“We have to move.” Eira turned back to them. The churning of gears and clanking of chain had slowed. Yonlin was breathless.
Sweat dripped off Olivin’s nose. “We’re going as fast as we can.”
Eira stepped in for Yonlin, grabbing the wheel. “Take a break.”
“It’s too heavy.”
“I can get a turn or two.” She looked to Olivin. “On three.”
Eira managed three turns of the wheel. Blood poured from around the shards of glass in her arms. Muscles threatened to give out. Her palms almost instantly became raw from how tightly she clutched the spokes. Gritting her teeth, she stayed focused, pulling as hard as she could while ignoring the pain. The screams and shouts outside were barely audible from within the stone room. But, in her mind’s eye, she could see the boat making its way to the portcullis by the flashes of magic that sparked around it.
“We’re almost there,” Olivin encouraged. “A little bit more and the ship should be able to fit under.”
“I’m going to disable the quick drop!” Eira crossed to the other side of the room, leaving Yonlin to finish the job. The stone around the doors was beginning to crack. The guards, or Pillars, were going to burst through soon.
Eira knelt by the lever and sucked in a breath, holding it. Her nerves were on fire. Hands trembling. If she got this wrong, the gate would fall immediately. The boat would be locked in. Or, worse, the portcullis would fall on the boat itself. Visions of it being cleaved in two, her friends on it, flashed through Eira’s mind. She pressed her eyes closed and banished the notion, exhaling and forcing the wound-up tension in her muscles to abate. She had to think clearly.
There was a connection point between the lever and the locking mechanism that clicked with every turn of the wheels on the opposite side of the room. If she disconnected it here, then the lever would no longer undo the lock. Eira dug the side of her dagger into a pin holding a gear in place. She pulled. The gear popped off.
Nothing happened.
A small laugh of relief escaped her. The locking mechanism still clicked into place. But the lever was limp and useless.
“I think that’s enough.” The portcullis was two thirds up. But the doors on either side of the room were going to give in. With both men’s attention on her, Eira pointed to the left of the lever—the one that overlooked the sea and a horizon that meant freedom. “Smash this wall.”
“What? Why?” Even though Olivin was confused, he still crossed over anyway, readying his stance.
“How else will we get out of here?” Eira motioned to the doors and Olivin’s expression flashed from exhaustion to panic, as if seeing the full extent of their current situation for the first time.
“After everything…I don’t know if I have the power to walk us down like we got up here.”
“Then we jump. It’s a shipping channel, the water should be deep.” Eira knew how quickly the drop-off was in Oparium by the docks so the large ships could get into the wharf. It was regularly dredged by Groundbreakers and Waterrunners to avoid ships running aground.
“From this high?” Yonlin looked warily out the window.
“Do either of you have a better idea?”
Olivin shook his head and his expression hardened into grim determination. “Juth calt.”
Yonlin joined him. “Juth calt.”
It was a race to see which stone wall would give first—the walls around the doors, or the one by the window. Which magic was stronger? She ran back to the opposite side as they worked, peering through the bars and out the window. The boat was just about at the arch.
They could walk, or jump down, and then Adela would scoop them from the water…It would work. It had to. A sharp crackand burst of sound accompanied the stone crumbling next to the window. Olivin and Yonlin had broken through.
“Let’s go.” Eira wasted no time wrapping her arms around Olivin’s neck.
“You aresucha demanding creature,” he mumbled as he picked her up. She could feel his muscles tremble under her weight, but he steadied himself the moment she was enveloped in his embrace. Somehow, despite how exhausted they both were, Eira felt safe in his arms.
“You’d be much better off without me,” she agreed, her words almost vanishing underneath the howling wind and rain.
“I never said that.” His stormy eyes glanced her way. Time halted briefly, hanging on an inhale.Kiss him; you’re probably about to die, might as well. The thought streaked through her mind, but he spoke before she could act on it. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
“Let’s go, Yonlin.” Olivin jumped out into the air. “Mysst xieh!” He landed hard on a glowing disk. It wobbled underneath him.
Eira clutched tighter as Olivin regained his balance, not wanting her weight to tip him more to one side or another. “We’re almost there,” she offered optimistically.
