—Your body is dying. You should return and heal it. If you die, the vision will close. Forever.—
Exeres could sense his body far away, a broken wreck beneath jagged bricks and timbers. He huddled in on himself, pressing his cheek against the glass.
“I don’t want to go back.”
—Because of her? Because of the one who has tainted you?—
Part of his soul shuddered. “I would rather be dead than forced to obey her. She cannot control me…from here.”
Her fingers pressed against the glass.
—There is a way to fight them off.—
A fiery surge of hope roared inside him. “What?”
Golden hair tumbled as she nodded.
—It won’t cure the taint. Only the Mages of Safehome can do that. But when the Sorian claim you, they leave part of themselves open to attack. It’s one of their secrets.—
“How do you know this?”
—I know secrets. When they each claimed you, they opened a door into your mind. A separate door that only they know about. They concealed it from you. But the door is there, buried in your memories. If you find it, you can push yourself into their thoughts.—
She sighed.
—She’s coming for you again. Remember what I told you.—
Lifting her hand, she touched the glass opposite his.
Silvan magic howled through the corridors of his mind and snatched him from the vision, hurtling him back into his body. He prepared for the shock of his broken and crushed remains, but when he blinked away, he was healed—whole.
He lifted his head and saw Justin stuff a desiccating clump of Everoot into a pouch at his waist.
“This bit is for you,” he grumbled in stilted king’s common. “Be ready to use it to heal yourself next time. On your feet, priest. We chase him still.”
Saying that, he approached the center of the square and held aloft the flaming sphere—the Firekin. Exeres pushed himself up, amazed to see the bloodstains on his hands and clothes, the rips and tears along its seams. Powdery dust covered him from head to boot-tip, but his bones had mended, his strength restored.
Justin bowed his head and something black and dark smothered the surroundings. The ground wrenched open sending shocks rippling through the city. A black maw opened up amongst the cobblestones, a rift into the tunnels below. Giant teeth of stone and debris choked it.
The Warder turned to him and grabbed his arm and shook him. “It does not end until he is dead. Above all else, get the orb from him. Follow closely.”
He leapt into the darkness and Exeres swallowed. He wanted to run—to bolt like a hare. But the hoppit strings jerked and he was forced to follow down into the foul corridors of the undercity. He looked at his hand and found himself still clutching the Bloodstone and felt his skin prickle with heat as it drew in Earth magic and prepared to unleash it again.
Justin’s voice ghosted from the tunnel ahead. “Use the Everoot this time, to heal your hand as it burns. Together, we will wear him down.”
Exeres saw the Shae’s glowing eyes in the darkness of the tunnel and his boots jerked after him.
*
Grasping Stasy’s hand, Thealos followed Xenon out the window and into the park beside the opulent manor house. They were seen immediately.
“Halt! I said halt!” came a startled voice from somewhere above them.
The Wolfsmen darted through the park, weaving between the trees towards the well and the iron gates at the far side of the enclosure. Crossbow bolts twanged and hissed past, and a throb from the Oath magic told him that it deflected the shafts. Keeping Stasy near him extended the protection to her. He kept her close to him.
Two of the fastest Wolfsmen reached the gates first and hacked the locks with their Silvan swords, shearing the chains and freeing it. They shoved it open so the others could sprint through into the early dawn streets of Landmoor. Thealos led them.
“Where are you taking us?” Xenon asked, keeping pace with him. “We’re free of the tunnels but the Crystal is down there, isn’t it?”
He heard Stasy’s breath come in gulps as they ran. He delved into his memories of the city and directed them back towards the outer walls. “There’s another way into the tunnels. I’m hoping the attention is on the main gates right now so we can use it.”
“Hoping? You mean you don’t know?”
“Soldiers we can fight. Not Sorian. Do you have a better idea?”
“We make for the Shae army then. I’d rather face a Sorian with an army at my heels. This is foolhardy!”
“You don’t have to come.” He shouldered past Xenon and took a side alley.