Borosus’s tail thumped against the rocky ground. It reminded her of a person idly tapping their fingers as they considered a problem.
“There is another way,” he said at last.
They returned to the dim recesses of the cavern, where a narrow crevice broke the wall.
“Take this path,” he said, “to the third tunnel. Turn left, then take the second right after the stream. Follow the draft of fresh air to the fifth crossing and up the shaft with the iron rungs. It leads to the surface.”
Cathrynne repeated the directions under her breath. “What about my friend?” she asked. “The human girl? Can you help her?”
Borosus snapped his jaws. “You ask too much. If she is wise, she will find her own way out. Now go, before my kin arrives.”
Without another word, he turned and crawled away, his flaming mane casting dancing shadows on the walls until he disappeared around a bend. Cathrynne repeated the directions to herself once more, then started down the passage he had indicated. Third left, second right. She repeated the directions again and again as she walked.
She hoped Kal had made it out safely, but there was nothing she could do to aid her now. Not with a ton of rock between them and more Sinn on the way. The torch flickered, its light shrinking. She quickened her pace, counting the turnings. Third left. Second right. Follow the draft.
She managed the first part just fine, and whispered a prayer of thanks when a faint whiff of fresh air brushed her cheek. But the draft seemed to come from multiple directions, swirling and changing. She hesitated at a four-way junction, trying to recall Borosus’s exact words. Fifth crossing? Or was it the fourth?
She chose a path at random, moved forward with less certainty. The torch dimmed, casting barely enough light to see the ground before her feet. Wrong turns looked the same as right ones in the near-darkness. The air grew still. No draft at all. This wasn’t right.
She turned back, but the junctions all looked identical now. Cathrynne stopped, her pulse quickening, as the torch gave a final sputter and went out.
Chapter 35
Gavriel
The instant he felt the tremor, he knew they were in trouble.
It came as a faint vibration beneath his feet. If he had not been still and silent, he wouldn’t have noticed. But he remembered the sensation from the night at Red Dog Camp. Sinn moving within the tunnels.
Fear gripped him—not for himself but for the two women down there in the dark. There was nothing he could do to stop a blue emperor, but he could warn them. If it wasn’t already too late.
He had no torch, but there were ways of making light. With a pained grimace, he tore out one of his covert feathers and used the barb to prick a thumb. Blue blood welled up, imbued with enough ley that it shimmered in the darkness, giving off just enough light to see by. Then he set off, marking the wall with a smear of blood every twenty cubits. The main shaft sloped gently into the hillside, its low roof supported by timber beams. Twenty minutes of walking brought him to a cave-in where a horizontal shaft bisected the first. It was too round and smooth to be part of the original mine. There seemed to be no other way down.
For a moment, the weight of the rock felt crushing. He was a being of air—of open sky and cool wind and lofty heights. This place was solid and stale and deep, and he did not belong here. A visceral sense of wrongness invaded his gut. Or was he nearing the source of the kaldurite?
Gavriel squeezed his thumb and left a mark at the juncture. Then he delved into the tunnel.
His wings were tucked tight against his back, but the Sinn-bored shaft was large enough to allow him to walk upright. He didn’t sense more vibrations. Perhaps the creature was just passing through. When he reached another junction where three tunnels branched off, Gavriel closed his eyes and listened.
There—a scrape on stone. He moved toward the sound, the dark trying to devour his weak pool of blue light. “Cathrynne!”
A dust-coated figure appeared from the blackness. It was Kalisto Machena—and she was alone.
“What happened?” he asked, hurrying up to her.
The girl looked distraught. “We found the cavern, but a blue emperor came along. It attacked. We ran and the ceiling came down?—”
“Where’s Cathrynne?”
She gestured behind her. “Back that way, but you won’t be able to reach her.” The young woman’s voice wavered on the edge of tears. “She was trapped on the other side with the Sinn?—”
“Go up and wait for us at the exit,” Gavriel said, his mind racing.
Kal started to protest, but she looked exhausted. Gavriel reminded himself that she had been chased by a giant, buried up to her neck in the desert, and now attacked by a Sinn. He would not ask more of her.
“Go,” he said gently. “I’ll find her.”
Kal gave a weary nod and stumbled down the tunnel. Gavriel pressed onward. “Cathrynne!” he shouted. “Answer me if you can!”
