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At the bottom of the stairs, I took out the ring of rusted metal keys and began inserting them one by one into the lock.
“But what if the stone’s not here?” Kah said.
The problem was, we’d searched practically everywhere else in Malengard at this point, convincing me that if the Rathalans hadn’t found the stone, then it was hidden in some part of the old Jakeen ruins. “Then we’ll keep looking. We’ll tear this blazen city apart. I can’t go back home empty-handed. You know that!” I set my jaw, jamming the next key into the lock.
“Of course, I know that, but have you paused for a moment since we left Askeland to considerwhythe Kovak king wants the stone? We don’t even know what power the stone has. And you of all people know the king hasn’t been himself for months. What if he’s plotting something terrible?”
“Now’s not the time for this, Kah,” I said hotly. “And I don’t care what he does with the stone. I can’t let Lila die.” Most days, I could stay focused on our task, but Kah’s mention of the king made the painful memories of what happened back home swarm inside my chest like angry hornets.
When the bear king came after Lila, he arrived with exactly ten armed guards. I know because Kah and I rendered nine of them unconscious before the last one grabbed her, pressing his knife into her cheek until drops of blood mixed with the tears spilling down her face.
I love you, she’d mouthed right before the king’s guard dragged her away.
When she was gone, the Kovak king set his terms.Bring me the Zavien stone by the winter new moon, or her blood will be on your hands.
With that, he’d twisted the invisible knife in my gut. The winter new moon was supposed to be our wedding day. But if I didn’t find this blazen stone in time, it would be the day of her execution.
My blood ran hot at the thought. When I’d proposed to Lila, I promised her we’d never be apart. I promised to protect her. I promised to care for her. Now, months later, my broken promises tasted like ash on my tongue. I’d already failed Lila that day; I couldn’t fail her now.
With a loud click, the key rotated in the lock. “We’re in.”
3
Raven
Hen hadn’t spoken to me all afternoon, instead focusing on striking the wall with her axe over and over until her hands bled and shook. Several times, I opened my mouth to reassure her, to say that maybe we could find a way to escape, but the words didn’t come. We’d argued about it too many times before.You’re a fool if you think there’s a way out of here that’s not through the gates of the shadowlands, she’d said.No one escapes Malengard alive.
When the horn sounded for the day, the guards collected our tools, and we were given a meal of cold gruel and herded into the sleeping area. It was a cramped space near the mine entrance, underneath a low rock outcropping. We all slept on the hard ground, thankful to be crushed together like rats only because the threadbare blankets they gave us weren’t thick enough to contend with the chill of the caverns. With so many of us sick and dying, this area had always felt a few headstones short of graveyard.
Hen and I normally slept beside each other, but tonight, she insisted we split up and try to hide ourselves among the others. With everyone pushing and shoving to get a decent sleepingspot, I didn’t have time to protest. When she headed to the far corner of the sleeping area without me, it felt like we were miles apart.
A chorus of moans and snores rose around me. I tugged anxiously at the metal collar around my neck. Falling asleep right now felt even more impossible than using magic. Just the thought of Meat’s filthy hands on my skin was enough to keep me wide awake for the rest of my life.
As much as I wanted Meat dead, I knew killing him would only make the situation worse. Months ago, a dead mineguard was found with a pickaxe stuck in his back. For all we knew, another guard could have put it there, but it didn’t matter. Afterward, the minemaster tortured and executed one worker an hour until the man who did it finally stepped forward. He was killed on the spot.
So, despite what Hen would say, my thoughts turned toward plans of escape.
I ran through scenarios in my head. Fighting our way out. Impersonating a guard. Staging a coup with other workers. Pretending to be dead so they carted our bodies away. Sneaking out.
I considered the last option. There was a small alcove near the mine entrance, to the right of the wide set of stairs that led to the surface. The guards knew about the alcove, but from what I could tell, they rarely checked it. If Hen and I could hide there and somehow create a distraction that drew the guards away from the entrance, we might be able to make it up to the surface. But then what? There was no way to know what we’d encounter at the top. There could be a locked gate or a hundred guards or an army of man-eating spiders, for all I knew.
No one escapes Malengard alive.Hen’s words in my head snubbed out any spark of hope, making way for darker feelingsto crawl inside my chest. She was right. All my ideas were worthless dead ends. What were we going to do?
I rubbed my face, forcing the tears back. Whenever I was anxious or scared, my first impulse was to sing to myself. I found it comforting to feel the warmth of a song fill my throat and wash over my heart, and to know there was some part of myself that hadn’t been completely lost. Of course, Hen had put a stop to that the moment we met.Don’t draw attention to yourself, she’d told me so many times that I’d since forgotten where her thoughts ended and mine began.
I tried not to fidget from frustration, but I suddenly felt like I was suffocating. I flipped over twice, unable to get comfortable. Anyone who was restless in this heap of bodies was assured to get a firm elbow jab in the ribs. Sure enough, the man next to me grunted and kicked me in the shin.
I drew my foot back to return the kick when I caught sight of movement in the corner of the sleeping area. Suddenly, I was on alert. A shadowy figure was stepping in between the sleeping bodies. The coiled whip dangling from the figure’s belt told me this wasn’t a restless worker; it was a guard. Not just any guard—I could tell by the slight limp that it was Meat.
My blood ran cold when the torchlight glinted off the knife in his hand. Seconds later, he’d attached a chain to a girl’s collar and was dragging her back into the main area of the mine. No one tried to stop him.
When the girl’s face caught the light, I gasped.
Hen.
No, no, no!
Panicked, I shot up, barely noticing when I got kicked in the shins again. Not knowing what else to do, I grabbed the nail I kept hidden in my shoe and crept out of the sleeping area after Hen, ignoring the silent eyes watching me.
