As if it were no more than a few inches high.
They ran for the palace, their gait never slowing. They ran through the labyrinth like they had done it a thousand times before.
Instead of taking us to the front of the palace, the horses went around to the back. There was an entrance there that I’d never seen—it was big and led down.
The soldier posted there saw us. “Hurry! We’re about to seal this shut!”
We all climbed down from our horses. I quickly pet mine on the nose and told her, “Thank you.”
The horse neighed in response, and as one, they all turned and ran off. I grabbed Luna, and my adelphia and I made our way into the entrance. The ground beneath our feet slanted down.
“You’re the last ones!” the soldier told me. He had an axe in his hand. “Back up!”
We did as he said, and he cut a rope on one side and then moved across the path. When he hit the second rope, he turned and ran to us.
A moment later a rockslide sealed the entrance. No one would be able to get past that.
“The other citizens are down in the lowest cavern,” he said. “They’re gathered there for safety. You should join them.”
“I know the way,” Io said, taking the front.
Xander was here somewhere. I could feel him. I wondered if he would come looking for me or if I should track him down.
We went down, down, down. It became noticeably cooler and I was grateful that there were torches every few feet, lighting our way.
Io led us to the cavern the guard had mentioned. It was a massive, massive room filled with a sea of people, too many to count. Xander had done it. He had gotten everyone down here to safety. It was mostly women, children, and the elderly. I supposed all the men of fighting age had been called up to protect the city.
I became aware of the fact that water was pooling beneath my feet. I lifted my sandal as Ahyana asked, “Where is this water coming from?”
Io looked down and went completely pale. “No. This can’t be happening. No.”
She grabbed a torch and darted out of the room. We followed after her and she led us through several different tunnels. I would have gotten lost immediately but Io knew where she was going.
“What’s happening?” I tried to ask her, but she kept running.
We came to a small room with a large hole in the middle. Water was gushing out of it.
“The cavern is under sea level. I told you that it could be quickly flooded to fight off an invading army who used the secret tunnels. Like what happened in the Great War, when the Achaeans used the tunnels to attack from inside the walls.” Io’s voice sounded detached and it was so unlike her that I wasn’t sure how to react.
“This will take a while to flood,” Ahyana pointed out.
“No. This is the first. Within the next fifteen minutes, a hundred more of these will all start pumping water down here. The engineers wanted to make sure that the Ilionian who set off the mechanism would be able to flee before it flooded completely. That’s why there’s a gate.” Io gestured toward the circular latticed gate that was made to fit the top of the hole, but it looked rusted. “To shut it, lock it, and make sure the water kept flowing.”
Zalira tugged on Io’s arm to get her attention. “Then we have to get everyone out. You said that there were exits that only the royal family knew about.”
“And those are tied to the entrance we just came in. Because the guard set off that rockslide, it will happen at every other entrance. Another defense. The only way to save people would be to lead them up through the palace itself, but that’s a narrow path, so we’d only be able to get a few. The rest would die.”
“What aren’t you telling us?” Suri asked calmly. “How do we stop this?”
She had correctly sensed that Io was holding something back.
“There is a fail-safe at the bottom of the hole. A metal lever that must be pushed in the opposite direction. It will close a door and stop the water from coming in. But it’s designed so that whoever pulls the lever will die. There’s no way to make it all the way down there and back up before you run out of oxygen.”
I looked at my adelphia as they questioned Io, trying to find another solution.
A sense of utter calm, of peace, settled through me. I knew what had to happen.
When I’d first met them, I’d taken a vow to give up my life for theirs. I had thought it strange at the time, but now ... they meant more to me than I could have adequately expressed.
