Page 21 (1/1)

Trying to race to safety Hindered by the wind, which is returning to its source, blowing fiercely against us, a gale in the tunnel And not just the wind-it contains all the demons and undead which it’s captured They swirl and tuh the air, s, threaten to drag us back to their world with the our efforts to stand, we lie on our stomachs and crawl, side by side But even this would be impossible if ere normal, since the wind-and its captive demons-fills the tunnel

But we’re not noric and I use that power to protect us I draw froic ina barrier around us It doesn’t keep out the wind, butus Most, not all Soh and bundles us over, bruising or cutting us

Bran was laughing e started up the tunnel-he thought it was great fun He’s not laughing now Blood coats his face-I can see hiht ars uselessly by his side, snapped in two or three places

I’m in no better shape I have to pause frequently to wipe blood from my eyes A few of the toes on my left foot have been ripped off-I don’t stop for a close examination The tunic on my back has been torn to tattered shreds and nore the terrible pain Battle against the savage wind Shrug off the blows of the beastly de myself ever further up the tunnel, towards the pro The de spells took a lot out ofthe lodestone, but now I’le to move, never mind cast spells I want to abandon the shield and divert all of th to my flesh and bones, but I’d be swept aithin seconds if I did that, and Bran beside o It’s hard enough protecting myself If I halved the proble out alive

I turn a deaf ear to the treacherous thoughts, gasp as nails dig along the length of then the shield around us At the saht die-it didn’t require ht count in the end I don’t want to fall just short of the exit because of soht

Impossible to tell in the darkness howour way on, the wind deafening, de freely I can’t ic to root us to the floor e’re struck and on the point of being bloay Quick bursts instead of extended spells Dangerous-if I’m knocked unconscious, we’re doo else

How long is this damn tunnel! We came down so quickly-or was that a trick of my mind? What if it has soth to spite us? Is that possible? I don’t know I choose to believe it isn’t Otherwise despair will consume me and I’ll certainly fail

Onwards by slow, painful, bloody, hard-fought-for patches So sore and weak Struggling to breathe Every spell dug up fro each time I cast one,

"This is it The last spell I can’t do anyof power here, a gli bymy arm every few seconds to reassure himself that I’m here Poor Bran He didn’t ask for this The rest of us understood the risks Did he? No way of knowing He can cos, but howhi, heavy and fast, and

The thought dies unfinished

I can hear hi since we started crawling, because of the roar of the wind and screams of the demons I raise my head and realise the wind has died away It’s over Which ic and create light again It flares around us, blinding after the darkness I shut ainst it, then force the but rock, the pair of us buried alive, to die beneath the earth in a ready-made tomb

For a moment I think we’re lost, that we’ve won the battle but surrendered our lives in the process My heart sinks I ready ap! The exit still exists and we’re close to it The walls are just walls now, no traces of Brude’s veins or guts But they’re grinding together, the h space for us to get out but there won’t be for er We have toto my feet So weak, near the end of e One final effort Then we’ll be safe We can sleep Recover No demons We’ll have all the ti his head up He looks around, dazed, defeated Then he spots the opening and cries out with fresh hope He leaps up besidehappily

We reel towards the exit, a pair of barely living, impossibly weary spirits The hole in the rock continues to close, but at the sa as we are if we don’t collapse if we don’t give up

We’ll ly-that ainst us-but if we can er, I’ clatters intoout with pain and surprise Teeth lock around h to the bone I scream and try to shake ht fades But in the diht of my assailant-Lord Loss’s pet de head and a wo The pain is dreadful I screa at her with my free foot, to no effect

Then Bran’s by her side He tries to tug the demon loose When that fails, he kneels beside her andshakily After a few seconds Vein stops biting, lets go and yaps at Bran with delight, falling under his spell as she did before

As soon as I’m free, I freeze out the pain, leave Bran to deal with the deap My insides harden The delay’s ruined us The hole has been narrowing steadily We’re not going to make it, even if we pick up our pace I search withinto the very core of h power to propel us forward and shoot us to safety like a pair of arrows fired froicked out Enough for one last minor spell perhaps-definitely noon But I force it back and turnbut his eyes are flicking fro He knows I can’t make it in my condition He also knows that at the speed he can run, he could abandonto stay with ap shuts and seals our fate

"Bran," I sob "You have to go" He just sain the smile He won’t leave He’ll be my faithful friend forever He’d rather die by my side than skip free without h and reach out a hand Bran takes it, expecting only ets on top of that is the last of ic A swift, ie into his thoughts, of the hole, hi back And then, with all the ical force I can muster, I yell at hi without ht He flies up the tunnel, leaps through the hole and keeps on going, a te out a long, shuddering breath Alone at last-and daain, now that Bran’s gone, but she doesn’t I hear her growls, close to where I’m stranded, but for so the hole in the ever-fading light It’s the size of a baby now, closing all the time Narrower and narrower, until there’s barely roo the light before the hole shuts-this is just torture-when a face suddenly appears

It’s Bran The spell has passed and he’s coh, to be with me But the hole’s too sap and strains with all his ether The hole gets ser now

At the last moment, Bran presses his mouth up to the hole and roars with raw pain and loss, at the top of his voice, "Bec!" It’s the only tiuished cry stabs atto my eyes I open my mouth to shout his own name back, to offer whatever small shred of comfort I can but then the rock closes all the way and a fierce ru drowns out the echoes of Bran’s cry

I stare at the solid rock My ht fades Darkness