was here, and rescue was so close. All Melantha had to do was delay these trolls long enough that help could arrive for Farrendel. It did not matter if she died in the attempt, as long as Farrendel was freed.
With a scream, she rammed into the door, flinging it open. The trolls had paused in front of her door, one kneeling to pick up the fallen locking bar. The dungeon door smashed into his face, sending him sprawling on the floor with blood spurting from his nose.
Melantha did not wait for the rest of them to gather their wits. Still screaming like she had lost her mind, she leapt on the back of the nearest troll, clawing at his eyes. Thanks to her healing training, she knew the places to scratch and bite where it would cause the most pain.
The troll howled and tried to yank her from his back. Still, she hit and kicked and flailed. She would hold out as long as she could, conserving her magic. If help did not arrive in the next few minutes and it looked like the trolls would get past her to hurt Farrendel, then she would do her best to touch all of them and break her healer’s oath. Perhaps she would die, but she would take all of these trolls with her.
As long as Farrendel survived, it would be worth it.
So close. So very close. Essie’s heart pounded, and it was all she could do not to go tearing ahead to reach his side as quickly as possible. After all this time, she almost had him back.
Edmund and the elf scout returned. “The tunnels are lit ahead.”
“We must be getting close.” Julien doused the lantern he held, as did the Escarlish soldier with the second lantern.
A scream shattered the stillness of the tunnels, coming from the direction where Essie sensed Farrendel lay.
“Double time.” Julien broke into a steady jog, the other soldiers keeping pace with him.
Essie hurried to keep up. Even a jog felt too slow, though it would be reckless to charge full speed into an unknown situation.
After going around a bend, the end of the tunnel was blocked with a metal, barred gate. Peering over her brothers’ shoulders, Essie could see that their passageway opened into a large chamber with water seeping into a pool at one end. Several passageways branched from the chamber, all of the tunnels barred with metal doors and lit with torches, though the door to one of the tunnels stood open.
Another scream rang out, far closer now.
That scream didn’t sound like Farrendel. Thanks to his nightmares, she knew what his screams of pain sounded like. This scream was higher pitched. More feminine. Melantha?
Essie struggled to keep her breathing even. Was it possible for her heart to pound any harder? What she wouldn’t give for some of Farrendel’s magic to blast this door out of their way, but he was unconscious and the crackle in the heart bond lay dormant.
Edmund took out some tools, reached through the bars, and inserted the lock picks. After a minute of fiddling, something in the lock clicked open. Edmund nudged the door, and the hinges gave a grating groan.
Julien led the way with one of the Escarlish soldiers keeping pace. Edmund and the elves jogged after them, weapons drawn. They charged into the passageway with the open door. A shout rang out, then the clash of swords.
Essie skidded to a halt at the end of that passageway, gripping her rifle.
Melantha clung to one troll’s back and shoulders, clawing at his face as if she intended to tear his face off with her bare hands. Her hair straggled down her back, her cheeks and eyes sunken. With the way she was screeching, she looked and sounded like a thing from a ghost story told around a campfire.
Five other trolls had turned and raised weapons, fending off Julien, Edmund, the Escarlish soldiers, and the elven warriors.
Essie raised her rifle to her shoulder, but she couldn’t get a shot. Nor would it be wise to fire a rifle in such a confined space.
Two of the trolls went down. The first troll managed to fling Melantha from his back, and she went down, skidding into a wall and lying still. The troll raised his sword, angling it toward Melantha’s prone body.
Essie sighed. She couldn’t believe she was doing this, but Melantha had clearly been fighting the trolls. Raising her rifle, Essie lined up her shot, waiting until the others were all struggling