Nyx and Samir were supposed to meet us after they freed Rhys and Durin, but there's no sign of them. I push the thought of them being captured and tortured out of my mind and focus on finding Aurora. The cruelty of the prison is almost overwhelming. Small channels carved into the floor direct a steady stream of blood into drains. The smell of it makes me sick. Hundreds of cages line the walls nearly to the top of the circular tower. It's eerily quiet here, no screams come from the cages, as if everyone were content in this hell. Though when we come to the first cage, hell is far to kind of a word.
A witch hangs from her wrists bound in shackles that have been bolted to a large beam spanning the width of the cage ceiling. Her head has been shaved and a strip of cloth has been wrapped tightly around her eyes. Fresh cuts from blades and whips bleed bright crimson down the length of her body. Dripping into a channel beneath her and flowing into the center of the tower. Is this how they get their magic? Bleed it out of them? The woman is nearly dead, her chest hardly moving with each shallow breath.
"No no no, don't put me back in here. Please!" A chilling scream followed by the slam of a cell door echoes throughout the tower. A flash of light comes from a floor high above us on the other side of the tower and the sound of screaming stops.
"Aurora?" Ivar asks. I shrug, the woman's voice is unrecognizable in its horror. It could be anyone.
"Let's hope."
We run up the stairwell that climbs behind the cells forking off at each floor to walkways that ring the tower. My lungs burn from the climb, but we don't have time to rest. We take the thirteenth fork out onto the walkway. More grizzly scenes of torture are set in each cage we pass. Some women have had their eyes gouged out, others are missing tongues. A heavy sense of dread and anxiety creep into the depths of my heart. I want to save them all, but a deep guilt within me knows that I never will.
When we arrive at Aurora's cage a flood of horror surges through my body. Aurora's unconscious body has been hung from the ceiling. Like the others, her head is shaved and her body is covered in cuts and blood. Are we too late? I pull my uncle's ring from my pocket and hold it to the lock on the cage. The ward shimmers in the flickering torchlight as it dissipates and the lock clicks open. I fling the door open and rush inside. Before I can get to her the cell door slams shut behind me, and the ward flickers back to life.
"Soren!" Ivar shouts, pulling his battle axe from his back and slamming it into the lock. I whirl around, my eyes wide with fear. It's a trap. It's always been a trap. Clashing metal and heavy boots thunder up the steps behind him, but quickly fade as the ward seals us off from the rest of the world.
"Hello, Soren." The low sultry voice of The Arator spikes my adrenaline. My hands feel cold and sweaty, I can't breath. I turn around slowly as she appears from behind Aurora, admiring her wicked craftsmanship.
"Let her go!" I yell, trying to mask my dread with false confidence. She traces a blood trail along Aurora's face with the back of her finger.
"Do you know how many people are infected by The Rot?" The question catches me off guard.
"What does The Rot have to do with this?" I ask, trying to keep the tremble out of my voice. She presses a finger into a cut and stares intensely at the blood.
"Thousands. Thousands of Mothers, Fathers, Brothers and Sisters have been infected with its death sentence." Her voice is terrifyingly calm and measured.
"But with this," She raises her finger to her mouth and sucks the blood off of her finger. "They can be saved." Her stained lips form a twisted smile, and her eyes tempt me forwards.
"We could use someone like you in our ranks. Someone that wields the power of the rose, yet despises its creator. With you, so many lives could be saved." Her voice is soft, almost soothing. "Join us, Soren. Avenge your family not by the shedding of blood, but the cleansing of it." She motions for me to approach Aurora.
"Drink, and be saved." She tilts Aurora's head to the side, exposing a deep cut on her neck. Did Nyx lie to me? Is this really the cure? Was Natasha just a revenge mission? I feel my feet shuffle forward, my eyes flicking from my potential salvation to The Arator's unnerving expression. I can't save anyone if I'm dead, right? This all feels so wrong, but some primal part of me craves survival above all else.
"What do you really want from me?" I ask, my gaze fixated on Aurora.
"We've a common enemy. You would be a valuable asset in the war against the Noxbleum and the Rose." I shake my head. They don't want to use me for war, they don't want my blood. They want something far more embedded in me. I harden my gaze and glare into her blazing golden eyes.
"You want the fragments."
Her mask falls as she realizes I've beaten her gambit. Her golden eyes do not lie anymore, she lets the corruption behind them shine through, even brighter than their color.
"Clever boy." She says. Letting Aurora's head hang limp. "Unfortunately, we need you alive for the extraction. But your bones are not required." A loud snap rings in my ears and an unimaginable pain shocks my body as she shatters my knee with a kick. I scream in pain as my leg crumbles under my weight. The pain makes my stomach twist into a knot and I taste the bile rising in my throat. She bends down to a knee in front of me and lifts my face with her hand.
"Corvus, can you hear me?" She searches my eyes for some evidence of a response. "I never thanked you for the gift, but I wish to repay it tenfold." She shoves my face away from her and deactivates the ward. The barrier warbles down and the cell erupts with the sound of war. Metal clashes together and the screams of men are accompanied by the wet slashing of flesh. Nyx and the others finally arrived. Two sets of heavy boots jog up to the cage wall, I hear The Arator give them orders as they enter.
"Give my regards to Samir." She says.
The two men take hold of my arms and as they're about to heave me onto their necks. BOOM! Dust and stone shoot out from the wall in front of me, exposing the stairwell and the open air behind it. I'm dropped hard to the floor and the two men draw their weapons.
"Get your bloody hands off our boy you wicked bitch!" Durin yells, two more explosions come from strange devices in his hands and the two guards fall dead to the ground. As the dust settles The Arator's haunting form is slowly revelaed. She stands with her blade drawn and fury in her eyes. Durin pulls another device from his satchel. I recognize it from the inn at Oakhaven and press myself into the ground, throwing my arms over my head. BOOM! The blast fills my ears with high pitched ringing. Durin appears through the dust with a wide grin on his face.
"Good timing." I say, through heavy coughs.
"Aye, couldna done it better if I tried." He offers me a hand but sees my leg and decides it's best I stay down. I search the sea of blood and men for The Arator but she's vanished. Durin runs to the cell door and swings it wide, shouting at the others. They rush into the cell and Ivar picks me up from the floor slinging me over his shoulder like a damsel in distress. Rhys breaks Aurora's shackles and takes her carefully into his arms. Nyx sprints through the cell to the opening in the wall and looks over the edge.
"Hurry up Nyx, we can't hold them back for much longer!" Durin yells. Him and Samir have taken up the rear, protecting our escape.
"Come, quickly!" She yells. I feel Ivar start running, and then his hands grip either side of me and throw me. Arrows sail past us and drive themselves deep into the fast approaching earth. I watch as Nyx opens a portal to the coven's village as soon as we're far enough away from the wards. An arrow whistles past me before we fall through the portal, sinking deep into its mark.
The story has a really intriguing fantasy concept and the mysterious atmosphere around the characters and worldbuilding makes it feel immersive and compelling. Lowkey tho… do you think the main character will actually control their destiny, or is the world of Noxbleum gonna keep throwing chaos at them?