The King Rolen's Kin: The Uncrowned King - By Rowena Cory Daniells Page 0,14
keys into Fyn's hand with painful intensity. A hiss of air left his lips. 'Take the boys and stones to Sylion Abbey.'
Fyn was so attuned, he felt it the instant the life-force left the abbot's body. Guilt lanced him. He'd frozen. That was the reason the abbot had died.
He stared at the abbot's keys. Dimly, he heard the roar of the fighting on the stairs. Why did everything sound so distant?
No time for this.
Fyn sprang to his feet. Running to the bolted doors, he thumped on the wood. 'Feldspar, it's me. Let me in.'
'Fyn?' A muffled voice came through the wood. 'Is it really you?'
'Who else?'
'A Merofynian Power-worker out to trick me.'
Fyn smiled. Trust Feldspar to be wary. But how could he convince... reveal something only he would know. 'I gave you the Fate, so you could join the mystics.'
There was the dull click of the bolt being drawn back and Feldspar flung the door open. Behind Fyn's friend huddled dozens of frightened boys.
'Are you hurt, Fyn?' Feldspar asked.
'I don't think so.'
'You're covered in blood.'
'It's not mine.' He looked down to find his saffron robe was black with blood. Disgusted, he pulled the sodden tunic over his head and let it drop. Now he wore only leggings and a knitted vest. He should be cold, but he felt nothing.
'The abbot!' Feldspar went to push past him, but Fyn stopped his friend. The sound of fighting on the stairs had suddenly ceased. Feldspar met Fyn's eyes with an unspoken question.
'The others must be dead,' Fyn said. 'We have to get the boys out of here and stop the sorbt stones from falling into Merofynian -' A shout cut him off and thundering boots echoed down the stairwell. 'They're coming.'
Fyn pushed Feldspar back into the sanctum.
A small boy tried to wriggle past them. Fyn only just managed to catch him.
'Let me go,' the boy cried. 'We'll all be killed!'
'There's no escape that way,' Fyn told him but the boy wouldn't listen. Without a word, Fyn threw the lad over his shoulder and darted through the archway. Feldspar dragged the doors shut, sliding the bolts home.
Fyn met Feldspar's eyes, and turned to find Joff surrounded by a sea of boys. Joff held a branch of candles, towering over the others. Although officially a 'boy' he was bigger at fifteen than Fyn. His Affinity had surfaced unexpectedly and he'd been faced with the choice of banishment or serving the abbey, which is what would happen to Piro if her Affinity was discovered. At least she was safe in the castle, Fyn told himself.
A stab of impatience flashed through him. He had to get the boys and the stones out of here so he could go to Rolenhold to warn his father of King Merofyn's treachery.
Did King Rolen know that Merofynians had invaded Rolencia? Had the warning beacons been lit?
The boy, who Fyn carried over his shoulder, wriggled and Fyn set him on his feet. No one spoke as Fyn surveyed the chamber. He estimated there were nearly sixty boys and young acolytes ranging in age from six to fourteen.
Booted feet pounded down the corridor and reached the sanctum's doors. Fyn heard shouting, and then the dull thump of weapon hilts striking the door, muffled by the thick wood.
'We're trapped,' a voice whispered.
'No.' Fyn rounded on the boy before the others could panic. 'Feldspar and I were chosen to serve the mystics master. We know the back way out of the inner sanctum.'
The boys' desperate eyes fixed on Fyn.
'But if they've taken the spiral stairs there is no way out of the abbey,' a skinny thirteen-year-old muttered.
Fyn held up the abbot's keys. 'Yes, there is. We're going into Halcyon's Sacred Heart.'
The boys gasped.
'It's forbidden,' the skinny one protested.
'Normally, but the abbot gave me the keys.' Fyn caught Feldspar's eye. 'He didn't want the sorbt stones falling into the hands of renegade Power-workers. Get the -'
Older boys anticipated the order, hurrying to the orderly shelves of stacked sorbt stones.
'Keep each pair together!' Feldspar shouted. 'If they're separated the active one will absorb all Affinity around it.'
The boys froze. Feldspar caught Fyn's eye. Sorbt stones were tools, but like any powerful tool they could be used to kill.
'You heard him. Take care,' Fyn prodded, then collected his thoughts. What else would they need? He didn't want to lose his way underneath the mountain. 'Bring all the candles you can find. I'll go ahead and unlock the passage.'