“Help by running,” Baxley told me. “Don’t look back, and don’t stop until you’re clear of here.”
I swallowed hard. I looked up just as the wood above creaked, and a slow trickle of dust fell lazily in the silence of the room.
“What is it?” I asked them, but they were both fixed on the floor above. I saw their grips tighten on their swords.
Larana glanced at me. “Amarya, now…go.”
I didn’t hesitate. I did as I was told, but I looked up reflexively when the ceiling split. It didn’t crack; itsplit. Wood tore downward as something forced its way through from above, slow and heavy, in no rush to get below, but wrong. So wrong.
A limb — too long, pale, wrong at the joints — pushed through the broken boards.
And the air…warped.
I heard Baxley say something, but I couldn’t make it out because my feet were carrying me fast out of there.
I ran back down the street we had walked up. We weren’t far from the gate, although it felt like it was still a good distance as I sprinted flat out toward the snow beyond.
And as I ran out, he ranin.
Nicco didn’t say anything. His hood was blown back, and his face covering wrapped around the lower half of his face. He didn’t even look at me as he flew past, his feet sure and steady on the snow below.
I didn’t pause either. I aimed for the patrol of soldiers, and I didn’t slow until I was caught by one of them as I skidded to a stop.
“What is it?” the captain demanded.
I fought to catch my breath. “I don’t know,” I said. “They told me to run.”
“Survivors?” Gralen asked me.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone.” I looked up at the captain. “Dead or alive.”
“Do we go in, Captain Marson?” one of the soldiers asked.
The captain shook his head. “No. They went in, we’ll wait to see if they come out.”
An uneasy silence fell on us, and then I asked, because I had to ask. “What if it’s not them that come out?”
“Then you find us the trail out of here,” he snapped, his gaze unwavering on the gate.
From behind us, the long howl of a wolf broke the silence.
“Shit.” I turned to face the trees. “They followed us.”
“The wolves?” someone asked stupidly.
I looked between the trees, the vast expanse of white to the north of us, and the half-open town gate.
“Captain Marson?” I was already moving. “We need to get into that town and close the gate behind us.”
“We don’t know what’s in there,” Sergeant Gralen hissed, not waiting for his captain to speak.
I nodded, my stare on the captain. “But Idoknow what’s coming for us, and…” I looked at the wounded soldiers. “I think we need to be in there, rather than out here.”
His face screwed up as he looked between the danger coming out of the woods and the unknown danger of the silence behind the walls.
“Fuck.” Marson looked at me. “She’s right. Let’s move, and be ready to fight whatever comes at us.”
I had a small idea of what was in there, but I didn’t know how to tell them. Yet IknewI had to tell them.
