Page 65 of Lady Knight and the Thief

Cypress peeked down the chasm a few times. Nothing more than a quick glance or a few stolen looks, but even that little glimpse was enough to set her instincts on edge, for her stomach to roil in anticipation.

When they finally reached the bottom of the ancient stairway, Cypress and Torren entered what must have been the actual tomb.

Rubble crunched under her feet as Cypress walked in a small circle.

The walls were all made of the same black stone as the outer walls, while the ceiling was made of whitestone, carved with the image of a crescent moon.

The center of the room, though, held a mass of broken stone, as if something had erupted from beneath the tombstone slabs.

Words were scrawled into the broken stone. She wasn’t able to read the script, but Cypress assumed the words would be in the language of Faerie.

Cypress could only assume the proof she was looking for would be the broken tombstone slabs and the empty tomb. She mentioned as much to Torren.

“Yeah, I would say theempty tombwould be a real good fuckin’ indicator that something was amiss, Lass.”

“Don’t be rude,” Cypress reprimanded.

She bent to look at another large hunk of the tombstone, the words etched into it.

After a moment, Torren joined her, lowering himself to a squat to survey the rubble as well.

“What did this say?” Cypress asked, handing a hand-sized chunk of the tombstone to him.

“It is a song. One meant to keep the Hound’s spirit resting in eternal sleep, so they cannot hear anything else.”

“But if the Old one wakes and calls them, it would be pointless for this to be here,” Cypress countered.

“Not if the Hounds can’t hear anything other than this song.”

“So, you’re telling me that the entirety of Faerie’s plan for containment with these things is a lullaby?"

“Don’t forget the guardian,” Torren said, hooking his finger over his shoulder toward the spiral stairs.

“What good is a guardian thatapparentlyjust lets its charge escape?” Cypress countered, picking through the rubble to see if there were any clues, anything that would suggest the Hound was freed, rather than having escaped on its own.

Torren scoffed. “The guardian wouldn’t havejust let it escape,Lass. On the other side of the tomb pyramid outside is the carcass of the other Gilamesh, who tried to keep the Hounds contained.”

“I’m sorry,Hounds,as in plural?”

Again, Torren laughed. “There arethousandsof the Winged Hounds, Lass. Surely you didn’t think there were thousands of these burial sites hidden all across the continent?”

Cypress pursed her lips, sucking on her teeth. “Well. When you put it that way.”

He shook his head. “You can admit you were wrong, you know, I won’t tell anyone.

Cypress snorted. “Like I’d give you the satisfaction.”

Then, she wandered closer to the center of the rubble, where a large black hole waited. Truly, the stone did appearas if something had clawed its way out, exploded through the tombstone slab from below.

The claw marks on some of the stones sent a dizzying wave of apprehension through Cypress.

The marks were made from a large animal, that much was obvious.

The marks that tore through hard stone were thicker than Cypress’s wrist. She couldn’t help but run her hand over one of the marks to feel the depressions in the jagged rock.

Cypress wasextremelyout of her depth. Truly, she didn’t believe she had any business traipsing through the Wylds to verify the rising of the Old ones, which she now knew to mean the Wyld Hunt.

And, these winged hounds were just the beginning of it, if Torren’s words were to be trusted.