"Is anyone hurt?" I managed to choke out, though I could barely hear my own voice.
Groans and coughs answered me.
I pushed myself up, my shoulder screaming in protest where it had hit the stone steps, and searched for a glow stick.
"Kailin?" I heard Alar croak.
I found the stick and as I lifted it to assess the damage, I saw the others beginning to move through the settling dust.
"I'm okay." She coughed. "I think. You're bleeding!"
"It's nothing." He was more concerned about her than himself, his hands running along her arms and legs looking for injuries.
I did a quick assessment. Morek had a gash on his forehead that was bleeding freely. Shovia was cradling her wrist. Codric seemed mostly unhurt, just shaken. Saphir was sitting up, looking dazed but unharmed.
I wasn't really worried about him. He was immortal. I was worried about Kailin.
She looked so fragile, her eyes wide with shock as she looked up the stairwell.
I turned, following her gaze.
Where there had been steps leading to the surface, there was now a wall of rubble. Massive stones had collapsed inward, blocking our only exit. The ancient masonry had held for over a thousand years, but whatever explosives the assassins had used had been perfectly placed to bring it all down.
"We're trapped," Shovia declared the obvious.
"We're not trapped." I forced confidence and authority into my voice. "We're just temporarily blocked."
I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, finding Onyx's familiar presence.
"Ravel?"His response was immediate, threaded with alarm. "What happened? You are angry…"
I hadn't realized that I was seething until he said it. The assassins had tried to kill Kailin again.
"Someone planted explosives in the temple staircase. We escaped injury, but we are blocked. I need a rescue team with excavation equipment."
"On it."Onyx's presence blazed with rage to match my own. "I'm on my way."
He sent me an image of him torching the assassins, and it was very satisfying. It brought a smile to my face even though itwasn't going to happen. "As much as I appreciate the sentiment, they are probably long gone."
"You are most likely right, but I'm not wasting any time. I can organize the rescue effort in flight."
I opened my eyes to find six pairs of eyes fixed on me.
"Help is on the way," I said. "Onyx is organizing a rescue. They'll have us out in no time."
"Someone tried to kill us." Kailin leaned her head against the wall. "Someone knew we were down here."
"They were after me," Saphir said. "No one outside the six of you, Nyxath, and General Lesten knows about the prophecy. Why would they want to kill you?"
"I'm the Hero of Elucia," Kailin said. "They tried to kill me during my leave."
"How did they even know we would be down here?" Alar asked. "Things like this take time to plan."
He was right. We'd been in that chamber for less than an hour, and someone had planted an explosive designed to trigger when we emerged.
Alar met my gaze over the heads of the others. "It must have been one of the cadets or the instructors who came with them."
Codric shook his head. "Maybe it was someone in the Citadel who saw the others returning and learned that Saphir stayed behind with a small group of cadets."
