Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
Keeping one eye on our caster, I edge backward to get a look at the other side of the wall.
Two dozen Saur’goth soldiers battle against our four.
My panic swells as I lash out with fists of air and flaming arrows to pick off the four closest to me, dropping them in an instant. The others, I can’t get to as easily with Zander, Jarek, and the Shadows in the throng, moving too fast for me to anticipate their next position so I can help them.
A blade slashes across Zander’s arm, earning his hiss.
The Saur’goth moves for another swing, but before I can react, Jarek drags his sword across the beast’s neck, dropping it.
And opening himself up to an attack on the other side that the enemy sees and aims to take.
I send it flying backward, crashing into the cliff wall. Bits of stone fly with the impact.
Unfortunately, that attracts the attention of several Saur’goths, who charge toward me.
I unleash a wall of fire that stops them in their tracks.
From behind, the Shadows make quick work of them with their swords.
Within minutes, the cave is quiet again, save for the sound of stone dragging into place.
I rush to Zander’s side to investigate the wound on his arm.
“It’s fine.” He waves off my concern. “Where did they come from?”
“We are not sure, Your Highness. They appeared suddenly,” one of the Shadows—a female—answers.
“That’s what Bexley said used to happen before the rift was created. They’d just appear out of the Nulling, one here, one there.” Not like cockroaches crawling out of the rift, which I’ve seen firsthand.
“This was not one here, one there. It was two dozen all at once, Your Highness.” The other Shadow edges into the corner, his sword at the ready as if preparing for another sudden attack.
Zander points toward the tunnel that leads deep into the mountains. “Keep an eye that way too.”
Jarek wipes his hand across his forehead, smearing the splatter of blood there. “Tell me he is nearly done?”
I return to our caster in time to see him set the last layer of stones.
He steps back and admires his work.
“She can’t open that?”
“No one can open that from the inside.” He grins, showing off a gap-toothed smile. “The lever to unlock it is here.” He taps two blocks, one after another, and the stone begins shifting and turning, a cacophony of clicks and scrapes until the nymph door appears inside. He hits the stones again and the wall reforms. “If what you describe of how these doors work is true, then she cannot use the one power to dismantle this until she is through, and she cannot pass through.”
“Right. Okay. Perfect.” I smile. “Thank you …”
“Margeer, Your Highness.”
Zander drops his hand on the little man’s shoulder, and he jumps. “Well done. You will head back with Jarek—”
“He can go with one of the Shadows,” Jarek counters.
“The Shadows are needed here. You are not.”
Jarek’s jaw tenses. “I am not leaving Her Highness’s side.”
“You can, because I am by her side, and surely there is nothing you can do for her that I cannot,” Zander answers coolly.
Jarek adjusts his stance as if he’s preparing for a fight.
I step in between them. “Okay, enough of this. Jarek, I need you to get the stone caster to safety so the Shadows can do what they do and then we’re all getting out of here.”
His gray eyes lock on me, anger flaring in them. And something else I can’t pick out. “What did I say about asking me to leave your side when you are in a dangerous situation?”
That he would never do it.
“We’re a minute behind you, I promise. Please, get Margeer back to camp,” I beg. “You’re the only one who can do it.”
“Is that an order?” he says evenly.
I sigh. “Yes.” If that’s what it has to be.
Jarek snaps his finger and heads toward the cliff’s ledge. Margeer scurries behind, likely happy to be leaving.
“Watch where you step or it will crumble under your foot.” Zander adds, “We would not want you plummeting to your death.”
I spare him my scowl.
Jarek picks his path to a stable part and whistles.
Valk answers with a screech.
“Ready?” He grabs hold of the caster’s robes.
“Yes, but how will—”
Jarek drags him off the edge just as Valk flies past, snatching them in midair.
I feel the blood drain from my face. “Please tell me we don’t have to do that?”
“You want me to lie?” Zander flashes a grin before it falls off quickly. “Let’s finish this now.” He nods to the female Shadow, who studies the area around the nymph door.
A rumble beneath our feet is the only warning before the ceiling caves in, burying the entire alcove.
“We also need to collapse the passage that leads east. We can’t have whatever army Malachi has brought in using Venhorn as its home and pouring out toward the rift.”