"Much quicker than picking the lock," he said, and led the others back to the door.
Once it was open, Leesil slipped in first to make sure there were no servants about. The room was wide and empty, little more than an entryway with another solid door in the right wall. He checked it, found it wasn't locked, and cracked it to peer through at a large kitchen on the other side. He returned to his companions and motioned them into the entry room.
Leesil put a finger to his lips, signaling the others to be silent. He warmed up his crystal and closed it tightly in his fist to hide most of its light, indicating for Wynn to do the same with the one she carried. Leading them into the kitchen, he checked the far end entrance and the one to its left side to be sure no one lingered in the passageways. Then he returned once more to the others.
"There isn't any food here," Wynn whispered.
It was a large kitchen like the few Leesil had seen in keeps and manors of his homeland. Iron pots and pans hung on the wall above a wide and deep cooking hearth. The butcher block looked as if it hadn't been used in a while.
"Over here," Magiere said.
Leesil and Wynn went to her and found a small open pantry with a few supplies, mainly dried foods, but also onions and turnips.
"Someone has been eating," Magiere pointed out, "but I don't see signs that servants have been here in a while."
While this was baffling, Leesil thought they should move on. "Wynn, you said you'd know where to look?"
"Yes," the sage answered, "if this is similar to places I have helped my domin search in the past. Records are usually kept in a large study or office on one of the upper floors or in the cellars or lower storage-or both. Any place requiring effort to reach and with limited direct access."
Magiere nodded. "All right, let's get upstairs."
She seemed tense to Leesil, now that the answers they sought might be so near. Again, he led the way, checking each room and its next exit before bringing the others forward. When they reached the main hall, he wasn't surprised to find it deserted but took a deep breath in relief.
"Is it possible Buscan was the only one living here?" Magiere asked. "There should at least be guards inside near the main entry points."
Wynn looked down the side corridors. Chap nosed along the edge of a stairway leading up.
"Perhaps the soldiers cleared the castle," Wynn suggested, "after the baron was assassinated. Perhaps there is no one left here to protect."
Leesil turned up the stairs with Chap at his side. When he was satisfied that the upper corridor was clear, they began searching the rooms. Most were sleeping chambers that were either kept in fastidious cleanliness or had not been used in a long while. Wardrobes and chests were empty, and almost none of the rooms had chamber pots or water pitchers and basins. One room appeared to serve as a central parlor, but other than a few hand-tooled books and the usual fixtures, it held nothing of interest. When they'd reached the keep's opposite end, Leesil opened a door across from a narrow stairway leading down.
He stood upon a thick carpet in a wood-paneled room, a surprising sight after the stone walls throughout the keep. The place had a warm feel, though the fire was dead. A small desk sat to the right of the hearth, and on the right wall hung a large painting of armored cavalry in the wilderness. The feature that attracted Leesil's attention the most was a spot below the painting where wooden panels had been broken loose. A dark recess showed behind the wall.
"Wynn," he called softly.
His companions came to join him. Wynn hurried to the small desk and was about to open a drawer when she froze.
"What is it?" Leesil asked.
She pointed at a large dark stain covering the back of one chair and backed away from it.
"I think… this is where the baron was killed," she said.
Chap circled the chair, sniffing, and he growled. Leesil hadn't given much thought to the murder of Buscan during their illicit entry into the castle. The baron obviously wasn't liked among some factions of his own house, let alone the other noble families. There were plenty of possibilities for responsible parties in this land, but the stain gave Leesil a moment's reflection.
A trained assassin didn't leave evidence in plain view if it could be helped-unless there was something to be gained by early discovery of the target's death. By the size of the stain, the killer's method had been direct and crude. And there was still the strange opening in the wall to be considered.
Leesil wondered exactly what had happened in this room.
"Start searching," Magiere said.
Wynn helped her, and the two nearly took the desk and bookshelves apart. They found nothing of interest beyond a draft of a very old letter that Prince Rodek had written to his mother. All the while, Leesil studied the opening in the wall.
He reached in and held up his crystal so its light filled the space beyond. A passage of stairs led downward from the small landing.
"There's nothing in here," Magiere said angrily.
"We're done with the upper floor," Leesil said. "We need to head down anyway, and I want to know where this leads."
"I do not understand this," Wynn said, looking about as if to spot something she had missed. "There should be some immediate papers about… For the day-to-day matters, at least. Yet we have nothing. It makes no sense."
Magiere took a deep breath. She tossed aside the books in her hand and nodded to Leesil.
Leesil stepped through the wall first. Chap stayed close behind him, then Wynn, and Magiere followed last. Leesil took his time, studying the walls and steps along the way in the crystal's light. There was little chance of surprises, as this was only a simple hidden passage and not a concealed main avenue to be protected. They reached the bottom without incident, and Leesil judged they'd gone deeper than the main floor. They were underneath the keep itself.
The stairs ended at a plain door, and they emerged into a prison. A row of iron cell doors lined both sides of the passage, and its end connected to another corridor running left and right.
"I don't think we'll find any records here," Leesil whispered.
Wynn hurried ahead before Leesil could stop her, and he had to follow more quickly than he liked in unfamiliar territory. When she reached the cross-passage, looking both ways, she paused to glance back before disappearing to the left.
"Come on," she called. "I think there is a main room ahead. Perhaps guard quarters or an officer's room… or a way out of here."
"Wynn, slow down!" Magiere called.
"Wait and let me check first," Leesil added.
He was about to go after Wynn when Chap's growl made him freeze.
A woman's voice drifted from down the row of cells to their right, away from Wynn's discovered door.
"Dhampir?"
Magiere stepped close behind Leesil, and he felt her hand settle on the falchion's hilt still strapped around his waist.
"Who's there?" she called back.
From the shadows beyond the crystal's light, Leesil saw movement. Magiere tilted the falchion back and drew it from the sheath.
"Who's there?" she repeated.
A young woman emerged into the light's reach, one hand braced against an iron door, as if so frightened or exhausted, she needed the support. A brown silk gown cut like a robe clung to her figure, tied at the waist with a scarlet cord, and its top two brass clasps were undone. A mass of red curls hung down her back. A bloodstone pendant rested below her creamy throat.
She looked at the crystal in Leesil's hand, and its presence made her wary enough to pause. She appraised him carefully, and then she turned her attention upon Magiere.