Free Freya's Freedom (The Tower and the Eye Book 3) by Kira Morgana Page B

arm out. Blue lightening streaked across the room and slammed Vrenstalliren into the far wall of the holding cell. He screamed and smoke began to rise from his hair.
    “Stop it Grald, you’re hurting him!” Freya writhed against the grip of the straps on her limbs.
    Grald stopped. “Yes, I was hurting him, wasn’t I? But it’s so much fun to have that much power, why shouldn’t I use it?”
    Freya stared at her older brother and wept helplessly.
    * * *
    “Are we there yet?” Lin asked.
    “Would you stop asking that? I can’t concentrate on what I am following if you keep talking,” Vox snapped.
    Lin looked at Kraarz and the blind Urakh grinned.
    “Be at peace my friend. Vox is following a scent in the otherworld instead of following it directly…”
    “This corridor leads all the way round the outside of the dungeon.” Vox said absently.
    “We’re going the long way round?” Lin burst in. “Why? My Lady could be dead by the time we get there!”
    Vox stopped and looked up at her.
    “Lin, please be patient. The route I’m taking avoids the majority of the rooms in this dungeon and with a bit of luck, we’ll reach the Prison without being detected.”
    Lin nodded and the Flixen started moving again, his black nose held to the floor.
    “How much bigger is Vox going to get?” Lin asked Kraarz quietly. “He won’t fit through the corridors if he gets much bigger, especially with that wingspan.” She glanced up at the folded wings, the tips of the flight feathers brushing through cobwebs near the ceiling.
    Kraarz held one hand out and Vox swished its tail, the black tip brushing across his palm. “Hmm. I’d say that he had another foot to full growth. But we’ll be out of here before that happens.”
    At the next junction, Vox stopped.
    “The prison is to the left.” He sniffed the air and turned right.
    “If the prison is to the left, why are we going right?” Lin halted and folded her arms. “I’m not moving any further unless you explain yourself.”
    Vox blew out an expressive breath and turned his head back over his shoulder to look at her. “She isn’t there. Why would we go somewhere she isn’t?”
    “You said she was in the prison!”
    “I was wrong.” Vox shrugged. “It happens sometimes.”
    Lin sighed. “All right. Let’s go.” She slipped her sword out of its sheath.
    “Good idea.” Kraarz nodded approvingly and snapped his fingers. A ball of green fire appeared over the top of his staff.
    The Flixen rolled his eyes. “There aren’t any creatures around. I’d be able to feel them if there were.”
    “I thought you said that the Dark Gods shielded dungeons and their creatures from you?” Lin frowned. “Make your mind up.”
    “I don’t have a mind, so how can I make it up?” Vox ignored her exasperated cry and moved forward again.
    “Where do you think you two are going?” a voice asked from behind them.
    “Two? Hello?” Vox blinked. “What about me?”
    Lin spun round, the tip of her sword flying out to land in the throat of a large devil demon. A dribble of blue-black blood stained the steel and ran down the creature’s upper body. She pulled back into a defensive stance.
    He backed away.
    “Steady on. I mean you no harm. I just wanted to know why one of our allies was in the company of an Outlander.” The devil demon looked at Kraarz.
    “My race turned from the Aracan Katuvana eons ago,” the Shaman replied. “We found our freedom and a home without him.”
    The Devil Demon frowned; his golden cat slit eyes narrowed.
    “Then you are an enemy; and the new Custodian was right.”
    “New Custodian right? Right about what?” Vox asked.
    The corpulent demon straightened his shoulders.
    “Looks like I get to do a bit more training.”
    Kraarz and Lin had shifted positions gradually, Lin moving in front of Kraarz, but allowing him a clear view of the demon. She raised her sword and the demon grinned, flexing the long black claws on his hands.
    “Come on