large, wooden door with circular handles made of rusted metal. She pulled at both of the handles and allowed the noisy door to give way to a room full of cells.