The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

Chapter 6
Twinkling lights blanketed the ceiling of the crypt when I
opened my eyes. My lips parted as I dragged in deep gulps
of…fresh, clean air. That wasn’t the ceiling or lights I saw.
They were stars. I was outside, no longer in the crypt.
“Dammit,” a man to my right swore. “She’s awake.”
My body immediately reacted to the sound of the voice.
I reared up—
Pressure pressed down all over my body, followed by a
sharp, stinging wave. My jaw clamped shut against the cry
of pain as my head lifted off a flat, hard surface. Ivory bones
entwined with thick, dark roots lay across me from my chest
to my knees.
“It’s okay. She’s not getting free.”
My gaze swept in the direction of the voice. Commander
Jansen stood to my left, a silver wolven mask hiding his
face. He angled his body toward mine. Beyond him, I saw
the crumbling remains of a stone wall bathed in moonlight,
and then nothing but darkness beyond. “Where am I?” I
rasped.
His head tilted to the side, his eyes nothing but shadows
inside the thin slits of the mask. “You’re in what remains of
the city of Irelone. This,” he answered as he swept his arms
out widely, “is what is left of the once-great Castle Bauer.”
Irelone? That sounded vaguely familiar. It took a couple
of moments for my mind to clear enough for the old maps
with their faded ink, created before the War of Two Kings, to
form. Irelone… Yes, I knew that name. It had been a port city
to the north and east of where Carsodonia was now. The city