The Map Makers Daughter: A captivating epic fantasy tale. by Caroline Dunford

Author:Caroline Dunford [Dunford, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spellbound Books
Published: 2021-08-25T22:00:00+00:00

9

Maven grabbed a torch from the wall, pulled her from the room and towed her towards an old door at the end of the corridor. He put his boot to the lock and the door swung open in a cloud of cobwebs and dust. He hustled Sharra through and pulled the door closed behind him.

‘Always good to know the exits in a strange place.’ Maven held the torch high above his head. It flickered shadows across his worried face. ‘With luck we’ll have a while before they realise what has happened. C’mon. One of the maids told me there was a rat’s nest of passages in these walls. There has to be a way out.’

He gave her a slight push. Sharra stumbled forward. They moved on in silence for a while. Thoughts poured through her mind, whirling and tumbling and making little sense. Her whole body felt like it belonged to someone else. She couldn’t be here. This couldn’t be happening.

Something ran over her foot. Sharra leapt backwards and into Maven, who staggered, but managed to keep them both upright.

‘What are you doing?’ he demanded.

‘Rat.’

Maven lowered the torch. Ahead of them in the shadows reflected more than one pair of glowing yellow eyes.

‘We can’t go down there.’ Sharra shuddered.

‘We can’t go back.’ He walked off swinging the torch before him. The rats scattered in the face of the fire. Sharra followed close behind.

It was cold in the tunnel. The light from the torch pooled closely around them. The rats appeared to have retreated, but every now and then out of the corner of her eye Sharra would catch the glint of eyes in the darkness. Apart from the sound of their footfalls and the occasionally fizz of the torch burning webs, it was quiet. Too quiet. The air smelt old, heavy and full of dust.

‘There’s no way out, is there? We’re going to die here and no one will ever know what happened to us.’

‘I’m not ready to die yet.’

Maven began to swing the torch slowly from side to side. As he held it to his left it guttered violently and almost went out.

‘Careful!’ said Sharra.

Maven ignored her and thrust the torch forward. There was a crackle and a hiss as the cobwebs burnt away revealing an opening in the wall.

Maven stepped through. Following, Sharra found herself in a much smaller turning passageway. It sloped gently upwards. Somewhere ahead of them water dripped. The air smelt fresher.

A sudden rush of wind and the torch died. Darkness engulfed them. Without thinking Sharra reached out and clutched at Maven’s arm. ‘Wait,’ he commanded. Gradually their eyes adjusted and they could see a silver light streaming through the passage and the faint outline of some steps.

‘Now, we should hurry. I didn’t hear anyone behind us, but, once they find him, it won’t take them long to realise we must have used these passages to escape.’

The steps were wet and slippery. They smelled unpleasantly of old fish. A cool breeze brushed their faces as finally they emerged out under the stars and moons.

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