The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 6 by Bella Forrest (books for men to read .TXT) 📕

emerged into the familiar realm of Kingstone with a sharp jolt. Storm sagged as she struggled to carry them toward the keep, trying to glide to preserve energy wherever she could. Her neck dipped, and her wings slowed.

“You’re doing great,” said Alex, stroking her neck.

She cooed wearily, barely able to keep her head up.

A few times, they dropped out of the sky, plummeting a short distance, only for Storm to pull up at the last minute, delving into her reserves of strength to keep them in the air. Stoically, she flapped, carrying them toward their destination. Never had Alex been more pleased to see the prison as it came into sight. However, there was something amiss with the place. Squinting toward it, he noted the lack of rusty red fog floating about the structure, and the moat, with its strange lizard-like creatures, had dried up completely.

With an exhausted chirp, Storm landed on her favored turret, waiting until the trio dismounted before sinking into her nesting position, her chin on her chest, her wings tucked in. By the time they were at the top of the steps leading down into the prison, the Thunderbird was asleep. Alex smiled at her, hoping she’d be okay to fly again if they got into any trouble. What he’d just put her through had clearly been a grueling challenge, but they still had a return journey to make.

As Alex pushed the door at the bottom of the steps and crept out into the corridor beyond, he half expected to come face-to-face with a band of unruly inmates, the way he’d done the last time he’d been here. Instead, he was met with the foulest stench imaginable. It was a smell he’d only ever heard about, but never experienced with his own nostrils.

Pulling his t-shirt up over his nose, he walked into the prison itself, peering anxiously around corners in case anyone came hurtling toward him. No one did. The prison was like a ghost town, everything silent and deathly still. He even peeked into a few cells, just to see if there was anyone inside, but each one was empty. Stepping through into one of the larger common areas, he understood why.

Piles of bodies lay stacked up on the floor, tossed carelessly like yesterday’s trash. Worse than that, each body looked as if the bone and muscle had been pulled from it, the corpses floppy, ghoulish messes, the sunken faces staring upward at nothing, each expression still showing the horror of their final moments. A sea of scarlet ran beneath Alex’s feet, maggots writhing across the open wounds, as blowflies buzzed around the mouths of the dead. The smell was overwhelmingly metallic and so strong that he could almost taste it.

This was Julius’s handiwork.

Staring down a nearby hallway, he saw the same gruesome scene at the end of it. Bodies piled high, everything torn from within—bone, muscle, sinew, organs. Undoubtedly, the king had taken the essence too. Perhaps, Alex thought, this was Julius’s quick method of extraction, removing it all at once, not caring about the mess it caused.

Nobody said a word as the trio stalked through the mass grave, leaving footprints in the congealed blood beneath their shoes. With every footstep, a swarm of green-tinged flies soared upward, flying into their faces. The trio’s hands swatted wildly with palms coated in bristling energy, a frying sound hissing every so often as a blowfly got zapped.

At each floor they came to, knowing they had to descend to the subterranean levels, they found more of the same, the foul stench of death and decay growing more pungent. The murder was endless. Julius had evidently ripped through the place like a tornado, destroying everything in his path, not caring if it was male or female, young or old. There were even scorch-marks on the wall where some of them had tried to fight back, though such a thing could only be futile against a man like that.

There were no words to describe how nauseated Alex felt, knowing how these people had suffered at the king’s hands. He remembered how he had broken the barrier modules on his way out, hoping to distract Julius’s attention and bring him to Kingstone, to deal with the chaotic mess. Well, if Alex had known this was what that cleanup would entail, he’d never have broken the cylinder. One impulsive move, and all these people had died. Had he not had the spell to think about, he would have curled up in a ball right there, and remained that way for the rest of his life. Though he knew it wasn’t his fault, considering nobody could predict something so abhorrent, he still felt the weight of responsibility crushing him.

Focus, he told himself, trying not to look at any more hideous corpses.

At long last, they reached the subterranean level they needed—the one with the empty cell that led to a staircase. Fortunately for them, both cell door and staircase trapdoor were already open. Alex thought that was a bit strange, but said nothing about it as they followed the narrow stairs down. Alex led the other two past the room where Natalie had crouched in her possessed state, toward the large gates at the end of the rough-hewn corridor.

He heaved himself against them, and the doors swung open with a loud creak. Expecting to see the golden bird and the pit, Alex stepped into the room, only to stagger back again as the smell hit him hard in the nostrils. The whole room emitted a rotten stench, and, as his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Alex could see why. The edges of the pit were slimy with the remnants of decaying entrails. Julius had evidently dumped everything he’d extracted into the pit at once, organic and magical alike, not bothering with any form of control or etiquette. Well, at least the Great Evil was satisfied here, Alex thought, shuddering at the mental image of Julius pouring the slops of hundreds into that