Ravens Book 3: The Sky Warriors and the Fallen Child

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

That evening, Nayr banned Matron from entering the room. She didn't like this idea, but there was nothing she could do. From Matron's previous outburst this morning about the refugees, Nayr was very put out about her and was now wary of her.

As she moved the beds and some other bits of furniture and tapped the floor as Quen did, she found the trap door to the rooms underneath. 'Quen, you are a genius.'

She poked her head outside and saw a guard. 'Could you find me a metal pole, please?'

The guard frowned. 'Sovereign?'

'Metal pole. Now, please.'

He nodded and went off to find one. When he returned, Nayr told him to watch out for anyone and to knock on the door if anyone was nearby. Understanding his assignment, Nayr took the pole and tried to break the stones hiding the trap door. Luckily for her, it took only five or six strong hits to break one stone, enough to pry the rest of the stones up, revealing the whole door. There was a metal handle on the right, and twisting it, she pulled, and it squeaked open, revealing a staircase that spiralled down.

'I need a torch or maybe a lantern,' she said to herself. Glancing at the walls of the infirmary, there were four lanterns. Taking one off the wall, Nayr held it aloft as she descended the stairs. She didn't even reach the bottom when she gasped. There were scores of human skeletons piled on top of one another. She went back up the stairs and looked at the trap door. There were deep scratch marks on the door. 'Goddess above, they were buried alive!'

Heading back down into the room, Nayr moved over the skeletons, trying not to stand on them, and glanced around the rest of the room. A few skeletons, couples, or perhaps small families had died together, but at the end of the room, where the other staircase had been blocked off, Nayr found something disturbing. It was the body of a raven, or to be blunt, a decaying body of a raven, a male and by the looks of what he was wearing, he was most likely a commander or someone with influence and money. With a gleaming silver and gold chest plate and a sword in his hands, Nayr saw a blade sticking into the side of his neck.

Bending down, Nayr tried to find out who this raven was and saw a strange little insignia on the side of the blade. Not wanting to touch it, she pulled back and went back up to the infirmary room. She asked the guard, who was just outside the door, to call for Lilia and Quen immediately.

Before the meeting started, Nayr said nothing when they both arrived, and she took them down into the room. From Nayr's stilled emotion, neither of them said anything as they jumped over the bodies at the bottom of the stairs, and she led them directly to the dead raven at the opposite end of the room.

'Goddess above!' Lilia gasped.

'This,' Nayr pointed at the blade in the man's neck, 'who's insignia, is it?'

Bringing the lantern closer to the blade, Quen shook his head, 'Twists and turns,' he said, then moved the sword towards him, revealing another insignia. 'And culprits and avengers.'

'What is it?' Lilia asked.

'The sword in his hand is the insignia of Utri, Amlathena's mate.'

'The raven who was banished, the one you mentioned this morning?' Nayr asked. 'But why did he come back?'

Quen stood and stared at the body. 'Well, the owner of the blade is even more interesting.' He glanced at Nayr. 'That blade belonged to your father. That's the Sovereign's insignia of Frein.'

'The Sovereign killed his brother-in-law,' Lilia said grimly. 'Family wars are beyond comprehension.'

Nayr raised the lantern to see if there was anything else when Lilia pointed to Utri's left hand. 'There's something there,' she said.