Chapter Sixty Six

The stairs up through the tower lay off to one side. Stepping over the broken stone floor Rosa picked her way over to the steps and tested their strength. They made horrible groaning sounds but they seemed strong enough to stand on. She took her first tentative step up and then another and another. She edged her way to the banister on the stairs and peeked over. The ground seemed like a long way away but in her head she knew that wasn't really true. It was her imagination playing tricks on her. The sound of splintering wood had her looking up in shock as a chunk of timber broke free of one of the beams and hurtled towards her.

Axel's arms wrapped around her and dragged her out of the way before the wood crushed down on her. He pulled Rosa to the wall of the tower and pressed her up against it, his body sheltering hers from any other pieces of debris that might come loose and fall.

Fear filled rosa as she stared up into his angry eyes.

"Who let you in here?" Axel's voice was hoarse w