The door that they had come in through was barred, and the lights turned low. Some of them took a lantern with them, and follow Mage Calavus to the far back of the room, a place that had, up until then, been shrouded in shadows.

“Another tapestry,” Bayani noted. This one looked rather more like a star map, woven from navy and ivory threads, interspersed with pale yellows and grays. It took up the entire width and breadth of the wall, and surprised the newcomers that the highest reaches of if were not covered in dust.

“Yes,” the mage agreed with a nod before pulling the cloth aside. “They do rather serve a purpose.”

There was another door behind the cloth, set back in a recess of the wall. It was up several narrow steps, and they could hardly make it out until Sir Carter held up his lantern towards it.

“A metal door?” Cerys asked, her eyes widening.

“Wood would be too easily broken,” the mage explained. “We cannot have the castle breached by random beasts, even down here.”

“How do you know there aren’t noir beasts behind that door?” she asked.

“They are not smart enough,” the knight told her. “The only way into this tunnel is a long way from the castle.”

“Noir beasts are determined but stupid,” James added. “They take the easiest way through and use brute force from there. They don’t have the forethought to look for underground passages.”

“Have you ever heard anything pounding on that door?” Peter asked.

“No,” Mage Calavus replied. “I have had the good fortune of never experiencing anything so terrifying. The wild things that wander into the tunnel have yet to come so far. Once you traverse it, you will understand why.”