“You’d better hurry,” Gaspar said.
“I’m not in charge of any of this,” Gavin said.
“Then he’d better hurry.”
Gavin cocked a brow at Mekal. “Well?”
“If I do this, what guarantee do I have that you aren’t going to kill me?”
“None.”
The creature continued to come toward them. It was faster than Gavin would’ve expected, and with the lumbering steps, everything shook underneath. He brought the sword up. He sliced slightly, bringing it only a hair’s breadth through Mekal’s throat.
“Now,” Gavin said.
The creature stopped.
“Bring it back to the way it was.”
“What do you mean?” Mekal asked.
“Make it small again.”
“I can’t,” Mekal said.
“You can. You just won’t.”
“Please…”
“I’m not going to argue this with you. Either you shrink this damn thing, or I’m going to shrink you, and then I’m going to have to fight through it. Seeing as how I had little trouble with the other ones, I doubt I’m going have any trouble with this one.” He was bluffing, but Mekal seemed to believe him. His eyes grew wide.
Mekal flicked his gaze toward Gavin. Power surged along the blade. It glowed brightly, and then the massive creature shrank down to little more than the size of Gavin’s foot.
“Grab it,” he said to Gaspar.
“What?”
“Grab it.”
“What about him?”
“We might need him.”
Gavin reached for the rope in Gaspar’s pouch, and he quickly bound Mekal. He tied up his hands but left his legs unbound, then forced Mekal to march in front of him. “I will know if you’re drawing upon power,” Gavin said.
As they reached the stairs in the main part of the hall, Gavin shoved him again. “Where is she?”
“You don’t understand what we’ve gone through. All of this is finally an opportunity for us to get to safety.”
Gavin shook his head. “Not like this.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand well enough. I understand that if you go through with this, the city is going to be plunged back into a war. You’re too young to know what a magical war can do to a city.”
“You aren’t from Yoran,” Mekal said.
“I don’t need to be from Yoran to know just what will happen if a magical war breaks out here. I’ve seen it often enough to know what happens in cities when magic fights magic.”
They headed up the stairs, and Gavin held onto the sword, using it to guide him. He could feel the pressure and the power that was out there, though he couldn’t see anything.
He glanced over at Gaspar. “Be ready.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know. For anything.”
When they reached the top of the stairs, the landing was coated in strange swirling shadows. Gavin held the blade down and saw that the shadows were green lines that covered everything.
The Mistress of Vines was here.
Gavin hesitated a moment, looking along the length of the hallway.
Was the Captain down there as well?
“What are you waiting for?” Gaspar asked.
“Because the moment we do this, she’s going to be aware we’re here. I have to be ready to draw her attention.”
“Do you really fear her?”
“Don’t you?” Gavin asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. Me too.”
He took a deep breath, and then he carved into the vines.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The thick vines withdrew as soon as he cut through them with the sword. Something changed around him, as if the air constricted and some energy within it started to shift and shimmer.
Gavin looked down the hall. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know,” Mekal said. “My job was to ensure nobody else got in. She was concerned you might come after her.”
“She knew I might come?”
“Yes,” Mekal said.
“Interesting,” Gavin said and glanced over to Gaspar. “You might need to stay back here.”
“I’m not staying behind.”
“This is magic. You don’t have any way of fighting magic.”
“I can do well enough,” Gaspar said.
“If you say so,” Gavin said.
He started forward, pushing Mekal in front of him. The boy resisted a little, but he was forced to keep going as Gavin shoved him with the sword. He didn’t want to stab Mekal, but he also didn’t want Mekal to resist him as he headed along the hall. The sword continued to glow, the blade getting brighter and brighter as he made his way through here.
At the end of the hall was another staircase. It was wider than the other, a grand staircase that led to another level of the fortress. The glow—and the resistance—came from that direction.
“Please,” Mekal said. “Don’t make me go up there.”
Gavin shoved him. “You don’t get much of a choice in this. You’ve been complicit in all of this.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand well enough.”
They started up the stairs, and Gaspar stayed behind him. Gavin glanced over his shoulder, checking to see what Gaspar might be doing. Gaspar should have known more about what was happening now. Still, he had left the constables. There was some aspect of what Gaspar had done and his willingness to leave the constables that left Gavin troubled.
At the top of the stairs, Gavin hesitated. A deep green energy swirled around in front of him. He carved through it again and forced Mekal to take a step. The vines swirling along the ground withdrew, but not all the way like they had at the top of the previous landing.
“Let me see the figurine,” he said to Gaspar.
“Why?”
“Just let me see it.”
Gaspar handed it over, and Gavin set it down.
“Activate it, and send it that way,” he said to Mekal, motioning into the darkness.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Seeing as how I’m not the one who controlled it, I’m not going to do anything with it. I’m asking you to use it. Send the figurine that way,” Gavin snapped.
There came another surge of energy along the sword. Gradually, the figurine began to grow until it filled the room. Gavin remained ready to jab Mekal with the sword if he tried to turn the humanoid figurine toward them, but he didn’t. He did as he was instructed, and the figurine started to walk—lumber, really—into the room.
Gavin held the sword forward, using the light to guide him. The vines swirled around the figurine.
