Lira nodded and crept up the stairs that led from the dungeon. Her knife was drawn, Falco padded in front of her, and Finėwen glided behind her. The dungeon itself was like a large cellar, Lira noticed. The walls were firm dirt, the floor was grey stone. A straggling, dying root here and there bulged from the wall.
The stairs were dimly lit by flickering torches. Not a cobweb clung to the corners; clouds of dust did not appear when their feet fell upon the stairs. It was relatively neat, compared to the torture chambers they had found and the grave yard of bones. But why? Was it because the master's presence was so close? Did he, or she -- Lira shuddered at the thought of the vampire -- make sure his domains were neat? Lira chuckled. How men grew lax when authority was afar.
The stairs led to a smallish hut. Herbs and meats hung from the wood panelled ceiling. A fire was dying in a small fireplace. Coils of rope were tossed into the corner. A small window was set in each of the four walls. A guard, a large black bottle by his hand, snored from the table. His head was cradled in his burly arms, drool stretched from his lips before splattering onto the table. Lira grimaced and Falco smothered a snort. The guard was exactly like a swine. All he needed was a square snout with huge ovalish nostrils, a bloated stomach, cloven hands -- Lira shook herself. What was she thinking?
Lira and Finėwen took some rope and tied him to the chair. Tearing a large stip of cloth from her dress, she stuffed it into his mouth and secured with a bit of rope tied around his head. She snorted. The man was indeed in a heavy drunken stupour.
Lira peeked out each of the windows at the barren landscape -- not even a weed straggled for life. "There is no one outside," Lira told Falco.
Falco frowned and shrugged. "So much the better for us."
"Maybe they are at the temple," Lira murmured. "There may be a sacrifice and the others might be watching." How gruesome.
"Let's join the others," Falco said.
The two ladies nodded and left the small hut with the dungeon cellar. The temple was soon in sight.
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