He barely registered the move to a cell, until he was thrown onto a cold, damp floor, the chains around his wrist rubbing the skin raw. Asher stayed where he lay, letting the stone seep into his skin. At some point he’d lost his coat, but he couldn’t remember when, or where it could have gone. With only his shirt, the cold quickly bit into every one of his nerves, turning his body numb.

Part of him was screaming, a piece of his mind buried under cold and pain was desperate to find a way to get out. There were no spirits in the tiny cell, and very little light, and even if he was willing to find a way to break out, he couldn’t move. It hurt to breathe.

They were going to hang him.

Even if he did manage to escape – and escape was his only option – he didn’t know what he could do to fix this. He could collapse the tunnels in on themselves and destroy every paper and every record of that place, but the gate would still be breaking apart. An entire city was gone, and so many in Dalvany were gone as well. He was alone; if Hadley was right, he was the only one here. The only witch. The last witch. One person could not fix all of this. He didn’t even know who he could reach out to. Sara? Norrah?

It didn’t matter if he was stuck here.

His body was still, not shaking like it had been in the inn. The dread and fear that had been so complete when he saw the cells had faded too. There was only numbness. He was weak, he knew that. He was in pain. Magic wasn’t going to help him. There was nothing he could do.

If he could do something, it probably wouldn’t be enough. He didn’t know what he could do. There wasn’t any training he could take on closing the Gate. Maybe it was a mercy that he would hang before everything was destroyed. No… he didn’t want to just let it happen, not after everything, but what could he do?

He wondered if it would hurt. Some deaths were supposed to be quick and painless, but he’d never believed it to be a fact when no one could say for sure what death really felt like. Hopefully his neck would snap on the drop and he wouldn’t asphyxiate. It was a morbid hope, but it was all he could ask for.

He might have closed his eyes for a moment, or fallen asleep for hours – there was no way to tell – but he woke to damp cold clinging to his face. A waterskin sat between him and the bars, it’s contents spilling out over the already damp ground, adding to the smell of mould and must. Digging his nails into the groves of the floor, he dragged himself forward, letting the water soak into the front of his shirt, until he could pull himself up against the bars. Sitting upright, he picked up the waterskin and let the remaining drops fall onto his cracked lips. The tiny amount only made his throat burn more.

Footsteps echoed somewhere in the distance, fast and sure and loud, and Asher’s stomach lurched. He was still too weak, too mentally foggy to consider an escape plan. This was it. He was about to die.

The footsteps came closer, then Lady Adalynn Norrah rushed into view. She recoiled at the sight of him.

‘Askjik!’ she cried. ‘You look horrendous.’

Asher shifted, taking in this woman who he never expected to be here. She wore a travellers cloak, her boots heeled and her hair neat, presented in a way he hadn’t seen since she first arrived. ‘Don’t tell me you’re involved in this too,’ he muttered. It didn’t make sense if she was; she was a surprise to everyone at Dalvany, and Magnus had mentioned how much trouble it had been to work against her.

‘I have no idea what you mean, and that should answer your question,’ Norrah said. She eased forward, as if afraid he would lash out and attack her. ‘All I know is guards are coming in an hour or so to hang you.’

‘Is that how you found me?’ Asher asked. His voice was weak and hoarse, but Norrah showed no sign she couldn’t hear him.

‘In a sense,’ Norrah said. ‘You have made some unusual friends.’

Asher raised an eyebrow in question.

‘Mrs Golharie approached me in quite a state,’ Norrah said. ‘She told me where you were, and that you needed help. The oddity came when she explained that she would explain everything, as long as I allowed her to write a letter home before she hung with you.’

‘Did you?’ Asher asked. ‘Arrest her?’

‘I told her to go home,’ Norrah said. ‘I’ve already made my stance on all of this quite clear. It’s why I’ve come here to collect you.’

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‘Is that going to do anything?’ Asher asked. ‘I doubt the Captain will let anyone clear my name.’

Norrah’s lip curled. ‘Captain Delana needs to learn she is not the one in charge of this province.’

‘You’re offering to protect me?’ Asher asked. He wondered how long that would last. He wasn’t about to curl up in a corner and wait for the Gate to tear the world apart. Anything else he tried to do would only put him back here.

Norrah dropped down onto her knees, folding herself into a sitting position on the other side of the bars. ‘You’ve already given up,’ she said.

Asher didn’t say anything.

‘I know why you are here,’ Norrah continued. ‘The same reason you disappeared, why everyone was suddenly looking for you. You’ve learned something, haven’t you? About what is going on? If you’re not going to let me grant you sanctuary, can you at least tell me that?’

Asher met her gaze. His vision was blurred around the edges. He considered telling her about the Gate, about how it would break open and wreak even more havoc on Dalvany, and probably all of Tarinye, but she wouldn’t believe him without proof. She didn’t believe in magic; and he had nothing but his words.

‘Asher, talk to me,’ Norrah said. ‘This madness has to end. If you won’t let me do this the legal way, then I will find a key and turn the other way. I need to know that you are still on the right side here. Tell me that all of this is still in service of everyone struggling above your head right now.’

Everyone. There was so much weight in that world. Everyone. Every single person he had interacted with, and all those he hadn’t, would see the same chaos that dragged him into all of this. ‘Everyone is going to die,’ he mumbled.

Penn had said those exact same words. It felt like an old dream, a fragment of a memory that flittered to the surface and vanished. He laughed despite himself. The version of him who had heard those words wouldn’t have seen any of this as possible.

‘I fail to see how any of this is funny,’ Norrah said.

‘Irony,’ Asher mumbled.

‘I hope your little spout of madness comes with an explanation.’

‘You wouldn’t believe me,’ Asher said.

Norrah’s brow furrowed. ‘I’ve come all this way to at least hear you,’ she said. ‘This right here is your problem; you must realise that. Even if you come across as a lunatic, I am not so cold to completely dismiss you. This isn’t just about you, Lieutenant. Every single person in this town is afraid, and confused, and you leave them to that state by hiding the truth. Even if you are insane, you must realise that. You are still here to help the people, aren’t you?’

The words stung, but he could hear the frustration in her voice. The fear. ‘You don’t believe in witches,’ he pointed out.

‘No, I do not,’ Norrah said. ‘But I’ll pretend for the moment that I do.’

‘What about the Underlands?’ Asher asked. ‘Does your Kingdom have any stories about that?’

Norrah’s eyebrow arched. ‘You’re asking about folklore?’

Asher took that as a yes. ‘It’s a real place,’ he said. ‘And it’s about to open its doors and destroy everything it can get its hands on.’

Norrah frowned. ‘Back home, the Gate to the Underlands was shut because one of the Three were asleep. You’d be suggesting that they’re waking up and this is the end of the world.’

‘Wouldn’t surprise me,’ Asher mumbled. Though he hadn’t heard anything about that yet. It only made the coming execution more real and impending.

‘What am I supposed to do with that?’ Norrah asked. ‘Is that really all you know? That the world is about to end?’

‘It’ll probably start in Dalvany,’ Asher said. ‘If it’s in the same places as before, then your best bet is south. Into the woods, or Ralkauda.’ He sighed. ‘I don’t know how it’s going to work. Just that it’s centred on Dalavany.’

‘Let me guess, it was centred on Valenda,’ Norrah said.

‘It seemed so,’ Asher mumbled.

Something thudded above, making both of them flinch. It was almost time. Asher wondered if there was something he could do, even if he died, if there was a way he could go out with at least his dignity in tact. If that was even possible.

‘I should go,’ Norrah said. ‘We’ve run out of time for me to help you. I hope you understand that I came here with the intention to help.’

‘There’s nothing you could have done,’ Asher mumbled. ‘Lord Barque doesn’t see you as someone of respect. He wouldn’t listen.’

‘Yes, I did notice that.’ Norrah sighed and pulled herself to her feet, brushing off her cloak. ‘I’m sorry, Asher,’ she said. ‘If it means anything, I know what it’s like to be alone. It’s the reason why I came here to Tarinye.’

‘Is that why you stayed?’ Asher asked.

Norrah shifted. ‘I stayed because people asked me to, needed me to. I don’t regret the decisions I’ve made. Can you at least tell me the same thing.’

‘I would have liked not getting caught,’ Asher mumbled. ‘But no, I don’t think I would have done anything differently.’

Norrah turned and marched down the hall, then stopped before she disappeared around the corner. ‘The crime they are hanging you for is witchcraft. I can see that you believe the story you’ve told me, enough that some of it might be true, but…’ she shifted again, and she looked so much like the young girl she supposedly was that it hurt to think how much he had just put on her shoulders. ‘Do you really believe yourself to be a witch?’

The thud echoed above again; this time louder. Asher met Norrah’s gaze, trying to muster as much strength as he had left. ‘I am a witch,’ he said.

Norrah stared, her brows furrowed in thought. ‘I see,’ she said.

She then turned and disappeared.

The words hung in the air, pressing down heavy on the new silence. I am a witch. It was a relief to say it so surely. A weight off his shoulders that almost eased the pain covering his body. Almost. Everything he’d been afraid of had come to pass, and his hands weren’t shaking anymore. It was finally starting to make sense. The only downside was how little time he had with this peace. The last witch left, for about five minutes, and Norrah would be the only one who would ever know.

Unless she wasn’t.

Maybe the madness had set in, but if he was going to die, he didn’t need to worry about his professionalism anymore. Maybe he could tell people exactly what was happening, what would happen with no witches to defend the Gate.

He could at least warn them.