“I’ve heard that a long time ago, there were more wizards in Algar.” Tarin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “So perhaps they created the tunnels back then, and they’ve been abandoned ever since?”
“Or maybe the threat is a wizard who recently made these tunnels to get to the king.” Ryland knew what he said didn’t make sense before he said it, but he needed to get his thoughts out in the open.
Tarin shook his head. “Why would they go through all of this trouble to get to the king’s rooms? They would only make one tunnel.”
“What if they wanted to get to multiple places in the palace?”
“Then they would have made multiple tunnels, but not this circular room. What would be the point? And the cobblestones to make it pretty? A waste of time. If you ask me, this place was created long ago to be used by the people of the palace.”
Ryland looked at Tarin for a minute before nodding in consent. The other man smiled at his approval, and together they continued their study of the room. The design of the tunnel and this room did show that perhaps it was created a long time ago as some kind of passageway for the people in the palace, and perhaps a servant still knew about the passageways and was cleaning them on a regular basis. If that was the case, maybe they had seen the killer roaming through the passageways.
Or perhaps a servant was the murderer.
Ryland lifted his head and sighed, examining the tunnels that branched off the circular room. “You two.” He pointed at two random men. “Go back and get more torches and soldiers. We’re going to need to search these tunnels thoroughly.”
The two men nodded and hurried into the passageway that led to the king’s rooms.
Ryland watched them go before turning around and ordering the remaining men to pair up and begin searching the tunnels, including Tarin.
“Report any findings to me, and be on your guard,” he warned them. He desperately hoped there was no danger to any of them lurking in the shadows.
Alone, he turned around, studying the circular room once more. Aside from the tables and the passageways leading from it, the room appeared to have nothing else special about it. Of course, now that he knew there was one secret tunnel, they would have to search the walls of this room and the tunnels for more hidden secrets. He would also have to question the staff to see if anyone knew about the mysterious tunnels.
When the two men he had sent back for reinforcement returned with more torches and more men, Ryland straightened and forced a confident expression. It was time to get to work.
Ryland clenched his teeth so hard he thought they might break. He was frustrated, and rightly so. He stood at attention close to the doorway of Prince Caspian’s room, feeling vaguely uncomfortable. He had never been in the prince’s rooms before today when Caspian called him in for a report on the case.
“It’s been an entire week since we discovered the passageway, and yet you and your men have found nothing?” Caspian asked him again from where he stood a few feet away, twirling a quill between his fingers.
Ryland sighed. “Yes, Your Majesty. Absolutely nothing. We questioned all the staff, and for all we can tell, none of them knew about the tunnels.”
“And the tunnels go practically everywhere in the castle?”
Ryland nodded.
“And you had all of the passageways searched for secret openings?”
Ryland fought the urge to pace. He didn’t want to seem unprofessional. “Yes. We searched it all over twice.”
“Even the circular room?”
Ryland nodded again.
“The ceilings and floors too?”
Ryland almost laughed. It seemed a bit desperate, searching the floors and ceilings for secret passageways, and yet, here the prince was, asking him if he had done it, which Ryland had. Because he was desperate.
“I’m sorry, Prince Caspian. There’s no clue down there as to who killed your father, or even if they used those tunnels to get to his room.”
“They had to have used the tunnel!” Caspian’s hand tightened, and the quill in his grasp snapped in half. “His body was still warm when I came into the room—he had barely died!” Caspian paused, and tears filled his eyes as if in realization of the words. Black ink from the quill spilled onto his hand, but the prince didn’t seem to notice.
Ryland looked away, uncomfortable at the display of emotion. Surely no man would want anyone else to see him cry.
“Besides,” the prince managed to choke out, setting the broken quill down on his desk slowly and carefully, brushing the ink on his hands onto his pants. “The circular room was recently used when you found it, right? No dust or anything?”
Ryland shook his head, uncertain of whether or not Caspian was looking at him. “They were recently cleaned, but we have found no evidence that anyone knows the tunnels exist.” Ryland paused. “Tarin did suggest that the table might be magic and could be cleaning themselves.”
A long silence filled the space between them as Caspian stared at the broken quill. Ryland could feel the prince’s disbelief at his suggestion, and he shifted uncomfortably. Finally, Caspian cleared his throat. “I want you to take me into the tunnels.”
Ryland turned back to him, relieved the conversation had taken a different direction. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Ryland moved to lead the way back to the king’s room, but he didn’t turn fast enough to miss the strange face the prince made. He seemed to make that expression every time someone called him “my lord” or “Your Majesty.” The expression was more pronounced when Ryland called him those things. Ryland couldn’t understand why. Caspian had been called those things all his life; he should be used to it by now. Maybe it was because no one had used the title with respect since his father’s passing and Caspian’s lapse of sanity. Now that Caspian seemed to be returning to normal, Ryland hadn’t pushed his claim on the throne, but he wasn’t quite willing to step down until he was certain the prince was fully recovered.
When they arrived in the former king’s bedroom, Ryland waved his hand at the guards standing on either side of the secret entrance. Though the tunnels didn’t appear to let out anywhere outside the castle, Ryland still didn’t want to risk anyone sneaking inside where they might be able to harm the prince.
Ryland opened the passageway door, still thinking. Was it possible that someone inside the castle had murdered the king? Of course it was possible, but Ryland had a hard time believing any of them would. Yet, if these tunnels were the way the killer had gotten into the room, and there was no outside entrance to them, then the murderer had to live or work in the castle.
It very well could have been someone who visited the castle and knew the passageways were there, Ryland reminded himself. But he had already questioned everyone who had been anywhere near the castle in the past year and found absolutely nothing. The sheer impossibility of how the murderer had managed to commit the crime and yet not leave any incriminating evidence was amazing and severely frustrating. The case gave Ryland a pounding headache just thinking about it.
Ryland and Caspian emerged into the circular room, where they both paused.
“There has to be an outside entrance. I can’t believe anyone in the castle would kill him,” the prince told Ryland.
Ryland nodded and opened his mouth to speak but was distracted by a glint on one of the walls across the room. He stared at it, wondering what he had seen.
“Have you compared the maps your men made to the map we found in the library?” Prince Caspian asked.
Ryland had already explained to the prince Tarin’s theory of the tunnels being of ancient origin and how they perhaps existed for the use of the castle folk for storage, gathering, or taking shortcuts around the castle. They had searched the royal library for answers and found Tarin had been correct in his guesses. There had even been an old, dusty map of the entire tunnel system in the library, which Ryland confirmed was accurate as his men mapped the tunnels themselves.
Ryland nodded. “Yes, my Prince, I . . .
myself . . .” He stopped. There was definitely something off about that wall in front of them.
“Lord Ryland, are you all right?” Caspian asked as Ryland took a step toward the wall. “You look like you’re in a trance.”
“I personally searched most of this room, but now I’m seeing . . .” Ryland trailed off as he reached the part of the wall that was odd. He reached out and touched it, and a tingle went down his spine. Caspian was silent now, watching him.
Ryland pressed his fingers against the stone. All he could feel was the wall, but something else was there. He paused and studied the stone. Open, he commanded silently. He felt foolish, but what else could he do?
To his utter astonishment, the wall in front of him seemed to dissolve until it disappeared, revealing another passageway behind it.
Ryland glanced back at the prince.
“How did you do that?” Caspian asked him in shock. His mouth hung open, and his crystal blue eyes were as wide as dinner plates.
Ryland shook his head, every bit as stunned. He had no idea what he had done.
“That was . . .” The prince trailed off. “It sounds crazy, but that has got to be magic! You found a magically concealed door.”
Ryland nodded. He had never seen anything like it, except, of course, in the tricks Devin occasionally used, like teleportation. At the thought, Ryland’s blood ran cold, and he felt an urge to vomit. Devin? Could Devin be the mysterious killer? As far as Ryland knew, his cousin was the only wizard in Algar.
But everyone knows Devin’s a wizard, Ryland thought. He’s smart enough to know that any use of magic would lead to every finger pointing toward him. Let’s just see what’s at the end of this tunnel before we decide who did it.
Swallowing dryly, Ryland started forward, and the prince followed him close behind. Ryland knew Caspian had come to the same conclusion. Caspian had met Devin, and, like everyone else in the kingdom, he knew about Devin’s abilities.
“These halls look different from the other ones we’ve searched,” Caspian said quietly after only a few minutes.
Ryland glanced at the walls around him for the first time, and he instantly saw what the prince meant. These walls were rough, whereas the others they’d seen were perfectly smooth.
“It wasn’t built at the same time as the others,” Ryland agreed.
“Perhaps it was made recently by the killer so they could get to the tunnels easily,” Caspian mused. “It looks like they didn’t care much that the tunnel isn’t pretty.”
Nodding, Ryland continued rapidly down the hall. He couldn’t waste a moment to finally put this case at rest. But the uneven stones were treacherous, and his foot slipped, forcing him to run roughly into the wall. “Ouch,” he muttered, glancing down at his arm to see a bleeding scrape from the jagged stones.
“Are you okay?” Caspian asked.
“I’m fine. It’s just a scrape.” Ryland pushed on, but more carefully now.
They walked for the better part of an hour in the strange passageway without finding any forks or intersecting tunnels. Finally, they came to a ladder, and Ryland stepped forward and peered up into the darkness.
“Looks like there’s a trapdoor at the top,” he told the prince. He pulled out his sword, a metallic clink echoing down the narrow tunnel as it pulled free of the scabbard.
Caspian glanced around nervously. “You don’t think there are other secret tunnels branching off this one, do you?”
Ryland paused with one foot on the lowest rung of the ladder. “We’ll have to search, but I wouldn’t think so. Whoever made this passage already concealed the entrance, so it’s unlikely they’d need even more secret tunnels.”
The prince nodded in agreement, and Ryland continued climbing the ladder. He scaled the structure with grace, his sword still held in his hand. It was one of the strange things he had learned at school—how to climb a ladder with a sword in hand. He also knew how to climb a ladder using just one foot and one hand, and with only two hands, just in case, but he was glad he didn’t need those skills today.
When Ryland reached the top of the ladder, he paused. Leaning his weight forward so he could balance on a rung, Ryland reached up with his free hand and pushed on the trap door, which swung open easily. He quickly clambered out, his sword at the ready.
He spun around, taking in the room. The chamber looked normal enough, with nothing in it except for cabinets along three of the walls, which were topped with polished stone so they could be used as tables. A stairway leading upward resided on the other wall. They were definitely not in the castle anymore. He motioned for Caspian to join him.
He stood at the ready, his eyes searching the stairway for any movement, while Caspian climbed out of the trapdoor. Once Caspian was safely out of the way, Ryland let go of the trapdoor, expecting it to stay open, but while the prince was unsheathing his sword, the trapdoor swung closed, slowly and silently. Ryland reached out a hand to stop it, but he was too late. The trapdoor had already thunked quietly closed. Both men watched as the corners flashed and the trapdoor became invisible in the floor.
“Oh no!” Caspian whisper-shouted.
Sheathing their swords, they both got down on their hands and knees and attempted to find the door, but it was perfectly concealed.
“Now what?” the prince asked Ryland, still on his hands and knees.
Ryland stood up slowly and brushed off his clothes absently. “It looks like there’s no escape. We have to confront whoever lives here.”
Caspian swallowed and nodded as he rose, taking out his sword again.
Ryland paused, glancing over at the stairwell, then back at the prince, thinking about his duty to the throne. Finally, he came to a decision and fixed Caspian with a determined look. “If there’s an exit up there, and there’s trouble, you need to run as fast and as far away from here as you can.”
Caspian shook his head vehemently. “I’m not going to leave you—”
“You are the Prince of Algar. You can’t die.”
“Maybe that’s true,” Caspian said hotly. “But ever since your declaration last month, you’re also a Prince of Algar. You may very well take the throne as much as I might!”
Ryland paused, thrown off by that statement. It was true, but that still didn’t mean he would let Caspian stay and put his life in danger. “My family is sworn to protect yours. Even if I end up ruling Algar, it is my duty now to take an arrow for you. So if there’s trouble, you run. Do you understand?”
The prince swallowed and wet his lips with his tongue. “Fine, but I don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to like it; you just have to live.”
Caspian attempted no response, so Ryland made his way to the stairs, his sword steady at his side. Hopefully, anyone there hadn’t heard the exchange between them.
At the top of the stairs, Ryland noticed several things at once. There was, in fact, a door, and Ryland shot the prince a meaningful glance. As far as Ryland could see, no other staircases led away from the room. Directly in front of them, an armchair sat, its back to the stairway, and they could see the dark hair of the person sitting there.
Ryland crept forward cautiously, motioning for Caspian to stay back. As Ryland rounded the chair, his stomach sank, as did his heart.
Ignoring his order, the prince came around the chair as well and stopped next to him, a small gasp escaping his lips.
Ryland’s grip on his sword tightened, and his face grew as hard as stone. Right in front of him on the chair, incanting something under his breath, eyes closed and his lips barely moving, sat Devin.
My cousin is the murderer! Ryland thought dimly.
Chapter Six
Ryland clenched his jaw and watched his cousin coax a red flame to life before him. He couldn’t hear any of the words Devin was chanting, but his lips were still moving, and the flame grew bigger and bigger.
“Devin,” Ryland said.
Devin flinched and opened his eyes, and the red flame vanished. He regar
ded the spot where it had been with a look of disappointment before turning to face his unexpected visitors.
“Ryland?” Devin’s gaze shifted to Caspian. “Your Highness?” He raised one eyebrow. “How did you two manage to get in here without me noticing?” Shaking his head, he paused to think for a moment, glancing toward the door Ryland knew led outside. “I guess I was more focused than I thought.”
“We didn’t come through the door.” Ryland scowled at his cousin. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t recognized his cousin’s house from the very beginning. He had rarely been in Devin’s basement, but the two of them had often talked together in the very space the three of them now stood.
“Then where did you two come from?” Devin chuckled. “Come now, unless you somehow have learned how to do magic, you had to have come through the door.”
Ryland felt his anger droop a bit. He thought he was pretty good at detecting a lie, and Devin seemed to have no idea where else he could have come from. Ryland glanced at the prince to see him glaring fiercely at Devin, his eyebrows drawn together.
Ryland turned back to the wizard and shook his head. “We came from the secret tunnel.”
Devin’s eyes widened. “What secret tunnel?”
“The one that leads straight to the king’s bedroom.” And other places inside the castle, but that wasn’t important.
Devin paled, and Ryland thought he saw a flash of panic race across the man’s face. “Wait, do you think I am the one who killed the king?” Devin shook his head violently. “That’s preposterous! I would never have harmed the king, and I certainly didn’t know anything about a secret tunnel.”
Ryland bit his lip. The door had been magically concealed. But wouldn’t a powerful wizard like Devin be able to detect that sort of thing?
“Would you mind taking me to see this tunnel? It somehow managed to escape my notice in my own house, and I would like to know how.” Devin stood, and his black cloak swung forward.
Ryland glanced at the prince again, who had already turned back toward the stairs. He motioned for Devin to go first, following behind him with his sword. If Devin was the king’s murderer, then he would have every reason to go after Caspian next. Ryland would have to watch his every move, though it hurt his heart to think such a thought.
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