“It’s slippery, so you’ll have to be careful.”
I followed him to the ledge’s edge, where the mountain’s face and ledge converged, and then we climbed down the steps. My heart echoed the thundering water, and my clammy hands didn’t help with the climb. But I found that some of the steps were covered in moss, which gave me a little more traction. As we descended, I couldn’t help but glance up at the castle. Sometime soon, the witch would find out we’d escaped. I prayed we were on a light carriage headed for the farthest reaches of Faythander when that happened.
The descent was strangely serene as we made it closer to the forest floor. We sank past the treetops, then down toward their trunks. In several places, the thick branches reached out and touched the rocks. I felt magic in their limbs and humming through the veins of each individual leaf. Moonlight glowed a bright silver on the moss-covered steps. As we neared the ground, the sound of the rushing waterfall grew distant.
“Almost there,” Kull called up to me as he stepped onto the ground.
Soon, I, too, stood on the forest floor. High above us, the towering parapets of the castle disappeared. Instead, in the moonlight, I saw the faint outline of a shimmering dome.
Chapter 12
“Brother, I thought you were dead.”
Heidel and Maveryck, with Grace still at his side, had found Kull and me as we descended the mountain. Maveryck was still carrying the staff of Zaladin. I was starting to hate that staff. It had already caused more trouble than it was worth.
“Why did you think such a thing?” Kull asked. “You know I’ve escaped tougher foes than the dragon.”
“True. You should have been dead long ago.”
“And I didn’t need your aid to rescue me this time. I must be improving.”
Heidel laughed. “Luck is the reason you escaped.”
We walked away from the mountain and toward the light-rails. Earlier in the morning, we’d made it halfway down the mountain before Maveryck’s wolf had spotted the dragon circling overhead. We’d hidden for more than an hour, watching as the wraiths searched for us. After the wraiths moved to another area of the mountain, we made our escape.
“Once we’re out of her territory, she’ll have a hard time tracking us,” Maveryck had said.
We stayed under the cover of the tree canopy as much as we could, trading snow-covered ground for damp leaves that masked the sound of our footsteps, until we crossed the border between her land and ours.
By the time we made it to the light-rails, it was mid-afternoon. We hadn’t stopped once to eat or rest, but I knew we couldn’t afford to slow down. I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally climbed into a carriage.
The coach was everything one would expect from elven technology and luxury. Overstuffed, cream-colored cushions, soft, ambient lighting, and the gentle hum of the magical-mechanical engine were enough to lull me to sleep, yet I couldn’t rest. I could hardly believe I’d finally made it out of the witch’s castle. At any moment, I expected to wake up and find myself back in the palace, wandering through the maze of hallways, trying to find a way to open that cursed box.
Kull sat beside me, his face pensive as he stared out the coach’s windows. I took his hand, and he gave me a small smile, then traced his fingers over the scars encircling my wrists. Not long ago, I’d been held prisoner by the bloodthorn, and the scars were an ever-present reminder of my enslavement. Kull bore no physical scars from his time in the witch’s castle, but as he glanced at me, his eyes clouded with fear. What had she done to him?
“Kull, are you okay?” I asked quietly.
He smiled but didn’t answer, then he kissed my knuckles and turned away from me to stare out the window once again. His silence disturbed me, but I wasn’t sure what to do about it.
“You’re both lucky to be alive,” Maveryck said, breaking the tense silence. “Most who enter the witch’s castle never escape.”
“How did you escape?” Heidel asked.
“It wasn’t easy,” I answered. “The witch tried to make me open a box that would set Kull and me free, but it wasn’t possible for me to open it, so I got creative.”
“How so?”
“She destroyed Bloodbane,” Kull answered.
“She did what?” Heidel’s eyes widened. “And you’re still speaking to her?”
“I’d rather have my life than my sword,” he answered. “Which begs another question. Sister, where were you while I was imprisoned?”
Heidel cast a sidelong glance at Maveryck. “We were attacked by the wraiths. They’d nearly overpowered us when something strange happened with that staff. I don’t know how to describe it.”
Maveryck spoke up. “Its magic reacted with its reflection in the ice on the frozen pond where we were fighting, and it created a portal.”
“A portal to where?” I asked.
“Earth Kingdom, as far as we could tell. When we returned, the last remaining wraith was dead and we had the staff. After that, we returned for you.”
“So you must have killed the wraith and taken the staff while you were on Earth?” I asked.
“It appears so. But now that we have it, we must be careful. If it can create portals on its own, then it is more dangerous than we imagined,” Maveryck said.
“I’ve never heard of an object creating portals on its own,” I said.
“Nor have I. There are many mysteries surrounding the talismans of the Madralorde brothers and many secrets that have been kept hidden for centuries. Now that we have it, we would be wise to keep it safe. Your stepfather will know what to do with the staff.”
“Are we traveling to his mountain now?”
It occurred to me then that I had no clue where we were headed. As soon as we’d escaped the witch, I didn’t care where we went as long as we headed as far away from the
