The space where we stood was so close, we practically had to embrace in order for me to get past him. For a couple of seconds, our bodies pressed tightly against each other. I had to hold the box with Van Zant’s ashes over my head, and Jasper’s hand briefly touched the side of my waist as we maneuvered around to change places. If not for the light armor covering his chest, I probably would have felt his heartbeat.
I puffed out a breath, clearing my mind of such thoughts, and focused on climbing up the ladder as quickly as possible with the box under my arm. I could hear our pursuers in the passages below. A glance down showed Jasper coming up after me. The ladder seemed to go on for half a mile.
When I reached the top, I pulled a lever and the circular lid on the pipe popped open on a hinge. Squinting against the daylight, I climbed out. I was standing on one of the many tiered roofs of the Duergar palace. This one was one of the highest.
Jasper slammed the lid down on our escape hatch and then stood on it. I drew my sword.
“Okay, now what?” I asked him.
He held up a finger and with his other hand reached behind his chest armor, and then produced a small cylindrical item with a flourish. He put one end to his lips and blew into it. There was no sound, but a charge seemed to pass through the air, as if the whistle had sent out a wave of electricity.
“Watch.” He pointed to the sky.
I shaded my eyes, scanning, and at first saw nothing out of the ordinary. But then in the far distance a black speck appeared over the tops of the trees forming the realm’s great forest. It was heading straight for us and rapidly growing as it neared.
I spun around to face Jasper. “You’re a Grand Raven Master?”
He gave me the slightest of nods. I couldn’t help staring at him for a second, open-mouthed. Then I turned to watch in awe as the giant raven approached. It had a wingspan easily thirty feet across. I’d seen one in person only once at a fair when I was a child.
“This will give you away,” I said, my eyes glued to the creature. I tipped my head back as it flapped overhead, its beak pointed down as its dark round eyes searched for a place to land. “They’ll know you gave me an escape.”
“They don’t know it’s my raven,” Jasper said.
I swiveled around just in time to see him leap from the hatch he’d been standing on and disappear over the side of the roof. I didn’t have time to run to the edge to see where he’d landed or whether he was okay. Guards were bursting through the now-freed passage.
The raven cawed at me, clearly urging me to hurry. With Mort in one hand and the box in the other, I ran at the huge feathered creature. I sheathed my broadsword and then sprang up to the raven’s back, using my now-free hand to pull myself into position between its wings.
It hopped twice and then jumped off the roof and took flight. I hung on for dear life, squeezing my thighs like a bareback rider and clutching the feathers in my fist. The box was clamped under my other arm so hard I squashed the cardboard a bit. When the raven banked, I nearly tumbled off, and my heart jumped into my throat.
I chanced a look behind me and caught sight of the guards on the rooftop, and more still pouring out of the secret passage. Farther down on a lower roof, I glimpsed Jasper flattening himself against a wall, staying out of sight of the guards above. He gave me a little salute, but I couldn’t let go to return the gesture.
The air whipped across my face and glossy black feathers brushed my skin as Jasper’s raven carried me away from the Duergar palace.
Chapter 23
I GRINNED INTO the wind like a maniac for a few minutes, adrenaline still coursing through me from the narrow escape and the sensation of flight. The raven’s powerful muscles flexed under my legs, settling into a rhythm as it traced a straight line away from the palace. After a half mile or so, it struck me that I had no idea what it planned to do with me.
“The nearest doorway would be super,” I said, just in case the raven might understand.
Its sleek head twitched to the side at the sound of my voice, but it didn’t change course.
We soared over forest and low rolling hills until the palace was miles behind. Then the beating of the raven’s wings began to slow. The right one tipped gracefully downward, and the bird began to spiral toward the ground. It alighted in the middle of what appeared to be a circle of large and crumbling stones, but once I slid off the bird and truly looked around, I realized it was an ancient ruin. Runes carved into some of the stones were visible only by the moss that grew into the indentations.
There was an arch to my right. That was my way out.
I looked up at the great bird. It shook, its night-dark feathers shivering with the movement. With a tilt of its head, it peered at me with one great eye.
“Thank you for ferrying me to safety,” I said gravely.
I wasn’t sure if the words would bind me in promise to the creature, but if they did, I was okay with it. But there was no shiver of magic in the air. Regardless, the raven—and its golden-eyed master—had done me a great service.
I jogged over to the doorway, and as I stood tracing the sigils in the air, the raven took flight and soared over me.
I stepped into the void of the netherwhere and then emerged at a doorway just outside the stone fortress. I’d never been so grateful to be back in New Garg territory. Vincenzo was still parked there. I secured the box in the bin strapped behind the scooter’s seat, and when I started up the engine, it felt like it had been weeks since I’d last been on my scooter.
Cursing the doorway configuration that wouldn’t allow me to jump straight back home to Boise, I had to ride through the cold San Francisco drizzle to the doorway at Crossen Hall. The doorways within Faerie all connected to each other, but on the Earthly side of the hedge, the networks weren’t so complete and interconnected. The restrictions sometimes made me feel as if it’d be faster to catch commercial flights. Not that I could afford air travel.
The miserable, cold ride passed in a blur. It was going to be a sprint to get Van Zant—or what was left of him—turned in for the bounty, and I had to push my speed and weave through traffic. By the time I made it back to Boise, I was stiff and travel-fatigued. The day was hot there, and when I pulled into the Guild parking lot, my hair was mostly dry and my clothes were no longer dripping.
I shoved Van Zant’s box under my arm, pushed through the Guild’s double-doors, and stalked through the corridors. People took one look at my face and scooted out of my way when they saw me coming.
When I reached Gus’s office, I found the door cracked open. Not bothering to knock, I pushed inside, went up to his desk, and plopped the box on the open file folders he was shuffling around. His bloodshot eyes widened at the box and then shifted up to me.
I pulled out my phone to check the time. “Fourteen minutes to spare.”
He pulled his chin back, making his double chin into a triple chin, and slanted a glance at the box I carried. “He’s dead, I take it.”
I looked down at the box. “Yup.”
“You kill him?”
“Nope.”
Gus sighed noisily through his nose. “Either way, the payout is only—”