“Only broken ribs,” he said through clenched teeth. “Find Neri.”
Ysira readied herself to sprint through the wall of fire, but Eneva weakly called, “There’s a passage in the back.”
The Gatekeeper remained conscious, holding in her intestines. “Leads outside,” she mumbled. “Faster way to the Gate.”
The Gate.Of course, that was where Seth—Turil—would take Neri. Ysira told Jacen, “Get Ogden out. I’m right behind you.”
Jacen finally summoned the presence of mind to help Ogden hob-ble to the back of the library, to an ancient stone doorhalf-obscured by shelves. He rammed it with his shoulder to force it open.
Eneva grasped for Ysira, tears in her eyes. “Leave me. Go after him. Please.”
Ysira trusted Eneva Nal Karak about as much as she trusted any given person, which was not at all. She liked her even less. But the library was burning. In light of what Neri had done to that spider . . . If they lost Eneva, how much remained of the traditions that had safeguarded Naxal’s power for fifteen thousand years?
With Neri’s father on their doorstep, Ysira didn’t know what to expect. She only knew she feared it. She needed as many strong voices as possible to counter Ged’s.
Ysira yanked the red cloth off the table, preparing to wrap it around Eneva’s middle. But then she got a better look at the wound and saw the extent of the blood loss, the major arteries that must have been severed.
Eneva’s skin had gone clammy. Her fingers scrabbled at Ysira’s skirt. She was trying to say something but fading fast. Ysira dropped the cloth and leaned in to hear the Gatekeeper’s last words.
“Promise me,” Eneva choked. “Promise he doesn’t integrate. It’s too dangerous. Naxal isn’t—” She coughed up blood but pulled Ysira closer.“It’s changed.It’s not what we remember.”
In the stone passage beyond the library, Ysira caught up with Jacen and Ogden. At the question in Ogden’s eyes, she shook her head.
“I was trying to get into Seth’s mind,” Jacen was saying. “It felt . . . deep underwater, as if?—”
“Can you locate him?” Ysira interrupted. “And Neri?”
She barely breathed as Jacen concentrated, until he answered. “They’re headed toward the Gate.”
He did not need to add that, should Seth travel through the Gate, the goddess inhabiting his body would learn the path through the Source. The gods could send an army directly from their fortress below Zal Fel.
“How did this happen?” Ysira looked to Jacen, then Ogden. “I thought you said you buried the possessed man’s body.”
“We did,” Ogden croaked.
“I checked Seth that day. He was clean. I—” Jacen faltered. “Oh, gods. It was me. I didn’t let anyone checkme.I was too drunk to think of it.”
He fell silent, too horrified at himself to speak.
The passage opened along the river, through an inconspicuous arch of volcanic rock. From up the hill, where the library now stood engulfed in flames, Urien and an armored man—Mondral—hurried their way.
Ogden shook Jacen off as he helped him down to the sand. “I’ll live.” He fished in his robes, though it made him grimace with pain, and handed Ysira a white box. “This is the fastest-acting sedative I have. It may let you capture Seth alive. Captureher.Turil owes me answers before we destroy her.”
Ysira took the box. He must have been keeping it on his person for some time. “Who was this meant for?”
Ogden would not answer, but she knew by the look on his face.Neri.
In case he presented a danger they could no longer control.
Ysira asked, “What did Eneva tell you?”
“Stop wasting time” was all Ogden said. “Nothing’s changed, Ysira.” She managed a nod. She slipped the box into her belt pouch as Urien and Mondral arrived. Mondral carried a glaive in addition to his own weapon and tossed it at Ysira without a word, without even slowing his pace.
Urien waved them onward as he knelt beside Ogden. “Get to the Gate!”
Ysira and Jacen ran to catch Mondral. For the moment, the demon priest seemed capable of stowing his questions. They cut through the fields to a towering stone wall. A channel in the façade held a dilapidated elevator, which looked as though it had sat unused for decades.
Mondral ushered them on and turned a dial. A cluster of crystals overhead flared brighter. The cage shot up. Jacen, still fighting to catch his breath, gripped the rail with his mouth clamped tightly shut.
