…toward still-likely death, my mind finished. I wasn’t from Therador, so there was no guarantee that the light would let me through. Or that I would survive being magically transported to another world. Hell, there was a chance I’d simply go right through the window and plummet to my death on the rocks in the bay below.
While I was considering this, a Tendril I hadn’t noticed whipped down from the ceiling and coiled around my throat.
Immediately, my vision went blurry. The skin of my neck burned as my breath cut off and panic set in. I gasped for air, but the end of the Tendril curled up around my jaw and into my mouth, blocking what remained of my airway.
It’s your silence I fear.
With every second that passed, my vision went darker and my pulse grew louder in my ears, until it felt like I was in the middle of a rushing maelstrom. I writhed, clawing at the Tendril with my fingers before I remembered the glass in my other hand.
I jabbed recklessly with the shard of glass, even grazing myself once or twice, as darkness closed in around me.
And then—so suddenly I almost stabbed myself right in the jugular—the Tendril fell away, letting out an ear-splitting shriek as it dissolved into nothingness.
I gasped, but there was no time to catch my breath. There was no time to even think. There was only one choice.
I closed my eyes and jumped through the portal.
15
Therador
Theworldjoltedaroundme.
When I tried to open my eyes, I was met with blinding light—like I was staring straight into the sun. I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut again and rolling over.
That was a mistake. My entire body throbbed, like I’d been hit by a truck and then dragged behind it for miles. My limbs felt like jelly, and my skin burned in more places than I wanted to count—there was even an angry, throbbing welt on my tongue from when the Tendril had shoved itself in my mouth. And my backside was wet, like I was lying in a puddle.
Or blood.
Was I dead? Or lying in a broken heap on the shore of Graykeep Bay? Had that golden circle of light crushed my body before spitting me out again?
If I just lie here with my eyes shut, I don’t have to know, I told myself. I could pretend, for a little while, that I was alive, and that my “bridge” had worked, and that everything was going to be all right.Which would be a lot more believable if my body didn’t feel like it was forced through a meat grinder.
Theshiverhad returned to my skin, too. It wasn’t bad—or maybe it just felt mild compared to the other aches and pains I was currently experiencing—but it seemed to be building, slowly but steadily.
I was just about to force myself to open my eyes again—slowly this time—when I heard voices. At least two, both male, and getting closer and clearer by the second.
“I tell ya, I felt somethin’.” That voice was gruff and a little phlegmy in a way that made me want to clear my own throat.
“You’re alwaysfeelingthings,” came another, slightly higher and reed-thin. “You need to stop drinking so much.”
“My drinkin’ has nothin’ to do with it. I just got good senses, that’s all.”
Footsteps came closer, and I found myself holding my breath.
Should I make some noise and let these guys know I’m here? Or hope they pass by without noticing me?I was leaning toward the former—who knew when someone might walk by again?—when their conversation continued.
“The Mistress is going to be displeased to find we’ve abandoned our post,” said Reedy Voice.
“Not if I’m right.” Phlegmy Voice gave a very phlegmy grunt. “I felt it, Bean. It was like somethin’ the Mistress could do, ya know? A great burst of power.”
“Or a curse?” Reedy Voice—orBean, apparently—muttered something under his breath. “If you lead me into a curse, I’m going to slice off your nose while you sleep.”
They’d said nothing to indicate they were a danger to me, but the longer they talked, the more my instincts told me to keep still.
And one thing seemed quite obvious, now—I wasnotin the world I knew. These guys were talking about power and curses. Had that glowing circle of light actually transported me to Therador?
Theshivery feeling in my skin was growing, building beneath the surface, but I gritted my teeth against it and tried to ignore it.
