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Eyes scanning the courtyard, Sao, head straight up the steps and into the turret I’ll be right—”

Behind theht filled the tunnel

“Reo!”

Like a sprinter co off the blocks, Re them two at a tiht panned through the tunnel, then back out again, then went dark Sam crawled over the step into the courtyard, then rose to his feet and joined Remi in the turret

“Did he see us?”

“We’ll know shortly”

They waited for ato see

the guard walk through the arch, but he didn’t appear

Sam looked around the darkened interior of the turret “Are we in the right one?”

The brochure map had identified several entrances to the oubliette level, one of which was in this turret “Yes, the next landing down, I think,” Re at the spiral steps; another set led upward to the battlements

They started down the steps, Re they found a wooden trapdoor in the floor, secured to the stone lip by a padlocked latch From his waistband Sam pulled a miniature crowbar Given the predo Müller’s words about his brother finding the bottles “tucked away in a cranny,” they’d guessed the tool would come in handy

While the padlock looked new, the latch itself was anything but, having turned black and flaky by years of exposure to the salt air Reht at the latch, but Sa it on “Let’s wait until we’re out of sight”

It took thirty seconds of gentle ith the crowbar’s tip to wriggle the latch free of the wood Sa into a dark shaft

“Better let me test it,” Remi said

She sat down, slid her legs into the hole, and started doard Ten seconds later she whispered up, “Okay It’s about twelve feet Go easy It’s bolted into the stone, but the whole thing looks as old as the latch”