Of course, just as the king had said when he taunted Vale, Thyra’s sword did nothing to the creature inside the tree. In fact, he almost looked disappointed, his gaze flicking to me and, more pointedly, to Sassa’s Blade. My heart stuttered.
He’d looked at my sword like that before. At first, I’d thought it was just because his mate had carried this very same sword, but now . . .
He’s looking at it like he wishes I’d been the one to stab the tree with my sword. Can Sassa’s Blade free him?
Immediately, I suspected that was the case, and I was glad I hadn’t acted on my impulses of violence against the tree. But were there other ways to free him?
There have to be other ways if the Shadow King thought King Magnus might free him. Magnus didn’t have Sassa’s Blade, and he would have known it too.
“No one touches the tree again,” I said quickly. “We don’t know what will free him, and we need to run anyway.”
The king glared at me and beneath the bark, though it seemed impossible, I swore that shadows churned. “Onlythe most remarkable magic can free me. Only the most powerful creatures.”
Able to call shadows, Sassa’s Blade was truly remarkable. Having gotten my answer, and wanting desperately to leave the cavern, I turned my back on him.
“Iwillfind you,” the Shadow Fae continued, his tone lower, more deadly in his promise of violence. “Mark my words, granddaughters. And when I do, you will rue the side you chose.”
“Like you said, you have to get out first and that doesn’t seem like your strong suit!” I shouted as a dozen spiders the size of direwolves scurried our way.
The Shadow King roared in fury, but we pivoted and with Vale, Prince Thordur, and Caelo in the lead, we rushed the spiders. Blades cutting and arching through the air, the best warriors took out the first wave of monsters. Two more died by arrows flying from above, archers positioned at the sunshaft. The rest of the eight-legged horrors leapt over Vale, Caelo, and Prince Thordur and extended their legs straight at our back line.
A web shot for my face. I ducked and thrust my sword up and forward. The spider coming for me skewered itself on my blade and dark, black blood ran down and onto my face.
“I’m going to be ill,” I muttered, spitting spider blood from my mouth.
“We need to fly,” Vale said, and I was relieved to find that while I’d been dealing with one attack, the others had already taken care of the rest of the spiders. “But why are so many dwarves still downhere?”
“The air workers can only handle one or two at a time,” Thordur said, as he pointed to the sunshaft. In addition to what seemed to be four air workers, gryphons were diving down, gathering dwarves and soaring upward. Only the king and a force of twenty or so remained, most of them still battling Falagog. “The moment they saw you enter this cavern, they were to begin the process, and it looks like they did, but we brought so many down here.”
“Wings out,” Vale said, scrutinizing the escape that was underway with the eyes of a male who’d led many battles. “The air workers are going too slow. We’ll grab dwarves and carry as many of them as we can on our way out.”
I slipped my wings out from the protection of the cloak.
“Neve, you take Thordur,” Vale said.
I wanted to argue, because by giving me the dwarf farthest from Falagog, he was protecting me at the cost of everyone else.
“He’s your ally’s heir,” Vale added, as if knowing what I was about to say.
I could not argue with that. Prince Thordur was an ally and a friend and as such, incredibly important to save.
If anyone else felt bitter about the favoritism, they did not show it, for as I rose into the air to do as Vale said, the others flew off to secure the dwarves fighting Falagog. “Grab my ankles and hold on, Thordur.”
Thordur did so with one hand and continued to brandish his battle-axe with another.
“Just don’t hit me with that thing. Here we go!” I beat my wings and rose slowly. But I was as strong as I’d ever been so while it took great effort to lift us both, Imanaged.
Sweat dripped down my face as I aimed for the sunshaft and rose higher and higher. Smaller spiders leapt out of the tunnels riddling the rock, four of which Thordur deflected with his axe. Three were felled by the archers above before they got close enough to harm us. We were in a moment of quiet when a rebel faerie healer dove from the hole above. She offered her leg to the prince.
The prince wasted no time situating his axe behind his back and grasping the healer’s ankle. Together we flew for the hole, faster and stronger.
With the healer’s help, we reached the hole quickly, soaring out together and then out of the way of those who were, hopefully exiting after us.
“Where are the others now? Close?” I asked, breathless not because I had been flying for my life, but due to the flaring of my magic. Outside the cavern, the ice spider’s influence was nonexistent. My power was rushing back at full strength, stealing the air from my lungs.
“They’re coming. Most are more than halfway here,” said Sigri, another one of our Valkyrja, the dwarven member, who stared down into the hole and took careful aim with her bow. She loosed an arrow, and by the savage smile that lined her face, I was willing to bet that she hit her target. “Vale is nearly here. He’s carrying two. The others are behind him, including four that the air workers are lifting. No more on the ground, but spiders keep leaping from those holes. That’s what’s slowing them.”
“Everyone get ready to leave!” I yelled.
