Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,72

been released from the prison and were being tended to in a makeshift city of tents. So many prisoners, so much brutality. If anyone thought that what they were doing wasn’t worth it, they only had to look at the toll on life that Avalon took.

On the way, a dozen soldiers joined the group to ride alongside them. They’d come through from Avalon Island, and Layla was glad for the extra firepower. She hoped that the mountain would be free of problems, but she had to admit Sky was right. Avalon would happily attack the injured and sick.

By the time the team had reached the mountains, the rain had started up and dusk had begun to roll in, turning the sky a brilliant purple and orange.

The carriages stopped outside the mountain, and everyone disembarked. “You think there might be some Avalon supporters in here?” one of the soldiers asked Layla.

“I hope not,” she said. “But we might as well search for them anyway.”

Everyone entered the mountain and continued down the only path until they reached a football-stadium-size chamber.

Layla walked to the middle of the chamber and looked around, stunned by how complex it was. “I’ve seen a lot of things,” she said. “But this is incredible.”

“The realm gate we came through is down there,” Tarron said, pointing to a large hole. “I imagine there are other gates here. A network of realm gates that no one even knew existed.”

“We need to find the team sent here,” Chloe said. “Although judging from the size of this place and the dozens of corridors, they could well have just gotten lost. I assume no one here has ever seen this place before.”

No one had.

Three dwarves walked out of a nearby chamber, raising their hands when everyone turned toward them, weapons at the ready.

“Orfeda sent us,” a large male dwarf said. “We got separated from the team we were with, and now we’ve been turned around and can’t find them. We figured we’d come back here and wait, but no one came back.”

“Which tunnel did you go down?” Piper asked.

Another dwarf pointed to a tunnel further down the chamber. Light-blue runes glowed on the archway leading in.

“Some have glowing runes, and some don’t,” Layla said as several of the soldiers with her team ran over to check out the chamber.

“We think they glow as a sort of power-down mode,” a dwarf said. “That chamber goes to Duat.”

“Why would that one be glowing now?” Judgement asked.

The dwarves all shrugged as one.

Layla’s team split into two, with Judgement and Sky taking half a dozen soldiers down one path, while everyone else made their way over to the glowing runes and walked on into the chamber beyond, where several soldiers were already searching the adjoining rooms. Layla moved to an archway next to the realm gate and looked down the dark passageway beyond.

“There’s something there,” Tarron said from beside her.

Chloe tapped one of the runes on the passage, and it lit up; more and more of them ignited until the entire passage was alight, showing the dozens of entrances to rooms or tunnels beyond. “It’s a damn rabbit warren.”

Layla turned to a nearby soldier. “Any of you been down this way yet?”

The soldier, a man with a scar that started just above his eyebrow, curved around his eye, and ended on his cheek, shook his head. “No, ma’am,” he said.

“We’ll take it,” Layla told him and took a step into the passageway, almost immediately hearing a crash from one of the rooms beyond.

“Okay, we’ve got something,” Chloe shouted as she stepped behind Layla. Tego stood in the mouth of the passageway, watching intently.

Layla entered the chamber first and touched the runes on the wall, which ignited, bathing the chamber in light-blue light. There were dozens of crates inside the chamber, some piled up to the ten-foot-high ceiling. At the far end of the chamber, lying next to the crates, was a seriously injured woman. Blood poured freely from dozens of cuts on her arms and legs, and she had a nasty cut on her forehead that would probably require stitches.

Layla crouched down in front of the woman. “Hi, what happened?”

“I was a prisoner,” she said. “I had a sorcerer’s band on. I couldn’t do anything. I don’t know how long I was down there. I was . . . it was a long time. When the rebellion started, there was a riot by some prisoners. I managed to escape to the plains, but I didn’t know where