Amber sighed. "I'd been hoping to exchange that knowledge for something I need." She wondered how she would get the alchemist to help her now.
The stairway finally ended and Tungawa pushed open a door, gesturing for Amber to enter. As her eyes adjusted to the low light ahead of her she saw she was in a cavernous store room rivalling any of the huge storehouses she'd seen in Ralanast.
Shelves filled the interior from one end to the other. From where she stood Amber saw leather-bound books and brown-paper packets, bottles filled with coloured liquids and jars containing powders.
"Where are you taking me?"
Tungawa walked ahead of her. "Come," he said, "there is a passage from here that will take you out of the city."
Amber abruptly stopped.
Tungawa turned, surprised. "This is why you came here, is it not? You guessed we would have a way out of the city, and you came here hoping to share your knowledge for this secret."
"No," Amber said. "That's not why I'm here. I'm here because someone from your order built a device for our enemy. This device was not only explosive; it was built to release a poison as part of the blast. The device looked like a golden shrine, but in actuality was timed to explode at a certain hour of a certain day." Amber felt the anger rise to her cheeks and wetness burn behind her eyes. "That day was my wedding day, and that poison took my son. I'm here to find the antidote, and I won't leave without it."
"Why would he attack your wedding?" Tungawa whispered.
"You know about this?"
"I told you we did work for him once, before we knew his true nature. A man in a grey robe came to us with gold. He gave us his requirements and we accepted his money. We took the device down to the river and it was loaded aboard a ship. A man watched and waited nearby, staring at me with eyes that sent a chill through my body. That was the first time I saw Sentar Scythran."
"It was you!" Amber said.
Something inside her snapped, and her arm lashed out. She slapped the old alchemist across his face as hard as she could. A tear spilled out of her eye as she moved to hit him again.
Tungawa caught her wrist. "I suppose I deserve that." He sighed, rubbing his face with his other hand. "I know it is no consolation, but we've learnt our mistake. Please," Tungawa released her hand and turned away, "follow me."
He led Amber along one of the rows between shelves, and then turned sharply, the old man moving so quickly she had difficulty keeping up. He finally stopped at a shelf no different from the others. He took a flask from the shelf and handed it to Amber. From the sloshing sound, Amber knew it contained liquid.
"Here," he said. "Remember, everything is a poison, there is poison in everything. Only the dose makes a thing not a poison. Never more than one mouthful each day until his health is improved. When the spots leave his fingernails, cease treatment immediately."
Amber looked at the flask in her hand. She couldn't believe they'd come this far and now she had it. Please, let Tomas be alive to receive his cure!
"I would thank you," Amber said, "but I'll save that for when my son is well again. Can you show me how to get back to the city? I need to get to the walls."
"Are you sure that's where you want to be? Past this chamber is a way out of the city."
"Yes, I'm sure. I need to find my husband."
~
THE FIRST sensation Miro felt was pain as consciousness slowly returned. He ached from head to toe, but the strongest pain came from his temple and his left arm. His right eye was crusted shut, but he managed to open his left eye enough to see.
He'd awakened in a pile of dead bodies. He didn't know how he'd come to be thrown with the mangled corpses of the fallen defenders; someone must have pronounced him dead and thrown him in the heap.
He couldn't hear anything, just a constant ringing in his ears. He tasted the metallic flavour of blood in his mouth, and ran his tongue across a loose tooth.
An armoured soldier lay across his chest while another Gokani covered his legs. He tried to move but he knew it would be some time before he could wriggle out from underneath.
After a while the ringing faded, and he heard screams and cries, shouts of rage and moans of agony. Tilting his head back he could see the clear blue sky, and it wasn't until he turned his face further to the left that he could see part of the battle unfold.
He saw soldiers fighting revenants, their faces filled with fear as they battled decayed corpses with white eyes, corpses that needed to be hacked into pieces to keep down. Miro heard a great crash, like a wooden door slamming open, and suddenly the wall he watched was filled with revenants, too many of them to count, easily outnumbering the defenders.