David Wood - Absent Gods 01 by The Silver Serpent

Author:The Silver Serpent [Serpent, The Silver]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

There was something else

bothering her, though. An irrational thought that she needed to share with someone.

“Do you think everything is as it seems?” she asked. “Is it all for real?”

Hierm gripped the bars that divided their cells and gave them a tug. “Feels real to me.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Shanis groaned. She should have discussed this with Oskar. Hierm was not slow, by any stretch, but he did not look beneath the surface of things the way Oskar did. “Do you think something is going on between Larris and Orbrad? Some hidden communication?” She lowered her voice so as not to awaken the others. “When they talk to each other, it seems so insincere, so…false.”

“Isn’t that the way they all talk to each other?” her friend asked.

“It’s more than that.” She pounded her fist into her palm. “Think about it, though. Nothing has been as it seems. We lied to Larris and Allyn when we met them, and they lied to us. Larris is hiding from his family.

Orbrad is pretending that he’s some powerful king, when he barely controls his capitol city. He tells us we’re his guests, then locks us down here.”

“What is the point of all this?”

“I am just saying that if nothing else has been as it seems, why should this situation be any different?”

“Perhaps you should talk to Oskar about this,” Hierm said. “But it seems to me that we should be concerning ourselves with what we know for certain. We need to get out of this dungeon. Worrying about anything else is a waste of time. Have you thought about that?”

Shanis nodded. The group had quickly given up on the possibilities of picking a lock or finding a hidden passage under a loose stone. Since then, she had managed to come up with only one plan. Looking around, she reassured herself that Moggs remained in his small room near the dungeon door, most likely asleep.

“Moggs is planning to, you know, have his way with Khalyndryn and me. Dressed like this, he won’t consider me dangerous. If I can disable him, perhaps I can get us out of here.”

“If no one else is in the dungeon. If he has his key ring with him,” Hierm counted the ifs on his fingers, “if you can take care of him, that only gets us as far as the door. What about the guards on the other side?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

Before Hierm could reply, a loud knock sounded at the dungeon door. Shanis and her friend drew deeper into the shadows as around them, their companions were stirring. The knock came again, not loud, but insistent. Angry muttering came from Moggs’ room, and after a few moments the fat jailer appeared, tugging on his clothing.

“I be coming.” He slid open the peephole and peered through. “Wha’ you be wantin’?”

“King’s business,” said an oddly familiar voice.

Moggs stared for a moment longer, then, as if satisfied with what he saw, closed the peephole and unlocked the door. The door flew open, sending him stumbling backward.

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