Page 39 of Devil's Doom

Both of us shake from the cold despite our heavy cloaks. Lech, whose body temperature runs lower than ours, seems comfortable with his sleeves rolled up, revealing muscular, freckled forearms.

“Would you like me to disguise you a little?” I ask Rada. “I can cast an illusion. Make you, well, not exactly ugly, but less luminous.”

“Please, do!” She turns to me, her eyes frantic. “I hate my face. Hate it! Please, make me ugly, Alina. I want to be plainer than you. Oh, just this once!”

I snort with amusement, focusing on making Rada look ordinary. I turn her pale gold hair mousy and flat, her face just a bit out of proportion, her eyes pale blue. She is still herself, but not half as stunning.

“And? Did it work?” she asks excitedly when Lech nods in approval.

“It did,” he says, kissing her cheek. “Let’s go. We have a lot of ground to cover.”

Rada smiles and grabs my hand, and I take a deep breath of the humid autumn air. The touch of her soft, warm hand makes me hurt with longing even though she’s right here with me.

But I’ll be gone soon.

“I’m sorry I told everyone you have the rot,” I murmur when Rada hums a cheerful song, my illusion allowing her to enjoy our walk.

“What? No, don’t be sorry! It was amazing! Gods, the way he ran away—I never saw anything so perfect. I was too scared to enjoy it then, but believe me, right now it’s one of my favorite memories. I think I might actually get the rot for real, you know?”

“Please, don’t,” Lech says drily. “Unless you’d like your body to putrefy from your vagina up, and die in agony. It’s a serious disease.”

He leads us up to the bridge and then along the bank on our side of the river. The further away from the bridge we go, the more deserted the streets are, building fronts growing neglected and off-putting. Some doorways are boarded up with planks. I flinch when I see a rat as big as a chicken skulking in a narrow, dark alley between two houses.

The river is on our right, a mass of gray water at the bottom of the ravine. Soon, we reach a place where narrow stairs cut into the rock lead down to the water level. Lech stops, and for a moment, I’m afraid he will tell us to take those precarious stairs, but instead, he turns to a low, half-collapsed building.

“Stay here.”

His face is tight. I study the building, noticing that despite its dismal looks, the door is solid and shut tight, the windows boarded up with sturdy planks. The front façade is dark gray, mostly uniform. A black mark just above the cobbles of the street catches my eye, and I swallow when I recognize it.

A triangle with horns. The mark of Weles.

Lech knocks on the door in a long, odd sequence, then says something too quietly for me to catch. Inside, bolts and locks slide in a series of clicks, and the door opens. A tall mamuna male with a muscular, bare stomach and tusks in his mouth motions us in, casting a watchful look down the empty street.

“Come on.” Lech takes us both by the hands and leads us inside. We’re barely past the threshold when the door clangs shut.

“What is this place?” Rada asks in a fearful whisper.

“It’s safe. You’ll see.”

The mamuna male ignores us, standing sedately by the door. Still holding both our hands, Lech leads us deeper into the gloomy building. Here and there, a weak candle flames in a sconce in the wall, but most of the rooms are flooded with shadows. The place doesn’t look lived in.

We reach a dark strip of wall, no different from the other parts of the house. Lech stops. His expression is so unlike his usual ironic smirk, it makes my unease grow. I can’t help but think that if Lech is serious, it means things are bad.

“You’re about to enter the best guarded secret of Slawa,” he says. “This is one of few entrances into the tunnels under the city. We will walk a long way, and we might meet other people, but we’ll be safe. Dragons can’t enter.”

“Why have you brought us here?” Rada asks, stroking the back of Dar’s head.

“You’ll see. Trust me.”

I swallow a frustrated groan. I never trusted Lech completely because of his secrets, and the underground maze he wants us to enter feels like a trap. And yet, I know he loves Rada and cares about me. Of this I’m certain, and so I tuck my fears away.

Besides, it’s not like Woland and his army can afford to stay in the city, underground or not. If there is any danger, I can deal with it. As long as it’s not him.

Lech isn’t done. He smiles reassuringly and produces a small box, inside of which is a wooden object with a smooth handle. When he turns it in his fingers, I see the symbol of Weles carved out so it protrudes above the flat base. After this comes a small pot of red coloring.

“Only those wearing this sign made with a sanctioned stamp can enter. The sign will fade immediately. No one will see it on your skin, but the walls will know.”

Rada offers him her arm, and he presses the stamp to her skin. She raises her eyebrows, and I watch it suspiciously. This, I didn’t sign up for.

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