Watt-Evans, Lawrence - Annals of the Chosen 01 (85 page)

"Bow!"
Breaker
bellowed,
without
taking
his
eyes
off
the
women.
"Are
you
there?
Are
you
all
right?"

No
one
replied.

"He
probably
can't
hear
you,"
one
of
the
maids
said.
"The doors
are
very
thick.
And
I'm
pretty
sure
he
didn't
stop
anyone
from
barring
them."

"Damn,"
Breaker
said.
He
hesitated.

He
could
go
down
the
corridor
to
see
whether
he
could free
the
Archer,
but
if
he
did
these
women
would
almost
certainly
lock
him
in,
as
they
had
originally
intended—and
even
if
he
took
them
with
him,
there
might
well
be
more
lurking
out
of
sight,
in
whatever
hiding
place
this
pair
had used.
The
stories
said
the
Wizard
Lord
had
half
a
dozen maids,
which
left
four
or
so
unaccounted
for.

He
could
ask
these
two
to
help
him
get
the
Archer
out,
but he
couldn't
really
trust
them
...

And
where
was
the
Leader?
He
suddenly
realized
he hadn't
heard
or
seen
anything
of
him
since
descending.
He
looked
past
the
maids,
back
to
the
central
chamber
and
the spiral
stair,
and
saw
no
one
else.

"Boss?"
he
called.

The
maids
glanced
at
each
other,
but
said
nothing.
"Boss?"

No
one
answered.

"Where
is
he?"
Breaker
demanded,
lifting
his
sword
to one
woman's
chin.

"I
don't
know!"
the
maid
said,
terrified.
"I
swear
by
all
the
ler,
I
don't
know!"

"Damn,"
Breaker
said
again.
Then
he
gestured
behind himself.
"Get
in
there,"
he
said.

"What?"

"Get
back
in
there!"
He
stepped
to
one
side
to
let
the
two women
pass.
"And
leave
the
lamp."

Reluctantly,
watching
him
every
step
of
the
way,
the
first
woman
set
the
lamp
on
the
floor,
and
then
both
sidled
past
him,
into
the
dark,
empty
corridor.

Never
taking
his
eyes
off
them,
never
lowering
his
sword,
he
closed
the
two
doors.
Heavy
iron
brackets
were
mounted
on
both
of
them,
at
exactly
the
height
his
sword
had
originally
been
caught
between
them;
he
found
the
dropped
bar and
set
it
in
those
brackets.

"It's
so
dark!"
a
muffled
voice
called.

Breaker
ignored
that;
he
scooped
up
the
lamp
and
looked
around.

There
was
a
niche
in
the
wall
on
either
side,
designed
so
that
a
person
could
stand
in
it
with
the
door
in
front
of
him,
and
the
door
would
fit
in
as
if
the
niche
was
an
ordinary doorframe
leading
into
a
room,
so
that
someone
walking
down
the
passage
would
not
realize
the
corridor
could
be
closed
off.
This
whole
arrangement
had
clearly
been
designed
as
a
trap,
not
improvised—how
long
had
the
Wizard
Lord
been
planning
this?
Had
he
intended
this
when
he
first
built
the
tower,
eight
or
nine
years
ago?