I sucked one in, but it didn’t seem like enough. There wasn’t a chance for another. Magic closed around us, blocking out sight and sound, but not the sensation of falling. We hit the water on our sides, and my elbow slammed painfully against the magic. Up and down we plunged, rolling and rotating like a log in the frothing rapids. Dizziness and nausea swept through me, and no matter how hard I tried not to, I gasped in little breaths with each jarring bounce.
But nothing could’ve prepared me for the impact of us hitting the rock that split the river in two. My teeth rattled together, and I cried out in pain as my head slammed against our magical container. We rolled, caught up against the rock, and I heard Martin curse, his body quivering with effort, and then we were moving again. I waited for us to smash up against the bars and begin the endless tumble that would be our doom, but it never came.
The worst of the bouncing ceased. Then the magic disappeared and icy cold water closed over my head. My heels jarred against the riverbed, and I kicked up, spluttering and gasping as I broke the surface.
The darkness was absolute, the current tugging me through the winding tunnel, but I knew it eventually spilled down what had once been the steps of the stadium, and I needed to get out before then.
“Martin?” I hissed, turning in the water so my feet would take the brunt of anything I ran up against. “Where are you?”
The only response was my wildly chattering teeth. “Martin?” What if he’d hit his head? What if he couldn’t swim? What if yet another friend had died trying to help me?
Ahead, I heard the rush of the water pouring down into the lake. I had to get free of the current. Kicking my feet, I swam toward the bank. My fingers brushed against the rock, and I reached up, trying to catch hold of the lip. But all I found was rock worn smooth by centuries of flowing water.
I was so cold. Already, my limbs felt sluggish and heavy, and I kicked futilely, no longer certain where the edge was. Get out! You have to get out! Stretching my arm, I found the bank again, and drawing on what little reserves of energy were left in my body, I lunged up.
And magic closed around my wrist.
My body flew out of the river and was dropped like a sack of potatoes on the bank. Curling up into a ball, I blinked at the light in front of my face, ready to castigate Martin the moment I’d recovered my breath.
But I never got a chance, because the troll kneeing in front of me wasn’t the librarian.
Chapter Thirty
Cécile
“I’m not sure how your half-blood friends managed to sneak their way out of the city,” the guard said, nudging me with the butt of her spear, “but I can assure you that none of them swam out.”
I curled in on myself, trying to hide my face. Not that it would do me much good in the long run.
She dropped to one knee. “There’s not a one of us who doesn’t want to see the outside, girl, but it isn’t safe. Especially not for those like you. Prince Roland is roaming the Isle with none but the Duke to keep him in check, and he holds no love for half-bloods. Do you want to run afoul of him?”
I shook my head.
“Trollus is safe,” the guard said, patting me on the shoulder. “Here, you are under the King’s protection. Be grateful for that. Now get up.”
Even if I’d wanted to, I wasn’t sure if I could. My body felt numb, and though I could move my arms and legs, they didn’t feel like my own.
“Stones and sky,” the troll grumbled. “You’re not going to make me drag you back, are you?”
Thud.
I opened my eyes just in time to see the guard drop to the ground next to me, eyes blank and unseeing. Martin stood behind her, robes dripping with river water. “She won’t be unconscious for long,” he said. “And when she comes after us, she won’t come alone.”
With Martin half carrying me, we ran to the end of the tunnel and down the endless steps to the lake. It gleamed like polished onyx, and it wasn’t until I tried to push the boat into it that I realized the water was frozen.
“Will it hold our weight?” I asked, wrapping one of the blankets from the boat around my shoulders as best I could. I was dizzy, adrenaline and exertion barely holding back hypothermia.
“I don’t feel in a position to…”
Not waiting for him to finish, I stomped past him, then eased onto the lake, sliding my boots across the slick surface. “Keep your distance,” I muttered. “We don’t both want to fall through.”
The ice groaned and creaked as we made our way out over the black depths, keeping close to the walls of the stadium. But we hadn’t gone more than fifty yards before the tunnel filled with the sound of running feet. Martin extinguished his already faint light, and we plunged into darkness.
“She’s not alone.” The female guard’s voice drifted across the void, all traces of kindness gone. She was plainly visible where she stood on the bank with three others, and the moment they moved their lights out over the lake, we’d be just as exposed.
“You’re sure they came this way?” one of the others asked. “It’s a dead end.”