We kept moving through the darkness. Do you think Arachne’s okay? Anne asked.
I’d wondered the same thing. There had been a finality in Arachne’s manner at the end, as though she knew we weren’t going to see each other again. But right now, I was pretty sure that we were in more danger than she was. I think we should be worrying about ourselves. Hold up a second, I’m going to try a gate stone.
We stopped, standing in the dark, as I took out our gate stone to the Hollow. Futures flickered out as I tried a hundred gate spells in a hundred different ways. I swore quietly, shoved the gate stone back into my pocket, and resumed walking.
No good?
Too much interference. The wards over Arachne’s cave were old and deep. If either Anne or I could cast gate spells, we could have tried to force it by upping the power, but neither of us was an elemental mage, and having to rely on focuses was hurting us. We’ll have to go farther.
Didn’t you say that the dragon lived down here?
Assuming it’s still here. I looked ahead to see what would happen if we kept going . . .
I stopped. Anne bumped into me before catching herself. “Oh shit.”
“What?”
“We’re cut off.” I felt a stab of fear in my gut. The Council forces were behind us, and there was someone else ahead. And it wasn’t just anyone.
“Side turnings . . . ?”
“We’d have to go back, and they’d be right on top of us. Try your gate stone.”
“But you said—”
“I know. We’re out of options.”
There was a moment’s silence, then there was the rustle of movement and the tunnel lit up in faint green light. Anne’s face became visible in the glow, set in concentration, staring down at the focus. Seconds ticked by.
“Running out of time,” I said, trying to keep the tension out of my voice.
“I’m trying! I can’t get it to take!”
I was looking through the futures in which we stayed where we were. None of them ended with us escaping through a gate. “Don’t think this is going to work,” I said. “Have you got anything else you could try?”
“If I did, I’d be trying it already!”
I took a deep breath, looked down the tunnel, then back at Anne. “There’s one thing.”
“What thing?” Anne asked, then her face changed. “Oh no.”
“You can still call on that jinn,” I said. I hated the idea of even suggesting this, but I couldn’t see any other way out. I knew exactly what was going to happen if the Council caught us, and right now, I didn’t think I could stop that from happening. “And given the other stuff it can do . . .”
Anne was shaking her head.
“You have any better ideas?”
“You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“No, but I know what’s going to happen if we stick around!”
Anne let the gate stone drop and caught my wrist. “No, you don’t—” She took a deep breath, then spoke quickly. “I need her help to use the jinn. And every time we’ve done that, she’s got stronger. Driving the jinn out, locking her away that last time, it took everything I had. If I let her in again, she won’t be going away. Not ever.”
I looked back at Anne. “Well. That’s not good.”
“I’m sorry,” Anne said in a small voice.
“Not your fault.” I was silent for two seconds. “Well, I guess that leaves us exactly one direction to go.”
I took Anne’s hand and we started walking down the tunnel again. With my other hand, I took out a pouch from one pocket, readying its contents. How long will we have? Anne asked through the dreamstone.
People chasing us are about five minutes behind, I said. Call it about four minutes to finish the fight and get back to running.
Who’s . . . ? Anne began, then tailed off. Oh. Her.
Pale brown light bloomed from ahead, and a figure stepped out from the wall. She was heavyset, and her big hands flexed as she faced us. “Councillor Verus,” Caldera said. “You are under arrest under suspicion of—”
“Save it,” I said.
“And you, Anne Walker, are under arrest for, well, more things than I can count,” Caldera said. “But then, you already know what they are, don’t you?”
I felt Anne flinch, and I squeezed her hand once in reassurance. “You going to get out of our way?” I told Caldera.
“We both know that’s not going to happen,” Caldera said. “You’ve had this coming a long time.”
Caldera wasn’t moving, and I knew why. She’s stalling, I told Anne. We’re going to have to rush her. I’ll try to distract her for you to get close.
All right.
Three and a half minutes left. I tried to ignore the fear in my gut. Above ground in the open, I would have given the two of us good odds against Caldera. But we weren’t out in the open, we were in a cramped tunnel surrounded by stone. It was the worst possible environment to fight an earth mage. “So how many others did you bring?” I asked. “Rain join the party too?”
“I don’t need—”
Go, I told Anne, and lunged.
Caldera reacted instantly, spears of stone stabbing from the wall. I twisted aside; through the dreamstone I felt a flash of pain from Anne, but Caldera was right in front of me and I had a clear shot. I feinted with my left hand, then when she moved to block I brought my right hand up and around and threw glitterdust in her face.
But Caldera had been ready and she’d managed to get her eyes closed in time. Glowing particles clung around her eyelids, but while her vision was impaired, she wasn’t blind. She backed away and I followed, reaching into my pocket for another weapon.
Caldera ignored me completely. As I lunged, she reached out over my shoulder, and light glowed as she cast a spell. As my stun focus caught Caldera in the stomach, I heard Anne cry out.
I glanced back and felt a chill. The stone walls were enveloping Anne, rock flowing over her like thick jelly, and half her body was already engulfed. I turned on Caldera in a fury. The stun focus hadn’t put her down, but it had made her stagger, and I hit her with everything I had, knees and fists and elbows.
It felt like hitting a lump of granite. Pain flashed through me as my blows landed, but she didn’t seem to feel it. My elbow connected with the side of her head, hard enough to knock out a normal person, but Caldera only stumbled, then lifted her hand again towards Anne.
The stone of the tunnel walls rippled, pulling Anne inside it. Struggling, Anne was drawn into the wall, the stone enveloping first her body, then her head. Only when Anne had vanished completely did Caldera turn to me. Snarling, I attacked again. I might as well have tried to punch through a brick wall. Caldera took everything I could dish out, then threw a punch hard enough to break my ribs. I blocked it, but the impact threw me back.
“Seen your moves before, Alex,” Caldera said. “Blind first, then go for the stun.”
“Let her go,” I said through clenched teeth.
“You surrender, I’ll let her go. How long you think she’ll last without air?”
I lunged. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I was trying to think of what I could do. Using mist or dousing Caldera’s light wouldn’t do much, and a forcewall wouldn’t help me get Anne out. That just left my more lethal weapons, but they’d do nothing unless I could disable Caldera’s protective spells.
I tried my dispel focus. It worked, but Caldera was ready for it, renewing her stone skin immediately. I got more hits in as she did, but none of them were enough to knock her out.