for centuries. It ends tonight! Take me to the Subjugant Bloodcrystal, and I will free you!”
For a moment the Undying remained motionless, staring at her.
Then a rustling sound rose from the stairwell. One by one the undead turned and started to descend. They were no longer trying to kill Caina and Annarah.
The undead were escorting them.
“Go,” said Caina, urging Annarah forward.
“They listened to you,” said Annarah, blinking.
“Seems so,” said Caina, watching the undead.
“If we reach the crystal…do you truly intend to take it and wield it?” said Annarah. “It might kill you on the spot.”
“I don’t know,” said Caina. She felt the weight of the new pyrikon upon her wrist and the ghostsilver dagger at her belt. “But we are going to find out.”
They descended deeper into the Halls of the Dead.
Chapter 18: The Stormdancer and the Assassin
The massive trapdoor shut itself with a resonant boom, and Kylon stared at it in horror.
It had happened so quickly.
One moment Caina had been exchanging taunts with Rolukhan, and then the next the floor had collapsed beneath them. Kylon had gotten clear, but Caina and Annarah had not. Kylon cursed himself in a fury, his hand tight against the valikon’s hilt. If he had been faster, if he had foreseen the danger, he could have done something to save her.
Now Caina was likely dead from the fall.
“Damnation,” said Nasser, his voice furious. “A hundred and fifty years, all for nothing. It…”
“What?” said Morgant. “Idiots, both of you. They’re still alive.”
Kylon looked at the assassin. “It was at least two hundred feet to the bottom of that pit.”
“Two hundred and thirty-five,” said Nerina, clutching her crossbow.
“Am I the only one here who isn’t a blind fool?” said Morgant. “The Balarigar had a rope. I saw the grapnel catch, and I saw her and Annarah land safely at the bottom before the doors closed. They’re fine. Likely they’re safer than we’re about to be. The undead can’t hurt them, not with those shiny pyrikons, and we only have to hold out until they can rejoin us.”
He was right. An enormous wave of relief went through Kylon, so strong that it surprised him.
But should it have surprised him? Caina was important to him. He…
The creak of metal from the entry to the Hall of Flames caught his attention, and he saw the Immortals starting forward, scimitars and chain whips ready.
“Of course,” said Morgant with a shrug, “holding out until they climb back up might prove challenging.”
“We cannot retreat to the Halls of the Dead as planned,” said Nasser.
“No,” said Kylon. The Immortals were moving forward slowly, but that would soon change. “We’ll have to hold out here.”
“The barracks,” said Malcolm. “My smiths will help fight. We can hold out in the barracks.”
“They’ve no weapons,” said Nasser. “To fight Immortals with their bare hands would be a slaughter.”
“It will be a slaughter in any event,” said Malcolm. “If Rolukhan thinks one of the slaves admitted the Balarigar to the Inferno, he will kill us all and dump our corpses in the Halls of the Dead. If we are to die, better to go out fighting. Also,” he jerked his shaggy head towards the side, “this is the Hall of Forges. I know where the tools are. We can arm the smiths and make a fight of it.”
“Very well,” said Nasser. “Laertes, go with Malcolm and Nerina, help them get the weapons to the barracks. Morgant, Kylon. Stay with me, and we will hold off the Immortals as long as we can before falling back to the barracks.”
“The Razor and the Glasshand, fighting side by side,” said Morgant. “I wonder if Cimak will make a poem of it.”
“I fervently hope not,” said Nasser, “though if we live to hear it, I shall not complain.”
Malcolm, Nerina, and Laertes dashed into the fiery gloom of the Hall of Forges. Nasser and Morgant backed towards the barracks, and Kylon followed suit, the valikon gleaming. From here, they could watch both the entrances to the Hall of Torments and the Hall of Flames, and hopefully stop any Immortals before Malcolm armed the slaves. Kylon drew on the sorcery of water and the sorcery of air, as much of it as he could hold.
He would need all his strength and skill and power to survive a fight like this.
Rolukhan’s voice boomed overhead.
“Take them!” he said. “Find the surviving intruders and take them alive!”
“Oh, splendid,” said Morgant, rolling the black dagger around the fingers of his left hand. “That will make it all the