out of the way so he could stop Gabrielle. She was bone white, trembling uncontrollably, but when he set her aside, she swayed, but remained upright. Joie immediately put her arms around her sister and held her as Traian gathered his strength to help Jubal out of the chute.
Be ready. As soon as he is out I will have to close the chute. We will have to run. Stay to left. Always go left. Right goes deeper inside the mountain.
“We won’t be separating,” Joie said firmly.
Her voice was almost a shock after the intimacy of mind-to-mind contact. He braced himself for Jubal. The man was large, but he also was extremely strong and he’d thankfully managed to control his descent better than the two women. Traian sent a cushion of air to slow him more and as he burst feet first through the chute, he caught the man, using preternatural strength.
Traian waved them back away from the ice tunnel, staggering a little as he reached for another burst of energy. The others could feel the gathering of heat and power. Joie stepped close to him and wrapped her arm around his waist.
“I can help. Draw from me.”
“And me,” Jubal put his hand on Traian’s shoulder.
Gabrielle stepped behind her brother and laid her hand on his shoulder, connecting all of them physically. Joie opened her mind instantly to him, flooding him with her strength and energy, generously sharing everything she had, everything she was. He felt her solidarity with him, that connection that allowed her—without truly knowing him—to trust him when she was always very cautious in close relationships. Through her, her siblings gave just as generously, boosting his power enormously.
A scream of rage and hatred echoed down through the chute, the sound growing in volume until ice shattered above their heads and spider-web cracks appeared along the walls.
Traian began to chant in a soft voice, his hands moving quickly in a pattern the three siblings couldn’t quite follow, the movements blurring with his incredible speed, but the ominous sound of ice cracking grew loud enough to be called a clap of thunder. The ice veined in a starburst pattern that spread rapidly outward. At the entrance, the ice began to fall in large chunks, some sliding down the tube toward them.
“Run!” Traian instructed and all of them took off, sprinting for the left entrance.
The sound continued to build behind them, a great roar and a thunderous clap as the tube collapsed in on itself. The earth shook beneath their feet, and the growing rumble emanated from the walls and ceiling surrounding them. Jubal caught Gabrielle’s hand as they followed Traian and Joie at a dead run through the narrow hall. Sharp daggers of ice fell from the ceiling as they rushed through the tunnel. Several times, Traian redirected a lethal missile as they raced along the well-worn path.
They ran through the twisting, dark hall with the sound of ice collapsing behind them. Traian stopped so abruptly, Joie ran into him. He caught her to steady her, drawing her close protectively. “I told you not to come here. I am not certain I can get your family out alive. There is something in this cave the vampires are determined to find—and the mages are just as determined to protect.”
They were on the edge of a precipice. A very narrow bridge, constructed of ice and stone, was the only way across. It appeared dangerously thin in places and had an obvious hole in one section that dropped into a deep abyss. Jubal and Gabrielle halted just as abruptly, staring in horror at the narrow strip of ice.
“That’s no natural bridge,” Jubal observed. “Who, or should I ask what, could have carved such a thing? Can we cross it?”
Traian studied it warily. He shook his head. “I fear that bridge is an invitation to death. A trap—a mage trap.”
Gabrielle slipped her hand into her sister’s. “I’m afraid, Joie. I’ve got a terrible feeling we’re all going to die.”
“The vampires are broadcasting terror and images of death to feed your natural fear,” Traian explained. “They have been hunting for weeks for something in these caves. The network is very large and, as you can see, not all naturally formed. I stayed to try to find what they are looking for. Vampires do not normally put so much energy into a project. Whatever it is they want, their finding it will not benefit either the Carpathian or the human race.”