“Ease up on the energy,” Hanon said from behind her in the darkness.

Mel felt a hand on her shoulder and his fingers pressing into her collarbone, almost dragging her backwards. “I’m not using too much,” Mel said.

Hanon huffed out an exasperated breath, his hand staying on her flesh, and Mel felt herself lean back toward him. Sweat tickled her brows, and she brushed dirt off her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

“I know you are. You’re swaying, Melissa. Your body can’t take this much pressure and you need to leave some energy reserves in your center. You might kill yourself like this.”

Mel took a step back, almost connecting with his body before she turned around, facing Hanon. She could barely see him in the dim light radiating from his skin. His eyes were piercing black, and she felt the hum of his center close to her. She released an exhale she’d been holding inside and slumped against the raspy wall to her left.

It was newly carved through the rock and small pieces of dust immediately fell around her shoulders as she leaned against it. They’d forged their way through, building a tunnel just big enough to fit a single person standing tall, perhaps two if they both had the same size as Mel. She was exhausted, and she knew Hanon was too, even though he kept berating her technique and saying she was doing everything in the wrong way.

It frustrated her, but every time his voice rose to tell her to ease up with the energy, she could hear her ears ringing and the tension in her neck pulsing. Like he wasn’t the one pointing these things out to her, but that her body was. It was screaming at her to slow down, to ease into earth magic. But Mel just couldn’t listen. She knew she was responsible for the survivors being stuck on the other side of this tunnel. On the other side of Aldrion.

They were being turned one after the other into shadows, and Mel couldn’t really blame anyone but herself. If she hadn’t killed that dragon, if she hadn’t slain her own kin, then perhaps none of this would’ve been necessary. Her hand flew up to her neck, pressing her index finger and thumb into the curve just above her collarbone. The pressure released some of the pulsing in her head and made her focus on what was in front of her.

A light shimmered through the darkness behind Hanon, coloring the gray rocks brown, and Mel knew the earth shakers were checking on them again. Mila’s hammer became a beacon in the tunnel and Mel saw the droplets of sweat trailing down Hanon’s face as she got closer. It was warm in here, warmer than Mel might have expected. The force of pressing the earth together into tight little knots heated the air around them into a balmy oven. She thought they might soon be able to melt silver in here if they kept this up.

Mila looked between the two of them, letting her gaze trace the lines of Mel’s face and then back over at Hanon’s once more. She noticed the strange tension in the air. Mel could see it in the stretch of her lips. But she seemed to pretend like she hadn't, sticking the map up between them.

“I think you should stop,” Mila said. ”At least for now. Come out from here and take a break. We’re not as far from town hall as we thought. It seems like this first path was carved further across Aldrion than this map detailed. I think we’re close now, too close.”

A small rumble sounded from somewhere inside the mountain and Mel thought it might be coming from the dungeon. If they were close to town hall now, perhaps they were close enough to hear screams from the other side. Mel swallowed hard and focused her gaze on the map. “Where are we?”

Mila’s index finger traced a line beneath the town square and up toward the western gate. “Somewhere here, I think. But we can’t know for sure. We need to figure out how much we might have drifted and then account for it. We don’t want to overshoot the dungeon system and head straight into the side of the mountain.”

“And how do we do that?” Mel asked.

Hanon stood stone faced next to them, but he let his gaze trail over to Mila now.

She shook her head. “You two have done enough for now. No offense, but you look like shit. I will call for Taveck and we’ll see if we can figure this out. Perhaps we will need you for the final push. So wait nearby for his command.”

Mel wanted to argue. To say that it was her responsibility to make this happen. But the fight had left her body by now and some of what Hanon had warned her about had started to seep into her bones. She didn’t want to push too hard. To get herself into a coma state once again, like what had happened when she imbued titanium with her own energy at the dragon forge. That had been inconvenient, to say the least, and Mel didn’t wish to be out of it for a day or two right now. She needed to be here when they left for the valley. She needed to be able to carry herself to safety.

Hanon and Melissa hung back for a while in the room where they’d first met Mila and Henry. They watched soldiers circling around the small space like sharks, waiting for a prey to stalk. They watched Austin stride past, only sending them a silent glance and a nod before ducking into the tunnel with Mila and Henry.

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After what felt like hours, Mel watched Oliver coming into the space with a silver imbue clutched to his hilt. He met Austin at the opening to the tunnel and they exchanged a few sentences between them before turning to Hanon and Mel.

Mel's breath caught in her lungs and she knew now was the time. She hadn’t been able to move her body since she sat down on the floor in the room, but now she found herself rising to her feet from only a glance. Butterflies circled in her stomach and she felt energy pulse through her limbs. She was ready to save them. She was ready to redeem herself.

Austin took a step forward and put his hand on her arm. “We need you two to push the last way. It can’t be far, but I think we need to act now. We’ve received intel that the shadows seemed focused on something in the mountain pass and I would hate to let this opportunity slip. This could be the best chance we get to extract the survivors.”

Mel noticed the side of his lips slanting downward and a confused frown spread over her forehead. “Yes, but that’s good, right?”

Austin’s eyes bore into her. The lines around his mouth stretched but never lifted. “You’ve spent too much of yourself. I’m worried you will push too hard, Melissa. Please, after you and Hanon clear the way, let us take care of the rest.”

“But I want to help,” she said. “I want to save them.”

Austin nodded, and Hanon stepped up beside them from his resting spot on the floor.

“You already are,” Austin said. “Please, do as I say.”

Mel’s gaze slipped to Hanon, and he was watching her too. His lips pressed together into a thin line, worry etched on his face. They were all worried about her. It made her feel warm and tingly at the base of her spine, but also frustrated and angry. A little light-headed, perhaps. Just the kind you’d get from doing too much. Perhaps she had done too much.

She took a step back and gestured for Hanon to lead the way back inside the narrow tunnel. Only throwing a quick glance over her shoulder at Austin, who stood watching her before she disappeared into the darkness.

At the end of the path, Mila stood with her map pointing in the direction she needed them to clear. Hanon took a step in front of Mel, blocking off the path for her, and she squirmed behind him. He leaned back, whispering, “I’ll take care of this one. You did good. Now step back, please.”

Mel let out a frustrated sigh and took a small step back, watching him suck air into his lungs and twist the sound coming from his chest into the earth tone. It rang clear in her mind and Hanon pushed his hands toward the rock, coaxing it to press together into a tight mass. It only took him a couple of pushes to clear the rest of the tunnel and then light trickled in from the other side.

It was not the same light as from Mila’s hammer, but it had a whitish tint to it and Mel swallowed hard. A few stones pummeled to the ground on the other side and when the dust settled, a chamber revealed itself, holding stacks of barrels against the walls. It was quiet inside, but beyond the small room, footsteps could be heard and someone coughing in the distance.

Mel took another step forward, glancing over Hanon’s shoulder and heard his breathing coming in sharp bursts. His body was tense beside her and the three of them stood there like sardines in a can, pressed together in a tight confound. No one dared to move, afraid of what they had uncovered and of what was lurking beyond the chamber.

A hand tugged at Mel’s back, and Mila was taking quiet footsteps away from the opening. Mel didn’t follow her, even though she knew she should have. Instead, she took one step out from the tunnel and into the room just as Hanon did. Together they watched the barrels around them and waited for backup, holding their breaths tightly to not make too much sound.

There was a nervous energy surrounding them and Mel saw Hanon’s eyelids droop more for every second they stood there. She noticed the unusual slump in his posture and his hand resting on one of the barrels, trying to hold himself up. She didn’t dare say anything, but she knew he hadn’t walked back because he couldn’t. Not now when his knees looked like they’d buckle at any time. She should have helped him, refused to let him push the last stretch alone, but she hadn’t. Too focused on her own frustration to see her friend struggling just as much as she did.

After a few more seconds, soldiers filed into the room with them, stepping carefully around the small pebbles that littered the ground. Mel walked up next to Hanon, snaking an arm around his waist and holding up his back. He didn’t argue with her or shove her away. Instead, he leaned on her, resting his head on her shoulder. She took his weight, feeling like this was where she was needed.

A few minutes later, the soldiers had knocked down the door to expose the rest of the dungeon and Mel saw through the slit in between the people crowding the space how two shadows turned. A figure standing on his knees on the floor between them and a dark mass hanging suspended in the air. She fought down the impulse to choke. She knew what it felt like to have the void inside her.

The figure was beaten, caked blood hanging from his gray-streaked beard. He looked up then, opening his eyes, and there was a glint in the rich brown of his irises. A familiar crease to his eyebrows that made Mel’s eyes water. She pressed Hanon’s body closer to her as if she could will the shadows to spare him. It was her master, her teacher, her role model. Master Foss’s eyes found her somehow between the soldiers and the elemental warriors and the shadows. His eyes recognized her and a smile tugged at his lips.

Austin and the other elemental warriors fought against the shadows and quickly they were pulling back. Austin didn’t let them leave, didn’t let them call for help. Instead, he locked them down in small blocks of ice, pressing the smokey tendrils of their bodies to the stone. Two soldiers dragged Master Foss to his feet, and he looked wobbly against their strong bodies.

Hanon tugged at her shirt then, calling her back into the chamber with him. Mel looked at him and he nodded to her. “Please, help me back.”

She dragged his arm around her shoulder and together they pushed through the tunnel, leaving sounds of struggling people behind them. She knew Austin and Master Foss would be fine now, and she also knew they wouldn’t have much time when the rest of the shadows found out what had happened.