They were alive.
I let out a shout of relief.Now I had something to cling to.One small thread to hold me together.
The chasm was deep, but at least it was climbable.Jagged rocks and long seams in the cliff face made it a tough but not impossible feat.So I started my descent.
Getting down was quick—sometimes too quick.In my haste, I missed a handhold and scrambled to grab a lifesaving seam in the rock.My fingers shifted but held.
Dust, Cas.You can’t help them if you’re dead.
I paused, took a deep breath, and continued at a pace that was fast but not careless.
Soon I was at the base of the canyon between the two mountains.Rubble from the bridge covered the bottom.Not far away, rocks shifted.Something stirred beneath the debris.Was it possible?Had Syra somehow survived that fall?I couldn’t leave anything to chance.
I pulled out my dagger and approached the spot where I had heard the noise.As I approached, the last thing I expected to hear reached my ears: the quiet sound of weeping.
I moved aside a few of the smaller boulders near the source of the noise.There, under a mountain of rubble, Syra’s miserable face poked through, her tears forming dark lines through the stone dust and grime on her cheeks.
“I’m—sorry,” she said, stuttering out the words.
I was speechless.Frozen from utter shock.
And then a hot rage built in me.
“Sorry?”I said.“That’swhat you have to say?”
She spoke slowly, in fits and starts.“I had…had to…watch.It was horrible.”She let out a wretched sound, half groan, half sob.“It…it controlled me.But it’s gone.I…felt it leave.”
And then I understood.She was an Emberborn slave like all the rest.But the draining of her life force must have freed her.I had this slim window of opportunity.
“Where are the Sentinels taking them?”I said.“Please!”
She puffed out rapid breaths between bared teeth, but her eyes were clear and lucid.“Find Elandra…potion merchant…hurry!”
“Elandra?Where do I find her?”
Her eyes rolled back into her skull.Then she spoke, the words clearer than anything she had said before: “The moon dances with the stars.”
She started convulsing as foam escaped her mouth.After one final shudder, her body stilled, and her eyes stared up at me, blank and lifeless.Despite all the harm she had done, I couldn’t help but feel sorrow for this pitiful soul.
The moon dances with the stars?What could she have meant by that?Or was it just the ravings of a mind on the brink of death?
And what was I supposed to do with the single name Elandra?There had to be hundreds of potion merchants across Velmorra.I knew dozens in Analon alone, and as far as I knew, none were named Elandra.Still, it was more information than I’d had before, and it gave me the slightest glimmer of hope.
Climbing up the south cliff was significantly harder than going down the north one.In addition to being more sheer, many of the sections of the cliff were unstable due to the collapse.My arms and legs burned.Halfway up, I found a stable spot to pause and rest my muscles.
It was the first moment since the start of the attack that my mind wasn’t completely consumed with survival.The void quickly filled with thoughts of all the things I could have done differently.It was my job to protect Elena, but she had protected me.And Darion had saved her.
He had chosen Elena over himself.
Over me.
And the truth was, I would have done the same.
But that didn’t make it hurt less.
I began to sob.I had failed the people I cared for.
Get yourself together, Cas!Those people you care for are still alive and nearby but getting farther away by the minute!
