The Defiance of Vim (Catalyst Book 4) by C.J. Aaron (graded readers txt) 📕

Enough time had been wasted. He needed to return to Aelin. He needed to find Kaep.

Ryl waited for a moment as he reached the outer door. There had been no sounds of others aside from the casual conversation from down the hall since he’d entered. He reached for the crooked handle to exit the ransacked room. Heavy footsteps on the stairs gave him pause.

Ryl’s hand fell instinctively to the Leaves in the holster concealed behind his back, though he hesitated to remove the weapon. The thumping of feet resolved into the sound of a pair of guards walking noisily into the hall. The stairwell was a short diagonal trek across the narrow hallway. Had Ryl been on the stairs, he’d have collided with the pair of guards. Their casual pace signaled that they had not yet discovered the bodies of their companions.

He tensed as they approached the doorway. The light from the lantern they carried cast a moving line across the floor at his feet. There was a guttural rasping sound as one of the soldiers cleared his throat.

“Traitor.” His voice was garbled from the excess phlegm stored in his mouth. There was the slapping sound of the thick liquid against the door.

“It’s quiet in here,” one said. “They must still be on patrol. Lucky for us, we’ll get first crack at her.”

The other chuckled as they moved past the door.

“’Tis a shame it’s only the one,” came the muted reply as they exited the hallway into the room at the opposite end. The exaltations of the others inside echoed through the quiet of the barracks.

Ryl’s interest was piqued. Could they have been referring to Kaep? His blood boiled at the thought of her in captivity. He was all too familiar with the twisted carnal desires that plagued the guards left in charge of The Stocks. He would not let another suffer the fate that had befallen Luan or nearly Sarial.

It required only a moment to scan the area for any signs of Kaep or the Lei Guard, finding neither. The small glow from Aelin remained steady and still. He could hear the excitement grow from the voices inside the room down the hall. He inched the door open a crack, testing the volume of the noisy hinges. As an exceptionally loud burst of laughter erupted from the distant room, he pulled the door open far enough to squeeze through, darting silently into the stairwell across the hall.

His thoughts turned to the frightened tribute concealed in the gatehouse as he crept down the darkened stairs. Ryl would rather stay ahead of the guards, placing himself between Aelin and the soldiers should their path lead toward The Stocks. He paused again as he reached the exit to the stairs. Peering his head out from the doorway, he could see that none moved in the hall to his left or the dimly lit foyer to his right.

From above, the echo of the animated voices continued. The excitement had peaked into muffled cheers. Simultaneously, a commotion of some sort seemed to be brewing outside in the courtyard before the gates. Ryl’s heart leapt in his chest as his concern for Aelin surged to the forefront. He slipped from the doorway, darting toward the entrance to the interior hallway as the heavy wooden exterior door to the foyer swung open. Light from the late day sun angled directly toward his position, illuminating the hall in startling clarity. He saw the silhouettes of two guards, a third smaller form jostled rudely between them.

Ryl ducked into the first open doorway along the corridor. His shoes slipped as they lost traction on the wet, sloped floor. He fell to his knees, placing his hand on the ground, stopping his body from falling completely unchecked. The passing of his hands and feet disturbed the sediment on the weathered stone floor below. The sweet scent of harsh soap wafted into his nostrils.

There was virtually no light here, as functioning lanterns had been confined to the building’s more necessary chambers. The image in Ryl’s head was still clear, though cycles old. The fire that had been burning quietly in the corner of the room had long faded out. He was sure there would be several buckets of water awaiting the next warming.

To his dismay, the voices from the foyer continued up the hallway in his direction. Their voices grew clear as they approached. He flattened himself into the corner opposite the small fireplace. He silently slid one of the Leaves out of the holster behind his back with his left hand.

There would be no escaping without a fight.

“Get her cleaned up,” grumbled the first voice. His tone was harsh, raspy and cruel, though it spoke with clear anticipation. “Thought a little grime would fool us, did you?”

The light that entered the chamber washed in an arc across the opposite side of the room from his location. The speaker had paused just outside the doorway. A muffled groan of a female’s voice preceded the shadow that momentarily obscured the light. A body, wrapped in filthy apparel, careened into the chamber. There was a shriek of pain as it struck the hard, slick floor. She whimpered again as her body slid before smashing heavily into the rear wall.

There was a chuckle from the pair who’d escorted her.

More light flooded the room as the first of the guards entered. Quiet, high-pitched slipping notes issued from the female’s hands and feet as they slid across the soapy floor as she struggled to position herself in the farthest corner of the room. The guard’s attention remained focused on his prey, though he swung his lantern toward the fireplace. Ryl, motionless in his corner of the room, remained hidden in shadow.

The guard grunted in annoyance as he viewed the fireplace. No buckets awaited their use.

“Worthless. The whole lot of them,” the guard grumbled, turning to his partner. He turned to his right, keeping the line of his vision from where Ryl