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But the door at the top of the stairs was unlocked. Than threw it open, and finally, we emerged into the open. We stopped and filled our lungs with pure, sweet air, heavy with the scent of night flowers.
I inhaled again and again, replacing the rotten dungeon crud with the sultry, warm balm of a Fae night.
“We’re not free yet. We still have to cross the gardens and get over the wall.”
Than was moving again, and I had no choice but to follow. Damn, I was so tired. At least there weren’t any shouts of discovery behind us. Yet.
My breath came in ragged gasps as we hurried past the dark outlines of trees and shrubs. Soon, we reached a wall too high to climb, well away from the guarded main entrance.
Than looked up. “I might be able to throw you over, but I don’t think I can scale it.”
He turned, reaching for me. I backed away. Did he think I’d leave him behind? “No. We’re both getting out of here.”
Taking a long breath to center myself, I dug deep. I could do this, even though my legs trembled with exhaustion.
“Come on, Beth. One last push,” I muttered to myself.
Closing my eyes, I reached for the artifact’s power. It seemed to have recharged in the time we’d run across the gardens. I glared at it. “Especially since you sucked my blood, you—”
I stopped myself before I insulted the damn thing. What if it took offense and stopped working? Or worse, worked too well and took another chunk of flesh out of my hand?
I mumbled the incantation instead. The amulet glowed, then erupted into a blinding light that blew the wall’s huge stones outward.
Chapter twelve
BETH
ThanandIstaredat each other, our mouths hanging open with shock. I was the first to recover, and I prodded him to move. Together, we climbed through the hole.
Shouts of alarm rang through the night. It wouldn’t take long for our pursuers to catch up with us if we didn’t run like the wind.
We were a good few yards beyond the external wall when searing pain shot through my arm, making me stumble. The amulet was fighting me, sucking back the magic it had pushed through me. Where it touched my skin, the drain was at its most painful, and I fell to one knee.
Struggling to breathe, I tried to throw the cursed thing away, but it had latched onto my hand and sucked and sucked. The deep pull went beyond my body into the space where my innermost reservoir of magic lived.
“What is it?” Than pulled me back to my feet, his face terrified.
The burning suction stopped as quickly as it had begun. Was it my imagination, or had the amulet grown? It had fit into my palm before, but now, I couldn’t close my fingers around it. Maybe the mage hadn’t been killed by the guards after all. I shuddered at the thought.
“It’s a magical leech. That’s what it is.”
“They’re coming!” Than grabbed my hand, and we tumbled into the dimly lit streets of Emlyn.
Somebody shouted behind us. “They are escaping. No need to catch them alive!”
Oh man, they weren’t kidding around. We looked at each other and ran faster. The threat of imminent death mobilized whatever reserves I had left, even though my knees wobbled and my heart felt like it was about to explode.
Than knew Emlyn’s alleyways like the back of his hand, and soon, we left the pursuers behind. Then we came to a low wall separating the town from the meadow. I stopped running when I recognized the place. I’d nearly met my end here. Than had other ideas. He gripped my hand tightly and vaulted over the barrier.
“Than, stop. There are monsters here,” I shouted.
But he didn’t slow down. “There are monsters behind us as well. I’d rather die out here than at the swords of Prys’s men.”
He wouldn’t say that if he knew what I knew. Last time I’d been here, a hag had lured me in and would have killed me if Bleddyn hadn’t saved me. My vision darkened as the panic set in. I tried to slow down, but I might as well have stopped a runaway train. Than only ran faster.
But nothing happened as we rushed past the spot where the hag had tried to strangle me.Maybe even monsters needed sleep.Than put on a burst of speed toward the black forest on the other side of the meadow. I stumbled, my legs finally giving out. Without faltering, he picked me up and continued running as I squeezed my eyes shut, swallowing the moans of protest.
Once we’d entered beyond the first trees, he slowed down. An unforgiving landscape stretched out before us, filled with twisted trunks and treacherous terrain. If we’d been out in the open, I could have used the travel runes, but that wasn’t possible inside the forest. At least it would slow down our pursuers as well.
