Air {Elements of Power 3}

Chapter 40: Roxy

My landing, mercifully, was soft; the cavern I had fallen into was surrounded by dark, stone walls, but the floor had been covered with some sort of squishy fabric. Whoever had set the trap clearly wanted their victim to remain alive-a realisation that left me filled more with dread than comfort. I got to my feet and brushed a layer of dust from my clothing. Looking above me, I could see no sign of the entrance I had come through; I wasn't sure how far I had fallen and there was definitely no way I was getting back out the way I came in.

"Jasmine?" I called out hopefully, but was met with only my own echo in response. I brought my right hand up to adjust my hood, to make sure that my face was concealed before I ventured further into the unknown. My hands came away from the side of my face sticky and warm. Perfect. I must have hit my head on my way down. At least everything still seemed to be working correctly.

I let flames flare up in my fingertips, to give myself a better indication of where I was. The cavern was a lot larger than I had sensed in the darkness, but it was empty. Three tunnels led off of it, one in front of me, one to my left and one behind me, a little to my right.

I tried desperately to get my bearings. If I knew which direction I was facing, I could work out which tunnel would lead under the palace, and which would lead me away from it. I couldn't afford to travel further away. It was likely that my father was being kept in the basement somewhere, so if I was already under the palace floors, I was halfway there. But I had no idea how to orientate myself-there was no sky, no sun, no landmarks.

Was I going to have to guess? I headed over to the runnel on my right. It sloped downwards, further into the abyss. Given how far I had fallen already, going further down didn't feel like a good idea.

The other two were closer together, both going in a similar direction. Either they both led into the castle, or both away from it. The odds felt better going with one of them so I picked the tunnel that had been in front of me to begin with; it was larger and thus slightly more welcoming.

I set off along it, silent except for the slow crackling of the blaze at my fingertips. Cinaer couldn't have done all of this himself-he simply hadn't had enough time. He must have triggered an old trap-something that was already in the palace. Either the guards outside weren't supposed to come in, or they all knew about the trap and jumped over it.

Why hadn't I known about the trap? I had spent more time in the castle than Cinaer. One day, it was supposed to have been mine. Shouldn't someone have told me more about its secrets? Should I have asked? I thought I had discovered all of the ones on the upper levels, but it had never occurred to me to see what could be found in the staff quarters. Tristan's smug voice came into my head at once, telling me that I knew nothing about 'ordinary' people. I was too caught up in my own little world of grandeur, excess and power. But Tristan couldn't be right. He couldn't. Besides, Cinaer was far more stuck up than I had ever been-if I didn't come into the staff quarters, he definitely hadn't.

The tunnel continued for some way, winding occasionally, but also staying mostly flat. It was surprisingly easy going-too easy going. Shouldn't Cinaer have laced it with traps? Perhaps he hadn't felt the need to-perhaps I was going in the wrong direction.

I spoke too soon-as I took another step forwards, I caught a glint of copper out of the corner of my eye.

I ducked on instinct and the dart whisked over my head. But another came from lower down almost immediately after, forcing me to roll forwards to escape its path. I jumped nimbly to my feet, poised lightly on my toes, ready to move out of the way of the next one. Or two-as there proved to be-flying at different heights a few metres apart. I leapt back and ducked to avoid the first, then launched myself forwards, up and over the next. I rolled as I landed on the hard stone floor and jumped to my feet, only to find myself teetering on the edge of another gaping hole in the floor. I forced all of my weight backwards and fell to the floor in a heap, gasping for breath. I quickly realised that there was no way I was jumping across this one; the run up I would need would take me back into the range of the darts.