The stairs spiralled down along the perimeter of the tower, with the space in the middle just an empty shaft. She soon passed the window she’d seen from outside, and then a little while later, the stairs reached a floor with a door. The stairs continued down beyond here.


    Zandrue approached the door. It was hard to tell how far down she’d gone, but the main building had two storeys, so this door presumably went to one of those. She leaned in close and turned her ear to the door.


    There was a hint of laughter somewhere beyond the door. Presumably people in the shelter. The laughter didn’t sound close, though it was probably best to avoid going that way unless she couldn’t find anything anywhere else. Finding a basement was probably a better place to search anyway, so she should keep going down.


    The stairs only spiralled down a little farther before coming to an end in a small dark space. A large object, probably a crate, sat in the corner under the stairs, but the room was otherwise empty.


    Thick cobwebs hung from the stairs, and there was a brief flash as the flame from the lantern burned some of them away. The object was definitely a crate, covered in dust and more cobwebs. The rest of the space was clean though, free of dust and webs. So they made enough effort to clean everywhere but under the stairs, but not use it.


    She shrugged and turned away. The crate obviously hadn’t been touched in ages, so probably wasn’t anything she was looking for. Perhaps one of the other towers would give better results. She just had to get across to them.


    She prepared to blow out the lantern, but stopped. There was a small smudge of something on the floor near the wall by her feet. Probably nothing, but she knelt down to examine it anyway. It was a rusty red colour. She licked her finger, then rubbed it over the smudge. Bringing her finger to her nose, she sniffed.


    Okay, this was getting ridiculous. This was supposed to be a church after all. She had thought earlier how it would be the perfect irony if Darkers were using Night’s tower, but she hadn’t seriously expected that to be the case. “Come on, guys,” she muttered. “Get a little creative.” If she were running their organisation, she definitely wouldn’t choose a place so obvious for their nefarious activities. Still, it was fortuitous for her if they didn’t have more imagination.


    However, there were some scratch marks—completely unnoticeable unless someone held a lantern right up to them. They formed an arc from the wall by the blood spot.


    She stood up again and examined the wall above the scratches, where she found the barest hint of a split in the stone. Following it, she traced the outline of a door.


    The second question was, should she open it? There was no telling what—or who—was directly on the other side. It could be extremely dangerous to go in. Still, this was exactly the kind of thing she was looking for. The main problem was whether there was anyone directly on the other side. If there wasn’t, she was reasonably certain she could continue on unseen even if there were people farther in. Other doors were presumably not as big and heavy as this one.


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    She blew out the lantern and hurried to the stairs, running up them to the floor above. Whoever was coming out would presumably come up these stairs, but how far? They might only come as far as this floor, unless they were going all the way up to where the bodies were stored.


    A moment later, two figures came up the stairs and approached the door. One was small—a child perhaps. The other was tall and broad. It was too dark to make out much more detail, and she definitely couldn’t smell them from here.


    The taller figure opened the door, letting through a bit of light from beyond. The tall one was a muscular woman with a shrivelled ear on the side of her head Zandrue could see. The other was a boy, maybe a little older than Corvinian, with brown hair. She couldn’t see his face, but there was something familiar about him. Had she seen him somewhere?


    With a smile, he spread his wings and flew across to her. She had been gone for hours, and he was starting to get worried. Dawn would be approaching soon.


    She shook her head. “Nothing. Nothing of relevance, anyway. I went down Night’s tower, crossed through the main building, tried the front two towers, then made my way back to this one. They have some interesting stuff here. I mean, this tower has a room filled with some beautiful artwork dedicated to Nature, but that’s hardly useful. I did find the room where they store their records and went through what was there, but they apparently don’t store records of communications there.” She sighed. “I had hoped there was some sort of device, a magical item that allowed them to communicate so fast, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. They don’t even have a rookery for message birds. What a fucking waste. Sorry for dragging you out here.”


    “There is no need to apologise. I enjoyed having time outside, and the sky cleared a little, allowing me to see the stars. I was also able to meditate, which will make Mikranasta happy. She always wants me to do more.”


    Zandrue shrugged. “I’m not sure. I need to think about it. I might focus on trying to find Darkers in the palace. There must be some still there. Maybe if I can find them, I can find a link back here.”


    With a sigh, she straightened up again. “Want to fly me down to the ground, or hell, all the way back to the palace?”


    “Perhaps you can return here another night and search again. Perhaps you just missed something.”


    Jorvanultumn understood her frustration. The bodies were a clear indication something unusual was going on, but to find nothing else after hours of searching would have frustrated him as well. It seemed likely she had missed something. It was a very large building, after all, and not a mark of shame at all if searching it required multiple attempts. However, he would wait until she had fully calmed down before attempting to suggest again that she come back. He also should not keep her waiting to fly.


    Their previous flight together had not been an exceedingly large strain on him. He was not sure if he could make it all the way to the palace, but he could make it at least partway, so he would fly her as far as he could manage. He spread his wings and leapt into the air.