Death Wind (Elven Alliance #3) - Tara Grayce Page 0,83

her ears that she couldn’t even hear her own footsteps, much less anyone else’s.

Calm. She needed to remain calm. And focus on Farrendel.

Concentrating, she felt the heart bond, warm and still crackling with Farrendel’s magic. She reached for it, mentally holding it tightly, and sensed...

She sensed Farrendel. He was somewhere ahead of them. And above them? On a higher level, that must be it. At least the tunnel still sloped upward, so they were going in the right direction.

After taking a few turns, the tunnel opened into a large chamber with four tunnels branching off it. Edmund and the elf scout waited in the center of the room.

Edmund gestured at the branching tunnels. “Essie? Can you tell which way we need to go?”

Essie closed her eyes, double-checking the direction. She pointed at the tunnel on the far left. “He’s in that direction, but still on a higher level than we are.”

Julien studied the tunnels. “It appears that tunnel on the far left goes down, and not up. While Farrendel might be in that direction, we might have to wind our way through the tunnels to reach him. There probably isn’t a tunnel that goes directly there.”

“I had the same thought.” Edmund waved to the elven scouts and switched to elvish. “Let’s each take one of these tunnels. Go down them for two minutes or so, then come back.”

With nods, each of the elven scouts loped down three of the tunnels. Edmund took the last one.

Julien glanced over his shoulder to Essie. “I take it they are scouting?”

“Yes. They’ll be back in about five minutes.” Essie turned in a circle, checking that her senses were correct. Yep. Farrendel was to their left somewhere. We’re coming, Farrendel. Hold on just a little longer.

“Very well. Everyone at ease.” Julien sat, took out his canteen, and sipped.

Essie sat next to him and took a small sip from her own canteen. But not too much. It would be a long time before they would be safe and anywhere near a latrine.

Until then, she had never realized how long five minutes could feel. She tapped her fingers against the stock of her gun, glancing between the tunnels.

Arlanor, the elf sent down the far-left tunnel, returned first. He glanced at Essie and pointed down the tunnel. “This tunnel goes down to a large storage chamber with a pool of water and a few crates of food.”

Essie repeated what he’d said for Julien. She’d barely finished when the other two elves returned, followed by Edmund.

Edmund pointed back the way he’d come. “This tunnel continues to the right before branching into other tunnels.”

“This tunnel is the same, but to the left.” The elf who had scouted one of the middle passageways nodded to the one he had scouted.

“Mine was the same, though it seems to continue straight,” the other elf added in elvish.

Once Julien had the report translated, he frowned as he studied the four tunnels. “Let’s take the upper one that goes to the left. It should take us in the right direction.”

As they set out again, Essie kept her grip on the heart bond, following her senses. They were getting closer to Farrendel. She could feel it.

Melantha pulled herself to her feet. Her bones still ached, but she could walk. After tottering the few steps to the door, she strained to reach through the bars. Her fingers brushed the locking bar. With a growl, she stood on her tiptoes, her still-healing bones in her feet screaming with pain, and gained a few more inches.

She grasped the locking bar and hauled with all her might. Arm shaking with the strain, she lifted one end of the bar free. It toppled from its other bracket and tumbled to the floor with a loud crack, thankfully covered by the rumble of yet another booming gun somewhere in the fortress above.

As she reached to push the door open, the gunfire died away, and other noises took its place. The outer door to this dungeon corridor grated open, followed by the tramp of heavy bootfalls.

Melantha peeked through the bars. A squad of six trolls marched down the passageway. Her stomach churned. They were here to take Farrendel to his death, and any moment now one of them would notice the locking bar of her dungeon cell lying on the floor.

What could she do? She was too late to get to Farrendel, and she could not fight one troll by herself, much less six.

But she could not allow them to hurt Farrendel. Weylind