Gorgoroth (Haladras #2)

TWENTY-THREE

Skylar didn't grapple with his unseen assailant. The knife point at this back convinced him it was not worth the risk. Instead, he jerked his head up, freeing his mouth, then bit down hard on the hand. A howled of pain came from his assailant's mouth.

The pressure of the knife on his back disappeared. Skylar took off running.

"Great Yurik!" he heard from behind him. "You nearly bit my finger off!"

Skylar halted in his tracks, unbelieving. There was only one person in the universe he knew who used that exclamation. He turned and saw the stout figure to match the voice.

"Endrick?"

"What's left of me," groaned Endrick. "What you do that for?"

"Endrick," said Skylar, still not believing his companion was really there, "what are you doing here?"

"Getting my fingers chewed off, apparently."

"I didn't know it was you."

"And if you had, you would've gotten my thumb too? Never mind, if you're done nibbling on me, we've got to get out of here before someone responds to my cry of absolute pain."

So saying, Endrick took off toward the guard house. Skylar scarcely had time to respond before his companion disappeared through the portal. Chasing after him, Skylar entered the guard house, skirted the dead guard, and passed through another portal. The portal exited onto a confined landing, connected to the castle's bridge. Endrick was already racing across the bridge. Skylar sprinted after him.

He sure runs faster than he looks.

By the time Skylar caught up to Endrick, he was on the other side of the bridge. Endrick had paused to wait for him.

"This way," said Endrick, motioning with his hand away from the main road.

Wordlessly, Endrick led Skylar through the labyrinthine streets and alleyways of an area so derelict he wondered if anyone lived there. Mired with mud, cramped, strewn with the rubble of collapsing buildings, the streets slowed the companion's flight to a brisk walk. At last, Endrick stopped in front of a non-descript building and opened its door. Skylar marveled that Endrick could find this place in the darkness, and through such a circuitous route. Then he considered that Endrick might have picked this location at random, never before having laid eyes on it.

Stepping inside, they plunged into complete darkness.

"There's a staircase along the far wall," whispered Endrick.

Skylar groped his way through the darkness, trying to follow the murmured sound of Endrick's foot falls. After a time, he heard the creaking of old wood. He guessed Endrick had started ascending the stairs. Soon after, Skylar's foot hit something solid. He bit his tongue to suppress the cry of pain in his throat. How many times could he stub his toes in one night? If only he still wore the boots Cartwright had given him. But every last vestige of finer from his brief stint as a court slave had been stripped from him when he returned to the Inferno.With his hand, he discovered a handrail, and slowly began ascending the stairs.

If ascending stairs in the complete darkness was not sufficiently disconcerting, add to it stairs which swayed and shuddered with every step. Skylar imagined himself crashing through a broken board at any moment. Who knew if he wouldn't continue crashing down through level after level of stairs before finally hitting some deep subterranean floor?

Above him there came a faint tapping sound, followed by a click and a timid infusion of light. Though dim, the light permitted him to see the stairs he was climbing, as well as Endrick, who now stood at the threshold of an apartment. A withered old woman on the other side of the door hastily beckoned for them to enter.