“Fuck!”I yelled.
We flew down the stairs, two steps at a time.
“I can’t use my Ember,” Caldren said between breaths.“I tried to stop them, but all I felt was…emptiness.”
“That’s the null field,” I said.
As we continued, the echo of boots was close.Too close.I snatched two vials from my belt and threw them behind us.Smoke billowed from one, and oil from the other coated the stone steps.In moments, shouts of surprise and the clatter of feet slipping on oil-slick stone reverberated from higher up the stairway.
“That’ll buy us some time, but not much,” I said.
After twisting down the stairs for what felt like forever, we came to a large room with stone arches in the ceiling.Countless casks of wine, most broken open and rotted with age, lined the walls.We continued through several similar rooms until we reached a massive timber door reinforced with iron bands.It was closed with three massive bolts that barred our exit.
“Here’s where the caves start,” Caldren said, grabbing the handle of one of the bolts.“Quickly, help me with these.”
I joined in, tugging on the first bolt.It was wedged in tight, and it took quite an effort to get it opened.Two bolts left to go.
“How did they shut these from behind?”I asked as we pulled on the second bolt.
“I’m afraid that was me,” Caldren said.“I saw the last people out and pounded the bolts shut with a hammer, hoping to give them more time.I never really expected to find you, honestly.”
I felt a pang of emotion at Caldren’s self-sacrifice and guilt at the way I had reacted to him.He hadn’t expected to get out of here alive.
Down the corridor, the sounds of our pursuers echoed ever closer.
The second bolt came loose with a loud thud as the latch hit the stay.
As we tugged on the third bolt, Syra and a group of Sentinel warriors entered the room.
I hadn’t brought much equipment into Pyrehold, so the only useful vial I had left was one lone firebomb.I flung it across the room.Fire exploded, but the room was so large that the fire barely even extended the width of it.That had likely bought us only a few moments.
Syra stared at me from the other side of the fire, her face inhumanly expressionless.As she paced back and forth, waiting for the flames to die down, her piercing gaze never left me.She tilted her head as a predator might when assessing its prey.
The final bolt finally gave way, and Caldren and I pulled on the iron ring, dragging the massive door open with all our might.
We had just gotten it open far enough to fit through when the whizzing sound of crossbow bolts zipped through the air.Most of them clattered against the stone wall or thudded into the wooden door.But Caldren cried out as one of the bolts hit its mark, embedding deep into his hip.He collapsed to the ground.
Quite suddenly, the thrumming of the null field stopped.Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shimmer around Syra as she transformed.
“Caldren!”I yelled, reaching for his shoulders, dragging him toward the opening as two more bolts hit the door.“Help me get you to safety!”
“No time.And I’ll slow you down,” Caldren said through barred teeth.Blood was flowing freely from his wound.
Syra finished transforming and jumped through the fire, her beast form apparently impervious to flames.
A golden shimmer came from Caldren.He held out his hand toward Syra, and she froze, his Stillbind Ember in full force now that the null field was down.
“I can’t hold her for long,” Caldren said.“Rendezvous at Shadowfen to the north.”
“I’m not leaving you!”
“Four left turns, three right, one straight, then one left.At the waterfall, go straight, then one more right,” he said between labored breaths.
“No, you can make—”
“Go!They’re reloading!”he yelled.
He pulled the Emberbane out of his pouch.His hands shook as he looked at me with the determination of a man who had just met his fate.
