’...Did that man just use a pet rabbit as his excuse to run away?’
For a solid five seconds, neither Maggie nor I moved. The absurdity of it was almost impressive.
Then the ground shook again and the moment shattered.
This tremor was different from the ones before. The previous shaking had been deep and rhythmic, like something massive breathing beneath the earth and tearing away from it. But this was violent. The kind of shaking that told you something structural had given way.
Stones broke loose from the canyon walls above, plummeting past us and crashing into the ground with dull, heavy thuds. Cracks split across the floor of the pit, zigzagging outward from where the gate guardian’s corpse lay.
’Right. Killed the guardian. Gate’s collapsing. We need to leave.’
That thought should have e sooner. In my defense, I had been busy getting my ribs rearranged.
"Maggie, we need to go. Now."
She was already moving, scanning the upper walls of the pit with those pale, vicious eyes. The ring of flame she had suspended overhead flickered as a chunk of stone the size of a carriage crashed through part of it.
Then I noticed something that froze me mid-step.
The darkness on the walls was moving.
They were not retreating or fleeing from Maggie’s flames like before. The shadow creatures that had clung to every surface of the canyon were peeling off the stone in smooth, liquid motions, hundreds of them, flowing together into something larger.
They poured across the walls like black water rushing downhill.
I tensed and my hands drifted to my sides, already preparing to conjure flames. But no attack came.
They were flowing upward, toward the surface.
’They’re... running?’
But it didn’t seem to be running from us... perhaps the collapse was also going to affect it as much as it would us.
Every single one of them, streaming up the walls in a river of living shadow, their forms rippling as they climbed. They moved around Maggie’s flames, not through them, giving the fire a wide berth but showing no interest in us whatsoever. We had gone from being intruders to being furniture.
’Even the creepy wall things think this is a bad place to be right now.’
"Cade." Maggie’s voice carried an edge.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I turned and sprinted toward the bodies of Kohen’s fallen rades... no, past them. Toward Cressida.
She was where I had last seen her, propped against a section of rock, barely conscious. Blood still dripped between her legs and her grip on the dagger had not loosened even in unconsciousness. Her knuckles were white around the hilt.
’Stubborn even when she’s out.’
I knelt and slung her arm over my shoulder, hauling her up. She was lighter than I expected, or maybe the adrenaline was doing the heavy lifting. Her head lolled against my neck and she let out a groan but did not wake.
Beyond her, the twin that I could not identify in her current state, either Odelia or Ophelia, was slumped beside the golden millipede that had long since gone still. The summon had dispersed, and its summoner lay crumpled like a discarded doll.
I reached her and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her against my other side. Two people. Both dead weight.
’This is not ideal.’
The ground bucked beneath me and I staggered, nearly dropping both of them. More stone fell from above, crashing closer this time. The entire pit was groaning like a beast in its death throes.
I needed a way out. I needed a mount. I needed Cindy.
’Kassie.’
The response came almost instantly, sharp and alert.
’Granted. Summon her.’
The thread of our link hummed with warmth, and I felt the permission settle into my soul like a key turning in a lock. I reached for the connection, the secondary thread that branched from Kassie’s, the one that burned hotter and smelled faintly of smoke even in my mind.
A whirlwind of sparks erupted beside me.
Cinderheart materialized in the pit with a furious neigh that echoed off the collapsing walls.
Feet of crimson muscle and white-smoke mane, her molten core pulsing orange-gold in her chest. Her hooves scorched the broken stone beneath her, leaving black marks where fire met rock. She tossed her head, nostrils flaring at the chaos around her, and fixed me with eyes that looked perpetually furious.
’Hello to you too.’
The destrier snorted smoke, which I chose to interpret as a greeting rather than a threat.
Another tremor, worse than the last. A massive slab of the canyon wall sheared away and crashed into the floor of the pit, sending debris spraying across the space. The shadow creatures flowed around it without breaking stride, still pouring upward.
I moved fast. I laid Cressida across Cindy’s back first, draping her lengthwise and praying she would stay. Then Odelia and Ophelia. Three bodies slung over a horse that was radiating enough heat to cook meat.
’They won’t burn, right?’
’Cindy’s fire will not harm those you do not intend to harm,’ Kassie’s voice came through the Link. Then, after a beat: ’Probably.’
’Probably?!’
’I am mostly certain. Move faster.’
I looked around wildly for the rest. Where was the other twin?
"Maggie!" I shouted over the roar of falling stone. "Nisha and Milo, they’re still on top of the canyon!"
She was already in the air.
One leap carried her to the canyon wall, where she pushed off the stone surface with enough force to crack it, launching herself toward the upper rim. She vanished over the edge in a blur of pale hair and dark armor.
That left me with three unconscious girls on a furious horse, a pit that was actively trying to bury me, and approximately zero time to figure out the best route out of here.
’Kassie, is there a way up that doesn’t involve climbing? Cindy can run on air, right?’
’Kassie, is there a way up that doesn’t involve climbing? Cindy can run on air, right?’
’Briefly. After the et ability, her stamina suffers. But she has not been summoned in a while, so she has a full reserve.’
’Good enough.’
I grabbed Cindy’s mane and hauled myself up, settling in front of the three bodies. The heat rolling off her was immense, sitting right on that edge between warmth and pain. Behind me, Cressida and the others were draped across her back like sacks of grain, held in place by nothing but gravity and luck.
’This is a terrible plan.’
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