Ch. 269 Not all towers go up

The corridor was more of a covered walkway than anything else. In any other kingdom it would have been a simple stone path around the perimeter of the courtyard. But the dislike of daylight was a driving factor in the majority of shadow mist architectural design. It also made it possible to move from one end of the open courtyard to the other without being seen by those in the courtyard itself. But while Elric thought that he was being escorted to the far end of the courtyard that was closest to the castle, the guard escorting him turned towards a small room off to the right side of the corridor. The small room had a rack of short swords on one wall, and shelves full of wine bottles along another.

Moving the third bottle on the second shelf allowed the guard to activate so hidden switch. With that switch activated he was able to pull the shelf forward, revealing a set of stairs going down into the darkness.