I deserve it at any rate.
‘Come,’ Warrior says, taking her arm in a tight grip. ‘Let’s begin putting this gift of yours to good use. One of those cocks guarding the Ring was rude to me earlier. I want him to pay before we enter the Breach.’
He pulls Bryn along easily but before he’s taken her two steps, she seems to fall into the side of his body as if she’s tripped.
But Warrior doubles over with a groan and I see that one of his own jeweled knives is buried in his side to the hilt. She didn’t fall into him at all, she was stealing his knife to stab him.
She watches like a bystander, her face blank, as he collapses into one of the nearby chairs and his eyes fall shut.
‘Go,’ I wheeze at her. ‘He won’t be dead for long. Flee while you can. However you can.’
But she walks over to me.
‘You brought me here,’ she says. It’s not an accusation, just the truth as she remembers it.
‘I did.’
She frowns at me, looking puzzled. ‘Why are you chained? You’re a master.’
‘Don’t worry,’ I say, ‘I deserve it, Bryn. Trust me.’
Her eyes close tightly. ‘You… There’s something you were going to do. We had a…a deal.’
‘Yes.’
‘You were going to take me somewhere. But you didn’t.’
‘The Light Realm.’
Her quick intake of breath flays me. But then she smiles, hope brightening her dull eyes.
‘The Light Realm,’ she whispers, her awe palpable. ‘Are we close?’
‘We’re close. Two Gate journeys. One to Merediea and then another to the Light.’
She turns away without a word and I think she’s leaving me, but instead she casually turns over one of the orcs and comes back a moment later with a key.
‘You brought me here. You’re my way out. I must survive. Take me there and I’ll free you.’
I nod even as my conjure on her motivations becomes apparent by the way she speaks. There’s only one thing on her mind. Survival. She’ll do whatever she must to ensure it. I long to take the magick off her, and I will as soon as I’m able, but her drive to live may well save us both.
‘I’ll take you to the Light Realm. I vow it,’ I say, using the binding words I didn’t say the first time.
The time she doesn’t truly remember.
She reaches up and puts the great key into the padlock, turning it slowly. The iron chains fall away and, with them no longer holding me up, I sink to the floor, breathing heavily.
My magick begins to return immediately. It’s weak, but it’s hopefully enough to get us out of here without anyone noticing us.
I force myself to my feet and fight the vertigo that assails me. I realize how ravaged my body is from the weeks I’ve been locked up here.
She ignores me, going to a table laden with food, filling a pack she’s found somewhere, and stuffing her mouth full along the way. She finds a jug of wine and sniffs it, but then glances around the room of corpses and wisely puts it back.
I lurch over to Bere, rifling through his pack to find the belt he stole from me. I quickly check all my pouches and see that most of my possessions seem to be intact.
‘Come,’ I say, grabbing one of the money bags that the orcs were throwing around during their wagers as an afterthought because we’ll need coin in Merediea until we can travel to the Light.
We leave the chamber and enter a smaller, round cavern with polished black walls. There’s a cell at one end where a huge demon lounges behind iron bars.
