Lady Placida said. "But we have a problem." She gestured up the chain fastened to the ring on her neck. "It's not a lock. The chain's been crafted into place. It has to be broken, and if you'll look up..."
Amara did, and found four stone figures glaring down at her, carved shapes of hideous beasts that rested atop the stone pillars at each corner of the room. The gargoyles had to have weighed several hundred pounds each, and Amara knew that even though they would not move with speed any greater than that of a human being, they were so much heavier and more powerful than any human that it would make them altogether deadly to anyone who got in their way. One could not block the unthinkably powerful blow of a gargoyle's fist. One could get out of its way or be crushed by it. There was no middle ground.
"According to my host," Lady Placida said, "the gargoyles are set to animate if they detect my furycrafting." Her mouth twisted bitterly and she glanced significantly at Rook and the little girl. "Moreover, he assured me that I would not be their first victim."
Amara's mouth firmed into a hard line. "The bastard." More screams and shouts came to them from the central stairwell, muffled a low mutter by the thick door. "He's on his way up, by the sound of things."
"Then your team does not have much time," Lady Placida said. "He'll pull out his men and pour fire up the stairwell. He won't mind sacrificing a few of those poor fools in the collars if it means he gets to incinerate a team of the Crown's Cursors."
Amara coughed. "Actually, I'm the only Cursor. This is Rook, lately the head of Kalarus's bloodcrows. She helped us get this far."
Lady Placida's fine, red-gold eyebrows arched sharply, but she looked from Rook to the child, and an expression of comprehension came over her. "I see. And who else?"
"Count Calderon, Aquitainus Invidia, and two of her retainers."
Lady Placida's eyes widened. "Invidia? You're kidding."
"I'm afraid not, my lady."
The High Lady frowned, eyes calculating. "There's little chance that she intends to play this through entirely in good faith, Countess."
"I know," Amara said. "Could you handle the gargoyles if the child wasn't part of the equation?"
"I assume there's at least a chance I could," Lady Placida said, "or Kalarus wouldn't have needed to take the additional measure." She glanced at the child again, tilted her head at each of the statues, and said, "Yes. I can deal with them. But these are close quarters. There won't be much time for me to act-and I can hardly fight them if I am chained to the floor."
Amara nodded, thinking furiously. "Then what we must do," she said, "is determine exactly what your first furycrafting will be."
"One that will free me, put me in a position to destroy the gargoyles quickly, and allow you to leave the chamber so that I don't kill you both while I do so, " Lady Placida said. "And let us not forget that Kalarus will come for me with blood in his eyes if he realizes I'm free."
"It is my hope that you and Lady Aquitaine will be able to neutralize his crafting until we can escape."
"Gaius always did favor optimists in the ranks of the Cursors," Lady Placida said in a dry tone. "I assume you have a brilliant idea of some sort?"
"Well. An idea, at least," Amara said. She glanced back at Rook to make sure she was listening as well. "There's little time, and I'm going to have to ask you both to extend some trust to me. This is what I want to do."
Chapter 45
The night fell, dark and thick beneath the ritualists' shroud of storm clouds. The night made the Canim battle cries even more terrifying, and Tavi could feel the primal, inescapable dread of fangs and hungry mouths rising in the back of his thoughts. No furylamps lit the walls as he ran to his position above the gate, and the orange band of a fading sunset was the only light. He couldn't see the men on the wall well enough to make out expressions, but as he walked past them he could hear restless movement among them-and noted that they were uniformly far more slender than most of the more mature ranks of veterans. The First Spear had kept the cohort of fish on the wall.
"Marcus?" Tavi asked as he reached the center wall.
"Sir," growled a