7 Deadly Instincts (The Sinfire Chronicles Book 1)

Crewel took them all to the seven crypts where they’d been before, during Soulshred Week, and then down past the tombs. At the very back wall, where there were friezes of the seven gods of sin, he touched the breasts of the goddess of lust and channeled mana into the statue.

Dust drifted down from the ceiling as the stone moved to the side, rock grinding on rock, until a staircase was revealed leading down into the ground. Gray looked for spiderwebs but no, there weren’t any. The rock was newly chiseled into the stone.

Fieldkeepers held mana lanterns, giving them all light.

They could’ve used their bloodless blades, since they were sheathed at their sides, but lanterns and mana torches worked so much better.

Froggy grunted and shoved Gray. “Good thing your cat girl isn’t here, sexy, or she’d shit her pants.”

Gray whirled, filling his meridians with mana. It was a dangerous move, since he had so much magic coursing through him, if he moved, he’d end up stumbling. But he didn’t need to move. All he needed was the pressure.

Froggy lost that smile and took a step back. “Hey, listen, I was just—”

Most of the other recruits looked at him wide-eyed. They could feel the energy coming from him. It was a good move, and he wasn’t sure how he knew how to do it, but it worked.

On everyone except Blonko, Kabe, and Ishnash, who had to be a healer, since both Blonko and Kabe were all fixed up after the game of Sixblood.

Blonko and Kabe laughed, but Ishnash just watched Gray with patient eyes, slightly amused. His core was pulling in golden mana, which was kind of odd, but maybe not. If he had a patience resonance, it wouldn’t matter what was going on around him. He could simply relax into the moment and get magic. It was something to consider.

“Silence!” Crewel boomed. “No talking. Don’t test me on this.”

The magistrate seemed nervous. Why did that put a bad feeling in Gray’s belly?

And the Fieldkeepers didn’t just have cudgels, they all had swords on their sides. A couple had short spears and one had a short-handled ax. They were armed for a reason.

Gray couldn’t guess what it is.

Lilian wouldn’t have any trouble being quiet—she’d been silent since Ames had kissed Gray up in the stadium.

Crewel led the way and the teams followed, with Squad 23 in the middle. Gray hadn’t planned that, but he wasn’t happy about it. He felt trapped, and in a way, he was. The Fire Flyers were in front of him with the squat dog woman, Phillapalla Kech, leading the way. The twin dragon sisters would whisper to each other, but in some strange way that he couldn’t make out the words. And it was clear Crewel couldn’t hear them. No one could except each other.

Every so often, one or the other would turn back to stare at him with their pale gray eyes.

They were strange—creepy in a way he couldn’t put his finger on.

Behind him were the Wrath City Raiders, and he could feel the orcs seething, growling, and scheming against him.

The staircase went straight down in one direction, hit a landing, and went straight down the other. With each step it got colder and colder.

There was also a feeling of dread in the air, and it was more than the weight of all that stone above them.

Froggy was right—Tomi wouldn’t have been able to handle going this far underground. That would be a problem for the Reckoning. Captain Settie was pretty sure that the Underdwell would be used for both the Midnight Redemption and the Reckoning that year.

Suddenly, Lilian stopped walking.

Blonko went to shove her out of the way, but Ames was quicker, blocking his arm, and raising her other hand. She didn’t need to say a word.

The pale orc grunted. “Just get the fuck out of our way. Don’t need to get nasty, elf.”

Ames stood there staring at him with no expression on her face. Just her hand raised.

Blonko stormed past followed by Ishnash.

Kabe gave Gray a tusky grin. “Maybe you won’t be finishing Redemption Midnight after all. Have to find better women for yourself, Gray. The ones you got are broken.”

Then he kept on walking.

The Lucky Bastards passed them but the last fieldkeeper stopped, holding up a lantern. He was an ugly little orc, maybe half-goblin. Gray didn’t know his name, but he’d seen the little monster before.

“Better get going, love, or the magistrate will think you don’t have the sack,” the fieldkeeper growled.

“What’s wrong?” Gray asked the princess.

Lilian didn’t say a word. She just kept looking down into the darkness.

“Fuck this,” the fieldkeeper spat. He shoved a torch into Gray’s hands. “Best sort yourselves out, mate, and be quick about it.”

The orc then continued his way down the steps, the lantern bouncing as he went.

Ames went to touch Lilian, but she backed up a few steps. “No.”

“I wasn’t going to hurt you,” Ames said quietly.

Lilian’s eyes went to Ames, then Gray, and then she went to turn. She was going to walk back up the steps.

“Wait.” Gray managed to grab her wrist.

“Stop!” Ames shouted. “Let me go! It was a mistake for me to come here. Let me just leave.”

“I don’t—” Gray started.

Lilian turned around. Tears were on her face. “Let me leave.”

“If we don’t finish this, Ames won’t be allowed back on the squad. And Crewel hates us. It’s not like he’d allow her and I to compete just the two of us. I thought about quitting. We won two out of the three events. We’ve proven ourselves. Maybe Settie could convince Crewel to let her in, but I don’t think so.”

Lilian searched his face. She had this desperation to her…this despair. But then, when was the last time she’d had to endure a night out on cold rock on top of running for hours on end and then there was the violence and pressure at the center of First Field’s policies.

“Fine!” She then shoved her way past them and walked into the darkness.

Gray channeled mana into the torch and it lit up with a golden light.

He and Ames went after her, and they found her, waiting in the darkness.

When they caught up to her, she gulped in a breath.

“What’s wrong?” Gray asked again.

“Nothing. Just go.” Lilian’s voice was lifeless—all of her giggles were gone.

Gray went first, and he hurried. He knew he had to keep up with the rest of the squads or Crewel would say that Squad 23 failed and both Ames and Lilian would be denied a spot.

The staircase, hewed into the rock, seemed endless, down steps, to a landing, down more steps to another landing, down more steps.

How far did they have to go?

Gray didn’t know what was going on with Lilian, and she wouldn’t tell them, but he could feel Ames’s core, and because of their bond, he knew she wasn’t worried.

Reaching out, he felt Rynn was worried about something. He could almost see her, back at Ruin Manor, and they were talking about Pinch.

Great. Both Pinch and Lilian were all fucked up at the same time. Maybe they should bond.

Much to Gray’s relief, they finally caught up with the little fieldkeeper, and Gray tried to give the orc back his torch.

The orc just grunted. “Keep it. You’ll need it.”

Finally, the steps ended—after maybe a mile, maybe less, but they were deep underground.

A corridor led to a gash in the wall—beyond that? They entered into a great hall—thick columns held up a vast ceiling.

The size of the place nearly broke Gray’s head.

“What was this place?” he found himself asking to no one in particular.

They were all craning their necks, trying to find the ceiling in the darkness—everyone except for Lilian, who stood with her arms crossed, staring straight forward with nothing on her face. Her hand rested on the pommel of her sword but she was anything but relaxed.

Crewel laughed. “Quite a sight, isn’t it? Maybe the demon lords of old were vile, but they did have a certain style to them. Demons, maybe the Troublemaker himself, came up with the idea of trying to building an underground city over the eons of their imprisonment in the Weeping Well. Or perhaps they were trying to tunnel their way out. We don’t know but the stones, rooms, and underground palaces here are ancient. And yes, they reach all the way to the Weeping Well itself. There is a city underneath the Belly but that’s not all. For whatever, the ancient demon lords created a labyrinth we found quite by accident. We are going to put you in that maze, and it will be up to you to find your way out.”

The Magistrate held up a ruby. “Each squad will get a gem, just in case you take a wrong turn. Each squad will also get ironbites and water but not much. The first team to return to the stadium will win the event. For the other squads? It won’t be so simple. Each of the new recruits will have to fight to first blood to earn their way. Winners will be welcomed to the Reckoning. Losers can fight again but this all ends at midnight. Those who lost their fights have to win at least one by midnight. We believe that some squads will not emerge from the labyrinth at all, and so, we will come for you.”

“How will we know what time it is?” Blonko asked.

Crewel frowned at him. “I’m not taking questions. So shut your fucking mouth until I’m finished.”

The pale orc smirked and muttered something that made Kabe laugh while Ishnash smiled patiently.

“The gems will show you the countdown using flames, which will also keep you warm. How soft we’re getting, giving you such a prize. Now, you will be blindfolded, and we will walk you into the maze. Perhaps you’ll make your way out. But perhaps not. I would suggest you try and find this room, which we call the Colonnade Court.

It will be dark, very dark, and this room is big, very big, but we’ll have lust torches around the exit which will lead you to the stairs up.

He pointed at two enchanted torches burning mana on either side of the doorway they’d chiseled through the stone. Gray had to wonder why they had dug down to this strange undercity in the first place, but it was clear Crewel wasn’t taking questions.

In short order, the fieldkeepers had them all blindfolded. They were then given a rope with knots they could hold onto. They then shuffled through the darkness, for an hour maybe, but it was unclear. They didn’t the rubies and their fire numbers to show them the time.

But the sound of their shuffling changed. When they were in the Colonnade Court, the footsteps seemed to vanish tin the space. They were soon in a hallway, though, and Gray reached out to touch the walls. He felt smooth, dry stone—and dusty. This was a corridor created by demons.

It was strange to think that demons were not just the various monstrous animals he’d seen during his time in the Belly, but actual thinking beings.

They made any number of turns, but at one point, Gray felt the cold pressure of the Hellbinder far above them. That made him glad that the barrier existed, but he was a little taken aback that they were crossing it. Crewel had said that the Underdwell extended all the way to the Weeping Well. This was proof. They were under Old Town now.

A while later, Crewel left the first squad—Froggy’s Thunder—behind.

The magistrate ordered one of the fieldkeepers to stay with them. “And remember Figmush, don’t take the blindfolds off until four o’clock.”

Froggy’s voice came out a little rough. “Are there demons down there?”

“You’re not in Old Town,” the Magistrate said simply. “But there might be. Just know we didn’t put them down here.”

And then they moved on. The dwarves were next followed the Fire Flyers. There didn’t seem a rhyme nor the reason of the older.

Squad 23 was the very last.

When Gray removed his blindfold, he was in a grand hallway—twenty foot wide with a high ceiling. He, Lilian, and Ames stood in front of a doorway. Around it were sculptures of spiders and snakes, done with intricate detail.

Crewel tossed the ruby to Gray. “I won’t wish you luck.”

He went to walk away.

Gray had a question, but he knew, asking it was useless. Nothing new there. “We’re under Old Town. I felt us pass underneath the Hellbinder. So there could be demons down here.”

The Magistrate only laughed and walked back into the maze with his fieldkeepers trailing.

Gray was left with Ames and Lilian.

There was quiet for a second—a profound silence that hurt Gray’s ears.

And then Lilian started to cry.