Chapter 56
Chapter
Fifty-Six
ALLIE
A s soon as I helped Nadya sit down and promise she would not move until we came after her, under penalty of telling on her to Mrs. Thornbrew, I bolted back toward the passage.
My steps lit up the maze.
I felt weightless, soaring, carried by the wind of the crater.
As I burst into the main passage, the light followed, spidering up the walls.
Ryker whirled in a cloud of ash, daggers slicing through cloaks and claiming more masks. He stopped, gaze slashing toward me.
A slow smile spread over his face.
“My Huntress.” He bowed his head.
Not taking his eyes off me, he impaled his dagger in a figure who dropped right to his side.
The light bloomed around me, coating me in a blue haze.
The other warriors, those still left standing, looked my way, the battle rage in their eyes softening.
“The gods were truly listening.” Vylkor pressed the back of his hand against his forehead, like we did in the ritual, above the big gash starting from his eyebrow and down his cheek. I hoped his eye had survived.
The light burned through the passage in waves, my magic still controlled by the light’s pulses. But each one of them took another breath from my lungs, another beat from my heart.
I didn’t know how long I could keep the light alive, but I’d do it until my last breath.
At least half of the warriors were down, moaning in the ash. The air was filled with the metal-acid scent of blood.
As the light reached the ceiling, the masked figures hissed and shrank from the glow.
My throat went dry.
There were so many of them, an endless sea.
But one we could now see.
Ryker and I exchanged a grin.
He wiped his daggers on his armor while I cocked another arrow.
“Warriors of Solkar,” he cried out, raising his arm. “Let’s drive these beasts away from our realm.”
The warriors roared as we surged forward.
The figures still fell down upon us, as if compelled by a power greater than their survival instincts, but they were no match for our group.
Ryker took the lead, once again a blur. I could only track his movements by the cloud of dust he left in his wake. The ones who lingered between the ceiling stones got an arrow in the chest for their hesitation.
The glow guided us further, no longer swallowing our groans and cries. Listening. Seeing.
The air was no longer reeked of dread.
It vibrated with triumph.
I could almost taste it on the tip of my tongue.
But as the light pulsed further, my vision blurred.
One of my last arrows hit the stone instead of its target.
Still, I pushed onward.
They’d hidden and attacked in the darkness and they would pay for it.
I picked up arrows from the ash as I went, my quiver now empty.
Up ahead, more cloaked figures waited for us. But these weren’t the cockroaches which had cascaded down upon us.
They stood in the center of the passage, a barrier of shadows.
Their masks were tinted green and they each carried two swords, just like the one who’d attacked me.
“Careful, these ones are smarter,” I called out, even as one of them lunged for Ryker.
My arrow turned him to dust before he got the chance to hit my Commander. He stopped for the briefest moment, giving me a thankful nod, before he was out of view once more.
The warriors rushed forward, pushing them back. Vylkor’s roar pounded against the passage, as filled with anger and revenge as I felt.
But keeping the light alive cost me.
My bow swayed in my hands.
My body burned.
I didn’t know how much more I could take.
I rested on the thought that the warriors would win even if I fell–and I would not go down until the last of the fight left me.
With a last arrow, I ended the final creature clinging to the ceiling. He had been hiding in a nook, scared. His fear had tugged at my heart for the briefest moment–but I knew he would have gladly fallen down on top of me and sliced my throat if I had my back turned.
Only the standing figures remained.
The warriors slashed through their ranks in a perfect formation, their roars shaking the passage. They broke off the line of figures into smaller groups, finishing them off.
Ryker continued onward.
I followed.
The cloud of ash became unbearable, grit sliding inside my lungs and clinging to my throat.
The pulses slowed, as did my heart.
Ryker’s groan resounded in the darkness.
I forgot all about the dark spots in my vision and the blaze in my veins, and rushed after him.
Just as I felt I couldn’t breathe anymore, the air split open. Crisp. Sweet. New.
In only three steps, I staggered from the darkness out into the light. Real light, given freely by the sun.
I jolted on the spot, blinking rapidly.
We’d done it.
We’d escaped the passage, rushing out the exit from beyond the crater.
My vision still swimming, I drew my last arrow by instinct. Through the haze, I saw three figures remaining, Ryker facing them.
They looked even more menacing in the sun, as if no beings such as these should have existed. They belonged to the darkness.
Ryker raised his dagger at them. “Lay down your weapons and you will not be harmed.”
No, they would be interrogated until we sapped every drop of truth from them.
Time stopped as we waited, both of our weapons aimed at their masks.
In eerie unison, they raised their swords. But just when I thought they’d drop them, they impaled each other straight in the chest, the sickening sound of slashed flesh scratching against my bones.
They left no truth behind, only ash and questions.