Magic Undying (Dragon's Gift: The Seeker #1)(55)

“Yeah.” I studied the ruins below us. “Or something equally valuable, given all these protections.”

“If we can get closer, maybe we’ll sense him,” Cass said.

“Until then, we’ll search the old-fashioned way,” I said.

Roarke approached, his dark, silvery gray skin lending him some amazing camouflage in the night. His black gaze met mine. “Which way?”

I looked left and right, which both looked about the same. So I just picked, pointing right. “That way.”

We set off as a group, Roarke and me in the lead. He stuck close by my side, something I tried and failed to ignore. Though Aidan had changed back to his human form, Roarke remained a demon. It was damned hard to ignore a seven-foot-tall shirtless man with giant wings.

We kept our footsteps silent on the stone beneath us, a group moving in the shadows. The night was nearly moonless now that the clouds had crept over the sky. Rushing water sounded from below, and occasionally I thought I could hear distant shouts from within the castle.

The Ubilaz demon and his minions?

Maybe. Probably.

I picked up the pace, my gaze on the corner tower. There should be stairs within that would lead us down. From there, we could explore the ruins.

We entered the tower silently, Roarke leading the way. Fortunately, there were no guards within. I raised my borrowed lightstone ring to light the way, and we started down the stone, spiral staircase with Roarke in the lead. The treads were worn down at least half an inch, a testament to the thousands of people who had walked these steps over the last thousand years.

We were halfway down when a little hole in the wall caught my eye. It was right at the level of Roarke’s head.

A murder hole.

Shit!

I yanked one of his wings backward just as an arrow flew out of the hole and slammed into the wall on the other side. It narrowly missed piercing Roarke’s skull. My heart pounded, and my hand tingled where I had touched him.

“Thanks,” Roarke said.

“Murder hole,” I said. “Common castle defense.”

Arrows continued to fly from the hole, too fast to be shot by anything other than magic. They left little chips in the stone with every blow. I shuddered at the thought of one piercing Roarke’s skull.

He bent, passing under the stream of arrows that continued to thud into the wall. We followed him, finding only one more murder hole on our way down.

“Medieval folks were crafty,” Nix muttered as we ducked immediately and avoided any chance at getting shot.

As soon as we reached the bottom of the tower, the sound of a shuffling footstep caught my ear.

“Watch out!” As soon as the words escaped my mouth, a fireball hurtled at us from the dark corner of the tower.

We were trapped in the stairway, fish in a barrel.

Quick as a flash, Roarke spun and flared his wings, creating a barrier between us and the fireball. The fireball exploded against his back, and he winced.

From the stair above me, Nix nocked at arrow and said, “Duck!”

We did, and she fired into the corner of the room. A shout sounded, then a thump. Roarke turned and surged from the stairwell. I followed, my ring illuminating the room at the bottom of the stars and revealing another demon in the corner. His skin had a pale, icy tinge.

He threw a bolt of ice, but Cass shot a fireball at it before it could strike Roarke. The ice evaporated immediately, and Roarke threw himself at the demon, breaking its neck before it could conjure another jet of ice.

With his back to me, I could see the extent of the damage to his wings and back. His back was raw, and his feathers were singed where his wings grew.

I hurried to him. “Are you all right?”

He turned, his gaze startled. “Fine.”

“But your back.” I reached out as if to make him turn around so that I could see it again, but he stepped away.

“It will heal.” His gaze searched the rest of the tower. “But it’s safe to say the Ubilaz demon is here. And that he’s brought his minions.”





Chapter Thirteen





We crept out of the tower, keeping our footsteps silent. Surrounded by the castle walls, the open, grassy courtyard stretched out in front of us. Rooms and buildings were built up against the castle walls, some in ruins, others more complete. Across the courtyard was the massive tower keep.

I pointed to it. “Let’s make our way over there, following the castle wall. On the way, we can peek in these buildings and see if we find anything.”

And Cass, Nix, and I would just hope our dragon sense picked something up. We set off across the grass, hugging the wall and splitting off to check out various doorways. The first room that I peered inside was entirely empty. My dragon sense didn’t get a whiff of Arthur’s tomb, either. But the second room, a long, rectangular one, had a trapdoor in the floor.

I poked my head back out of the room to tell my friends I was headed inside. They’d already moved on to the next building, so I ducked in to check it out.

My dragon sense didn’t get a lead on anything inside the room, so I was not surprised to open the old, wooden trap door and find nothing but an old storage space inside. It was unlikely a wooden trapdoor would remain useable for a thousand years, so it was likely a more modern addition. When I shut the door and straightened, an eerie tingle of magic raced across my skin.