Chapter 227

The darkness thickened around them as they went even deeper into the dungeon. “This is the first level,” Eli said in a low voice. They went around a corner and scores of prison cells came into view, all of them occupied with one or more captives, most of them men, and many only skin and bones. Some were chained to walls, others were free to roam around their small abodes. None of them were clean. Waste and garbage littered the ground everywhere Kit looked. It was wretched to say the least.

“What could they have possibly done to deserve this?” she asked as eyes darted in their direction, followed by a shout or two.

“Nothing,” Jate said behind her. “No one deserves to be treated this way.”

“Unfortunately,” Eli said without turning his head, “it only gets worse from here.”

At the end of the hallway, two more guards stood chatting. Kit heard them telling off-color jokes before they noticed they were not alone. Apparently, the shouts of the prisoners were not enough. Kit hated to leave those people behind, but she’d have to find Cassius and then determine what to do with them, and now the guards were focused on them as well.

“What’s this now?” A stocky man with a round belly and dark hair growled. “What are you doing down here? I heard you was dead!”

“Is that the princess?” the other asked.

“It is I,” Kit said with her head held high. “I’ve come on official business for the crown. You may join my cause, or you may be dispatched, but either way, you will move aside.” It was clear by their countenances these two were not going to be handled the same way as the men at the last door.

“Bloody hell we will,” the first guard said, drawing his sword.

He was no match for Eli who had his weapon out while the other man was still clearing his scabbard. Rather than run him through, the commander slammed the flat of his sword into the guard’s hand and used his forearm to knock him into the door. The sword clambered to the floor, and Kit picked it up while Eli rendered the guard unconscious.

Pointing the blade at the other guard, Kit asked, “What’s your choice?”

Having learned his lesson from the mistake of his friend, this guard, taller and wirier than any man Kit had ever seen, raised both hands in the air.

Jate stepped forward and pulled the man’s sword out of his scabbard while Landon produced some rope they’d brought with them just in case it was needed. Brendrake’s finest made short work of tying the man so that he wouldn’t be running off and sounding an alarm any time soon, and before he was finished, a handkerchief was secured around his mouth.

“He’s alive, isn’t he?” Kit asked as Eli and Reeve tied up the other man.

“Yes, but he won’t wake up for a while. Hopefully, not until we’re finished.”

By now, the prisoners were growing loud. Kit had no idea if there were other members of the Prison Guard within earshot, but they needed to hurry. Jate had the door unlocked, having plucked the keys from the guard who sat with his back against the wall around the corner now, not even struggling for his freedom, and the others seemed ready to bolt through.

Kit gave another longing glance over her shoulder to the prisoners. “We will be back for them,” Eli assured her. She knew that would be the case, so long as her mother didn’t take her anger at finding the rest of the prisoners liberated out on these folks. As rowdy as the prisoners were becoming, it was evident Kit and the others wouldn’t be able to control them; some may not listen and try to go out the other door, which would be problematic, especially if they were able to break through and rush back upstairs. Eli was right. These people would need to stay here for now. Tossing the sword on the landing on the other side of the door, she followed him through.

Another flight of stairs headed straight down into the belly of the castle. Only one torch lit the way, and there was no railing to hold onto, so Kit kept her hand on Eli as they crept as lightly as possible into what seemed like the center of the world.

During the encounter upstairs, she’d become slightly used to the odor, but here, it was so overwhelming, she almost expected to see the scents of rot, decay, and raw sewage hanging in the air like specters. At one point they had to stop because Landon almost added his own contribution of vile liquid to the mix, but he managed to keep it down with a sip of water from Jate’s canteen, so they marched on.

Near the bottom of the stairs, Kit began to hear human voices. Shouts, screams, conversation, mixed in with the most desperate sobs she’d ever heard. Occasionally, the stern voice of a guard would drown out the others as an order or insult was hurled at the prisoners. Kit braced herself for what she was about to see.

At the bottom of the stairs, Eli stopped, and Kit ran into him, Jate bumping into her and so forth. She remembered Eli had seen this place once before, but she didn’t think he was prepared to be here again. She couldn’t even comprehend what she was looking at.

Across from them, about twenty paces, iron bars created the front wall of what she could only describe as a cage. From one side to the other, it was only thirty or forty feet across, but beyond that, the stone walls stretched back beyond what she could see. And every square inch of the room was filled to capacity with bodies. This was The Wilderness Eli had spoken of.

Men—dirty, half-naked, long-haired, shite-covered, starving men--fought and clawed at each other like animals. There were more than Kit could have ever imagined pressed into this horrendous space, and it was no wonder the smell was far worse than the bog full of corpses.

In front of them stood a half dozen Prison Guards, some of them with long spikes, others only using their words as weapons as they taunted the prisoners. It was apparent from their attitudes that none of these men could be converted. Anyone who could look upon the miserable prisoners on the other side of those bars and feel anything but pity had no place in Kit’s court.

All four of her accomplices had their swords out before they were even detected. Kit drew her knife as well. Jate offered her the sword he’d taken from the guard upstairs, but she declined, so he placed it in his own scabbard as Eli and the others confronted the soldiers in front of them.

One directly in front of them seemed to have a bit of common sense. “We know why you’re here. Drop your swords, and we’ll fetch him for you. No reason for anyone else to get hurt.”

His use of the word “else” made Kit’s stomach flip over. “My presence here is not meant to free only Cassius but all of these men who have been held far too long in deplorable conditions without ample food, water, or clothing. No one deserves to be treated this way. They’re not animals!”

“They’re murderers! Thieves! Rapists! Traitors! Would you have the queen let the likes of them roam the streets of Yewforia free?” an older man with a missing front tooth barked at her from one end of the line of guards.

“We both know that’s not true, except for perhaps the part about disloyalty to the queen. Murderers, thieves, and rapists are condemned to die immediately. These men have done none of those things, and they deserve to walk free. Tell me, if what you say is true, then what crime has Cassius committed that he would be deposited here with these others?”

“It is not our place to question the judgment of the queen!” the first guard who had spoken shouted.

It was apparent she would not be able to talk the swords out of their hands, so Kit stepped out of the way and let her Representatives do what needed to be done. The Prison Guards were no match for her men, even though the numbers were slightly in favor of the guards.