Page 76 of Forged By Heart and Claws
Calla Lily lunged, but the wall of heat forced her back. She shrieked in frustration, slamming her hand against the stone as flames licked higher along the walls.
I ducked in last and hauled the stone door shut behind us. The lock clicked into place just as something slammed against it from the other side, followed by screams and pounding.
“Can you block it?” Siray’s voice was so high it hurt my ears. “If they break through?—”
“Just keep moving,” I said gruffly. “We’ll lose them in the tunnels.”
The air was cold and carried the smell of earth and old stone. Unlike the main palace’s defensible escape passages and others with additional security measures, this was a rough-cut tunnel with only one way forward.
Are you all right, Briar?I turned sideways as the passage narrowed. From this angle, I could make out the back of her head as she led our strange group deeper into the mountain surrounding the palace.
I'm fine, she replied, but it seemed to come from far away.Just... focusing on keeping us moving.
The bond flickered again, the thread between us stretching thin. My chest tightened. We needed to talk, but not with Kaylen and Siray between us.
Kaylen whimpered. “It’s so tight… I hate this!”
“Silence. Whining helps no one.” I shook my head.
Siray moved ahead of me with one hand steady on the wall and the other holding the oil lamp high. Her steps were quiet but sure. “They’ll regroup. Colm won’t let us get far.”
“We’re not giving him a choice.” Briar huffed. “We just have to keep moving.”
The pounding on the door behind us dulled with distance, replaced by our own breathing and footfalls. We pressed onward into the dark.
As soon as we reached the branching path, I cut in front of Kaylen and Siray to reach Briar. Her small smile gave me some comfort, but the strain in her features and the faint, flickering bond between us chilled me far worse than the damp air.
“Stay close,” I said, more to the others than her. “The shadow beasts have gone feral.”
“I know.” Kaylen stomped. “They attacked some of the guards when they brought me to the cell. Everything’s going wrong.”
“If you know, then shut up and keep your voice down,” Siray snapped. She adjusted her grip on the oil lamp, the crossbow slung low but ready in the other. The glow painted her sharp cheekbones in harsh orange light, igniting the fire in her glare. “Otherwise, someone might take off your head.”
I was certain she didn’t mean the shadow beasts.
“Eyes up. Listen for shifts in the stone or a scent like singed metal,” I added. “Portals have a lightning smell when they open.”
“What were you doing in the prison, Siray?” Briar glanced over her shoulder as we kept moving. Her voice was even, but I could feel her trying to focus through exhaustion and something heavier she wasn’t ready to voice.
“My family was here for the wedding. My aunt and uncle are the queen and king of Ignis. They brought everyone with them.” Siray’s jaw worked. “My cousin Liya is their middle daughter. She’s young and had no obligations at the wedding. We snuck off to see the unicorn foal from the third trial.”
Kaylen snorted. “You gave up a front-row view of a royal coronation to play with a stable beast?”
Siray’s glare could’ve frozen lava. “Had I behaved like you, I’d be rotting in a cell.”
Flinching, Kaylen fell into sullen silence.
With a deep breath, Siray continued. “We only got away because we weren’t where we were supposed to be. But Colm’s men spotted us. Liya and I escaped for a while, but they locked down the grounds. We found out our family had been captured. We were going to break them out.” Her voice cracked, the mask slipping. “I didn’t know Calla Lily was the traitor. That she was working with him all along.”
“She could’ve done so much better than an upstart torturer,” Kaylen muttered.
“Yes, clearly, that’s the biggest problem,” Briar spat as her annoyance flared down our bond and made me bite back a smile.
The tunnel curved left, then twisted hard right, opening into a low chamber where four paths branched outward like points of a compass. The ceiling dripped with damp, and the air here was colder and closer to the deep heart of the mountain.
I stepped forward, smelling the air for any trace of the beasts or guards. I didn’t detect anything concerning. I gestured toward the passage on the right. “There.”
“Was your cousin captured, Siray?” Briar's voice was firm but quiet.
