Astor tried to sound confident and commanding, but he started to form doubts that there was a way out of the tombs under Hogwarts. With a pang of anger, he remembered that Albus was still alive, and instead of dying an honourable death, he had been left down here to be torn to shreds by unsavoury earth-dwelling beasts. If the two managed to escape, Astor promised himself that he would find a way to kill the Lord of the castle and whoever it was that had guarded him that day in the trophy room.