8. Sage

CHAPTER 8

Sage

We reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped onto ground that was just as smooth as the stairwell, the tunnel ceiling rising high above us. There was nothing natural about this tunnel and I couldn't even begin to imagine the amount of work necessary to carve the stairs and passage. Unless, of course, a fae had helped. If the rumors of their magic were true, a fae gifted with the magic to manipulate the earth could have molded the stone around us with just a thought.

Sawyer's breathing was already starting to sound strained, and it was getting harder for him to control his coughing, but he pressed onward. The tunnel ran a fair distance away from Herstind castle, but he knew as well as I did that once Edred realized what we'd done, he'd send riders to the tunnel's entrance and men down the stairs to stop us. Our only advantage was that the ground between the castle and the entrance was rough and the horses would have to go the long way around to get to it. That and we probably had at least a little bit of time before Edred started searching the keep for either of us.

Except if Sawyer kept going as he was, he wouldn't make it to Olinon. He'd collapse first.

I grabbed his shirt sleeve, giving it a gentle tug. "Slow down a bit."

"We have to keep moving," he insisted, maintaining his pace and making my insides squirm.

Yes. We did. Now now now. We couldn't get caught. But?—

"If you collapse, we won't be moving at all. We still have a bit of time before Edred realizes we're missing." And I prayed that was the truth. "We can get to the ring in Olinon before he does."

"You honestly think he won't follow us through the ring?" he asked, but he did slow his pace a little, filling me with a churning mix of fear that we weren't moving fast enough and worry that the pace was still too fast for him.

"If we're lucky, no one will see where we went," I replied.

He huffed. "I wouldn't want to bet on that. It'll be best to go to Gastow then go somewhere else."

"Do you honestly think Gastow is actually abandoned or the ring still works?"

Last winter a traveling minstrel had stayed at Herstind castle and told us tales about the abandoned mining village in the Gastanovian mountains. The minstrel had made it sound like no one knew why the village had been abandoned, but the best guess was that they'd taken whatever they could from the mountain and had moved on, or the wasting sickness killed most of the villagers and those who survived had left.

"Let's hope so," he said. "Once we're there, we can turn around and go someplace else. Edred might be able to follow us to Gastow but there won't be anyone around to see where we go after that."

"And you remember the pattern to connect the ring?" The minstrel had only mentioned it once, and I wasn't sure how well Sawyer had been listening to him. Quizzical tales and mysteries appealed to him, but not tales of adventure, and the minstrel's story had been a bit of both.

"Of course I remember the pattern. I remember the pattern to almost every known ring in the Five Great Kingdoms."

And I had no doubt he did. If it involved something intellectual, he remembered it. If it involved the physical, he was hopeless.

I, on the other hand, had been barely adequate in my studies — at least until Edred had dismissed my tutor and I'd become just another maid. It had always been difficult to sit and listen. I needed to move and always had to fight the call of the outside, even in the height of summer and the depth of winter.

Ahead, hints of light cut through the thick underbrush hiding the tunnel's mouth, and we paused long enough to listen and look for signs that Edred had beaten us there.

The forest was quiet, or as quiet as it normally got with the gentle wind rustling through the leaves and birds chirping. Sunlight streamed through the thick canopy with great slashes of light and while it was still cooler beneath the trees compared to standing in the middle of the bailey without shade, I could still feel the summer's heat radiating against my skin in contrast to the tunnel's cool dampness.

I took a little longer than normal to check our surroundings to give Sawyer time to catch his breath, all the while my mind screaming that we couldn't stop, we didn't have any time to wait. Then we hurried through the underbrush to a nearby game trail. It would be faster and easier to take the road, but that would also make it easier for Edred's men to catch us. That, and we'd have to climb up the rocky slope that currently protected us from an easy capture to get to it.

I let Sawyer set our pace despite the fear twisting my insides. After reminding him that collapsing wouldn't help us, he kept to a steady march, but even then, he was gasping and coughing by the time we broke through the underbrush into the large clearing just outside of Olinon where the fae ring sat.

The ring, a large silver and bronze circle that was partially buried in the ground, was wide enough for a carriage to pass through. Swirly fae writing traced up one side of the arc, stretching from my knees to my head, and while I didn't know what it said, I knew pressing the words in different combinations linked the ring's magic to other rings across the Great Five Kingdoms joined in the human-fae treaty to defend the Gates of the Realms.

It sat about fifty yards from the town's tall, wooden wall, and about a hundred yards from us. The town's gates were wide open, inviting in what little trade that came through the ring and up the road, and I could see all the way through from one open gate to the other and the couple dozen people inside going about their business despite it being the hottest hours of the day.

My pulse raced and sweat plastered my dress to my back. Sawyer, sweat also dripping down his forehead, started to slow, each gasp sounding harder than the last.

"Just a little farther," I said, grabbing his arm and tugging him along.

"I know—" He stumbled and I caught him.

Fire flickered up my arm — the arm that had the spell binding me to the Black Tower — and I fought to ignore the sensation. It was just a remnant of the magic that had swept into me when the spell had been awakened. I was sure I'd be feeling flickers of that fire for days.

But as we got closer to the ring, the heat grew stronger. It burned over my hand and up my forearm, growing just as painful as the first time it had blazed into me. When we were a dozen steps away, white light flared from four of the words on the ring, and the fire in my arm surged.

"Someone's coming through," Sawyer gasped.

"No," I forced out between clenched teeth. "It's the binding spell." It had to be.

Lord Quill hadn't given Sawyer the pattern to connect to the ring in the Gray, and very few people knew the pattern. Which meant the pattern had to be part of the binding spell, a way of guaranteeing sacrifices couldn't avoid their duty by using the rings. "It's activated the ring."

Sawyer swore. "If you move away, will the ring go back to sleep?"

He pushed out of my arms and I took a step back. The words still glowed.

Damn. Would the ring stay like that until I'd stepped through? If Sawyer and I went through into the Gray, would we be able to travel somewhere else right away or would we be stuck there? I didn't know if the ring in the Gray had magic that restricted who could use it. The binding spell might kill someone if they left the Black Tower, but was there another level of security to stop the sacrifices from leaving without permission.

I took another step back and another while Sawyer hurried forward to the ring. The fire in my arm dimmed then flickered and went out, and so did the light in the ring.

Sawyer frowned at me. I was all the way to the edge of the clearing again and was going to have to run when Sawyer entered the pattern for Gastow to make it to the ring before it went back to sleep.

"Let's see if it will stay connected to the ring in Gastow or if when I come closer, it switches back to the Gray," I called out.

Sawyer opened his mouth to respond, but the sound of hooves pounding up the road stopped him. His eyes widened. There was no time to check to see if the binding spell would change the connection or even to see if this ring could connect with the ring in Gastow. We had to go now.

"Do it," I said, fighting to stay where I was until Sawyer had completed the pattern.

Sawyer pressed the pattern, making white light flare around the words and his hand. Then the light blossomed in the center of the ring, a small white flower that slowly unfurled and grew.

The pounding hooves drew closer and Pylos galloped around the bend in the road.

I didn't have time to wait for the spell to fully encompass the ring. I wouldn't make it there before Pylos came into the clearing.

The ring had connected to the ring in Gastow — or the ring's magic wouldn't have blossomed to life — and I just had to pray the spell wouldn't jump to the ring in the Gray once I was close.

I barreled toward the ring, my attention locked on the glowing words at its edge. The binding spell in my arm exploded into fiery agony and Pylos yelled at us to stop. Light flickered through all the words in the ring and the flower in the center of the ring flared brighter, filling the entire space with blinding light.

"Get back here, girl," Pylos yelled, charging toward me.

He leaned in his saddle, grabbed a handful of my hair, and jerked me back as Sawyer leaped through and disappeared. Except I had no idea if he'd gone through to Gastow or into the Gray and had to get free of Pylos to follow before the ring went back to sleep.