With Rimbles close on his heels, Tupper chose a roundabout way into the galleries, springing lightly down one set of stairs after another as he followed them into the heart of the mountain. He couldn’t have explained why he knew his master was in the deeper galleries. He just did.

Acting upon this certainty, Tupper jogged along a columned passage, lantern held high, key thumping against his chest in time with his heartbeat.

—excerpted from Galleries of Stone, Book 2: Harrow

Tupper Meadowswee...