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‘Come on,’ Dane says over his shoulder. ‘If they’ve opened it, there will be a breach even if we can’t see it.’
Kallum scoffs. ‘Will this kill us if it’s not been sorted as well?’
Dane doesn’t answer, and I hear Kal mutter a weary, ‘fuck,’ as we trudge up the path that meanders around the hill up to the Gate.
When we’re halfway up to the circle, Grey freezes. ‘Can you hear that?’
Dane listens. ‘No.’
I shake my head even though he wasn’t talking to me.
‘There’s a hum,’ Grey persists.
‘I hear nothing,’ Dane mutters, but then looks towards the road we just came down. ‘But someone’s coming.’
I look towards the road and begin to see figures emerging out of the early morning mist. They’re running. Some of them drop their possessions, and they don’t go back for them. Others trip in the road, and no one helps them up.
‘They’re from Alcana,’ Dane mutters.
‘Why are they in such a hurry?’ I can’t help but ask.
‘Weren’t we? They want to leave as much as we do,’ Kallum replies, and it doesn’t escape my notice that he’s speaking to me like I’m a person and not a prisoner or a slave.
I try not to feel anything, but a warmth fills me anyway, and I grimace at my idiotic self. Am I really this lonely and starved for affection?
Yes.
‘No,’ Grey says, and I’m ripped from my reverie, my eyes taking them in as they get closer.
Grey’s frown deepens. ‘The Isolationists won their coup. Fuck! They’re shutting the Gate again. Hurry!’
‘Won’t it already be closed?’ Kallum asks but begins to follow anyway.
‘No,’ Dane answers, shortening the rope and pulling me hard even though I’m keeping up with them. ‘There’s a machine deep in Alcana. The opening is instant, but the closing takes time. Around eight hours.’
‘But if it was opened at eighth chime last night …’
‘It closes at fourth chime this morning,’ Dane finishes for him.
‘But it must be almost that now.’
‘Move!’ Grey shouts.
He’s the first to get to the Gate, and we’re right behind him. My body is screaming, and I almost wish I’d taken the pain powder Kallum offered me on the road. Behind us, there are already three orc males part-way up the hill, bounding as quickly as their legs will take them in a frenzied rush to get to the Breach.
Grey looks back at us and nods. ‘See you on the other side.’
He steps through and vanishes, and I’m pulled by the rope into the abyss a second later, only to be cast out hard onto unfamiliar ground immediately with Kallum next to me.
There’s a high-pitched noise coming from the portal at our backs, and I hear someone yelling.
‘Get away from the Gate!’ bellows a voice I don’t recognize.
Kallum grabs my arm and drags me under him as something explodes through the Breach, covering us with bits that are warm and wet.
The roar of the portal cuts out, leaving us in the much quieter noises of a town or village just waking up for the day.
‘What is that stuff?’ someone nearby asks, sounding horrified.
