“First I want to make these people tremble in fear at the might of Solaris,” Noelle said. “You go up, help Olivin and Yonlin.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“I’ll be right behind,” Noelle reassured him.
Ducot eased away, stepping backward as Noelle turned to the edge once more. The muscles in his jaw bulged. But he said, “You all heard the lady, let’s go.”
Eira hesitated. “Noelle, are you sure?”
“You know my family had mines for Western Rubies, right?” Noelle said without looking back. “Mines like this shouldn’t exist.”
Eira remembered what Noelle had told her and what she’d read in history books. She knew the stories of the conditions of the Western mines decades ago.
“This isn’t your family’s mines,” Eira said. “This isn’t on you.”
“Go, Eira, I won’t be far behind.” Noelle glanced over her shoulder with a slight smile. “You’re not the only one who wants to bring this place to its knees.”
Eira relented. They’d come this far with her putting her trust in her friends; she wouldn’t stop now.
The three of them began running—Ducot back on Alyss’s shoulder in his mole form—leaving Noelle to continue blasting through the door. They sprinted up and up, toward the top rim of the mine to buy Noelle more time by thwarting knights along the way. When they emerged, it was to a wall of cavalry in the far distance. Olivin and Yonlin braced themselves.
“Are we leaving?” Yonlin called down from the tower where he was manning a cannon.
“Where’s Noelle?” Olivin asked. Then, hastily when he saw the blood covering Eira, “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Most of it isn’t mine, and what is, Alyss already healed.” Eira glanced back down into the mines. “We need to buy her some more time.”
“No… They’re right, we need togo,” Cullen disagreed, staring in disbelief at the distant riders. “This is beyond us. We don’t have the element of surprise or tunnels to separate them out. We need to get Noelle and leave.”
“Noelle made her choice and we should respect it,” Eira attempted to say.
Ducot was already shifting back into his human form with a jump off Alyss’s shoulder. “This changes things! Order her.”
He was right. Eira could see it. But should she really try to order Noelle against her wishes? She looked back down, screaming, “Noelle, enough!” Her friend either didn’t hear over the roar of fire, or chose to ignore the command. “Noelle!”
“I’m not leaving without her,” Ducot declared, back in his human form. Worry was seeping into his voice. He stared at nothing, not the knights, and not Noelle. But his face was twistedwith panic, as if by sense alone he knew how tenuous their circumstances were.
“We won’t,” Eira assured him.
“I’m going to get her,” Cullen announced.
“Cullen—”
“I can help her get through the metal. Fire burns hotter with air.”
“I should go; I can open her channel,” Eira countered.
“They need you here for that very reason. I can only help her in this task. You can help everyone.” Cullen took a step closer and grabbed Eira by the waist. He pulled her to him, hips flush, and kissed her in front of everyone. A kiss that tasted almost too sweetly of goodbye. “I love you.”
“Come back and bring her with you,” Eira whispered.
“You’re not rid of me yet.” Cullen grinned, and descended once more, the wind under his heels as he leapt into the open air.
Eira turned, eyes stinging, rage swelling. Suddenly her determination to end the mines had vanished. The knights were riding hard against the open plains to the northwest and all she wanted was to flee with the people she cared about most.
But Eira didn’t let her fear and worry show. Instead, she announced, “We’re buying them time. And then we’re getting out of here.Allof us.”
39
