Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
“Quick,” says a familiar voice. It’s Rooster. “Light it up before they all come through!”
The men hurry, and as we’re shuttled to the side, I watch the enforcers—why are there enforcers in the damn tunnels? Or the guild master?—race forward with a large pack. They place it directly under the hole in the ceiling of the tunnel, and then Rooster tosses his oil lamp atop the pack.
It goes up in flames, and a puff of black, oily smoke rises through the hole.
“That should stop them for a while, but we should keep moving,” Rooster says, watching the pack burn. “I hope someone else has a light. If not, the Taurians will need to lead the way.”
“Lead the way? Why wouldn’t we go back the way you came?” Shikra asks, getting to his feet. He’s moving a little slower than I am. Exhaustion is apparent on his face. “Why not head for the drop?”
“The drop has been compromised,” Rooster says, voice succinct. He looks a bit banged up, but better than those of us who were fighting for our lives. “We’re lucky in that we have a guide.”
“A guide?” I ask, helping Buzzard stand. I’m worried about the old bull. If we can’t go back the way we came…
“A guide,” Rooster says, and then looks around. “Where did she go?”
She?
Oh no. A cold ball of fear forms in my gut as he gestures farther down the tunnel. Sure enough, there’s Gwenna’s small form, her back to us as she stares off into the depths of the tunnel.
“Gwenna?” I ask. I’m surprised she didn’t let me know she was here.
She turns slowly, and even in the low light, I can see just how big her pupils are, how pale her skin. She blinks at me, not seeing anything, and then turns back down the tunnel, pointing. “They say to go this way.”
“Who?” Jay asks, frowning over at me.
“The dead,” Rooster replies. “It’s a long story, and better told when we’re safe. For now, let’s just follow her. She won’t lead us astray.”
The head guild master knows about Gwenna’s powers? That…can’t be good.
Fifty
Raptor
Our party follows Gwenna as she moves through the tunnels. The lantern is behind her, yet she can seemingly see well in the dark. She paces ahead of our group, her eyes focused on nothing at all, and sometimes pauses, touching the wall.
“We’ll come back to this,” she mutters as she moves on. “Not today. Not right now.”
A bit farther down, she brushes her fingers over another part of the rock wall and then turns to our straggling group of tired, injured, trapped people. “We have to get through this wall here.”
“And that leads us back?” Rooster asks.
“No, but it’s where we need to go.” Her gaze darts over me, and I straighten, wanting her to say something. But her head jerks and she turns, as if pulled away, and then nods, closing her eyes and rubbing her arms. “This is the only way.”
Stork and Shikra and one of the enforcers take up pickaxes and get to work.
Jay remains nearby, bandaging some of the worst of Buzzard’s wounds. “How do we know she’s not leading us on a chase?” Jay whispers to our group. “This seems like nonsense, fairy tales.”
“She won’t lie to us,” I insist, offended that he’d even suggest such a thing.
“I thought the same about the guild once, and yet here we are,” Jay says, shaking his head.
It doesn’t take long for them to hammer through the new wall, which is astonishingly thin. Gwenna isn’t surprised by this. She simply nods as if she knew it all along and steps through to the other side ahead of us.
“Wait,” says Rooster, reaching for her. “There could be ratlings—”
“No ratlings,” she says in that distant voice of hers, and continues forward. “Come. We’ve still got a ways to go.”
She drifts onward through a new tunnel that climbs steeply and twists in unexpected ways. I share an uneasy glance with Stork, because this isn’t a tunnel that’s been used before. To call it a tunnel would be giving it too much credit. It’s more like a fissure in the rocks—my hooves struggle to find purchase, and each step feels dangerous. The passage is tight, and at some points we have to turn sideways to go through and climb over a tumble of rocks. Stork breathes heavily when we’re forced to squeeze through a very cramped crevasse. I probably lose a layer of skin as we do, and angle my head oddly to get my horns through the narrow rocks, but it opens again soon enough. Getting Karref’s limp body through takes some finagling, but no one is willing to leave him behind.
A short time later, I smell moisture in the air. And then I hear running water.
“Almost there,” Gwenna says in that drifting voice, as if she’s not quite with us mentally, even if her physical body is. I’m worried about her, but I trust her to lead our party forward. If anyone can find a way out, it’s Gwenna with her strange powers.