I was almost there. I could feel the rope parting. I just needed five more seconds.
One of the guards lunged for me, but I just managed to make it through the last of the rope’s fibers, and it fell away. Skalei flashed as I slashed for him, and the guard stumbled, clutching his stomach. Blood pumped from between his fingers. I was free.
“Stop her,” shouted Gorm.
I leapt for Galin. He tried to catch me, but I was too fast. I slipped behind him and pressed Skalei to his throat.
“Attack, and he dies,” I shouted, fairly certain I was bluffing. Somehow, I’d trusted what he said—that the Shadow Caverns spell could have been a way of keeping us safe. I just wanted more answers—now. “How do we free the Night Elves? If you die, would it break the spell?”
“No,” said Galin. “You have my sacred oath.”
“Then how do I do it? How do I break the spell?”
His words were so quiet that I could barely hear them. It was a whisper meant only for me. “I promise to help break the spell. I will come for you.” I pulled the blade away from his neck just a little, and he turned, meeting my gaze. “I will find a way to fix this,” he mouthed. His golden eyes were imploring me to believe him, to go through the portal while I still could. His hand touched mine and pressed something into it.
Then Galin grimaced, and I saw smoke rise for his hair. It seemed the Helm of Awe was hurting him. That meant he was disobeying the king—telling the truth.
Behind me, I heard a hex buzzing on the end of a wand. The king had given his oath to send me home, but that didn’t mean his guards couldn’t kill me on the way. Seemed I was out of time.
Before a guard could take a shot at me, I dove through the portal.
Electricity sizzled as I jumped through it. For an instant everything was pitch black, then I slammed hard onto rough stone. I opened my eyes, but it was completely dark. I lay still for a moment, feeling only wet grit on my cheek.
I scrambled to my feet, holding Skalei defensively as my eyes adjusted.
Now, I stood in a towering cavern. Jutting down from the gloom above me were the tips of giant stalactites. But I hardly noticed them, as my gaze was drawn to the center of the cavern, to a massive column of gray stone that extended all the way from the floor to the ceiling.
Covered in rippling flowstone, it stood as large as some of Boston’s skyscrapers. Small lights dotted along its sides. A thousand windows that’d been carved into the rock. I knew where I was. This was Sindri, the great hall where the Shadow Lords dwelled.
I slowly breathed out. I’m back in the Shadow Caverns. Sent here by Galin himself—the sorcerer I’d been sent to kill. This was not how I’d planned to return, but it was becoming clear that there was more to the story than I thought. King Gorm had struck his son’s name from the history books for a reason—which lent credence to Galin’s claim. Still, the Shadow Lords would never believe this version of events.
Maybe, at one time, the caverns were a way of keeping us safe from the rest of the High Elves. But now? It was time to live in the light again. And I still believed I would do it—I would lead us there.
I just didn’t think that the Shadow Lords needed to know everything.
As I started to put Skalei away. I remembered how Galin had touched my hip, slipped something into my pocket. Gingerly I reached inside. I grinned when my fingers wrapped around the metallic object. The ring. He’d known exactly what I needed to keep the Shadow Lords happy.
I began to run as fast I could toward Sindri. I had to tell the Shadow Lords that I’d returned. I had to give them the ring, to buy myself a bit of time while I figured out the real way out of this.
I ran past fields of mushrooms, down the dark streets of the city of Myrk, until I reached the hall. I’d been to Sindri a hundred times, but I’d forgotten the enormity of its entrance, a massive tunnel carved directly into the living rock.
A guard stood before the opening. Silver hair hung to the shoulders of his black chain mail. In one hand, he held