Crown of Three Read Online Free

short, fat man hurrying behind them. A huge bunch of keys jangled at his prodigious waist, and sweat sprayed from his bald head.
    â€œWhat’s . . . ?” he began, but his words trailed away as they reached the end of the corridor and emerged into a vast, echoing chamber. Directly ahead was the source of the light Gulph had glimpsed: a giant sphere of metal pierced through with countless circular holes from which tongues of flame licked out. This brazier hung suspended from cables and swung slowly, spitting sparks over the uneven floor.
    The walls! They’re moving!
    Blinking, Gulph slowly understood what he was seeing. They weren’t walls at all, but cages crammed full of people. A spider’s web of iron bars, intricately knotted together, behind which squirmed a tangle of arms and legs and writhing bodies. The prisoners of the Vault of Heaven.
    â€œAny more questions?” growled the fat man, breathing rotten meat and garlic into Gulph’s face. “The Vault looks crowded, don’t it? But there’s always room for a little one.”
    He pulled Gulph away from Captain Ossilius and dragged him past the brazier toward a cell in which the shrieking prisoners were packed like fish in a barrel. As they approached, a scrawny man wearing only rags around his waist thrust a pipe-thin arm through the bars.
    â€œGive us the freak!” he shouted. “We’ll look after him!”
    â€œFreak’s more skinny than you, Shankers!” cackled a woman with hair like a rat’s nest.
    â€œLooks like a frog with them bulging eyes,” called another.
    â€œFrog’s legs for dinner,” said the man called Shankers. “Frog’s legs! Frog’s legs!”
    The other prisoners took up the chant. Gulph dug in his heels and tried to free himself from the guard, but the fat man’s grip was even stronger than that of Captain Ossilius.
    â€œBack from the bars!” he bellowed. “Wretched rebels, the lot of you! Think you can fight the crown? Look at you now! You make me want to puke!”
    The fat man raised his arms. The keys dangled from one hand; Gulph dangled from the other. The tremendous heat thumped inside his head. He wanted to scream. Scream and run. Then he noticed the bars weren’t as closely spaced as he’d first thought. Once inside, there was a chance he’d be able to squeeze back out.
    If I survive long enough.
    â€œStop!” Suddenly Captain Ossilius was there, planting himself squarely in front of the cage. He glared down at the man, his face like stone. “You have your orders, Blist. Now carry them out!”
    Blist’s round face quivered with uncertainty. “I thought you was jesting.”
    â€œI never jest. And you will call me ‘sir.’”
    â€œBut . . . the Black Cell? You don’t mean it. Sir.”
    Ossilius bent close. “These are not my orders, Blist. These are the orders of the queen herself. Shall I explain to her that you would not carry them out?”
    â€œNo, sir,” said Blist. His eyes, which up to now had been shining, turned cold and dead. “I would no more betray the queen than a captain of the Legion.”
    â€œVery well. Discharge your duty, jailer, and I will discharge mine.”
    Captain Ossilius swung on his heels and marched away. As he passed into the exit corridor, he paused and looked back at Gulph. He opened his mouth, about to speak, before changing his mind and stepping out of the Vault, into the dazzling day outside.
    â€œCan you put me down, please?” said Gulph. “My arm hurts.”
    Blist’s other hand clenched around the bunch of keys, and for a moment, Gulph thought the jailer would drive them into his face. Then the fat man’s shoulders slumped, and he lowered Gulph to the floor.
    â€œNot another sound from you, you little freak,” he growled, before dragging Gulph back past the brazier and into a narrow