A Whisper of Smoke by Pauline Creeden & Melinda R. Cordell

Author:Pauline Creeden & Melinda R. Cordell [Cordell, Melinda R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-20T05:00:00+00:00

12

Into Darkness

Skeggi drew his sword and they all three went in different directions. Dyrfinna went into the basement, Ostryg searched the main floor, Skeggi climbed the stairs. The girl stayed by Gefjun’s side, dagger drawn, watching the door and windows for intruders.

Skeggi climbed a set of narrow, rudely-built stairs that led to a level over the mead hall. His owl flew after him, fluttering up into the dusty alcove. She folded her wings and dove to the floor. For a moment, she sat there, looking around her, then flew up to the top of the banister with a limp mouse in her talons. She settled there and looked around boldly as if daring somebody to take it away from her. Skeggi patted her head as he climbed up the stairs past her.

Skeggi had never been up in the loft in the mead hall. He’d seen the loft from the floor below during his occasional visits, so to be up here was oddly familiar and yet completely new.

He found a open area overlooking the hall below, lined with some empty casks and barrels brought to the top and stacked against the wall to be reused someday. This upper level overlooked the floor below with a short wall so people could walk there without pitching straight over the side.

Here were some bedrooms and storage rooms for less valuable things, like chairs, old furniture, and linens. He walked past them, peeking into each one. He saw a stash of pumpkins in one room, along with what appeared to be a small keg of spices. He shook his head and walked on, still looking for Thora.

But at the far end of the mead hall, farthest from the steps, was a single dark oak door in the back of the hall, among the shadows. He’d never gone through this door and knew nothing about it.

Skeggi took hold of the handle and pulled it.

It didn’t budge.

He yanked on the handle. He leaned back and pulled.

Damn, he thought. Do I have to cut this thing down with my axe?

He leaned on the door – and the door opened inward, tumbling Skeggi right into darkness.

He froze there on the floor where he’d stumbled. Even with the faint light that came through the door behind him, his eye couldn’t pierce the darkness in the inside of the room.

His owl launched herself past Skeggi with a brush of wings on his face, and she vanished into the darkness without a sound.

Skeggi got up slowly, staring into the darkness, Smoke’s wings were absolutely silent, so he couldn’t hear where the little owl had gone. He could tell, just from the echoes he’d made in the room as he fell in, that the room was a large space, and the air was fresh, not stale. Fresh air was coming in from someplace. It couldn’t have been a window, because light would have been coming in. But not a sound came from anywhere around him.

Oddly, his eyes were still not adjusting to the dark.

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