Alex turned on his side for what must have been the hundredth time. After years of training endlessly during the day and attempting to sleep on a rough itchy cot at night, a soft comfortable bed felt strange. What had it been, an hour, three? Alex turned over to see a fleeting shadow sliding out the door, lantern in hand. Alex drew his sword and crept through the door without a sound. He felt his bird land on his shoulder with a light flap.
Saul bent over looking at Alex, his face practically screaming “Where do you think you’re going?”
Alex crept down the cold stone steps, following the light. In his tired haze after arriving he had failed to notice the arches made of stone, but now in his sharp focus of alarm he could see every crack in the stone blocks, every divot in the mortar. He slowly crept around the the final turn in the spiral staircase, peeking out from behind the central pillar he saw the lantern’s light spilling all across the massive arches, the light creating a reflective glow from the glass windows of the menagerie, spanning the gaps between the arches. He focused his gaze on the man holding the lantern, in the flicker of the yellow light he saw a navy blue cloak draping to the floor.