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Re Eyes closed, she turned first this way, then that, her hands at her waist, fingers alternately left and right “Retracing our steps,” she finally whispered “That way’s the courtyard” She pointed down the left tunnel “I think If there’s a hidden entrance, it’s got to be there”

“Good enough for me,” Sam said

He took her hand and they set off again

Tiain the tunnel branched off and each time Remi would stop, repeat her slow-motion, eyes-closed spin, then point

After another hour their tunnel caainst the as a wooden ladder; roughly hewn frohtly crooked They shined their lights upward The ladder, well over thirty feet tall, ended at a wooden hatch

“Smell that?” Remi said “It’s rain, Sam We’re close”

He nodded absently, eyes poring over the ladder “This is ancient,” he inal This could be hundreds of years old”

“That’s wonderful, Saht now all I care about is whether it’ll take our weight”

He gave the ladder a twist, then put his weight on the botto It creaked, but held “Give me the pry bar, will you?”

He tucked it into his belt and climbed up to the hatch “It’s locked,” he called down

He wriggled the pry bar under the edge and wrenched once, then again, then once more and the latch popped open Sa and down the ladder

“We’re in one of the turrets,” Sam whispered down

He boosted himself up and out, then Re, outside the door they heard the scuff of a shoe on stone Saether they crept to the door

Over the railing they could see a guard—the one fro across the courtyard, flashlight panning left and right The ht briefly over the ays, then disappeared through the arch

They gave him thirty seconds to move off a safe distance, then trotted down the ay, left down the steps, then through the courtyard and into the tunnel they’d first entered