Once again, Meleng kept his eyes open. They were soon over the top of the Hall of Knowledge, and then over the western stretches of Quorge, the buildings looking tiny beneath them. Dizziness and nausea did not cause him any problems. His heart still beat furiously though. Not fear of heights, but worry about whether Feviona had the directions correct. What if the Blood had lied? He’d given the information under duress, after all. It was not the most reliable method of interrogation. And even if the directions were correct, could they get there fast enough? Feviona was a fast flyer, yes, but she had her limits, and if the tunnel was long enough to pass out of the city—which seemed to be the case given the direction they were flying—her speed might not be enough.

Meleng took a deep breath and reminded himself that Jorvan, Pedrin, Angelida, and the other wizards at the Hall would do what they could to ensure Sinitïa’s safety and deal with Mitchal Plavin. By the time Meleng and Feviona got there, maybe Plavin would already be dead and Sinitïa safe.

He didn’t really believe that, but he tried.

After what seemed an eternity, Feviona slowed and began circling. They were over the fields southwest of the city. Feviona circled a couple times, before heading downwards. They appeared to be headed towards a rocky outcropping. Meleng wished he could take out the magnifying lens, but he didn’t dare let go of Feviona.

They landed off to the side of the rocks, behind a hill of snow.

There is a guard, Feviona said. He probably saw us, but don’t worry. I will take care of him.

She clearly had the better vision, because Meleng had noticed no one while they were flying.

Feviona bent over and took several breaths. She stumbled a little.

Meleng moved so she could see him. You okay?

She stood up and nodded. Just tired, as I said. I have used a lot of energy. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. She patted his shoulder, then traced several equations over her chest, arms, legs, and wings.

Of course. She wasn’t just using magic to destroy Bloods’ armour or augment her sword. She was augmenting herself as well. No wonder she was low on energy.

Feviona drew her sword—his sword. Or maybe he should think of it as their sword. Yes, that was what he would do.

Wait here. Feviona spread her wings and flew off.

Please be careful, Meleng signed, but she was facing the wrong way to see him. He sighed. It would do no good if she killed herself saving Sinitïa. He wanted them both alive.

There was a cry from the rocks. A moment later, Feviona flew up into sight and waved him over. Then she lowered out of sight again.

Meleng hurried as quickly as he could over the mostly unbroken snow. After a short while, the ground gradually became a mix of dirt and rubble, as well as snow. Feviona stood in front of an opening in the outcropping, a dead Blood at her feet. The opening wasn’t quite a cave entrance, more like a mine entrance. It was rectangular in shape and there were wooden support beams. In front of the opening were broken pieces of timber and piles of rock.

It seemed a rather obvious entrance. It was surprising no one had found it before. It must have been closed off and hidden somehow. That would explain all the rubble.

We need to be quick. Feviona went through the entrance and Meleng followed. She motioned to a lit torch in a sconce on the wall. Meleng grabbed it and they headed forward.

The torch didn’t provide a lot of light, but it was enough to see a short distance ahead. The passage headed straight forward at a slight downward angle. It was cold and damp, and the partially frozen, otherwise soft ground crunched underfoot as they progressed. It was clear numerous people had passed this way recently, as even in the dim light, their bootprints were easily visible on the ground.

Feviona set a fast pace. Meleng was gasping for air before long, but he didn’t let that bother him. Feviona was right to move quickly. They didn’t have much time.

It seemed to take forever. Surely their twenty minutes were long since up, but they kept moving. Meleng certainly wasn’t about to stop and Feviona definitely didn’t. Besides, he probably wasn’t keeping tracking of time accurately anyway. The passage continued to extend into darkness.

Eventually, a pinprick of light appeared somewhere ahead. Feviona raised a hand to indicate caution, but didn’t slow down. The light slowly resolved into distant, flickering torchlight, a hint of shadows in the smoke around it.

“Who goes there?” a voice called out. “Identify yourselves.”

Feviona looked back at Meleng and put a finger to her lips. Then she motioned for him to stop moving. He did, and she drew their sword and rushed forward.

“I said, identify your—sound the alarm! They’ve found us!”

There was a thud and a cry, then another thud. Then silence.

The torch rose from the wall and waved around. Meleng was fairly certain that was Feviona calling him forward. He certainly hoped it was her.

When he got close enough that the light of both torches illuminated more than just smoke and shadows, he saw that Feviona was standing by a large, stone door. A headless Blood lay slumped in the corner beside the door. On the opposite side of the door a Belone soldier—still with a head—lay still.

Feviona pointed at the Belone soldier. That one’s still alive. I think. She pointed at the Blood. He’s dead.

No kidding.

Feviona grinned.

It took Meleng a moment to locate the Blood’s head. It was several feet back down the passage.

Feviona banged on the door and drew his attention back to her.

What if they hear you? Meleng said.

Feviona rolled her eyes. Anyone on the other side already heard that one die.

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Good point.

Feviona tapped on the door, but quietly. Can you get it open.

Meleng tried the handle, but while it turned, the door wouldn’t budge. He bent over it to look at it more closely. There was no obvious lock, so the door was probably barred from the other side. That wasn’t going to be easy to deal with. He stepped back. Give me a moment.

Feviona nodded. She stepped over to the wall near the unconscious Belone soldier. She placed her palms against the wall and leaned forward against it. Meleng hadn’t noticed before, but she was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He wanted to ask her again if she was okay, but she wasn’t looking at him. He turned his attention back to the door.

Maybe he could do the opposite of what he had tried to do to the doors at the Hall of Knowledge. There, he’d hoped to expand them to jam them in place. Perhaps he could contract this one. It wouldn’t have to be by much. Just to create enough space to slip something through that could be used to raise the bar out of place.

He ran through the equations in his head. Yes, it shouldn’t be too difficult.

He hoped.

He glanced back at Feviona. She was still leaning against the wall, still breathing heavily.

Meleng took a deep breath of his own, and started tracing the equations. He added a short delay so he could step back—just in case something went wrong.

He stepped back and a moment later, there was a loud crack and the door twisted. A piece broke off as it squeezed in on itself.

Feviona spun around, then looked at him with a smile.

By the door handle, there was now a sizeable gap between it and the frame. The gap narrowed the higher and lower it went, but it was enough. Meleng approached and held the torch near, so he could see through. As he’d suspected, there was a bar blocking the door on the other side.

He placed the torch in an empty sconce, then turned to Feviona. Can I have our sword?

She smiled, drew the sword, and held it out to him. He took it and carefully slid it into the gap under the bar. Then he raised it to push the bar away.

The bar didn’t move.

Not much, at any rate. He thought maybe it moved a little.

He tried again, and again. Even using both hands, he couldn’t lift it enough to make it fall away.

This was proving harder than he’d expected. He hadn’t considered the weight of the bar and the lack of leverage he had from this side.

Then Feviona pressed up against him from behind. She reached around and place her hands over his. Together, they tried to move the bar. This time, it rose.

But it still didn’t fall free.

They had freed it from its holder on one side of the door, but not the other.

Meleng lowered it a little, Feviona following his lead. He twisted his head round to try to look back at her. He wasn’t sure how to make sure she knew what he wanted to do. She was smiling at him though. He would just have to hope she had figured out his intentions.

With a single, fast thrust, they swung the sword upwards as high as they could reach together.

There was a clatter and crash on the other side of the door.

Feviona let go of his hands and stepped back. Meleng pulled the sword back in, then tried the door. It swung easily open. He turned around and held the sword out to Feviona.

She took it. Well done.

Meleng smiled. He was glad he was being useful. He didn’t want Feviona to have to do everything. She probably could have handled the door herself, but in her exhausted state…

Feviona indicated the open door. Let’s go. Time is running out.

The door led to a storage room. Several shelves full of boxes had been pushed up against each other, presumably to clear the way to the door. That created an interesting question: how did the Bloods get in initially? If the shelves had been blocking the door—which was the only thing that made sense for why nobody had known about this door—even if it had not initially been barred, it would have been very difficult to move the door. The room was small. The shelves couldn’t move far. If they’d tipped over, there would not have been enough room to fall flat. Boxes would have fallen everywhere. Even if the shelves hadn’t tipped, it would have made a lot of noise.

Perhaps they had managed to push the door open just enough for someone to squeeze through and then move the shelves neatly like they were now. That would have still made noise, though.

Where in the Hall were they?

Feviona tapped him on the shoulder. Stop something. Something with his head. Daydreaming maybe. Probably.

She was at the other door—the normal entrance to this room, not the hidden one they’d come through—and she leaned up to listen. Do you know where this room is?

Meleng shook his head. He didn’t know the layout of the Hall well enough. He had seen the schematics, but couldn’t remember the location of every storage room. There were a couple storage rooms near the Council Chamber, weren’t there? The Bloods had started there.

Feviona opened the door.

As Meleng had suspected, it led to the hall outside the Council Chamber. There were still bodies on the floor. And blood. Lots of blood. And the stench…

It hadn’t been long enough for the bodies to be decomposing. The stench would be even worse then. But there was a smell to blood as well, and it didn’t sit well with Meleng’s stomach.

He held his breath as Feviona moved into the hall. She hurried over to the Council Chamber doors, which hung open partway. She looked in then turned back around with a shake of her head. Where do you suggest?

Meleng shrugged. We’ll never find them in time.

Yes, we will. Jorvanultumn will keep him delayed.

But we won’t surprise them. What good can we do?

She gave him a comforting smile. Surprise is not our task. Removing anyone guarding the shit-faced commander’s retreat is our task. She continued past him to the doors at the end of the corridor.

She was right. He shouldn’t let despair get the better of him. They had to keep moving no matter what. They had to reach Sinitïa.

He will have chosen tight quarters, Feviona said. Suggest some.

Meleng wracked his brain. He hadn’t been here long. He didn’t know the place well enough. Though neither had Mitchal Plavin. Plavin had probably studied the schematics, even memorised them, but he couldn’t know how individual rooms had been furnished or even adjusted since construction. Where would he choose?

There was one likely location, and Meleng sighed.

The library.

Feviona nodded. Lead.