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While Valek picked the two locks, Reyad chatted on "My father will soon send you toeternity with you" He leered and wiggled his fingers at host The contents of the room before me riveted my attention Inside, dozens of women and a few men flinched from the yellow beam of Valek’s lantern Greasy hair obscured their dirt-streaked faces Rags clung to their emaciated bodies None of the horror, I realized they were chained to the floor In circles One outer circle and two inner rings with lines painted between them

When Valek and I stepped into the room, the foul stench of unwashed bodies and excre, I coveredquestions Who are you? Why are you here? His queries were e They renize soe with raduated" and were supposed to be einger hair dull and matted, finally n of intelligence as I stroked her shoulder and whispered her nae had become a mindless, empty shell of a woman

"My students," Reyad said His chest puffed out in pride as he floated in the middle of the room

"The ones who didn’t fail"

"What now?" I asked Valek with a shaky voice

"You’re arrested and thrown in the dungeon," Mogkan answered from the entrance

Valek and I spun in unison Mogkan loomed in the doorway, his ared hikan stepped back into the hallway I saw Valek stop just past the doorway and raise his hands in the air Dakan stood like a coward behind eight guards The tips of their swords were aimed mere inches from Valek’s chest

Chapter Thirty

As sword points prickedinto action during the wholecells I waited for him to blur intothe huh hands as they confiscateddidn’t upsetValek’s butterfly and my amulet

I prepared for a sudden jailbreak ere led down into the prison, and was still waiting as ere shoved into adjoining cells

I held round chah the bars Then they left, abandoning us to blackness I fu to button htuardrooeon, which only contained eight cells, four on each side of a short corridor Valek and I were in the two cells closest and to the left of the steps A familiarly loud, rancid stench permeated the prison The thick, silty air so overpowered my senses that it took me a while to realize ere the only occupants