A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

“Where do they put them?” I asked, glancing behind me at the wide expanse of sea on the horizon.

“They pitch them over the side to the rocks below.”

“Dismal,” Vemar said, a curved dagger in his hand.

“Becoming one of the creatures would be more so,” Nyfain murmured, following Govam with me behind them.

Deep into the cave, the light dimmed to nearly nothing. I glanced back to make sure faeries could hold on to dragons or wolves, leading them through. The cave walls pushed in and the ceiling pressed down on us, making Nyfain stoop.

Govam reached the end and turned back, placing a finger to his lips. “Shh.”

He felt down along the crack, hit a groove, and then moved his hand over to the right. He pressed.

Click.

He didn’t push the door open right away. Instead, he moved his hand to his hip and freed the blade in the holster. With his free hand, he opened the rock doorway very slowly, flattening to the side before peering in. Halfway open and he reached in oh so slowly, and then he sprang into action.

He pushed forward and then flung his whole body back, dragging a demon with him. He spun, his back to the door, his knife coming up.

Nyfain lazily jabbed forward with his short sword, piercing the demon in the chest. Govam flinched and dropped his sword. Then he clapped his hand over the puke-green demon’s mouth. The wail was muffled but prolonged, so Nyfain jabbed forward again, this time with perfect precision through the enemy demon’s eye. In a moment, it was all over.

Nyfain grabbed the body by the putrid rags it was wearing and handed it past me. Vemar grabbed hold, turned, and passed it on. At the back, a light scrape was the only sound I caught as someone clearly went to dispose of the body.

Govam took a long moment, staring at Nyfain.

“Sorry, did you want him alive?” Nyfain whispered.

“No. I just…didn’t give you credit for the cool efficiency with which you can spontaneously kill. If you’d been in the dungeons, I wouldn’t have survived you.”

“And now we know where we stand.”

“We’ve always known. I just have a new appreciation for it.” Govam picked up his knife and turned back, pulling the door open a bit wider. “Keep your voices down. I’ll tell you when we need to be quiet again.”

The area beyond the door was swathed in darkness. A rusty metal stool, leaning left, sat beside it. Govam—or Nyfain, I guessed—had just killed the guard. Or maybe the door monitor. It was hard to say, since the creature hadn’t had a weapon and there were no weapons here, either.

Shelves lined the walls, heaped with piles of things I couldn’t make out, and baskets dotted the floor. Dirt and straw were strewn about, although I had no notion why. The room was long and narrow, no light whatsoever.

Govam slowed to a stop, then turned back again. He again put his finger to his lips. “Shh.”

He pulled a rope attached to a door, the soft click making him pause as a sliver of light cut across his face. He watched for a moment, his eyes darting around.

Nyfain waited right behind him, most of his body in front of mine. Not a sound drifted through from the space beyond.

Govam glanced back at Nyfain before slowly opening the door, freezing when it issued a soft creak. When it was all the way open, he stepped to the side, gesturing for Nyfain to go through. Nyfain paused for a moment, studying Govam, before he did as the demon indicated, reaching back to grab me to keep me close.

I slapped his hand away. It stressed me out when I didn’t have room to move.

A larger room, just as messy, waited on the other side of this door. A rotten stench, like dead things covered in mold, assaulted my senses. The air almost felt gritty against my tongue.

I pressed my palm to the middle of Nyfain’s back when he started to slow, letting him know where I was so he wouldn’t divide his focus and glance back in an overprotective search for me. The door clicked behind us, and then Govam made his way to the front again.

There were two doors to choose from this time. Without a second thought, Govam angled right. He tried the handle, liked what he found, and then turned back with his finger to his lips. He didn’t make the sound this time.

He went through the same motions as with the other doors, and we walked through three more messy, disgusting rooms. They seemed almost like storerooms for missing people parts, or maybe some gross kind of food. I didn’t know for sure, but the good news was that there’d only been that one demon in our way.

That was, until we reached a dimly lit area up ahead.