“Carefully,” he replied, as if that answered my question.
Hint: it did not.
But before he could clarify, Tormund swung his arm over the side of the cart, yanked on the brake lever, and then threw his weight forward, careful not to slam into me.
The cart rolled.
I swallowed hard as the world fell out from beneath me. We surged forward so suddenly, my stomach shot up into my throat. All my hair bells rang in warning, and my eyes filled with burning tears. Tormund grabbed my waist and held me against him. The heat of his skin pressed into me, momentarily distracting me from the fact we were rushing over the chasm. Darkness widened its jaws.
A shriek exploded from my throat.
I snatched the side of the cart and held on with all my might. The chasm whirred by, then vanished behind us as we zoomed into the next tunnel. Sunstones flared to life, emitting glowing rays of orange and yellow, filling the tunnel with so much light it was almost blinding.
The cart careened sideways, then slammed into a wall.
We teetered sideways and spilled out onto the hard ground. An“Ergh!”shot from the depths of me. Bright spots danced in my eyes. Tormund’s hand found my waist again. I rolled over, blinking up at him. His concerned face stared back at me. Gone was that ever-present swaggering spark.
“You all right, Astrid?” He brushed a curly strand of ginger hair out of my eyes, his fingers lingering against my skin.
That bloomin’ way he said my voice…I shuddered.
His frown deepened. “Astrid? Blink your eyes if you’re in pain.”
“I’m in pain,” I said, pushing up onto my elbows. “But I’m fine.”
“You took quite the tumble,” he said, gently helping me to my feet.
His careful concern unnerved me. And so I said, “For the fourth time.”
Tormund cracked a smile. “For your sake, I hope none of the trials require remaining upright for longer than ten minutes.”
I flushed. “Laugh all you want. Your plan has gone sideways. Quite literally.”
Tormund looked around the cave we’d entered. It was at the end of a short stretch of tunnel, empty save for the cart and a pair of rails curving into the darkness ahead. We should have carried on with them, but there was a missing section in the track. Melted iron coated the ground, like someone had taken a torch to it.
“I’m starting to think someone doesn’t want us poking around down here,” Tormund murmured, kneeling beside the melted tracks.
A prickle caressed the back of my neck, and an overwhelming sensation ofwrongsettled over me like smoke so thick I could barely breathe through it. Before, I hadn’t truly wanted to believe it—that Tormund was right in his suspicions. Even though I would never win the prize, I didn’t like the idea that some dwarves among us were parading around with a fake.
My mountain, nestled in the ridges of The Glass Peaks, was located on the Shard, one of the lands within the Isles of Fable. We had always prided ourselves on being a safe haven from the rotten things in the world. Greed, violence, destruction, and hate. People were still people, of course, so the Isles weren’t perfect. Nowhere was. And here in the dwarven mountains, we took in the prisoners who broke the laws of the Isles.
So we were a little rougher around the edges than some of the other islands.
Still, we’d never had anyone sabotage our mining tracks.
“I’ll admit, I’m starting to get that feeling, too,” I admitted—rather begrudgingly. Giving Tormund more fuel for believing theEverstone was down here, well…it wasn’t my first choice. But we both knew I’d be lying if I said anything else. I nodded toward the tunnel from whence we came. “I’d say we should turn around and go back, but well.”
“‘But well’ is right. I don’t much fancy watching you try to balance your way across those rails to the other side of the chasm.”
I gave him a blank stare. “I’m really not as clumsy as my recent dexterity seems to suggest.”
He motioned toward the chasm. “Then, by all means, have at it.”
“No, thank you,” I sang. “I will be heading where these tracks lead. There is a larger cave system up ahead, and then the tracks circle back around, coming out four ledges down from The Wet Beard.”
Tormund nodded, and we began our journey, walking beside the curve of the tracks. “You know this part of the tunnels, then?”
“Yes, I already told you that. I’ve spent twenty-six years searching the mines, and that includes this section. All these tunnels connect. I’ve been through them well over a hundred times.”
