He looked hopefully at Estrella.
“I’m sorry, Joe. All out of power.”
Joe pulled a silver crystal out of his pocket. It swung on a chain, reflecting moonlight.
“You can keep it as payment when you finish.”
Estrella stared at the crystal, then nodded and followed Joe to the leaning building.
“Estrella, we’re kind of in the middle of something,” William said.
Joe turned.
“I won’t keep her long. I’d invite you in, Rook, but this won't be pretty.”
“Ignore them. They were never here,” Estrella said. “And they definitely won’t be meeting me back here when they finish their business in town.”
She followed Joe.
“We’ll be fine without her,” Shadow said.
“Will we?” William asked. “Last time I checked, we were about to do something insane and needed all the help we could get.”
“Rook knows the way.”
“Can she carry the extra goods?” William said. “Gold is heavy.”
“Rubies,” I said. “We’re stealing rubies. Diamonds if we can find them.”
“Oh good. Those are much lighter.”
Chapter 20
We walked along the shoreline. The castle loomed overhead. The buildings got taller and straighter the further we went. Finally we reached the edge of the docks and stopped by a cliff. The castle’s windows glowed hundreds of feet above us, but the prison tower’s black stone absorbed the light.
“What now?” I whispered.
“Shhhh,” Shadow and William said.
Shadow pulled a rock, and a piece of the cliff swung out like a door.
“That’s it?”
“A secret entrance to the prison. Now be quiet!”
It seemed too easy. Shadow pulled the door shut. The world went black. I blinked and couldn’t tell when my eyes were open or shut. Someone grabbed my hand. I flinched, but recognized Shadow when he entwined his fingers around mine.
“Where are you?” William asked.
“Quiet. I’ll help,” Shadow said.
After a moment of confused shuffling, William’s hand found his way to mine.
Shadow led us through the darkness. I waited for my eyes to adjust, but they never did.
We walked for ages, always climbing upwards. I heard the gentle breathing of people asleep and the scuffle of our feet on the rock. Nothing else.
I held my breath as much as possible. The stench of filth and rot was overwhelming.
Shadow knew exactly where to go. Each footstep had purpose.
“Are there no guards?” I whispered.
“Of course there are guards,” he whispered back.
I pushed closer to him.
After an eternity of darkness, Shadow let go of my hand and opened a door. I followed him through it and breathed the clean air. Moonlight from a window illuminated the room. I glanced around.
The kitchen was empty. The fires had gone out. Shadow shut the door, and it blended in perfectly with the plaster wall. No one would find it by accident. William dropped my hand and snatched a pastry from a shelf.
“They’ll know we were here anyway,” he said.
“But they don’t have to know how we got in,” Shadow said.
He passed the shelves of food without taking anything. I followed his lead, although my stomach grumbled.
We walked through the series of rooms in the kitchen. I recognized most of them from the night of the opera, although everything looked cold and gray without the light of the fires.
“Why is there a passage from the kitchen to the prison?” I asked.
“Prisoners need to eat,” William said, his mouth full of food.
Shadow scoffed.
“They use prisoners to test food for poison before serving it.”
“Poison?”
“Salaria hasn’t always been peaceful. And cooks aren't always trustworthy.”
I swallowed and followed him through another door.
“The ugly garden!” I said as we stepped into the fresh air.
I walked over to the plant where Shadow had hidden the night we met and stroked a leaf.
“What?” William asked.
“Well, these plants aren’t exactly pretty,” I said. “I think this is where they send gardeners who need more practice.”
Shadow smirked. William shook his head.
“This is an herb garden,” William said. “They grow plants to use in the kitchens. To flavor the food.”
“Oh.”
I looked up at the main garden to hide my embarrassment. It was dark and quiet. There would have been torches and music if anyone had been in it.
“How do we get up there?”
But Shadow was already up. He had scaled the wall.
“I’ll help you up,” William said.
“I think I can make it.”
There were plenty of rocks to use as handholds. I climbed it without a problem.
Shadow grinned at me when I reached the top.
“We’ll make a bandit of you yet.”
I smiled back. We hid in a bush and waited for William to make the climb. I stared at my garden, taking in every detail. Plants grew in symmetrical pairs. Every bush trimmed, the grass a green, flourishing carpet. Flowers of every shape and color imaginable glowed in the moonlight.
It all looked a bit unnatural.
William swung over the wall, and Shadow turned to me.
Right, I would have to lead now.
I made my way to the corner of the garden with the stairs, doing my best to use the plants for cover. Surely everyone was asleep by now. Surely no one was watching the garden.
But my heart beat hard by the time we stood at the bottom of the staircase. I nodded to Shadow, then began to climb. It was easier in the short peasant dress, but still terrifying. I clung to the stones, trying not to think about the sharp cliffs below.
No one spoke as we climbed. I gasped in relief when I climbed over the top of the tower. My chest with the books and opera glasses sat undisturbed. The trap door was shut. For a moment, I panicked. Would we be able to open it from the outside? Shadow pulled a knife out of his pack and worked the bolt loose.
We climbed down to the secret passage.
It was unsettling, being so close to my former life. I led them down the tunnel.
“There’s the council chamber,” I said.
“You didn’t mention it was so close,” Shadow said. “William, see if you can find any information about the salt tax. Rook and I will come back for you when we’ve got the goods.”
“We could steal a treaty and ransom it.”
“William!”
“Quiet, Rook. Do we get to Lady Alma’s through here?”
I nodded and led the way. My breath caught as we passed the tapestry that led to my bedroom. Would Seda be in there? Surely they wouldn’t lock him up all alone. I thought I heard a noise, but it was difficult to tell in the echoing tunnel.
I walked past. Shadow gaped when we crawled into the studio.
Thankfully, Lady Alma had left the ceiling and walls as windows. Moonlight gleamed against the solid gold drawers and mirrors. I resisted the urge to stand on the pedestal in the middle of the room while fabric swirled around me.
“Everything is in the drawers,” I said. “I’ll get the rubies. You see what else you can find.”
“They’ll know we were here, so don’t hold back,” Shadow said. “We’ll take as much as we can carry.”
I opened the drawer where Lady Alma had stored the rubies and gasped. My Rosas Rojas!
I twirled it in my fingers, picturing Sir Gilbert’s face as he gave it to me. His scent lingered in the petals, mixed with the floral aroma. For a brief moment, I felt homesick for my former life. Lady Alma’s cheerful chatter. Seda’s antics. The poets-
That brought me back to reality. I did not miss the poets. Although, it might be amusing to see what they would write if they could see m
e now.
“This is no time to stop and smell the roses,” Shadow said.
I rolled my eyes and put the rose in my apron. I couldn’t bear to think of it on Captain’s ship, traveling to the black market in Castana. Besides, it came from there. It wouldn’t interest them.
The rubies were still in the drawer. The room glowed red when I opened the chest. Shadow turned and smiled at me.
“Well done.”
The rubies were heavy. I dumped them out of the chest into a basket and filled the rest of the space with silks so thin they were transparent. I could hardly lift the bag when I finished.
Shadow opened a wardrobe and pulled out something round and shiny.
“What in the world is this, Rook?”
I blinked at the glare as it caught the moonlight and gasped.
“Those are the diamonds from the opera costume!”
“Yes, but what are they in? This silver thing?”
“Um, it’s a hat.”
He stared at me. I examined the contents of the wardrobe. The white triangular dress hung in the middle. It was as ugly as I remembered.
“This is the dress Princess Salara wore in the opera,” I said. “I suppose we should take it?”
Shadow grinned.
“Captain won’t have enough gold. We’ll have to fold it.”
I carefully folded the dress and wrapped it in a piece of green velvet. Shadow wrapped the hat full of diamonds so it wouldn’t spill.
“Let’s go get William’s bags,” Shadow said. “We can leave these in the passage while we fill the rest.”
I nodded and followed him.
William waved at us when we brought the bags.
“I can’t find anything about the salt tax,” he said.
“Keep looking. Rook and I have just about cleaned out the studio.”
I reached out a hand to stroke the tapestry by my room as we walked past. Someone snored on the other side. I jumped.
“What’s that?” Shadow asked.
“Nothing.”
I found a few more small chests of gems and some half-finished shoes. We filled our baskets in no time.
I paused again as we passed my room. I definitely heard something. Who was in there?
Shadow kept walking down the tunnel. I ran my hand along the tapestry, listening to the rhythmic breathing of someone asleep. I pushed the tapestry forward. Just a little. Just enough so I could see inside.
Someone slept in my bed. Black hair spilled over the pillow, gleaming in the moonlight. A ghostly prism of colors shone on the walls.
I stared. The room was unchanged. I recognized the same tapestries, the same carpet.
The same blankets.
With seemingly the same person under them.
Something brushed against my foot. I jumped and bit back a scream. A blur of white fur pawed my skirt.
“Seda, no,” I whispered.
Seda meowed. The sound echoed through the tunnel.
“Go back in.”
He scratched at my leg and yowled. I picked him up and stroked him to keep him quiet. The figure in the bed moved. She turned. I could almost see her face now.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped as Shadow put his hand on my shoulder. I tucked Seda under one arm and put my finger to my lips.
Shadow pushed the tapestry back further and examined the room.
“Rook, what is this?”
I shrugged and turned to leave.
The girl in my bed sighed and turned further. Her hair fell over her face. Faint colors danced around the room. Shadow grabbed my arm.
“Is that-”
“Impossible,” I tried to keep my tone light.
His entire body was tense. He reached a trembling hand into his pack and pulled out his dagger.
“Shadow, what are you doing?”
He blinked at the knife in his hand.
“I-”
Seda yowled. The girl opened her eyes.
We should leave. I knew we should leave. But I stayed, and Shadow did the same. I needed to see.
The girl sat up and turned towards me. Our eyes met.
We both stared.
“Who’s there?”
Her voice sounded familiar and not at all enchanted.
Shadow pulled me back while the girl rubbed her eyes. Seda dug his claws into my shoulder, and I yelped. The girl leaned forward, and a moonbeam illuminated her face.
Impossible.
Her screams brought me out of the trance. I pushed Shadow through the tapestry.
In a flash of silver sparkles, Lady Alma appeared. She wore a night cap trimmed with Castanian stars and a pink silk nightgown to match. The blast of magic stunned me. I stared at the teardrop charm around her neck and fingered the similar one around my own.
Of course Lady Alma had a wig charm. She wore wigs every day.
“Princess Salara!” Lady Alma said.
Was she speaking to me or the imposter? I didn’t stay to find out. I followed Shadow through the tunnels, and we ran to the council chamber.
“Still nothing about the salt tax,” William said.
“Forget that! Hurry!” Shadow said.
We grabbed the baskets and sprinted to the end of the tunnel.
Shadow climbed the ladder first. William handed baskets up to him. As I tried to climb it, I realized I was still holding Seda. I tried to set him down, but he climbed onto my shoulder.
He dug his claws in as I climbed the staircase around the tower. Shadow climbed after me. William lowered the baskets to us with a rope before climbing down himself.
This was taking too long. Lady Alma would have sounded the alarm by now.
We each grabbed our baskets and ran across the garden. Instead of climbing down the herb garden wall, Shadow led us to the staircase.
“It will take too long to lower the baskets,” he said.
“Why are we in a hurry now?” William whispered.
I shook my head and followed Shadow down the stairs and through the kitchens. We reached the room with the secret door, and Shadow pushed the wall. The door swung open. When Shadow shut it, the prison plunged into complete darkness.
“We should have brought a candle,” I whispered.
“Darkness spell,” Shadow whispered. “Lights don’t work.”
“Lights don’t work,” a voice echoed.
It was harder to follow Shadow while carrying the baskets, but he did not slow down. I sighed with relief when he opened the final door and we stood on the docks. I looked back at the palace, expecting to see it aglow with lights and crawling with guards. Most of the lights were out now. There was no sign of commotion.
We walked through the docks until we found the place where Estrella had abandoned us. We entered the leaning building. A group of sailors surrounded Estrella. She waved her hands up and down Joe’s arm, filling the room with flashes of colorful light.
“We need to go,” Shadow said.
Estrella ignored him. She moved her hand in small circles, and the light turned green. Joe flexed his fingers.
“What happened back there?”
William leaned towards me, waiting for an answer. I shrugged and dislodged Seda from my shoulder. He jumped onto William.
“What is this?”
“Nothing.”
I took Seda from him and scratched behind his ears. The kitten purred.
William stared at me. Then at the papers he still held in his hand. He shoved them into a basket.
“We need to get out of here, Estrella,” Shadow said.
“I’ll sail you out of the city,” Joe said. “Rook can see what she’s missing by hanging out with bandits instead of pirates.”
“Thanks, Joe,” Estrella said. “And thanks for the crystal.”
“Worth every ounce. Wasn’t even that hard to steal.”
Estrella turned to us, smiling. She noticed Seda and froze.
The kitten jumped out of my arms, ran across the room, and leapt at Estrell
a. She caught him and pulled him close.
“You brought Seda?” she asked.
“You did what?” Shadow said.
Seda stayed in Estrella’s arms, playing with the silver crystal hanging around her neck. He turned to me, meowed, and clawed the crystal again. I watched them as we climbed into Joe’s ship and sailed out to sea. Had Estrella set an enchantment on the crystal? Why was she charming my kitten?
“Where to?” Joe asked.
“Take us to Miner’s Harbor,” Estrella said. “But sail out a bit first.”
She stood beside him, watching the waves hit the boat. Seda slept in her arms. William, Shadow, and I stood at the back watching the palace for some sign of alarm. It remained dark.
We sailed out to sea, then turned and sailed up the Ghone.
“So what exactly were you two doing?” William asked.
Shadow shook his head and nodded at Joe.
“Oh, don’t worry about me,” Joe said. “I know lots of Captain’s secret plans. Never breathe a word of them. Even if Rook asked me about them, my lips are sealed.”
“I could teach him a thing or two about being subtle,” William whispered to me.
“Like you taught Thomas?”
We both laughed.
I held Seda while Estrella helped Joe adjust the sails. She reached for him when she finished, but I shook my head. What made her think she had the right to hold him? She glared at me but said nothing. The ship moved slowly up the Ghone as we sailed against the current and towards the mountains. Finally Joe dropped the anchor at a ramshackle dock surrounded by a cluster of equally rundown buildings. He lowered a ramp for us and held out his hand to help me ashore. Shadow jumped in front of him and took my arm. Joe frowned.
“So that’s how it is, then?”
“We were never here, Joe,” Estrella said.
“Only my arm remembers, and it don’t know how to talk. Thanks, Strella.”
“Anytime.”
They smiled at each other, and Joe sailed away. Shadow released my arm.
Estrella turned on us.
“This is more than jewels and fabric!”
She gestured to the sleeping kitten in my arms.
“We had a bit of a run in with the Princess,” Shadow said.
“You had what?”
“Just so you know, I wasn’t there,” William said. “I was in a completely different room.”
Rook and Shadow (Salarian Chronicles Book 1) Page 17