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The shackle’s pin anchored deep in the bedrock remained immobile, its unfeeling bulk apathetic to my suffering. But the joint attaching my wrist cuffs to the longer chain revolted, links twisting and popping free under the torque. I gasped as the broken chain fell away, hardly daring to believe my eyes.
Freedom’s wine coursed through my veins, dulling any lingering pains. Cautiously, I stretched my arms forward, half fearful the liberty would prove another mirage. The broken chain lay inanimate and real. After endless hardship, something had gone right for once. Lady Luck was a fickle mistress, but perhaps she smiled upon me now.
My next several breaths were spent wrestling down swelling elation before it could undo me. Escape was still distant—I had slipped but one of many snares. But with workable room to maneuver, at last, possibilities beckoned.
Wrapping the trailing chain around one fist for crude leverage, I fell upon the obsidian plate with contained fury, striking strategically at its fault line again and again. The mortar securing it was weakened by age, no match for my clan’s prodigious strength once applied properly. Soon it fractured fully, loosening at last the shackles’ pin.
With a final mighty blow, the plate shattered. The iron cuffs slackened around my ankles. I wrested my legs free, ignoring the sting of abraded skin. My pulse roared with triumph and urgency. I was halfway unbound—the shackles yet imprisoning my wrists must be next.
Standing once more in defiance, I unleashed an earth-shaking roar. Its echoes reverberated through the endless cavern and returned to me undimmed—a fearsome reminder of the power still at my command. I would need every ounce of that ancient might to shred these unholy bonds. Seraphina was waiting. I could not fail her now.
I scraped away at the iron door’s rusted hinges with my chain leash until one splintered pin finally worked free, then another, resulting in a loud groan as the metallic slab fell asunder, slamming on the ground and lifting a cloud of dust and debris in its wake.
At last, I faced the gaping void, heart stampeding with exhilaration and primal fear. The flickering gleam of torchlight spilled inside the chamber.
I walked to the threshold. Cautiously, I peered out into the crumbling stone corridor, senses straining for any signs of life. An uneasy silence hung, but it could not disguise the lingering stench of brutish guards. The oafs were near, though shock at my impossible escape may have stunned them for the moment. I had to act swiftly, before they raised alarms.
The scuff of heavy boots on gritted stone sent a jolt through me. Further down the hall, two hulking silhouettes advanced, scimitars glinting orange in the guttering light. So much for slipping away unnoticed. Now my only path was through them.
I melted into the deeper gloom, letting shadow cloak my waiting form. Patience was my ally—let them come to me and make the first fatal mistake.
The guards approached my cell warily, muttering in their harsh tongue. Clearly, they expected a desperate prisoner, not an apex predator awaiting his hapless prey. Fools.
When they stood frozen at the doorway, blinking into the wreckage, I struck. With blinding speed, I seized the first guard’s sword arm, snapping it like a dry branch before his scream faded.
The other stumbled back, fumbling with his blade in shock. But terror soon claimed him. He turned to flee, spurred by self-preservation. In that moment, I became the monster mythologized in their campfire tales—the demon with wings of stone and eyes of hellfire.
With an earth-shaking roar, I fixed the brute in my merciless glare. He screamed and dropped his weapon, scrambling wildly to escape my wrath.
Message delivered. None would dare bar my passage again.
CHAPTER30
Sera
The narrow passageopened up suddenly into a vast courtyard. Our footsteps echoed eerily off soaring walls, lost to shadow. The esplanade stretched before us, a barren expanse leading to the heart of the complex.
I strained to see through the gloom. A hundred feet ahead, a solitary metal door marked the entrance. Somewhere beyond lay Rhys, running out of time. Glancing skyward, I could just glimpse the full moon’s spectral glow overhead. Midnight fast approached.
We advanced cautiously across the open floor, senses pitched for the slightest threat. But only an oppressive silence answered. Where was the battalion of guards that should be swarming to stop our infiltration? Unease coiled tighter in my chest. Something was deeply wrong here.
I exchanged an anxious glance with Aleric. His tawny eyes mirrored my dread. Our path had been far too clear up to now. This eerie abandonment felt like the calm at the eye of a storm soon to be unleashed.
Steeling myself, I pressed forward. Rhys needed us, no matter what horrors lay in wait within. I would face down the goddess of death herself to reach him if necessary.
We were halfway across the esplanade when an earsplitting boom rented the air. I flung up an arm to shield my face as the metal door flew off its hinges, clanging loudly amidst a cloud of debris. Fresh adrenaline surged through my veins. Someone was coming.
Squinting against the swirling grit, I struggled to discern the emerging figure through slitted eyes. Large, imposing... and moving with a stumbling gait that could only signal injury.
Realization speared through me.
“Rhys!” I cried out, reckless with dizzying relief. He was here, escaped somehow on his own and limping painfully into the moonlit walk.
I rushed forward heedlessly, consumed only with reaching his side. But a sharp tremor rocked the stone beneath my feet, the mighty convulsion throwing me violently off-balance. I collapsed to my knees with a gasp, pain jolting through my legs.
Around me, the others also struggled to keep their footing as seismic shudders threatened to split ancient rock itself. Dread constricted my chest, the unnatural quaking harbinger of something far more sinister than a mere earthquake.
Gritting my teeth, I fought through the tremors towards Rhys where he had also fallen to his knees ahead. If we were to face some unknown evil, it would be side by side. I gained agonizing footing and staggered the last distance just as an ear-splitting crack resounded overhead.
