Chapter 34
Chapter thirty-four
What We Sacrifice
At first, I thought the footsteps were in my imagination. But then they grew steadily louder.
I hopped up and drew my dagger, then peered out the door.
Running down the hallway, out of breath, was Caldren, the man who had greeted us when we’d arrived at the Order and guided me to the council meeting. When he saw me, he looked as if a massive load had been lifted. “Thank dust! When you didn’t return, we feared the worst!”
I did my best to regain my composure, but part of me just wanted to curl up in a ball.
“Where is everyone?” I asked.
“The entire Underworld is under attack,” he said. “Scouts arrived with the news, and we evacuated. I’m to bring you and Darion to High Steward Mireth.”
At the mention of Darion, I flinched.
Caldren looked around. “Where is Darion?”
“Darion didn’t make it out,” I said flatly, holding back the emotion trying to pour out of me. I couldn’t bear to say what had really happened.
“Dust!” Caldren said. “I’m so sorry. I knew you cared for him.”
“Have you seen my sister?” I asked, brushing off his concern.
“Yes,” Caldren said. “Kael saw to her evacuation personally.”
My chest tightened. The letter was true.
“Which way did they go?” I nearly shouted. “I have to get to her.”
Caldren appeared taken aback. “She’ll be quite safe with Kael. They left through the cellars, like everyone else. The city is locked down. All the normal routes are blocked.”
“But did you actually see them leave through the cellars?” I asked.
“No,” Caldren said, a quizzical look on his face. “I don’t understand. Where else would they have gone?”
“I don’t have time to explain,” I said. “I need to find her.”
Caldren shook his head. “My orders are to escort you to rendezvous with the high steward at Shadowfen. You have an item critical to the Order. I insist that you come with me.”
I simply couldn’t delay any longer, so I took the two vials of Emberbane from my belt and held them out to Caldren. “Here. Take the damn vials. But be careful. If you drop one, this whole room will be engulfed in fire.”
Caldren looked at the vials as if they might bite him. But then he took one and added it to the satchel on his belt. “Very well. But you keep one. It’s probably best that we split them up.”
“I’m leaving,” I said. If there was any chance they hadn’t left through the cellars, I needed to get topside as fast as I could and have Zephyra track them.
“I still think you should exit through the cellars with me,” Caldren said. “But if you want to leave through the front entrance, you’ll need to hurry. The Sentinel army will be here any moment.”
As if in confirmation, the thrumming of a null field hit me like a crashing wave, so strong that my teeth ached. It was much stronger than I’d ever felt it.
I cursed under my breath. “It’s already too late,” I said. “They’re here.”
With the front entrance cut off, the cellars were our only option. I ran with Caldren through an older part of the Order’s headquarters that I had never been to. The walls looked worn from age and were in disrepair.
“When we get to the cellars, you’ll have to follow me closely,” Caldren said. “It’s a maze of tunnels, and if we get separated, you’re sure to get lost.”
I had read about the cellars in a book on Analonian history—a series of natural caves that stretched for miles, a mazelike warren of passageways extending well past the city gates.
The null field continued to thrum. “They’re getting close,” I warned.
We reached a long corridor that ended at a narrow stone staircase twisting into darkness. As we took the first steps down, a group of masked Sentinel soldiers turned the corner at the far end of the hallway. Leading the charge was one of the last people I wanted to see. My blood turned to ice.
Syra, The Butcher’s bodyguard, made eye contact with me, her face neutral as always. She started sprinting toward us, brandishing her sword.
“Fuck!” I yelled.
We flew down the stairs, two steps at a time.
“I can’t use my Ember,” Caldren said between breaths. “I tried to stop them, but all I felt was…emptiness.”
“That’s the null field,” I said.
As we continued, the echo of boots was close.
Too close. I snatched two vials from my belt and threw them behind us.
Smoke billowed from one, and oil from the other coated the stone steps.
In moments, shouts of surprise and the clatter of feet slipping on oil-slick stone reverberated from higher up the stairway.
“That’ll buy us some time, but not much,” I said.
After twisting down the stairs for what felt like forever, we came to a large room with stone arches in the ceiling.
Countless casks of wine, most broken open and rotted with age, lined the walls.
We continued through several similar rooms until we reached a massive timber door reinforced with iron bands.
It was closed with three massive bolts that barred our exit.
“Here’s where the caves start,” Caldren said, grabbing the handle of one of the bolts. “Quickly, help me with these.”
I joined in, tugging on the first bolt. It was wedged in tight, and it took quite an effort to get it opened. Two bolts left to go.
“How did they shut these from behind?” I asked as we pulled on the second bolt.
“I’m afraid that was me,” Caldren said. “I saw the last people out and pounded the bolts shut with a hammer, hoping to give them more time. I never really expected to find you, honestly.”
I felt a pang of emotion at Caldren’s self-sacrifice and guilt at the way I had reacted to him. He hadn’t expected to get out of here alive.
Down the corridor, the sounds of our pursuers echoed ever closer.
The second bolt came loose with a loud thud as the latch hit the stay.
As we tugged on the third bolt, Syra and a group of Sentinel warriors entered the room.
I hadn’t brought much equipment into Pyrehold, so the only useful vial I had left was one lone firebomb. I flung it across the room. Fire exploded, but the room was so large that the fire barely even extended the width of it. That had likely bought us only a few moments.
Syra stared at me from the other side of the fire, her face inhumanly expressionless. As she paced back and forth, waiting for the flames to die down, her piercing gaze never left me. She tilted her head as a predator might when assessing its prey.
The final bolt finally gave way, and Caldren and I pulled on the iron ring, dragging the massive door open with all our might.
We had just gotten it open far enough to fit through when the whizzing sound of crossbow bolts zipped through the air.
Most of them clattered against the stone wall or thudded into the wooden door.
But Caldren cried out as one of the bolts hit its mark, embedding deep into his hip. He collapsed to the ground.
Quite suddenly, the thrumming of the null field stopped. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shimmer around Syra as she transformed.
“Caldren!” I yelled, reaching for his shoulders, dragging him toward the opening as two more bolts hit the door. “Help me get you to safety!”
“No time. And I’ll slow you down,” Caldren said through barred teeth. Blood was flowing freely from his wound.
Syra finished transforming and jumped through the fire, her beast form apparently impervious to flames.
A golden shimmer came from Caldren. He held out his hand toward Syra, and she froze, his Stillbind Ember in full force now that the null field was down.
“I can’t hold her for long,” Caldren said. “Rendezvous at Shadowfen to the north.”
“I’m not leaving you!”
“Four left turns, three right, one straight, then one left. At the waterfall, go straight, then one more right,” he said between labored breaths.
“No, you can make—”
“Go! They’re reloading!” he yelled.
He pulled the Emberbane out of his pouch. His hands shook as he looked at me with the determination of a man who had just met his fate.
Several other crossbow bolts whizzed past us but missed their mark.
“Go now!” Caldren said as he hurled the vial of Emberbane in a broad arc toward the fire.