Chapter 5 - The Rising Water
The freezing, dark water rushed aggressively around Mira's ankles and climbed rapidly toward her knees.
She pounded her fists desperately against the locked steel door, screaming for her aunt to open it.
The only answer she received was the terrifying, deafening roar of the incoming flood.
Samir struggled to stand up, his face entirely pale from the severe, ongoing blood loss.
The water level reached their waists in a matter of incredibly short, terrifying minutes.
Mira grabbed Samir’s uninjured arm and desperately supported his heavy weight.
She scanned the dark, flooding tunnel for any possible, miraculous escape route.
"The silver key," Samir gasped, coughing up a small amount of dark blood.
Mira looked at him in total, paralyzing confusion as the icy water reached her chest.
He pointed weakly toward a small, rusted metal panel located high up on the tunnel wall.
"It is a master skeleton key, it opens the old palace ventilation shafts," he choked out.
Mira left Samir leaning against the wall and swam frantically toward the submerged panel.
She struggled against the fierce, pulling current, her lungs burning fiercely for precious oxygen.
She reached the panel, retrieved the silver key from her pocket, and shoved it blindly into the tiny slot.
She turned the key with all her remaining strength, and the heavy grate finally swung open.
She swam back, grabbed Samir, and hauled him desperately up into the narrow, dry ventilation shaft.
They collapsed onto the dusty metal floor, gasping wildly for air as the tunnel below them flooded completely.
They crawled slowly through the dark, cramped air ducts for what felt like endless, agonizing hours.
Mira could hear the muffled, frantic sounds of palace guards marching rapidly in the hallways below them.
They finally reached a heavy vent cover that overlooked a lavish, brightly lit room.
Samir whispered that this was the private bedchamber of his brother, King Malik.
Mira kicked the vent cover loose, and they dropped quietly down onto the expensive, thick Persian rug.
The room was completely silent, filled only with the smell of expensive cologne and copper.
Mira turned around and gasped in absolute, unadulterated horror at the gruesome scene.
King Malik was lying motionless on the floor in a massive, expanding pool of dark red blood.
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Standing directly over the dead King's body was Tariq, holding a bloody, jagged hunting knife.
Tariq looked up, locked eyes with Mira, and smiled an incredibly wicked, victorious smile.
