They left the palace and rode out of the city. Vi set their course, heading down the Great Imperial Way, not taking the expected shortcut to the Caverns.
“It had to snow,” Vi grumbled. She doubtedkot sorrewould work in snow as well as it had in the sands of the Waste. She imagined strange-looking snow banks at the ends of ditches where her glyphs pushed through the powder.
“I suspected that’s why you were swinging wide.”
“We should have time. We’ll go to the cabin first and leave the horse there. We’ll continue on foot. It’ll be less noticeable than the horse’s tracks.” She prayed there was enough time for all of it.
But Yargen looked over them. She and Taavin made it to the cabin in record time. They started the hike to the entrance of the Caverns, Vi walking ahead with Taavin stepping in the footprints she left behind. Then they repeated “kot sorre” over and over. Their glyphs grazed the top of the powder, pushing and piling it to cover their tracks.
Just as they reached the cliff in front of the entrance to the Caverns, two horses could be seen in the distance.
“You think that’s them?” Taavin whispered.
“Who else would it be?” Vi looked to Taavin. “Listen, if this goes wrong—”
“It won’t.”
“If it does… I’m sorry, for risking it all.”
“Don’t apologize.” Taavin reached up, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “All you’ve done, you did for our world. Yargen could not ask for a better Champion.”
Vi swallowed all the emotions he inspired by just looking at her. She still had so much she wanted to say to him, and time was running out. But there was no opportunity now and she had to focus on what was to come next. “We’re going to need all the chants we can get in there.”
“I have an idea.”
“What?”
“Follow me.” Taavin led her into the Caverns, the stones glimmering under their feet. The world seemed to hold its breath. Almost all of Yargen’s power was now condensed in this one place, split across her, Taavin, and the Caverns themselves. “It’s a word Yargen told me long ago… but I could never make it work right in Risen. Perhaps it was meant for here and now.”
“What are you talking about?”
Taavin gripped a nearby crystal and uttered, “Chronot.”The entire cavern flared, a rune sinking into every crystal that lined the walls. It made them all glow with fractured portions of the glyph, power illuminating every corner. Time itself seemed to hold its breath in the presence of the magic.
“Slow,” she whispered.
“What?” He seemed incredulous at the translation.
“Chronot, to slow…”
“Yes, it makes glyphs cling longer. You should be able to cast two to four at a time but… how did you know that?”
“I heard it, in the word.”
“That’s not possible,” he whispered.
“But I did.”
“Only Yargen—” The sound of hooves silenced him. “Durroe watt radia. Durroe sallvas tempre.” Taavin chanted first and Vi followed. She tapped a crystal lightly, willing the Caverns to darken to their dormant state.
“There! There’s his horse,” Victor shouted, though his voice was different—deeper in some ways and pitched in others.
“We have to hurry!”
“Carefully!”
The mounts kicked up a confetti of ice and snow as they skidded to a stop on the ridge beyond. Vhalla was astride one. But Vi blinked at the man on the other. Aldrik?
No… Magic coated the man so thickly that Vi wondered how Vhalla couldn’t feel it. Victor was using an illusion of Aldrik to get Vhalla to the Caverns. Which was clever, she’d grant him that. Perhaps he doubted Vhalla would give him the axe otherwise.
