Chapter 230

Seeing the floor swallow him up was so unsettling, Kit forgot she was supposed to be counting. By the time she remembered, Landon and Reeve were behind her with Cassius. “You’ll be fine, Princess. We won’t let any harm befall you,” Reeve promised.

Kit smiled at him, but she had no idea how that might be possible if she was falling through the ground, and he was here. “Be careful,” she warned. All three of them nodded, and then she positioned herself on the lip of the hole and slid down so that she was sitting on the edge.

“We’ll see you soon,” Landon assured her.

Kit didn’t pull her eyes off of the opening to acknowledge him. Instead, she counted to three, crossed her arms over her body, and moved off of the edge of the floor into nothingness.

The drop was far steeper than she had imagined it would be. At first, she wasn’t even touching the floor of the shaft as she sped down into what seemed to be an iron tube. When her backside made contact with the bottom, she hit hard, jarring her teeth. Her head bounced up into the ceiling painfully enough to leave a bruise, but she didn’t dare try to lift an arm to feel where it smarted because she could see nothing at all and was afraid she might lose a limb.

Decay and death infiltrated her nose with every breathe. She prayed she wouldn’t bump into any bodies that may have gotten lodged here, but she had a feeling if there had been any, Eli would’ve already moved them along or would be the person she’d collide with. It would be a tight squeeze for Cassius and Terrowin, who had somehow managed to keep most of his girth despite the horrid conditions of the prison. Kit just wanted to stop her descent.

After what seemed like a minute or two, the slope of the shaft decreased, slowing her speed some, and the space between her body and the ceiling increased so that she could almost sit up if she wanted to. A faint crack of light in the distance gave her enough means to see the rusted metal tube above her as she sailed by.

She skidded to a stop in a small room at the bottom of the shaft. A pool of water soaked most of her gown. Kit hopped up, afraid it wasn’t actually water at all. Eli had lit a torch on the wall, which illuminated the spot where he was kneeling in front of a small iron door.

“Locked?”

“No, but jammed,” Eli said, working to free it. “It opens out, which is sort of surprising since one would think enough bodies could push it open that way.”

“Maybe there’s something wedged against the other side preventing us from pushing through.”

Straining against the obstacle. Eli’s voice was a growl. “Possibly.” He stopped for a moment. “Are you all right?”

“Fine. Wet, but fine.” Her hand went to her head where she assumed she’d have a mark, but it didn’t hurt much.

“Good.” He was back to work, and Kit wished she could help but didn’t know how she might. Brute strength was not her best quality.

Kit could hear noise in the shaft and knew that Cassius was likely barreling down the tunnel toward them. He would be followed by others. They needed to get the door open—now.

“Do you think there might be a guard on the other side?”

“I don’t know,” Eli admitted.

As he continued to work to push the door open, Kit took her knife out of its sheath, and using the hilt, she began to bang on the door as loudly as she could. At first, Eli looked at her like she had lost her mind, but then, putting up a hand, he stopped her. “Let me see that.”

Kit handed over the dagger, and Eli pushed as hard as he could against the door while slipping the tip of the blade into the corner. Prying with the knife as he pushed against the barrier, he managed to get the point through, and the door opened enough to let in a crack of fresher air.

Cassius slid to a stop a few feet away from them, and already, Kit could hear more noise in the shaft. She ran to him. By the time she reached him, he was already sitting, pushing to his feet. It made no sense to ask him if he was all right since he obviously wasn’t. “Door jammed?”

“I think something’s pressed against it,” Eli said, still straining.

Kit moved aside, and Cassius took a position next to Eli, pushing his shoulder into the metal door. It budged a bit more but not enough for her to even reach a hand out of the opening. Working as a team, the two let up for a moment, and then Cassius counted to three and they rammed their shoulders into the door again. This time, it popped a good foot open before springing closed again. Undeterred, they tried once more, and the door opened enough for Eli to wedge his way into the opening from the shoulders up just as the first former prisoner slid into the pool of water behind them.

“Kit, come here!” Eli shouted, and she moved forward quickly. “Slide underneath me, and see if you can get out.”

It was a narrow space between his knees and the floor. Kit got on her back and did as instructed. Her head fit through fine, but her shoulders were tight. She twisted as the metal lip of the door bit into her flesh. Working one hand out helped, and then Cassius gave her a push, and the upper half of Kit’s body was free.

Her hips were stuck, but she could see the problem. A large rock was sitting in front of the door. It seemed to have been bumped aside slightly by all of the men’s efforts, but it was still preventing the door from opening. Kit couldn’t quite get her fingertips on it, and by the looks of it, the rock was quite heavy.

“It’s a boulder,” she said, looking up at Eli.

“Can you reach it?”

“No.”

“Damn it.”

Another splash of water let Kit know the people were piling up behind them. She needed to think quickly. “Try giving me another shove.” She hoped Cassius could hear her.

As he pushed, she twisted her hips. The metal scraped against her hip bones, and she clawed at the ground, trying to get enough traction to drag herself out of the door. Kit growled with the effort, hearing the fabric of her split skirt rip on the sharp metal. More splashes behind her, and perhaps additional pressure on the door, and she was able to propel her hips free. A scream filled the night as iron bit into her thigh; it took her a moment to realize it was her own voice she was hearing. With the widest part of her loose, she was able to pull the rest of her body out.

Without stopping to think about the gash in her leg or the rest of her body aches, Kit grappled to her feet. The stone against the door was taller than the door itself, and it looked heavier than her.

“Kit, take my sword and use it as a lever!” Eli managed to extend the hilt of his sword through the door he still had partially open.

She took it and sucked in air as she approached the immovable object. Working the sword underneath the rock, the same way Eli had used her dagger to get the door open, she pressed down on the handle, and the rock lifted slightly. Making adjustments, she moved to where she could press down on the sword and still reach the rock. With every ounce of strength she had left, she pushed down on the sword and then shoved the rock so that it tipped to the side. It was still in front of the door, but before Kit even stepped aside, the metal came flying a foot or two more open, hitting her in the back of the legs as Eli, Cassius, and several prisoners came toppling out.

“Move, Kit! Move!” Eli demanded, scrambling to his feet as Kit did as he suggested, pulling his sword out and bringing it with her.

A flood of prisoners poured out of the door. Poor Cassius just managed to drag himself to the side as they began to stream down the embankment toward the river. Kit and Eli also moved out of the way, their chests heaving with exertion. Most of the prisoners stopped at the edge of the water, lapping it up or soaking their heads in the murky water, rubbing it on their faces. Kit could see from here that the river was much like the swamp they’d located behind the castle. Body parts were visible a few feet from the shore. Drinking that water could potentially make the prisoners sick, but then, with the conditions they’d been living in for so long, it was a wonder any of them were still alive anyway.

“Look over there,” Eli said, gesturing with his head off to their right. Several dots of light were visible in the distance. Lanterns. And they were moving quickly, which meant they were riders on horseback. “Hope that’s our rescue party and not the enemy.”