Page 61 of Ties of Shadow

“Giant.” “Hot.” “Help us!”The bats cried in my mind.

The Shade was visibly limping but threw a tendril backward for what seemed like minutes. Then he whipped his arms toward his chest and pulled two bats to himself. He clutched them against the leather of his chest as we continued to run.

The air was sweltering. The smell of eggs rotting in the sun burned my nostrils. My thighs ached as they protested any more steps before us. The Shade heaved himself up the steep turns of the tunnels with his hand on the walls, grimacing with each step. I tucked myself into his side, one arm wrapped behind him, my brows pinched in concern.

His smirk was tired.“Thanks, Dayspring.”Even his voice in my mind sounded weary. For too long, we dashed and wove through endless corridors, and by degrees, the air cooled again, the scent shifted back to soil and dust, and the rumbling faded behind us. The Shade slowed further.

“Uncle Koll?”I called out to him in my thoughts and was relieved to see him turn in concern. He fell back to the Shade’s other side, slingingthe Shade’s arm over his shoulders. We slowed to a fast walk, but even this proved difficult for the Shade.

Uncle Koll sputtered a few cut off sentences before he said, “You know, if you’d just—”

“I know.” The Shade sounded resigned.

Uncle Koll huffed.

I frowned, ready to argue again when the Shade cut me off. “Iwilltell you, Dayspring. I will. Soon. Some things I can’t tell you yet, but I will. I promise. Right now, I just need you to trust me for a little longer.”

Trust was a tender, budding seedling, but I did. “Okay.”

His weight collapsed slightly in relief. “I will not harm you.” His voice was quiet, but his words were heavy. “I will do everything I can to give you what you deserve. To give you your freedom.”

I squeezed his arm. There was nothing I could say.

Uncle Koll harumphed. “Let’s get out of here.” He pulled out a vial of the healing potion we’d made earlier that week. He held it out to the Shade, who tried to wave it off. Uncle Koll palmed it to raise a craggy finger. “Do not start with me, boy. If you hope to run through the castle in an hour, you must recover what strength you can. Unless you want to—”

“Fine.” The Shade tugged the pink potion from Uncle Koll’s grasp. “I’ll take it.”

Moments later, his limp disappeared, and his weight lifted from my shoulders. The cold air of the tunnels felt icy in his absence. Uncle Koll nodded his approval before leading us to the left again. The ground flattened and darkened. The rock looked almost glassy, worn down from thousands of steps taken by the workers as they’d plodded in and out of the cavern. Tools and trash were cast along the edges. Ahead, a track began with no sign of a cart.

A sharp chirping sound startled me, and I looked back for some new monster. Soon more chirps sounded, growing until I recognized it. Nighttime grasshoppers.

We were finally at the surface.

“Well, it’s not the dungeon entrance we’d planned for, but hopefully, they won’t be looking for an attack from within the mines,” the Shade mused.

The wind blew the dusty, earthy air from my lungs, and I nearly clapped with glee to see the stars. Perhaps we’d have to go back home this way, but I hoped upon hope to take a long route above the surface instead.

We emerged from a cavern high on the back face of the western mountain, where the castle perched above us. The wagon road before us turned sharply, elbowing down at frightening angles toward the village and the twinkling lights of the city. The distant mountain—into which the manor was carved along the canyon walls—was still dark in the pre-dawn light. Below us, the castle rose from its stern foundations with white columns, high arching windows, and massive patios.

The sight stirred a chaotic mess of emotions within me: relief to be above ground; hesitance to return to the place where I'd been so badly hurt; hope that I might see the queen; fear that I might see the prince; and dread at the thought of my father. The Shade squeezed my hand. I was not alone.

Bertha remained behind in the cavern as we headed down a deer path behind the craggy trees. In the east, the sky was barely lightening. A distant boom rose from the far mountain. The mesa was obscured with a haze of something even darker.

“Looks like the prince decided to attack after all,” the Shade muttered.

“The smoke traps were a good idea. If you weren’t there fighting back, it would be a dead giveaway you weren’t at home.” Uncle Koll scratched at his beard. “I wasn’t sure those trip wires were safe with all the creatures milling around.”

The Shade huffed. “They are much smarter than the prince.”

A weak defense rallied in my mind, but I stuffed it back. The prince was his own man; I wasn’t duty bound to defend his honor, only my own.

I slipped on a rock, and the Shade caught my elbow. The back garden gate of the castle gardens loomed ahead. “I take it you got in this way before?” I asked.

A dangerous grin sharpened his features. “Last time—if you remember—I used the main door of the ballroom. I wasn’t going for subtlety.”

I remembered it well: the fire, the smell, the shadows, and the burn in his gaze. “Thank you for saving me that day.”

The Shade’s brows pinched together, and he clenched his hand. Anger that smelled like pine and burned like charcoal filled me—his anger. “The prince revealed that day what a fool he’d become. These little spats, pseudo-battles, aggressive coups, assassination attempts—fine, he can do as he wishes, and I will respond—but to billow flames at his own people?” He paused, pulling me to a stop. “At you?” He shook his head and continued walking. “Unthinkable. Poor leadership at best. A complete failure at worst.”

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