Panicked screams rip from our attackers’ throats as they desperately try to scramble to their feet and out of the way. But it’s already too late.
The roaring wave of fire crashes over them, and the almost blue-colored flames incinerate them straight away. Blackened bodies hit the floor with a thud as their charred corpses topple backwards.
“Run!” Orion snaps.
We lurch forward.
The stench of burning flesh hangs over the corridor. It makes my stomach turn, and I barely dare to breathe as we dart forward and jump over our dead attackers before we finally reach theother end of the corridor. Clutching the pocket watch in my hand, I cast another desperate glance down at it while we hurtle towards the side door that has finally appeared at the end of this next hall.
My pulse pounds so hard in my ears that I can barely hear anything else.
We have to make it. Please, Mabona, we have to make it.
Isera shoves the door open. It slams against the wall while the four of us leap out onto the stone ground outside.
The midday sun streams down from a clear blue sky, making the ice glitter like jewels around us as we dash towards the closest side gate.
In my hand, the clock ticks mercilessly.
Two minutes left.
Oh Goddess, we will never make it.
A cry of pure dread rips from my lungs as we race towards the side gate. The guy Isera killed on the way in is still lying there slumped against it, keeping it open for us.
We clear the gate.
One and a half minutes.
Wind rips through my hair and clothes as we sprint down the path along the mountain towards the safety of the city below. The secret tunnels that Kath and the other humans were rigging with explosions run underneath the mountainside outside the walls as well. If we’re too far up, the ground will explode right underneath our feet.
One minute left.
“RUN!” I bellow with all the air I have in my strangled lungs.
We pick up the pace, sprinting so fast that the mountainside blurs around us.
Thirty seconds.
The shadows from the massive ice walls that loom behind us still stretch across the ground. We’re not far enough away yet.When the explosion happens, the debris alone will be enough to kill us.
Twenty seconds.
My lungs burn and my throat aches as I run heedlessly down the path with my friends around me.
Ten seconds.
The shadow from the ice walls ends up ahead. If we can just clear it, we should be mostly out of harm’s way. We need to make it. We need to?—
The castle explodes.
A boom echoes over the mountainside, so loudly that it rips the air apart, and a massive shockwave pulses out from behind me.
I scream as my body is thrown forwards from the force of the explosion.
Hitting the ground, I try to twist my body to protect my head. Stones scrape against my cheek, tearing open the flesh.
“Isera!” Orion screams, the word tearing from his chest with such force that I can hear it even over the ringing in my ears.
