Marked by Sue Tingey

Author:Sue Tingey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Fantasy / Paranormal
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2015-10-06T04:00:00+00:00

We entered the castle through a side entrance next to the kitchens. I could feel the heat of the ovens through the open door as we walked past, and the air was damp with steam and the smell of boiled vegetables.

We had left Pyrites outside and although he had been mine for only an hour or so, I found it very hard to leave him. I had petted his snout and laid my head against his, whispering to him that I would be back to collect him very, very soon, all the while hoping it wasn’t a lie. He had rubbed his head against my shoulder and purred.

“Never fear, mistress,” Mr. Shenanigans told me. “If you call him he will come, even if it is into the great hall itself. If you are in danger he will find you.”

The dragon had obviously understood, because he dropped down where we left him and rested his head between his claws, looking for all the world like a faithful hound.

The demons led the way through the gray stone corridors, with Jamie and me following and Jinx behind us, moving at a speed that had me trotting along to keep up. I didn’t argue this time—I was too scared to argue. A lump the size of a golf ball had formed in my throat, and I wasn’t quite sure how I was remaining upright, let alone walking when my legs felt like jelly.

We came out of the corridor and into a large room and immediately I could hear the murmur of voices—many voices. I presumed we must be in an anteroom, especially when I noticed two dragons hewn out of glittering rock guarding a doorway with wide open iron-bound, wooden doors. The burning torches clasped in each of their claws did little to dispel the dark; the shadows closed in around us.

“This is it,” Jamie said, giving my hand a squeeze. “Keep close to me and stay quiet.”

We walked through the entrance and across a flagstoned floor, our footsteps echoing within the high, stone walls, and into what I imagined was the great hall. For the first few yards it was pretty much empty, as most of the people were standing at the other end. They were in loosely formed groups, their backs a wall between us and—whatever they were obscuring. Long wooden tables and benches lined either side of the hall, all laid out with cutlery, plates, goblets and other dining ware, but no one was sitting.

Vast tapestries cloaked the walls, along with gruesome-looking weapons and swathes of brightly colored silks and velvets, the prevalent colors of which were scarlet, gold and green. If I had been anywhere else I would have thought the tapestries were depicting characters from fairy tales, but they were probably portraying individuals and events historical to this world. Beautiful snake-haired women, hideous demons with heads of lizards, boars, dragons and other beasts were stitched in vibrant and—I assumed—lifelike colors.

The high ceilings were full of shadows and smoke that drifted up from the burning torches below, but I was sure I could see movement up there in the dark.

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