moment they met. Tancho could barely see him in the dark, away from the fire. But then Crow ran back to him, grinning. He put his hands to Tancho’s shoulders. “Do you know what that means?”
“Yes. That we could go our separate ways. If we weren’t confined to this cave for all of time.”
Crow’s face fell, first into sadness, then slid sideways into anger. “Is that what you want? Is that the first thing you would do? You would leave me? After what we just did? What I said to you?”
“No, I—”
Crow pulled his hands back and took a step back. “Because I would choose you, still. I would go with you, still. What we shared before changed something inside me, yet the first thing you think of is leaving me?”
Tancho reached for Crow, sliding his hands to his face. “I would not leave you. I would choose you, also. Crow, I would go with you. Bond or no, that is what I told you before. And that is what I now know to be true.”
“Then why would you say we could go our separate ways?”
“Because Maghdlm would not expect it.”
Crow blinked. Then the corner of his mouth lifted. “We would have that element of surprise.”
“But it does us no good in here,” Tancho allowed. “The fire is losing light, and after it dies, we are thrown back into darkness.”
“Well, that’s what I thought of earlier. What you said, that gave me an idea. And we’ll need to be quick to see if it works.”
“To see if what works.”
“The rune.” Crow took out his sword and began to draw a large circle in the dirt. “Drawing the rune on your skin, and you saying it could take you . . .”
Tancho watched as Crow drew a large cross in the circle.
“If Maghdlm can control the compass, then why can’t we?” Crow said. “We have these components from all four kingdoms, just like her.”
“How do you know which way is north?”
“I don’t, not from in here. I don’t think it matters. Not on this. We’ve always thought it to be a direction, and to us, it was used as one. But on the doorway, it’s a location.”
Tancho felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. The possibility . . . the truth. “Do you think we can make our own compass? Our own doorway?”
“I can’t see why not. And on this day, the day of the eclipse, if there is one day in a thousand years it might work, today is it.”
Tancho took out his scabbard and helped Crow finish the compass. They drew the N, the W, the S, and the E. They drew the centre circle, the Aequi Kentron, and the inner circle with the arrows . . .
“But we don’t know where we are,” Tancho said, knowing they had to point the arrow on the inner circle from their starting point.
“Open them all,” Crow suggested. “And see where we land. We just need one door to open. If we come out at any castle, we can get back to Aequi Kentron. We just need to get out of here.”
Tancho nodded, quickly adding an arrow from every starting point. It couldn’t hurt, and they certainly had nothing to lose.
When they were sure they had the compass as best as they could make it, Crow reached into the small pouch on his belt. “I don’t know how many attempts we have,” he said. “My supply is low.”
“Let’s hope this works,” Tancho said.
They stood at the S, where they’d always stood, and Crow sprinkled a small amount of the element mix onto the compass. He cited the chant and . . .
Nothing.
Tancho’s heart was pounding, and he clung to hope as though it was a lifeline. “Try it again.”
Crow shook his head. “You try it. Perhaps now that I don’t bear the birthmark . . .”
“But Maghdlm can do it and she bears no mark.”
Crow sneered. “If I get out of here, she will bear a mark. Right in the middle of her forehead. My sword, or my boot. I can’t decide.”
“And I will help, but first we need this compass to work,” Tancho said. He took a small pinch of the mix and recited the chant, imagining the purple sparkling circle bursting to life, willing it to become a reality . . .
Nothing.
“Curse that hag,” Crow hissed.
Tancho shook his head. This was the right idea. They were just missing something . . .
“Did Maghdlm say something when she